FEINBERG/WHITMAN DIARIES etc DIARIES June-Aug. 1880. Diary in Canada. Vol 2 (8CN63)
Box 2 Folder 3
761
1880 June 18 - Aug. DIARY IN CANADA.
A.MS. (41, 84 p. Various sizes)
Bound in two volumes of 41 p. (June 18-July 18, 1880) and 84 p. with
autograph title: "St. Lawrence & Saguenay trip July & Aug. 1880."
The diary was written on Whitman's trip to Canada for which he had
been invited by Dr. Bucke. The diary was later published in Boston 1904,
under title: Walt Whitman's Diary in Canada, edited by W. S. Kennedy.
Although most of the original manuscript material was used in the printed
form, many unpublished notes and variant readings were omitted, as well
as fragments in prose and poetry written on versos of some of the leaves.
The first volume contains also an excerpt of an "Interview with the author
of Leaves of Grass and autographed portrait dated Sept. 22, 1880. The
second volume includes three maps and two tables which were used by
Walt Whitman on his trip; also six views and a signed portrait. A description
of Quebec City and province, probably written for some newspaper, was not
printed in the published form. It reads in part: "Walt Whitman is at Quebec,
delighted with the queer old French city . . . He especially admires, all
through the province . . . the perpetual recurrence of pretty towns and
villages . . .". {63}
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
London, Canada
Sept 22, 1880
280 Dundas St London, Ontario
Walt Whitman
Diary in Canada
Original Manuscript
1880
A trip down the St Lawrence and
Saguenay Rivers
This Diary was Edited by
Wm. Sloane Kennedy
and Published in 1904
by
Maynard Small & Co.
Boston
Walt Whitman
London, Canada
Sept 22, 1880
280 Dundas St. London, Ontario
Walt Whitman
Diary in Canada
Original Manuscript
1880
A trip down the St. Lawrence and
Saguenay Rivers
This Diary was Edited by
Wm. Sloane Kennedy
and Published in 1904
by
Maynard Small & Co.
Boston
78
St. Lawrence
Saguenay trip
July & Aug 1880
Quebec notes
Asylum for the Insane,
London, 18
Isabel [?]
Asylum
Hamilton
Distances miles
Sarnia to London 60
London to Toronto 120
Toronto to Kingston 161
Kingston to Montreal 172
Montreal to Quebec 180
Quebec to Tadousac 134
Tadousac to Chicoutimi 101
908
from Phila: to London
about 520 miles
[*453*]
[leave] left London [*see back*]
July 26 -- 840 am
[arrive] by Great
Western RR --
arrived at Toronto --
at noon same day (July 26)
le?ft Toronto, noon 27th
by steamboat Algerian
arrived at Kingston
early a.m. 28th
?t?? at Kingston 6 days
(Dr Metcalf) Thousand Island Hub House
left Kingston Aug 3d at 5 am
got to Montreal same
evening (Aug 3d)
staid there BN? left 5th pm.
--on to Quebec &
[leave Quebec Aug 6 am immediately]
(4[th]) by Quebec [get to]
[my?] car. The [air is]
cool, moist, just right, and
the sky veiled. We pass
through the [thring?] towns
[brown top page]
Tadousa - get there evening the 6th of 6th same evening - Stay there Leave [?the?] night (of 6th) 1.5 days - then (6 [??]) in steamer [?Sagueney?] same night & up the Saguenay (voyage up night) reached Chicoutimi & next morning Ha-ha-ha-ha night the Saguenay - down x again Saturday (7th) to Tadousac ( ta'j - oo - sak ) - (saw see Cape Eternity & Trinity Rock) pass Tadousac & River on Look 4 pm 7th reached Quebec (on our return now remember) on Sunday 8th at 730 am (cloudy wet [?morning?] morning). - Staid over Sunday & Monday left on the 9th at 5 pm on go to "Montreal" am in M 10th at 8 am - then straight through in the steamboat to Hamilton Toronto August 12 am [?m?] Algernon home on the 14th thence 1030am to Hamilton 12th August by Rail Road back home to London August 14
[cream under page]
womy oar) [?She?] ate [??] cool, moist, just right and the sky veiled. We pass through the [?three?] towns
Canada 41
July 26 1880
Started this morning at
840 from London for
Toronto 120 miles by
RR - I am writing this
on the car, very comfort-
able - We are now
(10-11 am) passing through
a beautiful country -
-it rained hard last
night & showery this morning -
and every thing is looking
bright [fresh] & green. I am
enjoying the [RR] ride,
(in a big easy RR chair in
a roomy car) The [air] atmosphere is
cool, moist, just right and
the sky veiled. We pass
through the (thriving?) towns
Canada - July '80
of Ingersoll, Wppdstock
Paris, Harrisburgh Dund
Insufficient & on
to Hamilton (80 minutes
through counties)
all pleasant, fertile country
sufficient diversified frequent
sign of cleared land not long cleared, [plenty of] black
stumps (often the fields fenced
with the roots of them) - patches of beautiful woods.
beech, fine elms, - thrifty -
[of] apple orchard, the [?] grain and wheat
mostly harvested barley, legume oats almost ready,
good farms - some good farms -
(a little hilly between Dundas
& Hamilton X am the same on
to Toronto_ Corn looking
well, potatoes ditto but the
great show charm of my ride is from
Hamilton a bustle city
Asylum for the Insane,
London,________________________________18
as we approach Toronto
every thing looks doubly[?]
beautiful - especially the
[?] of blue Ontario's
waters, sunlit, yet
with a slight hare
through which occasionally a distant [?]
In Toronto at half past 1,
I rode up on top of the omnibus with the driver - the
city made the impression on
me of a lively dashing[?] place
The lake gives it its
character
Asylum for the Insane,
London, 18
Canada
in Toronto, July 27 '80
Front St, wholesale pretty
solid and
Church street
King street, stores, ladies
Shopping ("the Broadway")
Sherbourne st Jarvis st &c
long and elegant streets
of semi-rural residences,
many of them very costly
& beautiful
The horse-chestnut is the
prevalent tree – you see
it everywhere
The mountain-ash now with
its bunches of red berries
Queen's Park
The Insane Asylum
Mercer's Reformatory for Females
Toronto University with its
Roman architecture, and
ample grounds.
Knox college
Mr Dent
Mr Tully the architect
Asylum for the Insane,
London ................................... 18 ..
James W. Slocum
24 Macomb Avenue
Detroit
Michigan
Wagner Car Conductor
June 27 Canada
I write this in Toronto,
aboard the steamboat, the
Algerian, 2 o'clock pm.
We are [just] presently off. The boat
[with] from Lewiston, New York,
has just come in - the usual
hurry [&] with passengers & freight
– and as I write, I hear the
pilot's bells, the thud of hawsers unloosened, and [and] feel the boat
squirming [l] slowly from her ties,
out into [the water's] freedom. We
are off. off into Toronto bay, ([and]
soon the wide expanse & cool
breezes of Lake Ontario) As we
Asylum for the Insane,
London_______________________
steam out a mile or so, we get
a pretty view of Toronto,
from the
blue foreground of the waters-
the whole rising spread of the city,
[?] of the roofs, spires
trees[?], hills in the background
Good bye
Toronto, with your
memories of a very lively &
agreeable visit
Sherbourne & Mr Dent, Dr Clarke &
Jarvis sts young Janet Slocum
long streets
fine residences
Front
Church business
King & & stores
Yonge sts King st The Broadway
Asylum for the Insane,
London, ................................................................................18 ..........
Asylum for the Insane,
London 18
A Day & Night on Canada A Day on
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario
On Lake Ontario July 27 '80
(going from Toronto to Kingston)
we start from Toronto about
2 pm in the Hamilton and
Quebec steamboat, [pretty] (middling good-
sized and comfortable [for] carrying
shore freight and summer passengers.)
(See back for times)
the whole length of Lake Ontario
Quite a voyage - [the]
[The whole afternoon is] very
enjoyable day - clear, breezy, and cool
enough for me to wrap my blanket
around me [at times] as the [day lengthens] as I pace the upper deck -
For the first 60 or 70 miles we
[lean] keep near the Canadian shore -
-of course
no land in sight the other side
- Stop at Port Hope, Coburg,
etc - and then stretch out toward
the mid-waters of the lake.
I pace the deck or sit till
pretty late wrapt in my blanket enjoying all, the coolness,
darkness - and then to my berth awhile.
Asylum for the Insane,
London,___________________________18'
Canada - July 27 ‘80
rose soon after 3 to come out
on deck and enjoy a magnificent
night-show before dawn. Overhead, the [The] moon ,
at her half and half. and waning [and at her half] with lustrous Jupiter, and Saturn, [were in] made
a two-cluster close together, [overhead],
in the purest of skies — with the
groups of the Pleiades and Hyades
following [of then] a little to the east. The
light off on the islands and rocks,
the splashing waters the many shadowy
shores and passengers through them, in the crystal atmosphere.
The dawns streaks of faint red and yellow
in the east, [and much else] made
a [wondrous] good hour [and over] for
me. We landed on Kingston wharf
just at sunrise.
Lake Ontario
Lake O is 234 feet above
sea-level. (Huron is over 500
and Superior over 600)
The chain of Lakes over rivers
St Lawrence drain 400,000 spare
miles. The rain fall on this vast area
average annually a depth of 30 inches - so
that the existences and supply of
these the river fed by such inland
precedes
seas is a matter of very simple
calculations after all
Asylum for the Insane,
London ________________________
Canada July 29 '80
July 28 - To day [This afternoon & evening]
Dr M. took me in his steam yacht, a [? good] long, lively
varied voyage down among the
Lakes of the Thousand Islands.
[Dr M. took me in his little steam
yacht] we went swiftly on east of Kingstown, through
cuts, channels, lagoons, and out
across lakes - numbers of islands
always in sight - often, as we steamed by, some almost
grazing us - rocks and cedars-
occasionally [some members of] a
camping party on the shores, perhaps
fishing - a little sea [some] swells on the water-
on our return
Evening deepened[?] [came on], bringing [long? with] a miracle
of sunset
I could have gone on thusly for days
over the savage-tame beautiful [element?].
-We had some good [Italian] music from one of Verdi's compositions
the band of B battery, as [we lay off] hauled in shore
anchored and listened in the twilight (to
the slapping rocking gurgle of our boat) Later
when we reached home
Asylum for the Insane,
London ..................... 18.....
