The documentary on the Ottawa River Waterway is currently in editing and
will be ready in the Spring of 2007. It is expected that on its release that
the video will be over an hour in length, feature twenty-two communities
and covering another twelve attractions along the waterway.

Starting in Montreal and heading north to Lake Temiscaming is one long
and very beautiful trip. Thanks to the many communities who provided
support along the way, you will see your communities capture on video
for all to see, shortly. Provide below is the initial press release by the people
at the Ottawa River Waterway Office who supported this project.

====press release====

The Ottawa River Waterway
Voie navigable de la rivière des Outaouais
1 Pembroke St. East, P. O. Box 277
Pembroke, Ontario K8A 6X3
Tel: (613) 735-5416 or Toll Free: 1-866-224-5244
www.ottawariverwaterway.com

PRESS RELEASE
April 15, 2005“ The Ottawa River Waterway will be on video”

PEMBROKE- April 15, 2005: The Ottawa River Waterway, operated
by the Temiskawa Waterway Corporation, is facilitating a documentary
and promotional video this summer. The intent of the production is to
increase tourism experiences along the Ottawa River with the assistance
of all communities. Filming begins midsummer with the release of a retail
DVD and VHS.

The video being produced by MorVision Video Productions (Ottawa) is
actively supported by the Ottawa River Waterway. Producer, Mr. Paul
Morralee, has just completed a VHS/ DVD on the Rideau Canal waterway system titled “Today’s Rideau”. The retail video has subsequently been
purchased by Parks Canada as a marketing tool to promote the waterway internationally.

“Today’s Ottawa River Waterway” will attempt to join all communities
together from Montreal to Notre-Dame-Du-Nord at the head of Lake Temiscaming in an informative bilingual format told by the people who live,
work and play along the Ottawa River. The 1271 km boating journey will
feature services, community events, festivals and historic points of interest.

We are seeking assistance from communities, municipalities, businesses
and local inhabitants along the Ottawa River on suggestions of what can
be taken into considerations in this video production. We are looking for
your support! Interested in assisting or seeking additional information,
please contact the Ottawa River Waterway office at (613) 735-5416 or
1-866-224-5244.

Additional Information: Linda Sarazin
Executive Director
1-866-224-5244

========================Rough Diary =========================

Adventures of NINA
 
Ottawa River 2005

Diary compiled by Paul Morralee
           
Clearing the fleet locks of the Rideau Canal, Nina a twenty-six foot wooden hulled boat was ready for another adventure as the lock doors opened onto the Ottawa River. An adventure that would take the boat and its occupants on a 1,400 km voyage from pure wilderness to the frenetic pace of the big city.
 
The Ottawa River’s history as a major roadway to building our nation while also playing a boundary between two founding provinces marks its future. Significant in the history of our country the Ottawa provided an artery from which to build and transform the vast untamed interior. Abundance of clean clear water is only part of the picture, the Ottawa River also represents a major strategical line, separating, English and French Canada. The trees, the geography, wildlife and geology all make up for an interesting and dynamic investigation into the heart of our country as Nina cuts a fast path across the river to Gatineau.
 
The city docks of Gatinuea, home to several tourist vessels, take visitors on a voyage to witness the majestic curtain of water that the Rideau Falls is renowned for. Or to see the wooded embankment where, this year a man lost his life when his backhoe dropped over the side of parliament hill and onto the banks of the Ottawa.
 
The sun already beats down on Nina’s decks as she goes under the Champlain bridge and arrives at the Gatineau Docks where the Ottawa River Waterway trailer and vehicle awaits. The Ottawa River Waterway organization will play a major part in the voyage this summer, transporting the boat from one elevation to another. Because of dams, rapids barrages, weirs and hydro electric operations the boat will need to be lifted seven times on the way up the river and seven time on the way down.
 
