Ottawa River

History
This river has had a long history of human settlement for over 8000 years (cite) beginning with the Algonquin first peoples. Its earliest recorded name was Kichicipi, translating as “Great River” in the Anishinabe language. There are up to this day ten First Nations living within the tributary of the Ottawa River (cite) and in a variety of ways incorporating it into their traditional lifestyle.

In the early 17th century, the first European settlers made their way through the tributaries of the Ottawa River. They were primarily of French origin, paving the way for a fur trade industry which would put the First Nations of the Kichicipi in perpetual contact with the new comers (cite).

By the 18th and 19th centuries the fur trade had seen a decline and immigrants came to explore and exploit the large natural stands of verdant forests, first to come where pioneering lumber barons such as Philemon Wright, marking the onset of the Canadian lumber trade. This was then followed an influx of Irish, Scots and other groups from the British Isles. As Bytown (now Ottawa) and Hull (Gatineau) began to boom, many of those pioneering families took up farming. However logging was still a well sought means of supplementing income for growing families (cite).

The 20th century brought immigrants from all corners of Europe, Asia, and the US as well as virtually all foreign lands. Some of these groups also took up logging and farming, though many owned shops and establishments catering to the previously established communities.

Wiskedjak pursues a beaver
In 1913 an anthropologist by the name of Dr Frank Speck had been conducting field work in the region of the Timiskaming Reserve and recorded a traditional tale from Ben McKenzie from the Kiwegoma Anishnabeg people. He had in turn heard it from elders as a child, being born in 1847, he would have began to hear these tales at the time of his traditional education by 1860. He recounted that Wiskedjak was a poor hunter and very hungry and begun a mythic pursuit of a great beaver, he traveled up and down the Ottawa River, carving many of its features along the way. He went back and forth until he traced his own footsteps, realizing that he had been following his own trail. Wiskedjak, dismayed, gave up. His footsteps are to this day visible, according to McKenzie, at the Calumet Portage (cite). This being a traditional Algonquin legend of how the many chutes and rapids of the ‘Great River’ came to be formed, causing many calamities for the Europeans to come.

Cadieux
There is an old French-Canadian ballad known as ‘Cadieux’, which chronicles the misfortune of a possibly fictional Coureur des bois named Jean Cadieux. It was told in the legend that he had sired a family with the Algonquins and took up their customs. One day his cabin was attacked by a band of native warriors and so he sent his family downstream in a birch bark canoe, the Virgin Mary guiding them through the hazards. He stayed behind to divert the attackers. He ran throughout the forest to evade his pursuers and eventually weakened. The story goes on to say that he dug his own grave and erected a cross to himself. He then wrote the ballad of his misfortune on a piece of birch bark in his own blood. This note was found later on (cite).

Erik L.
The Ottawa River is, to me, the source from which all life here begins. It was that way before my European ancestors came here and it is still this way today. When I offer to the Ottawa River, I offer to ‘The Mighty Ottawa’ as it was recounted in many folk songs of my ancestors. I customarily give tobacco, coins and beer to this wight as these things most represent its memory. The Algonquin gave tobacco to its manitou while many of the Irish and French who came here lost all their worth. Many men spent their lives logging the forests, driving the rivers and spent much of their earnings on a pint. By offering these things to the Mighty Ottawa, I remember how an ancient hunter’s footprints marked the land. How Wiskedjak always wonders and that the Mighty Ottawa ever flows.

The Ottawa River is long and divers in its geology and so provides many perfect settings for ritual activity. There are many rocky outcroppings as well as beaches and marshes.