July 29 - This forenoon a long ride
through the streets of Kingston and so out
into the country, and The Lake shore
road
describe Kingston
Kingston has a population of
15000
[Oh] [They have] [some] The place is a military station (B battery)
shows quite
a fort and half a dozen old
Martello towers, (like big conical-topt pound
cakes.) It is a pretty town
of 15000 inhabitants
Asylum for the Insane,
London,___________ 18___
the St Lawrence, including
all the Lakes etc. from
the sea to Duluth is
over 2500 miles
___
vessels of 800 tons can
now go through;
soon 1400 tons
________________
Asylum for the Insane,
London, _____________18___
Canada July 31 '80
Lakes of the Thousand Islands
Saturday
Evening July 31 '80 - I am writing
this at [at] & after sundown in
the central portion ("American
side" as they call it here) of
the Lakes of the Thousand Islands,
25 miles east of Kingston,
[All is] [Evening] The scene
is made up of the most
beautiful and ample waters,
twenty or thirty woody and
rocky islands ( [some] varying in
size, some large, [some] others small,
other middling) the distant
shores of the New York side,
some [white] puffing steamboats in the
Asylum for the Insane,
London, _____________________ 18____
open waters, and numerous
skiffs and row-boats.- all
showing [to] as minute specks
in the amplitude and
primal naturalness
The brooding waters, the
cool and delicious air, the [long twilight]
long evening with its transparent
half-lights [over] the
glistening and faintly-slapping
waves - the circles of
swallows, gamboling and piping -
I am [early about] up & down here
for two or three, the guest
of Dr M in his
steam yacht [add p. at end of this diary
Canada
Aug 1 '80 - Sunday noon -
[I am still in the] still among
The Thousand Islands, (This is
about the center of them stretching
25 miles to the east and the same
distance west The beauty of the
spot all through the day the sunlit
the bonny breeze.
waters the rocky and cedar - browzed
islets the larger islands with fields
and farms. The [white-sail'd]. white -
wing'd yachts and shooting row boats,
- and over all the blue sky
arching copious - make a sane
calm, eternal picture to [the] eyes
[and] senses [of] and my soul
Land of the purest Air
Land of the Lakes and Woods
Asylum for the Insane,
London, ______________________18____
Canada
Lakes of Thousand Island
Aug 1 - Evening - an
unusual show of boats
gaily darting over the waters
in every direction -
not a poor model among
them, and many of exquisite
beauty, [and] grace,
and speed. It is a
precious experience, one
of these long midsummer
twilights in these waters,
and this atmosphere. Land
of pure air! Land of
unnumbered lakes! Land
of the islets & the woods
Canada
Lakes of thousand Islands
- a steady south west wind
Aug 2 - early morning - the fresh
peculiar atmosphere of the hour
& place worth coming a thousand
miles to get. O'er the
water the gray rock and dark -
green cedars of a score of big and
little island around me. The added
splendour of sunrise. As I sit,
the sound of slapping water to me
most musical of sounds
One peculiarity as you go
about among the islands or stop
at them, is the entire [of] absence
of horses & wagons. Plenty of
small boats however and always very
handsome ones. Even the women
now and sail skiffs. Often
the men here build their boats
themselves
Asylum for the Insane,
London____________________
Canada
Aug 2 '80 - Forenoon, a
run of [four] three hours (some thirty
miles through the islands and
lakes in the "Princess Louise"
to Kingston. Saw the whole
scene, with its sylvan
rocky and aquatic loveliness
to fine advantage. Such amplitude-
room enough here for
the summer recreation of all
North America
Gananoque
Places of Interest
In and About Montreal
Court House Jesuit Church
New Post Office The Drive around the
New City Hall [Mountain
Bank of Montreal Hotel Dieu Hospital
McGill College The Drive to Lachine
English Cathedral Grey Nunnery
French Cathedral Victoria Bridge
The Drive to the Mountain Park
Distance from Montreal to
Quebec........180 Kingston.....172
White Mountains.....201 Toronto.....333
Saratoga.........212 Hamilton.....372
Albany ......261 Niagara Falls.....400
New York.....406 Detroit......547
Boston....332 Chicago.....831
Ottawa....116 St. Louis......1126
[***332-172=161]
Canada Aug '80
Aug 4 - In Montreal- guest
of Dr. T S H. [Delightful] Genial
host, delightful quarters, good sleep.
[Good] Explore the city leisurely,
but quite thoroughly: St James' Street
with its handsome shops. Victoria
Bridge,
the great [log Cathedral] French church, the English Cathedral,
the old French church of Notre Dame
de Bonsecours, the [gr?????] place I ever saw
the handsome new peculiarly
and lavishly ornamented church
of Notre Dame de Lourdes
the French streets of middle
[or] life with their signs
city of 150,000 people
very bustling
principal city north of the
St Lawrence
the Hotel Dieu hospital
Asylum for the Insane,
London__________________18
but the principal character
of Montreal to me, was
from a drive along the street
looking down on the river front
& the wharves where the
[S]steamships twenty or more of them some
lay as handsome
and large as I ever saw, beautiful
models, [tr???], two or three, [or four] hundreds
feet long, some moving out, one
or two coming in - plenty of
room, and fine dockage with
heavy masonry banks.
Asylum for the Insane
London______________________18
Canada - Aug 5 '80
forenoon
Three hours on
Mount Royal, the great hill & Park back of Montreal.
Aug 5 [forenoon] [oscupied?] spent the forenoon [with?] on a leisurely
most pleasant drive on [the] and about
this hill- [fine] many views [for] of the city below,
- in the clean air
the waters of the St. Lawrence- the
Adirondacks 50 miles or more distant
-the [good roads,] excellent roads, miles of them, [forever]
[zig zagging??? around]-
[?r] up hills and down
to the plentiful woods, oak, pine,
hickory- the French sign boards
Passer a Droite - as we zip-zag around the splendid views.
Distances, waters, mountains, vistas,
some of them quite unsurpassable-
-the continual surprises of fine trees in groups or singly-
-the grand, rocky, natural escarpments-
frequently open spaces, larger
or smaller, with patches of golden
rod, or white yarrow or along the road the red
fire-weed or Scotch thistle in bloom
-just
-the great hill itself with its rocks & trees unmolested
by any impertinence of
ornamentation
Asylum for the Insane,
London_______________18
Canada Aug '80
Sunrise - the St L near Quebec
Aug 5 - Have just seen [the]
the great round dazzling ball
sunrise, straight ahead over the
broad waters-a rare view,-standing on the extreme
bow of the boat.
The shores pleasantly thick dotted with houses-
the river here wide, calm,
and looking beautiful in the golden
morning's sheen. As we advance
north-east the earthen banks high and
shear [ (eath, no rocks) ] quite
thickly wooded. - [Bright calm,
stately sun-rise sea like waters
spreading here so amply] - [the] thin
Dawn [has] mists quickly resolving - [the
powerful orb mounting the
heavens] - the youthful strong warm
forenoon [inserting itself] over
the [noble waters and] high green bluffs
Asylum of the Insane
London___________________18
Aug 5-6
[It] along the banks as we steam rapidly
little white houses seen through
the verdure - occasionally a
pretensive mansion, a mill, a
two tower'd church [glistening] with steeples
in [in zinc.] burnish'd tin.
A very pretty shore, miles of it sitting up high,
well-sprinkled with swelling of habitans
[and] farmers, fishermen,
French cottagers, & [????] co-verdant everywhere
(but no big trees) for 50 miles before coming to Quebec.
These little [villages] rural cluster towns just back
from the bank-bluffs, [very pretty] so happy
and peaceful looking. I saw them
[with] through my glass, + everything
quite minutely & fully. In one
such [little] town of perhaps two
hundred houses on sloping ground,
[a little back from the ?? ??
bluff fringe of Dense green] the
old church with glistening spire stood in the middle
[with] and quite a large grave yard
around it. [and] I could see the
white head-stones [and] almost plainly enough to
count them.
Asylum for the Insane,
London________________________18
Canada Aug 6 '80 ***4***
(3)
[nearing] Approaching Quebec rocks & rocky [even] banks again.
for many miles
the shores lined with immense
rafts of logs and partially hewn timber, the hills more
broken & [picturesque] abrupt, the
higher shores crowded with [little] many fine
Dormer-windowed houses.
[Shipping] Sailing ships appear in clusters
with their weather-beaten
spars & furled [sails] canvas.
The river still amble and grand,
the banks [high] bold [&], plenty
of [of] round turns and [pron?????],-plenty of
grey rock cropping out.
Rafts, rafts of logs everywhere. The high
[fort] rocky citadel [on its po] thrusting itself
out- altogether perhaps [the] at any rate as you approach it
on waters, the sun two hours high
as picturesque an appearing
city [yet] as there is on earth.
**Asylum for the Insane
London .....18
Canada
Aug 6 Quebec ***5***
(4)
[below]To the east of Quebec we pass the
large fertile Island of
Orleans -- the fields [are cut] divided
in long lateral strips across
the island, and appearing to be closely
cultivated. [In one field] In one I
notice them getting in the
hay, [loading and hauling it] loading and hauling it, a
woman assisting. The view
and scene continue [imutably]
[becau] broad and beautiful.
under the forenoon sun-
around me an expanse of waters
stretch [out of sight] fore
& aft as far as I can see -- outlines of [high]
mountains in the [far] distance
north and south - of the [most] farthest
[Distant] ones the bulk and the crest-lines and
showing [very delicate] through
[the pretty] strong but delicate haze like gray
[?]
** Asylum for the Insane
London....18**
Aug 6th night - we are steam'g
up the Saguenay (5)
*[add HaHa
May forward]
Sunrise
- northern lights every
night
as with overcoat on, or
wrapt in my blanket
I plant myself on
the forward deck
235
180
403
100
______
918
From Quebec to Chicon 235
( slightly enss of
transport
I am here nearly 1000 miles
I was of Montreal & Quebec
from in the .se.
steak ^ in the strangest
county point
Had a good nights slap
- but up
cold - over coat- before
Sunrise
- Northern lights every
with
as with overcoat on or
wrapt in my blankets
I plant myself on
the forward desk
235
180
403
100
---------
918
[Buffalo, noon, Friday
All right, so far- had a very good trip
& a good sleeper & bed, & accommodations — best RR
track I ever travelled over — had good breakfast
at 8 at Hornellsville — am now about 430
miles from Phila: I believe —
— am feeling all right]
Canada Aug '80 16
6
Aug 6 and 7- Ha-ha bay. Up
the black Saguenay river, a hundred
or so miles — [a] dashes of the grimmest,
wildest, savagest scenery on the
planet [I guess-] — a strong, deep [river] (almost hundreds
of feet, sometimes thousands) dark —
water'd river, very dark with high rocky
hills — green and gray edged rocks in all directions
— no flowers, no fruits (plenty
of delicious wild blue-berries and raspberries
up at Checoutery though and Ha-ha
bay — this craft skillfull[y] & well
[?]ng themselves, small
interest in the outside world of
([??] politics, changes news fashions)
industrious yet taking life very
leisurely, with much dancing and music
[*fashionably*]
but they get away soon
— it is [pretty] almost cold
except the middles
of [some] a few [of the] July
& August days
[left side : half underneath page]
ost hours 18 of on the forward
night - latter, have to
[preprint]the Insane,[/preprint]
et around me besides
[preprint] London, 18 [/preprint]
every night _
[left side : half overlay page]
Friday
had a very good trip
accommodations _ best Rail Road
ver _ had good breakfast
_ am now about 430
believe _
[right side : top overlay 1/3 page]
127.5 17 1/2
The priests - Saw them on the every boat and and at every landing : at Tadousac came a large and handsome yacht, manned and evidently owned by them to bring some departing passengers of their cloth & take off on others. It looked funny to me at first to see this the movement ropes and tiller handled by these long black gowns; swarming black birds; it must be said too but I soon saw that they sailed the this craft skilfully & well.
