The Ottawa River — Route to the Interior

The First Trans-Canada Highway

The 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries saw intensive use of the Ottawa River as a water route to points west. Since there were no roads or railways, the only way to travel was by water, following Canada’s natural highways of rivers and lakes. The Ottawa River was a key link in the transportation route between the St. Lawrence Valley and the interior of the continent.

In the early 1600s, French explorers and missionaries journeyed up the Ottawa River. Notable travellers included the Jesuit Jean de Brébeuf, explorers Radisson and Des Groseillers and Cavalier de La Salle.

In the 1700s, explorers like La Vérendrye and Mackenzie continued the exploration of the continent via the Ottawa River. In 1791, Alexander Mackenzie found a water route to the Pacific Ocean, permitting travel by canoe from sea to sea.

The Fur Trade

It was not just simple curiosity that drove Europeans to canoe across the continent, it was business: the fur trade business. For more than two centuries, the fur trade was the mainstay of the economy, first of New France and later of British North America. During that entire period, the Ottawa River was an essential link in the fur trade route.

The first fur traders were independent adventurers, known as the coureurs de bois. Then the trade became organized under the Montréal-based North West Company. The era of the North West Company is one of the most colourful and romantic periods in Canada’s history. For two hundred years, brigades of voyageurs in giant canoes paddled up the Ottawa River, across Lake Nippissing to the Great Lakes and then on through the west, seeking furs to feed the insatiable European demand.

In 1821, the North West Company was taken over by the Hudson’s Bay Company. However, although the fur trade continued throughout the 19th century, the peak was past.

Portage at Present-Day Ottawa–Gatineau

All the people who used the Ottawa River — Algonkians, explorers, missionaries and traders — were forced to stop in what is now the National Capital Region because of natural obstacles such as the mighty Chaudières Falls and several sets of treacherous rapids. These required lengthy portages on the north side of the river (present-day city of Gatineau [Hull sector]).

Although there were several temporary encampments close to the edge of the Ottawa River, there were no permanent settlements.