Transportation: Shipbuilding and the Wheel

                                                                                                                                                                 The use of wind and water as sources of power were major developments in the technological history of the new colonies. Ships with large masts and huge canvas sails maintained the link between the colonies and the imperial centres, Paris, France until 1769 and London, England until the arrival of steam power in 1850. The ships in service were built not only in Europe but also in the colonies. The construction of these vessels (shipbuilding) was a remarkable feat in the nascent colonies of New France and British North America representing the dominant sector of the colonial manufacturing industry for 200 years. Design and construction techniques reflected those popular in northern Europe during the period. Intendant Jean Talon established the Royal Dockyard on the St. Charles River in Quebec City and the first 120 ton vessel was launched there in 1666. Three other ships, including a 450 ton, "galiotte", were built before Talon’s departure for France in 1672 and four more were built in Quebec between 1704 and 1712 followed by another nine between 1714 and 1717. Work at the Royal Dockyard recommenced in 1739 and by 1744, twelve vessels had been constructed there, including the Canada, a 500 ton merchantman. Demand for ships was such that a second Royal Dockyard was established in 1746, on the St. Lawrence at the foot of Cap Diamante, where the largest vessel of the French Regime, a 72 gun, 800 ton war ship was built. The fall of New France to the British in 1759 put an end to these activities.

However the beginning of the 19th century witnessed a revival. The British loss of the American colonies with their associated shipbuilding industry, the subsequent British loss of Baltic sources of timber, as well as Canada’s abundant supply of wood along with the tradition of shipbuilding established in New France made British North America an ideal location for a renewed shipbuilding industry. Quebec City and Saint John, New Brunswick, both centres of timber export also became dominant centres for this activity not only in Canada but worldwide. The ships were intended for trade, mostly with Britain and common designs included the two masted brig and brigantine and the popular barque, with three masts or more. Designs of between 500 and 1000 tons, which sacrificed speed in favour of a voluminous hold, that was well suited to the carriage of timber, were preferred. The Californian and Australian gold rushes of 1848 and 1851 respectively further fed the demand for Canada’s large ocean vessels. However the arrival of the iron and steel hulled steam ship associated with the Canadian inability to adapt to this new technology eventually bankrupted the industry in the latter years of the century.
Inland travel by the coureurs de bois was by way of an Indian invention, the canoe. The York boat and bateau were also popular for travel on inland waters. The York boat was used by traders working for the Hudson’s Bay Company and was named after the fur trading post at York Factory on Hudson Bay. The York boat was more stable, larger and had a greater carrying capacity than the canoe. The first was built in 1794 and numbers of these craft navigated the rivers of the northern prairie region as far west as Fort Chipewyan until replaced by the steamboat in the 19th century. The flat bottomed bateau was another craft used on Canada’s inland waters by both British and French colonists in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Within settlements transport was often simply a matter of walking around town. The horse, introduced by the new arrivals in 1665, also provided a new and convenient mode of transport. The wooden cart, wagon and carriage, made possible by the introduction of the wheel in combination with the horse, dramatically improved the transport of people and goods. The first graded road in Canada was built by Samuel de Champlain in 1606 and linked the settlement at Port Royal to Digby Cape, 16 kilometres away. By 1734 Quebec City and Montreal were connected by a road, Le chemin du roi, along the north shore of the St. Lawrence. The 267 km. distance could be traversed with great difficulty and discomfort by horse drawn carriage in four to five days. Most roads were of very poor quality especially in wet weather. To overcome this problem logs were often placed side by side crosswise to cover ruts, puddles and mud holes. The result was a more solid but very bumpy surface that was referred to as a corduroy road. Work on what would be called the, "longest street in the world", formally known as Yonge Street, began in York (Toronto), in 1795 under the direction of Deputy Surveyor General Augustus Jones. Initially a trail, it ran from Eglington Avenue to St. Albans (Holland Landing) and later much further north. The task of widening the path into a road fell to local farmers.^[3] The period also saw the construction a number of important canals including: the Rideau Canal, Ottawa–Kingston, 1820, the Lachine Canal, Montreal, 1825, the Ottawa River Canals at Grenville and Carillon, Quebec, 1834 and the Chambly Canal, Chambly, Quebec, 1843.