History Articles

In the 18th century, Portage-du-Fort was well established as a fur-trading post. The unnavigable part of the Ottawa River here required a 12-kilometre portage.* This village became the commercial centre of the area with the coming of the steamboat. In 1914, a terrible fire destroyed 80% of the buildings in the village. The stone buildings, this one among them, survived.

Home visits by country doctors began to disappear after the turn of the century when centralized health care developed. Dr. Powles’ house, made of local brick, became Shawville’s first hospital between 1916 and 1920.Marks on the floor of the upper tower room show where the operating table stood.

For the greater part of the nineteenth century, Ottawa was claimed to be the lumber capital of Ontario, and perhaps also of Canada.

Summering in the Gatineau has been a pastime for more than a century although, sadly, there is no known record of the first cottage that was built in the valley.

Hot ashes thrown into dry grass in the early afternoon of August 10, 1921, are said to have ignited the fire which started beside Holt’s livery stables, located on the south side of Main Street, just east of Bancroft.

In January 1819, Charles Symmes, aged 20 and living in Massachusetts, wrote to his uncle, Philemon Wright, asking for work. He was hired and arrived a few months later to work as a clerk and bookkeeper.

Spruceholme (204 Principale Street) is the splendid former home of George Bryson Jr. and his wife Helen Craig. Built in 1875, this large stone mansion is said to have been the winter retreat of the Bryson family, who hosted many distinguished guests, including Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Prime Minister of Canada. Spruceholme is now home to an inn and restaurant.

Driving through the forests and farmland of Pontiac County, one comes upon a large church surrounded by a few houses. Catholic churches in Quebec towns dominate the landscape, but this one is different.The headstones in the adjoining cemetery bear inscriptions such as Doyle, McGuire, Quinn, -- almost all Irish.

Donald Campbell was the founder of Campbell’s Bay. A pioneer farmer, he received his land grant in 1851. He also ran the local saw mill. The coming of the Pontiac Pacific Junction Railway in 1886 gave a boost to the village, and by the 1920s, Campbell’s Bay had become the county seat.

This cheese factory at Stark’s Corners, just east of Portage-du-Fort, is one of many which sprang up in the 1880s and 1890s as the Pontiac shifted from grain crops to dairy farming. This was probably the largest [cheese factory] in the county.