The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 1

"It is now considered that there is clear geological proof that the Fall once existed at Queenston. The 710,000 tons of water which each minute pour over the precipice of the Niagara, are estimated to carry away a foot of the cliff every year; therefore we must suppose a period of 20,000 years occupied in the recession of the cataract to its present site."—Lyell's Geology.

126

"The mouth of the whirlpool is more than 1000 feet wide, and in length about 2000. Mr. Howison, in his sketches of Upper Canada, says that the current of the river has formed a circular excavation in the high and perpendicular banks, resembling a bay. The current, which is extremely rapid, whenever it reaches the upper point of this bay, forsakes the direct channel, and sweeps wildly round the sides of it; when, having made this extraordinary circuit, it regains its proper course, and rushes with perturbed velocity between two perpendicular precipices, which are not more than 400 feet asunder. The surface of the whirlpool is in a state of continual agitation. The water boils, mantles up, and wreaths in a manner that proves its fearful depth, and the confinement it suffers; the trees that come within the sphere of the current are swept along with a quivering, zigzag motion, which it is difficult to describe. This singular body of water must be several hundred feel deep, and has not hitherto been frozen over, although in spring the broken ice that descends from Lake Erie descends in such quantities upon its surface, and becomes so closely wedged together, that it resists the current, and remains till warm weather breaks it up. The whirlpool is one of the greatest natural curiosities in the Upper Province, and its formation can not be rationally accounted for."—Martin's History of Canada, p. 139.

127

"This inland sea, though the smallest of the great chain with which it is connected, is of such extent, that vessels in crossing it lose sight of land, and must steer their way by the compass; and the swell is often equal to that of the ocean. During the winter, the northeast part of Ontario, from the Bay of Quinté to Sacket's Harbor, is frozen across; but the wider part of the lake is frozen only to a short distance from the shore. Lake Erie is frozen still less; the northern parts of Huron and Michigan more; and Superior is said to be frozen to a distance of seventy miles from its coasts. The navigation of Ontario closes in October; ice-boats are sometimes used when the ice is glare (smooth). One, mentioned by Lieutenant de Roos, was twenty-three feet in length, resting on three skates of iron, one attached to each end of a strong cross-bar, fixed under the fore-feet, the remaining one to the stern, from the bottom of the rudder; the mast and sail those of a common boat: when brought into play on the ice, she could sail (if it may be so termed) with fearful rapidity, nearly twenty-three miles an hour. One has been known to cross from Toronto to Fort George or Niagara, a distance of forty miles, in little more than three quarters of an hour; but, in addition to her speed before the wind, she is also capable of beating well up to windward, requiring, however, an experienced hand to manage her, in consequence of her extreme sensibility of the rudder during her quick motion."—Martin's History of Canada.

"The great earthquake that destroyed Lisbon happened on the 1st of November, 1755, and on Lake Ontario strong agitations of the water were observed from the month of October, 1755."—Lettera Rarissima data nelle Indie nella Isola di Jamaica a 7 Julio del 1503 (Bassano, 1810, p. 29).

"From some submarine center in the Atlantic, this earthquake spread one enormous convulsion over an area of 700,000 square miles, agitating, by a single impulse, the lakes of Scotland and Sweden, and the islands of the West Indian Sea. Not, however, by a simultaneous shock, for the element of time comes in with the distance of undulation; and, together with this, another complexity of action in the transmission of earthquake movements through the sea, arising from the different rate of progression at different depths. In the fact that the wave of the Lisbon earthquake reached Plymouth at the rate of 2.1 miles per minute, and Barbadoes at 7.3 miles per minute, there is illustration of the law that the velocity of a wave is proportional to the square root of its depth, and becomes a substitute for the sounding line in fixing the mean proportional depth of different parts of this great ocean."—Humboldt.

