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Stuff removed from History of Ottawa article
The area soon was booming, based almost exclusively upon the Ottawa Valley timber trade.

Richmond Road, Ottawa's first thoroughfare.

Richmond Landing was a small settlement started in 1809 by Jehiel Collins with his family. The "Jehiel Collins' store" was located just south of Victoria Island east of the present-day Portage Bridge in present day Lebreton Flats.

The area that would later be known as Bytown had an early small settlement, named Richmond Landing, which would have a road to Richmond, a store and a tavern. Richmond Landing originated with Jehiel Collins who in 1809 built a log cabin and store on the south shore of the Ottawa River, near the Chaudière Falls area. Collins is credited as the first settler of what would become Bytown. In 1818, the landing saw some settlement. Several English regiments were offered land to build a settlement at Richmond, and their families stayed at Richmond Landing. The soldiers hacked their way through the forests, carving out what would become the 30 km long Richmond Road, Ottawa's first thoroughfare.

John MacTaggart describes the project in the following way: "We have laid out two villages, and all the lots are taken up; it surprises me to see the anxiety the people have to become citizens here."

The Union Bridge was completed in 1828, spanning the Ottawa River near Bytown's Chaudière Falls, and named because it linked Upper and Lower Canada. In 1827, Sappers Bridge connecting the Upper Town (west of the canal) and Lower Town (east of the canal) was built over the Rideau Canal. Sappers Bridge joined Rideau Street (east of the canal), to a wagon trail (on its west side) that winded its way to where it met Wellington and Bank. The land east of Bank Street had been acquired from Nicholas Sparks by the military, who returned it to him in late 1849, where he commenced its development. Thereafter, Sappers Bridge became connected directly to Sparks Street.. Sappers Bridge lasted nearly a century when it was replaced by today's Plaza Bridge. Two large chunks of it sit at the site of Colonel By's house in Major's Hill Park today.

Ottawa Gas Company
"Ottawa Was Sixth City To Use Gas" (Ottawa Citizen, April 28, 1958)

Gas first came to Ottawa 104 years ago. The bylaw of the town council of the Town of Bytown granted authority to the Bytown Consumers Gas Company to lay pipes in streets, squares and public places was No. 110 and was dated April 17, 1854, and was signed by H. J. Friel, mayor. It was in the same year that the name of the town was changed to Ottawa.

Ottawa, or Bytown, was thus the sixth town in Canada to use gas. Montreal was the first in 1840, followed by Toronto in 1841, Halifax in 1843, Quebec in 1849 and Brockville in 1853.

Population 7,000
When the first gas works were built on King Edward avenue, the population of Bytown was about 7,000. The gas house was the first building in this area to use slates for roofing, the slates being imported especially for this job.

Street lighting was the first use to which gas was put in Ottawa. Prior to this whale oil lamps were used. The Bytown Consumers Gas Company was one of Ottawa's first public utilities and was supplying gas for lighting 20 years before the start of a civic waterworks system.

A meeting held on April 15, 1856, resolved that the price of gas be fixed at 13 shillings per thousand cubic feet, payable at the end of each quarter. Quite a difference from the price now being paid for natural gas, considering that it takes 2,000 cubic feet of the old manufactured gas to equal 1,000 feet of natural gas. On this basis, gas which now costs 12 cents per 100 cubic feet cost in 1856 approximately 65 cents per 100 cubic feet.

Name Changed
In 1865 the name of the company was changed to the Ottawa Gas Company. In 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition a baking powder company used a gas range for baking demonstrations. The gas range attracted more attention than the baking powder and from that date gas came rapidly into favor for domestic cooking purposes. The first gas stoves appeared in Ottawa about 1880, very crude in appearance compared with the new models now available.

In 1909 the Ottawa Light, Heat and Power Company Ltd., was incorporated as a holding company with Ottawa Gas and the Ottawa Electric Company as its wholly owned subsidiaries. In 1950 Interprovincial Utilities Ltd., was formed to take over the gas business of Ottawa Light, Heat and Power Company and operated until 1957 when it was purchased by the Consumers' Gas Company. Resumings its former name, Ottawa Gas, the company continued to supply manufactured gas to Ottawa, Eastview and Rockcliffe.

Natural Gas
In December, Ottawa Gas brought natural gas to Ottawa, making the capital city area the first in the Ottawa Valley to get the new, modern fuel which has become so popular throughout North America. The natural gas reached the city through a 35-mile pipeline from Morrisburg built by Trans Canada Pipelines and connecting with this company's main transmission line from Toronto to Montreal.

