1671-1672
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED
THE SEIGNEURS OF THE MONTREAL DISTRICT
SUBURBAN GROWTH--THE EARLIEST OUTLYING FIEFS--PRAEDIA
MILITARIA--MILITARY SEIGNEURIES OF THE MONTREAL DISTRICT--THE
FEUDAL SYSTEM--THE "NOBLESSE"--THE "PARISHES"--"CENS ET
RENTES"--"LODS ET VENTES"--TRIBUTE TO THE FEUDALISM OF THE
CLERICAL "SEIGNEURS OF MONTREAL"--MUNICIPAL OFFICERS--ORDER IN
PROCESSIONS--THE CHURCH WARDENS--THE SOLDIER COLONISTS--CATTLE
BREEDING, HORSES, ASSES--AGRICULTURE--NEW CONCESSIONS--LAWS
REGULATING OPENING UP THE LAND--FIRST PUBLIC ROADS AND BRIDGES AT
MONTREAL--NOTE: FORTS AND REDOUBTS.
So far we have kept our attention on the little straggling Village of
Montreal, the home of de Maisonneuve and the seigneurs of the island.
We have left it occasionally for Quebec, to consider it, as affected
in its governmental relations with the headquarters of the governor
general, but as we have in view also the greater Montreal of today,
we must ask the reader's patience to allow us to record some vital
elements in the suburban growth of the latter, the seeds of which are
now being sown, and to watch the origins of the Canadian "noblesse" now
being manufactured by letters patent in the neighbourhood of Montreal.
For years the fear of the Iroquois had huddled the Montrealers within
narrow limits, and in the neighbourhood of the fort. There were few
outlying stations, save that of the fortified house of Lambert Closse,
who had been given on February 5, 1658, the first "noble fief" at
Montreal, and the two redoubts or strongholds established by M. de
Queylus for the seigneurs of the seminary. On the arrival of the troops
the _curé_, M. Souart, had created a second "noble fief" for his nephew
M. Hautmesnil between the River St. Lawrence and the Rivière des
Prairies, and a third followed on the return of M. Queylus, given to La
Salle.
Peace enabled the colonists to go further afield, and in 1671 the
seigneurs determined to establish seigneurial manors for further
protection against Iroquois incursions and to place on them, for
the most part, the officers of the regiments left behind. A debt of
gratitude was first paid to Sieur Picoté de Bélestre by a concession of
land at Pointe aux Trembles, taking in Bout de l'Isle and extending to
the Rivière des Prairies.
The northern part of the island facing the Rivière des Prairies and Ile
Jésus--a dangerous spot--was chosen for two contiguous "noble fiefs" by
Dollier de Casson on December 1, 1671 and given to Phillipe de Carion
de Fresnoy, lieutenant in Lamothe's company, and Paul de Morel, ensign
in the same company.
To strengthen the position of these seigneurs, Carion and de Morel,
smaller concessions were granted nearby in the early months of 1672. On
December 26th M. Zacharie Dupuis, the commandant of the town, received
the letters patent of his seigneury of Verdun.
The southwest of the island, facing the Lake of the Two Mountains, had
yet to be guarded, and on January 19th Dollier de Casson gave a fief to
M. Sidrac de Gué, now Sieur de Boisbriant, and added "the neighbouring
island and shallows" at a given denomination, which afterwards caused a
lawsuit.
M. de Gué shortly sold his fief to Charles Le Moyne, Sieur de
Longueuil, and Jacques Leber, his brother-in-law. It passed later to
the son of the latter and became the fief of the Sieur de Senneville,
as it was then named. In April[97] following, a seigneury was given to
Charles d'Ailleboust des Musseaux, the judge. On July 30th the fief
adjoining called "Belleville" was given to the brothers Louis de Bertet
de Chailly and Gabriel de Bertet de la Joubardière. Finally a fourth,
adjoining the latter, was assigned to M. Claude Robutel de Saint André.
