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Thomas MacKay: The Laird of Rideau Hall and the Founding of Ottawa PDF

410 Pages·2021·105.829 MB·English
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“It is ABSOLUTELY an important contribution to local A l history. Alastair Sweeny has a flair for storytelling, a s but he’s also very good at ferreting out fresh ta i information and perspectives with regards to the r S early history of the Ottawa region. His exploration w of how seized Spanish treasure helped finance the e e Rideau Canal, for example, adds a very interesting n y dimension to the city’s history.” – Randy Boswell, Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University Thomas Mackay: The Laird of Rideau Hall and the Founding of Ottawaexplores the life and times of Thomas Mackay, one of the developers of Bytown, renamed Ottawa in 1853. T Born in Perth, Scotland, Mackay and family emigrated to h e Montreal in 1817. Partnering with fellow mason John Redpath, L he built the locks of the first Lachine Canal, carried out a i r military construction at Fort Lennox and St. Helen’s Island, d and supplied the stone for Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica. of Engaged by Colonel By to build the Ottawa and Hartwell R i d Locks of the Rideau Canal, Mackay used his profits to found e a the village of New Edinburgh, develop a mill complex at u Rideau Falls, and design and build a mansion his daughter H a named Rideau Hall. l l aT n Sweeny presents the first, long overdue biography of Thomas dh Mackay, a major financier of the Ottawa and Prescott Railway, tho and lead promoter of Ottawa as the capital of Canada. em F o ua ns d Alastair Sweeny holds a bachelor’s degree from in M Trinity College in the University of Toronto, and a Master g oDfu Lbelitnte. rsH aen dis a Dthoec taour tohfo Prh iolof sosepvheyr afrlo mbo Torkins,i tyin Ccolulldeigneg, of Oac TThhoommaass MMaacckkaayy tk George-Étienne Cartier, BlackBerry Planet, and Fire Along t aa the Frontier. wy a TThhee LLaaiirrdd ooff RRiiddeeaauu HHaallll aanndd tthhee FFoouunnddiinngg ooff OOttttaawwaa ISBN 9780776636788 93995 > Alastair Sweeny University of Ottawa Press 9 780776 636788 CCoovveerr TThhee LLaaiirrdd ooff RRiiddeeaauu HHaallll aanndd tthhee FFoouunnddiinngg ooff OOttttaawwaa..iinndddd 11 1122//1166//22002211 33::2244::4444 PPMM THOMAS MACKAY 368830DNY_MACKAY_CC2019_PC.indd 1 14/12/2021 14:16:38 368830DNY_MACKAY_CC2019_PC.indd 2 14/12/2021 14:16:38 THOMAS MACKAY The Laird of Rideau Hall and the Founding of Ottawa by Alastair Sweeny University of Ottawa Press 2022 368830DNY_MACKAY_CC2019_PC.indd 3 14/12/2021 14:16:38 The University of Ottawa Press (UOP) is proud to be the oldest of the Francophone university presses in Canada as well as the oldest bilingual university publisher in North America. Since 1936, UOP has been enriching intellectual and cultural discourse by producing peer- reviewed and award-winning books in the humanities and social sciences, in French and in English. www.press.uottawa.ca Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Title: Thomas Mackay : the laird of Rideau Hall and the founding of Ottawa / by Alastair Sweeny. Names: Sweeny, Alastair, author. Description: Series statement: Regional studies | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200395297 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200395483 | ISBN 9780776636788 (softcover) | ISBN 9780776636795 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780776636801 (PDF) | ISBN 9780776636818 (EPUB) | ISBN 9780776636825 (Kindle) Subjects LCSH: MacKay, Thomas, 1792-1855. | LCSH: Businesspeople—Ontario— Ottawa—Biography. | LCSH: Stonemasons—Ontario—Ottawa—Biography. | LCSH: Legislators—Ontario—Ottawa—Biography. | LCSH: Ottawa (Ont.)—Biography. | LCSH: Ottawa (Ont.)—History—19th century. | LCSH: Ottawa (Ont.)