As soon as the natural gas was available, Ottawa Gas embarked on a program of converting gas appliances for using the new fuel. Ottawa, Eastview and Rockcliffe were divided into six conversion areas and easch was converted in approximately three days' time. No charde was made to the customer for making this conversion.

Ottawa Gas has at present 155 miles of distribution gas mains in the Ottawa area and is beginning a large-scale program of extending these lines to the newer areas. Within a period of five years, $7,300,000 will be spent by the company on this program to ensure modern gas service for all areas of Ottawa, Eastview and Rockcliffe.

Electricity in Ottawa
Electricity was first employment at Eddy's mill in Hull in 1881.

In 1881 Ahearn and Soper was formed. Thomas Ahearn, born in LeBreton Flats, became an important figure in the early years of electricity in Ottawa. It was formed as an electrical engineering and contracting business in 1881 by Thomas Ahearn and Warren Young Soper, former manager of Dominion Telegraph Company's local office.. Both men were working for Montreal Telegraph in Ottawa on March 13, 1873. Their principal contracts have been with the C. P. R., Bell Telephone Company, Mackay-Bennett Cable Company, of New York, North American Telegraph Company.

In 1926, they built the Ottawa Electric Building (Albert Ewan, Architect) which still stands on 56 Sparks.

1882: Electric lighting in Ottawa started in 1882 at Young's mill in Lebreton Flats,

1883 the House of Commons and the Senate were illuminated.

1884 Ottawa Electric Light Company formed [citation missing]

In 1885, the Royal Electric Company (of Montreal, formed in 1884) set up Canada's first street lighting systems in Charlottetown and St. John's, Newfoundland. Ottawa had made arrangements with this company to light the city's streets, however, Council gave the contract to a local group.

Ottawa Electric Light Company
In May 1885, electric lighting came to the city when council contracted Ottawa Electric Light Company to install 165 arc lamps on the city's streets. That company, which had as a director one of its founders Francis Clemow, had built a power station which used a water-powered generator.

1887 Ahearn's company, Chaudière Electric Light and Power Company, formed in 1887.

In 1890, there were two electrical providers, (Clemow's) Ottawa Electric Light Company, and Ahearn's company, Chaudière Electric Light and Power Company.[reference?]


 * 1891

In 1892, Ahearn gained some fame for early innovations on electric stoves, and in 1892 filed patents for both an "electric oven" and a "system of warming cars by means of electrically heated water".

In 1894 Ahearn merged Ottawa Electric Light Company, and Chaudière Electric Light and Power Company, and bough out Standard Light Company (formed 1891) in the process, naming it Ottawa Electric Company, creating a virtual monopoly on electrical services in Ottawa.

mid-1890s: Ahearn and Soper moved to 56 Sparks Street from 70 Sparks Street.

1899 a charter was granted by the city to Consumers Electric, a rival company to Ahearn's Ottawa Electric Company.

1905 The City purchased Consumers Electric for $200,000, ending Ahearn's ongoing attempts at acquiring the company. They renamed it "Municipal Electric Department" which was the city's public electricity provider.

1907 The Municipal Electric Department began purchasing power from the Hydro Electric Commission of Ontario.

1908: Ahearn and Soper bought the Ottawa Gas Company, merged it with Ottawa Electric forming the Ottawa Light, Heat and Power Company.

In 1915, the "Municipal Electric Department" became Ottawa Hydro; named as the "Ottawa Hydro Electric Commission", when it joined forces with the provincial network of the Ontario Hydro Electric Commisssion.

In 1950, Ottawa Hydro also acquired the "Ottawa Light, Heat and Power Company", removing the last private sector competitor.

Hydro Ottawa was formed in 2000 when five municipal local distribution companies were merged: Gloucester Hydro, Goulbourn Hydro, Kanata Hydro, Nepean Hydro and Ottawa Hydro. In May 2002, Casselman Hydro also became a part of Hydro Ottawa.

Ahearn and Soper
From the book: Electrical Engineer, Volume 10 Publisher: The Electrical Engineer, New York 1890. http://books.google.com/books?id=N-pQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA489&dq=ahearn+soper&hl=en&ei=UpeTTvTOHem30gGzk-C0Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=ahearn%20%20&f=false

"Electric Railway Work at Ottawa, Can".

