Travel and Transportation in Ottawa

Travel in the Ottawa Valley was a cause of constant concern for residents until roads improved in the 20^th Century. Trains and steamboats were expensive and advertisements geared them towards the middle and upper classes for leisure activities, rather than promoting them as a means to get from one point to another. The Billings collection has numerous advertisements from the turn of the 20^th Century that feature steamboat tours of the Ottawa and Rideau Lakes system. Other advertisements portray riding the rails as an impressive way to travel and explore Canada.

Travelling for pleasure was a middle-class ideal—a past time that required money and time.

Early History of Roads

When settlers arrived in the area, the arduous task of clearing the land with an axe and logging chain was daunting, backbreaking labour. It was often easier to travel by foot or canoe than it was to risk the horse and wagon to mud and poor footing. The link between settlers and waterways was vital, considering how mud and bad roads made travel difficult during the Spring, Summer and Autumn.

Early roads were established and funded based on statute labour (a subscription of residents, and a legal requirement to fulfill up to 12 hours of work towards roads and bridges, introduced by the Government in 1783). According to the Ministry of Transport, Upper Canada had poor roads because there was

no centralized authority to supervise road building
few people available or willing to look after roads
inconsistent funding
a lack of skilled workers

In addition, large tracts of undeveloped land were tied up with the clergy reserves and the government.

Travel in unsettled areas was arduous. A first hand account of navigating the wilderness survives from Lamira, as she made the harrowing journey from Merrickville to the new homestead by canoe and on foot in 1813.

1813 October 18 – I was married to B. Billings at Merrickville. On the 19^th, I rode 40 miles to see my sister; the 21^st I rode back to Merrickville. On the 24^th started the move to Gloucester, came 9 miles and was detained by the rain. 26^th we started in a bark canoe, our loading consisted of Mr. Billings and a Frenchman and myself, 6 chairs, one trunk and a bed and a bundle of bedclothes. We went 18 miles and camped in an old shanty – it had a door, no window, no chimney but a large hole for each. The next morning it rained till 4 in the afternoon then we started and went 4 miles and came to another shanty of the very same kind. Remained that night, the 28^th we started again and we found the water so shallow that the canoe would not swim; the men had to unload and carry the things on their backs some distance and then carry the canoe and load again three different times they had to load and unload again before we reached home 9 miles, and when we arrived, it was of a good round log house and a good chimney and 4 windows, a floor made of split logs for there was no plank there in them days. We had about 6 acres chopped and planted to corn and potatoes and turnips and them we began the world, 40 miles from any house on one side and 7 on the other, no road either way, not one house in the town but our own. L. Billings”

A distinct lack of central supervision marked the early settlement period: roads were built, but they were seldom looked after. Toll roads went up frequently but rarely saw major repairs in spite of the fact that people paid to use them. Usually these ‘roads’ were little more than dirt trails that turned to impassable mud in the summer. In 1804, the Government of Upper Canada gave more funds to public roadways, but it was not until later in the century that roadways became a major consideration.

In the 1840s, the Government embarked on a transportation plan to encourage further settlement in Northern Ontario. As system of “Colonization Roads” running from North to South and East to West were built to link southern Ontario to the Canadian Shield. By 1853 the government had passed the Public Lands Act, which allowed the government

“ To appropriate as free grants any Public Lands in this Province to actual settlers, upon or in the vicinity of any Public Roads in any new settlements which shall or may be opened through Lands of the Crown, no grant to exceed 100 acres.”

After 1853, responsibility for the Colonization Roads fell to the Department of Agriculture. The project was mismanaged and control over the Roads went back to the Department of Crown Lands.

In 1916, the Government created the Department of Public Highways—the precursor to today’s Ministry of Transportation. This department took over duties that had previously fallen under county, municipal, or township jurisdiction.

Since Ottawa did not have paved roadways and streets until 1895, travel within the city difficult and weather dependent.




TITLE Ancient History, R.J. Devlin, and Sparks Street, R.J. Devlin. DATE ca.1880 ITEM NUMBER HF-0624 DESCRIPTION Newspaper advertisement from R.J. Devlin, furrier and merchant in Victorian-era Ottawa. The city’s unpaved roadways and streets made mud a daily contention for Ottawans, and Devlin’s ads often doubled as scathing criticisms on this topic. From file HF-0624.

Bank Street, or Metcalf Rd., was macadamised (layers of uniform stones placed under pressure to create a smooth surface) when many main Ottawa Roads were still in a rough dirt format. A private company, Gloucester Road Company, undertook the task. The process began in 1854, and the company had completed macadamization as far as Billings Bridge by 1867. Sabra and Sally held shares in this private company, a venture that proved itself profitable.



TITLE Stock dividend from Ottawa and Gloucester Road Company DATE 1872 December 18 ITEM NUMBER CA-001176 MG001-02-1618 DESCRIPTION A letter to Sarah “Sally” Billings from the Ottawa and Gloucester Road Company informing her about a stock dividend.

Prior to 1895, there were a few techniques of construction which increased the longevity or smoothness of roads, such as:

Corduroy roads

This method involved placing huge logs along a predetermined path and covering them lightly with dirt. Corduroy roads could traverse swamps and bogs, but they were bumpy and uncomfortable to travel on.

Plank Roads

Plank roads were fairly popular. They were relatively simple to build: Workers laid four inch thick planks of wood on top of a dirt road and nailed them down with stakes. Then they dug ditches on either side of the road for drainage. Plank roads were cheap and smooth. However, as the price of lumber went up, the number of plank roads diminished.



TITLE Billings Bridge Stage Timetable DATE 18-- ITEM NUMBER MG001-09-150


TITLE Billings Bridge Road Improvements DATE 1923 ITEM NUMBER CA-000852 DESCRIPTION Photograph of penetration surfacing taken during road improvement on the corner of Riverside and Bank.


TITLE Billings Bridge DATE 1923 ITEM NUMBER CA-000880 DESCRIPTION View of the village from the CNR tracks.

Traversing the Waterways

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