From Ottawa the first destination, up the river, is Norte Dame du Nord about six hundred kilometers north and west. Then from the top of the navigable system back down past the capital to Montreal another couple of hundred kilometers south and east.
                                                                                            
As the boat approaches the dock, Sandy helps guide Nina into the submerged trailer birth and then with hydraulic motor running, braces underneath the vessel is secured prior to rolling the trailer out of the water. Dripping wet, Nina is balanced on the trailer strapped down and the contents within secured. As Nina rolls out from the Marina she is traveling down the road no faster than sixty kilometers an hour. She is an old antique boat and she needs a little extra care. Wooden boats are becoming more and more infrequent with fiberglass taking its place. As Nina takes to the streets of Gatinuea, she slows traffic, no just behind her, but oncoming too. Wood, old, unique and different, many people can be seen pressing their faces to the window to take another look. One hour later we arrive at the Aylmer Marina where Club de voile Grande-River crew awaits with a travel lift. We are greeted with a warm smile and negotiate the process to lift the boat from the trailer to water somewhere below.
 
Precariously hanging by two transport straps the boat lumbers over the cut out dock, where with the ease of a lever Nina is lowered four meters to the deep blue water of the Ottawa. Once the boat is tied up, outboard motor is re-secured; the bilge checked for leaks a moment is gained to relax in the heat of the day. Aylmer has some nice areas to walk with a huge public beach nearby and many restaurants and shops to visits. Later in the day Nina travels across Britannia Bay to the Ontario side where the Yacht Club Britannia a mecca for sailing for the last century in fact since 1887, has maintained a presents.
 
There I meet a friend who does not have a boat but likes to go on adventures. It was a hot day so the first thing we did was go for a swim to cool off in the Ottawa. The river moves a lot of water in fact, 600 million cubic meters per second of water at peak. What this means in essence is the water keeps a nice cool temperature. So while swimming, all you need to do is go a meter underwater to cool. After the swim and a nice grilled chicken dinner, we watched the sun go down over Constance Bay.
 
Next day venturing into the town, supplies were gathered and what would become a routine, a visit to the public library. Checking on the Internet for emails and to do a little bit of research always helps out for the next step. A couple of days later, Nina continued the trek up the Ottawa towards Quyon the ferry port. There are some rolling hills on the Quebec side while Ontario remains fairly flat. Along the way the Britainna Sailing School showed off their Tall Ship with enthusiastic crew aboard. Rounding up to Quyon, I was met by streams of traffic being transported across the river. At the dock was the ubiquitous chip wagon, where I presented myself as an expert in the field and proceeded to test out the French fries. The Ottawa River Waterway trailer arrived for the longest haul of the entire trip, to go from Quyon on the Quebec side to Bryson a hundred and twenty km north. The Arnprior leg of the trip would be realized on the way back down the river.
 
Arriving in Bryson a small community just upstream from the Bryson hydroelectric plant lays a quaint community. There is a great bridge that spans the Ottawa at this point and continues to Calumet Island, where several rafting companies have set up home base. Slowly in the west very dark ominous clouds assembled, followed by a rush of boaters running from the incoming weather. Next Nina was in the middle of a huge windstorm, with driving vertical rain, thunder and lightning, fortunately the boat was tied to the dock. Within twenty-five minutes all was quiet again with the occasional echo of thunder getting ever distant.
 
Travelling up the river the current was a bit more and now the boat was going around the eastern part of Calumet Island. There were many small Quebec communities to stop in and visit on the way north. The river is quiet narrow along this stretch and the Laurention hills made an appearance. Fort Coulonge offers a good place to stop with new docking to tie up to and a village that is very settled in its ways. It was a long stretch to Chapeau my evening destination, especially after loosing my map over the edge of the boat. I had turned the boat around to get the map back, but unfortunately the map was forced under by the prop wash. Talking to some local’s they gave me some instructions as to where to go next. Although the route is well buoyed Lake Coulonge is ten km in length and when you are on a boat things look all the same from a distance. So I was given simple direction, stay in the middle of the lake.
   
