The Picture Gallery of Canadian History Vol. 2 (Notes on Part Two)

NOTES ON PART TWO

Page 67

On August 23rd, 1793, Simcoe ordered that the name of Toronto should be changed to York, in honour of the success of the Duke of York against the French in Holland.

Mrs. Simcoe's Diary says, "There was a party of Ojibway Indians here, who appeared much pleased with the firing. "—a salute of 21 guns to celebrate the occasion. "One of them took Francis in his arms, and was much pleased to find the child not afraid, but delighted with the sound."

The illustration shows Mrs. Simcoe's hound, "Trojan," who once disgraced himself, as she says, by tearing in pieces a map of Canada which she had drawn. In the background is shown the "canvas house," in which the Simcoes lived. This was a large tent which had been used by Captain Cook in his South Sea expedition, and which Simcoe had bought in London at the sale of the explorer's effects. It was set up on the high ground east of Garrison Creek, at the foot of the present Bathurst Street, Toronto.

Page 68

David W. Smith (1764-1837), son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Smith, of the 5th Regiment, Northumberland Fusiliers, who was commandant of Fort Niagara. Son was officer in the same regiment. Member and Speaker of House of  assembly. Appointed Surveyor-General, Upper Canada, 1792. Returned  to England, 1802. Became manager of Duke of Northumberland's estates. Created Baronet, 1821. His house at Newark, built about 1793, was one of the finest in the province at that period. The Toronto Public Library acquired in England a large collection of his papers, which contain much valuable material on early Upper Canada.

William Dummer Powell, born in Massachusetts, educated in England and Holland. Returning to Boston, 1772, he came thence to Canada, where he was admitted to practise law. Later became judge and was Chief-Justice, 1816-1825. Prominent in the province during its early years. See monograph on him by His Honour Judge W. R. Riddell, the authority on the legal history of Upper Canada. William Jarvis (1756-1817), born in Connecticut. Cornet  in Queen's Rangers, and served in Revolutionary War. Came to Upper Canada as Secretary and Registrar of the province. His family, descendants and connections were prominent in public affairs for many years.

Hon. Robert Hamilton (1750-1809), born in Scotland, established himself at Queenston soon after the Revolutionary War. He and Hon. Richard Cartwright at Kingston were the principal merchants in early Upper Canada. Member of the Land Board and of the Executive Council. Much correspondence relating to business is contained in the Cartwright Papers in the Douglas Library, Queen's University, Kingston. See also paper on the Hamilton family, by H. F. Gardiner, in Vol. VIII, Ontario Historical Society, Papers and Records.

Note that the costumes and hair-dressing of Smith and Jarvis are of an earlier date than those of Powell and Hamilton: the former wear wigs, the latter their own hair. The wig began to go out of fashion about the time of the French Revolution, though it was retained by many elderly men until the early years of the nineteenth century.

Page 70

Mackenzie in his Journey speaks of having a "hanger," a short sword, convenient for travelling in rough country, similar to that carried by Wolfe, as shown in the drawing in Vol. I, p. 242, depicting him at the Battle of the Plains.

Page 72

Hon. Jonathan Belcher (1710-1776), born Boston, son of the Governor of Massachusetts and of New Jersey. Chief Justice, 1754; and Lieutenant-Governor, 1761-1763, of Nova Scotia. Buried in St. Paul's Church, Halifax.

Hon. Samuel Salter Blowers, born Boston, 1742, died Halifax, aged one hundred years. Judge in Rhode Island. Arrived in Halifax, 1783. Was successively Attorney-General, Member of House of Assembly and Legislative Council, Chief Justice, 1797,  and Master of the Rolls. Hon. Richard Bulkeley (1717-1800), born in Ireland came to Halifax with Cornwallis, 1749. Was Secretary, and later, Administrator of the Province, and held various judicial positions.

Hon. Richard John Uniacke, Sr., born Ireland, 1753, died Mount Uniacke, N.S., 1830, buried in St. Paul's, Halifax. Settled in Nova Scotia, 1774, Speaker of House of Assembly and Attorney-General. The portrait by Field was painted in
1811.

Michael Wallace was administrator at various times from 1818 to 1830.

The portraits of the judges are in the Court House at Halifax.

