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Early and engineering Legget, R. F.

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Engineering Journal, 44, 2, pp. 70-76, 1961-02-01

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EARLYOTTAWA AND TNCINEERING

by

BUILDINGRESEARCH Robert F. Legget . LIETII1IY . MARii 196i ANALYZED NATIONALRESEARCH COU$CIL

REPRINTED FROM

THE ENGINEERING JOURNAL voL. 44 NO. 2 1961,P. 70-76

TECHNICAL PAPER NO. 116

OF THE

DIVISION OF BUILDING RESEARCH

PRICE 10 CENTS OTTAWA NRC 6179

FEBRUARY 196I

- 1/.oL,2d7 - _ This publication is being dis'tributed by the Division of Building Research of the Nation:al Research council as a contribution towards better building in canada. It should not be reproduced in whole or in part, without permission of the original publisher. The Division would be elad to be of asiistance in obtaining such permission.

Publications of the Division of Building Research may be obtained by ,the ryailing appropriate remittance, (a Bank, Express, or Post Office Money Order or a cheque made payable at par in Ottawa, to the Receiver General of Canada, credit National R,esearch Council) to the National Research Council, Ottawa. Stamps are not acceptable.

A coupon system has been introduced to make payments for publications relatively simple. Coupons are available in denominations of 5, 25, and 50 cents, and may be obtained by making a remittance as indicated above. These coupons may be used for the purchase of all National Resear.ch Council pub- lications including specifications of the canadian Governrnent specificaiions Board. RobertF . Legget,M.E.I.c., Director, Diaision of Bui.l.dingResearch, N ational ResearchC ouncil- Ottawa.

Early Ottawa and Engineering

Presented to the first E.I.C. Ottawa Regional Meeting, Chateau Laurier, October 16, 1959. portage, fiTTAWA is a charming city. To bounds. If the residents of Hull and very early use of this famous \,f both residents and visitors alike Gatineau Point will permit such a unknown voyageurs, anxious to make the nationrs capital with its water- slight geographical inexactitude, for their traverse a little easier, construc- ways, its parks and parkways, and ilts the purpose of this paper only, then ted what can accurately be described steadily growing collection of stately it can be said of Ottawa that its im- as the first Ottawa engineering prol'ect buildings crowned by the noble group mediate area does include the con- - four or five sets of stone steps and of buildings on , must fuence of three important rivers, t-he a small stone causeway r'ear the up- often appear to be a perfectly located Ottawa, the Rideau andthe Gatineau, stream end of the Second (or Little) city, an expanding municipality utiliz- all of which have had their infuence Chaudidre Porttage. Largely through ing an area specially chosen as a upon its development. First and fore- the efforts of the two Canadian Clubs desirable site for a capital city. But most is the Ottawa, one of the truly of Ottawa, these historic relics have all who know anything of the history historic waterways of North America, been preserved in place, as a national of Ottawa know rthat this superffcial providing the main route to the inter- historic site, just as they were used impression of its beginnings is far ior of most of this continent for almost through the years; they may be seen from correct. The city does occupy a all of the early explorers. today near the east end of Br6beuf lovely location but the city of today It was in 1613 dhat Champlain saw Park in Val T6treau (in Hull). What stands where it does mainly because and described the lovely falls of the Canadian, and in particular what it occupies the site of an early con- , as he approached the Canadian engineer, can stand on these struction camp, built on a clearing in Chaudidre, there to disembark and ancient steps - looking at the won- the virgin forest, its location deter- follow the two short portages on the derful panorama presented by the mined by the start of a military canal north bank of the river, long used by modern city - without being moved that is still a notable engineering un- the Indians. As the continenlt was ex- by tthoughts of all the pioneers who dertaking. This is but one of the close plored, he was followed by a steadily have trudged up and down that same links between early Otltawa and early increasing stream of travellers, the portage path, by refections upon the engineering work. Today under the Ottawa being used in preference to the inevitability of some sort of settle- co-operative guidance of the National the St. Lawrence as the more direct ment being formed adjacent rto the Capital Commission and local muni- route to the upper lakes and ,to the great falls, now harnessed so corn- cipal councils it is slowly being trans- north. BrCrl6 and Nicolet. Le Caron pletely for modern convenience. formed from a rather nondescript and Br6beuf, Radisson and Groseil- Philemon Wright, a shrewd and en- ,capital town into a district of Which liers, and LaSalle in the lTth century; ergetic Yankee from Woburn, Mass., the nation may well be proud. Lav6rendrye, Alexander Henry and sar,v this possibility on his third jour- There are many major cities of the Alexander Mackenzie in the l8th; ney north of his border with the world located on the banks of one and a great number, including David result that in February 1800 he left river, junction some at the of two. Thomson and Simon Fraser. as re- his home town with his family and - There are but few cilties, however, cently as the last century all'these some associates, arriving in March at that have 'the good pioneers por- fortune to have came up tlre Ottawa and the Chaudidre, there to settle on the three important rivers within their taged to the Chaudidre. And in the north bank, thus founding what is,to- Photograph in the article heading is of a Bartlett print, published in London in 1842, day the modern city of Hull. The first in the possession of the author. It shows the entrance locks of the as they appeared in 1839. settlers in the Ottawa valley had come

