Chaudière Falls - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Chaudière Falls are a set of cascades and waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

in the centre of the Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

-Gatineau

Gatineau

Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...

metropolitan area in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

where the Ottawa River

Ottawa River

The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...

narrows between a rocky escarpment on both sides of the river. The location is just west of the Chaudière Bridge, northwest of the Canadian War Museum

Canadian War Museum

The Canadian War Museum is Canada’s national museum of military history. Located in Ottawa, Ontario, the museum covers all facets of Canada’s military past, from the first recorded instances of death by armed violence in Canadian history several thousand years ago to the country’s most recent...

at LeBreton Flats

Lebreton Flats

LeBreton Flats is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. It lies to the west of Centretown neighbourhood, and to the north of Centretown West with "Nanny Goat Hill" as the dividing line...

and south of the E.B. Eddy complex. The islands at Chaudière Falls are Chaudière Island immediately to the east and Victoria Island east of that. The falls are about 60 metres (196.9 ft) wide and drop 15 metres (49.2 ft). The area around the falls was once heavily industrialized, especially in the 19th century, and provided a significant contribution to the growth of the surrounding cities.

The name of the falls come from the French Chutes de la Chaudière, meaning "Cauldron Falls" but has been historically translated as "Kettle Falls". The shape of the falls before its development resembled a large cauldron

Cauldron

A cauldron or caldron is a large metal pot for cooking and/or boiling over an open fire, with a large mouth and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger.- Etymology :...

.

The damming of the river and the presence of industry have greatly altered the waterfall's appearance, especially in the summer when the Ottawa River is low. Then the falls all but disappear because the water is diverted to power station

Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....

s. The development also greatly limits the locations from which to view the falls.

Exploration and the fur trade

Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....

is the first recorded European to label the falls, chaudière, (which the English for a time would call 'Big Kettle') during his 1613 voyage along the Ottawa River. Champlain describes in his journal on June 14, 1613,

At one place the water falls with such violence upon a rock, that, in the course of time, there has been hollowed out in it a wide and deep basin, so that the water flows round and round there and makes, in the middle, great whirlpools. Hence, the savages call it Asticou, which means kettle. This waterfall makes such a noise that it can be heard for more than two leagues off.

In the days of the fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

, the Chaudière Falls were an obstacle along the Ottawa River trade route. Canoes were portage

Portage

Portage or portaging refers to the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land to avoid river obstacles, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage; a person doing the carrying is called a porter.The English word portage is derived from the...

d around the falls at the present day site of downtown Hull, Quebec

Hull, Quebec

Hull is the central and oldest part of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Canadian National Capital Region, it contains offices for twenty thousand...

Permanent settlement

The arrival of Philemon Wright

Philemon Wright

Philemon Wright was a farmer and entrepreneur who founded Wrightstown, the first permanent settlement in the National Capital Region of Canada...

to this area in 1800 marked the start of the development of the city of Hull. In 1827, the region's first bridge, a span of the Union Bridge was built close to the falls. When the logging industry began in this area and farther upstream, the falls were also an obstacle for log driving

Log driving

Log driving is a means of log transport which makes use of a river's current to move floating tree trunks downstream to sawmills and pulp mills.It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Europe and North America...

. In 1829, Ruggles Wright

Ruggles Wright

Ruggles Wright was a Canadian lumber merchant, the youngest son of Philemon Wright.He was born in Woburn, Massachusetts but moved to Canada with his parents while still young. He later joined the family business in the timber trade. In 1829, he built the first timber slide on the Ottawa River to...

(son of Philemon Wright) built the first timber slide

Timber slide

A timber slide is a device for moving timber past rapids and waterfalls. Their use in Canada was widespread in the 18th and 19th century timber trade. At this time, cut timber would be floated down rivers in large timber rafts from logging camps to ports such as Montreal and Saint John, New...

, allowing logs and timber rafts to bypass the falls along the north shore. In 1836, George Buchannan built a slide for cribs between Victoria and Chaudière Islands (on the south side of the river) which later became a major tourist attraction where King Edward VII (then Prince Albert of Wales) in 1860, and the future George V

George V

George V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...

in 1901 both experienced the thrill of "shooting the slides".

Also in the 19th century, some of Canada's largest sawmills were located near the falls. Notable lumber barons in this area were Henry Franklin Bronson

Henry Franklin Bronson

Henry Franklin Bronson was a Canadian lumber baron known as one of Ottawa's early entrepreneurs establishing a large lumber mill at Chaudière Falls on the Ottawa River...

and John Rudolphus Booth

John Rudolphus Booth

John Rudolphus Booth was a Canadian lumber and railway baron. He controlled logging rights for large tracts of forest land in central Ontario, and built a railway to extract his logs; and from Ottawa through to Vermont to export lumber and grain to the United States and...

.