The vulnerable points on the Island of Montreal thus being provided
for, Talon determined to revert, as he says, "to the ancient custom
of the Romans of distributing _proedia militaria_ to the soldiers of
a subjugated country," and the large distribution of "noble fiefs"
and patents of nobility of officers and others likely to guard a
country, dates mostly from the months of October and November of the
year 1672. In order to further strengthen Montreal and the entrance
of the Richelieu River,--both principal positions for Iroquois
descents,--fiefs were given to Sieurs de Laubia, de Labadie, de Moras,
de Normanville, de Berthier, de Comporte, de Randin, de la Valterie,
M. Jean Baptiste Legardeur de Repentigny, the son of Captain de
Saint Ours, and the Sieur de Berthelot, to whom was given Ile Jésus,
originally conceded to the Jesuits but not having been cultivated, was
yielded up by them on November 7, 1672.
All the above concessions were made on the left bank of the St.
Lawrence, from Lake St. Peter to the head of the island, ascending to
the Rivière des Prairies. From the mouth of the Richelieu and ascending
up stream on the other side of the river many other concessions were
made by Talon to de Sorel, du Pas, de Chambly, Chevalier Pierre de
Saint Ours (captain of the Carignan-Sallières regiment), Antoine
Pécaudy de Contrecoeur, de Vitré, de Verchères, de Varenne, de
Grandmaison, Michel Messier, of Montreal, to whom was given the
seigneury of St. Michel, and Jacques Le Moyne, also of Montreal, that
of Cap de la Trinité; to Sidzac du Gué de Boisbriant, was given the
Ile Thérèse facing Bout de l'Isle; to M. Boucher, the Seigneur de
Boucherville, to Charles Le Moyne, two fiefs, one of which he called
Longueuil, from his place of origin at Dieppe, in Normandy, and the
other Chateauguay. To Zacharie Dupuis was given Heron Island; to M.
Perrot the island below the southwest corner of the island, afterwards
named Ile Perrot, after him, as well as Ile á la Paix, Iles aux Pins,
Ste. Geneviève and St. Gilles.
This list of names has been given, since it is synonymous with that
of many of the parishes hereafter erected in these districts, for not
many of the seigneurs were as yet wealthy, and they could not fulfill
the double condition of providing a village mill and a village church.
Though noble in name, many were as poor as church mice. Having been
granted their lands, for a nominal sum, in return for "fealty and
homage," the new noble had to work hard to clear his land within a
limited time, else he would forfeit it, for few had capital to work
it. To make his claim permanent he had to subdivide his domain to
cultivators _en censive_, or _censitaires_ who tilled the land and
paid his "cens et rente" on St. Martin's day to the seigneur, as was
common at Montreal, in the shape of half a sou and a pint of wheat for
each arpent. There were, however, restrictions such as having to grind
his corn at the seigneur's mill, when there was one, for such was an
expensive luxury. This was practically the only one of the "banalités,"
as they were called, of the French feudal system introduced into
Canada, and it was not very much of a hardship. The "corvée" still
existed, by which the seigneur could demand personal labor. In Canada
this was about six days a year and was frequently remitted, as the
seigneur found that the expense of food for the workers, etc., made it
not worth his while to use their labour.
Not all the seigneurs were as diligent and as fortunate as Charles Le
Moyne, of Montreal, who, from being the son of an innkeeper at Dieppe,
founded the noble house of Longueuil and whose son Charles, Baron
Longueuil, built a fort and a home which Frontenac said, gave an idea
of the fortified châteaux of France.
Still many of these struggling nobles, with the revenue of a peasant,
but who did sell their seigneuries, became fairly wealthy in time, and
were the nucleus of the Canadian "noblesse" and "gentilhommes" for many
a long day, though it must not be understood that all seigneurs were
also ennobled, as in France.
Some of the lazier sort, who perchance looked to the "get rich quick"
method of peltry trading, rather than the laborious toil of tilling
the earth, were soon the victims of their own circumstances; for a
few years later, in 1679, Duchesneau, the intendant, writing to the
minister in France, says: "Many of our gentilhommes, officers and
other holders of seigneuries, lead what in France is called the life
of a country gentleman and spend most of their time in hunting and
fishing. As their requirements in food and clothing are greater than
those of the simple 'habitants' and as they do not devote themselves to
improving their land, they mix themselves up in trade, run into debt
on all hands, incite their young 'habitants' to range the woods and
send their own children there to trade for furs in the Indian villages
and in the depths of the forest, in spite of the prohibition of His
Majesty. Yet, with all this, they are miserably poor."[98]
"It is pitiable," says another intendant, Champigny, in 1687, "to see
their children, of which they have great numbers, passing all summer
with nothing on them but a shirt, and their wives and daughters working
in the fields."