4 in a few years before, starting in 1791, the fortress of Kingston must be built, lots - the start of local town plan- but they were still scattered and iso- even though the government of Up- ning. One year later, the "corner lated when Wright, with the aid of per Canada had declared itself too stone" for the locks was laid by the his sons, set about clearing his land. poor to contribute to the cost. Fear of Countessof Dalhousie in a small but His fame spread and so he was soon renewed war was in the air. Mili:tary pleasant ceremony held on Sept. 29, followed by other pioneers who were authorities knew that, if hostilities did 1827. Less than five years later, on attracted by the possibilities of busi- break out again with the United May 29, 1832, Colonel By now ac- ness at the portage, including the re- States, Kingston could not be sup- companied by his wi{e and two doubtable Miss Dalmahoy of Edin- plied (as it had been throughout the daughters and fellow officers came burgh (whose story all engineers war of 1812) by way of the St. back to the same spot, but this time should know even though it can not Lawrence, since American ambushes on board the ,little steamer Pumper, be classified as engineering). Caleb along the international reach of the (renamed Rideau tfor the occasion) at Bellows was one such settler; it is liver would be a certainty. The Ri- the conclusion of the ffrst voyage recorded that in 1809 he built not deau River had to be canalized. the through the completed canal, starting only a store but als,o a small ilock on Rideau Lakes linked by navigable at Kingston Mills. The achievements the south side of the river at what channels, and the Cataraqui River of John By during those ffve years, soon came to be known as Bellows transformed from a rushins stream in design, construction and in local Landing, the location from which the into a chain of navigable lakes in administration, constitute an epic of Rideau Canal might have started had order to permit the passage of supply North American engineering. it not been for a strange chapter Of vessels from Montreal, up the Ottawa Faithfully indeed did the Superin- accidents. Nearby, another pioneer and so to Kingston. tending Engineer carry out his as- (Ralph Smith) built, in addition to The Engineer officer was Lieut. signed tasks - and the citizens of his cabin, a still which might thus be Col. John By, selected almost cer- today beneftt therefrom in lnnumer- classed as the first industry of the tainly by the Duke of Wellington able ways. He reserved for the use atea. himself to be the Superintending En- of goverrrmerrt 'the site now known By 1826, Philemon Wright had gineer on this great work. By and the as Parliament Hill. He laid out unusu- cleared 3,000 acres; Hull was a thriv- Earl of Dalhousie inspected the site ally broad streets, with the co-opera- ing little community. The south side proposed by the Governor for the tion of Nicholas Sparks; Wellington of the river, however, was still almost canal entrance, and agreed upon the and Rideau Streets are the legacy. He untouched virgin forest, magniffcent ffrst steps to be taken towards con- aided the establishmenrt of local stands of trees extending right to the struction. Before ,they left to refurn churches; he initiated local educa- water's edge as travellers'accounts of to Montreal, the Governor wrote and tion; he started essential municipal the time vividly record. In the whole gave to By a letter which was, in services.His construction work is seen of Nepean township there were only effect, the charter of Ottawa for in i't in the canal of today, with its flight two stores, one stone building, three he said: "I take the opportunity of of entrance locks and those at Hart- squared timber houses and a few meeting you here to place in your wells and at Hog's Back, where By's small log cabins. Such was the site hands a sketch Plan of several lots of great dam is now the core of the of the modern city, when early in land, which I though't it advantageous modern structure. He fooded Dow's September of that year, the Earl of to purchase for the use of Govern- great swamp in a singularly bold piece Dalhousie, Governor-in-Chief, accom- ment. . . . These not only contain the of engineering, thus bequeathing to panied by a middle-aged officer of the site for the head locks, but they offer the modern ci,ty the pleasure of Dow's Royal Engineers, and their aides, a valuable locality for a considerable Lake, constmcting one of the ffrst sailed up the river from Montreal, to village or town for the lodging of large earth dams in North America be greeted warmly by Wright. They Artificers, and other necessary assist- for this purpose, a dam still 'to be had come to select the site for the ants in so great a work ." the seen to the east side of Colonel By entrance to the Rideau Canal, the letter proceeding to explain how some Drive. One of his construction build- British Government having ffnally de- of the land was to be subdivided, ings still stands, most fortunately, a cided that this vital link in the alter- even going so far as to detail how fine example of old masonry work native route between Montreal and buildings should be located on the now happily used by the Ottawa His-

