Source: The Rideau Waterway by Robert Legget
Transcribed by Taylor Kennedy

    "Upon the initial surveys of the Rideau River, Colonel By strongly 
recommended that the size of the locks be increased from 100 feet by 
22 feet wide with a depth of 5 feet over the sills. He urged that the locks be built 
of such a size to accommodate the naval steamboats and wooden spars. After 
a study was done, By’s recommendations were approved.

    When spring came to Canada in 1832, Colonel By took his family, some 
fellow officers as well as some contractors, such as Thomas Philips, Andrew 
White, Thomas McKay and John Redpath to Kingston Mills, so that all might 
share in the final joy of participating in the opening of the Rideau Canal.  
Robert Drummond had his steamboat vessel the ‘PUMPER’, ready for the 
occasion, and indeed temporarily changed its name to the ‘RIDEAU’ for the 
event. Robert Drummond, a Scotsman and Stonemason arrived in Canada at 
Kingston in 1828 and started working on the locks the same year. He was
not only in lock building, but also into shipbuilding. His first vessel was 
80 feet long with a beam of 15 feet and drew 6 feet of water. It was equipped with a 
twelve horsepower engine. It was initially for the purpose of pumping out cofferdams (temporary dams built to surround the riverbed where masonry had to build). For 
this purpose it was fitted with special pumping engines, thus taking the practical 
name the ‘PUMPER’.

    Another of Drummond’s steamship building ventures was not as successful. 
In 1831 he built a much larger boat measuring 110 feet long with a 26 foot beam. 
It was supposed to draw 31/2 feet of water, but when launched, it drew so much 
more than this that it could not be taken into the Rideau Canal System, and had 
to be used on the St. Lawrence instead. It was christened the ‘JOHN BY’.

    At noon on May 24, 1832, the great journey commenced, the ‘RIDEAU’ 
having a forward escort in the naval dockyard cutter ‘SNAKE’, and herself 
creating a rear escort by hauling two barges. The cutter and barges went as 
far as Jones Falls. The ‘RIDEAU’ arrived at Smith Falls at six o’clock on the 
morning of the 25th. Extra passengers were taken on board and eventually, 
the little vessel sailed into the wharf of Bytown on May 29, 1832.

    The Rideau Waterway was complete. The Ottawa River had been linked with 
Lake Ontario. When the Ottawa River canals were ready, as they were in 1834, 
steamboats would be able to sail up from the sea to Montreal, on to the Ottawa 
River, through the Rideau Canal System and into the Great Lakes. The first St. 
Lawrence Seaway would be a reality.

    On Sunday, May 03, 1840, the steamer ‘BYTOWN’ passed down through the
Merrickville stretch of the Canal with one barge in tow, on board which were 
the men of the 65th Regiment. Up to 1840 much of the freight was conveyed 
on barges, pulled by the new paddle steamers. There is on record, one voyage 
of the steamer ‘HUNTER’, pulling no less than 24 barges. This must have been 
exceptional ; there would rarely be more than ten behind any regular steam tug.


    Moss Kent Dickinson earned himself the undisputed title as "King of 
the Rideau". A native of New York, he settled in Bytown and established 
himself as a forwarder of freight on the Rideau Canal. At the height of his activity, 
he owned and operated a fleet of sixteen steamers and eighty four barges. After 
1860, he sold his holdings to Montreal and Chicago financiers. He was Mayor of 
Ottawa from 1864 to 1866. He was also the founder of Manotick, establishing the 
first mill there in 1859.

    In 1834 a little steamer the ‘ENTERPRISE’ was built at Perth in order to 
provide service between Perth, Bytown and Kingston. It was commanded by 
Captain William Richards. A native of Ireland, orphaned at the age of 
twelve, sailor in the British Navy through the War of 1812, then a free trader of 
forest products to the West Indies.

    In the mid 1800’s some steamers on the St. Lawrence included the 
‘HIBERNIA’ and
the ‘SHAMROCK’ which her boiler blew on the St. Lawrence killing mostly 
English
patrons as they occupied the more central region of the vessel.

    On November 02, 1935, the last passenger steamer, the ‘OTTAWAN’, 
pulled away from its wharf at Ottawa on it’s way to close another chapter in 
the history of the Rideau Canal when it reached Smith Falls. Those who grew 
up on the Rideau shores will remember the old ‘OTTAWAN’, the ‘RIDEAU QUEEN’ 
and the ‘RIDEAU KING’ steamers with their graceful lines and crowded happy 
decks. The names ‘LORETTA’ and ‘AGNES P.’ are bourne by steamers. Their 
plaintive whistles and high stacks were familiar sounds and sites all the way 
from Ottawa to Kingston Mills."

photo below taken c. 1860
Railway of J.R. Booth is on right (east) side of the canal

 February 10, 2008:

Hi Al,

Thought some of your readers may enjoy this site.  Some of the illustrations
of Bytown and the Rideau Canal are remarkable. They are paintings by Thomas Burrowes
who worked in senior positions along the canal from 1826 to 1846.

Regards,

... Mary

http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/exhibits/burrowes/index.html

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