Later, an intendant wrote to France not to create any more
_gentilhommes_, for it meant making "beggars."
But it must be remembered that later letters of patent of nobility were
not so easily granted as at this early tentative period, when noble,
habitant, and peasant had a hard struggle with the soil to make all
ends meet.
To form an idea of the establishment of a parish, it must be remembered
that each seigneur was required to build a mill and a chapel to be
served by a priest. The mill meant a heavy expense; the machinery
had all to come from France, and the miller's wages had to be paid;
the farmers, bringing grain, small in number. Beyond the three mills
belonging to the seigneurs of the island at this period there was the
one erected at Pointe aux Trembles and that erected by Jean Milot, a
toolmaker, at a cost of 1,000 _écus_, after purchasing on November 9,
1670, La Salle's lands at Lachine, and that was finally taken over by
the seminary also, on November 2, 1673. La Salle had been required to
construct a mill, since his concession was larger than the military
fiefs of 200 arpents granted to the other petty seigneurs. To these
latter, the necessity of erecting their own mills was foregone on the
stipulation that their grain and that of their _censitaires_, should be
ground in the seminary mill.
The building of a parish church and providing a priest, both difficult
tasks in this poverty-stricken time, were delayed for some time.
The seminary meanwhile sent out its missioners to conduct services
at Lachine and Pointe aux Trembles and the surrounding district. A
temporary chapel was made in the rooms of farmers' houses as is done
in country districts in the Northwest today. It was not till November
18, 1674, that the people of Pointe aux Trembles took definite steps
for church erection, which resulted in the church of L'Enfant Jésus,
blessed by the superior of the seminary on March 13, 1678, with the
assistance of the curé of the new church and M. Jean Cavelier, brother
of La Salle and a priest of the seminary.
The feudal system, prefigured by Richelieu long ago in his commission
to the Marquis de la Roche and "following the custom of Paris,"
based on the tenure of land, was established as soon as peace was
obtained, as the best method of building up the colony and of looking
after private interests. It was a most suitable method for the time.
The feudal absolutism then created, both of church and state, were
necessary for the French at a period when they had not learned the
first elements of self-government. The pity was that this system of
leading strings was too prolonged and overdone, especially as later the
French government did not do its duty by the people, thus preventing
its progress by ruining its initiative. Had not the bolder spirits
broken through it, we should not have had the redeeming point in the
history of these times--the brilliant geographical discoveries. But
in those early wild times the military civilization now forming and
the paternal influence of the clergy at Montreal, seigneurs and parish
priests, did much for that distinctively Canadian love of discipline
and order, which is the foundation of the great and mighty people
Canada is destined to be.
Talon, writing to Colbert on November 13, 1666, says: "I have already
commenced the enfiefments by Montreal, the principal fief of this
country, in receiving its 'foi et hommage' as also its 'aveux et
dénombrements.'" A _papier terrier_, or land roll, was ordered to
be made and a list of all the lands, houses and other properties
accurately defined and registered. Uncertain titles were made clear and
others made out that had been neglected.
The condition of land tenure was not onerous; the "cens and rentes"
paid annually were not an equivalent for value received but a simple
recognition of the legal primitive right of the seigneurs, on property
given. Thus at Montreal, land sites on the portion reserved for the
future town, had been given on the annual payment of five _sous_ an
arpent, while on those in the town itself all the annual revenue
demanded was a _liard_ for each fathom.
In all the Island of Montreal the tax for each arpent of land was two
liards and a half pint of wheat. Thus the receiver of 100 arpents only
paid fifty _sous_ and fifty pints of wheat. In the first years, as the
soil was not thought to be at its full value, he was relieved of all
taxation. Sometimes, even the above slight tax was, for sufficient
reason, modified. When any farm or small holding was sold or it passed
by inheritance to collaterals, the seigneurs were entitled to "lods et
ventes," a tax of one-twelfth of the estimated value of the land. This
was usually paid within forty days of the transfer and a rebate was
generally given of one-third, but not necessarily. If the farm was sold
at a price lower than the seigneur thought proper, he had the right to
purchase it back at the estimated value on which the tax of one-twelfth
had been demanded. This system was by no means unjust. The seigneur
gained very little, for during two centuries there were many lands
which passed from father to son, or were passed on by donation without
anything accruing to the seigneur who, it must be remembered, had
practically granted the lands free to the "censitaires." It was only in
later years when the lands became of substantial value that the "lods
et rentes" gave a real source of income to them.