128

"There are two lakes in Lower Canada, Matapediac and Memphremagog. The former is about 16 miles long, and three broad in its greatest breadth, about 21 miles distant from the St. Lawrence River, in the county of Rimouski; amid the islands that separate the waters running into the St. Lawrence from those that run to the Bay of Chaleurs, it is navigable for rafts of all kinds of timber, with which the banks of the noble River Matapediac are thickly covered. Memphremagog Lake, in the county of Stanstead, stretching its south extremity into the State of Vermont, is of a semi-circular shape, 30 miles long, and very narrow. It empties itself into the fine river St. Francis, by means of the River Magog, which runs through Lake Scaswaninepus. The Memphremagog Lake is said to be navigable for ships of 500 tons burden."—Martin's History of Canada, p. 102.

129

"It is worthy of remark, that the great lakes of Upper Canada are liable to the formation of the Prester or water-spout, and that several instances are recorded of the occurrence of that truly extraordinary phenomenon, the theory of which, however, is well known. Whether electricity be a cause or a consequence of this formidable meteor, appears, nevertheless, to be a question of some doubt among natural philosophers; Gassendi being disposed to favor the former opinion, while Cavallo espouses the latter."—Bouchette's Topographical and Statistical Description of Upper and Lower Canada, vol. i., p. 346.

130

"The most considerable harbors on the English side are Toronto (York, the former name, has recently been changed to the Indian name of the place, Toronto) and Kingston. Toronto is situated near the head of Lake Ontario, on the north side of an excellent harbor or elliptical basin, of an area of eight or nine miles, formed by a long, low, sandy peninsula or island, stretching from the land east of the town to Gibraltar Point, abreast of a good fort. The town of Toronto, at that period York, was twice captured by the Americans, in April and August, 1813, owing to its defenseless state, and a large ship of war on the stocks burned. The Americans would not now find its capture such an easy task. Little more than forty years ago, the site whereon Toronto now stands, and the whole country to the north and west of it, was a perfect wilderness; the land is now fast clearing—thickly settled by a robust and industrious European-descended population, blessed with health and competence, and on all sides indicating the rapid progress of civilization. The other British town of importance on this shore is Kingston, formerly Cataraqui or Frontenac, distant from Toronto 184 miles, and from Montreal 180 miles. It is, next to Quebec and Halifax, the strongest British post in America, and, next to Quebec and Montreal, the first in commercial importance. It is advantageously situated on the north bank of Lake Ontario, at the head of the River St. Lawrence, and is separated from Points Frederic and Henry by a bay, which extends a considerable distance to the northwest beyond the town, where it receives the water of a river flowing from the interior. Point Frederic is a long, narrow peninsula, extending about half a mile into the lake, distant from Kingston about three quarters of a mile on the opposite side of its bay. This peninsula forms the west side of a narrow and deep inlet called Navy Bay, from its being our chief naval dépôt on Lake Ontario."—Martin's History of Canada.

131

"The channel of the St. Lawrence is here so spacious that it is called the Lake of the Thousand Islands. The vast number implied in this name was considered a vague exaggeration, till the commissioners employed in fixing the boundary with the United States actually counted them, and found that they amounted to 1692. They are of every imaginable size, shape, and appearance; some barely visible, others covering fifteen acres; but, in general, their broken outline presents the most picturesque combinations of wood and rock. The navigator, in steering through them, sees an ever-changing scene: sometimes he is inclosed in a narrow channel; then he discovers before him twelve openings, like so many noble rivers; and, soon after, a spacious lake seems to surround him on every side."—Bouchette, vol. i., p. 156; Howison's Sketches of Canada, p. 46.

132

"The St. Lawrence traverses the whole extent of Lower Canada, as the lakes every where border and inclose Upper Canada. There is a difficulty in tracing its origin, or, at least, which of the tributaries of Lake Superior is to be called the St. Lawrence. The strongest claim seems to be made by the series of channels which connect all the great upper lakes, though, strictly speaking, till after the Ontario, there is nothing which can very properly be called a river. There are only a number of short canals connecting the different lakes, or, rather, separating one immense lake into a number of great branches. It seems an interesting question how this northern center of the continent, at the precise latitude of about 50°, should pour forth so immense and overwhelming a mass of waters; for through a great part of its extent it is quite a dead flat, though the Winnepeg, indeed, draws some tributaries from the Rocky Mountains. The thick forests with which the surface is covered, the slender evaporation which takes place during the long continuance of cold, and, at the same time, the thorough melting of the snows by the strong summer heat, seem to be the chief sources of this profuse and superabundant moisture."—H. Murray's Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in North America, vol. ii., p. 459, 1829.

