Up the Gatineau! Article
This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 10.
Early Settlement of Meech Lake
Ethel Penman Hope
The early days of Canadian life are fraught with special interest to us. We are still pioneers blazing trails through trackless forests, hewing out homes for ourselves in the wilderness, turning over virgin sod and damming, for the first time, swiftly flowing streams. Mystery still lurks in our mountain passes and adventure ever beckons us on to dizzy heights and into weird and wondrous unknown places. Treasures of the earth yet wait our discovery and the wild denizen of the wood still calls to his mate without fear of human interloper.
This land of ours is still in the beginning of things, its spirit that of a youth only just come into the knowledge of his great heritage. His eyes see visions, his ears open to hear each new note as it strikes upon the keyboard of his inner consciousness, his intellect keen to understand, his heart eager to respond, and his strong right arm ever ready to defend-while his soul is fired with the passion to do and dare, endeavour and struggle, conquer and win. Though his whole bearing be noble, this youth of ours must beware. History is replete with stories of the Kingdoms of the earth - their growth, decline and fall; their struggles, mistakes, and vain boastings. This North American youth must look well to his ways that they lead him on to an age of glory and honour; that his seed coming after him may, in looking back, bless him. Such is our responsibility in this twentieth century, a responsibility that bids us uphold the fair tradition of the past and prepare the way for a greater future.
We are pioneers, but we are children of greater pioneers. We are the children of men and women who dreamed dreams and saw visions— who, needless of the swift current, forded the stream to greater liberty, who unconscious of the danger lurking in the shadows, blazed trails through dense valleys and crossed mountain heights, their spirits reaching out for greater freedom; their courage undaunted by hardship.
Of such character were the early settlers. Of sturdy English, Scottish, Irish and French descent, they heroically shouldered their responsibilities and made the best of their new and difficult surroundings. But they were not the first to till the ground and hunt in the forest. Before them had been a race, the smoke of whose camp fires had curled above the pine trees for generations. Stalwart braves, men of courage and wisdom, skilled in the arts of their race - the North American Indian. The land and the freedom of it were his, but its future ours; and so, in the march of civilization, he was bound to be outdone, his day to wane, and his light t0 flicker and die. But he was a proud ruler, a haughty aristocrat. He had advanced many stages in civilization before we first came into contact with him.
As early as the year 1615, a Jesuit missionary, speaking of a trip up the Ottawa, emphasizes the kindly disposition of the Indians whom he met, and speaks of the small fields of corn and squash they cultivated, in imitation of the Hurons, and of their knowledge in the drying of berries, chiefly blueberries and raspberries, which grew in great abundance. The same missionary states that there were 700 or 800 on the banks of the Ottawa lake, probably Lake Deschenes. The Algonquin was a nomadic tribe, living chiefly by hunting and fishing. Those inhabiting the Gatineau district, being a branch of the Algonkian, were called the Timiskaming Indians, who, in turn, were subdivided int0groups—so that the local inhabitants of the Meech Lake Territory were of the River Desert and Maniwaki group. The habits and customs of all Algonkian tribes vary little except in such instances that the more northerly bands, of whom the Timiskaming constitute one, had no agriculture, mat covered wigwams, ash splint basketry or rush matting, as the necessary materials were absent in their latitude.
The Indians who roamed the hills of the Gatineau were those whose trails led them north of the Ottawa and south—east of the Timiskaming, Mattawa and Demoine rivers. The social units comprising the bands were the families which consisted of individuals related by descent and blood, together with other women married to the men of the family. The family name provided a surname for the group. With each group there was a family hunting territory in which all the members shared the rights of hunting and fishing. These hunting lots were more or less fixed tracts of land, whose boundaries were determined by certain rivers, ridges, lakes or other natural landmarks, such as swamps and clumps of cedars or pines. Hunting outside of one’s inherited territory was punishable, occasionally by death; more often, however, trespassers were punished by conjuring against the offenders life or health. This habit led to many evils, sickness, family feuds, etc. There was a comradeship between families; in many instances the more fortunate in territory conceding favours of fishing and hunting to the less favoured, or the same privilege being recognized by a gift of meat or furs. The rights in the hunting territories were inherited paternally and were rigid and permanent, very few changes taking place within the range of tradition. They conserved the game of our forests and their wisdom in that line far surpasses ours. Game was kept account of closely, so that it was known how abundant each kind of animal was - and the killing regulated so as not to deplete the stock Beaver was made the object of most careful farming. The number of occupants, old and young, to each "cabin" was kept count of. In certain districts moose were protected one year — in other districts the next year.