The feudal system worked well. Being based on land tenure, it
centralized the people and made them powerful against attack, out of
proportion to their numbers, as New England found later. It was as wise
a system for New France as the introduction into Massachusetts "of free
and common soccage."
It was wisely handled, on a more democratic basis than that of France,
and there were no real grievances. The habitants and seigneurs moved
side by side; indeed they frequently exchanged places. The class
distinctions were never thus very arbitrarily defined as in France.
Whatever we may think of the military seigneuries, that of the
Sulpicians of Montreal was very beneficial. Their rule was progressive
and zealous. Speaking of such religious seigneurs William Bennett
Munroe, Ph. D., professor of government, Harvard University, in his
chapter in Volume II of "Canada and Its Provinces, 1912," entitled
"The Seigniorial System and the Colony," says: "The priests seem to
have had faith in the colony--which was more than could be said of all
the Carignan officers who took lands from the king. This faith and
optimism the priests often communicated to the people around them, and
the results were seen in the neighbouring farms. The church in New
France never lost, as at home, its grip on the confidence of those from
whom it drew its chief strength--the rural classes. While it may seem
that the crown was lavish to a fault in satisfying its claim to landed
property, yet the church really gave the colony far more than it took
away; for, if ever there abode on this earth labours worthy of their
hire, these were the pioneer priests whose loyalty and devotion to
France appear on every page of early Canadian history. The church owed
much to the seigniorial system, but it made ample repayment." (P. 566.)
The parish life of Montreal, as that also of subsequent parishes, was
that of an organized community or civil corporation. The head was the
seigneur. One section, composed of those able to bear arms, formed the
militia with its officers.
The seigneur could appoint its judge, and if unable to provide one,
he could turn the cases arising to a neighbouring court, such as at
Montreal. In addition, there would be the _greffier_, or clerk of the
court, sergeants and the gaoler.
Municipal affairs were, at this time, managed at the "hangar," on the
common of Montreal, through the syndic who had been appointed by a
plurality of votes of the inhabitants in council, summoned thither by
church bell. At these elections the judge was present as presiding
officer, replacing the _greffier_, as mentioned in a previous chapter,
and he was accompanied by the _procureur fiscal_ and the _greffier_.
Sometimes this election, for greater formality, was made in the hall
of the seigneurs or at the château of the fort, as in the case of the
election of syndic, Louis Chevalier, on May 15, 1672.
The syndic controlled the general law and order, and when necessary,
called in the judge to his assistance, as on April 8, 1674, when the
judge fined some delinquents, on the complaint of Louis Chevalier, then
syndic, for damage done by straying cattle.
In order to surround the officers of the community with some dignity,
various ranks were assigned, so that there should be an order of
procedure in church or elsewhere, and notably in processions. In
the latter the order was as follows: the governor general, the
local governor, the officers of justice, the churchwardens. In the
processions and in other religious ceremonies the military could claim
no rank.
The _marguilliers_, or churchwardens, for their election needed an
official document drawn up by the public notary, since they were an
important body, being empowered to make contracts in the name of the
_Fabrique_, and to make acquisitions and alienations. Zacharie Dupuis,
major of the island, in 1666 is mentioned in such an act as honorary
churchwarden. Up to 1676 these officers were elected by a general
gathering, but at this date Laval ordered that the system, obtaining
at Quebec since 1660, of election by secret votes, certified by past
and present churchwardens, should be adopted in other parishes. In some
localities, besides the _marguilliers_ there was appointed a treasurer,
or receiver of gifts or of fines made applicable to the _Fabrique_
by the judge and other magistrates. According to custom, the parish
church of each place was maintained by the inhabitants, as well as the
establishment of the cemetery, and the preservation of its enclosure
from damage. On one occasion we find at Montreal that cattle had broken
into the enclosure, and the palisading had to be repaired.