Guiding my way around a tricky course, I reached Chapeau on Allumette Island. Allumette Island is named such because a Jesuit priest left his, matches or Allumettes, on the island. His Allumettes were comprised of a small box, with some flint, and some horsehair. The interesting thing is that Allumettes mean light while the island downstream is, Calumet meaning, pipe.
 
The next morning I was picked up by the Ottawa River Waterway system and the boat was lifted and moved to the western part of the island where Pembroke could be viewed. The city looked different from this perspective, it was the first time I had seen the city from the other side. After a forty-minute lift the boat was put back into one of the longest stretches, and one of the most beautiful parts of the Ottawa. It was warm and not much wind to speak of.
 
I then took Nina north and west towards Petewawa where again it was another perspective I had not seen of the military base. Recently because of unexploded ordinates the government has closed miles and miles of beaches. Soon they will be reopened after the ordinates are cleared from the area.
 
Locals have been visiting the beaches for years but there had been a change in command that had forced boaters away from the area. As I motored up the river I could not help feeling about the loss of the beach areas. There were endless stretches of beach restricted to the visitor. Past the Petewawa islands, past an old Hudson Bay depot called Fort William and to Deep River Islet on a huge bend in the river. The Laurention Mountains meet the river overshadowing the water as the mountains raise six hundred feet in the air.
 
Second and third generation forest growth can be seen. These forests once held untouched timbers so huge that greedy Europeans couldn’t get enough of the cheap lumber. At first the lumber was sent down in timber rafts. The timber would be squared up, set into a form and then floated down the river. Where obstacles were too great the rafts were disbanded and then reattached. In once case, in Ottawa a special sluice was constructed for the timber rafts to be floated.
 
There is no indigenous, or original forest left in the Ottawa Valley, in fact the only place where there is a first generation forest is around the homestead of a lumber baron in Arnprior. There are many large pines, and if you go to the graveyard there are some massive trees supporting the history of what was taken in the area.
 
Turning the corner at Deep River Islet the river straightens up and heads past Oiseau Rock, Pointe au Bapteme, Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories and Deep River. The river here is beautiful for the fact that Ontario and Quebec Hydro dams have not caused a dramatic water level increase causing shoreline erosion which has occurred on other parts of the river.
               
After traveling another forty km Nina meets up with the Ottawa River Waterway crew to lift the boat out at the Swisha. There the crew takes the boat around the Dam to put her into lake Holden, a huge reservoir that stretches for many miles. From this point it is mostly wilderness, the Laurention Mountains stay close to the river, while the Transcanada highway can be seen taking the eastern bank towards Mattawa. The occasional train makes its way along the tracks, but its all freight trains and no VIA Rail can be seen sharing the beautiful view.
 
Overnight Nina is tucked into the Dumoine River where it is quiet and out of the way. It is a beautiful location with the sun going down on one side of the river and on the other side the moon coming up.
In the morning after chatting with some canoe adventures I venture north to Mattawa. Mattawa is at an important junction in the history of the area and the river. The community is at the place where voyageurs would make a left it they were heading out west to Lake Superior, or continue going north if they were going to Hudson Bay, or travel south to Montreal and Quebec City. On the hill overlooking the community there are three crosses that indicate that this is a junction of some importance. Put there hundreds of years ago, the community still ensures that the site is well maintained.
 
On exploration point situated at the confluence of the Ottawa and the Mattawa I attend the unveiling of a local legend, Joe Mufferaw, carved from many pieces of timber. This carving was completed after some hardship as the main caver, whose 25 pieces of work can be seen around the community died. The reins were passed onto others to complete the work. When the art was unveiled this signaled the beginning of the Voyageur Days, a three-day festival of music, art, food and competition. It was a fun time to be on the dock with other boaters, many who I would later meet on my journey up and down the river.
 
