THE ST. MAURICE FORGES. 81 
could reach the forges in two hours; so having settled upon that course, I requested 
M. Rigaud, who was then in charge of that post, to accompany me. We left Trois 
Rivières at 5 o’clock in the morning with M. de Tonnancour, and other friends, whom 
M. Rouville, director of the forges, had invited to accompany us. On leaving the town 
we ascended a hill covered with sand, crossed a plain and passed through a wood of 
stunted trees, on emerging from which, we stood on a hill overlooking the valley in 
which the said forges of the king are situated. We crossed a wooden bridge over a small 
stream, and disembarked from our conveyance at the door of the director’s dwelling. 
After the first ceremony of reception by the director, his wife and the other employées, we 
proceeded to visit the works. The stream, which drives the machinery, is dammed up in 
three places ; the first dam drives the wheel for the furnace, the second and third, each a 
trip hammer. Each dam has a water pass to prevent overflow in high water; it is sup- 
posed that the stream or water-power is sutliciently strong to drive two more hammers. 
The buildings of the post are irregularly situated on the banks of the stream, and little 
or no taste seems to have been displayed in placing them. The principal building is 
the director’s residence, a very large establishment, but scarcely large enough for the 
number of workmen who have to be accommodated.’ On entering the smelting forge, 
I was received with a customary ceremony. The workmen moulded a pig of iron, about 
fifteen feet long, for my special benefit. The process is very simple: it is done by 
plunging a large ladle into the liquid, boiling ore, and emptying the material into a gutter 
made in the sand. After this ceremony, I was shown the process of stove moulding, 
which seems a simple though an intricate operation ; each stove is in six pieces, which are 
separately moulded ; they are fitted into each other, and form a stove about three feet high. 
I then visited the shed where the workmen were moulding pots, kettles and other hollow 
ware. On leaving this part of the forge, we were taken to the hammer forge where 
bar iron of every kind is hammered out. In each department of the forges, the workmen 
observed the old ceremony of brushing a stranger’s boots; in return they expect some 
money to buy liquor to drink to the visitor’s health. This establishment is very extensive, 
employing upwards of 180 men. Nothing is consumed in the furnaces but charcoal, 
which is made in the immediate vicinity of the post. The ore is rich, good and tolerably 
clean ; formerly it was found on the spot, now the director has to send some distance for 
it. The management of these forges is economical. It must be readily understood, that, 
owing to the numerous branches in which expenditure must be incurred, unless a compe- 
tent man be at the head of affairs, many abuses would be the consequence. Among other 
employés, his Majesty the King supports a Recollet father at this establishment, with 
the title of awmonier. This iron is preferred to the Spanish iron, and is sold off at the 
king’s store, in Quebec, at the rate of from twenty-five to thirty castors (beaver skins) per 
hundredweight. In order to obtain a better knowledge of the position of these works, I 
would refer to the notes sent to the court of France, on this subject, wherein will be 
found all details of their management. I may say, however, in conclusion, that they are 
unprofitable to the King, and I am assured that if they were offered on lease at public 
sale, 100 pistoles per annum might be procured for them. After a splendid dinner at 
M. de Rouville’s mansion, we returned to Trois Riviéres, highly pleased with our visit, 

! The “big house,” or the “grande maison des forges,” as it is called, was still inhabited in 1863. 
Sec. IL. 1886. 11. 