A great sensation has been caused in Ottawa by the award to Ahearn & Soper of the electric railway contract by the city aldermen instead of to Howland & Gemmill. The Free Press of October 21 says: "The offer of Messrs Ahearn & Soper to construct the proposed electric street railway has created a sensation, and the matter was the topic of general conversation to-day. Messrs Ahearn & Soper began the electrical business in Ottawa in 1883.  Refernce to Dun, Wiman & Co., shows that the firm is to-day rated at from $150,000 to $200,000, and while the business they have done has largely been in contracts outside of Ottawa, they have built up an electric light business here that has been characterized as the most successful in Canada.  Their principal contracts have been with the C. P. R., Bell Telephone Company, Mackay-Bennett Cable Company, of New York, North American Telegraph Company, and many other corporations of a more or less influential character.  The Chaudiere Electric Light Company was organized by Messrs Ahearn & Soper, with a capital of $400,000, which has since been increased to $500,000, and the stock of the company is now at a premium of ???. For the last four years the firm have employed from forty to fifty men, who are residents of Ottawa, on construction work from spring to fall."

Ahearn and Soper were both working for Montreal Telegraph in Ottawa on March 13, 1873.

2 companies in 1890: Ottawa Electric Light Co., Chaudiere Electric Light and Power Co. (Whipple's electric, gas and street railway financial reference directory

Chaudiere Falls and Rideau Falls history removed from History of Ottawa
Brûlé and Champlain were traveling west to the Great Lakes, but it would be nearly two centuries before the Europeans showed much interest in the land of present day Ottawa. However Brûlé encountered the Chaudière Falls, and the future site of what would be the City of Ottawa. The Chaudière Falls would serve as power for the lumber industry which stimulated the early growth of settlement in the area. Champlain himself originated the name, chaudière, (which the English for a time would call 'Big Kettle') as he describes in his journal on June 14, 1613:

"'At one place the water falls with such violence upon a rock, that, in the course of time, there has been hollowed out in it a wide and deep basin, so that the water flows round and round there and makes, in the middle, great whirlpools. Hence, the savages call it Asticou, qui veut dire chaudiere. This waterfall makes such a noise that it can be heard for more than two leagues off.'"

The area includes Chaudière Island and Victoria Island to the east of that, and according to archaeological evidence, had been used by First Nations people for centuries as a centre of convergence for trade and spiritual and cultural exchange. Later the nearby Parliament of Canada would speak of Ottawa as "a meeting place of three rivers, perched on a rocky point overlooking fast-moving water, wooded land and urban landscapes, within sight of sacred meeting grounds that the Algonquin peoples have always called Asinabka, or "Place of Glare Rock." (Report to Canadians, 2008, House of Commons)

Champlain had also encountered the Rideau Falls, the Rideau River's most northerly point where it empties into the Ottawa River. Much of the early settlement took place between the falls, located east of Parliament Hill, and the Chaudière Falls, in the west, in what would first become Bytown, and later the city of Ottawa. The falls were named by the early French for their resemblance to a curtain (or rideau in French). The Rideau River was later named after the falls. The Rideau Canal would later bypass these falls and provide transportation to immigrants and goods. Champlain wrote: "'There is an island in the centre, all covered with trees, like the rest of the land on both sides, and the water slips down with such impetuosity that it makes an arch of four hundred paces; the Indians passing underneath it without getting wet, except for the spray produced by the fall.'"

The early explorers, hoping to profit from the fur trade, had accomplished what Jacques Cartier was unable to do, where he was blocked near Hochelaga's Lachine Rapids, near present day Montreal. From 1613 to 1663, a royal charter from the King of France gave the successive groups monopolies to invest in New France territories and control of the fur trade and colonization. Among the first of commercial enterprises to evolve in the Ottawa Valley was the fur trade industry, largely influenced by the Hudson's Bay Company. It was formed in 1670 and used the Ottawa River and its tributaries as the local conveyance for the delivery of fur products to Europe through Montreal and Quebec City.

FDC
In 1893, Laurier promised to create a "Washington of the North" Finance minister W.S. Fielding prepared legislation leading to the 1899 creation of the Ottawa Improvement C.  Fielding was prompted by the actions of two aldermen in 1896, Fred Cook and Robert Stewart whose study which included capital beautification was included in an 1897 petition fromt the city. The O.I.C.'s small budget of $60,000 led to only cosmetic beautification of the city.

King took an interest in the city's appearance and in 1927 created the F.D.C. King placed Thomas Ahearn as the head, a man who knew how to make things happen. In 1927, $3 million was allocated to the Confederation Square and park project.