—Buildings, structures, etc. | LCGFT: Biographies. Classification: LCC FC3096.26.M52 S94 2021 | DDC 971.3/8402092—dc23 Legal Deposit: First Quarter 2022 © University of Ottawa Press 2022 Library and Archives Canada All rights reserved. Printed in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database and retrieval system, without prior Production Team permission. Copy editing Susan James Proofreading James Warren and In the case of photocopying or any other reprographic Tanina Drvar copying, please secure licenses from: Typesetting Nord Compo Access Copyright Cover design Édiscript enr. www.accesscopyright.ca 1-800-893-5777 Cover image 1827 Mackay and Colonel By For foreign rights and permissions: at the Ottawa Locks, painting by www.iprlicense.com C. W. Jefferys, Library and Archives Canada, C-073703. Modified for cover purposes. The University of Ottawa Press gratefully acknowledges the support extended to its publishing list by the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, and by the University of Ottawa. 368830DNY_MACKAY_CC2019_PC.indd 4 14/12/2021 14:16:38 Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................. vii Acknowledgements ........................................................................ xix A Note on Images ........................................................................... xxi Other Books by Alastair Sweeny .................................................. xxiii Introduction ..................................................................................... 1 PART ONE Lachine and the Rideau Canal Chapter 1.  Early Ottawa ........................................................... 11 Chapter 2.  From Scotland to Montréal.................................... 25 Chapter 3.  Wellington’s Generals ............................................ 43 Chapter 4.  Enter Colonel John By ............................................ 61 Chapter 5.  1826: The Founding of Bytown ............................. 69 Chapter 6.  1827: Canal Cornerstones ....................................... 91 Chapter 7.  How to Build a Canal ............................................. 107 Chapter 8.  Jones Falls, Malaria, and Black Powder ............... 117 Chapter 9.  The Hog’s Back Dam Disasters ............................. 125 Chapter 10. 1829: Handsome Profits ......................................... 133 Chapter 11. 1831: Finishing the Work........................................ 139 Chapter 12. 1832: Colonel By’s Recall ........................................ 151 368830DNY_MACKAY_CC2019_PC.indd 5 14/12/2021 14:16:38 PART TWO New Edinburgh and Rideau Hall Chapter 13. Militia, Politics, and Civics, 1830–1838 ................. 163 Chapter 14. Miller Mackay, 1830–1849 ...................................... 179 Chapter 15. Rideau Hall, 1838–1853 .......................................... 193 Chapter 16. The Capital Idea, 1841–1849 ................................... 205 Chapter 17. Mackay a Legislative Councillor ........................... 213 Chapter 18. Bust and Boom, 1840–1849 ..................................... 231 Chapter 19. Annexation and Reciprocity, 1849–1854 ............... 241 PART THREE Railway Mania Chapter 20. The Philosophy of Railroads, 1847–1853 .............. 259 Chapter 21. The Bytown & Prescott, 1847–1853 ....................... 269 Chapter 22. The Keefers in Montréal, 1850–1859 ..................... 285 Chapter 23. The Queen Approves of Ottawa, 1853–1857 ........ 297 PART FOUR Thomas Keefer and the Mackay Estate Chapter 24. The Thomas Keefer Regime, 1855–1865 ............... 315 Chapter 25. The Sale of Rideau Hall ......................................... 325 Chapter 26. Keefer Develops Rockcliffe Park ........................... 341 Appendix A: Rockcliffe Arms ....................................................... 357 Appendix B: Lines on Thomas Mackay ........................................ 359 Select Bibliography ......................................................................... 365 368830DNY_MACKAY_CC2019_PC.indd 6 14/12/2021 14:16:38 List of Figures Figure 1.  Thomas Mackay, 1830s .................................................... xviii Figure 2.  Hope the bookseller, 1879. .......................................... xx Figure 3.  Commercial label of nephew Thomas McKay’s flour mill. ................................................................... 7 Figure 1.1.  Montréal from St. Helen’s Island, 1830 .................. 9 Figure 1.2.  Two Ottawa Chiefs Who with Others Lately Came Down from Michillimackinac on Lake Huron to Have a Talk with Their Great Father The King or His Representative [likely Lord Dalhousie], circa 1812–1820 ................................................................ 