OTTAWA OTTAWAS regular, and there are many handsome build- ings of stone. The government buildings are the chief feature of the city. They form three sides of a quadrangle on an eminence known as Barrack hill, 150 ft. above the Ottawa, and cost nearly $4,000,000. The S. side is formed by the parliament building, which is 472 ft. long and 572 ft. deep from the front of the main tower to the rear of the library, the body of the building being 40 ft. high and the central tower 180 ft. The departmental build- ings run N. from this, facing inward to the square, the eastern block being 318 ft. long by 253 deep, and the western 211 ft. long by 277 deep. The buildings are constructed in the Italian Gothic style, of cream-colored sand- stone. The arches of the doors and windows are of red Potsdam sandstone, the external ornamental work of Ohio sandstone, and the columns and arches of the legislative chambers of marble. The roofs are covered with green and purple slates, and the pinnacles are orna- mented with iron. The legislative chambers are capacious and richly furnished, and have stained glass windows. The corner stone was laid by the prince of Wales in 1860. Excel- lent water works have lately been completed, and a thorough system of drainage is in pro- gress. Ottawa is connected by horse cars with New Edinburgh, the residence of the governor general, and with Hull on the opposite bank of the Ottawa river. It has railway communica- tion with the principal points of the province by means of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa and the Canada Central lines. Eegular lines of steamers ply in summer to Montreal, to various points on the upper Ottawa, and to Kingston through the Rideau canal. The city is the en- trepot of the lumber trade of the Ottawa and its tributaries. The imports for the year end- ing June 30, 1874, amounted to $1,495,169; exports, $1,683,148. The entrances and clear- ances from and to the United States were each 1,174, with an aggregate tonnage of 95,722. There are several flouring mills, a number of large saw mills, manufactories of iron cast- ings, mill machinery, agricultural implements, brooms, bricks, leather, wooden ware, &c., and seven branch banks. The city is governed by a mayor and board of aldermen, has a po- lice force and fire department, and is light- ed with gas. It contains a Roman Catholic and a Protestant hospital, three orphan asy- lums, a Magdalen asylum, a provincial normal school, a high school, good public schools with an average attendance of more than 2,000, a Catholic college and ecclesiastical seminary, six daily (one French) and five weekly (one French) newspapers, and 17 churches, viz. : Baptist, 1 ; Catholic Apostolic (Irvingite), 1 ; Congregational, 1; Episcopal, 3; Episcopal Methodist, 2 ; Presbyterian, 3 ; Roman Catho- lic, 4; Wesleyan Methodist, 2. Ottawa was founded in 1827 by Col. By, a British officer, from whom it received the name of Bytown. It was incorporated as a city under its present name in 1854, and was selected as the seat of the Canadian government in 1858. OTTAWA, or Grand, a river of Canada, rising in the N. W. portion of the province of Que- bec, in about lat. 47 1ST. and Ion. 76 30' W. It flows first N. W., then W., in a tortuous course through extensive lakes, for about 300 m., to Lake Temiscamingue (about lat. 47 30', Ion. 79 30'), whence it pursues a S. E. course of about 400 m., separating Quebec from On- tario, and empties into the St. Lawrence at the upper end of the island of Montreal. The Ottawa has an irregular width, being lost in portions of its course in lakes through which it flows, while in others the waters contract to 40 or 50 yards, and are precipitated over rocks, sometimes forming beautiful cascades. Lake Temiscamingue has a length of 67 m. and a width varying from a few hundred yards to perhaps 10 m. The lower 24 m. of the river has a width of from 1 to 6 m., and is called the lake of the Two Mountains. About 75 and 95 m. respectively above the city of Ottawa are Calumet and Allumette islands, be- longing to Quebec; and 6 m. above Ottawa commence the rapids which terminate in the celebrated Chaudiere falls, where the waters plunge 40 ft. and partly disappear by an un- derground passage, the outlet of which is un- known. The river is navigable below Ottawa and for more than 160 m. above it, the rapids and falls being avoided by means of canals. The Rideau canal, from Ottawa to Kingston, opens a navigable connection with Lake On- tario. The chief tributaries of the Ottawa from the west are the Montreal, which en- ters Lake Temiscamingue, the Mattawan, the sources of which approach within a few miles of Lake Nipissing, the Petawawa, the Bonne Chere, the Madawaska, the Mississippi, the Rideau, which enters at the city of Ottawa, and the South Petite Nation. From the east it receives the Keepawa, a little below the mouth of the Montreal, the Du Moine, the Gatineau, nearly opposite Ottawa, the Du Lievre, the North Petite Nation, the Rouge, and North river, or Riviere du Nord. The Gatineau has a length of 400 m., and most of the other tributaries named vary from 100 to 250 m. The Ottawa and its tributaries drain an area estimated at 80,000 sq. m. The valley of the Ottawa abounds in timber, particular- ly red and white pine, and forms one of the most productive lumber regions in the world. OTTAWAS, a tribe of American Indians be- longing to the Algonquin family, and residing when first known to the early French explo- rers on the Manitoulin islands and the N. W. shore of the Michigan peninsula, compri- sing the Sinagos, Kiskakons, and Keinouches. They believed in Michabou, the " great hare," a mythical personage, who formed the earth, and developed men from animals ; in Mirabi- chi, god of the waters ; and in Missabizi, " the great tiger." After the overthrow of the Hu- rons in 1649, the Ottawas of Manitoulin, Sagi-
Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/748
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