No general taxation was made but it was ordered, in a general assembly,
that M. Frémont, one of the priests of the cemetery, should go
accompanied by one of the parishioners to canvass all the sections of
the parish for a subscription for the purpose. Nevertheless we find
that if the parishioners neglected their Easter duty of providing
"blessed bread" for the church or chapel, an ordinance of Quebec of
January 13, 1670, condemned them to an arbitrary fine.
As to the soldiers remaining after Tracy's departure, they had
other duties beside the peopling of the colony. According to the
feudal system incorporated by Talon, they were to take up land and
incidentally be thus, by their presence, a safeguard for others against
Iroquois attack. Montreal district, being the head and front of
Iroquois invasion, consequently welcomed these colonists, and from Lake
St. Peter to Lachine, on both sides of the St. Lawrence, fiefs were
granted large and small to officers and men. Chambly, Sorel, Saint
Ours, Contrecoeur, de Berthier, de la Valterie, Varenne, Verchères,
soldiers' names, mark military seigneuries established about this time.
Thus strong sentinel posts were, by Talon's masterly statesmanship,
gradually linked together by this band of soldiers now turned
husbandmen after the fashion prevailing since the Roman invasions of
Gaul and Britain. The holdings were near one another and were called
"côtes." We have named several of them as already existing in the
vicinity of Montreal.
The work of opening up the land was the great hope of the king. About
this time horses began to be employed, for up to July 16, 1665, they
were unknown to the Indians, and great was their astonishment to see
the twelve French "elks" that arrived that day, and the docility with
which they obeyed their masters. It was a great honour indeed to
possess one of these. Of the consignment of one stallion and twelve
mares in 1670, the following distribution was made: the stallion and
a mare to M. Chambly, two to M. Lachenaye, and one each to MM. Talon
the intendant, Saint Ours, Sorel, Contrecoeur, Varenne, Latouche,
Repentigny, La Chesnaye, and Leber. They were given with a view to
their multiplication and, indeed, of all the other animals sent, the
horses were the most prolific and successful. The conditions to be
observed were: they should be kept in condition for three years; if
any died during that time through the fault of the "donné," he should
pay the king's receiver the sum of 200 _livres_. After the expiration
of three years he might sell it and the foals, one of which he was
to keep for the king's receiver, as well as the sum of 100 _livres_.
It was further ordered that when these foals, given to the king's
receiver, had reached the third year, they were to be given to private
individuals as before on the same terms. Thus the stock breeding was
merrily continued.
Cattle were sent to New France at this period, thus: 1665, 12 mares,
2 stallions, 7 sheep; 1667, 12 mares, 2 stallions, 29 sheep; 1668, 15
horses, 44 sheep; 1669, 14 horses, 50 sheep; 1670, 13 horses; 1671,
horses and asses.
The asses sent in 1671 were distributed as follows: Sieur Marsollet,
a male ass; Sieur Neveau, a female ass; the Jesuit Fathers, one male
and one female ass; M. Dudouyt, a female; M. Damours, a female; M.
de Villieu, a female; Sieur de Longchamps, a female; Bourg Royal,
a female; Sieur Morin, a female. These did not suit the climate so
readily.[99]
The cost of these horses and sheep was great. Each mare cost 120
_livres_, each stallion, 200, the sheep, about 6 _livres_ apiece.
In 1665 the transportation and feed of the consignment cost 11,200
_livres_. By November, 1671, Talon wrote that there were enough horses.
Cows and pigs had already become as familiar as in France. It will be
remembered that in 1647 a horse was sent for M. Montmagny, the governor
general. In these early days the birch bark canoe was more useful than
the horse, for the rivers were then the only highways.
Later on Montrealers became so interested in horse rearing that,
"ignorant of their true interests," they had to be forbidden by
Intendant Raudot in 1709 to possess more than two horses or mares, and
one foal, for fear of neglecting the rearing of horned cattle.
But it must not be supposed that these seigneuries and small holdings
grew up like mushrooms. The farmer's initiation for the first two
or three years was a rough one. It was only by very patient labour,
and, little by little, that the lands were cleared, tilled, and the
modest house put up, and an assured means of easy livelihood secured.
The cultivators had to follow the same strenuous methods that those,
opening their concessions in the Northwest, employ today.