[right side : middle overlay 1/3 page]
ing themselves, [?ing?] small interest in the outside world ( of politics, changes, news, fashions ) industrious yet taking life very leisurely, with much dancing and music
[right side : bottom underneath 1/3 page]
fashionably out they get away soon - it is pretty almost cold except the middles of some of the a few July & August days
[*17*]
simple, middling
industrious, merry, devout Catholic
a church every where, (priests
in their black gowns everywhere,
often groups of handsome
young fellows) [ton] life toned
low, few luxuries, none of the
modern improvements, no hurry
often big families of children, [not] nobody
"progressive", all apparently living and moving
entirely among themselves, taking small
interest in the outside world of
—( [p] politics, changes, news, fashions)—
industrious yet taking life very
leisurely with much dancing and music
[*fashionably*]
but they get away soon
it is [pretty] almost cold
except the middles
of [some] a few [of the] July
& August days
Asylum for the Insame,
London ..................
good trip
— best RR
ood breakfast
about 430
Again I steam over the
Saguenay['s brown-black
waters]
[I see] The brown - black waters
and the thin lines streaks of white
curd, and the dazzling [silver]
sun-dash on the stream
[The] The banks of grim grey mountains and the
rocks, [are keep the banks]
[I see]
The grim and savage scene
[*Fancies at Wavesink
the Pilot in the Mist*]
[made a good breakfast
of sea-trout finishing
off with wild raspberries]
hotels here, a few fashionably
but they get away soon —
it is [pretty] almost cold
except the middles
of [some] [of the] a few July
& August days
Asylum for the Insane
London,--------18
trinity [&] rock
[Ete] Cape Eternity
[great calm eternal rock
everywhere — a matted green
covering the mountain sides]
The inhabitants peculiar
to our eyes - many marked
characters, [ways] looks, by plays, costumes,
&c. that would make the
fortunes of [an] actors [that] who
could reproduce them
very picturesque in color
or form) — all the scenes at the
piers as we came [for] to leave or take passengers
and freight, especially many of the native
Asylum f Asylum for the
***3***
More or less aquatic character
runs through the people. There
the two influences of French
& [Englis] British contribute
a curious by play
continual Hamlets and villages of
[white] one - story white washed
houses
[?] very picturesque in color
[a?] form) - all the scenes at the
piers as we land [for] to leave or take passengers
and freight, especially many of the natives
Asylum for the Insane,
London
? on the Saguenay
[Many] Contrasts, all the while,
at [one place] this place [St. Paul's bay,]
backed by these mountains high & bold,
nestled down [the] [l] hamlet of
St. Pierre, apparently below
the level of the bay, and very
secluded and cosy. Then two or
three miles further on saw a larger town
high up on [a] the plateau.
At St Paul's bay a stronger
cast of scenery, many rugged peaks.
[one] with an air of faded
gentility — on the water, the
scul craft and steamers we
pass, out in the stream, the rolling and turning up
of the white-bellied porpoises,
some special island or rock
(often very picturesque in color
or form) — all the scenes at the
piers as we land [for] to leave or take passengers
and freight, especially many of the natives
[left side : overlay 1/2 page]
st three Days of some of the [?gr?] tallest
Ha-ha bay 1 August 7 80
north from Phila a hundred miles a very [?apt the?]
Saguenay river
es [?w?] [?about?] Strongest [?region?] you ever see - it
am writing this on the forward Deck of the
[preprint]for the Insane,[/preprint]
good breakfast & am feeling pretty
[?ing cruiky?]
[preprint]London, 18[/preprint]
savage [?scene?]
[?Frocks?] in sight everywhere -
ee, the water a dark brown black as [?Tohutonies?] like nite _ The
at Ha! ha bay
rod of the people here as we get ready to start
, are a good study to me -
h here you Know, 4 (four) am now travelling
where I have been for
[?f?] of French)
[right side : page]
[red]14[/red]
on the st L [image: drawing]
[?Squenuey?]
the noticeable items
n land
the long boxes of blue-berries
we had over a thousand of them
brought carried on board at at
Ha-ha bay, the day I came down) one day I was on the River)
the groups of fat "boarders," both
men and women (retaining all
their most refined toggery) -
the queer vehicles, some "calashes" many ([?Whear?] old
one-horse top-wagons, every one
with an air of faded
gentility - on the water, the
scul craft and steamers we
pass, - out in the stream, the rolling and turning up
of the white-bellied porpoises,
some special island or rock
(often very picturesque in color
[?or?] form) - all the scenes at the
piers as we land to leave or take for passengers
and freight, especially, many of the [?natives?]
Asylum for the Insane,
London……………….18…..
the changing as part of the light
and the marvellous study [it is] from that alone, every
hour of the day or night [either] — the
Indescribable sunsets and sunrises (I
often see the latter now — the glorious nights and the stars Arcturus and Vega
and Jupiter and Saturn and the constellations of the Scorpion. The scenes
at breakfast and other meal-times
and what an appetite one gets) —
— the delicious fish ( I mean from
the cook's fire hot)
(I had a good opera glass and
made constant use of it, sweeping
every shore)
Northern lights every
night
Asylum for the Insane,
London…………….18…...
Canada Aug '80
Quebec [come from] from the river- Aug 8 '80
Imagine (the angles, each a mile long of) a high rocky
[angular] hill flush & bold to the river
with plateau on top, the front
handsomely presented to the south
& east we are [coming] streaming up the river on the principal height
still flush with the [river] stream, a
vast stone fort, the most conspicuous
object [from the] in view
[river] — the magnificent [river]
St Lawrence itself— many
hills and ascents and [for]
tall edifices [in] shown at
their best, and steeples
— the handsome town
of Point Levi opposite
— a long low sea-steamer
just [starting] hauling out
Asylum for the Insane
London_________________18
John Richardson
A Battery
Citadel
Quebec
Canada '80 **7**
Aug 8 - Sunday fornoon - A [long]
leisurely varied drive around the
city, stopping a dozen times and more. [W] I
went into the citadel . [I walked]
talked with the soldiers - (over 100
here. Battery A., canadian militia,
the regulars having long since departed.
A [strong] fort under the old dispensation,
strong and picturesque
as Gibraltar.) Then [we went]
to several Catholic churches,
and to the Esplanade
Canada '80 **7**
Aug 8 - Sunday forenoon - A [long]
leisurely varied drive around the
city, stopping a dozen times and more. [W] I
went into the citadel, [I walked]
talked with the soldiers - (over 100
here. Battery A., canadian militia,
the regulars having long since departed.
A [strong] fort under the old dispensation,
strong and picturesque
as Gibraltar.) Then [we went]
to several Catholic churches,
and to the Esplanade
The chime-bells rang out at intervals all the forenoon,
joyfully clanging. [I found myself
listening] It seems almost an art here;
I never before heard their peculiar
sound to such [pleas] mellifluous advantage
and pleasure.
the old name of Quebec
Hochelega
{Hochelaga (ho-shel' a-gah) is
{derived from a word meaning
{means beaver grounds .Ed.}
(add here on Quebec
(at End of this diary)
Asylum for the insane,
London,…18
Quebec Aug 9 '80
Aug 9 — forenoon — we have
driven out 6 or 7 miles to
the [Falls of] Montmorence Falls. &
I am writing this as I sit
high up on the steps, the [Falls] cascade immediately [right]
before me — the great rocky
chasm at my right
and an immense lumber
[station] depot bordering
the river far, far below, [me]
almost under me
to the left. It
makes a pretty
and picturesque
show — but not a
grand one. The principal fall 30 in 40 feet wide & 250-280 feet high [water]
roaring and white pours down a slant of
dark gray rocks,
& there are six or seven
rivulet falls, [with] flanking it. **
[*Asylum for the Insane,
London, ………. *]
9
* every house for miles is [built] set diagonal
with one of its corners to the road - never
its gable or front.
The road out here from the
city in a very [fine] good one,
lined with [good] moderate - class
houses, copious with women
& children - the men appear to be
away - I wonder what they work at? [*up*]
— there seems little farming here - & I see no
factories
**Since writing the above I have
gone down the steps (some 350) to
the foot of the Fall, which I recommend
every visitor to do- the view is
peculiar and fine. The whole scene
grows steadily upon one, & I can
imagine myself after my visits forming a finally first-class
estimate from what I see here of
Montmorenci
over a part of the scaly grim [bal] bald-black
[?] rock, the water falling down
[in strings and streaks] like
strings of downward snowy-spiritual
beautiful tresses *
10
Through the forenoon
I watched [these] the cascade
under the advantages now of [a] partly
cloudy atmostphere, and [partly] now of
the full sunshine.
The tamarack trees.
The great loaves of bread,
shaped like clumsy
butterflies
-To Le Clerc
-our driver
lifting his finger
groups
onions
houses all set diagonally
long strips
good kitchen gardens
[*11*]
hundreds of (to our eyes)
funny looking one-horse
vehicles calashes,
antique gigs,
long narrow strips of farms
- having two-seated covered covered
voitures voitures, [d] always
drawn by one horse
coarse rank tobacco
big-roofed one story
houses with
projecting eaves
- potatoes plenty &
fine-looking
-entire absence
of barns barns
[*12*]
doors & windows wide
open [saw] exhibiting many groups
[through them] to [?]
as we passed
the ruins of Montcalm cannot seat
the strong old stone walls
still standing to
the second story
divided many old
stone walls, (including
those of the old city)
still standing
[*[Insert - from Culen]*]
Canada '80
Aug 10, 8 am - Again in Montreal.
As I write this I am seated aft in the felicious river breeze on the
steamboat that is take me back west some
380 miles from here to Hamilton. Two hours yet before we start
- few passengers - as they come east by
the boats [but] and then generally take the Railroad
back. Montreal [is the] has the
largest show of sail ships, and [so]
handsome ocean steamers of any
place on the [l] river and lake
line, and I am right in full
sight of them
[*tr up*]
Aug 9 - [A] [v]Very pleasant journey
[on the] of 180 miles this afternoon
and to-night. [An] Crowds of
Catholic priests on board
with their long loose black
gowns and the broad brims
of their hats turned into a
peculiar triangle
going on the river westward
from Montreal, is [a] pretty
slow & tedious, taking [you]
a long time to get through
the canals, & many locks,
to Lake St Francis, where
the steamer emerges to
the river again. These
rapids along here - the
boats can descend, [them],
but cannot go up them.
A great inconvenience to
the navigator but they are
[very] quite exciting with their whirls, & roar & foam, & very
picturesque.
_____
[*(always accenting the last syllable
with a loud tremendous bah!)*]
[I saw] here too are graveyards
In a lovely little shore nook under
an apple tree, green, grassy, fenced & rails. lapped
by the waters. I saw a grave, [&]
white headstone [fe] & footstone - could
almost read the inscription
Aug 10 Evening [was] wondrously
clear, pleasant and calm.
I think it it must have
been unusual [to have the]
[river] - the river was as
smooth as glass for hours.
All the stars shone in it,
from below as brightly as
above - the young moon and Arcturus and Aquila and after 10 lustrous Jupiter
Nothing could be more exquisite - [Then steaming]
[along in this manner] I sat
away forward by the hours [on the] & watched
the show till after 11.
Aug 12 - 11 am - As we take
the Cars as Toronto to go
west, the first thing I notice is the change of
temperature - no more [we I miss] the cool
fresh air of the lakes, [and]
[more than any thing else]
[Sage] the St Lawrence and
the Saguenay,
Canada 80
'80 Aug 12 - 4 ½ pm I am writing
this at Hamilton high up on [the] a hill
south of the town - [an]
Aug 13 pm - I write this on a
singular strip of beach off
Hamilton and .
To day have been driving
about for several hours -
[the r] some of the roads
high up on the crest of
the mountain - spent a
pleasant hour in the wine-
vaults of Mr. Haskins and
another at the vineyard &
hospitable house of Mr
Paine who treated us
to some delicious native
wine
Canada '80
Aug 14 - I am writing
this on the high balcony
of the Asylum at Hamilton
(Ontario Canada)
- The city is spread
in full view before me.