Pages 72 and 73

John Poad Drake (1794-1883): born in England; came to Halifax 1819, painted full-length portrait of Chief Justice S. S. Blowers, apparently the only one painted in Halifax. Went to Montreal, where he painted an altar-piece for one of the churches, and later went to New York, where he exhibited a painting of Napoleon on board the Bellerophon, a scene which he had witnessed in Plymouth Sound in 1815. Returned to England, where he died in Cornwall.

Robert Field, born Gloucester, England, about 1770. Came to America about 1792, and worked in New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Boston until 1808, when he settled in Halifax until his death in 1819. In the United States his work was mostly in miniature, though he painted some portraits in oil, and also executed several engravings. In Nova Scotia most of his portraits were oil paintings. Among his sitters were Sir John Wentworth, Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, Sir George Prevost and Bishop Inglis. He is probably the most distinguished of the early portrait painters of the Maritime Provinces.

Albert Gallatin Hoit, or Hoyt (1809-1856), born in New Hampshire, worked for a time in Boston. He visited Saint John, N.B., and later, about 1840, Halifax, N.S., where he painted the full-length portrait of Sir Brenton Halliburton, and possibly some others.

The notes on these artists are from data kindly supplied by Mr. William Colgate.

Page 74

Observe that Russell and Osgoode wear their own hair, though powdered and arranged in a fashion somewhat resembling a wig; and that the Chief Justice does not wear a full-bottomed wig nor robes, such as appear in the portraits of early Nova Scotia judges. These were never worn by lawyers or judges in Upper Canada. Information given by His Honour Judge W. R. Riddell.

The first Legislative Buildings in York were situated at the lower end of the present Berkeley Street. They were burned by the Americans during the occupancy of York in April, 1813.

Page 76

Most of the early Quebec churches existing today were built during the period from about 1770 to 1825. This was evidently a time of prosperity for the people of Lower Canada, as shown by the numerous and sumptuously furnished churches of this date. The parish records give details of the money paid to architects and sculptors, in addition to the labour and materials supplied by the parishioners.

The architectural style of these churches was classic, that of the late Renaissance, known as Baroque. It is interesting to compare them with those of Mexico and California, built about the same time and designed in the same style. The southern churches, outside and within, were more ornate and florid. Those of Quebec, in their exterior decoration, were plainer, more restrained, in conformity with their northern climatic conditions. Their charm consists in their pleasing proportions, their union of dignity and grace, and their harmony with their landscape setting. The Quebec craftsmen lavished their decorative skill on the interiors, in wood carving, plaster work on altars, pulpits,
ceilings, sacristry doors, etc., some examples of which are shown in these pages.

Information on these craftsmen and their work is to be found in books, monographs and articles by Marius Barbeau, Emile Vaillancourt Ramsay Traquair, Prof. E. R. Adair, and Gerard Morisset.

Page 77

The corner stone of the Nelson monument was laid in 1809. Near it was the pillory where criminals were exposed with a label on their breasts stating the nature of their offence. Here, too, prisoners convicted of larceny were punished by being tied to a cannon near the column and given 39 lashes on the naked back. St. Gabriel Church was supported by members of the North- West Company and other fur-traders, who were Scotch Presbyterians.

Page 79

By the time covered in this volume the Indians, especially in the settled parts of Canada, had long been in contact with the whites. Their way of life in consequence had been considerably modified by European influences. Their primitive tools of bone, wood and stone had been displaced by steel knives and tomahawks, guns, needles and thread, etc.; fur robes and deer skins were supplemented by cloth and blankets; porcupine quills and
moose hair embroidery were largely discarded for beads and silver ornaments and trade wampum of white manufacture.

Not only the native materials and technique were affected by European influence: their aboriginal designs, mostly geometrical, also included imitations of the patterns of flowered textile fabrics brought by traders. French nuns taught Indian girls sewing and embroidery in which floral motives were copied.

Undoubtedly these changes began at a very early period of white contact. It is unwise to be dogmatic concerning this, since detailed information is vague and scanty, and the dates of many specimens of Indian work in museums are uncertain. How much of this Indian handcraft is indigenous and aboriginal in design, and how much is modified by European influences is debatable, and there is much divergence of opinion among ethnologists on this question. Only when the materials used are of European manufacture, as beads, thread, and so forth, can we be certain that articles date from the coming of white people.

