26^^ Topographical I^otices. 



would lay open for settlement, a considerable extent of 

 fertile lands, touching upon the fifty miles of smooth water 

 immediately beyond that tract. Considering the great 

 space of new country which would not fail to be rapidly 

 peopled, and also the fine districts, near the proposed line 

 of operation, already partially settled, particularly along 

 the Mississipi, there can hardly be a doubt that the con- 

 veyance along it, would soon reimburse the outlay, without 

 taking into account the sale of the wild lands, and the 

 revenue from the crown timber, which would be greatly 

 increased by these improvements. I shall, however, 

 return to the description of the Ottawa, being convinced 

 that correct information, with regard to the whole country, 

 cannot fail to lead the public mind to something far beyond 

 these partial improvements. 



At the head of the Grand Calumet rapid, the Ottawa, in 

 its northern channel, again assumes a new character. — 

 This branch is now of a uniform breadih, generally under 

 a quarter of a mile, free from islands, with a strong steady 

 current, and apparently of equal depth from shore to shore. 

 This description holds good for about fifteen miles, to the 

 head of the Grand Calumet island. For the first four or 

 five miles, the river is hemmed in by precipitous rocky 

 shores, frequently, on the island, presenting a solid per- 

 pendicular face, eighty or one hundred feet in height. — 

 Above this, the appearance of the country becomes more 

 encouraging. A great part of the Lower Canada shore 

 consists of level hard-wood lands, circumscribed, however, 

 by fir-timbered hills and ridges, seldom more than two 

 miles distant from the river. On the island, there also 

 appears to be some great tracts of land along the shore, on 

 which, at one place, is a considerable clearance, occupied 