At Montreal, while there was still fear of the Iroquois, we have
seen how difficult it was to work the fields, and how, for mutual
protection, they had temporarily to till small portions of the
seigneur's domain till they could safely go farther afield. But in
1664, when it was known that the king's troops were coming, many
obtained new concessions on Côte St. Louis, some towards the mountain,
some at the foot of the current near the fortified farm of Ste. Marie.
In 1665 many resolved to go below the foot of the current and beyond
the River St. Peter, for the lands on this side of the river, and
especially those at Point St. Charles, had already been conceded, and
although abandoned during the wars, were still claimed. East and west,
the colonists now went afield to Côte St. Martin, Côte St. François
(later called Longue Pointe), Côte St. Anne, Côte St. Jean (later
called Pointe aux Trembles). At the latter place in 1669, land was
given to Jean Oury with the intention of a village church and mill,
being erected thereon.
These côtes were restricted to their river neighbourhood to guard the
settlements from Iroquois descents by the stream.
This same plan was adopted along the whole length of the St. Lawrence.
"It is pleasant to see at present," says the "Relation" of 1668,
"nearly all the banks of our River St. Lawrence peopled with new
colonies, with new villages rising, which facilitate navigation and
render the journey, more agreeable by the sight of the houses, and more
convenient by the frequent resting places offered."
All were not as diligent as could be desired in putting up within the
year stipulated hearth and home (_feu et lieu_), or in clearing their
concessions. Consequently when Talon was in Montreal in May, 1670, in
consequence of just complaints he ordered that in future no copyholder
should be granted land unless, in addition to building his homestead,
he should put two arpents under cultivation yearly under penalty of
forfeiting his grant, unless he could prove illness or other strong
cause restraining him. Moreover, in the new contract, it was to be
stipulated that no one could claim title to his land until he had put
up his buildings and had placed two arpents in cultivation, with a
pickaxe, for up to this, as seen by the concessions preserved in the
archives up to 1657, a man had been thought to have tilled his ground
if he had felled the trees and had uprooted all the roots which were a
foot in diameter or upwards, and had used the others in such a way that
a cart could pass along without obstacle.
Yet there were still difficulties, for on January 12, 1675, the
Seigneurs put up the following public notice at the parish church, the
fort, and the different mills:
"We have learned from many complaints, that several of our tenants
take no trouble, not only to establish their homes on their lands and
to put them to use, but even neglect to fell the timber, or to keep in
order the little space they have cleared on taking possession. This
negligence retards the advancement of the colony and prevents many
strangers coming to take up land in this island and to dwell here. It
causes a dearth of wheat and grain from which the people have suffered
during the past two years. Finally it entirely ruins the adjoining
lands already tilled, both because of the continued shadows which the
standing woods cast on them, and because the squirrels and other small
animals left on these uncultivated lands leave them to eat and destroy
the greater part of the grain to the ruin of other lands."
To remedy this the seigneurs gave their tenants four months to put
their lands in order and to cut down all standing timber on pain of
forfeiture to the seigneurial domain.
Even in cutting down the timber there were abuses at Montreal. To
provide against the carelessness of riverside cultivators, as all were
at this time, in dumping their lumber into the river, Talon issued the
following order in October, 1670: "Whereas it has been pointed out to
us that the inhabitants of Montreal between Ste. Marie and La Petite
Chine (Lachine) have cut their timber so that, having fallen into the
river, it prevents navigation and blocks communication, we order them
to cut their wood into logs and to place them on the stream in such a
way that they may be carried away with the ice when it melts this year."
These logs could then be sold at Quebec in return for the necessities
of life.
The history of the first public roads and bridges at Montreal now
begins as the outcome of all this clearing and passing of carts to and
fro. In the _procès verbal_ of the road from Pointe aux Trembles to
the stream, Jean des Roches gives us an insight into the formalities
usually pursued. When the habitants had asked for a road, the Seigneurs
or their representatives would meet them at the place indicated, when
the projected road was traced and landmarks placed at intervals stamped
with the lead seal of the Seigneurs. After the new road was clearly
defined, a statement was drawn up, and then each proprietor set to work
to clear the road space running through his property; if a bridge was
necessary, one of logs was constructed; if a stream had to be crossed,
being common property, all contributed to the construction of this as
a public work. Thus the first bridge was thrown over the St. Pierre by
order of M. Talon, dated October 24, 1670.