It is possible that the Indians used formalized floral designs supplied by native plants: the Algonkian double-curve motive may well have been suggested by waves and wind ripples. Native ingenuity fashioned many necessary articles, and, as the student of the development of arts and crafts knows, peoples widely separated and never in contact evolve designs and shape objects that are remarkably similar in appearance. It has been asserted that the making of birch-bark containers was taught by the French to the Indians. But it seems not unreasonable to suppose that the aboriginal mind that could conceive and fashion the canoe, a masterpiece of Indian handcraft, was capable of manufacturing a vessel which would keep water in, no less than one which would keep water out.

Since, however, the purpose of these volumes is to depict and describe the life of the country within historic times, the question of pre-European Indian culture is beyond their scope, and need not be further considered. It will suffice perhaps to say that in the more remote portions of the country, where only an occasional explorer, or a few traders had penetrated, Indian life retained more of its primitive and indigenous features than in those districts where white settlement was well established.

The European new-comers, in turn, were influenced by their contact with the Indians, and soon realized the suitability of many of their inventions to the conditions of the wilderness and early settlement. They adopted the snowshoe, the canoe, the toboggan, and various articles of costume, some of which are still in use on the frontiers of civilization today.

For our knowledge of primitive Indian life we must depend largely upon the descriptions and the drawings of early eye-witnesses, in books of travel and exploration. Indeed, these may be said to be our only sources of information concerning the earliest periods of white and Indian contact, accurate, or incorrect, or provokingly vague in detail as they may be. On the whole these observers strike one as being trustworthy. Many of them, such as the early missionary priests, were highly intelligent, well-educated men, versed in the science of their time. They interpreted the facts they observed in accordance with their prejudices, and with the limitations of the knowledge available at their time; but the facts themselves, for the most part, bear the stamp of authenticity. The bibliography includes the most important works dealing with the subject; but much incidental material may be found in many books concerning the general life of the time. Indeed, scarcely a book on Canada published during this period is without some reference to Indian conditions. Quotations from some of these works are given in the notes.

This picture is copied from a lithograph by H. Linch, after a painting by H. D. Thielcke. It shows the official or gala costume worn by Canadian Indian chiefs about 1796. Tall "plug" hats, decorated with ostrich feathers, braided frock coats with brass or silver buttons, medals and gorgets were given by the British Government, as insignia of their office, to the chiefs, especially among the eastern tribes, throughout the greater part of the nineteenth century. The arm bands were articles of trade silver, manufactured mainly in Montreal. Moccasins were about the only articles of their clothing of native design and manufacture.

Page 85

The beautifully carpentered crane resembles an engraving in Oliver Evans's Young Mill-wright's Guide, but is more elegant in design. In order to keep the mill-stones sharp, it was necessary, from time to time, to deepen the furrows and dress the surface afresh. By means of the upright iron screw and the rappling tongs the crane was used to lift and turn over the upper stone. The furrows were then deepened by steel picks. To test the levels of the stones and ensure equal contact, a wooden bar whose edge was smeared with red earth moistened with water was drawn across their surfaces. The higher parts where the red smear was seen were then dressed off until the whole surface
was perfectly level.

Page 86

In 1797 Count Joseph de Puisaye, a refugee from the French Revolution, laid a plan before the British Government for the settlement of a number of French Royalist émigrés on lands to be granted to them in Canada. The Government agreed to the proposal, and in the summer of 1798 a party under the leadership of Puisaye set sail from Portsmouth. They arrived at Quebec early in October, and thence were transported, partly by land and partly in batteaux, to Kingston. Here they spent the winter, while Puisaye proceeded to York, to consult with President Peter Russell, who had been notified earlier by the British Government of the project. Russell and the Executive Council
selected a location for the colony on Yonge Street, in the town- ships of Markham, Vaughan, Whitchurch and King. The situation was chosen as " being equally distant from the French of Detroit and Lower Canada, and near enough to the seat of Government both to give assistance to them and to keep an eye on them "—a consideration which indicates the suspicion with which all true Britons then regarded Frenchmen.

Early next spring the émigrés arrived, and began the difficult task of trying to make homes for themselves in the forest. was a task for which they were ill-fitted, most of them being noblemen and former officers of the Royal Army, unaccustomed to the hard physical labour of pioneer life. The colony, after a few years of feeble existence, was abandoned, most of the émigrés returning to Europe.

