L’Orignal

L’Orignal, in the township of Longueuil on the south shore of the Ottawa river, was the district town of the Ottawa district, which comprised the counties of Prescott and Russell [Smith 1846]. In 1826, Anthony Swalwell, a civil engineer, surveyed and superintended the opening of a road from Bytown to L’Orignal [Bond 1968]. In 1840, this road was used to set up the first mail service between these two communities, and people called it the Post road [Laporte 1982].