“ This gentleman is well known in scientific and other circles as a mineralogist, geologist, botanist and physician of considerable repute in the Province, and as one who has done much to advance the interests of the Ottawa country, in the capital of which he has resided for many years. ... He has, at great expense, had constructed the best private archaeological and geological museum in Canada, an object of great attraction to all who visit Ottawa; ”
( Henry James Morgan, 1862, Sketches of Celebrated Canadians: And Persons Connected with Canada, Hunter and Rose, Co., London, 779 pages at page 750)
In earlier postings I mentioned three amateur geologists who were instrumental in collecting mineral and fossil specimens in Upper Canada/Canada West in the years preceding Confederation and who provided assistance to the Geological Survey of Canada. These were Dr. James Wilson, M.D., (1798-1881) of Perth, Sheriff Andrew Dickson (1797 - 1868) of Pakenham and Dr. Andrew Fernando Holmes, M.D., (1797 -1860) of Montreal.
Another individual who helped by collecting specimens and educating the populace on geology was Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt, M.D., (1805-1875) of Bytown/Ottawa. Edward Van Cortlandt (sometimes spelt van Cortland or van Courtland or Vancortlandt) was born in Newfoundland to a military family. Later his family moved to Quebec. He studied medicine with the military in Quebec and later in London, England where he passed the examinations of the Apothecaries Hall and Royal College of Surgeons. He arrived in Bytown in 1832 as the medical officer for the troops, before setting up in private practice (while continuing his association with the military). He practiced medicine in Bytown and Ottawa for 43 years until his death in 1875. His funeral took place with full military honours.
Dr. Van Cortlandt is generally considered to have been the best physician in the Bytown/Ottawa area of his era, was known as a friend of the poor, but appears to have had a blunt/brusque manner. He was a true field naturalist and had interests in geology, archeology and botany, and wrote articles and gave talks on those subjects. He maintained a museum in his home with collections of minerals, fossils, Indian artifacts, and birds and animals that he had shot, that was considered to be one of the best in Canada. He was an active member of the Bytown Mechanics Institute, the Bytown Mechanics' Institute and Athenaeum , the Silurian Society of Ottawa, and the Ottawa Natural History Society. In addition to maintaining the museum in his own home, for at least a six year period he was the curator of the museum of the Ottawa Natural History Society.
An obituary published in the local press on his death mentions:
“The Doctor is considered to be the first physician in medical skill in this part of the country. He was a man of quick perceptions, and rather a blunt manner but underneath lay a warm heart to the poor, of which his talent was always at their command. Another characteristic of the man was in what he believed to be his duty, he feared not the face of man. One instance of the above was a letter published by us in the “Banner,” some years back against the County Fathers for their treatment of prisoners in the jail, termed Calcutta Black Hole. The poor have lost a warm friend and Ottawa has lost her best physician.”
(Quoted in Andrew Wilson, 1875, A History of Old Bytown and Vicinity, Now the City of Ottawa, at page 58)
In 1903, Dr. H. Beaumant Small described Dr. Van Cortlandt as follows:
“Dr. Van, as he was generally known, acquired a large practice, and his reputation spread far and wide. ... He was odd and eccentric in his manner and his dress – brusque, sharp and even rough in his speech. ... He was impetuous and quick-tempered; ever ready to imagine a slight and equally prepared to resent a fancied grievance. Beneath the rough exterior there was kind and sympathetic nature, and many instances were recited of his kindness and generosity to the poor. He himself worked long and hard, yet acquired but little of this world’s wealth. ... My own distinct recollections are of his rapid and sprightly walk, and his habit of snatching boys caps as he passed them by...
... He was the first surgeon to the General Hospital, and had full charge of that institution for many years. He was consulting surgeon at the Protestant Hospital, and held that position at the time of his death. He was surgeon to the gaol, coroner and surgeon to the field battery.
In addition to his professional reputation, he was known as a geologist of marked ability, and contributed papers and lectures on the subject. He studied the mineralogy and paleontology of this district, and accumulated a really valuable collection, for which he had fitted up a room in his residence.”