133

"The statements laid before Parliament thus enumerate and describe the five rapids of the St. Lawrence, which are impassable by steam, and occur between Montreal and Kingston, a distance, by the St. Lawrence River, of 171 miles, and by the Rideau Canal, 267 miles. The rapids vary in rapidity, intricacy, depth and width of channel, and in extent, from half a mile to nine miles. The Cedar Rapid, twenty-four miles from La Chine, is nine miles long, very intricate, running from nine to twelve miles an hour, and in some places only from nine to ten feet water in the channel. The Coteau du Lac Rapid, six miles above the former, is two miles long, equally intricate in channel, and in some places only sixteen feet wide. Long Sault, forty-five miles above the preceding, is nine or ten miles long, with generally the same depth of water throughout. It is intersected by several islands, through whose channels the water rushes with great velocity, so that boats are carried through it, or on it, at the rate of twenty-seven miles an hour; at the foot of the rapid the water takes a sudden leap over a slight precipice, whence its name. From the Long Sault to Prescot is forty-one miles shoal water, running from six to eight miles an hour, and impassable by steamboats. Then the Rapid du Plas, half a mile long, and Rapid Galoose, one and half a mile long, intervene."

134

"According to Mr. M'Gregor (Brit. Amer., vol. ii., p. 525), the Ottawa, or Grand River, is said to have its source near the Rocky Mountains, and to traverse in its windings a distance of 2500 miles. The more sober statement of Bouchette attributes to the Ottawa a course of about 450 miles before joining the St. Lawrence."—Bouchette, vol. i., p. 187.

"A tremendous scene is presented at the eastern part of Lake St. Louis, where the St. Lawrence and its grand tributary, the Ottawa, rush down at once and meet in dreadful conflict. The swell is then equal to that produced by a high gale in the British Channel, and the breakers so numerous, that all the skill of the boatmen is required to steer their way. The Canadian boatmen, however, are among the most active and hardy races in the world, and they have boats expressly constructed for the navigation of these perilous channels. The largest of these, called, it is not known why, the Durham boat, is used both here and in the rapids of the Mohawk. It is long, shallow, and nearly flat-bottomed. The chief instrument of steerage is a pole ten feet long, shod with iron, and crossed at short intervals with small bars of wood like the feet of a ladder. The men place themselves at the bow, two on each side, thrust their poles into the channel, and grasping successively the wooden bars, work their way toward the stern, thus pushing on the vessel in that direction. At other times, by the brisk and vigorous use of the oar, they catch and dash through the most favorable lines of current. In this exhausting struggle, however, it is needful to have frequent pauses for rest, and in the most difficult passages there are certain positions fixed for this purpose, which the Canadians call pipes."—H. Murray's Hist. Descr. of America, vol. ii., p. 473.

135

"From the sea to Montreal, this superb river is called the St. Lawrence; from thence to Kingston, in Upper Canada, the Cataraqui or Iroquois; between Lakes Ontario and Erie, the Niagara; between Lakes Erie and St. Clair, the Detroit; between Lakes St. Clair and Huron, the St. Clair; and between Lakes Huron and Superior, the distance is called the Narrows, or Falls of St. Mary. The St. Lawrence discharges to the ocean annually about 4,277,880 millions of tons of fresh water, of which 2,112,120 millions of tons may be reckoned melted snow; the quantity discharged before the thaw comes on, being 4512 millions of tons per day for 240 days, and the quantity after the thaw begins, being 25,560 millions per day for 125 days, the depths and velocity when in and out of flood being duly considered: hence a ton of water being nearly equal to 55 cubic yards of pure snow, the St. Lawrence frees a country of more than 2000 miles square, covered to the depth of three feet. The embouchure of this first-class stream is that part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence where the island of Anticosti divides the mouth of the river into two branches. According to Mr. M'Taggart, a shrewd and humorous writer, the solid contents in cubic feet of the St. Lawrence, embracing Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario, is estimated at 1,547,792,360,000 cubic feet, and the superficial area being 72,930 square miles, the water therein would form a cubic column of nearly 22 miles on each side!"—Montgomery Martin's History of Canada.

