[ELLs & BARLOW] PROPOSED OTTAWA CANAL 173 
miles below “ Le Grand Recollet ” Falls the river, which has heretofore 
had a direction a little south of west, changes abruptly to the south, 
which course is maintained for three miles further, when the route again 
changes to the west for one and a half miles, at which point the rapids 
known as “ Les Petites Dalles” show a descent of six feet to the waters 
of Lake Huron. This brings us into a narrow inlet about two and a half 
miles in length, extending northward from Georgian Bay, and consti- 
tuting the most westerly of the middle outlets of French River. The 
waters of French River empty into the northern end of Georgian 
Bay through a series of channels forming a curiously complicated 
rocky delta. It has been customary to designate these mouths as the 
“western,” “middle” and “eastern” outlets. The western outlets are 
four in number, three of which empty into the eastern end of the inlet 
marked on the last chart (Commander Boulton, 1886) “ Voyageur Chan- 
nel,” while the fourth, known as the “ Mauvaise” or ‘“ Bad’’ River, 
reaches the lake nearly two miles east of this point. These channels 
unite in their upward course in a narrow lake about three miles from 
Georgian Bay, and continue together in a northeasterly direction for four 
miles, when the course suddenly changes to the east. The middle one of 
these three channels is the one pursued by canoes coming from the west, 
while canoes coming from the south, along the shores of Georgian Bay, 
generally found their way into French River by way of Henvey Inlet or 
“The Key,” from both of which bays there is an easy portage routes 
coming out on the south channel of the French River opposite Cantin’s 
Island. The eastern and middle outlets were therefore seldom used, and 
it is accordingly not surprising that so little was known with regard to 
them. The middle outlet consists of two rocky channels, which enter 
the lake within two miles of one another immediately north of the Bus- 
tard Islands. The eastern outlet consists of but one channel, which 
comes out in a bay about twelve miles east of the most western outlet. 
The middle and western outlets run in a north or northeasterly direction 
for five or six miles, when they intersect the lake-like expansion of the 
river known as “Lac le Boeuf,’ while the easterly outlet empties that 
portion of the river known as the “South Channel West” nearly two 
miles above its junction with the western part of the north channel. 
Before a decision could be arrived at in regard to the feasibility of this 
route for purposes of canalization, it was necessary that a detailed exam- 
ination should be made to determine whether a suitable harbour could be 
found near the terminus on Lake Huron. Previous to 1856 the prevail- 
ing opinion was that such could not be found, and that the mouths of 
the French River were so beset by islands and rocky shoals that they 
could not be approached with any degree of safety by any craft larger 
than the ordinary bark canoe. An examination of the chart of Georgian 