Greber
Greber was invited personally by King, who he had met while visiting the Canadian exhibit at the Paris Exposition in 1936. Greber had no institutional connection to the F.D.C. The work was interrupted in 1939, and in 1945, Greber was invited back to Ottawa by King to resume his work. "This time, however, an institutional connection was provided to the F.D.C., and Greber was mandated to provide a complete plan for the entire capital region. On March 8, 1946, a National Capital planning committee was established under a bylaw of the F.D.C. to "draw up a master plan of the National Capital District", designated in 1944 as a 900 square-mile area, embracing the city and its surroundings." Greber acted as the commision's consultant.

The Greber Report, ready by 1950 had contained a lot of the suggestions made earlier in 3 studies, one of them being the Holt Report, 1915. For example, expansion of Gatineau Park, creation of a Greenbelt, and the use of Confederation Square as the main ceremonial approach to Parliament Hill. Greber suggested that abandoned rails be used for automobile traffic, expressed concern over the river pollution, as well as increasing the size of the National Capital District.

The F.D.C. reformulated as the N.C.C. with a full-time chairman in 1959.

F.D.C. received the support and funding under King, St. Laurent and Diefenbaker.

Collaboration between the city also led to major water and sewer projects, the construction of the Queensway which had been the old GTR/CNR right of way, several bridges, expansion of Carling Avenue, and the offer of F.D.C. land at Green Island to create City Hall, opened in 1958.

Fur Trade
all from ISBN 1-55041-554-9: Riendeau 2000.

Seeking bevear revived interest in North American in seeking sources. Over time deeper ino the interior, it initiated settlement on the shores of the St. L. River and prompted the French government ot regulate trade through controlling the intense competition through monopolies to private companies. (It is also partly responsible for N. France's slow development.)

Excellent quality beaver pelts brought ot Europe fetched a high price at a time when European supplies of beaver were limited. By the end of the sixteenth century, Tadoussac was thriving in the beaver trade. Henry IV was willing to participate in the granting of royal charter of monopoly to designated regions in order to assert French sovereignty overseas, and at a low cost to France.

Growth of Civil Service in Ottawa
Civil service employees with creation of new government departments during a time of stagnation in manufacturing and a decrease in the city's industrialization. 1900 1219 1910 3219 1921 8400 1939 +2000

Early Settlers
The first major settlement near Ottawa was founded by Philemon Wright, a New Englander who, in 1800, set out to establish an agricultural community called Wrightsville (now Hull, Quebec) on the north bank of the Ottawa River at the portage to the Chaudière Falls. Wright. In 1806, Wright pioneered the Ottawa Valley timber trade, soon to be the area's dominant industry, by floating a raft of logs to Quebec City.

Though land on the Ottawa side of the river had already been surveyed and land grants had been issued to absentee landlords as early as 1797, it was not settled. The area that would later be known as Bytown had an early small settlement, named Richmond Landing, which would have a road to Richmond, a store and a tavern. In 1818, several English regiments were offered land to build a settlement at Richmond, and their families stayed at Richmond Landing. The soldiers hacked their way through the forests, carving out what would become the 30 km long Richmond Road, Ottawa's first thoroughfare. Richmond Landing had originated with Jehiel Collins who in 1809 built a log cabin and store located just south of Victoria Island east of the present-day Portage Bridge in present day Lebreton Flats. Collins is credited as the first settler of what would become Bytown. In the intervening years, the area would see such settlers as Braddish Billings, Abraham Dow, Ira Honeywell, John LeBreton. and original owner of much of Ottawa's early lands, Nicholas Sparks. Another major landholder was Lieutenent-Colonel John By, famous for the construction of the Rideau Canal.

Early Settlers
The first major settlement near Ottawa was founded by Philemon Wright, a New Englander from Woburn, Massachusetts who, on March 7, 1800, arrived with his own and five other families along with twenty-five labourers. They started an agricultural community called Wrightsville (now Hull, Quebec) on the north bank of the Ottawa River at the portage to the Chaudière Falls. Food crops were not sufficient to sustain the community and Wright began harvesting trees as a cash crop when he determined that he could transport timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to the Montreal and Quebec City markets, and onward to Europe. His first raft of squared timber and sawn lumber arrived in Quebec City in 1806. The area soon was booming, based almost exclusively upon the Ottawa Valley timber trade. It was from this location that much of the future settlement on the south shore was facilitated. By this time, land on the Ottawa side of the river had already been surveyed and land grants were being issued.

When settlement started near Ottawa, there were two principal local areas, Nepean Township west of the Rideau River and Gloucester Township to the east. Richmond Landing was a small settlement started in 1809 by Jehiel Collins with his family. The "Jehiel Collins' store" was located just south of Victoria Island east of the present-day Portage Bridge in present day Lebreton Flats.

