There were then in Quebec only nine
importers, and half a dozen master mechanics, one shipyard (John
Black's, where one ship was launched each year), one printing office
and one weekly paper.
"The tide then washed the rear walls of the houses on the north part
of Sault-au-Matelot street. The only deep water wharves were Dunieres,
afterwards Brebaut's, Johnson & Purss', and the King's Wharf. There
were no dwelling houses beyond Dunieres' Wharf, but a few huts were
built at the base of the cape. A black man was the solitary inhabitant
on the beach, and all the way to Sillery the woods extended to the
water's edge. A lease of this beach might then have been obtained for
L50 a year.
"In St. Roch's Suburbs there was no house beyond the Manor House near
the Intendant's Palace, save a few straggling ones in St. Vallier and
St. Roch's streets. The site of the present Parish of St. Roch was
mostly occupied by Grant's Mills, by meadows and farms.
"In St. John Suburbs there were only a few houses on St. John and St.
George's streets and St. Louis Suburbs which, in 1775, contributed but
three militia-men, viz - Jean Dobin, gardener, Jos. Proveau, carter,
and Jacques Dion, mason, could boast of only one house, and the
nearest one to it was Powell Place, Spencer Wood.
"On the St. Foy Road there was no house beyond the mineral well in St.
John Suburbs, until you came to the Haut Bijou - Mr. Stewart's. The
population of the city was then estimated at 12,000.
