Three Years in Canada, Vol II - 1829, by John Mactaggart. (Vol. 1 & 2 are independent works)

$18.00

Cat No.:   CA0215-2:

This is an early and rare book describing Canada in the form of a report, to the British Government, of its development and the opportunities it offers. While this is the second of two volumes comprising the whole book it stands in its own right without any loss of information or intelligence. This is because the author, John MacTaggart, does not seem to have been following any plan for the contents or format of the book but simply collected his observations, interpretations and impressions into a random order and published them. Perhaps the only exceptions to this rule may be found towards the rear of this volume where he suggests “advantageous” courses in which Canada’s development might be directed.

As well as gathering materials for this book, MacTaggart was employed as the Clerk of Works under Col. John By in the construction of the Rideau Canal from Ottawa (Bytown) on the Ottawa, or Grand, river to Kingston on the St Lawrence at its exit from Lake Ontario. He earned himself a reputation as a free-thinker and was known for being free with his views, especially when he’d been drinking. A good deal of these attitudes come through in the book making his descriptions and impressions all the more valuable by probably being more accurate and less influenced by the politics of the day. On the other hand, he does not hold back in expressing his own opinions and ideas in a way which tends to jar with our current perceptions and knowledge. Altogether this gives us a wonderful insight into the early development of Canada, its people and its customs.

We have placed a freely downloadable sampler of this great book on our Downloads page and it includes the table of contents so you can see the physical and intellectual extent of the topics covered. To add value for the busy researcher we have fully bookmarked the pages and have made it computer searchable including our optional enhanced FastFind search capabilities.

The original of the book is owned by a good friend of the Archive CD Books project, Karen Prytula. Karen has asked us to dedicate this CD edition of her book to: “Great Aunt Dolly and Great Uncle Harry Rush for helping me so much in researching our family history.” and we are pleased to do so.

You can also reach the Sampler by clicking on the following link Sampler

You can return to this page by closing the Sampler Page when you are ready to purchase.

No. of CDs is:  1 ;   Format is:  PDF ;   Searchable?:  YES;

FastFind:  YES;  ISBN No.:   1-897338-83-X;