(Dr. H. Beaumont Small, 1905, Medical Memoirs of Bytown, An Address delivered before the Ottawa Medico-Chirurgical Society, Nov. 5, 1903, Montreal Medical Journal 34, No. 8: 549-560 at pages 556-557).
http://eco.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_05178_206/2?r=0&s=1
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/
Because he was an influential citizen, there is a fair amount written about Dr. Van Cortlandt. The best description of his life is provided in a fifteen page pamphlet entitled “Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt Surgeon, 1805-1875" written by Margaret E. Moffatt and published in 1986 by The Historical Society of Ottawa . She mentions that it was Dr. Van Cortlandt that alerted the authorities to the 1834 outbreak of Cholera in Bytown, and that in 1847 when a typhus epidemic broke out in Bytown Dr. Van Cortlandt was one of the physicians who looked after the diseased immigrants. She also points out that “In several issues of the Bytown Gazette, starting in January 12, 1836, Dr. Van Cortlandt placed an advertisement stating that he would vaccinate for small pox, free of charge. He was thus one of the first of our public-spirited physicians trying to persuade the people of Bytown to take advantage of medical advancements.”
Dr. Van Cortlandt’s Lectures and Papers
Above I mentioned that Dr. Van Cortlandt was an active member of the Bytown Mechanics Institute, the Bytown Mechanics' Institute and Athenaeum, the Silurian Society of Ottawa, and the Ottawa Natural History Society. He gave lectures to each of those bodies.
Dr. Van Cortlandt’s geological papers that survive are:
An epitome of a lecture on Ottawa productions – delivered before the Bytown Mechanics' Institute and Athenaeum on Tuesday, November 15, 1853,
1853 - Published under the Auspices of the Institute, The Citizen, Bytown
https://archive.org/details/cihm_55512
1853 - Published in The Canadian Journal of Industry, Science and Art, Volume II, pages 112-6
1854 - Published by George Sparks, Bookseller, Montreal with the title The Productions of the Ottawa District of Canada https://archive.org/details/cihm_35799
Observations on the Building Stone of the Ottawa Country – an Abridgement of a Lecture
Delivered before the Ottawa Silurian Society, the 15th November, 1858 - Published under the auspices of the Ottawa Silurian Society, and by order of the city council.
https://archive.org/details/cihm_47986
An Essay on the Native Compounds and Metallurgy of Iron, Especially in Connection With The Ottawa Valley; read before the Natural History Society of Ottawa, on Friday, December 28th,
1866
1867 - published by The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa https://archive.org/details/cihm_40500
The lecture on Ottawa Productions is interesting. Not only did it enjoy three printings, but it discusses iron deposits in the Ottawa valley, graphite deposits in Hull and in Eastern Ontario, Galena deposits near Kingston and on the Ottawa, native copper deposits in Canada, briefly mentions other refractory materials and minerals, and describes various trees of the Ottawa.
His lecture entitled Observations on the Building Stone of the Ottawa Country discusses granite, syenite, Potsdam sandstone, Chazy sandstone, Calciferous Sand Rock, limestone, and marble.
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A number of Dr. Van Cortlandt’s articles and speeches on other topics have been preserved and are available, including:
Notice of an Indian Burial Ground, The Canadian Journal of Industry, Science and Art, 1853, volume I, pages 160-161. This describes his two day dig in 1843 close to Bytown and the items that he found including bones, a few implements and weapons.
Fishes of the Ottawa, a Digest of an essay on the fishes of the Ottawa River, and its tributaries and some of the contiguous lakes – read before the Natural History Society on Friday, 24th November, 1865. Ottawa Citizen, Nov. 29, 1865.
[He is also suspected to have written: Notes on the lakes and lake fishes in the vicinity of Ottawa, Canada West No. 1 — Minnow lake by a member of the Isaac Walton Club (Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt?) Ottawa Citizen, June 21, 1865.]
An Essay on Entozoa, read before the Ottawa Natural History Society on Friday, 24th of February, 1865 https://archive.org/details/cihm_23265
Other lectures that he gave, which are no longer available, are:
The Herpetology of the Ottawa - A Zoological Lecture in 1865before the Mechanic’s Institute and Athenaeum by Dr. Van Courtlandt [Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians.]
The Phenomena of Vegetation, a lecture on March 15, 1853 before the Bytown Mechanic’s Institute and Athenaeum.
