West of Aylmer

Chats Falls archeological dig

Carl Hager

The Friends of Chats Falls organization presented the results of this past summer’s archeological dig which was done on the ground’s of the Quyon playground area adjacent to the Ottawa River and next to the Community Centre building. This public event, hosted by the Friends of Chats Falls, occurred on Friday December 5^th at the Quyon Community Centre. President of the Friends of Chats Falls,  Debbie Powell, opened the proceedings. About twenty members of the public attended the event.

The aim of the project was to find the original homestead of entrepreneur Philemon Wright, founder of Hull, who was said to have retired on this site almost two hundred years ago. Michel Prevost, President of the Societe d’Histoire de l”Outaouais said that it was important to discover and protect the cultural history of the homeland.

Prevost presented Debbie Powell with a cheque for $1000. to help with Chats Falls future Archeo endeavours. This is a highly prized gift which is seldom given. It was a tribute to the effort that the Friends of Chats Falls exhibited not only in actualizing the work at the Quyon site, but also in getting public participation such as getting students from area schools to work on the project and many volunteers who helped out. Two students, Raphaelle Orapala Nana and Thomas Kerr from Grand Riviere High School in Aylmer, with their teacher Nicolas Guilbeault-Renaud, spoke about their findings. They said the experience was very rewarding, and it could not have happened on a more beautiful site,

Artifacts found on the dig site included buttons, parts of cutlery, glass which could be dated at over one hundred years old, pottery, animal bones and most curiously many beer caps. The archeologist advising the dig, Jean Luc Pilon, suggested that there may have been a bar or tavern near this site in the past and the bottle caps were dumped there, perhaps into a pit which over time became covered and filled by earth. The digging into the past showed that many changes have occurred to the topography, caused by such forces as floods, fires and farming. He said that such digs as this is where historical research met hands on activity which brought the past to life.

Pilon remarked that plans were being made to search other sites near this year’s site. The confluence of the Quyon and Ottawa Rivers made it a probable site for people to find refuge and build homes. Audrey Lapointe an administrator of the Societe d’Histoire was instrumental in energizing activities. She is a teacher at St. Mary’s School in Quyon. She thanked supporters and groups which made important financial donations to the project, including the always helpful responses by the Mayor of Pontiac and the Municipality which lent a hand to the project by excavating a foot or so of top soil enabling quicker access to the fertile grounds below.