Ruggles Wright was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 lumber

Lumber

Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

 merchant, the youngest son of Philemon Wright

Philemon Wright

Philemon Wright was a farmer and entrepreneur who founded Wrightstown, the first permanent settlement in the National Capital Region of Canada...

.

He was born in Woburn, Massachusetts

Woburn, Massachusetts

Woburn is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 38,120 at the 2010 census. Woburn is located north of Boston, Massachusetts, and just south of the intersection of I-93 and I-95.- History :...

 but moved to Canada with his parents while still young. He later joined the family business in the timber trade

Ottawa River timber trade

The Ottawa River timber trade, also known as the Ottawa Valley timber trade or Ottawa River lumber trade, was the nineteenth century production of wood products by Canada on areas of the Ottawa River destined for British and American markets...

. In 1829, he built the first timber slide

Timber slide

A timber slide is a device for moving timber past rapids and waterfalls. Their use in Canada was widespread in the 18th and 19th century timber trade. At this time, cut timber would be floated down rivers in large timber rafts from logging camps to ports such as Montreal and Saint John, New...

 on the Ottawa River

Ottawa River

The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...

 to transport logs past the Chaudière Falls

Chaudière Falls

The Chaudière Falls are a set of cascades and waterfall in the centre of the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area in Canada where the Ottawa River narrows between a rocky escarpment on both sides of the river. The location is just west of the Chaudière Bridge, northwest of the Canadian War Museum at...

. However, by 1840, a competing slide built on the opposite (Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

) side of the river had won over most of the business. He also discovered a source of cement

Cement

In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...

 which was used in the construction of the Rideau Canal

Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...

.

In partnership with John Egan

John Egan (Canadian politician)

John Egan was an Irish-Canadian businessman and political figure in the Ottawa region.He was born near Aughrim, Ireland, in 1811. He came to Aylmer, Lower Canada, Canada, in 1830. After working with a lumber company on the upper Ottawa River, he entered the business himself near Bytown...

, he operated a steamship transporting goods on the Ottawa River.

External links

• http://www.wrightfamily.ca/