One of them, however, Quetton St. George, became a successful trader, and remained in Canada until the downfall of Napoleon, when he too returned to France. At the time of his departure he was probably the most prosperous merchant in Upper Canada, with establishments extending from Detroit to the neighbourhood of Orillia, and the owner of considerable landed property. His son, born in France after his father's return, later came to Canada and settled on his property near Wilcox Lake, where he built a handsome house, and laid out extensive grounds. The house was destroyed by fire after his death, but a noble avenue of pine trees and several of the hedges he planted still remain. He is buried in the graveyard of the church at Oak Ridges.

Puisaye, after seeing his followers established on Yonge Street, acquired land on the Niagara River, where part of his house is still standing. Here he lived, in some state, until 1801, when he returned to England, where he remained for the rest of his life. Much of his correspondence while in Canada is preserved in the papers of Hon. Richard Cartwright, who was his business agent, in the Library of Queen's University, Kingston.

See A Colony of Émigrés in Canada, 1798-1816, by Lucy E. Textor, Ph.D., University of Toronto Studies in History, 1905. Also Les Ecclésiastiques et Les Royalistes Francois, by N. E. Dionne.

Page 87

The Caléche was a two-wheeled vehicle in use in Lower Canada, similar to the "one-hoss shay, " or chaise of New England with It had a hood the addition of a seat in front for the driver. that could be raised or lowered. Toward the end of the eighteenth century a head-dress for women known as a Calash came into use, which took its name from its resemblance to the hood of the vehicle. It was made of a frame of wire or whale-bone hoops encircling the head and hinged together at the bottom so that it could be thrown back if desired. It was covered with oiled silk or other waterproof textile material. For wear in cold weather it was padded inside with wool, fur, or eider-down. Sometimes it was provided with a cord attached to the top of the front by which it could be pulled forward.

Page 89

Bedsteads were furnished with a canopy, called a tester, and side curtains which could be drawn close to keep out draughts and "night air, " which was thought to be harmful to health. Thick feather mattresses often built the bed so high that steps were required to enable the sleeper to get into it. A long-handled warming pan—a copper or brass dish in which was placed glowing charcoal or embers from the fireplace—was used to warm the sheets before retiring. Many bedrooms were unheated, though some had small open fireplaces. Beds such as those illustrated were used only by a few well-to-do settlers who brought them from their earlier homes in Great Britain or the American colonies, or acquired them at a later period when the pioneers had reached some prosperity.

Page 90

Much of the pioneer furniture was home-made, in spells of leisure on rainy days and in winter, or by a neighbouring carpenter. The woods most in use were birch, cherry, black walnut, basswood and maple. Black walnut was very popular until the latter half of the eighteenth century, when it was superseded by mahogany in the houses of fashionable society. Patrick Campbell says: " Maple and black clouded birch of New Brunswick and black walnut of Upper Canada are equal for household furnishing and furniture to any in the world. In the Governor's house, the Judge's house, and others, I have seen most beautiful specimens. Yet so prevalent is custom and the desire of emulation the bane of society, that many gentlemen, who cannot well afford it, have mahogany furniture in abundance, and despise what can be got at their door."

Page 92

This page is planned to show the changes in the shape of the axe from the European tool of the first settlers on this continent to the typical North American axe of the nineteenth century. Many of the early axes were of European manufacture, but apparently almost from the beginning those which were made for this continent were of a pattern somewhat different from most of those in use in the home lands. The type known as the trade axe or hatchet, probably originating in France, was introduced into Canada at an early date, and spread thence throughout North America. From it possibly has developed the special shape peculiar to this continent.

Its characteristic features are, first, the increasing projection of the poll or butt of the axe beyond the helve, to give added weight and power to its drive; second, the flattening of its upper border and the comparatively narrow flare of its blade in contrast to the European type and to the hewing or smoothing axe; and third, the substitution of a curving handle for the alrnost straight European handle.

Local blacksmiths soon began to modify the shape of the axes sent out, and to forge axes themselves, in accordance with their own ideas and the suggestions of their pioneer customers. Hence there were many variations of shape: the drawings illustrate the general tendency of the evolution of the axe in this country. These blacksmith axes were made by folding together the tapering ends of a block of iron, heated so as to be malleable. Into these ends was inserted a strip of steel for the blade, and the whole then welded together The middle portion, thick enough to provide for the projecting poll, was fitted over a handle pattern to form an oval or egg-shaped eye. The helves were generally made of hickory, or sometimes of white oak or ash.

It is impossible to fix precise dates for these changes; but we know that in the first half of the eighteenth century the St. Maurice Forges at Three Rivers were turning out axes. By the time of the founding of Halifax, 1749, the axe of this continent had acquired its peculiar characteristics. This we may infer from a letter of Governor Cornwallis, in which he states that such slow progress had been made in tree felling by his settlers with their European axes that he had employed Massachusetts men with their American axes as being more rapid and efficient.

Emigrants continued to brine with them European axes long after the North American implement had been developed. According to Canniff Old World axes were supplied by the British Government to the Loyalists and other early settlers. These were often of inferior quality, and their shape was unsuited to pioneer needs, being really short-handled ship axes, intended for quite different uses than chopping trees and clearing land. Even as late as the settlement of the Lake Simcoe region, according to an article in the Toronto Globe in 1885, "English axes with straight handles were used by the pioneers at Big Bay Point, and a Yankee pedler tried to persuade them of the superior usefulness of axes with crooked handles."

Not only was the shape of the European axe less suitable for the rapid felling of the huge trees of the North American forest: its steel was not tempered to the severe cold of the Canadian winter, when most of the chopping was done. A letter of Butler in 1781 speaking of the situation of the Niagara Loyalist settlers, says, "A Smith will be requisite for mending and making Plow Simcoe, in September, 1793, writes, Shares, Hoes and Axes. " 'Axes should be made of the best materials, and of the shape and size of the pattern sent. The axe will weigh rather more than 5 pounds. Particular attention must be given to tempering the steel, without which the axe will be of no value, as in the case of . Those made in America, though those already sent over. not so neatly fabricated, are of infinitely more value to the persons who use them. It is customary with the manufacturers in America to warrant the quality of the tools they make for 6 months, and to take back or replace those that are found insufficient. " The breaking of an axe was a tragedy to the settler isolated in the depths of the backwoods. In the letters and reports of George Simpson of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1820-1821 we find several references to this subject: "Our English Hatchets are so badly tempered that they do not stand those of the severity of the Frost, are as brittle as Glass
Canadian manufacture are found to answer much better n this country." The axes are of the worst materials and badly tempered, they should be manufactured of the best Swedish Iron and German Steel and tempered with great are. They are most required when the Thermometer is about 50 degrees below Zero.... The Indians are aware of their inferior quality and invariably reserve a few Skins to obtain a supply from the North West Coy. The small sized hatchets are too large and round in the Eye."

For sharpening the axe the grindstone was used in the settlements, or wherever its transportation was possible; but the isolated pioneer was dependent upon a small home-made whetstone when he was not within easy distance of a grindstone. In the Hudson's Bay Company's territory iron files were used for this purpose. The history of the evolution of the axe, especially in its relation to Canada, has yet to be written; but much useful information may be gathered from Ancient Carpenters' Tools, by H. C. Mercer, the Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, Pa. This contains many illustrations, and is the most complete work on the subject of American wood-working tools with which I am acquainted. Some excellent illustrations are to be found in Thoreau MacDonald's booklet, Some Tools of the Pioneers published by him in Toronto, 1936.

Page 93

The Hewing Axe was used by lumbermen for squaring timbers for rafting and stowage in vessels, and by carpenters for smoothing beams, planks and rafters. For these purposes the inner or left side of the axe in contact with the timber was straight and level. The handle was bent outward to the right so that the knuckles of the workman's hands should clear the log.

The log was placed about knee-high on cross beams laid on the ground. The bark was chopped off to roughly square the log. The required width was marked at the ends and small spikes driven in. Between these spikes was stretched a stout line, chalked with red or black crayon. The hewer, standing on the log, midway of its length, lifted the cord some inches above the log, and when it was drawn taut, released the cord, which snapped back and marked a straight line on the timber. Then, standing on the ground with the log close to his leg, and holding the axe with both hands, he hewed downwards diagonally across the grain. He took care to "hew to the line" evenly and
smoothly, so that the timbers should be of uniform dimensions and smooth surfaced. This was necessary in order that they might fit snugly together in the hold of the ship, and not shift with its rolling in the Atlantic billows on the voyage to Europe.