In addition to lectures given to the institutes of Ottawa Dr. Van Cortlandt gave lectures before medical associations and to the troops at the barracks at Ottawa. For example, he delivered an address on Entozoa on September 15, 1870 at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Medical Association in the City Ottawa, Province of Ontario
[Canada Medical Journal and Monthly Record of Medical and Surgical Science, Volume 7, 1871, at Page 133]
He also wrote numerous letters on various topics. He was one of the first to write on acid rain. In a recent book, Don Nixon comments:
“Dr. Van Cortlandt predicted rust staining in 1860, after he saw that some of the stone that was being selected [for the Parliament Buildings] contained ferrous and ferric oxides, ... In what must have been one of the earliest references to acid rain he wrote to the Editor of the Ottawa Citizen ‘as rain water and the atmosphere are more or less charged with acid, it is greatly to be feared from this cause alone, that the iron spots which permeate the stone will run, and not only irreparably disfigure the front of this otherwise magnificent structure ...’ ”
[Nixon, Don, 2012, The Other Side of the Hill, Don Nixon Consulting Inc., Carleton Place, Ontario at page 303]
Another interesting contribution was a submission to the Commission Appointed to Enquire into the Condition of Navigable Streams. Professor Jamie Benidickson noted that “Dr. E. Van Cortland, the city of Ottawa’s health officer, criticized the threefold impact of lumber mill refuse on spawning grounds, on navigation and on public health. Notwithstanding limitations in the scientific foundations on which it rested, this was a rare early attempt to consolidate a range of community concerns over industrial interference with water quality.”
[Benidickson, Jamie, 2010, Cleaning Up after the Log Drivers’ Waltz : Finding the Ottawa River Watershed, Les Cahiers de droit, Volume 51, Number 3-4, September-December 2010, p. 729-748]
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Dr. Van Cortlandt’s Geological Specimens and Assistance to the Geological Survey of Canada
Dr. van Cortlandt is remembered today principally for the “cabinet” (i.e. museum) in his home and the archeological specimens from his collection that are now found in museums in Canada (principally the McCord Museum and the Redpath Museum, both in Montreal). He is also mentioned in connection with archeological specimens from the “cabinet” of the Ottawa Natural History Society that he curated which later found there way into the collection of the Geological Survey of Canada and later the Canadian Museum of Civilization – now the Canadian Museum of History. The geological specimens in his cabinet were also quite stunning.
There are three references to fossils from Dr. Van Cortlandt’s cabinet in papers published by Elkanah Billings. Note that the third fossil is named after Dr. Van Cortlandt.
Comarocystites Punctatus
“Dr. E. Van Cortlandt has kindly sent me from his cabinet two of the best specimens of C. Punctatus that I have yet seen, both of which have both of which have the mouth furnished with six valves, and it thus appears that the number is as variable as it is in the Crinoid Caryocrinus ornatus”
[E. Billings, 1858, On the Cystitdeae of the Lower Silurian Rocks of Canada, in
Figures and Descriptions of Canadian Organic Remains, Decade III. Plate V, Geological Survey of Canada]
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Glyptocrinus Ramulosus, Billings
...
“A highly interesting specimen in the cabinet of Dr. Van Cortlandt of the city of Ottawa, consists of the inside of a cup two inches and a-half in length and one inch and seven-eighths in diameter, at the base of the free arms. It had been completely embedded in the stone, but by some means the body has been completely extracted, leaving all the plates lining the cavity in their natural position.”
[E. Billings, 1857, Report for the Year 1856 of E. Billings, Esq., Palaeontologist addressed to Sir William E. Logan, Provincial Geologist, Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress
For the Years 1853-54-55-56 at page 259
E. Billings, 1859, On the Crinodeae of the Lower Silurian Rocks of Canada, in Figures and Descriptions of Canadian Organic Remains, Decade IV, pages 57- 58, plate. VII, figs. 2a-f; plate VIII, figs. la-e , Geological Survey of Canada ]
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Carabocrinus vancortlandti, Billings
“The species is dedicated to Dr. E. Vancortlandt, of the City of Ottawa, whose zeal in the advancement of science has been productive of many beneficial results. The only specimen known belongs to his cabinet, and has been kindly communicated by him to us for
description.”