Fig. l. The Second Union Bridge, designed by Samuel Keefer, having a clear span of 243 It, 6 in.; opirned in 1844 (From a water colour in the Public Archives of Canada. Ottawa; reproduced by permission).

i started. Some part of the old canals should be preserved. Passengers on the steamers would see not only river traffic provided try other steamers and barges, but the special Ottawa River traffic consisting of rafts of squared timbers. The magnificent stands of white pine thloughout the Ottawa Val- ley attracted ear'ly attention, to such an extent that they soon became a major source of supply for the British Navy in its great days of wooden war- ships. Philemon Wrigl,rt was respon- sible for the first ra'ft of timber to go down the Ottawa; it left Hul{ fune 11, 1806. Almost a century later, June 18, 1904, the last raft made the sarne jour- ney, the or.mer being ano,ther famous Fig.2. Entrance Locks to the Rideau Canal as they appeared in 1860; the Sappe-rs' looal figure-J. R. Booth. The rise and Bridge is on the extreme right, the arch obscured by the wooden sidewalk; the fall of this great industry wi'thin the Chatiau Laurier now occupies the cleared area on the far side of the Canal, originally hundred years is a fascinating story, used as the construction work yard for the Canal (From a photograph by S. Mc- of the Ottawa Valley be- Loughlin in the Public Archives of Canada; reproduced by permission)' the character ing viftually transformed as the great trees were steadily cut down to be re- placed - if at all - by smaller species. torical Society and maintained by ada by the new route, with the result The great rafts were engineering them as the Museum. Con- that within a few years there was a structures of note, statically lndeter- taining much interesting local histor- regular and frequent service on what minate without doub,t, but sturdy and ical material, it is so much under the became known as the "Triangle stable as built with all the skill of shadow of the Chateau Laurier that Route" - Montreal, up the Ottawa, Ottawa rivermen, r#ho became fa- all too few visi,tors (and citizens too) the Rideau Canal to Kingston, and mous throughout the continent. ever notice its existence. And on the back to Montreal down the St. Law- site of his construction yard and main rence. Only when the ffrst steamer Rafts could not pass over the Chau- workshops stands the Chateau Laur- reached Kingston by way of the finally didre and so had to be dismantled ier. Rarely has the construction of one completed St. Lawrence Canals, in above, the timbers being passed down engineering project been so directly 1855, did the Rideau route cease to separately at first, to be re-assembled responsible for the start of a city as be in fact, if not in name, the ffrst in the quiet water below ttrhe falls. was the Rideau Canal for Ottawa. It St. Lawrence Seaway. Hardwood had actually to be carted good the Canal falls, as much as 2O days is indeed to think that This canal traffic led not only to around the feature of the full raft. It has become so central a good business for Bytown but also to beins taken to transfer a has been so well main- was no wonder, therefore, that during city, that it the erection of additional wharves, years, and that it his first visit, in September 1826, tained through the warehouses and service buildings, thus by its sur- By was approached for aid has been so beautified having an appreciable effect upon the Colonel gardens parkways. problem. persuaded the rounding and physical development of Ottawa. So with this He it remain so vital a paft of Eall Dalhousie to grant S2,000 for Long may also did the corresponding traffic of dredging of a channel on the this city. on the Ottawa River itself, between the south side of the falls and this made Even before conshuction of the Montreal and Hull and Bytown. To- some improvement. It was Ruggles Canal was complete, the little con- wards the end of the century there Wright, Philemon's son, who ffrst sug- struction camp had become a small was an express river passenger service gested the possibility of constructing town. At a dinner held in 1827, rt by which it was possible rto leave timber slides as a solution to the con- had been suggested almost jocularly Ottawa at 7:30 in the morning and tinuing problem, following a visit he that the settl'ement, officially first arrive in Montreal by 6:30 the same had paid to Sweden and Norway to called Rideau Canal, should be named evening, making use of the once fa- study Scandinavian methods of handl- Bytown. The name was quickly ad- mous