Marriage was determined by the old people of the families. The wife went to her husband's family and lived there, and the children belonged to the father‘s family and inherited their paternal rights and territory. The Algonquin Indians lived in bark houses, made with poles and formed in tepee fashion, around which long lengths of birch bark would be wound, working upward. These birch bark lengths could easily be taken down and rolled into smaller space for travelling purposes. Among the Algonquins of the Ottawa and Meech Lake district there was little missionary work done until a late date. Anything that was done was in the nature of travelling with different bands and tribes to their hunting grounds and was often accompanied by great danger to the missionary. Later on there was a mission of Oblate Fathers at River Desert. The Ottawas were the first Indians from the Upper Lakes to trade with the French.
Let us picture now a hundred miles of the land lying north of the Ottawa, parallel with Lake Deschenes, including Meech Lake as once being the hunting territory of a family of Indians of the Timiskaming band - their bark houses and the life around them the only human note in that vast wilderness — their moose trails winding through the winter solitude, and their summer camps the centre of a life, though rude and simple, on the whole well-ordered and happy. This picture fades as the white man advances, and now comes the picture of the first settlers. from which the Indian gradually disappears. The first land granted to a settler at Meech Lake by the government was 200 acres constituting lot 21 of the 10th range, bordering the lake itself, and was given to Asa Meech of Charlotte. Vermont, in the year 1824. The draft for the same, reading, in part:
“NOW, THEREFORE, KNOW YE that we, of an especial grace, certain knowledge and mere motion, have given granted and confirmed and by these presents do give, grant and confirm unto the said Robert Moore, Charles Walker, Nathaniel Chamberlain, Josephus Hudson, Elisha Sheffield, Joseph F. Booth, William Jefts, Thomas Wright, Gardner Church, Thomas Brigham, Samuel Edey, John Chamberlain, Josias Chamberlain, Christopher Allen, Asa Meech, Thomas Oatley, John C. Eaton and to their heirs and assigns for ever the said lots of land in the township of Hull....
And unto the said Asa Meech and to his heirs and assigns forever, the lot number twenty-one in the tenth range of about two hundred acres and highways etc., etc."
- thus granting to Asa Meech, of Charlotte, Vermont, the honour and privilege of being the first settler in that region, and adding to the colour and beauty Of nature there a breath of romance.
Asa Meech, United Empire Loyalist by birth, by training Oxford graduate, doctor of divinity, doctor of medicine, and master of shorthand, pastor of 8 church in Charlotte, Vermont, in the winter of 1818, left his home, accompanied by his wife and family, on a journey across the border to a land of greater freedom The journey was made by sleigh and oxen along the frozen St. Lawrence, thence to Hull, where there had been difficulty in the church and his services were at once in demand. After preaching in the church at Hull for some years he applied for a grant of land in 1824, and the two hundred acres above mentioned came into his possession. The motive actuating him in the choice of a life of hardship for himself and his loved ones will always remain somewhat of a mystery. The loneliness and difficulties, the toil without recompense, the romance and tragedy of his life weave into the story strands of many colours. A man of over six feet in height, broad-shouldered, of comely appearance and kindly manner, he, naturally, became the acknowledged leader in all good work in the community, his influence spreading as far as story travelled or personal contact permitted.
Tales of his life are still related by the old people in the district where, irrespective of creed or birth, he laboured for the good of all. On wintry Sabbaths, one old man relates, Asa Meech would drive with his family from Meech Lake to Chelsea, where he preached in the church and taught in the Sunday school -also teaching the day school during the week. In the winter it was possible to drive to Chelsea, but the summer route led only by trail through the woods. He was a prophet, his word the necessary one to settle disputes. His towering form and authoritative bearing commanded both love and respect. Had he been very active for the mother country in her struggle in New England, and was a life of seclusion the price’? We surmise that such must have been the case, but the question remains unanswered - though the more that is known about his life, the greater the mystery surrounding it. He answered the call of sickness without thought of fee, and preached for the glory of God and the honour of England, and because of him, Meech Lake takes his name.
Upon return from a trip to other parts, he was told of the death, by drowning, while crossing the creek at Hull, of his wife and family of three children. The oldest resident still tells the story of that funeral service, the courage and dignity of the heart-broken man who conducted it, and the snow white hair that followed a night of suffering. His first wife had died in Vermont, a few years after their marriage, and now again he was alone - a stranger in a strange land, returning to a home desolate.