136

"Kinnel Lodge, the residence of the celebrated Highland chieftain M'Nab, is romantically situated on the south bank of the lake, about five miles above the head of the Chats Rapids, which are three miles long, and pass amid a labyrinth of varied islands, until the waters of the Ottawa are suddenly precipitated over the Falls of the Chats, which, to the number of fifteen or sixteen, form a curved line across the river, regularly divided by woody islands, the falls being in depth from sixteen to twenty feet."—M. Martin's History of Canada.

137

See Appendix, No. XIX. (vol. II.)

138

"At Quebec, the River St. Lawrence narrows to 1314 yards; yet the navigation is completely unobstructed, while there is formed near the city a capacious harbor. About twenty-one miles lower, its waters, beginning to mingle with those of the sea, acquire a saline taste, which increases till, at Kamauraska, seventy-five miles nearer its mouth, they become completely salt. Yet custom, with somewhat doubtful propriety, considers the river as continued down to the island of Anticosti, and bounded by Cape Rosier on the southern, and Mingau settlement on the northern shore."—Bouchette's Top. and Stat. Descr. of Canada, vol. i., p. 164-169.

139

See Appendix, No. XX. (vol. II.)

140

"The Falls of the Rideau are about fifty feet in height and 300 in breadth, being, at the time we saw them, more magnificent than usual, by reason of the high state of the waters. It is from their resemblance to a curtain that they are distinguished by the name of Rideau, and they also give this name to the river that feeds them, which again lends the same appellation to the canal that connects the Ottawa with Lake Ontario."—Simpson, vol. i., p. 16.

141

Modern alluvial accumulations are rapidly increasing on some points of this coast, owing to the enormous mass of fresh water, charged with earthy matter, that here mingles with the sea. The surface of the water at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, where the depth is 100 fathoms, is stated by Bayfield to be turbid from this cause: yet that this discoloration is superficial is evident, for in the wake of a ship moving through the turbid surface, the clear blue waters of the sea are seen below.

142

"The neighborhood of Quebec, as well as Canada in general, is much characterized by bowlders, and the size and position of some of them is very striking. There are two crowning the height which overlooks the domain farm at Beauport, whose collective weight is little short, by computation, of forty tons. The Heights of Abraham also are, or rather were, crowded with them; and it should never be forgotten that it was upon one of these hoary symbols, the debâcles of the deluge, as they are supposed to be, that the immortal and mortal parts of two heroes separated from each other. It has often occurred to us, that one of the most suitable monuments to the memory of Wolfe and Montcalm might have been erected with these masses, in the form of a pyramid or pile of shot, instead of burying them, as in many instances has been done, in order to clear the ground."—Picture of Quebec, p. 456.

143

Gray says, in 1809, that "no coal has ever yet been found in Canada, probably because it has never been thought worth searching after. It is supposed that coal exists in the neighborhood of Quebec; at any rate, there can be no doubt that it exists in great abundance in the island of Cape Breton, which may one day become the Newcastle of Canada."—P. 287.

"No idea can be formed of the importance of the American coal seams until we reflect on the prodigious area over which they are continuous. The elliptical area occupied by the Pittsburg seam is 225 miles in its largest diameter, while its maximum breadth is about 100 miles, its superficial extent being about 14,000 square miles.

"The Apalachian coal-field extends for a distance of 720 miles from northeast to southwest, its greatest width being about 180 miles.

"The Illinois coal-field is not much inferior in dimensions to the whole of England."—Lyell's America, vol. ii., p. 31.

"It was the first time I had seen the true coal in America, and I was much struck with its surprising analogy in mineral and fossil characters to that of Europe; … the whole series resting on a coarse grit and conglomerate, containing quartz pebbles, very like our millstone grit, and often called by the Americans, as well as the English miners, the 'Farewell Rock,' because, when they have reached it in their borings, they take leave of all valuable fuel."—Ibid., vol. i., p. 61.