The area that would later be known as Bytown had an early small settlement, named Richmond Landing, which would have a road to Richmond, a store and a tavern. Richmond Landing originated with Jehiel Collins who in 1809 built a log cabin and store on the south shore of the Ottawa River, near the Chaudière Falls area. Collins is credited as the first settler of what would become Bytown. In 1818, the landing saw some settlement. Several English regiments were offered land to build a settlement at Richmond, and their families stayed at Richmond Landing. The soldiers hacked their way through the forests, carving out what would become the 30 km long Richmond Road, Ottawa's first thoroughfare.

In 1810, Braddish Billings became the first settler in Gloucester Township, and two years later he moved to what would later be Bank Street at Riverside. In those early days, Abraham Dow settled at what would become Dow's Lake, an area that came about as the result of flooding required for the Rideau Canal. In 1819, a ferry service to the north side of the river was also established by Ira Honeywell, an early settler in the Brittania Bay area.

Ottawa's downtown business core was once owned by one man, Nicholas Sparks, the name given to Sparks Street which later became famous as a pedestrian-only street. His land extended from Bronson Avenue on the west to beyond the Rideau Canal on the east. North of his property was Wellington Street, containing today's Parliament Hill. West of his land belonged to John LeBreton, creating today's LeBreton Flats, which included Richmond Landing. All these people purchased their lands between 1820 and 1823. Another major landholder was just south of him, Lieutenent-Colonel John By, famous for the construction of the Rideau Canal.

Planned fixes to History of Ottawa
Hence, the savages call it Asticou, qui veut dire chaudiere. The Champlain book is also in OpenLibrary: http://www.archive.org/stream/uvresdechamplai00lavegoog#page/n373/mode/1up

In 1825, The populations of the cities were: (Legget, p23)
 * Quebec City 22,101
 * Montreal 22,357
 * Kingston 2849
 * York 1677

All references taken from the stuff I removed from Ottawa#history
indians

8000 years

Brule champlain

fur trade

Wright 1800

Wright's entourage

Wrightstown agricultural

Wright raft

timber trade

gov sponsored immigration post 1812

races building canal and timbering

timber overtakes fur

construction canal and barrack hill

upper town and lower town

bytown pop and canal end

hull fire

modernized transportation

creation of rmoc

Removed from Ottawa#history
In the years following the War of 1812, the government began sponsored immigration which brought over Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants to settle the Ottawa area. Along with French Canadians who crossed over from Quebec, these two groups provided the bulk of workers involved in the Rideau Canal project and the timber trade.

By the 1820s, the timber trade had overtaken the North American fur trade as the leading economic activity in the area.

During the baby boom of the 1950s, Ottawa saw the modernization of its transportation system.

1969 saw the creation of the upper tier Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton (RMOC) making the city of Ottawa, and others, lower tier municipalities within its boundary; before creation of RMOC, the city of Ottawa was geograpically within Carleton County. In 2001, in an amalgamation legislated by the Province, all twelve existing municipalities within and including RMOC were terminated and replaced by a new incorporation named the City of Ottawa (informally referred to as the new City of Ottawa to distinguish it from its predecessors).

Townships of Upper Canada
Ottawa was in Dundas County, in the Midland District of Upper Canada. This had happened in 1788 when Upper Canada was divided into districts, Ottawa was in the Lunenburg district, renamed Midland in 1792. It was the eastmost of the four districts. It became part of Dundas County when counties were first created in 1792; counties existed within districts. The county to the west was Grenville and to the east was Stormont. Districts were to last even when Upper Canada became part of the Province of Canada. By the time settlement started near Ottawa, there were two principal local areas, Nepean township west of the Rideau River and Gloucester Township to the east. These were formed in ??1792??.

Upper Canada had several towns, however its capital York was play less of a part in Bytown's early development than Kingston, the terminus of the canal and an important ?military?naval base on the eastern shorse of Lake Ontario, where the Rideau River meets the St. Lawrence River. The closest settlement would have been Richmond, xx km to the south.

Land Grants
Sometime before any settlement occurred, Bytown's "land had been surveyed and granted to prospective settlers who applied". Though land had been granted as early as 1797, future settlers of Bytown had to wait for their resale, since their owners hadn't actually settled there. From the early land grants, absentee landowners with the names of McQueen, Randall, and Carmen had acquired land which would eventually become the properties of Colonel By, Captain John LeBreton, and Lord Dalhousie respectively.