Carillon and Greenville Railway ing large timber. The first slide was opted for official use; as Bytown the to circumvent the rapids below built in 1829; two more were soon city was incorporated and remained Hawkesbury without the delay of added and competition became keen. as such until 1855 when Ottawa was using the Ottawa River Canals. The They were most successful; rafts had adopted as the new official name. ffrst class fare for this splendid trip, melely to be disarticulated at the Wharves and warehouses had been including shooting the Lachine Rap- head of the falls, sent down the slide built on the River, adjacent to the ids, was $2.50, meals being 50 cents in and re-assembled bdlow. canal entrance; these were very.quick- each. The future of these picturesque sections, ly put to full use. The canal did serve and historic waterways, as old as the Old photographs show clearly what its intended purpose of conveying Rideau Canal, is now in grave doubt, an exciting venture was the "naviga- military supplies, even in view of the start on the Carillon troops and tion" of a timber slide, but the river though most fortunately these were power project. Once before the old men were adept and sure of them- not needed for actual warfare. But canals had been threatened, when the selves, so sure indeed that when King civilian ,traffic on the Canal increased Georgian Bay Ship Canal project was rapidly; the merchants of Montreal under active consideration early in the Edward VII as the Prince of Wales were not slow to see the advantages present century. It was not buil't, but visited Ottawa in 1860, he was taken of shipping their goods to Upper Can- the Carillon project has alrcady down one of the slides on a small raft of squared timber, greatly to the which about f ,500 h.p. are generated. lage of Ro.ckcliffe Park. McKay's concern of some in his entourage. Srnall in comparison with develop- Castle is known today as , One of the last "official" uses of the ments at the Chaudidre, the Rideau andther legacy of engineering to the slides was in 1901 when the Duke Falls mills and power plants provide nation. and Duchess of Cornwall (later to an unbroken example of local engi- It was in 1868 that McKay's Castle, be King George V and Queen Mary) neering endeavour from the earliest and 90 acres of land around it, were were taken down during their Cana- days of settlement. purchased by the nation (after being dian visit of that year. The slides were rented for two years) for the use of Thomas McKay splendid engineering structures, them- the Governor General of the newly- selves solidly built of squared timbers. Thomas McKay's name is an hon- formed Dominion, afiter ilt had been Remains of the slides are still to be ored one in Ottawa; the city owes decided not to build a new "Govern- seen, the upper part of the Wright much to him. A masonrv contractor ment House" on Nepean Poin! as had slide within a stone's throw of the r'vho had earned an enviable reputa- been originally planned and strongly tion in Montreal busy rue Principale of Hu'll, immedi- before the start of urged. Sir John A. Macdonald was ately behind the old Anglican ,Church the Rideau Canals works, he was en- overruled by his cabinet colleagues on of St. James. One, at least, of these old trusted by Colonel By withthe mason- this matter for he is reported to have slides should be retained, restored and ry work for the great entrance flight said, at a later date: "I also wished rto preserved as a reminder of one of the of locks, now so familiar a feature of acquire all'that property" (pointing to most colourful aspects of Ottawa's the Ottawa scene. Testimony to the the direction of Nepean Point) "and early history. excellence of his workmanshio can be to build Government House there; but by going With the steady development of obtained and lookin-gat the some of my colleagues would not hear masonry Bytown a local demand for sawn in the locks, so close to this of it . . . the consequence is that . . . hotel. lumber arose, to meet which two firrns Colonel By's satisfaction was we have spent more money patching by gilt established saw mills using water shown his to McKay, at the up Rideau Hall than a palace would end of the work, loving power derived frorn the use of a small of a silver have cost at Nepean Point." The cup, specially wrought London. amount of the water flowing over the in patching up process still continues but McKay was Chaudidre. Harris and Bronson, and a successful as well as a the old house now has becom.e such Pattee and Perley, were proprietors capable contractor, with