(Is there not an escaped
patient? I see a great
commotion, Dr. W. and
several attendants men
& women, rushing down
the cliff) -
a dark, moist, lowering forenoon -
balmy air through - wind South-west
Aug 14 - 5 1/2 pm - Arrived back in
London a couple of hours ago, all right.
Am writing this in my room Dr. B's house
Asylum for the Insane,
London,...... 18
Canada '80
Aug 14 - [Throu] Along the way on the journey
from Hamilton to London
every where through the car
windows I saw [the] locust
trees growing [&] & the broad
yellow faces of sunflowers
the sumach bushes with their red cones,
and the orchard trees loaded
with apples
[*end of his trip*] [*add here 'lecture" item*]
- The waters - the Lakes
and the indescribable grandeur
& ? of the St Lawrence
are the beauty of Canada
through this vast line of
two thousand miles and over.
- In [these] its peculiar advanta.
Yes, sanities and charms,
I doubt whether the globe
for democratic purposes has its'
equal
Canada
? for lecture for conclusion ?
A [great beautiful] grand [sand] sane, temperate
land, the amplest & most beautiful
and stream of water,
[*oc*] river & necklace of vast
lakes, pure, sweet, eligible,
supplied by the chemistry of
millions of square miles of
gushing springs & melted snows
- [a] No stream - this for [a] side frontier
- stream rather for the great
central current the glorious
mid-artery, of the great Free
[solid] [Nationality -] Pluribus Unum of America -
the solid Nationality - of the
present and the future
the home of an improved
grand race of men & women,
not of [one] some select class,
only, but of larger, saner,
better masses
- I should say this vast
area / from [* lat v*]
/ was fitted to be their
unsurpassed habitat
I know nothing finer - the
European democratic tourist,
philanthropist, geographer, or
genuine inquirer [?] will make a
fatal mistake who leaves
these shores without understanding
this — I know nothing finer, either
from the point of view of
the sociologist, the [li] traveller
or the artist, than a month's
devotion to even [a] the surface
of Canada, over the line
of the great Lakes & the
St Lawrence, the fertile
populous and happy province
of Ontario, the
of Quebec, with another month [or] to the
hardy maratime regions
of New Brunswick
Nova Scotia and
Newfoundland
St Lawrence
I see or und
A race of 2,
families, 10,000,0
- every farm ru
the water, or at
of it - the bes
and sky & scenery
The sure foundati
of heroic men & wo
summers
[*St
Lawrence*]
- I have some tim
whether there could
race without the
of writers, in Due prop
St Lawrence **xx**
I see, or imagine I see in the folio
A race of 2,000,000 farm-
families, 10,000,000 people,
--every farm running down to
the water, or at least in sight
of it--the best air and drink
and sky & scenery of the globe
the sure foundation - instrument
of heroic men & women -- the
summers the winters
--I have sometimes doubted
whether there could be a great
race without the hardy influence
of winters, in due proportion.
Canada St Lawrence
to me its crowning; [glor]
land of the
rarest [and best]
& healthiest air
(an area of three or
four hundred thousand
square miles)
--land of clear skies
and sunshine of course by no
means tropical, [and]
neither in any ? degree
arctic
--In June, July and
August, the long evening
twilights--in September
and October the most
perfect days perhaps vouch
safed to any part of
the globe
all in Dominion
except the province
of Newfoundland
Ontario 121,260 sqr: miles
Quebec 210,020
total Dominion
3,500,000 sqr m
Quebec
Ontario
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
Prince Edward Island
British Columbia
Manitoba
Hudson Bay & North West Jer's
not in D -- Newfoundland
[*See Enc. Bru new ed: Vol 4*]
Canada
area equal to the whole
of Europe
population 1880 [abt 5,000,000] [nearly] 4 to 5 million
Timber
principal timber, white & red
pine - the woods are
full of white oak, elm, beech, ash,
maple, (bird's-eye, curled, &c), walnut, cedar,
birch, [and] tamarac
[black walnut, bird's-eye]
[and Maple] sugar
[groves] orchards, (maple)
the honey-bee every where
-rural ponds and lakes,
(often abounding with the
great white sweet-smelling
water-lily) - wild fruits and
berries every where - in the
vast flat grounds, the
prairie-anemone
Canada
The Fisheries of Canada
are almost unparalleled.
The seal, the sturgeon, the
finest salmon, white fish,
cod, haddock, mackerel,
herring
the immense area, and the
varieties of water - the Lakes
the St Lawrence, the adjacencies
of Newfoundland and Nova
Scotia on the east, -in fact all the way from Davis Straits to Halifax - and the
equally rich region on the
Pacific side (on this {the Pacific} [latter] side
great oyster beds)
Then furs, deer-skins,
and those of the bear, [buffalo] wolf,
beaver, fox (all [varie] sorts) otter,
coon, mink, martin [and]
[buffalo] musk-rat, &c.
grains in the following order
Wheat
Barley
Rye
Oats
Indian Corn
1 [Canada]
If the most significant
[modern] trait of modern civilization is benevolence,
(as a leading statesman has
said,) it is doubtful whether
[it] this is anywhere illustrated
to a fuller degree than in
[this] the province of Ontario.
All the maimed, [needs]
insane, idiotic blind, [and] deaf and dumb needy sick and
old, minor criminals,
fallen women, foundlings
have advanced and ample
provision of [land an] house
and care and oversight,
at least fully equal
to anything of the kind in
2
any of the United States -
probably indeed superior
to them. Of Ontario, For its eighty-eight
electoral ridings, each one returning a
member of parliament
[of population the Province
has] There are four
Insane Asylums,
an Idiot Asylum
[a Blind] [in] one
commissive or omissive,
on the part of their government,
but I guess [they] said people
have reason to bless their
stars at the general fairness,
economy, wisdom and liberality
of their officers and administration
[*4*]
The g
[*Gal 12*]
[institution
[*3*] for the Blind, one
for the Deaf and Dumb,
one for Foundlings, a Reformatory for Girls,
one for Women,
and no end of homes
for the old and infirm,
for waifs, and for the
sick.
commissive or omissive,
on the part of their government,
but I guess [they] said people
have reason to bless their
stars at the general fairness,
economy, wisdom and liberality
of their officers and administration.
[ene?]
[letter clas?]
How narrow the
[?] sitting in the
[?] in Rome one afternoon
[?] found myself
ompany little girls,
[adro] " ([with] robber,
[a little case of the]*
4
Its school system, founded
on the Massachusetts plan,
is one of the best and most comprehensive
in the world.
[The] Some of the good people of Ontario
have complained [to me] in my hearing
of [sm omis] faults and fraudulencies, [on?]
commissive or omissive ,
on the part of their government,
but I guess [they] said people
have reason to bless their
stars at the general fairness,
economy, wisdom and liberality
of their officers and administration
'80 Canada
Aug 21 -[*London*] I rose this morning
at 4 and look'd out on
the most pure and refulgent
starry show. Right over my head
like a Tree-Universe spreading with its
[hand was] orb-apples — Aldebaran leading
the Hyades. — [High, too,] Jupiter of
amazing lustre, softness
and volume — and not far
behind heavy Saturn — both
past the meridian — the
[Pleiades like] seven [dazzling]
[sp] sparkling gems of the
Pleiades. [due over me.]
The full moon, voluptuous
and yellow, [but] and full of radiance,
an hour to setting in
the west. Every thing
so fresh, so still, the
delicious something there
is in early youth in
early dawn - the spirit,
the spring. the feel, the
air and light. precursors
of the untried Sun, [life,] love,
action, forenoon, noon, life — [and]
[yet] full-fibred latent [of] with them
all
And is not that
Orion [the] mighty
hunter [up there?]
Are not those the
three glittering studs in
his belt?
[There] And, there to the
north Capell[ie] & his kids.
Canada - at Dr. B's
Aug 29 '80
-the [groups] robins
on the grassy lawn
(I sometimes see a dozen
at a time, great fat fellows)
-the little black and yellow
bird the goldfinch with his billowy flight
-the [groups] flocks of sparrows-
Birds in Ontario
talk with Wm Saunders
[*July 1880*]
lark-sparrow - sings
robins
- black birds (3 kinds)
- cat bird
- rice-bird (bob-o-link)
- thrush
- blue-bird
cuckoo
sand-pipers
night-hawk, (nearly allied
(my hawk) to whippoorwill)
same as night-jar
wren
blue-jay
- King-fisher
wood-pecker
high-hole
write your name please
Mary Ettie Lorenzen
Three
Radiations
?
& songs left over
shore-lark (northern bird)
all the sparrows,
oriole (hanging bird - golden robin)
scarlet tanager (common here)
meadow-lark
yellow-bird
purple martin
swallows (go south August
& Sept)
cedar-bird (very common)
[Tuesday forenoon July 6th 80
— A beautiful calm summer
forenoon, as we sit here (M
E L and myself ) on the verandah
of Dr. Buckes' house —. -the pleasant view [the] wheat &
hay fields, the
birds singing, the sun shining in
[a] the pleasant breeze, and all
Nature [so] is perfect.]
The elm, the maple, the locust
[the] mountain ash, tamarack and oak
Trinity Rock and Cape Eternity-
two indescribable
a good deal of cord wood,
appears to be mostly white birch
18
18
[Walt Whitman is [stopping] at Ha-Ha
bay. [on the Saguenay river]. He [says] [thinks]
says he would like to spend a month every year
of his life [amid that] there on the Saguenay river
and near Cape Eternity and Trinity Rock]
Canada July & Aug '80
Started from London 8:40 am July 26
by RR to Toronto—arrived
in T. same day.
[???] Toronto by steamboat
July 27
" 28th
[?ds]
Aug 3
evening
Aug 5
[?in]
[?piscontimi]
Eternity
of Trinity Rock
--then down, and, on our return
Aug 8 early am arrived in Quebec
staid two days
Aug 10 early am in Montreal
[Walt Whitman is [stopping] at Ha-ha
bay. [on the Saguenay river.]
He [says] [thinks]
says he would like to spend a month every year
of his life [amid that] there on the Saguenay river,
and near Cape Eternity and Trinity Rock]
Canada July & Aug '80
Started from London 8:40 am July 26
by RR to Toronto—arrived
in T. same day.
left Toronto by steamboat
Algerian July 27
arrived at Kingston 5 am " 28th
stopt at Dr W G Metcalf's
down at the Thousand Islands
three days-"Hub Island"
left Kingston 6 am Aug 3
arrived at Montreal same evening
left Montreal Aug 5
down to Quebec in steamer
Montreal
left Quebec 7 am Aug 6 in
steamer Saguenay
Aug 6 down the St. Lawrence
splendid scenery
7th & night of 6th on the Saguenay to Chicoutimi
& Ha-ha bay - Cape Eternity
& Trinity Rock
--then down, and, on our return
Aug 8 early am arrived in Quebec
staid two days
Aug 10 early am in Montreal
...at Haha
bay. [thinks]
days every year
of [hi?] ...iver,
and Rock
Canada July & Aug: '80
Started from London 8.40 am July 26
by RR to Toronto - arrived
in T. same day.
left Toronto by steamboat
Algerian July 27
arrived at Kingston 5 am " 28th
Stopt at Dr W G Metcalf's
down at the Thousand Islands
three days-"Hub Island"
left Kingston 6 am Aug 3
arrived at Montreal same evening
left Montreal Aug 5
down to Quebec in steamer
Montreal
left Quebec 7 am Aug 6 in
steamer Saguenay
Aug 6 down the St Lawrence
splendid scenery
7th & night of 6th [?] the Saguenay to Chicoutimi
& Ha-ha bay - Cape Eternity
& Trinity Rock
- then down, and, on our return
Aug 8 early am arrived in Quebec
staid two days
Aug 10 early am in Montreal
[Walt Whitman is [living] at Quebec,
delighted with the queer old French city, making
[daily] leisurely explorations among the old places, the churches,
the hilly streets, the Citadel, and the environs. He
specially admires, all through the province, [the numbers] [perpetual sight]
[of pretty towns and villages] after [you] passing the mouth
the perpetual recurrence & pretty towns & villages along the
of the Ottawa, going east. For [over a hu] two hundred
miles, the white clusters [over & over] are repeated continually, nestly or in groups in trees & orchards near the
water, each with its glistening church [spir] spire or tower
high in the middle of the town
Aug 10 left Montreal in
Algerian - had a pleasant
voyage (two days & nights
to Toronto-
Aug 12 arr: in Toronto by
Algerian - 3 hours at Queen's
hotel left 11 am
Aug 12 arrived in Hamilton
13 14 } in Hamilton
{Back home in London Aug. 14}
[*Collate the
above with
one at beginning
of diary*]
DISTANCE CARD.
