OTTAWA 



4429 



OTTER 



Huron. After 1660 they scattered over the 

 region now comprising lower Michigan and 

 neighboring sections of Ohio and Illinois. Pon- 

 tiac (which see) was their most famous chief. 

 In the colonial wars the Ottawas always fought 

 with the French against the English, but they 

 joined cause with the English against the 

 ricans in the Revolution and in the War 

 of 1812. At the present time the Ottawas who 

 livr in the United States are found in scattered 

 ^ments in lower Michigan; the Canadian 

 contingent is within the province of Ontario. 

 Although originally these Indians were cruel, 

 were quick to adopt the arts of peace and 

 industry, and learned eventually how to build 

 comfortable huts, to till the soil and to raise 

 domestic animals. See INDIANS, AMERK \\. 



OTTAWA, ILL., the county seat of LaSalle 

 County, in the north-central part of the state, 

 eighty-four miles southwest of Chicago. It is 

 on the Illinois River and the Illinois and 

 Michigan Canal, and on the Chicago, Rock 

 Island A Pacific and the Chicago, Burlington & 

 Quincy railroads. It is also on the electric 

 intcrurban line from Chicago to Princeton. 

 The area of the city is three and one-half 

 square miles. Its population in 1910 was 9,535. 



Ottawa has Pleasant View Lutheran College, 

 Saint Francis Xavier Academy, a Federal build- 

 ing, public library, Ryburn Memorial Hospi- 

 tal, the Illinois Appellate Court and city parks. 

 Convenient deposits of coal, clay and glass sand 

 are used in manufacture. The industrial estab- 

 lishments include plate- and opalescent-glass 

 works, silica works, a foundry, a poultry-supply 

 company, a sash, door and blind factory, and 

 manufactories of clay products, pianos, washing 

 and scouring powder and farm implements. 

 Ottawa was settled about 1831 and was incor- 

 porated as a town six years later. In 1913 the 

 commission form of government was adopted. 



OTTAWA, UNIVERSITY OF, a Roman Catholic 

 i it ion for higher education, at Ottawa, Ont. 

 university offers courses in arts, law, phi- 

 losophy and theology, and also has a commer- 

 cial and a large preparatory department. Ap- 

 proximately one-half of its 700 students take 

 some preparatory courses. The university was 

 founded in 1849, by the Oblate Fathers of Mary 

 limn K ul name of the College of 



>\vn. Its present title was assumed in 

 1866. and in 1889 the Pope raised it to the rank 

 of a Roman Catholic university. I 



n the iin; >ritip have taken 



nspicuouM part in tin- l>ilmi:u:il :m<l r hgious 



disputes in Ontario and Quebec. One result 



of this prominence has been a decline in the 

 number of English-speaking students, who now 

 number about one-sixth of the whole student 

 body. 



OTTAWA RIVER, the chief tributary of the 

 Saint Lawrence River, and itself one of the 

 most important rivers in Canada. The lumber 

 trade on this stream and its numerous affluents 

 is probably the largest in the world. This 

 trade is the chief commercial interest of the 

 various cities, of which Ottawa and Hull are 

 the largest, on its banks. The gradual clearing 

 of thousands of acres of timberlands has 

 opened the land to settlement, and has made 

 possible the extension of agricultural 



The Ottawa River rises on the eastern slope 

 of the Laurentian Highlands, at a point about 

 160 miles north of Ottawa. After flowing west- 

 ward for a few miles, it turns and pursues a 

 general easterly course to the Saint Lawrence. 

 It has two mouths, between which lies the is- 

 land of Montreal, on which is the great city 

 of the same name. For about one-half of it- 

 685-mile course, the Ottawa forms the boundary 

 between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. 

 The river is fed by many smaller streams, the 

 chief of which are the Madawaska and Rideau 

 on the south or right, and the Gatineau and 

 Riviere du Lievre on the left. All of these 

 streams, but especially the Gatineau, carry im- 

 mense quantities of lumber. The Gatineau 

 flows almost due south from its source, which 

 is about fifty miles north of Hull. 



Navigation of the Ottawa River is impeded 

 by occasional rapids and falls. The largest of 

 these are the Rideau Falls, just above the city 

 of Ottawa. Dams and slides facilitate the work 

 of the lumbermen, but do not permit naviga- 

 tion by boats of large size. One of the Ottawa's 

 tributaries, the Rideau, forms a part of the 

 Rideau Canal system, which connects the Ot- 

 tawa with Lake Ontario at K inn-ton. The 

 Georgian Bay Ship Canal (see subhead undrr 

 GEORGIAN BAY) will follow the course of tin- 

 Ottawa from Mattawa to its eastern terminus 

 at Montreal. 



OTTER, ot't-r. a valuable fur-boaring water 

 animal, found in all parts of the world. 1 



il . in net eristics are a long, thick body 

 and long tail; largo, flatti^i head; large nostrils, 

 small ears and eyes; short, stout legs with 

 webbed toe* and sharp, curved claws. The fur. 

 lik< tin |>.-.i\ IT'S, in of two kinds. The undrrfur 

 is short, soft and whitish-gray. Long, stifTcr 

 hairs of a rich brown color co\ r tin- undercoat. 

 Otters are rapid swimmers and expert divers 