the result a nartional monument that any alter- that he made a good profit his of tow companies having original on native to it as the Canadian home of Rideau grants (issued in 1861) - names which contracts. Alone of all the Her Majesty and of her Canadian rep- major include two well known in Ottawa canal contractors, he chose to resentative is unthinkable. stay in Bytown, in more recent years. Earlier, in 1851, making this district his home for Parliament Buildings Ezra Eddy of Vermont rented a small the lest of his life. Some of his money he An associated building in Hull and started to make invested in the mill buildins must be already mentioned. briefly wooden clothes pins, wash boards, Another use to mentioned, even tf,ough engi- which he put his profits neers can bowls and pails, thus starting the was to build claim no share in its de- for himself a stone mansion, its great industry which occupies so dom- using the sign; construdtion, however, was skilled Scottish masons at the time inant a place in the local economy he had em- an unprecedented feat of ployed on the locks. This great house "engineering construction". This was today. John R. Booth came to the was located district shortly after from his home so far from the centre of the original block of Parliament Build- settlement ings, in the eastern townships; he worked the that it was called, de- started as early as 1859. In risively, McKay's pur- 1860, at ffrst for the Wrights but in 1858 Castle. McKay the Prince of Wales made his chased the land which special journey rented a small shop of his own in on he built, to the little settle- and 1,000 acres around, another ment Bytown Ottawa (with Robert Dollar) to manu- act of in order to lay the of folly in the view the local foundation facture split shingles. So started an- of in- stone. The East and West habitants of the time. The 1,000 acres Bloeks of today give good other great local industry, the devel- a idea of eventually included much of what the group opment of which has involved so the vil- original of tluee much plant engineering, as the power available at the Chaudidre has been harnessed for use. Fig. 3. Part of a timber raft going down one of the Chaudiere timber slides towards the end of the nineteenth century, (From a Tapley photograph There were in the Public Archives other mills in Bytown of Canada; reproduced by permission.) in those early days, the ffrst a small one operated by1he Bywash, a stream :!| which ran down near what are now Cumberland and York Streets. The owner, Jean-Baptiste St-Louis, was leased a mill site at the Rideau Falls April 30, 1830; he was soon cutting wood along the Rideau for his new mill. Thomas McKay eventually came to own this mill; he had been operat- ing a grist mill since 1833 on the other branch of the Rideau. W. C. Edwards and Company were later owners, operating the mills until the early years of this century. There js still a "mill" at the Rideau Falls, the National Research Council today op- erating a small water power plant, :!8t recently rebuilt in connection with the 1i:rt:L rehabilitttion of Green Island. in buildings must have looked like. De- serve for posterity at least some of the in an unheated room. It is this same strudfion of the main building by remaining links with the past. arch that is Still in use as an integral ffre in February, 1916 was a national Buildings are peripheral to engi- part of the modern Chaudidre Bridge, tragedy, but the noble building re- neering activity; bridges are not, their located just north of the gateway to placing it after the war years now design being a major branch of civil the Hull plant of the Gatineau Power forms a most fftting centre to the engineering. The ffrst maior civil en- Company but natturally unseen from lovely grouping on "The Hill". Writ- gineering undertaking in Canada west automobiles; one has to be a humble ing in 1864 rto John A. Macdonald, of Montreal was the construction of pedestrian to see clearly this splendid George Brown had this to say: "The a bridge of which every Ottawa engi- piece of masonry work, still serving buildings are magnificent; the style, neer may be justly proud, partts of after 130 years. the extent, the site, the workmanship which are still in daily use by heavy Work on the remaining arches pro- are all surpassinglyffne. But they are traffic, although unknown and unrec- ceeded throughout the early months just 500 years in advance of the 'time. ognized by all but the few. Reverting of. L827; Colonel By himself is cred- It will cost half the revenue of the again to that