Wonderful writing by Boswell on capital's creation | Letters to the Editor

"First Camp" near Rideau Canal entrance, Ottawa River, sketch attributed to Lt.-Col. John By, autumn 1826. Photo by Image: McCord Steward Museum -- M386.

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Wonderful writing by Boswell on capital’s creation

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Re: The untold story of Bytown’s birth

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Congratulations to Randy Boswell for his wonderful writing and thank you to the Ottawa Citizen for publishing this most informative piece on the founding of Ottawa.

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Thoroughly researched and richly detailed, Boswell tells a comprehensive story about the personalities and events that led to the founding of Uppertown and Lowertown, a rambunctious settlement that would become a G7 capital city.

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Particularly noteworthy is his treatment of the Indigenous perspective; what the Anishinabe Algonquin and Nipissing people experienced at that time, and how settlement continues to resonate today in their communities. I found his writing in this regard sympathetic to their plight, balanced and without the histrionics that often accompany these historical overviews.

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The Citizen would do a service by reprinting this article in its entirety in large pamphlet format and circulating it to eastern Ontario middle schools as a teaching aid in civics, history and geography classes.

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Well done!

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Dan McCarthy, Ottawa

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Excellent article by Randy Boswell

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In the interests of thoroughness, however, and not to minimize the Algonquin Anishinabe presence, it is important for your readers to be informed concerning the Roebuck archeological site. Located in Grenville County, within a 60-minute drive south of Parliament Hill, the Roebuck site was first excavated in the 1910s. A palisaded Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) village of the classic type, at its height around AD 1450, it comprised at least 40 long houses accommodating a population of no fewer than 1,600 Ongwe:honwe (“Indigenous” in the Mohawk language, Kanienkeha).

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Also interesting to note is the remnant of an Indigenous footpath still to be found retained within the limits of Pinecrest Cemetery in Nepean, a literal stone’s throw from the busy intersection of Greenbank and Baseline roads. The modest stone marker designating the site is inscribed, “The Old Indian Trail Between Black’s Rapids and Lake Deschenes”.

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As an urban Indigenous person living in the adjoining subdivision of Briargreen, it is comforting and validating to realize that visible traces of our historic presence remain close at hand, and I periodically leave a small tobacco offering there.

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John Moses, Ottawa
Delaware & Upper Mohawk bands
Six Nations of the Grand River

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Informative descriptions of Bytown’s birth

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I very much appreciate Randy Boswell’s excellent, very informative descriptions of Bytown’s birth. As told, two-sided villages on lands east and west of the canal’s entrance became Ottawa.

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I thank Mayor Mark Sutcliffe for opening Wellington Street to keep Lowertown and Uppertown connected. This is the way that we can go right across Ottawa from east to west and west to east without driving the Queensway.