"As late as 1682, as appears by an authentic record (proces-verbal)
of the conflagration, this steep road was but fourteen feet wide. It
was built of branches, covered with earth. Having been rendered
unserviceable by the fire, the inhabitants had it widened six feet, as
they had to travel three miles, after the conflagration, to enter the
upper town by another hill." - (T. B. Bedard.)
In the summer season, our forefathers journeyed by water, generally in
birch-bark canoes. In winter they had recourse to snow-shoes.
To what year can we fix the advent of wheeled vehicles? We have been
unable to discover.
The first horse presented by the inhabitants to the Governor of the colony
arrived from France on the 25th June, 1647. [11] Did His Excellency use
him as a saddle horse only? or, on the occasion of a New Year's day, when
he went to pay his respects to the Jesuit Fathers, and to the good ladies
of the Ursulines, to present, with the compliments of the season, the
usual New Year's gifts, was he driven in a cariole, and in the summer
season in a caleche? Here, again, is a nut to crack for commentators.
[12]
