OTTAWA 



4427 



OTTAWA 



cou, which means boiler, and Chaudiere is the 

 French equivalent for this word. Just below 

 the city are the Rideau Falls, where the Rideau 

 River, divided into two channels by Green 

 Island, rushes into the Ottawa. Three centuries 

 ago, Samuel Champlain, the first white man to 

 see these falls, called them "marvelous," for 

 the river, he said, "descends a height of twenty 

 or twenty-five fathoms with such impetuosity 

 that it makes an arch nearly 400 paces broad. 

 The savages take pleasure in passing under it, 

 not wetting themselves, except from the spray 

 that is thrown off." After due allowance is 

 made for the great explorer's fancy, it is still 

 true that the falls are picturesque. Amid such 

 lovely surroundings Ottawa has grown from 

 a few huts to a city of nearly a hundred thou- 

 sand people. Its natural loveliness has been 

 preserved, while splendid parks, wide avenues 

 and imposing buildings have been added. Ot- 

 tawa is truly worthy the dignity of being the 

 Dominion's capital city. 



Ottawa's early growth was due to water traf- 

 fic. The city grew up at the northern end of 

 the Rideau Canal (which see), which connects 

 the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario at Kings- 

 ton. There is still considerable local traffic on 

 the canal, and steamers ply on the river be- 

 tween Ottawa and Montreal. But the railways 

 have taken much of the traffic which formerly 

 went by water. Three great trunk lines the 

 Canadian Pacific, Canadian Northern and 

 Grand Trunk and one shorter line, the Ottawa 

 <fe-New York, serve the city. The Canadian 

 Pacific has lines on both banks of the river to 

 Montreal. By the shortest rail route Ottawa 

 is 101 miles west of Montreal and 217 miles 

 northeast of Toronto. Four bridges, including 

 a railroad bridge, cross the river between Ot- 

 tawa and Hull, which lies directly opposite, on 

 the north bank. 



The city is divided by the Rideau Canal into 

 two parts; the Upper Town, or western part, 

 is predominantly English, and the Lower Town, 

 or eastern part, is almost entirely French. A 

 notable exc. i>n<m to this division of national i- 



;- the Sandy Hill district, which is east of 

 the canal but is one of the most fashionable 

 KnuIi.-h-i'^'kiMK MOtioni <>f the city. The 



T Town, though interesting to many Eng- 

 hsh-spc akiMK visitors, haa little of the old-world 

 charm which makes Quebec so fascinating to 

 tourists. The Upper Town, on the contrary, is 

 far from commonplace, and has most of the 

 pronntK nt public buildings and fine residence 

 sections. 



Features of the City. Without question the 

 chief architectural feature of the city is the 

 Parliament Buildings, which stand on the sum- 

 mit of the highest hill overlooking the river. 

 The structures cover nearly four acres, and 

 form three sides of a quadrangle. They are in 

 a modified Italian Gothic style, and are built 

 of native sandstone. The central building, con- 

 taining the halls of Parliament, is 470 feet long, 

 and the Victoria tower, which crowns the edi- 

 fice, is 180 feet high. Adjoining the main 

 building on the rear is the Parliamentary li- 

 brary, a beautiful, many-sided structure housing 

 about 200,000 volumes. The comer stone of 

 these great buildings was laid in 1860 by King 

 Edward VII, then Prince of Wales. In Febru- 

 ary, 1915, fire seriously damaged the central 

 building, and for a few hours threatened to de- 

 stroy the entire group. It was finally brought 

 under control, and the work of reconstruction 

 began almost immediately. In rebuilding, an- 

 other story was planned, the total cost to be 

 about $5,000,000. 



A short distance from the Parliament Build- 

 ings is the Chateau Laurier, a magnificent ho- 

 tel in the style of a French chateau, owned by 

 the Grand Trunk Railway. Seen from a dis- 

 tance, the Chateau Laurier looks almost like 

 one of the group of buildings on Parliament 

 Hill. Directly across the street from the hotel, 

 on the east bank of the Rideau Canal, is the 

 union railway station, completed in 1912. 

 Among other noteworthy buildings are the Ro- 

 man Catholic Cathedral of Notre Dame, Christ 

 Church Cathedral, Langevin Block, occupied 

 by the postoffice department, the Royal Mint, 

 Dominion Archives building, Victoria Museum, 

 National Art Gallery and Carnegie Library. 

 Rideau Hall, the residence of the Governor- 

 General, is just outside the city. 



Ottawa has a number of attractive parks, 

 which are connected by fine boulevards. Par- 

 liament Hill, on which the Parliament Build- 

 ings stand, is set aside as a park. In it are 

 statues of Sir John A. Macdonahl. Alexander 

 Mackzenie, Sir Georges E. Cartier and others. 

 Strathcona Park, on the Rideau Canal, is the 

 newest of the city's pleasure grounds; it was 

 formerly a useless bit of swamp land. Major's 

 Hill Park, east of the canal, is perhaps the pret- 

 tiest of the parks. Tho Dominion go\ 

 central experimental farm, ooverinf 400 acres, 

 is also an attractive spot. 



Ottawa is the scat of an Anglican bishop and 

 a Roman Catholic archbishop. It ha> 

 schools, a collegiate institute, a normal school, 