Leaving Mattawa there was an hour-long voyage towards the Mattawa Dam where the boat was then again lifted out of the water by the ORW people and placed at the head of the dam an hour later. The ramp down into the water was very steep and the fellows had to be careful because later in the year they would have the trailer slip off the ramp and into deep water, fortunately everything was fine.
 
Again there was wilderness, and quiet still waters to enjoy. Stopping along the way, many waterfall flows into the river. The catchments area of the Ottawa River is 140,000 square km. Where there is a river flowing in, you will often find fisherman trying their luck at hooking the big one.
 
Further up the river you enter a place where there is no help for fifty kilometers in either direction, no fuel, no service, nothing but wildlife.
 
The river still gives up some of its old cargo, dead headed logs drift towards the surface sometimes being hit by boaters. While most are tagged or dragged out of harms way, they still pose a problem and considering the restrictions because of environmental concerns many are just left there. In Quebec the feeling is, get them out. In Ontario they keep them in, because they are good for fish habitat. Some companies still work to rescue logs from the bottom, but as time marches on, less and less are being found.
 
The town of Temiscaming is the next stop; also known for being the Garden City. Many years ago around 1930 the community was built, as many are in a planned way. The architect decided to build the community as a city of gardens. In many of the public spaces, there are gardens and fountains. Later when my camera assistant would join me and we would spend a couple of days exploring the community. It was a nice place to relax and see how people lived.
 
The final lift up into Lake Temiscaming was very simple; the elevation was only a few meters and was accomplished fairly quickly. After finishing my visit to Temiscaming I ventured north to New Liscard in an attempt to catch up to my camera assistant Hayden, who is a native of Switzerland. When his bus arrived we were happy to meet up again as we had know each other for a couple of months in Thunder Bay. We had a celebration dinner aboard Nina, which was comprised of gilled chicken with fresh vegetables and a bottle of red wine.
 
From the celebrative night we moved to our first destination in the filming of twenty-five communities, Notre Dame Du Nord. The community had been turned into a big beer garden and the entertainment was just as big. The truck rodeo is the talk of the town, when sixty thousand people join in to watch transport trucks race up hill. There is lots of exhaust dust and spilt beer but the fun continues for three days. We went to film and visit the fossil exhibit and to explore some of the static displays of the newest and the best in the trucking world. There was a lot of excitement for the northerners to see and was a great destination for activity. Next we ventured to a small cove to watch the stars at night and then onto Haileybury.
 
This community was filled with interesting stories and history of the great fire that happened in 1922, when most of the town was wiped out and most people spent the night in the water staying away from the heat. Today Haileybury boasts being the home for one of the Hardy Boys authors and features many local attractions that appear in the children’s novel series.
 
Heading south for the first time in three weeks the journey continues to take us on Lake Temiscaming, a lake that is 121 km in length and in some places twenty km wide. This is also home to a tragedy of inexperienced school children on a canoe trip that were trapped by high cliffs and winds and were swamped by the waves. In all twelve were drowned along with a teacher, and added another chapter to lake Temiscaming in 1978.
 
As you head south the lake gets thinner but just before it does you come to Ville Marie, the original name for Montreal in fact. The community is situated on the high bank and escarpment and was founded by Farther Moffat who beyond his heavenly duties also dabbled in economics and community planning. His efforts made the community today prosperous for its strong farming community, and high street shopping. The community has one of the nicest marina facilities along the entire Ottawa River.

Just south of Ville Marie we come to Fort Temiscaming, located on the Quebec side and mostly a re-enactment of the Fort that used to be there. When it came time to film the site we asked if we could have a flag to fly over the fort. There was some confusion as to which flag should be flown. French, English, Hudson Bay, or the Canadian Flag. After taking off my shoelace we hosted the Hudson Bay Company’s Flag and waited for the right gust of wind to carry the flag. Down below and near the site a cedar grove of trees, bent and twisted by some force of nature can be found. They are unsure as to why the trees are twisted but many venture to take a look.
 