Pre-Bytown Names
report, 1824.
 * 1) Samuel Clowes ?surveyed the Rideau Route 1823-4 and ?proposed to have the entrance east of the ?Rideau Falls.
 * 2) By ?1824 a steamboat was arriving every second day at Wright's landing from Montreal.
 * 3) Richmond road was possibly build in 1817-1824 from R. Landing to ?Perth, we know this from a Major Eliot's
 * 1) Sergeant Hill, after arriving in mid August 1818, directed the creation of Richmond Road.(cited from Gourley, History of the Ottawa Valley, pp71-72) "Several hundred women and children, wives and families of the Richmond settlers remained there for the rest of the summer, and suffered a little from both cold and hunger before their soldier husbands had completed the road through the bush and swamp", a road which contained tree stumps, which followed the old Chaudiere portage trail, and is pretty much the route of present day Richmond Road.
 * 2) Andrew Berry
 * 3) Isaac Firth (Frith?)
 * 4) Ralph Smith
 * 5) Jehiel Collins
 * 6) Caleb Bellows
 * 7) Collins' Landing
 * 8) Bellows' Landing
 * 9) Robert Randall
 * 10) The 99th & 100th Regiments
 * 11) Randall's Lot (possibly contained Richmond Landing)
 * 12) Captain Bellows
 * 13) the Pointe
 * 14) Rideau Place
 * 15) Rev. Father Heron
 * 16) Pierre Desloges
 * 17) Livius Sherwood
 * 18) Lyman Perkins


 * 1) Barrack?s? Hill: Parliament Hill. Named because it contained army barracks: 3 main buildings, a hospital? and a ????.  The hill is a high rocky cliff.
 * 2) ?? The port/dock at the head of the rideau canal was called ??
 * 3) Nannygoat Hill
 * 4) Nepean Point

There was Indian evidence in hull (Brault, 38), and west of Ottawa (woods, 6). "Thus th elimestone cliffs of Ottawa remained uninhabited while a procession of explorers, f. traders, missnaries ...."(woods, 5).

De Vigneau was the 2nd person to pass by Ottawa (Woods, 6).

Construction of the Rideau Canal


Before Colonel By arrived, the entire townships of Gloucester and Nepean probably contained only six buildings. In late September 1826, there was no suitable location on the south side of the river from which to direct operations, so Colonel By set up his base of operations in Wrightsville.

There was also Sleigh Bay. Sleigh Bay had gotten its name from when Wright's son got married the ceremony was performed from sleighs.

Franklin laid the first stone at the canal's entrance August 16, 1827. (forgot if woods, mika, leggett, or brault).

The party where the bytown name was mentioned was in early March, 1827, and on March 9,1827, the Kingston Chronical states that the town would be named after By. (Mika, 81).

Rideau Canal Changes
The Canal Basin, also known as a Lay By, was a part of the early Rideau Canal which which became a docking basin, and was later removed. It was located opposite today's National Arts Centre. The area south of the entrance of the canal required draining, as a twelve acre swamp existed there. Colonel By created some strategic cuts and installed a dam to reduce the swamp, and this created a docking basin. This basin also served as a reservoir to feed the locks.

The By Wash was a stream running from the Rideau Canal through Lower Town which emptied into the Rideau River. It was fed by a "wooden sluice gate in the dam" and removed the overflow of the Canal Basin. The By Was folled a path which crossed Rideau Street ran down a sections of George Street and King Edward (which was very wide to accomodate it) and ended near St. Andrew Street where it ended in the Rideau River. The By Wash once ran a small mill on York Street.

Law, Magistrates, Councils
By was the first magistrate. Council was adopted in 1828 (Brault, 81).

Land Ownership
On September 22, 1820, LeBreton purchased lot 40 from Randall whose creditors led him to sell it.. Lot 40 included Lebreton Flats (except for a small western portion, reserved for clergy) and extended eastward to Bronson Avenue (first named Concession Street). It contained Collins store and Richmond Landing. The purchase included lot 40 in both Concession 1 and Concession A, and so extended all the way south almost to Dow's lake, at present day Carling Avenue. The eastern half of his 900 acre purchase became the property of Livius Sherwood, who helped finance it.

A September 21, 1821 document indicates that Nicholas Sparks, a farmhand of Philemon Wright, purchased 200 acres of land from John Burrows Honey, including the cabin. It was lot C, Concession C, and ran from today's Bronson Avenue on the west all the way beyond the canal (to Waller) on the east. Its north boundary was Wellington Street and its south boundary was Maria Street (later renamed Laurier). Sparks donated about 20 acres of land towards the canal's construction and some to the development of the community. "By 1836, he is realizing 400 pounds sterling on the sale of lots one seventh of an acre in size." He built a stone home near today's Sparks Street and Bay Street.