Though he married again, and his children climbed upon his knee, early frost had taken the rich colour from his life, and memory must have been a lonely thing to him. In the little deserted graveyard beside the church in Old Chelsea where he preached and taught, on the stone that bears his name and lies half-buried in the kindly sod, are the simple words:
| ASA MEECH 74 Years and 10 Months DIED February 22, 1849 Also MARGARET DOCKSTEADER 55 Years January 12, 1853 |
"I would not live always, I ask not to stay, Where storm after storm, Gathers dark o’er the way.” |
Life in the wilderness must have been hard for this woman of gentle birth and the stones which have always gathered about the hill tops must have added to the loneliness of her heart.
Following Asa Meech, the next man to settle at the lake was John Harrington. Born in the hollow below Kingsmere, and the oldest of a large family, he hewed out a home for himself, a little below the Alexanders‘ present location. After that the land was gradually taken up by English, Scottish and lrish settlers: McCloskey, Farrell, Gillen, Finnerty, Fleury, Gillespie, John Allan, Mousseau, Lecherite, Sheridan, Kenny and others. Later on Irish squatters, according to theirfancy, acquired temporary homes wherever the trail led. Their homes, and, in fact, those of many of the early settlers, were at first necessarily crude in construction: bass logs fitted together by a cement made of ashes and water, two windows for ventilation and light, the most convenient kind of flooring, and a fire in the middle of the house with a hole in the roof to act as chimney. Before stoves were used food was cooked in three—cornered iron pots with covers and set into the coals. Bread and cakes also were cooked in this manner - and, according to the tales of long ago, the culinary masterpieces of to-day can in no way compare with them. The better class of house had a large fireplace in the kitchen built of cobblestones. There was an oven built into the wall by the side of the fireplace, or directly Over the flames, made of brick. There was also a swinging crane fixed into the stonework, arranged with hooks for the various pots. The better land, according to propaganda published in those days as a guide to settlers, lay in the forest tract. The soil beneath was supposed to fully recompense the toiler for this weary labour. In clearing the land the logs were cut and piled, then burned.
On the top of the mountain the road led to Kingsmere. in the old days some settler or Irish squatter established himself every mile along that highway. Grain was at first grown between the stumps. Ploughs were home—made: fashioned of wood in a fork shape, supported by a strip of iron. The grain was cut with a reaping hook, and fanned with a fan made of thin pine boughs. Before lamps came into use candles were used exclusively. They were made by rolling a string of cotton around a small cedar stick, and pouring melted tallow over it until it was a candle, or the simpler way of dipping it. A little later on candle wicks were made, an arrangement of six wicks, fastened to a stick eight inches long. These wicks were dipped into beef tallow and allowed to hang and cool, then dipped again, and the same process repeated until good-sized candles resulted. For those in the heavily—wooded districts and on the mountain top there was no pasture for their cattle, which were allowed to roam in the bush with large bells around their necks and were often difficult to locate. The task of finding them was sometimes a dangerous one, too, as bears and wolves were frequently seen, though seldom known to attack. It was not a rare thing to see a bear swim across the lake, arise with dignity out of the water, shake himself and continue his constitutional; and in the dim light of the early morning a wolf was often seen to kill a deer on the ice of the lake, eat what it desired, leave the rest and disappear into the shadow of the shore.
The squatters and some of the poorest settlers seldom wore boots, unless to church or a private dance. On these occasions the boots would be carried till within sight of the church or house, then donned for the occasion. The orchestra at such dances consisted of nothing to do but sing himself hoarse, - helped as he was too often by the old custom of carrying a bottle with one, whether its hiding place was the hip pocket or not matters little. lt was there in those olden days to many a man’s undoing.
As far as I can learn the early settlers helped themselves freely to the wood of the forest, cutting and hewing wherever they liked - until, if chance had it, another claimed a prior right or disputed his liberty. After using as much as they needed, they disposed of the rest any way possible for what they could get. Some of the earliest lumber companies to trade in the Gatineau and Meech Lake districts were Hall, MacLaren, Walsh, Gilmour & Company, Atkinson, Cameron, Edwards. Eddy, Wright, Gouin, Hamilton, Bennett and the Diamond Match Company. Few of the earliest companies paid for the logs, only for the labour. In 1855 at Lapéche, above Chelsea, there were woollen, saw, flour, carding and cloth mills as well as? general store, though most of the settlers from the lake district bought their necessities in Hull or Bytown, many walking by the Mountain road to Bedard landing and across the river by boat. Some carried pails of butter, one in either hand to the market, and returned with a sack of flour on their back.
