Amazons and other denizens of the Kitchissippi

The Anishinabe—their stone axes can be seen in the Bytown Museum—were many-tribed, one of their peoples known as the Odawa, or "Traders." The first explorers from pre-revolutionary France misunderstood, assuming that their "Great River" (Kitchissippi) was the Odawa; hence its French name, Outaouais.

It was my idea to invite the diplomats' wives for a tour of the Bytown Museum, and this took place on November 7th, ladies from twenty-seven different countries turning up to be shown round by an excellent guide called Steve, disguised as an officer of the Royal Engineers of the 1820s. He spoke in a refined British accent, specially put on for the occasion, and wore a hat like the one in the museum which once belonged to Colonel By [picture by Barbara Miles]. Steve told us about the Odawa, about British Canadians burning down the White House in Washington in retaliation for an American attack on York, later known as Toronto, and of course about the Rideau Canal that now has World Heritage status.

Once the canal was complete, despite a tragic series of fatal accidents, the Irish navvies who'd done most of the dirty work on the canal were at a loss and a loose end. Some of them eventually helped to construct the Notre Dame Basilica on Sussex Drive; others, among whom were the dreaded "Shiner" gangs of the 1830s, ran amok in Bytown, where a Reign of Terror pitted them against itinerant French-speaking raftsmen, "draveurs," with their caulk boots studded with long, sharp nails to keep them steady on the log-rafts rolling down the rivers. In the brothels of Clarence Street, the "Amazons" catered to men who'd been lumbering in the bush for months on end without any female company. One of those lumberjacks was the legendary giant and strongman, Joseph Montferrand, reputed to have thrown several pesky Irishmen single-handed into the river during one riot, remembered as The Battle Of The Chaudière Falls.

But it was the entrepreneurs, the lumber barons Booth, Preston, Bronson and Eddy, with their timber mills on the Lebreton Flats, who were the real bosses. Booth when he died at the age of 99 was worth $35 million.

Ottawa's first police force was established, under considerable protest from the local taxpayers, in 1855. ("People never want to pay for what's required," commented Steve. "It's the same today.") Another project that helped to civilize the locals was the founding of Bytown College by Father Tabaret (he after whom Tabaret Hall is named). The college later developed into the University of Ottawa. Another such idealist was "Canada's first multi-culturalist," as Diane Rummery of the CFUW put it), D'Arcy McGee, but he was assassinated for his pains. Here's Diane telling the diplomats about "Sir John A," Canada's first Prime Minister, after she had told them about McGee under his statue on Parliament Hill, a tour of the statues being the other part of our outing.