THE ST. MAURICE FORGES. 83 
prendrez sur vous les soin de faire graisser et relever les soufflets des forges, en un mot, de 
faire les petites reparations qui sont absolument nécessaire pour mettre les forges en état 
d'exploiter peu à peu la fonte dont il est parlé ci-dessus. 
“ Jai l'honneur d’être, Monsieur, &c., &c. 
“ J. BRUYERE.” 
Bruyère was evidently acting as secretary to Colonel Burton. Colonel Haldimand was 
military governor of Trois Riviéres, and also commandant of the troops on that station 
from April 25th, 1762 to July 6th, 1765, and all of his letters and documents are now in 
the Dominion Archives office at Ottawa, being called the “Haldimand collection” of 
manuscripts, from which the following extracts are taken. 
In 1762. the lords of the board of trade and plantation in London, requiring informa- 
tion on the resources of Canada, forwarded a series of questions to General Murray, who 
returned the replies, dated May 31st, 1763, called “Report of General Murray on 
Quebec.” Question No. 16 (B. 7, page 78, in the Haldimand collection), “ What number 
of forges in this Province, what iron made, in what form and quantity ?” was answered 
from Trois Rivières by Colonel R. Burton :— 
“ The only forges in this government are those of St. Maurice, seven or eight miles 
behind the town of Trois Riviéres, up the river of that name. That establishment consists 
of one furnace and two forges, built upon a rivulet, whose water never freezes; it dis- 
charges itself into the River St. Maurice, from whence the iron may be easily conveyed in 
batteaux to magazines at Trois Rivières, and from thence in vessels to Montreal, Quebec 
or Europe. There are besides a large stone house for the manager, and wooden houses 
for the people employed at the forges or other necessary works. The mine that has hith- 
erto supplied the forges, lies very near the surface of the earth, in a low, marshy ground, 
seven or eight miles from them. There has hitherto been no road made to it, as they used 
to fetch the ore in winter upon sledges, but a good one may be easily made. The iron made 
from this ore is so excellent in quality, that in a late trial made by order of his Excellency 
General Amherst, it was found greatly superior to any made in America, and even exceeds 
that imported from Sweden. The mine was opened in 1732, and granted in 1736 to a com- 
pany. They having no bottom, and wanting economy, were obliged to abandon it in 1741. 
The King, who had advanced them a sum of money, and could not be paid, took the grant 
back, and ever since 1742 the forges have been worked for the benefit of the king under the 
direction of the intendants. The mine has produced ore in such plenty, that in the year 
1746 the single furnace returned 1,011,090 lbs. of cast iron, which produced 500,000 lbs. net 
weight of iron bars,besides a great quantity of stoves, pots, etc. Notwithstanding which, the 
great number of useless people kept there, such as a director, a comptroller, a treasurer, 
a contractor for the forges and provisions, several overseers, a chaplain and others, at large 
salaries; the little attention paid to the lands to procure oats and hay for the establishment, 
instead of buying it at a great distance and at a considerable price, with the connived 
fraud of those that passed the accounts, rendered that establishment rather burthensome 
than profitable to the crown, and the king was always proved debtor. From the begin- 
ning of the year 1761 to the latter end of the year 1762, not to engage in too large repairs, 
the forges, by order of his Excellency, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, have been worked on a small 