Plate II. Figure 4 exhibits a view of the posterior side of the specimen, and is provided below:
Locality and formation. — Trenton limestone ; Township of McNab, near Arnprior.
[Billings, E, 1859, On the Crinoideae of the Lower Silurian Rocks of Canada, Figures and Descriptions of Canadian Organic Remains. Decade IV, Geological Survey of Canada, page 32, Plate II, Figure 4. ]
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Sir William Logan thanked Dr. van Cortlandt for his assistance to the Survey as follows:
“I have in addition to express our obligations to many persons who have either presented specimens of Canadian organic remains to the Survey, or lent them to the palaeontologist for comparison or description. ... Dr. E. vancortlandt ... of Ottawa;”
[Logan, W.A., 1863, Geology of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress from Its Commencement to 1863; Preface, pages xii-xiii]
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Sir William Dawson, in a Lecture of the Popular Course of Montreal Natural History Society, winter of 1857-58, mentions a number of geological collections that benefitted him, including the collections of Dr. Holmes, Dr. Wilson of Perth, Rev. Mr. Bell, Sheriff Dickson, Dr. Van Cortlandt and the Silurian Society of Ottawa.
[Dawson, W., 1858, Things to be Observed in Canada, and especially in Montreal and its Vicinity, The Journal of Education for Lower Canada, Second Volume, page 40 at 43
Dawson, W., 1859, Things to be Observed in Canada, and especially in Montreal and its Vicinity, The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, Volume III, page 1 at pages 10 and 11.]
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Dr. Henri-Marc Ami, Assistant Paleontologist to the Geological Survey of Canada, also mentioned Dr. Van Cortlandt’s collection on two occasions. First he commented on fossils from the Trenton limestone, as follows:
“Trenton Formation – The very numerous and highly fossiliferous exposures of this formation about Ottawa, from which the late Mr. E. Billings, the late Dr. Van Cortlandt, and many members of the Field Naturalists’ Club obtained a splendid series of fossils... prove still a rich hunting ground for palaeontologist.”
[Ami, Henri M. 1884, Report of the Geological Section for the Season of 1883, Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club, Transactions No. 5, page 118 at 119]
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Second, he commented on Dr. Van Cortlandt’s specimens from the Pleistocene deposits, as follows:
“The collections of the late Dr. E. Van Cortland show that he also devoted considerable attention to these interesting deposits, ...”
[ H. M. Ami, 1887, The Great Ice Age and Subsequent Formations at Ottawa, Ontario.
The Ottawa Naturalist, The Transactions of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club.
Vol. III., page 65 at page 66]
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Dr. Van Cortlandt’s Influence on David Ross McCord
Dr. Van Cortlandt’s cabinet, with its archaeological and geological specimens, is said by a number of sources to have been an object of great attraction to those who visited Ottawa. His collection is said by at least two sources to have influenced David Ross McCord, who in 1919, presented his extensive collection of artifacts to McGill University. In 1921 the McCord National Museum was opened to house the collection.
Moira T. McCaffrey writes:
“At the age of fourteen, David had an experience that may have marked his life forever. As a reward for good conduct and prizes obtained at school, he was invited to accompany his father on a steamer trip to Ottawa. While there, they visited [his father’s] schoolmate Dr. Edward VanCortlandt. He showed them“his cabinet,” which was crammed with archaeological artifacts, and promised to aid David with his geological studies.”
[Moira T. McCaffrey, 1999, Rononshonni - The Builder: David Ross McCord’s Ethnographic Collection, in Collecting Native America, 1870-1960, Edited By Shepard Krech III and Barbara A. Hail, Published by the Smithsonian Institution
https://books.google.ca/books?isbn=1588344142]
Where Are Dr. Van Cortlandt’s Specimens Today?
Interestingly, the archaeological artifacts in Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt’s “cabinet” eventually entered the collection of McGill. Both the 1879 and 1880 Annual Calendars of McGill College and University mention that the Ethnology part of McGill’s Museum of Geology and Natural History displayed “ the collection of the late Dr. Van Cortland of Ottawa, purchased from his heirs”.
