2 volumes in 2 separate files.

An abstract is unavailable. / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

In the 1850s, the government of Canada West initiated a project to colonize a vast region of the Canadian Shield known as the Ottawa-Huron Tract. Later, in his influential interpretation, Arthur Lower argued the myth of the inexorable forward movement of the settlement frontier was here shattered by a reality of lakes, rocks, and forest inherently unsuitable for farming. This refrain continues to be repeated by proponents of what I call the failed-settlement narrative. A contrasting narrative emphasizes the perseverance of settlers and their descendants. This dissertation was born of an interest in the tension between these competing narratives. On the one hand, the failed-settlement narrative ignores the fact many people succeeded in farming on the Shield. On the other hand, the romanticized image of the pioneer is disconnected from the larger historical contexts which shaped the settlement process and informed those notions of success and failure by which we judge the actions of people in the past. If the colonization project was an unmitigated failure, how do we account for the persistence of settlers and their descendants? If the landscape and soils of the Shield were unsuited to cultivation, why did people continue to cultivate the land for decades after the settlement project was condemned? What follows is an exploration of these questions, focusing on the township of Brudenell, Ontario as a site of Canadian colonial experimentation. Failure and desertion were certainly important parts of the settlement experience in the Ottawa-Huron Tract, but these themes have been overemphasized by historians. Early on, many settlers realized the variability of the landscape in places like Brudenell and found small parcels of land which they turned to a variety of purposes. Settlers took advantage of government policies that made landowning a realistic goal even for those of modest means and diverse backgrounds. By embracing new and emerging forms of local authority settlers were also able to tune the structures of the colonial state to further their own interests. They profited from the proximate shanty market for agricultural produce wherever practicable, while also pursuing economic activities oriented toward local, regional, and national markets. Economic opportunities and the accessibility of land in Brudenell allowed cultural groups to develop spatially-distinct communities, which expanded to fill much of the available land in the township. This revision of the failed-settlement narrative stands out in the historiography of the Ottawa-Huron Tract, but dovetails with histories of settlement in other agriculturally-marginal regions of nineteenth-century Canada. / Graduate / 2019-03-01

La séquence culturelle régionale de l’Archaïque supérieur et terminal de la vallée de l’Outaouais n’est pas complétée, mais les variations stylistiques, technologiques et fonctionnelles des artéfacts sur le plan régional et local facilitent le découpage culturel. La reconstruction de la chaîne opératoire des haches, des herminettes et des gouges en pierre polie des sites Muldoon et Lamoureux, deux sites du sud-est ontarien, pourrait permettre de déceler une tradition technologique régionale à cheval entre l’Archaïque laurentien, l’Archaïque post-laurentien et d’autres courants des Grands Lacs. L’analyse des haches, des herminettes et des gouges des sites Muldoon et Lamoureux démontre l’utilisation massive de l’amphibolite. La moitié distale de ces outils est surtout polie et finement abrasée et la moitié proximale souvent éclatée, mais parfois abrasée. Ces éléments technologiques et l’industrie de pierre taillée démontrent des ressemblances et des différences avec les sites laurentiens de la région, et certains sites post-laurentiens du Québec et de l’Ontario méridional. Le matériel en pierre polie des sites Muldoon et Lamoureux démontre des liens technologiques vers l’Ouest tout en gardant un contact avec la sphère d’interaction postlaurentienne. La vallée de l’Outaouais semble alors prendre une place indépendante dans l’Archaïque supérieur, certaines continuités technologiques s’observent entre l’Archaïque laurentien et l’Archaïque post-laurentien. / The Late and Terminal Archaic cultural sequence of the Ottawa Valley region is not well defined. Definition of cultural boundaries should be based on stylistic, technological and functional variations, on a regional and local scale. The “chaîne opératoire” reconstruction of ground stone celts and gouges from the Muldoon and Lamoureux sites could lead to the recognition of a regional technological tradition linked to the Laurentian Archaic, the Post-Laurentian Archaic (Narrow Point) and other cultural trends from the Great Lakes. The analysis of celts and gouges from Muldoon and Lamoureux show a massive use of amphibolite. The distal half of these tools is mostly finely abraded and polished. The proximal half is frequently broken off, but sometimes abraded. These technological traits prove to have some resemblances and differences with Laurentian sites in the Ottawa Valley and some Post-laurentian sites in southern Quebec and Ontario. The ground stone material from these sites shows several links towards the west while participating in the Post-Laurentian Archaic interaction sphere. The Ottawa valley seems therefore to take an independent place in the Late Archaic, as technologic continuities are seen between Laurentian and Post-Laurentian assemblages.

La séquence culturelle régionale de l’Archaïque supérieur et terminal de la vallée de l’Outaouais n’est pas complétée, mais les variations stylistiques, technologiques et fonctionnelles des artéfacts sur le plan régional et local facilitent le découpage culturel. La reconstruction de la chaîne opératoire des haches, des herminettes et des gouges en pierre polie des sites Muldoon et Lamoureux, deux sites du sud-est ontarien, pourrait permettre de déceler une tradition technologique régionale à cheval entre l’Archaïque laurentien, l’Archaïque post-laurentien et d’autres courants des Grands Lacs. L’analyse des haches, des herminettes et des gouges des sites Muldoon et Lamoureux démontre l’utilisation massive de l’amphibolite. La moitié distale de ces outils est surtout polie et finement abrasée et la moitié proximale souvent éclatée, mais parfois abrasée. Ces éléments technologiques et l’industrie de pierre taillée démontrent des ressemblances et des différences avec les sites laurentiens de la région, et certains sites post-laurentiens du Québec et de l’Ontario méridional. Le matériel en pierre polie des sites Muldoon et Lamoureux démontre des liens technologiques vers l’Ouest tout en gardant un contact avec la sphère d’interaction postlaurentienne. La vallée de l’Outaouais semble alors prendre une place indépendante dans l’Archaïque supérieur, certaines continuités technologiques s’observent entre l’Archaïque laurentien et l’Archaïque post-laurentien. / The Late and Terminal Archaic cultural sequence of the Ottawa Valley region is not well defined. Definition of cultural boundaries should be based on stylistic, technological and functional variations, on a regional and local scale. The “chaîne opératoire” reconstruction of ground stone celts and gouges from the Muldoon and Lamoureux sites could lead to the recognition of a regional technological tradition linked to the Laurentian Archaic, the Post-Laurentian Archaic (Narrow Point) and other cultural trends from the Great Lakes. The analysis of celts and gouges from Muldoon and Lamoureux show a massive use of amphibolite. The distal half of these tools is mostly finely abraded and polished. The proximal half is frequently broken off, but sometimes abraded. These technological traits prove to have some resemblances and differences with Laurentian sites in the Ottawa Valley and some Post-laurentian sites in southern Quebec and Ontario. The ground stone material from these sites shows several links towards the west while participating in the Post-Laurentian Archaic interaction sphere. The Ottawa valley seems therefore to take an independent place in the Late Archaic, as technologic continuities are seen between Laurentian and Post-Laurentian assemblages.