Bytown

In the 1840s, Sister Elisabeth Bruyere and fellow Grey Nuns from Montreal came to Bytown, establishing a hospital, orphanage, school, and other social services. Sister Elisabeth's legacy remains today, with two hospitals in the city under the umbrella of the Bruyere organization, and a convent still active beside one of them.

After the Canal was built, timber was the dominant industry in the Ottawa Valley, and with both sides of the river being involved, the growing urban centers were keys to that industry. This is a remarkable artifact, a table carved by an employee of one of the lumber companies, done in three dimensions, showing the areas of the timber companies around the islands in the river.

The portrait on the wall is that of J.R. Booth, a lumber tycoon and railroad baron who established himself in what was Bytown and later became Ottawa. At one point, his lumber company was the largest in the world.

The actual work of the lumber men was a hard one, for months out of the year, out in the bush. 

This display case features some of their artifacts. 

Joseph Montferrand was one of the lumberjacks, a French-Canadian giant of a man who became a legend in the Ottawa Valley, today still remembered in folklore. It was said he once beat 150 men on the Chaudiere Bridge, members of an Irish street gang looking to make trouble.

Caulk boots, with nails or cleats on the soles, were used by the river drivers to pass over slippery logs. The bible box beside it was carved by Robert Spallin during time off in the camps.

This belt is an example of those worn by French-Canadian lumbermen.

Tools of the trade.

For a time, Bytown had a reputation as the most violent town in British North America, with riots, old-world biases spilling over into fights, and access to alcohol leading to troubles, all with minimal law enforcement in those early years.