Quote:
Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue
@wave46 I’d posit that Ottawa would still have been known as Bytown in that case, probably on par with Pembroke population-wise, with that small regional centre being Montreal instead~
Edit: Oops I digressed.
The point about agriculture is a good one. Did the same thing happen to the Sault Sainte Marie - Thessalon Corridor?
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Ottawa would have been considerably larger than Pembroke no matter what. Why? Ottawa was the head of navigation on the Ottawa River and because of the availability of substantial power generation at Chaudiere Falls, it was the obvious location for sawmills, and because the Ottawa River valley and surrounding highlands had some of the best timber anywhere, it at one time had the largest sawmills in the world.