Several roads had already been partially made, e. g., from the redoubt
of L'Enfant Jésus to Petit Lac (or the marsh which is now occupied
by Place Viger and a part of St. Denis and Craig Streets); from the
Coteau St. Louis to that of Ste. Marie; and provisional roads were
made through the woods on either side of the River St. Pierre, and the
marshy roads made practicable by log foundations or log bridges.
All these roads were eighteen feet broad, with the exception of the
road bordering the River St. Lawrence, which Talon fixed at twenty
feet; but the Seigneurs raised it to thirty-six feet seeing that it
was used as a towing path for the horses drawing the bateaux between
the currents and the rapids, and as it was the principal means of
communication and circulation between the lower and higher parts of
the island, they ordered the riverside owners to keep it in order.
To indemnify them for the loss of this extra space, other land was
added to the other extremity of their concessions. As most of these
improvements took place under Intendant Talon, Abbé de Queylus and
Dollier de Casson, city planners may know to whom honour is due.
[Illustration: ERRONEOUSLY CALLED "OLD LA SALLE HOMESTEAD"
(La Salle never built in stone)]
[Illustration: LEBER'S MILL]
[Illustration: KING'S FORT AND POWDER HOUSE (AS STANDING TODAY) FORT
CALLERIER]
[Illustration: OLD WINDMILL, LOWER LACHINE ROAD]
[Illustration: WINDMILL POINT]
NOTE
FORTS AND REDOUBTS BUILT ON THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL
(According to H. Beaugrand and P. L. Morin "Le Vieux Montréal.")
Ste. Marie (Barriere), fort in wood, 1658; St. Gabriel, fort in wood,
1659; Verdun, fort in wood, 1662; Rolland, fort in wood, 1670; Rémy,
redoubt in wood, 1671; Lachine, redoubt in wood, 1672; Cuillérier,
redoubt in wood, 1672; Gentilly (afterwards La Présentation), redoubt
in wood, 1674; Pointe aux Trembles, fort in wood, 1675; The Mountain,
fort in stone, 1677; Ste. Anne (Bellevue), redoubt in wood, 1683;
Rivière des Prairies, redoubt in wood, 1688; Mission de Lorette,
redoubt in wood, 1689; Senneville, fort in stone, 1692; Pointe St.
Charles, redoubt in wood, 1695; Bout de l'isle, redoubt in wood, 1697;
Longue Pointe, redoubt in wood, 1724; Sault-au-Récollet, redoubt in
wood, 1736.
OUTSIDE THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL
St. Lambert, redoubt in wood, 1665; Boucherville, redoubt in wood,
1668; La Prairie, fort in wood, 1670; Varennes, redoubt in wood, 1693;
Ste. Thérèse (Island), redoubt in wood, 1699; Brucy (Ile Perrot),
redoubt in wood, 1708; Longueuil, fort in stone, 1715; Le Tremblay,
redoubt in wood, 1716; St. Laurent, redoubt in wood, 1720; Lake of
Two Mountains, fort in stone, 1721; St. Louis, redoubt in wood, 1735;
Chateaugay, redoubt in wood, 1736; Beauharnois, redoubt in wood, 1737;
Ste. Geneviève, redoubt in wood, 1758.
NAMES OF FIEFS ERECTED IN THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL
Carion, Morel, Verdun, Boisbriant, St. André, d'Ailleboust, Bellevue,
St. Augustine, Lachine, Lagauchetière, St. Joseph, Nazareth,
Hôtel-Dieu.
[Illustration: Historical map of the Island of Montreal showing the
position of forts, redoubts and missionary chapels with the dates of
their construction. Carion, Morel, Verdun, Boisbriant, St. André,
d'Ailleboust, Bellevue, St. Augustin, Closse, Lachine, Lagauchetière,
St. Joseph, Nazareth, Hôtel-Dieu.]
FOOTNOTES:
[97] These dates mark the actual conferring of the patents of the noble
fief. In many instances, concessions had been granted and worked, in
anticipation of the honour.
[98] Quoted by Parkman, Old Régime, page 257.
[99] Etat de la distribution des anesses et anons envoyés de France en
Canada en l'année 1671.