Originally founded as Bytown in 1826, the city was named after Colonel John By who constructed the Rideau Canal which opened in 1832. The name was changed to Ottawa in 1855. In 1858 it was selected to be the capital of Canada by Queen Victoria. The name Ottawa was derived from the Indian word Adawe, meaning "to trade". The Parliament Buildings had not yet been constructed in this early lithograph. The government timber slide (south side) can be seen to the left of the ChaudiΦre Bridge.
The timber men were not popular in Ottawa and Quebec, but as long as the square timber trade flourished, there was little respite from the exploitive and frustrating conditions which led to their violent, yet colourful, rollicking when their isolation ended in the spring. It was not public disapproval or outrage which ended their era but changes in the timber trade itself. When sawn lumber became the exportable commodity, the drive down the Ottawa River to Quebec ended and more men were employed in the civilized mill towns processing the cut logs.
Edwin Whitefield (1816-1892) English painter, lithographer and author, visited Canada in the 1850's.
