Steamboat Connections: Montreal to Upper Canada

When we think of steamboats, the Mississippi is more likely to come to mind than the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. Gazette editor and independent historian Frank Mackey has filled in a blank in the story of Canada’s expansion in Steamboat Connections: Montreal to Upper Canada (McGill-Queen’s, $44.95). In the days when locks and canals were in their infancy on these two great rivers, small steamers braved rapids to make runs between Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston, and various Great Lakes ports. Mackey has read and incorporated a staggering range of historical sources which he integrates smoothly with his own lively text, concentrating as much on personalities as on bare facts. mRb