Some broad axes were made with the right side straight. These were for left-handed hewers. When such workmen were employed it was possible for two sides of the log to be hewn at the same time, the two hewers working from opposite ends. Left-handed hewers were paid higher wages because of the time saved.

The Adze was used for shaping beams and rafters, for levelling and smoothing floor planks and for excavating log troughs and dug-out canoes. The edge of the blade was generally straight, though sometimes a curved or saucer-edged blade was used to produce a rippled surface which gave a pleasing play of light and shade along the smooth surface of the beam or plank. These saucer-edged adzes had to be sharpened by a file or whetstone, it being impossible to apply them to a grindstone for this purpose.

The Cooper's Adze was used for hewing down barrel staves as well as for shaping and finishing wooden bowls and troughs. As will be seen by the drawings, it was more deeply curved downward and also more often saucer-edged than was the carpenter's adze.

Page 94

Hewing hatchets followed the sape of hewing axes, but, as indicated on the illustrations, they were of smaller dimensions. They were one-handed, their helves were shorter, and though generally bent to the outer side, some were fitted with a handle in the same axis as the eye. They were used for shaping and smoothing smaller timber, the beams and rafters of houses, the ribs of vessels, etc.

The Lathing Hatchet was shaped with a flat top so as to clear the ceiling when driving the nails of the upper laths of partitions and the inside of walls.

The interesting hatchet of Augustus Jones, the early surveyor of Upper Canada, was salvaged many years ago by Levi C. Green, one of the Stoney Creek Greens, to which family Scout Billy Green of 1813 fame belonged. It was formerly in the collection of the now defunct Stoney Creek Historical Society. It weighs about two pounds. It was used probably in cutting obstructing brush-wood and saplings, shaping boundary posts, and blazing trees when Jones was surveying road allowances and lining out lots.

Page 99

In March, 1803, the ship Boston, of Boston, Massachusetts, arrived in Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, to trade with the Indians. A dispute arose between the captain and Maquina, the Nootka chief. The Indians captured the ship and massacred all the crew, with the exception of John Jewitt, the blacksmith, and Thompson, the sail maker. Their lives were spared, Jewitt's because he was the armourer and able to forge and repair weapons and tools, and Thompson's whom Jewitt pretended was his father. They were held in captivity for three years, when they were rescued by the captain of another ship from Boston. Jewitt settled in New England, and some
years later wrote an account of his adventures, which contains much useful and interesting information concerning Indian life on the west coast.

Among primitive races metal articles and workers in metal were always desirable acquisitions. Consequently the lives of smiths and armourers were generally spared to become slaves, and the whites who wished to gain the friendship of Indian tribes often sent gunsmiths to live among them. This practice was followed by the French in seeking the alliance of the Senecas along the Niagara, and later by the English, when many of the employees, interpreters and agents of the Indian Department were also skilled workers in metal.

The illustration shows Maquina watching his captive blacksmith at work. The Indian chief wears a dress made of gaudy European trade cloth, sewn together and decorated with brass buttons by Thompson, who, as a sail maker, was able to fashion such materials to suit the native taste.

Page 100

The plan of the fort is taken from a survey made by Col. Nicolls of the Royal Engineers. The fort was reconstructed in 1932-1934 in conformity with this plan of 1816.

The view of the barracks is from a drawing by Lieut. Sempronius Stretton, now in the Public Archives of Canada. Note soldiers chopping out stump, and sawing planks in pit on the bank; also Indian in canoe spearing fish.

Page 103

The first raft on the Ottawa River was conducted by Philemon Wright, from Hull (of which he was the founder), to Montreal, in 1806. The timbers were fastened together with wooden pins and bound with flexible willow withes. The raft was guided by long heavy sweeps on all sides, those in front being used to assist in swinging the raft around to avoid rocks and shallow water.

Page 104

The Conestoga wagon was so called after the Conestoga Valley in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where this type of vehicle was developed. Wagons such as this, though generally larger, and drawn by four or six horses, carried most of the freight to the American west, before the railroad came, over the Alleghany Mountains by the great National Highway to Pittsburg and beyond. While the wagon here shown is probably the only specimen of its kind in Canada, the farm wagons generally in use during the period most likely were constructed on similar lines. Many of the settlers of Waterloo County came from this region of Pennsylvania, and were members of pacifist sects, Mennonists, Tunkers, etc., who had migrated from Germany earlier in the eighteenth century.

