History Articles

The Buckingham Historical Society has recently published a revised version of its heritage walking tour of the town of Buckingham. The publication, a fold-out pamphlet,is complete with map and full-colour photographs and descriptions of all thirty-four of the heritage sites on the tour. Sites include churches, commercial and other public buildings, industrial buildings, and private residences.

Philemon Wright and the group of settlers who accompanied him to Hull Township in 1800 intended to farm. Like early colonists in many parts of North America, they believed that once the trees were removed, the land would prove to be excellent for farming. Such hopes were unduly optimistic. Crop yields, satisfactory on freshly cleared fields, soon declined as essential soil nutrients were depleted. Wright surveyed the township into lots and came upon the edge of the Canadian Shield in the third range from the Ottawa River.

(Continued from Part 1)

The workers were mostly French-speakers; the craftsmen included many Scandinavians skilled in log construction; and the architect was Harold Lawson. In 1930, they built here the largest log structure in the world.

What is heritage? Webster's defines it as "property that is or can be inherited; something handed down from one's ancestors or the past; a characteristic, culture, or tradition."

1.Which of the following is not a community in the Outaouais?
a) Fort-Coulonge
b) Portage-du-Fort
c) Fort Calumet
d) Fort William

2. In the 1840s, confusion arose due to the existence of two Aylmers – one in Quebec and one in Ontario. One proposal (which was not adopted) was to change the name of Aylmer, Quebec. The proposed new name was…
a) Hull West
b) Vanier
c) Ottawa
d) Toronto

1) c.
2) c.
3) a.
4) b.
5) c.
6) d.
7) a.
8) d.
9) b.
10) b.

References:
Commission de toponymie du Québec, Noms et Lieux du Québec: dictionnaire illustré, 1996.

In 1805, England was in the midst of a war with Napoleon. A French blockade of the Scandinavian countries denied Britain access to its source of timber. Even after the British naval victory at Trafalgar, Napoleon continued to control continental Europe.

The rigours of travel in the nineteenth century, with poor or even nonexistent roads, dictated the very slow pace at which a traveller could complete the miles he or she needed to go.Distances of approximately three to five miles were all that these rugged souls could achieve either on foot or with horse and wagon before a stop was needed to rest the horse or the body.

Possibly one of the first enterprises of the MacLaren family on acquiring land from [pioneer] Joseph Irwin was the establishment of a general store. This stood facing the Gatineau River, downstream from the [MacLaren] mill complex.