Early morning in Dick Bell Park

Early yesterday morning, a fine, cold one (the wind chill was -30º at one point) we drove up the Ottawa River Parkway to Carling Avenue and thence to Kanata. Passing the Remic Rapids and Deschênes Rapids, where the fast moving water never freezes, we noticed radiation fog rising and dissipating; later in the morning it vanished completely. * The sun being low in the sky made the views so beautiful that after a fortifying breakfast (at the well established Ralph & Sons diner––recommended!) I drove back to a place where I could park and take a longer look at the river, at Dick Bell Park near the Nepean Sailing Club (deserted at this time of year, of course). I got out of the car for a few minutes and took this picture, looking up the Ottawa River to the north west. This is a sheltered little cove, part of Britannia Bay, near Carling Avenue, where geese will land and rest once the ice has melted and they are back in town.

I presume the tracks are from snowmobiles. Note the icy surface of the river. This is because the snow on it melted at the start of the week; the melt water froze when the temperature dropped again. The same applies to the other rivers in the region.

This is my favourite view in Ottawa, by the way, whatever the weather.

*Returning along the same route after lunch the water of the rapids was a deep, deep blue.

The work goes on

Since last September, the Delcan Corporation in association with Guardian Bridge Rapid Construction Inc. has been restoring the Minto Bridges. I was wrong about the main reason for this work. It's being done because the steel grating on the "deck" has previously allowed road salt to corrode the structure below. Therefore it is going to be replaced by a composite wood and fibreglass deck. This will still allow salt to fall into the river, unfortunately, but the bridge will now be stronger and more durable, allowing heavier traffic to cross. 

It’s a very robust and durable material ... 10 times stronger than steel, 30 per cent lighter, and immune to corrosion ... The deck tapers slightly from the centre allowing water to drain into gutters, protecting the structure below-deck from salt. The run-off will flow into the river.

When we saw that our access to the bridges was blocked, we wondered how long we'd have to wait before we could cross them again. I was wrong about that too; the notice said December 15th, but according to the Ottawa Citizen, they are now saying the work will be completed in "early February." I have my doubts. It is an ambitious project, the first of its kind in Ottawa.

The first section to be restored by the City of Ottawa is Minto Bridge West, a 53-metre long span between Green Island and King Edward Avenue. There are plans to rehabilitate the other two spans but the work has not yet been scheduled.

This morning I can hear the construction work from Cathcart Street, loud and clear, but the workers can't be seen. They carry on operating in most weathers––but not at night (as would doubtless happen in China)––under a temporary shelter that covers the whole span of that first bridge. You can see it in my photo above.

A misty day

The opposite bank of our river could hardly be seen today. We have been having a mini thaw, typical of January. The cold is sure to come back soon; in the meantime, the ice and considerable piles of snow are melting and dripping, rain has been falling, and the humidity in the air at temperatures that suddenly soared above zero (Ottawa airport recorded a record +7º yesterday) has condensed into fog. Along the banks of the Rideau the river ice has started to melt from above and water drops are poised to fall from the twigs of the bushes. All this makes for mysterious views on the river banks and when I came home after a walk I immediately went out again with my camera to try to capture some of them.

Lucky home owners

A skier on the river, striking out towards an island

There are many waterside properties along the Ottawa River. Friends of mine bought a house on the Ontario side this summer, at Wendover, east of Rockland; I went to visit them yesterday. Lucky people: it's a lovely house built in the 1990s and the views from their big living room windows would induce me to sit there all day, just gazing out, especially now that Francine has told me she can watch both sunrises and sunsets from that vantage point. On the horizon, across the river, is the escarpment of the Canadian shield, beyond Thurso, Plaisance and Papineau.

Fishing hut on the ice

At present, sheltered by a string of islands, the water is frozen along the stretch where my friends live (Cunningham Bay), and people were already venturing out on it on snowmobiles and skis. Nearby, one of the neighbours had set up a fishing hut on the ice. In a steeply sloping garden on the eastern side of the house, the children had made a toboggan / snowboarding run from the neighbour's house to the shore. They had a hut on that property, for warmth, with woodsmoke rising from its chimney.