Miles
Niagara Falls to Toronto. 84
Toronto to Montreal. 370
Montreal to Quebec. 180
" to Portland. 297
" to New York. 403
" to Albany. 261
" to Troy. 256
" to White Mountains. 76
" to Saratoga. 212
" to Cleveland. 712
" to Pittsburg. 851
" to Boston. 334
" to Cincinnati. 967
" to Louisville. 1104
" to St. Louis. 1325
" to New Orleans. 2504
Portland to Boston. 168
Saratoga to New York. 187
New York to Philadelphia. 88
Philadelphia to Baltimore. 98
Baltimore to Washington. 40
Ogdensburg to Ottawa. 53
Niagara to Toronto................................................................84
Toronto to Montreal............................................................370
Montreal to Quebec............................................................180
Quebec to Ha! Ha! Bay........................................................215
New York to Lennoxville.....................................................460
Lennoxville to Quebec.......................................................124
Quebec to New York..........................................................524
Quebec to Portland...........................................................295
Quebec to Boston..............................................................463
Quebec to New Orleans..................................................2684
Ha! Ha! Bay to Lake St. John...............................................60
MAP
OF THAT PART
OF THE
RIV. ST. LAWRENCE
TRAVERSED BY THE
SAGUENAY BOATS.
MAP
OF THAT PART
OF THE
Riv. St. Lawrence
TRAVERSED BY THE
SAGUENAY BOATS.
Niagara to Toronto 84
Toronto to Montreal 370
Montreal to Quebec 180
Quebec to Ha! Ha! bay 215
New York to Lennoxville 460
Lennoxville to Quebec 124
Quebec to New York 524
Quebec to Portland 295
Quebec to Boston 463
Quebec to New Orleans 2684
Ha! Ha! bay to Lake St. John 60
(Upside Down Text below)
Isle of Orleans.
twenty miles long and from half a mile to five to a considerable elevation; at the end nearest
is fully 350 feet above the water level. On it lurches and one Protestant, the latter being for
visitors in summer. The total population of
6,000 and 7,000.
Cap Tourment
as the Isle of Orleans has been passed. It lies
and rises to an altitude of about 2,000 feet.
Grosse Isle
tive settlement resting amongst hills and mountains, possessing good sea-bathing, and affording sport to the angler or rifleman. Here also is a valuable Mineral Spring, whose waters are highly recommended to invalids. It has five or six good hotels. What a contrast to the crowded Watering places of the FASHIONABLE WORLD! Here one can enjoy Nature at her best, completely severed from the cares and turmoils of business.
The Pilgrim Islands.
some ten miles below Murray Bay, consist of a remarkable group of rocks, which from their height, are visible at a great distance. The islands, in Summer, scarcely ever present to the beholder the same shape for an hour at a time; that beautiful phenomenon, "THE MIRAGE," seeming constantly to dwell about them. This
of the river furthest from the
good.
lies on the bank of the St. La
du Loup, and is the most
places. Its houses are comfort
clean.
St. La
the largest hotel below Quebec
guests, and offers all the comfort
CREIGHTON, long and fav
St. Louis Hotel, Quebec, is the
and Omnibusses are always o
to convey passengers.
Con
THE RICHELIE
Runni
And will, from the
ST. AND
TUESDAYS
and
FRIDAYS.
WEDNESDAYS
and
SATURDAYS.
LEAVE | Quebec. | Bay
Tuesdays. | 7 a.m. | 10.3
Wednesday. | 7 " | 0
Fridays. | 7 " |10.
Saturdays. |7 " | 0
LEAVE | Chleoutimi. | Ha!
Sundays. | 0 | 9
Wednesdays. | * | *
Thursdays. | 0 | 9
Saturdays. | * | *
The time of leaving
by the Tide, which varies
Connecting with
Before and after the
On Wednesdays and
K
(Map Below)
MAP
OF THE
SAGUENAY
RIVER
(Locations on top half of map, left to right)
St. Anne
Cap St. Fiancore
R Original
R Valin
R Caribou
R Oulay dear
St Eulgence
Ponte Roches
Pt Au Pin
Cap Jamux
Tides rise here in ordinary springs 18 Et
R Pelttier
Cape East
Decente Des Femmes
Cat Rouge
A Houge
EAU
FL
Los
Tadousac
Pr Rot
Pr
Monlin a Baulis
River Severance
(Locations on bottom half of map, left to right)
Chicoutimi PU
PT of the Flat
Cape West
St Alphonse
R Mars
St Alexis
River HaHa
HaHa Ray
Pr Nothe
Mo FL
Lank PT
Ft
R Caliard
Pt Birch
Echarelia F
Echafaud
MAP
OF THE
SAGUENAY
RIVER
(Upside Down Text)
notice as being the Quarantine
resting place of many a poor
to make a home, lies buried
lie buried 7,000 victims of the
as many were claimed by the
markable chiefly for their fertility
flocks to them in the season.
Paul.
Coudres
rich iron mines.
beautiful islands, some near
assist the mind in realizing the
river St. Lawrence, which now
grandest feature of all must not
Bay, a distance of over fifty
sents on continuous Panorama
this continent--only surpassed by
compared to Switzerland and the
much grander as grander as the mighty St.
stream.
Bay
Summer resort; a primi-
may be due to refraction of the sun's rays, owing to the rocks
being very sparsely covered with vegetation.
Riviere du Loup
is the next stopping place, and here connection is made with the
Intercolonial Railway.
Tourists to or from the Atlantic States or Provinces via Halifax or St. John, as the case may be, take leave of the boat here.
Riviere du Loup
is one of the Favorite summer resorts, and whilst probably not as
thronged as Cacouna, is frequented by many of the best families of
both Montreal and Quebec. The site of the Town of Fraserville
(the name under which it is incorporated), is very beautiful, on a
level plateu, at a considerable elevation, it commands a most extended view of the St. Lawrence, and the distant Laurentian Mountains.
The Lover of Nature will enjoy the beautiful effect of a June or July sunset, as seen from here--when the sea-like river lies calmly
at his feet, reflecting the distant azure mountains, just tip't with a
golden glory.
"Cold must the be, and void of emotion,"
that would not melt under the influence of such a sight.
There are two very fine waterfalls at Riviere du Loup. The upper
one can only be seen from the point of a rock jutting over it, on
which not more than two or three persons can venture at a time.
The other, to be seen to advantage, should be viewed from the side
Leaving Riviere du Loup
North and steams for
The Far-
the "Mecca" of all tourists.
traveller as he feels that he is
run of twenty miles brings the
T
where the great river loses its
Here is situated one of
ments, whence millions of
to stock the various rivers
Tadousac, what words can do
combine to make up one
The T
affords every accommodation
the wearied traveller may
From this point to
the turning point of the voyage
inch of the way lacks in
every revolution of the paddle
here a placid bay, there a
ular rocks a quarter of a mile
a thousand feet deep, and the
ering to the clouds–all have
It is impossible within the
name the many attractions
Lakes of the Thousand Islands
St Lawrence river- Aug 1
I write this in the [b] most beautiful extensive
region of lakes and islands one can probably
see on earth-have been here several days, leisurely cruising around-
-came down [here two ????
days ago, cruising around] in a handsome little
steam-yacht which I am living on half the time- the [w] lakes
are very extensive [*(over 1000 square miles)*] & the islands numberless, some small
some large. Here and there dotted with summer villas. I am pretty well. Go [to] on to
Montreal Tuesday, 3d, (to Elmer rec'd your letter)
[and] so down the St L
Pete
Elmer Lou
Mont
[Dave Moore]
Eugene Crosby
Al Johnston
CAPE TRINITY.
HA HA BAY.
FORBES-CO BOSTON
TADOUSAC.
[*4*]
FORBES--OO
MOUTH OF SAGUENAY AND POINT MARGUERITE, TADOUSAC.
5
POINT L'ISLET, TADOUSAC.
6
THE WALLED CITY OF THE NORTH.
CITY OF QUEBEC.
montreal [?] Quebec
Aug 5-10
Montreal [?] Quebec
Aug 5 - 10
(add Ha [ha page
forward at
end of diary)]
TABLE
Showing the distances of the various POINTS OF INTEREST from Quebec.
and from each other, on the Lower St. Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers.
QUEBEC TO RIMOUSKI.
Quebec to Riviere du Loup. . . . . . . . 112
Riviere du Loup to Rimouski . . . . . . . 66
--- 132 m's.
Rimouski to Tadousac. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Tadousac to St. Alphonse. . . . . . . . . . 72
--- 132 "
Rimouski to Chicoutimi, direc.t . . . . 152
" " via St Alphonse 160
Pt. St. Laurent
St. John.
Ile Madame.
Cap Tourmente.
Grosse Ile.
Pillar Light.
St. Paul's Bay.
Les Eboulemedts.
Murray Bay.
Riviere du Loup.
Tadousac.
Ste. Marguerite.
St. Louis Islets.
Riv're aux Canards.
Little Saguenay River.
St. John's Bay.
Eternity Bay.
The Capes.
Trinity Bay.
Cap Rouge.
Cape East.
Cape West.
Ha! Ha! Bay.
St. Alphonse.
Chicoutimi.
Quebec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miles. . .
Pt. St. Lawrence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
St. John L. of Orleans. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 17
Ile Madame (Lady Island). . . . . . . . 6 6 23
Cap Tourmente, North Shore . . . . . 5 11 5 28
Grosse Ile, (Quar'tine Sta'n). . . . . . 5 16 10 5 33
Pillar Light-House . . . . . . . . . . 15 31 25 20 15 48
* ST. PAUL'S BAY, N . . . . . . . . . . . 7 38 32 27 22 7 55
* LES EBOULEMENTS, N . . . . . . . . . . 11 49 42 38 33 18 11 66
* MURRAY BAY, N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 65 59 54 49 34 27 16 82
* RIVIERE DU LOUP, S. . . . . . . . . . . . 30 95 89 84 79 64 57 46 30 112
(Cacouna Passengers land here).
