LOCATION OF TOWNS AND VILLAGES IN THE OTTAWA VALLEY. 



By J. Keele, Ottawa. 



(Continued from page 70). 



In the October issue the writer stated that the 

 exact location of villages in the valley of the Ottawa 

 was determined either by water power or by points 

 on former routes of transportation. 



In most cases the land in the vicinity of the sites 

 selected was of such a surface character that it was 

 suitable for the requirements of habitation and the 

 growth of villages into towns. In other words the 

 topography in general presented no serious problems 

 to municipal engineers in the matter of street grades, 

 drainage, bridging, or water supply. 



The growth of a village has been influenced by its 

 location and environment. In most cases the growth 

 around the original mill site was due to its becoming 

 a trading centre for the surrounding farming com- 

 munity. In some cases a basic industry like lumber- 

 ing and saw mills furnished the mainstay of the 

 village while trading was secondary. 



The construction of lines of railway connecting 

 up these towns and villages with one another and 

 with the main highways of commerce was a later 

 development bringing in the industrial stage, when point did grow to be a village. 



bedrock only at a few places. At most of the points 

 where it flows on bedrock there are rapids or falls, 

 the most notable being the last one on its course 

 where it tumbles from a cliff into the Ottawa river at 

 Ottawa. 



The Rideau is a good example of a recent 

 drainage channel almost entirely controlled by the 

 character and distribution of the glacial drift and 

 not by the underlying bedrock. It would normally 

 flow eastward and enter the Ottawa river much 

 further down than it does but on encountering the 

 belt of morainal ridges which stretch from Ottawa 

 to Prescott it is diverted toward the north. 



It is stated that in the year 1 793 three brothers 

 named Burritt from Connecticut explored the Rideau 

 river, probably coming in by way of Brockville from 

 the St. Lawrence route, and took up land on its 

 banks. The point on the river known as Burritts 

 Rapids which may have been their original location 

 never developed into a village, but Merrickville 

 which IS situated on a fall about 7 miles above this 



towns competed for industries to come and locate 

 within their limits. At this stage favourable location 

 with regard to natural resources and to land and 

 water transportation were of importance; although 

 other conspirations which had nothing whatever to 

 do with geography, such as offering a bonus to 

 manufacturers, was taken into account in the de- 

 cision. 



A short sketch of the physical geography of the 

 region in a general way has been given so that we 

 are now in a position to consider a few localities in 

 more or less detail. From what has been said, how- 

 ever, we see that the character of the surface has 

 had considerable influence on the population, the flat 

 clay land being the most important in the develop- 

 ment of large communities while a great part of the 

 upland sets its face rigorously against any attempt 

 at cultivation and human habitation. Between these 

 two extremes there is much gocd agricultural land 

 as well as considerable debatable ground where such 

 considerations as, whether forest would not be more 

 economic than cultivation, enter in. 



RIDEAU RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES. 

 The Rideau river drains a group of lakes of the 

 same name situated in the less rugged portion of the 

 upland underlain by the belt of crystalline rocks 

 which extend southward to the St. Lawrence be- 

 tween Brockville and Kingston. On emerging from 

 the lakes and the upland it flows over a drift 

 covered plain-like region, where it has cut down to 



A canal was constructed primarily for military 

 purposes by the Royal Engineers during the years 

 1828 to 1832, which utilized the Rideau lakes and 

 river to their full extent. The long stretches of quiet 

 water with only an occasional obstruction where 

 locks bed to be built made it especially favourable 

 for this purpose. A series of three locks was 

 necessary at Smiths Falls, a point which afterwards 

 grew to be a town of some importance. 



The western limit of marine clay sediments 

 appears to occur here, but there is no large area of 

 it in this locality, the clay being confined to a few 

 patches along the Rideau river. Glaciation seems 

 to have removed a good deal of the older soils from 

 the level region east and north of Smiths Falls and 

 much of the land is poor in consequence as the soil 

 consists only of a thin sheet of sandy drift overlying 

 the bed rock. The bed rock in that area is mostly 

 badly creviced magnesian limestone through which 

 the rain water disappears quickly from the surface, 

 so that it becomes almost barren during dry spells. 



Land of this character does very well for fruit 

 trees or for wood lots as a source of fuel and other 

 merchantable timber but is of little value for cultiva- 

 tion of crops. Its chief use in farming is to furnish 

 pasturage for sheep and is well adapted for this 

 purpose in moist weather when the grass is good. 



The first railway to enter the Ottawa valley 

 started from the main line of the Grand Trunk at 

 Brockville and was designed to serve the towns of 