busy visit to Hull in ited with ithe way in which connec- province to light them and heat them 1826 of The Earl of Dalhousie and tion was made across the Big Kettle, and keep 'them clean. Such monstrous Colonel By, the two men saw clearly where a span of 200 feet had to be folly, was not perpetrated in this thartaccess from the north to the south bridged. He had a small cannon world before. But we are in for it, I bank of the Ottawa River would be brough't to the edge of the gorge do think the idea of $topping short an essential preliminary to the start (probably borrowed from Philemon of completion is out of the question of the Canal works. Another result Wright for the occasion) and a shot . . I go in for such a superb folly of their short visit was therefore a was ffred witth a light cord attached that will bring visitors from all coun- decision that the river must be across the rushing waters. This was tries to see a work they can't see bridged, Colonel By noting that this used to pull successively heavy ropes is over, until ffnally it was possible to elsewhere. To say the truth, there could readily be done by a series of 'iron nothing in London, Paris, or Wash- shorrt bridges linlcing together the haul across strong cables" ob- ington approaching it." Engineers can several islands that made the Chau- tained forthe purpose from the naval share with 'their architectural col- didre a fall of such beauty. His Clerk stores at Kingston. Wjth this connec- leagues the pleasure which these old of Works for the Canal, a Scot named tion made, cables were strung from which was supported a remarkable words may bring, even as they can John McTaggart, was therefore sent share also in the responsibility for up from Montreal together with 200-foot span wooden truss that can better be illustrated rather than de- some of the interesting, if unusual, Thomas McKay, with instrudtions to older buildings of the city such as the scribed. The bridge was opened for get the bridge started; they arrived in old "tin house" on Guigues Street at use in 1827. It provided a 30-foot the corner of Dalhousie which shows Hull early in October, 1826. Un- roadway and is said to have cost only how engineering skill, of a peculiar daunted by all the tales he had heard 52,500. Appropriately named the variety, can be applied to architec- of the Canadian winter, McTaggart Union Bridge, it was the ffrst connec- ture. decided to build tthe ffrst stone arch tion between Upper and Lower Can- An architectural friend suggests immediately; McKay loyally sup- ada, and served well throughout the thatt the men capable of producing ported him, as his master mason. So busy Canal construction period. But such work in the past were the prede- started Canada'sffrst winter construc- in the spring of 1836 the truss col- without of cessorsof those who provide the air tion job, a dry-stone arch with a span lapsed, fortunattely loss life. conditioning systems of today. of 57 feet being completed by Febru- A ferry service was quickly insti- Throughout the years, engineering ary, work proceeding through whatt tuted. Operated by Perkins, the must have been a particularly cold John and architecture have been closely main ferry boat was one of the early linked in Ottawa. Today, irt will take winter. McTaggart has left a graphic engineering wonders of the Valley for the un-ited efforts of both professions, account, noting 4121he froze one of it was one horse power in fact, a working with other citizens, to pre- his hands one morning while shaving horse walking in the boat on a treadle geared to a shaft on which were two paddle wheels. It was not until May Fig. 4. McKay's Mill at Rideau Falls. (From a Tapley photograph in the Public 23. 1843 that the foundation stone fuchives of Canada; reproduced by permission.) for a replacement of the ill-fated timbel truss was laid, a suspension bridge having been designed by Sam- uel Keefer under the supervision of H. H. Killaly, Chairman of the Board of lVorks of Upper and Lorver Car- ada, predecessor of the Federal Dc- paltment of Public \Vorks. The ner.v span of 243 ft. 6 in. rvas opened Sept. 17, 1844; it served for many ),ears, until the construction of mills began to obscure the great falls from sight. Colonel By was lesponsible fol tr.r'o other bridges, a smzrll structure initi- ally built of unpeeled logs to span a gully near the north encl oI the Uniorr Bridge, dubbed "Pooley's l3ridge" by Colonel By since it was constructed by one of his trusted assistants, Lieu- 300,ooo J l_' STREET RA|LVAY tN OPERA|lON + To /a2z - szppEns'Bnto6E /A/ usE

