THE BELLE RIVER COMMUNITY 131

Three Rivers . . . 1734

De Roma and his settlers are hard at work. They have levelled the cape by reducing the peak and by building up the base with rock and wood. They have lengthened the slope by a pier which now enables them to have eleven feet of water at high tide. They have erected a wooden bridge at the side to aid in the loading and unloading of vessels. The cape is cleared. A storehouse, bakery, forge, stable, and living quarters are erected.

The buildings were made air-tight by moss and clay and were heated by thirteen brick chimneys, made from clay on the spot, which were kept going night and day for seven months in the year, consuming a vast amount of fuel. To preserve the food of the establish- ment a refrigerator was constructed and to supply it with water two wells were dug in which four pumps were placed. In addition to this he built up a spring which was six feet below high tide, and when it was rendered useless by the ice in winter he discovered another some six or seven hundred paces from the cape and pressed it into service. About every building he laid out a vegetable garden surrounded by a brush fence; and he also enclosed in a similar manner a plot for peas and another for wheat, after which the whole cape back for one or two miles was cleared for future crops.

To store the fruits of the soil he built a huge cellar. For clearing the land he made several levers . and he built two flat-boats, two canoes, six shallops..

To facilitate communication between the different parts of his concession and the colony he made a road to Cardigan; one to Sturgeon . . . one to Souris

to St. Peter’s . . . to Port la Joye.

Of course he left some fallen trees across the path, but at least he had the branches cut off . . .!

0. I.—10