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Echoes from the Past

Article 106 of 111     


This article first appeared in the "Echoes from the Past" column of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.External Link Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.

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Canoeists with Connections to the Gatineau

Canoes had their place, an extremely useful one, in the exploration and settlement of this vast country of Canada. They had carried to the west the factors with huge cargoes, and at times, officials of the Hudson's Bay Company and those of the North West Company (becoming one company in 1921).

The establishment of forts along rivers at the juncture of other rivers and adjoining lakes developed a lucrative trade of pelts being moved eastwards to satisfy European demands and westward with trade goods for both the natives and the traders who operated at the forts.

The canoes in all their types and sizes were most versatile vessels. They could carry vast loads. They themselves could be carried when a portage was necessary.

NICOLAS GATINEAU
He who gave his name to the river and the valley through which it flows was Nicolas Gatineau, Sieur du Plessis, a mem (sic) of the Hundred Associates, a notary of Three Rivers and Montreal. Tiring of his legal duties he sought the wherewithall to return to his beloved France, he turned to exploring the forested countryside bordering the river which might provide for his need through hunting and trapping. Gatineau was not to realize his dream, as legend says he lost his life on the river's upper reaches.

RADISSON AND DESGROSEILLERS
also of Three Rivers, related by marriage, intrepid coureurs de bois, made use of the Gatineau River as a route for their canoes, passing via the St. Maurice and St. Lawrence, thence to the Gatineau and finally westward on the Grand (Ottawa) River. ("The White and the Gold" by Thomas B. Costain - 1954)

PHILEMON WRIGHT
was an expert canoeman. He came from Woburn Massachusetts, three separate years, by canoe, with a partner, to explore the St. Lawrence and the Grand River from Quebec City to the Chaudière Falls. He was looking for a place where he could form a settlement for his family and others (Associates).

The chosen place was where three rivers met, the Rideau, the Grand and the Gatineau. He favoured the northern shore, at the mouth of the Gatineau River. They came in early 1800, using sleighs, and had to time their journey so that the ice was capable of carrying the heavily-laden sleighs.

Men went ahead with exes to test the ice or thickness. It would have been a disaster to lose just one sleigh in the train. They camped each night on shore; the women and children in the covered sleighs and the men in blankets, under the stars, surrounding a huge fire, kept going all through the night. Prowling animals were kept away by the flames.

Before leaving our ancestral canoeists entirely there are a couple of points I'd like to make.

Of course the original inhabitants of the country were here long before the pale faces of Europe arrived on the scene. For hundreds of years, if not eons, they had their canoes, constructed, at least in the east, from materials provided by the forests in which they had their being. In the far west, they favoured dugouts.

It was the whites who built their Pointers, Durham and York Boats, especially designed for heavy work but the latter two not readily portaged.

The second point which may be of interest is that the Hudson's Bay Company had a post at Desert, not far from Maniwaki. It was rather a late-comer, being operated 1826 - 1877.

ERIC MORSE & PAM

Now we come to the canoeists who lived in this century. Of these Eric Morse who had a home next to the MacIntyres, just north of the Larrimac Golf Links, could claim an honest connexion with the Gatineau; although most of his canoeing exploits were in Canada's North West.

Morse's lifetime activities could fill a book, I don't have that luxury - and speaking of books it should be mentioned that Morse did indeed write a best-seller based on his own travels by canoe "Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada - Then and Now".

A most unusual distinction came to Eric Morse and that is to have a river named after him. Morse River. The unusualness was that is was so named in his lifetime.

Morse's wife, Pam, is an ardent canoeist in her own right, often sharing in his trips.

BILL MASON & BECKY

Who ever has seen Bill Mason's film - "Waterwalker" could ever forget the magic off its message - the animate and the in animate becoming one, with a story to tell about canoeing.

The late Bill Mason and family lived at the far end of Meech Lake. His mantle fell on his daughter, Becky, which she wears with pride, not as a shroud as her skills shine through.

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Mr. Editor. The best I can do - a GAT is a GUN and EAU is WATER. Put them together and you have a WATER CANNON or GATINEAU.