April 8, 2005:

There were many connections between families on both sides of the Rideau River
in the 1800's. William Gordon from Goulbourn Township walked from near Richmond
to visit his son Moses who lived in Osgoode Township. He made this trip on foot until
he was in his '90's. Too bad we don't take the time to do this sort of thing 
anymore.

William Gordon was born in 1758 in County Armagh, Ireland and arrived in 
Goulbourn Township in 1827. He died in 1860 at 102 yrs. Burial: Shillington Cemetery, 
Goulbourn Twp., Ontario "SEE THE GORDONS OF GOULBOURN, THE LOWRYS OF HUNTLEY & FITZROY", 
BY ELIZ. M. GORDON. 
Source: Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society (book at Ottawa Public Library).

Robert Sample writes to Michael Daley:

Bridges over the Rideau River
I have been doing some thinking Michael which is sometimes a dangerous thing.  
Anyway, I have wondered for some time about when the first bridge would be built 
over the Rideau River between say south of Manotick to Ottawa. In Elizabeth 'Betty' 
Gordon's book  on the Gordon and Lowry families she speaks of her ancestor 
William Gordon 1758-1860 walking from Stapledon on the 4th line of Goulbourn, 
east of Richmond to Osgoode to visit his son Moses.  He apparently did it several 
times and once when he was in his nineties.  He had to cross two Rivers, 
the Jock and the Rideau. Elizabeth Gordon's book is called 
"THE GORDONS OF GOULBOURN, THE LOWRYS OF HUNTLEY & FITZROY". 
 
I shall draw Al Lewis into this and maybe he will know and if he does not, 
I am sure he also is curious.
__________________
Here's one possibility:
 
There's a painting dated 1845 which shows an "aerial" view of the locks at Long Island. 
Not far from where the Jock River enters into the Rideau.
 
Today you can drive your car over the dam from the Gloucester side but in 1845 it 
was just passable on foot and not very wide. Another foot bridge is shown in the 
picture, on the Jock River side of the Rideau which could take pedestrians the rest 
of the way across the river.
 
There's another picture of a bridge over the Jock River at Richmond, dated 1830. 
This one looks like it could handle a team and wagon.
 
Both pictures are in the book "Building the Rideau Canal" by Robert Passfield.
 
There was a little church called Dawson's Chapel on the Nepean side of the Rideau, 
where the Jock River joins up at Heart's Desire.
Mike Epp sent an e-mail last week saying that there were some families from the 
Gloucester side and some from the Nepean side who attended the church.
 
It's pretty amazing how far people walked back then. Often carrying heavy loads. 
... Al
_____________________
back to Robert:
Hi Al.  In our exchange you spoke of people walking quite a distance to get 
their wheat ground into flour.  People walked from Dwyer Hill to Burritt's Rapids 
or Merrickville with a bag of wheat on their backs to get flour ground.  
This seems like an amazing feat but then the Trappers in the North used to go 
with heavy loads and I think it was known for them to carry about 180 lbs on their 
backs on snowshoes.  Kind of like the commercial, walked ten miles one way to school 
through ten feet of snow, up hill both ways, 40 below zero in my father's pajamas.  
... Robert
_____________________
and from Michael:
GOOD EVENING,  ROBERT, AL. I KNOW THERE WAS  A WHARF AT KARS , IF YOU CONTACT , 
CORA  LINDSAY , AT THE RIDEAU ARCHIVES IN NORTH GOWER , SHE  MAY HELP , SOME YEARS 
AGO  SHE PUBLISHED  A BOOK "KARS ON THE RIDEAU,"    
MY COPY  LEFT HOME , SOME YEARS AGO, AND NEVER RETURNED,   I REMEMBER THE SWING 
BRIDGES AT KARS AND MANOTICK,  THE ARCHIVES  IS OPENED ONLY TUESDAY  ,[IF MY MEMORY SERVES ME]   
ALSO A MRS , CARROLL PUBLISHED A BOOK ON   THE  "MILL IN  MANOTICK".  
THERE WAS  BRIDGE  AT BURRITTS  RAPIDS , HOPE THIS HELPS.       
MICHAEL