The Building Erected Near This Site Was Sold
On The 22nd October, 1763, To William Grant, Esquire, Who, On The
19th
December, 1763, also purchased the remainder of the ground down to low-
water mark, from Thomas Mills, Esquire, Town
Major, who had shortly before
obtained a grant or patent of it, the 7th December, 1763, from Governor
Murray, in recognition, as is stated in the preamble of the patent, of his
military services. This property which, at a later period, belonged to the
late William Burns, was by him conveyed, the 16th October, 1806, to the
late J. M. Woolsey. The Napoleon wharf, purchased in 1842 by the late
Julien Chouinard from the late Frs. Buteau, forms at present part of the
Estate Chouinard; in reality, it is composed of two wharves joined into
one; the western portion is named "The Queen's Wharf," and was Mr.
Woolsey's property.
The highway which leads from the Cape towards this wharf is named "Sous-
le-Fort" street, which sufficiently denotes its position; this street, the
oldest, probably dates from the year 1620, when the foundations of Fort
St. Louis were laid; we may presume that, in 1663, the street terminated
at "la Pointe des Roches." In the last century "Sous-le-Fort" street was
graced by the residences, among others, of Fleury de la Janniere, brother
of Fleury de la Gorgendiere, brother-in-law of the Governor de Vaudreuil.
In this street also stood the house of M. George Allsop, [101] the head of
the opposition in Governor Cramahe's Council. His neighbour was M.
d'Amours des Plaines, Councillor of the Superior Council; further on,
stood the residence of M. Cuvillier, the father of the Honorable Austin
Cuvillier, in 1844 Speaker of the House of Assembly. In this street also
existed the warehouse of M. Cugnet, the lessee of the Domaine of Labrador.
We must not confound the Napoleon wharf, sold by J. O. Brunet to Francois
Buteau, with the Queen's wharf, the property of the late J. W. Woolsey. On
the Queen's wharf, in a dwelling, since converted into a tavern, in 1846
one of the wittiest members of the Quebec Bar, Auguste Soulard, Esq.,
opened a law office for the especial convenience of his numerous country
clients. After office hours it was the rendezvous of many young
barristers, who have since made their mark: Messieurs T. Fournier, Justice
of the Supreme Court; A. Plamondon, Judge of the Superior Court; N.
Casault, Judge of the Superior Court; Jean Tache, Frederick Braun, L.
Fiset, J. M. Hudon and others. From the king's wharf to the king's forges
(the ruins of which were discovered at the beginning of the century, a
little further up than the king's store), there are but a few steps.
Francois Bellet, M.P. for the county of Buckingham from 1815 to 1820,
resided on the property of the late Julien Chouinard, at the corner of St.
Peter and Sous-le-Fort streets. He combined parliamentary duties, it
seems, with a sea-faring life, being styled "Capitaine de Batiment" in a
power of attorney before Martin A. Dumas, N.P., at Quebec, dated 9th
September, 1796, in which as attorney and agent for Revd. "Messire Louis
Payet, pretre, cure de la paroisse de St. Antoine, au Nord de la Riviere
Richelieu," he sells to Monsieur Thomas Lee, later on an M.P.P., his negro
slave, named Rose, for the sum of "500 livres et vingt sols," - about $100
of our currency. The traffic in human flesh became extinct in Canada in
1803 by legislative enactment. The bluest blood of our Southern neighbours
was shed to keep it up in the model Republic sixty years subsequently.
[102] In the space between the Queen's wharf and the jetty on the west,
belonging to the Imperial authorities and called the king's wharf, there
existed a bay or landing place, much prized by our ancestors, which
afforded a harbour for the coasting vessels and small river crafts, called
the "Cul-de-Sac." There, also, the ships which were overtaken by an
early winter lingered until the sunny days of April released them from
their icy fetters. There the ships were put into winter quarters, and
securely bedded on a foundation or bed of clay; wrecked vessels also came
hither to undergo repairs. The Cul-de-Sac, with its uses and marine
traditions, had, in by-gone days, an important function in our
incomparable sea-port. In this vicinity, Vaudreuil, in 1759, planted a
battery.
The old Custom House (now the Department of Marine), was built on this
site in 1833. In 1815 the Custom House was on McCallum's wharf. The
Cul-de-Sac recalls "the first chapel which served as a Parish
Church at Quebec," that which Champlain caused to be built in the Lower
Town in 1615, where the name of Champlain is identified with the street
which was bounded by this chapel. The Revd. Fathers Recollets there
performed their clerical functions up to the period of the taking of
Quebec by the brothers Kertk, that is from 1615 to 1629, (Laverdiere.)
Nothing less than the urgent necessity of providing the public with a
convenient market-place, and the small coasting steamers with suitable
wharves, could move the municipal authorities to construct the wharves now
existing, and there, in 1856, to erect out of the materials of the old
Parliament House, the spacious Champlain Hall, so conspicuous at present.
The king's wharf and the king's stores, two hundred and fifty feet in
length, with a guard house, built on the same site in 1821, possess also
their marine and military traditions. The "Queen's Own" volunteers, Capt.
Rayside, were quartered there during the stirring times of 1837-38, when
"Bob Symes" dreamed each night of a new conspiracy against the British
crown, and M. Aubin perpetuated, in his famous journal "Le Fantasque"
the memory of this loyal magistrate.
How many saucy frigates, how many proud English Admirals, have made fast
their boats at the steps of this wharf!
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