There was no road around the shore of the lake, and a trip to town for supp|i95 was a laborious journey. James Gillen, living two miles up the south shore of the lake, was one of the first settlers to possess a wagon, which he was frequently called upon to share with his neighbours. In fact, for a while, James Gillen's wagon was the regular means of transportation for the community. But first the wagon must be taken apart and carried by boat to the foot of the lake where it was put together again and hitched to the horse that had been led by trail along the mountainside.
The journey to Hull under such difficulties and over a wilderness road was a strenuous affair, sometimes taking part of two days with a camp overnight at Ironsides. As It happened, so story relates: sometimes Hull cast its spell over the return trip. Between Chelsea and the lake there lived a Mrs. Daly who kept sheep and wove cloth for the neighbourhood. It was a long tramp with a bag of flour on one's back from Hull to Meech Lake, but such were the feats of some of these „ pidneers, Distance and solitude held no fear for the courageous Irishman. Paddy Farrell's father built a cabin; in the wintertime. at the extreme end of the lake on what he thought was main shore, but found in the Spring that he had an island home, the present Davy site.
After a time the squatters' land was auctioned by the government, as well as all unsold lots. and could be bought for a small sum. In fact land, like logs, in those days, was of little value. Many a boss paid his workmen in property. For six months' work a man might easily receive three hundred acres on the Meech La,ke cad. and another one hundred bordering the lake, so that wages. logs, labour and divisional lines in property were all in a pretty mix-up. Little wonder that forests were cleared pretty nearly how and where anyone chose.
The first sawmill was owned by Paddy Farrell, whose heirs sold it, in modern times, to T.L. Willson. who afterwards erected his power house on the site. The creek at this time was used for the carrying of logs to the Gatinea River at Cascades.
Good health must needs predominate in those early times-for there was little provision for sickness or death. If, on occasion. the latter resulted, the same Gillen wagon method of transportation had to be resorted to in order that a decent burial might be solemnized in the little church at Old Chelsea. Tom Gillen who lived in the present Porter location was the first to cut a road along the south shore of the lake and a great celebration took place the first day that the Gillen wagon was driven over it.
To the Scottish and English settlers. accustomed to heavy property taxes in their own land, the thought of a free grant of land consisting of hundreds of acres for which no tax was exacted was responsible for much of the immigration to this country at that time - coupled as it invariably was with the vision of gold in such quantities that no one need travel far without finding it. True, the land was free; but to tree it of trees was one thing, then of stumps another, so that labour became substituted for heavy taxation - and instead of gold they found muskeg in the Gatineau hills. and for gold they found,Hquor at Hull. But happily. there were fish in great numbers in the lakes, game in the forests and lumber everywhere, But of the weak, their shortcomings have faded long since beyond the horizon of our vision; while of the strong, the nobility of their hard-fought toilworn lives, the steadfastness of their indomitable purpose has lived ever since - and will continue to live in the history of our land and in the hearts of their childrens' children as long as time itself.
To those sturdy forefathers whose hearts were kindled with the passion for freedom; who tolerated no authority but justice: and who. for a principle, were not afraid to fight and die - we owe the integrity and backbone of our country. They have left, too a lasting tribute in the work of their hands, The rich valleys barred to the rays of the sun, the grain fields on the hill-side, the waterways explored and navigated, the vision of a land of promise whiCh they opened up for us. They dreamed dreams and saw visions. To-day we too dream dreams and See visions, but contrary to them we are not content. Our dream must come true in our own day. We fret our souls with impatience and wear our lives out with hurry.
Not quite one hundred years after Asa Meech first viewed the beauty of the mountain lake that afterward bore his name, and built for himself a log home in the wilderness which stands to-day, T.L. Willson, out of rock quarried on the lake shore, built a castle of stone on the hill, and a power house for chemical experiments on the site of the old Farrell mill. The strength of the waterfall that in olden days, swung the logs crashing at will into the eddies below, now, for a time, propelled a twentieth century invention and served the will of its master. Yet toay all is silent around that old mill site. The wheels of the power house have ceased long since and the water unguided again tumbles at-will into the eddies below. But romance lurks in every shadow on the shore, and lures one down the old worn path that now leads only to a house of dreams.
The beauty of the lake at sunset, when. the hills are touched with colours of purple and gold. its beauty at sunrise, when the blue of the morning shines through the lifting mists of dawn, the charm of it, the spell of it, the glory of it are still forces subtle and strong that call the lovers of beauty to its shores.
Courtesy of Dr. Donald D. Hogarth