User:DullestStimpy/Ottawa River timber trade

The Ottawa River timber trade, also known as the Ottawa Valley timber trade or Ottawa River lumber trade, was the nineteenth century production of wood products by Canada on areas of the Ottawa River destined for British and American markets. It was the major industry of the historical colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada and it created an entrepreneur known as a lumber baron. The trade in squared timber and later sawed lumber led to population growth and prosperity to communities in the Ottawa Valley, especially the city of Bytown (now Ottawa, the capital of Canada). The product was chiefly red and white pine. The Ottawa River being conveniently located with access via the St. Lawrence River, was a valuable region due to its great pine forests surpassing any others nearby. The industry lasted until around 1900 as both markets and supplies decreased.

The industry came about following Napoleon's 1806 Continental Blockade in Europe causing the United Kingdom to require a new source for timber especially for its navy and shipbuilding. Later the U.K.'s application of gradually increasing preferential tariffs increased Canadian imports. Leading into the early 1800’s much of the pine in New Brunswick had been cut and Ottawa-Gatineau was considered the boundary for lumbering. Moving to the mid 1800’s much of the pine in this once pristine area was now cut. The first part of the industry, the trade in squared timber lasted until about the 1850s. The transportation for the raw timber was first by means of floating down the Ottawa River, proved possible in 1806 by Philemon Wright. Squared timber would be assembled into large rafts which held living quarters for men on their six week journey to Quebec City, which had large exporting facilities and easy access to the Atlantic Ocean.

John Rudolphus Booth(1827-1925), a Canadian became one of the largest lumber barons, and one of Canada's most successful entrepreneurs; he also worked at the Chaudière. He had once helped build Andrew Leamy's sawmill in Hull, and later began producing shingles near the Chaudière Falls in a rented sawmill. He later built his own sawmill, was the lumber supplier for the Parliament buildings, and his name became widely known. With profits, he financed a large sawmill at the falls. In 1865, he was the location's third largest producer and twenty-five years later he had the highest daily output in the world. Booth’s operation in the 1870’s was so immense, it produced more than 30 million board feet of pine lumber.

The Ottawa River was the means of transporting logs to Quebec, using timber rafting. Sticks were trapped by a boom at the mouth of the tributary to be assembled into cribs, each crib consisting of 30 or more sticks of timber. Then the cribs, up to 100 of them, were joined together into a raft that served as the "riverman's home for the month-long journey downriver to Quebec. The crew lived in bunk houses right on the raft, and one of the cribs contained the cookery. The rafts were large enough in some cases that thirty plus men could live aboard, even having quarters for the captain.

The first timber slide on the Ottawa River was built on the North Side near the Chaudière Falls by Ruggles Wright, son of Philemon following a visit to Scandinavia to learn of lumbering techniques there. The slide was 26 feet wide and was used to bypass the falls. Prior to this, bypassing the falls was a difficult task, and at times met with fatalities. His first slide was built in 1829 and during the next few years, other locations on the river began to employ them. This section of the Chaudière Falls where the first slide was built was on the north side of the Ottawa river, near the nicknamed "Little Kettle" waterfall. This construction of inclined slide was not just the first in Ottawa but it was the first in Canada to accommodate an entire crib of square timber.

The timber slides were used as forms of entertainment, visitors which were unfamiliar with the slides were quite intrigued with the rushing logs and men wrangling them. In one such occasion during the Prince of Wales visit in 1860, a specially crafted raft was constructed for the prince to experience the timber slides first hand.

Philemon Wright, the founder of Wright's Town, which became Gatineau, Quebec built the first timber raft, called Columbo, to go down the Ottawa River on June 11, 1806, taking 35 days to get to Montreal alone. It was manned by Philemon, his 17 year-old son Tiberius and three crewmen - London Oxford, Martin Ebert and John Turner - and they ended up at the Port of Quebec. The raft had to be broken up into cribs to clear the Long-Sault Rapids (the original Anishinaabe name was Kinodjiwan - meaning long-rapids - invisible since the river was dammed at the Carillon Generating Station). The 300-kilometer trip was dangerous with treacherous sections of rapids, specifically the Long Sault on the lower Ottawa. Their raft accidentally came apart while traversing the river and ultimately 2 months were added onto their trip. This delay in their schedule cause Wright to miss his contract and left him unable to sell the lumber until months later. This delay unexpectedly turned positive as when the timber was sold in late November, Napoleon had just cut off the Baltic-British timber trade. These series of events led to Wright setting president for future squared timber trade in the Ottawa Valley. The first timber slide on the Ottawa River was built by Philemon's son, Ruggles Wright, on the North Side near the Chaudière Falls following a visit to Scandinavia to learn of lumbering techniques there. Philemon had an employee, Nicholas Sparks (politician) - a lumberman in his own right - who owned the land that would eventually form the heart of Bytown (Ottawa's first name) and whose name was given to Sparks Street.

What it took to run a winter logging operation.

To extract logs during the winter season it is estimated that logging firms had to supply 430 men for log extraction from the woods, 300 men for piling and moving logs, and 300 teamsters to control the horses and log sleighs for 150,000 logs. The supplies needed for these men are as follows below

• 825 barrels of pork

• 900 barrels of flour

• 925 bushels of beans

• 37000 bushels of oats

• 300 tons of hay

• 1000 grindstones

• 75 dozen axes

• 1,500 boom chains

• 3,750 gallons of syrup

• 7,500 lb of tea

• 1,875 lb of soap

• 6,000 lb of tobacco

• 60 crosscut saws

• 225 sleighs

• 900 pairs of blankets

• 45 boats



Places outside city of Ottawa

Fort-Coulonge ,The Coulonge River joins the Ottawa River just east of Pembroke, Ontario. A slide owner named George Bryson Sr. built up much of the logging infrastructure in the area and was known for charging rival loggers a fee for using his timber slide. Today the Coulonge chute is a popular tourist attraction with activities such as ziplining and obstacle courses or visitors can just get a view of the falls.

Bonnechere Valley, The town of Bonnechere sits alongside the Bonnechere River. Along the Bonnechere river there are 5 chutes they are located in Castleford, Renfrew, Ontario, Douglas, Bonnechere caves, and Eganville, Ontario.