File:The picturesque St. Lawrence (1910) (14801849863).jpg

Identifier: picturesquestla00john (find matches)
Title: The picturesque St. Lawrence
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Johnson, Clifton, 1865-1940
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Publisher: New York: Macmillan
Contributing Library: Scott - York University Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Ontario Council of University Libraries and Member Libraries

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s of theVictoria Bridge. Not until we were in theharbor close to our dock did we reach quietwater. The rapids all occur between Prescott andMontreal, and the journey down requires onlya few hours, but the steamers return with thenecessity of moving slowly in the canals andloitering through numerous locks consumes anight and part of two days. In early times,before the advent of the canals, this up-riverjourney in small boats was not only slow butarduous. One of the Jesuit missionaries writingof his experiences in climbing the rapids says: It is often necessary to alight from the canoeand walk in the river. The canoe is graspedwith the hand and dragged behind, two menusually sufficing for this. I sometimes took ahand in helping my savages; but the bottomof the river is full of stones so sharp that I couldnot walk long, being barefooted. There areportages of one, two and three leagues, and it isnecessary to carry all the baggage through woodsor over high and troublesome rocks, as well as
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c< c^ V. The Rapids 73 the canoes themselves. This is not done withoutmuch work, for several trips must be made, nomatter how few packages one has. To preserve the good nature of his savagesthe missionary tried to never keep them waitingwhen they were ready to embark, and at theportages he helped with the burdens. Even ifhe carried no more than a kettle the Indianswere pleased. He was provided with a burning-mirror which he used on sunny days to makea mid-day campfire or light the boatmens pipes;and he had a tinder-box to start a fire in theevening. The canals around the Cascade, Cedar andCoteau Rapids were begun at the time of theAmerican Revolution and were the first on thiscontinent. Not until long afterward was workstarted on the Lachine Canal, and it was 1821when it was ready for use. IV EARLY MONTREAL ^T^HE situation of Montreal makes it a natural-*- center of human travel and traffic. It isat the foot of the last of the St. Lawrence rapids,and near the mouth of the Ottawa wh

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