ro /806 - T/MBER RAFT/N6 ON OTTAWA R/VER ---4 ANNEXATION OF AREAS IN NEPEAN AND GLOUCESTER 200,ooo TOWNSHIP

MINTO AND ROYAL ALEXANDRA BRI DGES FIRST ELECTRIC 9

roo,ooo POPULAT I ON

I sEcoN0 WORLD WAR

t9ro t930 OTTAWA Fig. 5, The Growth of Ottawa.

tenant Pooley, R.E. Much more im- tive engineers.) Both struotures were too. He complained that he "was dis- portantt, however, was the bridge ne- constructed by the Dominion Bridge turbed (in his office) half ,a dozen cessary to span the valley in which Company, the Royal Alexandra Bridge times one day by the Presidentt (of his the entrance locks were to be con- (despite the horror with which it is Cornpany) rushing in to try to f,orce structed. Clearly necessary if construc- now viewed by town planners) being me to play cricket-'. It was not until tion operations in the narrow valley still a notable struoture and in its the'close of the century that the effects were to be co-ordinated, it was tthe day the greatest bridge of the Domin- of the "railway mania" were seen in ffrst major canal work to be under- ion. Ottawa still has in use one of the Ottawa. These were the years of the taken under Colonel By's immediate ffrst reinforced concrete bridges in Quebec, Montreal and Occidental direction by the Royal Sappers and Canada, this being the original Hurd- Railway; the Canada-Atlantic Rail- Miners, two companies of which were man's Bridge built in 1906 by Emil way; the Pontiac Pacific RailwaY raised in England in March, 1827 Wah'lberg. Engineers of the capital Company and others with names al- especially for service on the Canal. should keep a watchful eye on plans most as pretentious, but their devel- The bridge, known down the years as for the future of this interesting old opment, construction and eventual the "Sappers' Bridge", was a grace- structure. This gap in the history of incorporation into the C.N.R. and ful arched structure occupying pait bridge building in Ottawa is not sur- C.P.R. of today, with some disappear- of the site now used for the much prising when one considers the slow ing completely, is a tale of this cen- larger Confederation Bridge. Built of growth of the little city throughout tury. cut limestone blocks, it was of such the nineteenth century. This is illus- The development of mun-icipal en- massive construction that its evenfual trated in an accompanying chart. It gineering services was, corresponding- demolition in 1912 was an unusually is true that railways had come to By- ly if surprisingly, also a feaiture of the difficult operation, as older residents town as early as 1854 but it was not later years o{ the last century. There of Orttawa stlll recall. Althoueh the until the twentieth century that they is still so much to see of the origins bridge probably had to go in the really displaced water transpot't. of Ottawa tha't it is easy to forget march of progress, two stones from it It was on Christmas day, 1854 that thart even when the Parliament Build- were saved. They now form the mon- a small train was pulled into the ffrs,t ings were completed, Ottawa was ument in Major's Hill Park that marks railway station of Bytown, located in still a rather grubby little town. The the site of Colonel By's own residence through Thomas Mc- first road in the district had been built (also destroyed), the stones fortunattely Kay's infuence. The train ran on rails by Philemon Wright in 1818, from still showing some of the carving with improvised from maple scantlings Hull to what is now Aylmer. It was which the Sappers adorned this ffrst since there were no funds le{t to pur- operated for many years as the Aylmer piece of bridge building irr the chase iron rails. This was the nor,thern toll road. Colonel By laid out some of "wilderness". terminal of the Bytown and Prescott the main streets of what is now the It was not until tthe turn of the Railway Company, for many years the city and built a few o,ther roads to century that bridge building again be- only rail connection,that Ottawa had. give access to the canal works at came a major engineering activity in Until 1855, when the Rideau was Hartwells and Hog's Back. Statute Ottawa. It was in 1900 that the still bridged, passengersfor Ottawa had to labour was, however, still in use for gracbful Minto Bridges were built be taken across the river by boat after road maintenance until 1850 so that across the Rideau, and the great Inter- leaving. their train. Walter Shanley it is perhaps not surprising that rthe provincial Bridge (more kindly named was the engineer; his letters describ- streets of Bytown had the reputation the Royal Alexandra Bridge) was ing his work on the construction make of being impassable in the spring and opened Feb. 21, 1901. (Robert Surtess fascinating reading. He found Bytown fall because of mud, and in the sum- and Guy C. Dunn were the respec- "a fast place (but) a snobbish town" mer on account of dust. It was not until 1862 that the city got permis- C. Keefer. Incredible though it may River, witching Colonel By and his sion to issue $40,000 worth of deben- seem today, the lobbying of ,the water family go by in the Pumper on that tures for the drainage and macadam- carriers was so successful that it was memorable day in 1832. Thus can izing of its streets, the first city engi- not until 1875 that the ffrst City the engineering be neers being appointed in 1866. And Water Commissioners were actually bridged by two lives. it was not until 1895 that the ffrst appointed. Perhaps the delay was for- It is a challenging history, a-vital paving was laid, this being on Sparks tunate since Keefer's original plan in- part of the warp and weft of the Street, between the Canal and Bank cluded the use of Parliament Hill as wonderful tapestry of the Ottawa Srtreet, specially provided for the hold- the location for a reservoir for a grav- story. Significant as have been many ing of a bicycle race. It is therefore ity supply. The ffrst water was deliv- of the contributions of the engineer not surprising that, in view of the slow ered in 1875, Thomas Keefer having to the development of this capital development of good streets, Ottawa been the engineer for a simple supply city, let it also be rerhembered that should have had one of the earliest system that was the start of the ffne some of his works have been a