13 Figure 1.3.  Algonquin Encampment at [Rideau] Falls (Cornelius Krieghoff). .............................................. 14 Figure 1.4.  Indians [Algonquins] Paying Homage to the Spirit of the Chaudière ................................................ 15 Figure 1.5.  Coteau-du-Lac Canal, 1780. ..................................... 18 Figure 1.6.  Durham boats ascending the St. Lawrence ............ 19 Figure 1.7.  Tiberius Wright on the family’s first timber Raft, 1806 ....................................................................... 21 Figure 1.8.  A View of the Mill and Tavern of Philemon Wright at the Chaudière Falls, Hull, 1823 ................... 22 368830DNY_MACKAY_CC2019_PC.indd 7 14/12/2021 14:16:39 viii THOMAS MACKAY Figure 2.1.  Perth, Scotland, “City of stone” ................................ 26 Figure 2.2.  Clans of northern Scotland (note the town of Thurso at the top of the map). ............................ 27 Figure 2.3.  Emigrants bound for Québec ................................. 29 Figure 2.4.  Molson steamboat passing Île Ste-Hélène ............. 30 Figure 2.5.  Thomas Mackay, c. 1827 .......................................... 32 Figure 2.6.  Major General Elias Walker Durnford, Royal Engineers ....................................................... 34 Figure 2.7.  Fort Lennox in 1886, showing barracks and officers’ quarters ............................................... 35 Figure 2.8.  Richardson and dignitaries inspecting the Lachine Canal .................................................... 38 Figure 2.9.  Entrance to Lachine Canal at Windmill Point, Montréal, Quebec, 1826............................................ 41 Figure 2.10.  The Lachine Canal; Église Notre-Dame in the centre background ...................................... 42 Figure 3.1.  Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, detail, by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1829 .................... 44 Figure 3.2. H MS St. Lawrence, built at Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard ....................................................... 46 Figure 3.3.  A timber raft on the Ottawa, 1868. ......................... 50 Figure 3.4.  The 4th Duke of Richmond and Lennox, 1823. ..... 51 Figure 3.5.  George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie (1770–1838), Governor-in-Chief of Canada 1819–1828 ................................................................... 55 368830DNY_MACKAY_CC2019_PC.indd 8 14/12/2021 14:16:39 List of Figures ix Figure 3.6.  Fourteen voyageurs and four gentlemen in Dalhousie’s Vice Regal canoe, 1821 .................... 58 Figure 3.7.  Philemon Wright c. 1810 ........................................... 59 Figure 4.1.  Lieutenant Colonel John By, 1832 ........................... 64 Figure 4.2.  The First Camp Bytown, 1826, by Lieutenant Colonel John By..................................... 65 Figure 5.1.  Below the Chaudière Falls. ...................................... 69 Figure 5.2.  Bytown, Nepean, and Richmond, 1830 .................. 71 Figure 5.3.  Both banks of the Ottawa River and the Chaudière Falls, 1825. ........................................ 72 Figure 5.4.  Wrightstown, 1830 .................................................... 73 Figure 5.5.  One of Mackay’s Union Bridge arches, built in 1825-26, surrounded by lumber, 1880s .............. 80 Figure 5.6.  The Ottawa Locks in 1869, showing part of the quarry on the east side where Mackay was able to extract superior seams of limestone .......... 87 Figure 5.7.  Colonel By’s house, 1841 .......................................... 88 Figure 6.1.  Log shanties along the canal, 1830 ......................... 92 Figure 6.2.  One of Mackay’s buildings on Barrack Hill .......... 95 Figure 6.3.  Rideau Canal entrance with three barracks, 1833 ............................................................................ 96 Figure 6.4.  Royal Sappers and Miners at work. ....................... 97 Figure 6.5.  Mackay’s Commissariat, Ottawa’s oldest building ......................................... 98 368830DNY_MACKAY_CC2019_PC.indd 9 14/12/2021 14:16:39

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