Page 106

These illustrations show the clothing worn in Lower Canada a century and a half ago. For walking on the slippery streets of Quebec cloth shoes, or stockings worn over ordinary shoes, were worn. Crampons, removable soles with iron spikes, attached to shoes were also worn. Thompson, the building superintendent, complains of the damage done to the handsome new floors of the Chateau Haldimand, at its opening on the Queen's birthday, 18th January, 1787, by the crampons of visitors, which should have been taken off and left at the door. Mrs. Simcoe's Diary mentions that the troops practised walking on snow-shoes on the Plains of Abraham. She also says that women wear hoods lined with eider-down over a muslin cap, as shown in Lambert's drawing. The priest wears a small wig, which was permitted in cold weather.

Page 111

In the earliest years of British rule the merchants of Montreal began to engage in the fur trade and to equip expeditions to the north and west. The route usually followed was by the Ottawa River and the upper great lakes to Grand Portage, near the head of Lake Superior. After 1796, when this neighbourhood was included in the territory of the United States, Fort William, some miles to the east, became the meeting place of the canoes from Montreal and the fur-traders of the north-west interior. Here the trading goods were unloaded, and the packs of the season's furs taken on board the Montreal canoes for their return voyage.

These Montreal canoes were about 36 feet long and 6 feet wide at the middle, and carried from 3 to 4 tons. They were paddled by crews of 8 to 10 voyageurs, who were commonly called "Mangeurs du Lard," or "Pork Eaters,"
their provisions generally consisting of salt pork and hulled corn or peas. They travelled in "brigades," usually of 4 canoes, to facilitate the passage over the numerous portages on the route. These large canoes were pushed up the steepest places, cushioned on ever- green boughs, or were carried by 6 men, bottom side up. They left Lachine in May, reaching the meeting place early in July. The trading goods consisted of coarse woollen cloths, blankets,
ammunition, twist and carrot tobacco, thread, lines, twine, hardware, cutlery, brass, copper, and iron kettles, silk and cotton handkerchiefs, shoes, nets and fish hooks, spirituous liquors, colours, vermilion especially, beads, silver ornaments, etc.

Meanwhile, the furs gathered in the far north and west were being carried by toboggans and canoes, so as to reach the Lake Superior meeting place by the time of the arrival of the goods from Montreal. For a month or more the portage over the height of land separating the great lakes waterways from those of the northern interior was a busy place, as lines of men laden with packs of furs, or barrels, sacks and bundles of trading goods hurried along the trail to the waiting canoes.

The northern canoes were about half the size of those from Montreal: about 25 feet long by 4 feet wide, with a crew of 4 to 6 men. In portaging they were carried by 2 men at bow and 2 at stern, bottom side down.

In addition to these, there were also light express canoes, used for the speedy transportation of correspondence, news, and passengers, such as officials and partners of the trading companies. These carried no freight beyond the provisions and baggage of the crew and passengers. They were paddled by a crew of 15 men, specially picked and paid extra wages for a speedy voyage. Dr. Bigsby says that the passengers sat on their rolled-up beds amidships, while the crew squatted in two rows on their bags of provisions, paddling 50 strokes to the minute to voyageur songs so timed, and stopping occasionally for a short spell to rest and smoke.

Much information and numerous pictures are to be found in various numbers of The Beaver, the Hudson's Bay Company's quarterly. Schoolcrafts' Indian Tribes gives details of the Indian methods of canoe building, and there are scattered references in J. J. Bigsby's The Shoe and Canoe, and in the numerous volumes of the Champlain Society publications dealing with the fur-trade and northern exploration.

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The present Government House is the third building erected for that purpose in Halifax. Its story is told in two brochures published by the Archives of Nova Scotia: Government House, and The Romance of Government House, by J. S. Martell, under direction of the Archivist, Dr. D. C. Harvey. Its two predecessors had been situated on the property now occupied by the Legislative Building, or "Province House"; the first a temporary structure put up at the time of the settlement in 1749, the second during Lawrence's governorship, of which a view taken by Richard Short is herein shown. Both of these were wooden buildings.

In 1793 Governor Wentworth complained to the Legislature that the house was so badly decayed that it was "in Danger of falling into the Cellar." A considerable sum had recently been spent on repairs and further expenditures were made during the following years; but Wentworth continued his complaints and urged the building of a new Government House which would be worthy of the King's representative. Strongly supported by the Provincial Treasurer, Michael Wallace, he won over the Assembly to the project. A site in the southern suburbs was secured and in September, 1800, the corner stone was laid. Five years later Wentworth moved into the new Government
House, unfinished though its rooms were.

