"Leaving Montreal, By A Short Railroad Of Nine Miles In Length,
Constructed To Avoid The Rapids Of A Bend Of The St. Lawrence, I Came
To Lachine.
Here are the head-quarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
the house of Sir George Simpson, the Governor;
And hence, annually,
towards the end of April, proceed the 'maitre-canots,' or large canoes,
of the company, manned by its officers and hardy 'voyageurs,' up the
waters of the Ottawa to Lake Nipissing, and down the Riviere des
Francais into Lake Huron.
"At Lachine I took the 'Champion,' a fine new steamer, built and
equipped at Montreal, and worked up the St. Lawrence, along Lake
Ontario, to Toronto, a journey of 450 miles, and occupying about forty
hours in the performance.
"The navigation of the St. Lawrence is impeded by several large
'rapids,' formed by the action of the suddenly descending current upon
sunken rocks deep below the surface of the water. On the upward voyage
these are impassable for merchandize vessels; and, though the large
steamers struggle through many of them, there are others which no force
can cope with. To remedy these impediments, several fine canals, equal
to any similar works in the world, have been constructed. The first of
these, the Beauharnois Canal, connects, by a cut eleven miles long, the
broad embayment called 'Lake St. Louis,' above Montreal, with the
similar reach called 'Lake St. Francis;' and in the narrow passage
between these unruffled waters are the principal rapids - the 'Coteau du
Lac,' the 'Cedars,' and the 'Cascades.' The passage through this
'sixteen miles' declivity of boiling waters' is exciting.
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