The Rideau Canal Act of February 1827, by the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada expropriated 104 acres of Nicholas Sparks' land, not returned to him until 1847 or late 1849.

On June 18, 1823, Dalhousie, as the Governor-in-Chief of British North America purchased 400 acres of land, part of which would later become Parliament Hill. It was lots A and B in Concession C and was east of Bronson Avenue and north of Wellington Street. Dalhousie's purchase became known as the Ordnance lands.

So by this time, the LeBreton Flats were dominated by LeBreton, Downtown/Centretown south of Wellington was dominated by Sparks, and the land north of Wellington, Dalhousie's purchase, would be for government use. Louis Besserer owned all the land in Lower Town east of Sparks' property right to the Rideau River. And Colonel By own land south of the properties of Sparks and Besserer, all the way from Bronson on the West to the Rideau on the east.

The cemetery in the downtown area was created due to the 1828 Malaria epidemic.

Pooley's Bridge
[Section removed and moved to LeBreton Flats. (unmoved stuff follows:)

Pooley's Bridge was between Upper Town and LeBreton Flats which joined the lumbering district and the Upper Town, and is seen in a 19th century Chesterton painting This structure of (round) unpeeled cedar logs, which crossed the gully on the south shore, so impressed By that he decided to name it Pooley's Bridge after its builder. The bridge was assigned to Pooley by the colonel in an area referred to as "The Gully", which "obstructs the new road leading from Union Bridge to Bytown" By said "Well! Well! We must christen that thing Pooley's Bridge." after seeing its unique appearance. "The gully now serves as a roadway immediately west of the National Library and Public Archives Building." The bridge was on the road from Wellington and Bank en route to the Union Bridge.

Duke Street was possibly between Pooley’s Bridge and Richmond Landing on.

1830's-1850's
A History of the Canadian Peoples 1998 J.M. Bumsted 0-19-541200-1 p145: 1841 Act of Union proclaimed. "The Act of Union, which joined Upper and Lower Canada in July 1840."

Entymology of Ottawa as the name of the city
(Brault, p19:) There were those in the town hoping that it would become the capital, and several names were suggested by several townspeople. The Bytown Gazette on March 7, 1844 first suggested using an aboriginal name, and "for the first time appears the name Ottawa". In 1853, Municipal Council, with Mayor Turgeon "proposed to rename the city to take advantage of a concidence which would give the chang in name historic significance". 1854 marked the 200th anniversary of "the opening of navigation by the Ottawa Indians on the river" "After the extermination of the Hurons by the Iroquois and the pursuit of their allies, the river became deserted for approximately 5 years.  In 1654, after a truce had been signed by the Iroquois in Montreal, the Ottawas who whad taken refuge from the Manitoulin Island to Wisconsin for fear of the Iroquois, came down to trade at Montreal for the first time by way of the Algonquin River, which was afterwards known as River of the Ottawas". The name was adopted in 1854 "in a petition to the governor, the act came into effect January 1, 1855".

The population of Bytown in 1850, according to Scott, was about 7000. According to a directory from November 1851, Bytown's population was about 8000.

After Ottawa was chosen as the capital, the population doubled in a short period of time.

Lumbering in Ottawa
The mills of Philip Thompson and Daniel MacLachlin were the first to harness the power of the falls for industry. Also see the article on Henry Franklin Bronson.

Chaudiere Area Railways
The Bytown and Prescott Railway had preceded any railway coming to the Chaudiere by years. An 1857 map show its rails running west over the Rideau River then over a bridge that is missing, but has evidence still in the water, then onto McTaggart street where the rails end at Dalhousie at 45.43542,-75.696682

Railways
Please refer to the main article: Government Conference Centre for the history of railways in Ottawa. See also Bytown and Prescott Railway.

Bytown and Prescott Railway
Operation of the Bytown and Prescott (the terminus on the St. Lawrence) began in 1854, with the official arrival of the first train into Bytown on December 24, 1854.

Scott recalled being needed to help incorporate a railway company which would create a rail connection of Bytown with the "contemplated trunk which was to unite Montreal and Toronto"; i.e. a railway between Bytown and Prescott. The Bytown and Prescott Railway was formed in 1850, and after a slow and troubled construction, led to the first train's arrival on December 24, 1854, Ottawa's first railway connection to the outside world.