Throughout the years of its construction protests were made by the Assembly that it was on a scale far beyond the circumstances of the province, then with a population of but little more than 60,000. By the time that Wentworth retired in 1808 the building had cost more than twice the sum originally authorized: later additions, repairs and furnishings raised the total expenditure to over $31,000.

Among the articles enumerated as having been purchased is a marble chimney piece carved with statuary and ornaments, for which the celebrated British sculptor, Richard Westmacott, in 1804, received the sum of &31-10. Other items contained in a report of 1811 are: For Levee Room: 7 Turkish Sophas, 12 cane bottom Chairs with cushions and covers, 3 Lustres to suspend from ceiling, Looking Glass, Fire Irons and Fenders. For Saloon: A Brussels Carpet, A Fire Rug to match, Fire Screens, Chimney Candlesticks, Mahogany Tables, Chandelier, Looking Glasses, A Steel Register Stove. For Dining Room: 24 Mahogany Chairs, Floor Cloth for Mahogany Sideboard, Curtains, Draperies, Set of Mahogany Dining Tables. Grates in 2 Waiting Rooms. 2 Lanthorns and 2 Footscrapers in Hall. Smoke Jack and Stone Plate in Kitchen. Brass Register Stove in Nursery.

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Stoves of some kind were in use in Canada much earlier than is commonly supposed. There is mention of them during the French period. Mrs. Simcoe, in her Diary, says that grates were tried for heating the "canvas house" in which they lived at Newark, but these not answering, stoves were substituted; she also mentions their use in Quebec, and complains of the overheating of the houses in winter.

At the St. Maurice Forges in Lower Canada, stoves were manufactured during the eighteenth century, their characteristic product, known as the Three River Stove, was the "two-decker" box stove, with fire box below and oven above. Stoves long enough to hold a cord-wood stick were sometimes used to heat two rooms by placing it midway of an opening cut in the dividing wall.

Benjamin Franklin invented an open stove for heating. In a pamphlet which he published in 1744 he describes his "newly invented Pennsylvania fire places, composed of five iron plates scru'd and fixed together, with one side open." While retaining its original basic construction, the "Franklin" stove was furnished with various fittings, such as brass railings, and was often decorated with castings of illustrations of Biblical stories.

The first iron foundry in Upper Canada was established about 1820 in Norfolk County by Joseph Van Norman and his partners, the ore being procured from extensive bogs in Charlotteville. The principal products of this Normandale Furnace were bar-iron for blacksmiths, axes, and stoves. The foundry carried on an extensive and profitable business for several years, but about 1852 it ceased to exist owing to financial losses, and the depletion of bog-ore in the immediate vicinity. In 1829 the foundry was placed under the management of Elijah Leonard, an experienced American iron-worker, who later founded the firm of E. Leonard and Sons, in London, Ont., and became a Dominion Senator. In a published autobiography of the family the furnace is described as consisting of a brick stack or chimney about thirty feet high built on the side of a hill. "Motive power was obtained from a stream which turned an overshot wheel about fourteen feet in diameter that drove a double piston bellows by means of cranks. Only one tuyere (pipe through which air is forced) was employed to admit the blast. The ore and charcoal were mixed in the top house, being dumped into the furnace by barrows, and the iron when melted ran down into a hearth about two feet wide and five feet long. Into this receptacle we dipped our ladles and carried off the product direct to the flasks. When in full blast we took off two heats in twenty-four hours." The site can still be seen, but no vestige of the buildings remains. The information about the Normandale Furnace is taken from Pioneer Sketches of the Long Point Settlement, by E. A. Owen.

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All able-bodied men were enrolled in the Canadian militia. They received occasional training in drill during the year, but the principal muster was on the birthday of King George Ill, June 4th. Many of them were without fire-arms, and carried sticks, pitchforks, pikes and umbrellas as substitutes. Only a few, veterans of the Revolutionary War or disbanded soldiers, had uniforms. Two of these are shown in the illustration on the left; one of them, a sergeant, is dressing the line with his halbert held horizontally. It is stated that in the battle of Queenston in 1812 none of the militia wore uniforms.