McLarens Settlement, Ontario

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McLaren’s Settlement, in Ontario, Canada originated in the 1840’s when members of the McLaren family came to the area from Scotland. It was located a short distance upstream from the present OPG Cheneaux Generating Station.

The McLarens arrived during the peak of the lumbering industry in the Ottawa Valley and one of their number constructed a timber slide in the Ottawa River to facilitate the movement of squared timber rafts past the Cheneaux Rapids. These slides could be described as a sluice about 50 feel wide and about 200 feet long and steeply sloped through which some river water was diverted. Floating bundles of about 25 pieces of squared timber would be steered toward the upper end of the slide. Once into the sluice, the bundle of timber would descend at a great speed, emerging undamaged into the river below the rapids.

James McLaren, slide master of the McLaren slides, also operated a post office at the settlement. He, and two of his brothers also cleared farms in the area.