"By the early 1880's a profusion of separate rail companies began to build railway stations in Bytown." 1st: in New Edinburg by the Bytown & Prescott Railway Company. Soon following: station at Broad Street. Additional stations:
 * 1) Elgin St. by Canada-Atlantic Railway, early 1880's
 * 2) corner of Nicholas St. and Mann by the Ottawa & New York Railway in 1898.[p41]

Other companies also ran rail lines into the city, including:
 * 1) Canadian Pacific
 * 2) the Central Canada
 * 3) the Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound,
 * 4) the Montreal & Atlantic(Eggleston, 1961)

J.R. Booth built the first central railway station in 1895, but "Booth treated it as the exclusive property of his own company, the Canada Atlantic Railway."

In 1910 the government apportioned a part of the Rideau Canal to the Grand Trunk Railway in order to build a new station and hotel.

In July 1870, the Ottawa City Passenger Railway (O.C.P.R.), which was completed in 1866, was operating. One of its routes was between New Edinburgh and the Chaudiere area (to the Union Bridge). In 1868, St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway owner Thomas Reynolds bought control of the O.C.P.R. and tried to transport lumber at night from the Chaudiere area to McTaggart Street terminal of the St. Lawrence & Ottawa Railway with dubious success. He brought a branch line to the Chaudiere area from a point near Billings Bridge to a terminal on Broad Street and he sold his interst in the Streetcar company. (Woods, p.141).

An 1874 map shows Broad street with two railways approaching and two stations both west of Broad street.
 * Canada Central R. R.
 * coming in from the west,
 * station between the ends of Queen (which is probably Fleet street) and Ottawa Street, west of Broad Street.
 * station at 45.415112,-75.719064 or a few feet south of that
 * St. Lawrence and Ottawa R. R.
 * curving gradually to the south.

How the Canadian Atlantic Railway got to the Chaudiere Later: According to a map variously dated 1888, 1895 and 1901, The Queensway going west was a railway and when it reached Preston, it continued from that point and it was just slightly east by mere feet of where the current O train line crosses Gladstone and followed it on its east side into LeBreton.. That was the Canadian Atlantic Railway.

Chaudiere Falls
The Ottawa City Directory lists the following companies in 1876:
 * BOOTH J. R., Albert Island, Chaudier: Lumber Merchants
 * Perley & Pattee, 105 Chaudiere: Lumber Merchants
 * Dorin & Kipp, Chaudiere: Aerated Water Manufacturer

Victoria Island
The Ottawa City Directory lists the following companies in 1876:
 * Blasdell & Co., Victoria Island, Chaudier : Forwarders
 * Baldwin A.H., Victoria Island: Lumber Merchants
 * Young Levi, Victoria Island, Chaudiere: Lumber Merchants

Ottawa Fire of 1900
On April 26, 1900, fire started on Redempteur Street in Hull at 10 a.m., the Montreal detatchment arrived by five o'clock in the afternoon. "The fire burned itself out around midnight" leaving 7 dead, 3000 buildings destroyed, and 15,000 homeless. Large donations by Canada and the British Empire, the U.S. also contributed generously. G.R.C. for Ottawa and Hull disbu~se over $950,000.[p.57]

Royal Stuff
Royal Swans Queen Beatrix born here hence the Tulip Festival

Champlain's 1632 Map
Samuel de Champlain's 1632 Map from the Public Archives of Canada:"les voyages de la Nouvelle France occcidentale". From his personal observations during his travels 1615-16 as well as from information from Étienne Brûlé. It was touted as "a quality superior to other cartography of that century [...] but the accuracy and detail in Acadia and Mer douce is extraordinary.

Post Office
In 1937, the Ottawa Post Office was demolished to make way for the National War Memorial. At the same time, all the buildings remaining in blocks 201 and 202 (east of Elgin, south of Wellington, west of the canal and north of Queen) were to disappear in the widening of Elgin Street.

City Hall
Located just south of the police station on Queen, east of Elgin, west of the canal. City hall in block 203 burned in 1931 and was only replaced in 1958 on Green Island at the Rideau Falls.

Russell Hotel
In 1928 fire destroyed the Russell Hotel. The site was part of the National War Memorial (Canada) site. (probably Wetering 1997, p57) The elegant Russell House Hotel was damaged by fire in 1931 and removed in 1937-1938 during the construction of Confederation Square.

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The Ottawa Valley soon was booming based almost exclusively upon the timber trade. By 1812, the timber trade had ...

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