TADOUSAC, N. (Mth Saguenay). . . . 22 117 111 2016 111 86 79 68 52 22 134
Riviere Ste. Marguerite, E. . . . . . . . 15 132 126 121 2016 101 91 83 67 37 15 149
St. Louis Islets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 136 130 125 110 105 98 87 71 41 19 4 157
Riviere aux Canards, E. . . . . . . . . 4 140 134 129 114 109 102 91 87 71 45 23 8 4 157
Little Saguenay River, W . . . . . . . . . 4 144 138 133 118 113 106 95 79 49 27 12 8 4 161
St. John's Bay, W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 149 143 138 123 118 111 100 84 54 32 17 13 9 5 166
{Eternity Bay, W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(CAPES ETERNITY AND TRINITY } 9 158 152 147 132 127 120 109 93 63 41 26 22 18 14 9 175 175
Trinity Bay, E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 165 159 154 139 134 127 116 100 70 48 33 29 25 21 16 7 7 182
Cape Rouge, E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 173 167 161 147 142 135 124 108 78 56 41 37 33 29 24 15 15 8 190
Cape East, E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 180 174 169 154 149 142 131 115 85 63 48 44 40 36 31 22 22 15 7 197
Cape West, W. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 182 176 171 156 151 143 132 116 86 64 50 46 42 38 33 24 24 17 9 2 199
Ha! Ha! Bay. {Entrance.} . . . 1 190 177 172 157 152 151 133 117 87 65 51 47 43 39 34 25 25 18 10 3 1 200
ST. ALPHONSE, . . . 7 197 184 179 165 159 158 140 124 94 72 58 54 50 46 41 32 32 25 17 10 8 7 207
CHICOUTIMI, via] St. Alphonse. . . . . 28 217 212 207 192 187 179 168 152 122 100 86 82 78 74 69 60 60 53 45 38 36 35 28 235
NOTE.--In the above table the distance of any place from Quebec will be found at the top of perpendicular column under
the name of the place wanted. The distances between any other two places is found by taking the name of one
of the places in the left hand margin, and following its line until it intersects with the column at whose head is
the name of the other places sought.
* Places marked with an asterisk are Stations of the Montreal Telegraph Company.
180
235
-----
415
Dr J M Drake
Distances.
Miles
Sarnia to London 60
London to Toronto 120
Toronto to Kingston 161
Kingston to Montreal 172
Montreal to Quebec 180
Quebec to Tadousac 134
Tadousac to Chicoutimi 101
928
from Phila: to London 520
Itinerary.
Started from London 8.40 am July 26 by
R.R. to Toronto--arrived in T. same day.
Left Toronto by steamboat Algerian July 27
arrived at Kingston 5 am 26th. stopt at
Dr W G Metcalf's down at the Thousand
Islands three days--"Hub Island"
Left Kingston 6 am Aug 3. arrived at
Montreal same evening.
Left Montreal Aug 5, down to Quebec in
steamer Montreal.
Left Quebec 7 am Aug 6 in steamer Saguenay,
Aug 6 down the St. Lawrence, splendid
scenery.
Night of the 6th and 7th up the Saguenay to
Chicoutimi and Ha Ha bay - Cape Eternity
and Trinity Rock.
Then down, and, on our return, Aug 8 early
a.m. arrived in Quebec, staid two days.
Aug 10 early a.m. in Montreal , straight
through in the steamboat Algerian - had
a pleasant voyage (two days and nights)
to Toronto
Aug 12 arr: in Toronto by Algerian - 3 hours
at Queen's hotel, left 11 am.
Aug. 12 arrived in Hamilton
Aug 13, 14 in Hamilton.
Back home to London Aug. 14.
July 26, 1880. Started this morning at 8.40
from London for Toronto, 120 miles, by R R -
I am writing this on the cars, very comfortable.-
We are now (10 - 11 am) passing through
a beautiful country.- Rained hard last night
and showery this morning.- everything looking
bright and green. I am enjoying the ride
(in a big easy R R chair, in a roomy car)
The atmosphere cool, moist, just right, and
the sky veiled. We pass through the thriving
towns of Ingersoll, Woodstock, Paris,
Harrisburg, Dundas, and on to Hamilton
(80 miles through counties) all pleasant,
fertile country, sufficiently diversified,
frequent signs of land not long cleared,
black stumps ( often the fields fenced with
the roots of them) - patches of beautiful
woods, beech, fine elms, thrifty apple
orchards, the hay and wheat mostly harvested,
barley, begun, oats almost ready. ( a little
hilly between Dundas and Hamilton and the
same on to Toronto). Corn looking well,
potatoes ditto, but the great show-charm of
my ride is from the unfailing grass and
woods.
Hamilton is a bustling city.
As we approach Toronto every thing looks
doubly beautiful - especially the glimpses
of blue Ontario's waters, sunlit, yet with
a slight haze, through which occasionally a
distant sail.
In Toronto at half past 1. I rode up on
top of the omnibus with the driver - the city
made the impression on me of a lively dashing
place. the lake gives it its character.
In Toronto, July 27 '80.
Front st. wholesale pretty solid and
Church street, King street, stores, ladies
shopping ("the Broadway") Sherbourne st.
Jarvis st. &c.
Long and elegant streets of semi-rural
residences, many of them very costly and
beautiful. The horse-chestnut is the
prevalent tree - you see it everywhere.
The mountain-ash now with its bunches of
red berries.
Queen's Park, The Insane Asylum, Mercer's
Reformatory for Females, Toronto University
with its Norman architecture, and ample
grounds, Knox College.
Mr. Dent, Mr. Tully the architect.
July 27. - I write this in Toronto,
aboard the steamboat, the Algerian, 2 o'clock
pm. We are off presently. The boat from
Lewiston, New York, has just come in - the
usual hurry with passengers and freight -
and as I write, I hear the pilot's bells,
the thud of hawsers unloosened and feel the
boats squirming slowly from her ties, out
into freedom. We are off, off into Toronto
bay,( soon the wide expanse and cool breezes
of Lake Ontario). As we steam out a mile or
so, we get a tretty view of Toronto, from
the blue foreground of the waters - the
whole rising spread of the city, groupings
of roofs, spires, trees, hills in the
background. Good bye Toronto, with your
memories of a very lively and agreeable
visit.
(Entry here of name of James W. Slocum,
Wagner car conducter, and memorandum "your
James Slocum."
Sherbourne & Jarvis sts.
Front, Church, King, Young sts. Business &
stores, King st. the Broadway.
A day and night on Lake Ontario.
On Lake Ontario July 27 '80 ( going from
Toronto to Kingston ) We start from Toronto
about 2 pm in the Hamilton and Quebec steamboat,
(middling good-sized and comfortable,
carrying shore freight and summer passengers )
Quite a voyage - the whole length of Lake
Ontario; very enjoyable day - clear, breezy,
and cool enough for me to wrap my blanket
around me, as I pace the upper deck.- For
the first 60 or 70 miles we keep near the
Canadian shore - of course no land in sight
the other side - stop of Port Hope, Coburg,
&c. - and then stretch out toward the midwaters
of the lake.
I pace the deck or sit till pretty late,
wrapt in my blanket enjoying all, the coolness,
darkness - and then to my berth awhile.
July 27 '80 - Rose soon after 3 to come out
on deck and enjoy a magnificent night-show
before dawn. Overhead the moon, at her half
and waning half, with lustrous Jupiter and
Saturn, made a trio-cluster close together,
in the purest of skies - with the groups of
the Pleiades and Hyades following a little
to the east. The lights off on the islands
and rocks, the splashing waters, the many
shadowy shores and passages throughthem, in
the crystal atmosphere, the dawn-streaks of
faint red and yellow in the east, made a
good hour for me. We landed on Kingston
wharf just at sunrise.
Lake Ontario. - Lake 0 is 234 feet above
sea-level, (Huron is over 500 and Superior
over 600)
The chain of Lakes and river St Lawrence
drain 400,000 square miles. The rain-fall
on this vast area averages annually a depth
of 30 inches - so that the existence and
supply of the river, fed by such inland
preceding seas, is a matter of very simple
calculation after all.
July 28 - To day Dr. M. [(*C*)] took me in his steam
yacht a long, lively, varied voyage down
among the Lakes of the Thoisand Islands.
We went swiftly on east of Kingston, through
cuts, channels, lagoons, and out across
lakes - numbers of islands always in sight -
[*1)[Metcalfe]*]
often as we steamed by, some almost grazing
us - rocks and cedars - accasionally a
camping party on the shores, perhaps fishing
- a little sea-well on the water-
on our return, evening deepened, bringing
a miracle of sunset.
I could have gone on thus for days over
the savage-tame beautiful element. We had
some good music (one of Verdi's compositions
from the band of B battery, as we hauled in
shore, anchored and listened in the twilight
(to the slapping rocking gurgle of our boat)
Late when we reached home.
July 29. - This forenoon a long ride through
the streets of Kingston, and out into the
country, and the Lake shore road.
Describe Kingston.
Kingston has a population of 15,000. The
place is a military station (B battery)
shows quite a fort, and half a dozen old
Martello towers, (like big conical-topt
pound-cakes) It is a pretty town of 15,000
inhabitants.
The St Lawrence, including all the Lakes
&c. from the sea to Duluth is over 2,500 miles
vessels of 800 tons can now go through;
soon 1,400 tons.
July 31. '80 - Lakes of the Thousand Islands.
Saturday Evening July 31 ' 80. - I am
writing this at and after sundown in the
central portion ("American side" as they call
it here) of the Lakes of the Thousand Islands,
25 miles east of Kingston. The scene if made
up of the most beautiful and ample waters
twenty ot thirty woody and rocky islands
(varying in size, some large, others small,
others middling) the distant shores of the
New York side, some puffing steamboats in
the open waters, and numerous skiffs and
row-boats - all showing as minute specks
in the amplitude and primal naturalness.
The brooding waters, the cool and
delicious air, the long evening with its
transparent half-lights, the glistening
and faintly-slapping waves - the circles
of swallows, gambolling and piping.
(In the back of the Canada diary is the
following, evidently a first draft or
memorandum for a letter to some one.)
Aug 1. - I write this in the most beautiful
extensive region of lakes and islands
one can probably see on earth - have been
here several days, leisurely crusing around-
in a handsome little steam-yacht which I
am living on half the time - the lakes are
very extensive (over 1000 square miles) and
the islands numberless, some small, some
large. Here and then dotted with summer villas.
I am pretty well. Go on to Montreal Tuesday
3d (to Elmer read your letter) go down the
St L
Aug.1 '80. - Sunday noon - Still among the
Thousand Islands, (this is about the centre
of them, stretching 25 miles to the east
and the same distance west) The beauty of
the spot all through the day, the sunlit
waters, the fanning breeze, the rocky and
cedar-bronzed islets, the larger islands
with fields and farms, the white-wing'd
yachts and shooting row-boats, - and over
all the blue sky arching copious - make a
sane, calm, eternal pictureto eyes, senses,
and my soul.
Land of the purest Air - Land of the Lakes
and Woods.
Aug 1. - Evening - An unusual show of boats
gaily darting over the waters in every
direction - not a poor model among them,
and many of exquisite beauty, grace, and
speed. It is a precious experience, one
of these long midsummer twilights in these
waters, and this atmosphere. Land of pure
air! Land of unnumbered lakes! Land of the
islets and the woods.
Lakes of Thousand Islands.
Aug.2 - Early morning - a steady south-west
wind - the fresh peculiar atmosphere of the
hour and place, worth coming a thousand
miles to get. O'er the waters the gray
rocks and dark-green cedars of a score of
big and little islands around me, the added
splendour of sunrise. As I sit, the sound
of slapping water, to me sweet musical of
sounds.
One peculiarity as you go about among
the islands, or stop at them, is the entire
absence of horses and wagons. Plenty of
small boats however, and always very handsome
ones. Even the women row, and sail
skiffs. Often the men here build their
boats themselves.