In summer, floatplanes land and take off from here; Roger looks after one at a movable dock by his lawn, where he ties it down. He told us he was anxious about the dock during the autumn gales, before he'd dismantled it. If it hadn't been secured with metal ties, it would have disintegrated and the pieces would have floated away downstream.

Cunningham Bay from the air, a few weeks ago

The drive to Wendover and back along Highway 17A gave us many views of the river; on the exposed stretch near Rockland the surface snow had blown into ripples by the wind, like desert sand.

The Ottawa River on Christmas Day

To give ourselves an appetite for Christmas Dinner we went for a walk beforehand. Here are two views across the Ottawa River towards the Gatineau Hills in Quebec, from just above the Rideau Falls, mid afternoon.  The whiteness of the hills is an indication of the snow that remains stuck to the branches of every tree up there after last week's storm.

The air temperature was -9º (-15º taking the wind chill into account); we spotted a man skiing across the frozen surface of the river on the far side.

The history of Lowertown

One of our neighbours, Nancy, is the co-author of a very interesting 34-page publication that I discovered on the Internet today. It aims to document the history of our part of the city before too many of its older buildings are demolished and swept away by modern developers and is entitled Lowertown East, Our Disappearing Heritage.

On pages 6, 7 and 10 of this research paper are maps showing our neighbourhood in relation to the Rideau River.

To the north of the St. Patrick Street Parkway and east of King Edward Avenue, a small isolated section of Lowertown has evolved over the years and is fondly called the “Wedge” by some of its residents. Sometimes, it is also referred to as the Bordeleau Park community.

That's us.

Much of the paper describes the working class French, Irish and Jewish communities that once thrived here and incorporates old photographs from the early 20th century. It focusses on the history of three buildings that are about to disappear ...

The occupants, from over the years, of the four heritage buildings slated for demolition represent a true cross-section of the resourceful and resilient groups that made this river area of Lowertown East such a vibrant community. The "Brennan" house was built [~140 years ago] and occupied for many decades by working people of Irish descent. The "Gauvreau" rowhouse was built with money acquired by a descendant of one of the first Quebec inhabitants who used the land by the Rideau River first to build a hide and pelt business and then to build an income-generating rowhouse. The "Gauvreau-Bodovsky" house, built by the Gauvreau family, saw ownership transferred in 1921 to a Jewish family who for more than 50 years contributed to the commercial and cultural life of Lowertown. Finally, the “Ouellette” house was occupied by working-class French-Canadian families over the years and once included a convenience store.

What a contrast Claridge's new "Waterstreet" condominium complex will make to those old houses, when it is erected in their place.

The bridges are closed!

Minto Bridge West rehabilitation

Union Street between King Edward Avenue and Stanley Avenue

Monday, September 17 to Friday, December 14, 2012

This makes a difference to our usual evening walk; we'll have to be patient for the next three months and make a detour onto Sussex Drive to get across the Rideau from where we live. We no longer have such easy access to the New Edinburgh parks. The work on the Minto Bridges does need doing though. The boardwalk for pedestrians is rotting to the extent that one dark night we might have slipped through a hole into the river or at least broken an ankle. The bridge railings need replacing in several places too. I assume one or two snow removing vehicles must have slid into them on a slippery night and were only just saved from falling over the side.

Barriers have been across the road since Monday, but not across the footpath. I noticed a runner still using the bridge this evening.

It's getting colder and darker at the day's end, and the Rideau and Ottawa geese, who don't need bridges repaired, are gathering in larger and larger flocks in preparation for their migration. I saw them on top of a hill in the park, silhouetted against a clear autumn sky this evening.

*****

Also see my later post about the bridge rehabilitation, published 14th January, 2013.