144

See Appendix, No. XXI. (vol. II.)

145

Professor Kalm visited the iron-works of St. Maurice in 1748, eleven or twelve years after their first establishment. "The iron-work, which is the only one in the country, lies three miles to the west of Trois Rivières. Here are two great forges, besides two lesser ones to each of the great ones, and under the same roof with them. The bellows were made of wood, and every thing else as in the Swedish forges. The ore is got two and a half miles from the iron-works, and is carried thither on sledges. It is a kind of moor-ore (Tophus Tubalcaini: Linn. Syst. Nat., lib. iii., p. 187, note 5), which lies in veins within six inches or a foot from the surface of the ground. Each vein is from six to eighteen inches deep, and below it is a white sand. The veins are surrounded with this sand on both sides, and covered at the top with a thin mold. The ore is pretty rich, and lies in loose lumps in the veins of the size of two fists, though there are a few which are near eighteen inches thick. These lumps are full of holes which are tilled with ocher. The ore is so soft that it may be crushed between the fingers. They make use of a gray limestone, which is broke in the neighborhood, for promoting the fusibility of the ore; to that purpose they likewise employ a clay marl, which is found near this place. Charcoals are to be had in great abundance here, because the country round this place is covered with wood which has never been stirred. The charcoals from evergreen trees, that is, from the fir kind, are best for the forge, but those of deciduous trees are best for the smelting-oven. The iron which is here made was to me described as soft, pliable, and tough, and is said to have the quality of not being attacked by rust so easily as other iron. This iron-work was first founded in 1737 by private persons, who afterward ceded it to the king; they cast cannon and mortars here of different sizes, iron stoves, which are in use all over Canada, kettles, &c. They have likewise tried to make steel here, but can not bring it to any great perfection, because they are unacquainted with the best method of preparing it. Here are many officers and overseers, who have very good houses built on purpose for them. It is agreed on all hands that the resources of the iron-work do not pay the expenses which the king must every year be at in maintaining it. They lay the fault on the bad state of population, and say that the few inhabitants in the country have enough to do with agriculture, and that it therefore costs great trouble and large sums to get a sufficient number of workmen. But, however plausible this may appear, yet it is surprising that the king should be a loser in carrying on this work, for the ore is easily broken, being near the iron-work, and very fusible. The iron is good; and this is, moreover, the only iron-work in the country, from which every body must supply himself with tools, and what other iron he wants. But the officers and servants belonging to the iron-work appear to be in very affluent circumstances. A river runs down from the iron-work into the River St. Lawrence, by which all the iron can be sent in boats throughout the country at a low rate."—Kalin in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 631.

"M. Dantic, after a number of experiments to class the different kinds of iron, discovered that the iron of Styria was the best, and that the iron of North America, of Danemara in Sweden, of Spain, Bayonne, Roussillon, Foix, Berri, Thierache in Sweden, the communes of France, and Siberia, was the next class."—Abbé Raynal, vol. iii., p. 268.

Weld and Heriot mention that the bank of iron ore at the forges of St. Maurice was nearly exhausted in their time; new veins, however, have been since discovered.

Charlevoix says, in 1720: "Il est certain que ces mines de fer, que l'œil perçant de M. Colbert et la vigilance de M. Talon avoit fait découvrir, après avoir presqú entièrement disparu pendant plus de soixante dix ans, viennent d'être retrouvées par les soins de ceux qui occupent aujourd'hui leur place."—Charlevoix, tom. ii., p. 166.

146

Henry and others speak of a rock of pure copper, from which the former out off 100 lbs. weight. W. Schoolcraft examined the remainder of the mass in 1820, and found it of irregular shape; in its greatest length three feet eight inches, greatest breadth three feet four inches, making about eleven cubic feet, and containing, of metallic matter, about 2200 lbs.; but there were many marks of chisels and axes upon it, as if a great deal had been carried off. The surface of the block, unlike most metals which have suffered a long exposure to the atmosphere, presents a metallic brilliancy.—Martin's History of Canada, p. 175.