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Show i8oo] ROUTES OP TRAVEL * 5 rule merely followed the trail of the savage. Their importance in the early occupation of the country is attested by the fact that forts were immediately established on most of the main portages; and in the French and Indian wars such places as Crown Point, \ Schenectady, and Presque Isle indicated lines of attack and defence. Since these routes followed the lowest and easiest ways over the watersheds between the river valleys, wagon- roads and railways were eventually built along the same lines, which thus exerted a marked influence both on the early movements of population and the more recent developments of commercial centres. In Canada one of the most important portages was that from the upper Ottawa to Lake Nipis-sing, from which the Ffehch KiVer was followed to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. The route left the Ottawa by way of the Mattawa River, up which it passed to Trout Lake; thence across the low divide by an easy carry to Rivfere de la Vase, a small stream emptying into Lake Nipissing, about five miles south of North Bay. This is nearly the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. 1 In the early days of the occupation this was the main route to the West, more used than a second passage from Lake Ontario by the river Trent across to Lake Simcoe and thence to Lake Huron. From the upper end of Lake Superior two well-known portages led over the divide to the waters 1 Geol. Survey, Canada, Annual Report, 1897, X., H. xa. |