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| THE RIDEAU WATERWAY Constructed 1826-32 by the British government for military purposes but used principally for commerce, the Rideau water- way, together with the lower Ottawa River, was the first canalized route from Montreal to the Great Lakes. Although eastbound traffic continued to use the St. Lawrence, westbound traffic, including many thousands of immigrants, utilized the new route to avoid the hazards and delays of upstream naviga- tion on that river. With the completion in 1846, of the St. Lawrence canals, use of the Rideau as a commercial thorogh- fare declined sharply. However it remained vitially important to the region by providing its agriculture and industry with economic access to markets. In time the Rideau became one of Ontario's major recreational waterways. Erected by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board, Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario |
