7<3 IRON AND STEEL. 



Jesuit missionaries who did so much to explore and develop not 

 Canada alone, but the whole country as far as the Mississippi, settled 

 among and converted to Christianity a tribe of Indians, the Attika- 

 megues, living near Three Rivers, at the mouth of the St. Maurice, 

 on the north bank of the St. Lawrence, about midway of Stadacona 

 (Quebec) and Hochelaga (Montreal.) It is probable, though not cer- 

 tain, that Father Drouillettes reported the existence of iron near that 

 point, for in 1666, M. Talon, who had been sent by Colbert to Gaspe 

 to look for silver and had failed, sent the Sieur de la Tesserie to 

 Baie St. Paul, near Trois Rivieres, where he found iron ore which 

 appeared to be rich. M. La Portardiere was sent from Quebec to 

 inspect the mine, but his report was unfavorable, and nothing prac- 

 tical was done for seventy years. 



In 1 68 1 the Marquis de Denouville reported to his Majesty's 

 Government that he was convinced a very fine iron mine existed at 

 Trois Rivieres, where a forge could be profitably worked. He said 

 he had sent some of the ore to M. Colbert, who tested it with favor- 

 able results. In 1686 the same nobleman reported that he had sent 

 a sample of the ore to France, where the iron workers found it " of 

 good quality and percentage," and desired fifteen or twenty 

 "bariques" of it to give it a thorough trial. In 1672 the Count de 

 Frontenac reported that he had begun to mine the ore and that 

 " there are six piles of ore now lying at Cape Madeleine, which, 

 according to the annexed report of the miner, would last for two 

 castings per day for four months." He strongly urged the establish- 

 ment of " forges and a foundry." 



In 1737 a firm known as Cugnet et Cie., was formed by royal 

 charter, which acquired the mines and a tract of forest land, and at 

 once erected two furnaces, a foundry and dwelling for the operatives. 

 There was a French garrison at Trois Rivieres, and the soldiers were 

 the principal workmen. The operations appear to have been very 

 unprofitable, for in a few years Cugnet et Cie. surrendered their 

 charter to the local Government, and the works were cairied on for 

 some time by agents of the Crown. The fuel used was charcoal, 

 and the product of the furnace was pig iron. The greater part of 

 this was cast into stoves, pots, etc., for local use ; but some bar iron 

 was made, though I can find no description of the method employed. 

 It probably was the old method of repeated heatings and hammer 

 ings, as there was a trip hammer operated by water power. 