Aug. 2 '80 - Forenoon - a run of three
hours ( some thirty miles ) through the
islands and lakes in the "Princess Louise"
to Kingston. Saw the whole scene, with its
sylvan rocky and aquatic loveliness to fine
advantage. Such amplitude - room enough
here for the summer recreation of all
North America.
Aug 4. '80 - In Montreal - guest of Dr.
T.S.H. (Dr. T S[terry] H[unt]) Genial host,
delightful quarters, good sleep. Explore
the city leisurely but quite thoroughly:
St James street, with its handsome shops,
Victoria Bridge, the great French church,
the English Cathedral, the old French
church of Notre-Dame de Bon Secours, the
grandest place I ever saw. The handsome
new peculiarly and lavishly ornamented
church of Notre-Dame de Lourdes. The French
street of middle life with their signs.
A city of 150,000 people, very bustling.
Principal city north of the St. Lawrence,
the Hospital Dieu hospital.
But the principal character of Montreal
to me, was from a drive along the street
looking down on the river front and the
wharves where the steamships lay, twenty
or more of them, some as handsome and large
as I ever saw, beautiful models, trim,
two or three hundred feet long, some moving
out, on or two coming in - plenty of room,
and fine dockage, with heavy masonry banks.
Aug. 5 '80 - forenoon. -
Three hours on Mount Royal, the great
hill and park back of Montreal. Spent the
forenoon on a leisurely most pleasant drive
on and about the hill - many views of the
city below, the waters of the St Lawrence
in the clear air - the Adirondacks 50 miles
or more distant - the excellent roads,
miles of them, or up hill and down the
plentiful woods, oak, pine, hickory -
the French sign boards - Passez a Droite -
as we zigzag around, the splendid views,
distances, waters, mountains, vistas, some
of them quite unsurpassable - the continual
surprises of fine trees, in groups, or
singly - the grand, rocky, natural escarpments-
frequently open spaces, larger or
smaller, with patches of golden rod, or
white yarrow, or along the road the red
fire-weed or Scotch thistle in bloom - just
the great hill itself, with its rocks and
trees unmolested by any impertinence of
ornamentation.
Sunrise - the St L near Quebec. Aug.5-6
- Have just seen sunrise, the great round
dazzling ball, straight ahead over the
broad waters - a rare view - standing on
the extreme bow of the boat. The shores
pleasantly, thickly dotted with houses -
the river here wide, and looking beautiful
in the golden morning's sheen. As we advance
north-east the earth-banks high and sheer,
quite thickly wooded - thin dawn-mists
quickly resolving - the youthful strong,
warm forenoon over the high green bluffs,
along the banks as we steam rapidly, little
white houses seen through the verdure -
occasionally a pretensive mansion, a mill,
a two tower'd church, in burnish'd tin. A
pretty shore, miles of it sitting up high,
well-sprinkled with dwellings of habitans -
farmers, fisherman, French cottagers, &c.
verdant everywhere ( but no big trees ) for
50 miles before coming to Quebec. These
little rural cluster-towns just back from
the bank-bluffs, so happy and peaceful
looking. I saw them through my glass, everything
quite minutely and fully. In one such
town of perhaps two hundred houses, on
sloping ground, the old church with glistening
spire stood in the middle and quite a
large grave yard around it. I could see the
white head-stones almost plainly enough to
count them.
Aug.6 - Approaching Quebec rocks and rocky
banks again, the shores lined for many
miles with immense rafts of logs and partially
hewn timber, the hills more broken and
abrupt, the higher shores crowded with many
fine dormer-window'd houses.
Sail-ships appear in clusters with their
weather-beaten spars and furl'd canvas. The
river still ample and grand, the banks bold,
plenty of round turns and promontories -
plenty of gray rock cropping out. Rafts,
rafts of logs everywhere. The high rocky
citadel thrusts itself out - altogether
perhaps (at any rate as you approach it on
water, the sun two hours high) as picturesque
an appearing city as there is on earth.
Aug. 6 - Quebec.
To the east of Quebec we pass the large
fertile island of Orleans - the fields
divided in long lateral strips across the
island, and appearing to be closely cultivated.
In one field I notice them getting
in the hay, a woman assisting, loading and
hauling it. The view and scene continue
broad and beautiful under the forenoon sun -
around me an expanse of waters stretching
fore and aft as far as I can see - outlines
of mountains in the distance north and
south - of the farthest ones the bulk and
the crest lines showing through strong but
delicate haze like gray lace.
Aug. 6th - night - we are steaming up the
Saguenay.
from Quebec to Chicou 235.
Ha Ha Bay [*[?]*] - I am here nearly 1000 miles
(slightly east of due north) from Phila.
(starting point) by way of Montreal and
Quebec, in the strangest country.
Had a good night's sleep, cold - overcoat -
but up before sunrise - northern
lights every night, as with overcoat on or
wrapt in my blanket I plant myself on the
forward deck.
(Note at end of diary). - Walt Whitman is
at Ha Ha bay. He says he would like to spend
a month every year of his life there on the
Saguenay river, and near Cape Eternity
and Trinity Rock.
Aug. 6 and 7 - Ha ha bay. - Up the black
Saguenay river, a hundred or so miles -
dashes of the grimmest, wildest, savagest
scenery on the planet - a strong, deep
(always hundreds of feet, sometimes
thousands) dark-water'd river, very dark,
with high rocky hills - green and gray
edged banks in all directions - no flowers,
no fruits (plenty of delicious wild blueberries
and raspberries up at Chicoutimi,
though and Ha-ha bay.)
The priests - saw them on every boat, and
at every landing; at Tadousac came a large
and handsome yacht, manned and evidently
owned by them, to bring some departing
passengers of their cloth and take on
others. It looked funny to me at first to
see the movements, ropes and tiller handled
by these swarming black birds; but I soon
saw that they sailed their craft skilfully
and well. The people are simple, middling
industrious, merry, devout Catholic a
church every where, (priests in their black
gowns everywhere, often groups of handsome
young fellows) life toned low, few luxuries,
none of the modern improvements, no hurry,
often big families of children, nobody
"progressive," all apparently living and
moving entirely among themselves, taking
small interest in the outside world of
politics, changes, news, fashions, industrious
yet taking life very leisurely, with
much dancing and music.
Here follows what is evidently a thumbnail
sketch for the first part of Fancies
at Navesink. Again I steam over the
Saguenay. The bronze-black waters and the
thin lines of white curd, and the dazzling
sun-dash on the stream, the banks of grim-
gray mountains and the rocks, I see the
grim and savage scene.
Made a good breakfast of sea-trout,
finishing off with wild raspberries.
Hotels here, a few fashionable but they
get away soon - it is almost cold except
the middles of a few July and August days.
Undated - Trinity rock, Cape Eternity,
The inhabitants peculiar to our eyes -
many marked characters, looks, by-plays,
costumes, &c. that would make the fortunes
of actors who could reproduce them. - More
of less aquatic character runs through the
people. The two influences of French and
British contribute a curious by-play.
Continual Hamlets and villages of one-
story white washed houses.
Contrasts all the while, at this place
backed by these mountains high and bold,
nestled down the hamlet of St Pierre,
apparently below the level of the bay, and
very secluded and cosy. Then two or three
miles further on I saw a larger town high
up on the plateau.
At St Paul's bay a stronger cast of
scenery, many rugged peaks.
No date. On the Saguenay. - The noticeable
items on land: the long boxes of blue-berries
(we had over a thousand of them carried on
board at Ha-ha bay, one day I was on the
pier), the groups of "boarders," both men
and women (retaining all their most refined
toggery) - the vehicles, some "calashes"
many queer old one-horse top-wagons, with
an air of faded gentility - on the water,
the sail craft and steamers we pass - out
in the stream, the rolling and turning up
of the white-bellied porpoises, some
special 'island or rock' (often very
picturesque in color or form) - all the
scenes at the piers as we land to leave or
take passengers and freight, especially
many of the natives; the changing aspect
of the light and the marvellous study from
that alone, every hour of the day or night -
the indescribable sunsets and sunrises
(I often see the latter now) - the glorious
nights and the stars, Arcturus and Vega
and Jupiter and Saturn, and the constellation
of the scorpion, the scenes at breakfast
and other meal times ( and what an
appetite one gets) - the delicious fish (I
mean from the cook's fire, hot )
( I had a good opera glass and made constant
use of it, sweeping every shore).
Northern lights every night.
Quebec from the river - Aug 8. '80.
Imagine (the angles each a mile long) of
a high rocky hill flush and bold to the
river with plateau on top, the front handsomely
presented to the south and east (we
are steaming up the river), on the principal
height, still flush with the stream, a vast
stone fort, the most conspicuous object in
view - the magnificent St Lawrence itself -
many hills and ascents, and tall edifices
shown at their best, and steeples - the
handsome town of Point Levi opposite - a long
low sea-steamer just hauling out.
Aug. 8 - Sunday forenoon - A leisurely
varied drive around the city, stopping a
dozen times and more. I went into the
citadel, talked with the soldiers - (over
100 here, Battery A., Canadian militia,
the regulars having long since departed. A
fort under the old dispensation strong and
picturesque as Gibraltar.) Then to several
Catholic churches, and to the Esplanade.
The chime-bells rang out at intervals
all the forenoon, joyfully clanging. It
seems almost an art here. I never before
heard their peculiar sound to such
mellifluous advantage and pleasure.
The old name of Quebec - Hochelaga.
Hochelaga (ho-shel-a-gah) is derived
from a word meaning beaver grounds. Ed.)
This note was at end of diary - [*/*] Walt
Whitman is at Quebec, delighted with the
queer old French city, making leisurely
explorations among the old places, the
churches, the hilly streets, the Citadel,
and the environs. He specially admires,
all through the province, after passing the
mouth of the ottawa, going east, the perpetual
recurrence of pretty towns and villages
along the St L. For two hundred miles, the
white clusters are continually repeated, in
groups, nestling in trees and orchards near
the water, each with its glistening church
spire or tower high in the middle of the town.
Quebec. Aug. 9 '80 - forenoon. - We have
driven out 6 or 7 miles to the Montmorenci
Falls and I am writing this as I sit high
up on the steps, the cascade immediately
before me - the great rocky chasm at my
right and an immense lumber depot bordering
the river, far, far below almost under me
to the left. It makes a pretty and picturesque
show, but not a grand one. The principal
fall 30 or 40 feet wide and 250 feet high
roaring and white, pours down a slant of
dark gray rocks, and there are six or seven
rivulet falls flanking it.
Since writing the above I have gone down
the steps (some 350) to the foot of the Fall,
which I recommend every visitor to do - the
view is peculiar and fine. The whole scene
grows steadily upon one, and I can imagine
myself, after many visits forming finally a
first-class estimate [*?*] from what I see here of
Montmorenci over a part of the scaly, grim
bald-black rock, the water falling down like
strings of snowy-spiritual beautiful tresses.
The road out here from the city is a very
good one, lined with moderate-class houses,
copious with women and children - the men
appear to be away - I wonder what they work
at? Every house for miles is set diagonally
with one of its corners to the road - never
its gable or front. There seems little farming
here - and I see no factories.
Through the forenoon watched the cascade
under the advantages now of partly cloudy
atmosphere and now of the full sunshine.
The tamarack trees,- the great loaves of
bread, shaped like clumsy butterflies. -
Jo Le Clerc - our driver, lifting his finger.-
groups, onions, houses all set diagonally
long strips, good kitchen gardens.
