That Of M. Perrault
The Younger, That Of M. Tache, Of M. Benjamin De La Mordic, Of Jehaune, Of
Maranda.
You may judge of the consternation which reigned; 167 houses had
been burnt."
One hundred and sixty-seven burnt houses would create many gaps. We know
the locality on which stood the warehouse of M. Perrault, junior, also
that of M. Tache (the Chronicle Bureau), but who can point out to
us where stood the houses of Desery, Maillou, Voyer, de Voisy, and the
vaults of Messieurs Benjamin de la Mordic, Jehaune, Maranda?
It is on record that Champlain, after his return to Quebec, in 1633, "had
taken care to refit a battery which he had planted on a level with the
river near the warehouse, the guns of which commanded the passage between
Quebec and the opposite shore." [97] Now, in 1683, "this cannon battery,
erected in the Lower Town, almost surrounded on all sides by houses, stood
at some distance from the edge of the river, and caused some inconvenience
to the public; the then Governor, Lefebvre de la Barre [98] having sought
out a much more advantageous locality towards the Point of Rocks (Pointe
des Roches) west of the Cul-de-Sac, [99] and on the margin of the said
river at high-water mark, which would more efficiently command and sweep
the harbour, and which would cause far less inconvenience to the houses in
the said Lower Town," considered it fit to remove the said battery, and
the Reverend Jesuit Fathers having proposed to contribute towards the
expenses which would be incurred in so doing, he made them a grant "of a
portion of the lot of ground (emplacement) situated in front of the site
on which is now planted the said cannon battery, * * * * between the
street or high road for wheeled vehicles coming from the harbour [100] and
the so-called St. Peter street."
Here then we have the origin of the Napoleon wharf and a very distinct
mention of St. Peter street.
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