TROIS RIVIERES, 11 
scattered settlements on each side of it, from 
its month as far as the iron works, which are 
about nine miles distant from Trois Rivieres; 
beyond that, the country is but little known 
except to Indians. 
Trois Rivieres contains about two hundred 
and fifty or three hundred bouses, and ranks 
as the third town, in point of size, in the Pro¬ 
vinces. It is one of the oldest settlements in 
the country, and its founder, it is said, calcu¬ 
lated upon its becoming in a short time a city 
of great extent It has hitherto, however, in¬ 
creased but Aery slowly in size, and there is no 
reason to imagine that it will increase more 
rapidly in future, at least until the country bor¬ 
dering upon the St. Maurice becomes settled, 
a period that may be very distant. The bank 
of iron ore in the neighbourhood, by the ma¬ 
nufacture of which it was expected that the 
town would suddenly become opulent, is now 
nearly exhausted; nor do we find that this 
bank has ever furnished more ore than was 
sufficient to keep one small forge and one 
small foundry employed at intervals. The 
fur trade also, from which so much benefit 
was expected, is now almost wholly centered 
at Quebec and Montreal; it is merely the 
small quantity of furs brought down the St. 
Maurice, and some of the northern rivers that 
fall into the St. Lawrence, nearer to the town 
