Rideau Canal Waterway - The Rideau Route


		The Rideau Route

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Exploring the Pre-Canal Waterway
by
Ken W. Watson

Foreword:

This is a highly abbreviated version of my book “The Rideau Route: Exploring the Pre-Canal Waterway,” first published in April 2007. It is a glimpse of what the original Rideau route looked like prior to being flooded by the building of the Rideau Canal and also of the first surveys of the Rideau route. For those interested in all the details, the book, The Rideau Route contains a full description of the pre-canal waterways as well as transcriptions of three major pre-canal surveys, those of Lt. Gershom French in 1783, Lt. Joshua Jebb in 1816 and Samuel Clowes in 1823-24. This article will just be touching a few sections, to help explain how the Rideau has changed. Quotes in this article, unless otherwise cited, are taken from The Rideau Route.

I’ve broken out the article into separate sections – just follow the links below:

1) Introduction & Acknowledgments
2) The Shaping of the Rideau
3) Changing Watersheds
4) French’s 1783 Survey
5) The coming of the mills
6) Jebb’s 1816 Survey
7) Clowes 1823-24 Survey
8) Final Canal Surveys

9) Field Work
10) Hogs Back
11) Merrickville
12) Smiths Falls
13) Jones Falls
14) Colonel By Lake
15) The Rideau – Today and Yesterday
16) More Information

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Comments: send me email: Ken Watson
This page was last updated on: November 20, 2007
URL: www.rideau-info.com/canal/history/rideau-route/index.html
© 2007-2008 Ken W. Watson