104 Up ^ ie Ottawa. 



might and main as the timber snaps and groans and works 

 like a bundle of reeds, getting a momentary rest with each 

 incline, and again thumping over the straights, with sharp 

 uneasy struggles, is to experience such sensations as neither 

 balloon nor diving bells afford, such a whirl as only three- 

 quarters of a mile down the great timber shoots of the 

 Ottawa can ever give. We would recommend all travellers 

 desirous of novelty, by all means to make one of these trips, 

 which can easily be done by making application to any of 

 the large lumbering establishments, and judiciously dispos- 

 ing a trifling "backsheesh" among the voyageurs them- 

 selves. 



It will be easily seen that with such a manageable motor, with 

 navigation at its foot, both from Lake Ontario and the River 

 St. Lawrence, Ottawa is, as it ought to be, the emporium of 

 the truly Canadian staple — lumber — and the supply furnished 

 here, is the main dependence of the spring and fall fleets of 

 shipping which arrive in this country, for return cargoes to 

 Europe, as also to a large extent for the market of the United 

 States, in which the demand is constantly increasing. The 

 Hull Iron Mines, distant from the city about seven miles, on 

 the Lower Canada side, promise to be a source of consider- 

 able wealth; and in the event of the Ottawa Ship Canal 

 being carried into effect, Ottawa will stand on the great 

 water highway to the West. By it a navigable communica- 

 tion, far removed from the frontier, will be opened between 

 Montreal and Lake Huron. Even as a military work, this 

 would be important, as by means of it gunboats could be 

 taken to the Upper Lakes in the event of war. The distance 

 between Liverpool and Chicago would be shortened 760 

 miles more than by the Erie Canal and New York as its 

 outlet ; and the Western and North-Western States would 

 be brought into a greater union of common interests. There 

 is very good partridge-shooting all around in the neighbour- 

 hood, and ten or twelve miles back bears and deer are numerous. 