Since then, all the islands and shores at the Chaudière Falls have been developed and the river's flow and drop have long been harnessed to operate paper mill

Paper mill

A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...

s and power stations. The E. B. Eddy Company

E. B. Eddy Company

The E. B. Eddy Company was a Canadian pulp and paper company, now a division of Domtar Inc. It was originally incorporated in 1886 as The E. B. Eddy Manufacturing Company with Ezra Butler Eddy as its president. Eddy had begun business in 1854 making and selling wooden matches out of his home in...

used to operate the paper mills (operation stopped in 2007) and both Hydro Ottawa

Hydro Ottawa

Hydro Ottawa is an electricity distribution company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. As of 2010, Hydro Ottawa provides power to over 296,000 customers in Ottawa and Casselman.-History:...

and Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. Based in Montreal, the company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec....

operate run-of-the-river

Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity

Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation whereby a considerably smaller water storage called pondage or none is used to supply a power station. Run-of-the-river power plants are classified as with or without pondage...

hydro-electric

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

generating stations at the falls.

Victoria Island

Victoria Island (45.421151°N 75.712228°W) is an island located between Ottawa

Ottawa

and Gatineau

Gatineau

on the Ottawa River

Ottawa River

The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...

, in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. It is accessible via the Chaudière Bridge which connects Ottawa's Booth Street to Rue Eddy in Gatineau. The Portage Bridge

Portage Bridge

The Portage Bridge crosses the Ottawa River just down-river from the Chaudière Bridge, joining the communities of Gatineau, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario, linking Laurier Street and Alexandre-Taché Boulevard in the Hull sector of Gatineau and Wellington Street at the Garden of the Provinces and...

connecting the two cities passes elevated over the island. It is located where the Ottawa River narrows near the Canadian War Museum

Canadian War Museum

at LeBreton Flats

Lebreton Flats

LeBreton Flats is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. It lies to the west of Centretown neighbourhood, and to the north of Centretown West with "Nanny Goat Hill" as the dividing line...

. Victoria Island, Ottawa had been used by First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

people for centuries, called Asinabka (Place of Glare Rock). According to archaeological evidence, this site was the centre of convergence for trade and spiritual and cultural exchange.

Even its Parliament of Canada

Parliament of Canada

The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...

location holds a special meaning: a meeting place of three rivers, perched on a rocky point overlooking fast-moving water, wooded land and urban landscapes, within sight of sacred meeting grounds that the Algonquin peoples have always called Asinabka, or "Place of Glare Rock." (Report to Canadians, 2008, House of Commons)

It is currently part of an area administerd by the National Capital Commission

National Capital Commission

The National Capital Commission , is a Canadian Crown corporation that administers the federally owned lands and buildings in Canada's National Capital Region, including Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec.The NCC was created in 1959, replacing the Federal District Commission , which had been...

. The island contains an indigenous centre which has the history of the First Nations people, a tour, traditional dance, a cafe, a First Nations craft workshop.

Victoria Islands contains the following buildings:

Ottawa Electric Railway Company Steam Plant:#161 Middle Street, Victoria Island. (first building on left) Heritage designation.(federal). Currently used as a rock climbing gym.
Bronson Company Office: #150 Middle Street, Victoria Island, Ottawa. (second building on right past Energy Electric building). Heritage designation. Built 1880. Currently labelled as "Ottawa-Hull Naval Association".
No. 4 Generating Station:#149 Middle Street, Victoria Island, Ottawa, just past the old wood building on the left. Very prominent sign on the front of this building.
Willson Carbide Mill: Last building on the left on Middle Street, Victoria Island, Ottawa. Heritage designation. Very large facility, contains ruins.
Ottawa Hydro Generating Station #2: # Mill Street, Amelia Island (separate island). NCC has this as CLASSIFIED (C) heritage building.

Hydroelectric power generation

Centrale Hull 2

Centrale Hull 2 is a 27 MW 4-turbine hydroelectric

Hydroelectricity

generating station on the Ottawa River on the Gatineau (Hull

Hull, Quebec

) side of the Chaudière Falls (45.42143°N 75.719728°W). It is owned by Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec

that lists its type as run-of-the-river

Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity

and its commission date as 1920-1969. Its reservoir capacity is 4 million cubic metres.

The station was originally built in 1912-1913 for the Gatineau Power Company by William Kennedy Jr. but did not begin operating until 1920, following World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, when it had two turbines in operation. A third turbine was added in 1923. In 1965, Gatineau Power was sold to Hydro-Québec, which added a fourth turbine in 1968.

Chaudière Falls Generating Stations

Hydro Ottawa

Hydro Ottawa is an electricity distribution company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. As of 2010, Hydro Ottawa provides power to over 296,000 customers in Ottawa and Casselman.-History:...

operates two run-of-the-river hydroelectric generating stations without a dam. Generating Station 2 was built in 1891 and is leased from the National Capital Commission

National Capital Commission

. Generating Station No. 4 was built in 1900 and is operated on land owned by the Government of Canada. The combined output is around 110 GWH per year.

External links

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-ChaudierFa.html
Hydro Ottawa power stations on the Ottawa River
Hydro-Québec Hull power station
Flickr Group for the Chaudière Falls photos

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.