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 great thoroughfare from the coast to the interior. These were the pioneers of those who, after nearly 300 years, seek to construct the Georgian Bay Canal as a navigable waterway over the route taken by Champlain. It is possible that the three hundredth anniversary of Champlain's journey will see the greater part of this immense undertaking completed. Our chronology now brings us to the year 1796, when one Philemon Wright, a loyalist from Woburn, Massachusetts, landed on the opposite side of the river, where the city of Hull now stands. In 1806 he and his associates obtained grants of land, and became the nucleus of the settlement from which sprang the twin cities. The site of the present capital was a wilderness until 1826, when Lord Dalhousie, Col. By and others arrived at Hull for the purpose of considering the construction of the proposed Rideau Canal.



Gradually the site of the present city became inhabited. Many of the early settlers were descended from that prolific source the Pilgrim Fathers. The village of Bytown, named after Col. By, the founder of the city, was incorporated in 1827, the population then being 1,000. Twenty years later, with a population of 6,000 it became a town, and by January 1st, 1855, it had become a city, with its name changed to Ottawa.

On the south bank—or Ontario side—of the "Kitche-Sippe" (i.e. great river) as it was called by the Indians, dwelt a tribe named the "Outaouais"