Next stop Camp Opemica. Camp Opemica, again situated on the Quebec side of the waterway used to be used as a logging camp. Situated on the shore are many vacant building used to repair the lumber trucks, skidders, boats and cranes. There was another fort situated here, and held again by the Hudson Bay Company. The area is very pretty with high cliffs, vast woodlands, second and third generation forest and a small cottage community.
 
The lake turns a little to the south and west a bit for the final leg to the community of Temiscaming. Again the ORW people greeted us and lifted us up and then placed us down river of the weir. We then continue our trek south past Mattawa for a rendezvous with the Oiseau Rock Power Squadron’s annual corn roast and picnic. This was followed by a ride in one of the countries most famous beaver aircraft. We flew over the Laurention Mountains and viewed the river below, stretching out for mile and miles north and south. Our main objective was to capture on tape the majestic Oiseau Rock that towers some six hundred feet out of the water and into the sky. The aircraft is famous for the fact that it has been incorporated into the1999 series of Canadian quarters. Lucky toss I thought.
 
After visiting the sandy beaches of Fort William we departed for Pembroke for a couple of days to see the old lumber town. The community has faired well with its waterfront after years of redevelopment. There are ample spots for people to venture along the water and to sit and watch the boats go by. We managed to check into on of the famous chip wagons before heading for Desijardinsville on the Quebec side to be lifted out and put in at Chapeau.
 
Past Chapeau the river runs with a current of about 1.5 knots enough to note the difference. We managed to make good time to Bryson before being put into the Arnprior leg that was missed on the way up. Again we were met with great weather and wonderful scenery. There was a special beach we stopped at, like a sliver of sand with a great pine tree where we met another boater. It was fun to just drive the boat up on the beach and not worry about it while we took some nice shots of the water and a family bathing.
 
Once we got to Arnprior we stopped in to see the original forest and lumber baron’s mansions on the hill and then took a break for a day when my brother and his fiancé came to pick us up for a visit to Ottawa. On our return to Ottawa a week later, we took a quick hop up the Rideau Canal to watch the Rolling Stones perform, from atop the boat, it was an amazing concert!
 
Further down the river we went to another attraction, Montebello a resort for the rich and famous and the second spot we encountered rain in the whole trip. Montebello touts itself as being the biggest log structure in the world. Built in the early 1900 the facility has played host to the G-7 in 1981 where Thatcher, Reagan and Trudeau all came together, we had a hot tin of beans while suffering the effects of the tail end of a hurricane but we were happy.
 
Finally our push to the south and Montreal commenced in a two-day trip along some rambling farmland, marshes and flooded land. We came to Carrion a huge hydraulic lift and were gently passed downstream to our final destination the Port of Montreal. When we traveled the Lachine canal we were struck as to how much of the city was included in the waterway. And how the culture and the canal seemed to merge and intertwined. We stopped at the Attwater Market for a walk and then finally to the Port of Montreal after passing six locks. Nina was up against some huge ships in the port, and we managed to view the marina and some interesting tourist attractions.
 
The Rainbow Warrior was there from Greenpeace giving public tours. The ship was filled with enthusiastic volunteers eager to show us around.
 
This was the end of an incredible journey, almost 1,400 km in length and taking over two months to complete. The flavour and history of the trip left in some cases more questions than answers. And to wonder why such a river never really became the grand route into the interior that was once expected. And also why the waterway continues to loose ground and interest in the boating publics eye. This river is an amazing resource to visitors and locals alike. It is like the best-kept secret, waiting for anyone who has the energy and time to uncover the mystery of the depth of the Ottawa River.
 
For me it was an opportunity to see the river in context. The context of how large it is, to the difference societies on each side of the river and of course to the incredible beauty and seemingly untouched vistas that have remained since the beginning of time.
 
The Ottawa for me will always be remembered for the incredible size and scope that the river offers. In the next months I will try to assemble many hours of television footage and reams of paper into a story of discovery into the past and future of this great river, stay tuned! (December 2005)