TOWNSHIPS. THE EASTERN AND OTTAWA DISTRICTS. 263 town;-inland it is bounded by the Ottawa district. A range of elevated table land commences at Lochiel and runs diagonally to the township of Matilda, whence it passes into the adjoining district. The soil is rich and well-watered, cultivated and fertile, some of it has been granted to discharged soldiers, and a good deal to the children of New England loyalists, and the Canada company possess some lots in it. The extent cultivated, and the stock thereon, will be seen in the preceding table. The district in the rear of the one just described, and bordering on the south shore of the Ottawa, from the Rideau River to the St. Lawrence, is termed the Ottawa district; its statistics are as follows a steam-boat, on the Canada side, several miles below the point where this proposed canal will enter the St. Lawrence; and the legislature of Upper Canada made an appropriation last winter for a canal round the Long Sault Rapids, which will probably cost ten times as much as the one now alluded to. This improvement would bring the entire carrying trade of the St. Lawrence through this channel, and extend facilities to the American side which can never be enjoyed by our Canada neighbours." * District assessment of one penny in the pound for 1832, £239; num ber of rateable inhabitants, 883. No returns. Oxen, &c. Milch Cows. Horned Cattle, Property.* 264 POPULATION, STOCK AND PROPERTY The returns for the Ottawa are not complete, it is, however, but thinly settled; the lands are good, but low and marshy; along the Rideau Canal cultivation is being extended, and as civilization increases, those very lands which are now considered useless marshy soils will become the most fertile sections of the country. The district which follows in the official documents is Johnstown, which lies along the St. Lawrence to the westward of the Ottawa and Eastern districts, and through the centre of which the Rideau canal passes. The only returns I have been able to obtain are as follow: JOHNSTOWN DISTRICT CENSUS. The soil in Johnstown is generally good, and it is advantageously situated. The district on the north, bounded by the River Ottawa, is called Bathurst, an idea of whose progress may be formed from the following table. Total.. 2084 1800 1766 1679 7329 116409 13949 520 863 1746 567 67931 The townships on the Ottawa, N.W. of Bathurst district, are in much request: lumberers now go 150 miles beyond Lake Chat; and as the Ottawa has few rapids to the northward, towards its junction with Lake Nipissing, we may command a shorter communication between Montreal and Georgiana Bay, and Lake Huron, than that we now have through Lakes Ontario, Erie, and the Detroit, with the great additional advantage of its being beyond the threats of the American Government. A great part of this district is colonized by Highland and Lowland Scotchmen, whose prudent, thrifty habits admirably fit them for emigrants. The next division as we proceed westward, is the long and extensive tract called the Midland District, whose base or southern extremity rests on the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, in the parallel of 440 south Latitude, while its northern boundary extends to 46.30, and is terminated on the N.E. by the Ottawa river. Its population, property, cultivated land and stock is as follows: * Assessments, in 1832, £746. 265 266 POPULATION, STOCK, AND PROPERTY, MIDLAND DISTRIct. The five districts now detailed may be considered as forming the east section of the province, and present generally a moderately elevated table land declining towards its numerous water courses; the timber of the forests is large and lofty and of every variety. The soil, though moist and marshy in many places, is extremely rich, consisting chiefly of a brown clay and yellow loam, admirably adapted to the growth of wheat RIVERS AND LAKES OF THE E. DIVISION OF UPPER CANADA. 267 and every species of grain: the rivers and lakes are extremely numerous; of the former may be mentioned as most conspicuous the Rideau, Petite Nation, Mississippi and Madawaska, which have their sources far in the interior generally to the westward, and which fall into the Ottawa: the Gannanoqui, Raisin, Cataraqui, Napanee, Salmon, Moira, and part of the Trent discharge themselves into the Bay of Quinté and the St. Lawrence: these streams, besides fertilizing the lands through which they meander, afford in general convenient inland communications, and turn numerous grist, carding, fulling and saw mills. Besides numerous inferior lakes there are the Rideau, Gannanoqui, White, (Henderson's) Mud, Devil, Indian, Clear, Irish, Loughborough, Mississippi, Olden, Clarendon, Barrie, Stoke, Marmora, Collins, Blunder, Angus, and Ossinicon. There are many roads throughout the section; the principal one is along the St. Lawrence, between Montreal and Kingston, traversing Cornwall and Lancaster, through which a line of stage coaches run daily (except Sundays) between the two provinces when steam-boats cannot traverse. Kingston, the maritime capital of Upper Canada, has to the westward the fine Quinté tract in a prosperous state of cultivation. By-town, in Nepean, on the south bank of the Ottawa, is most picturesquely situate; as is also Kinnel Lodge, the romantic residence of the Highland chieftan, M'Nab, on the broad, bold, and abrupt shore of the Lake of Chats. Perth is a thriving village in the township of Drummond, on a branch of the Rideau, occupying a central position between the Ottawa and St. Lawrence. There are several other rising settlements, which it would be impossible for me to enumerate. The central section of Upper Canada embraces the large districts of Newcastle and Home-with a frontage of 120 miles along Lake Ontario, in 44.30 Lat. and stretching back northerly to the Ottawa, Nipissing Lake, and French River in 46.30 north Latitude. The division and statistics of Newcastle are thus |