William E. Logan's 1845 Survey of the Upper Ottawa Valley.

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

At a time when much of Ontario north of the Toronto-Ottawa corridor was a wilderness penetrated by only a few isolated settlements, both government and private business felt it was important to know what economic potential the land offered. Working under the authority of the Geological Survey of Canada, Logan set out to identify “substances capable of economic application” in the northern Ottawa River Valley, from Bytown (Ottawa) to Lake Temiskaming. The survey was carried out between late June and mid November 1845, during which time Logan, his assistants and a small crew of Indian labourers travelled by canoe or by foot. Accommodation was a tent pitched in the woods, even after November brought snow and sleet to the area. Food was bread and salt pork, supplemented by any fish or small game they caught on the spot.

As well as technical field notes, Logan kept a journal of the expedition. It is this informal record that constitutes the core of this book, transcribed and printed in its entirety. The journal is extensively annotated, with notes giving background, updated language, definitions of technical terms, and much relevant local history. The journal is supplemented with material pulled from Logan’s field notes and correspondence related to the 1845 expedition.

The survey identified many mineral sources: limestone for building material, clay for brick works, mineral waters with possible medicinal uses, and many other resources. He produced topographical maps and developed a framework for understanding the “most ancient rocks in Canada.” In the field he collected, packed and shipped to Montreal 45 boxes of mineral, rock, fossil, and water specimens. These started the collection that became the National Museum of Canada.

Logan’s opinionated, critical, and often sarcastic tone comes through clearly in the journal. He belittled his crew and the settlers he encountered, and while allowing that some were quite intelligent said he saw “none that were clean.”

The work is of tremendous importance to the study of the history of the upper Ottawa River valley area and a nice addition to the history of geological exploration in Ontario.