Industrial town

The location of Ottawa was ideal for industry. Within a few kilometres, the Rideau and Gatineau Rivers join the Ottawa River. The dramatic cliffs and hills create major waterfalls, the Chaudière (Cauldron) Falls, and the Rideau (Curtain) Falls. Both sets of falls powered the mills that drove the local economy.

The Chaudière (Cauldron) Falls

Philomen Wright, an American who visited the falls in the late 1790s, was so impressed that he moved there in 1800 and established the first lumber mill at Wrightstown, later Hull and now Gatineau. Timber from the interior was rafted down the Ottawa to the Chaudière where Wright was later joined by industrialists J.R. Booth and E.B. Eddy.

For much of the 19th century, their mills at the Chaudière were the largest in the world.

Rideau (Curtain) Falls

Thomas McKay milled grain, woolens and other agricultural products at the Rideau Falls. The Ottawa River provided a direct route to the Port of Montreal, and access to the markets of the world.