disfig- street railway syStems in Canada, the public water service enjoyed by the urement of the local scene. This brief Ottawa City Passenger Railway Com- citizens of today. As is so often the review started at the Chaudidre; there pany being incorporated in 1866. It case, it took a tragedy - in this case must it come to its close - but with provided a service of one-man horse- the awful confagration of 1900 - to a glance at a "Chaudidre" wh,ere one drawn trams until its amalgamation bring home fully to the citizens of has to look hard between a conglom- with the newly formed Ottawa Elec- Ottawa the vital character of their eration of singulady undistinguiShed tric Street Railway Company in 1893. water supply system. The legacy of buildings even to see the waters of The latter had operated its first elec- the water-carriers' opposition to a the great river as they come over the tric streetcar in June, 189I. Residents public water supply certainly con- falls. This used to be one of the of Ottawa saw the last operating tributed to the great loss in that ffre beauty spots of the region, one of the streetcar May 1, 1959, electlicity hav- which in many ways marked a turning focal points of local development. ing had to give way here also to the point in the history of the city. Should not engineers be in the van gasoline. of those who claims of Impersonal though such a summary have concern for the future of - With abundant water power so record as this has had to be, it cannot the Chaudidre for the restoration close, it was natural that Ottawa conclude without brief tribute to the of what is left of at least one timber should have been one of the first of early engineers who were responsible slide, for the marking and preservation of the arches of the old Canadian cities to use electricity for for all ,the works described. John Bv Union Bridge, lighting, even before it was used for will forever be honored as the found- for the restoration of some, at least, ,t-he power. It was ffrst used for street er-engineer of this city. His able of inherent natural beauty of these lighting Nov. 4, 1884. Pemtrroke beat young assistants were to make their historic falls? Thus could honor its neighbour city by merely a month names in many of the far places of be paid to the pioneers, service given and ,thus lays claim to be the ffrst the world, at least three becoming to the citizens of today, and a further electrically-lit city in Canada. Oil full Generals in the British Army. legacy provided for the citizens lamps had been used for such public Many works were carried ou,t by engi- of tomorrow to remind them fol lighting from the earliest days, super- neers whose names are lost, but Kil- all time of the vital connection be- tween seded by gas lamps about 1854, It is laly, Shanley and Samuel Keefer have this capital of the North and its engineers. an interesting turn of the wheel of been mentioned even in this brief fortune to ffnd gas again taking its survey, as has also Thomas Coltrin Acknowledgments: place in the public service although Keefer, possibly Canada's greatest All who prepare such historical now brought from the west and not consulting engineer. He was the only papels such as this record of Early made from coal, and used for heating man to hold office twice as President Ottawa and Engineering are in- rather than for light. of the Canadian Society of Civil En- debted to innumerable other writers It will be surprising to many to gineers, the second time while he was and students who have rescued and find municipal engineering iervices President also of the American Soci- recorded details of the past. It would, relatively so recent a development in ety of Civil Engineers, the only Cana- therefore, be invidious for the writer Ottawa. Nothing need be said about dian (it is believed) ever to hold that to attempt to record even those to sanitary services, particularly with high office. When the A.S.C.E. held whom he knows he is in debt in this papers being given at this meeting the only meeting that it has held in way, but he does wish to acknowledge about the design of Ottawa's first Ottalva, in 1913, a highlight was a his indebtedness to his fellow mem- sewage treatment plant. But brief garden party reception in the lovely bers of the Advisory Historical Com- reference to the long and tangled grounds of Thomas Keefer's home, the mittee of the National Capital Com- story of Ottawa?s public water supply old gentleman - then in his ninety- mission (Anthony Adamson, Chair- must bring this record of early engi- second year' - seated in the middle of man) who have shared with him their neering in Ottawa to its conclusion. his garden, receiving the greetings of interest in and expert knowledge of After the Royal Engineers had found his fellow engineers from all over the early Ottawa. Further information on it impossible to ffnd well water on continent. He could then look back the subjects touched upon in this Parliament Hill, they initiated a sys- to a boyhod memory of seeing the ffrst paper may be obtained from the fol- tem of carting water from the Obtawa vessels sail up the original Welland lowing books which the writer con- River. Although some public pumps Canal to mark its opening in 1829. sulted freely in its preparation: rvere provided at strategic points in There are living in Ottawa today engi- water neers who have spoken with Thomas the little town, carriers soon Brault, Lucie4. Otlawa Old and New, came to be an important group in the Keefer; thus can the rvhole history 349 pp., ill., 1946, Ottawa. Davies, Blodwen. Otlawa; Porlrail of a local economy. So keen did competi- of engineering in Canada be bridged iu., 1e54,Mccrat In the fi?filt'ia"lfl?..op., tion between them become that in by two lifetimes. one of local Legget, Robert. nideau Walerway, 249 had to be licensed. The hospitals lives a very old man who has pp., iI].. 1955, University of T-oiont; 1866 they PTess, Toronto. ffrst report recommending a proper told the writer that he can remember warker' *1".i1,5u,(1$in"oll\rfl l' rnlT"Efll public rvater supply was made to the hearing from his grandmother how gineering Institute of Canada, rear. Mont_ City Council in July, 1859 by Thomas she stood on the banks of the Rideau U

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