Hundreds of (to our eyes) funny looking one-
horse vehicles, calashes, antique gigs. [*(1*]
Long narrow strips of farms - coarse rank
tobacco. Big-roofed one story houses with
projecting eaves. Potatoes plenty and fine-
looking. Entire absence of barns.
[*1)*] heavy two-seated covered voitures, always
drawn by one horse.
Doors and windows wide open, saw groups
etching as we passed. - The ruins of Mont-
calm's country seat the strong old stone
walls still standing to the second story -
indeed many old stone walls (including those
of the old city) still standing.
Aug. 9. - Very pleasant journey of 180 miles
this afternoon and to-night. Crowds of
Catholic priests on board with their long
loose black gowns and the broad brims of
their hats turned into a peculiar triangle.
Aug. 10 8 a.m. - Again in Montreal. As I write
this I am seated aft in the delicious river
breeze on the steamboat that is to take me
back west some 350 miles from here to Hamilton.
Two hours yet before we start - few passengers
as they come east by the boats, and then
generally take the Railroad back. Montreal
has the largest show of sail-ships, and hand-
some ocean steamers of any place on the river
and lake line, and I am right in full sight
of them. Going on the river westward from
Montreal, is pretty slow and tedious, taking
a long time to get through the canals, and
many locks, to Lake St Francis, where the
steamer emerges to the river again. These
rapids along here - the boats can descend,
but cannot go up them. A great inconvenience
to the navigator, but they are quite exciting
with their whirls and roar and foam, and very
picturesque.
Here too are graveyards. In a lovely
little shore-nook under an apple tree, green,
grassy, fenced by rails, lapped by the waters,
I saw a grave,- white headstone and footstone
could almost read the inscription.
Aug. 10. - Evening wondrously clear, pleasant
and calm. I think it must have been unusual -
the river was so smooth as glass for hours.
All the stars shone in it from below as brightly
as above - the young moon and Arcturus and
Aquila, and after 10 lurtrous Jupiter.
Nothing could be more exquisite - I sat
away forward and watched the show till after
11.
Aug.12 - 11 a.m. - As we take the cars at
Toronto to go West, the first thing I notice
is the change of temperature - no more the
cool fresh air of the lakes, the St Lawrence
and the Saguenay.
Aug.12.- 4 1/2 p.m. - I am writing this at
Hamilton high up a hill south of the town.
Aug.13. , p.m.- I write this on a singular
strip of beach off Hamilton and
To day have been driving about for several
hours - some of the roads high up on the
crest of the mountain - spent a pleasant hour
in the wine-vaults of Mr. Haskins and
another at the vineyard and hospitable house
of Mr. Paine who treated us to some delicious
native wine.
Aug.14. - I am writing this on the high
balcony of the Asylum at Hamilton (Ontario
Canada) - The city is spread in full view
before me. (Is there not an escaped patient?
I see a great commotion, Dr.W. and several
attendants, men and women, ruching down the
cliff) - a dark, moist, lowering forenoon -
balmy air though - wind south-west.
Aug.14. -5 1/2 p.m. - Arrived back in London
a couple of hours ago, all right. Am writing
this in my room Dr. B's house.
Aug.14. - Along the way on the journey from
Hamilton to London every where through the
car windows I saw locust trees growing and the
broad yellow faces of sunflowers, the sumach
bushes with their red cones, and the orchard
trees loaded with apples.
[end of his trip.]
The waters - the Lakes and the indescribable
Canada.
? for lecture for conclusion?
A grand dane temperate land, the amplest
and most beautiful and [*[blank]*] stream of
water, river and necklace of vast lakes,
pure, sweet, eligible, supplied by the
chemistry of millions of square miles of
gushing springs and melted snows.
No stream this for side frontier - stream
rather for the great central current, the
glorious mid-artery of the great Free
Pluribus Union of America - the solid
Nationality of the present and the future,
the home of an improved grand race of men
and women, not of some select class, only,
but of larger, saner, better masses. I should
say this vast area ( from [*[blank]*] lat and [*[blank]*])
was fitted to be their unsurpassed habitat.
I know nothing finer - the European
democratic tourist, philanthropist, geographer,
or genuine inquirer will make a fatal mistake
who leaves these shores without understanding
this - I know nothing finer, either from the
point of view of the sociologist, the traveller
or the artist, than a month's devotion to even
the surface of Canada, over the line of the
great Lakes and the St Lawrence, the fertile,
populous and happy province of Ontario, the
of Quebec with another month to the
hardy maritime regions of New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
grandeur and of the St Lawrence are
the beauty of Canada through this vast line of
two thousand miles and over. In its peculiar
advantages, sanities, and charms. I doubt
whether the globe for democratic purposes
has its equal.
The following notes appear on loose sheets
St Lawrence. - [*4 60*] I see, or imagine I see in the
future, a race of 2,000,000 farm-families,
10,000,000 people - every farm running down
to the water, or at least in sight of it -
the lest air and drink and sky and scenery of
the globe, the sure foundation-nutriment of
heroic men and women - The summers ?
the winters - I have sometimes doubted
whether these could be a great race without
the hardy influence of winters in due proportion.
To me its crowning; land of the rarest and
healthiest air (an area of three or four
hundred thousand square miles) - land of
clear skies and sunshine, of course by no
means tropical, neither in any ? degree
arctic.
In June, July and August, the long evening
twilights - in September and October the most
perfect days perhaps vouchsafed to any part
of the globe.
All in Dominion except the province of
Newfoundland.
Ontario, 121,260 sq. miles.
Quebec, 210,020 " "
Total Dominion, 3,500,000 sq. m.
Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Prince Edward Island, British Columbia,
Manitoba, Hudson Bay and North West Ter's
(not in D - Newfoundland)
Area equal to the whole of Europe. Population,
1880, 4 to 5 millions.
Timber. - Principal timber, white and red pine -
the woods are full of white oak, elm, beech,
ash, maple (bird's-eye, curled, &c.) walnut,
cedar, birch, tamarac, sugar orchards (maple).
The honey-bee everywhere -- rural ponds
and lakes, (often abounding with the great
white sweet-smelling water-lily) -wild
fruits and berries everywhere -- in the vast
flat grounds the prairie-anemone.
The Fisheries of Canada are almost unparalleled.
The seal, the sturgeon, the finest
salmon, white fish, cod, haddock, mackerel,
herring.
The immense area, and the varieties of
waters - the Lakes, the St Lawrence, the
adjacencies of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia
on the east, in fact all the way from Davis
Straits to Halifax and the equally rich
region on the Pacific side, (on this side
great oyster beds)
Then furs, deer-skins, and those of the
Then furs, deer-skins, and those of the
bear, wolf, beaver, fox (all sorts) otter,
coon, mink, martin, musk-rat, &c.
Grains in following order, - Wheat, Barley,
Rye, Oats, Indian corn.
If the most significant trait of modern
civilization is benevolence, (as a leading
statesman has said), it is doubtful whether
this is anywhere illustrated to a fuller
degree than in the province of Ontario. All
the maimed, insane, idiotic, blind, deaf
and dumb, needy sick and old, minor criminals,
fallen women, foundlings, have advanced and
ample provision of house and care and
oversight, at least fully equal to anything
of the kind in any of the United States -
probably indeed superior to them. Of Ontario
for its eighty-eight electoral ridings, each
one returning a member of parliament, there
are four Insane Asylums, an Idiot Asylum,
one institution for the Blind, one for the
Deaf and Dumb, one for Foundlings, a
Reformatory for Girls, one for Women, and no
end of homes for the old and infirm, for
waifs, and for the sick.
Its School system, founded on the
Massachusetts plan is one of the best and
most comprehensive in the world.
Some of the good people of Ontario have
complained in my hearing of faults and
fraudulences, commissive or omissive, on
the part of their government, but I guess
the said people have reason to bless their
stars at the general fairness, economy,
wisdom and liberality of their officers and
administration.
Aug.21. - London - I rose this morning at 4
and look'd out on the most pure and refulgent
starry show. Right over my head, like a
Tree-Universe spreading with its orb-apples, -
Aldebaran leading the Hyades; - Jupiter of
amazing lustre, softness and volume - and not
far behind heavy Saturn - both past the
meridian - the seven sparkling gems of the
Pleiades. The full moon, voluptuous and yellow
and full of radiance, an hour to setting in
the west. Every thing so fresh, so still,
the delicious something there is in early
youth, in early dawn - the spirit, the spring,
the feel, the air and light, precursors of
the untried sun, love, action, forenoon,
noon, life - full-fibred, latent with them all.
And is not that Orion the mighty hunter?
Are not those the three glittering studs in
his belt? And there to the north Capella
and his kids.
Aug. 29 '80. - The robins on the grassy lawn,
(I sometimes see a dozen at a time, great
fat fellows) - the little black and yellow
bird the goldfinch with his billowy flight
- the flocks of sparrows.
Birds in Ontario, talk with Wm. Saunders.
Lark-sparrow - sings., robins, black birds (3 kinds), cat-bird, rice-bird (bob a link), thrush, blue-bird, cuckoo, sand-pipers, night-hawk (nearly called my hawk) to whipporwill, same as night-jar., wren, blue-jay, king-fisher, high-hole, shore-lark (northern bird) all the sparrows, oriole, (hanging bird - golden robin), scarlet tanager (common here), meadow-lark, yellow-bird, purple martin, swallows (go south August and Sept.), cedar-bird (very common).
1880 June 18-Aug. DIARY IN CANADA.
A.MS. (41, 84 p. Various sizes)
Bound in two volumes of 41 p. (June 18-July 18, 1880) and 84 p. with
autograph title: "St. Lawrence & Saguenay trip July & Aug. 1880."
The diary was written on Whitman's trip to Canada for which he had
been invited by Dr. Bucke. The diary was later published in Boston 1904,
under title: Walt Whitman's Diary in Canada, edited by W. S. Kennedy.
Although most of the original manuscript material was used in the printed
form, many unpublished notes and variant readings were omitted, as well
as fragments in prose and poetry written on versos of some of the leaves.
The first volume contains also an excerpt of an "Interview with the author
of Leaves of Grass and autographed portrait dated Sept. 22, 1880. The
second volume includes three maps and two tables which were used by
Walt Whitman on his trip; also six views and a signed portrait. A description
of Quebec City and province, probably written for some newspaper, was not
printed in the published form. It reads in part: "Walt Whitman is at Quebec,
delighted with the queer old French city . . . He especially admires, all
through the province . . . the perpetual recurrence of pretty towns and
villages . . .".
{63}
American Review, Feb. 1881, under title Poetry today in America; later included in Specimen Days and Collect, 1882-83. {66}
1181 Feb. 6 Death of Carlyle; an essay.
A.MS. (16 p. 24 x 14 cm. and less)
First draft. Written on paper scraps of various sizes, versos of split envelopes, etc. At head "Feb. 6 '81—First Draught. Pub. in. N. Y. Critic Feb. 12, 1881."
{67}
1881 July Genealogical Notes on the Original Whitman Immigration. A.MS. with envelope (6p. 18 1/2 x 13 cm.)
Notes taken "from the New Eng [land] Hist [orical] Reg [ister]:, from Genealogical Dict: of New Eng, Savage's," etc. Whitman's findings go back as far as 1635, when "Rob" Whitman came in the Abigail" and "the vessel True Love was the vessel that brought over some of the original Whitman (1640) from London." The envelope contains autograph inscription stating that these notes were "written at West hills, L. I. July 31, 1881." {68}
Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.