It is not clear whether the three archeological specimens in the collection of the McCord Museum
( Pot ACC1337 ; Pipe bowl ACC4459B ; Pipe bowl ME937.22) with the tag line “Gift of Dr. Van Cortlandt” that can be viewed online at
http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/collections/
were part of the collection purchased by McGill from his heirs.
It is also not clear whether McGill purchased any of his fossil, mineral and rock specimens.
At least two specimens collected by Dr. Van Cortlandt are in the collection of the Geological Survey of Canada. Percy Raymond, Paleontologist, Geological Survey of Canada, mentions that one of the prizes of Dr. Van Cortlandt’s collection, which he (Raymond) identifies as a new species and names Lebetodiscus Loriformus, was by 1915 in the collection of the Museum of the Geological Survey, as follows:
Lebetodiscus Loriformus, Raymond
“This specimen has long been knows to the collectors about Ottawa as one of the prizes of Dr. Van Cortlandt’s collection. (Now in the Museum of the Geological Survey, No. 1414). It has always been considered as an abnormal, long-rayed specimen of Agelacrinites dicksoni, and there can be no doubt that it is very closely related to that species, but since it forms one of the "connecting links" with the species of the later formations, I propose to give it a new name. It may be described briefly as a Lebetodiscus with rays so long that each one nearly touches its neighbor, all rays contra-solar, and equally spaced, the outer border of small plates narrow, supra-oral structure apparently as in L. dicksoni. This species is believed to be ancestral to the very long rayed forms for which Hall erected the genus Streptaster.
The holotype is 23 mm. in greatest diameter, and is from the Trenton at Ottawa, Ontario. Probably from the "Cystid beds," about 180 feet below the top of the formation. It is No.1414 in the Victoria Memorial Museum.”
[Raymond, Percy E. 1915, Revision of the Canadian Species of “Agelacrinites”, The Ottawa Naturalist, Volume XXIX, pages 53 -62 at 56, Plate I, Figure 6]
This is the photo of the Holotype from Raymond's paper.
Lawrence Lambe, Assistant Palaeontologist to the Geological Survey, when discussing the coral Protarea Vetusta, Hall, mentions that it “occurs in the Trenton formation at and in the vicinity of Ottawa, Ont. ... The specimens in the possession of the Geological Survey were collected at Ottawa by Dr. Van Cortlandt, at Ottawa, by H. M. Ami, 1882, ...”
[Lambe, Lawrence M., 1899, A Revision of the Genera and Species of Canadian Palaeozoic Corals, Contributions to Canadian Palaeontology, Volume IV, Part I, Geological Survey of Canada at page 90]
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Dr. Van Cortlandt’s Influence on the Rocks Used to Construct Canada’s Parliament Buildings
An intriguing piece of information that I found in my research is that Dr. Van Cortlandt may have influenced the choice of stone used to construct the exterior of Canada’s Parliament Buildings. I have deliberately used the word “may” because there is some confusion surrounding the exact nature of Dr. Van Cortlandt’s contribution.
I suspect that everyone is aware that the primary stone used to construct the exterior walls of the Parliament Buildings is Nepean sandstone, a buff coloured sandstone. Some will also be aware that Potsdam sandstone, a reddish sandstone, is used for the window and door trims of the Library of Parliament, that Ohio sandstone is used for much of the remainder of the trim, and that the cornerstone is white marble from Pontiac County, Quebec. Very little limestone was used in the construction of the Parliament Buildings. [For ease of reference I’ve used the terms Nepean sandstone and Potsdam sandstone the way the terms are being used for the ongoing restoration of the Parliament Buildings.]
One of the first sources that I found linking Dr. Van Cortlandt and the stones of the Parliament Buildings is the online Dictionary of Canadian Biography which mentions that: “He published, ... in 1860, a significant brochure entitled Observations on the building stone of the Ottawa country. In the latter, Van Cortlandt claims to have earlier called to the attention of Lord Elgin the location of the stone from which the parliament building was constructed.”
[Courtney C. J. Bond, “VAN CORTLANDT, EDWARD,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed February , 2015, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/van_cortlandt_edward_10E.html. ]
Another much earlier source that credits Dr. Van Cortlandt is Henry James Morgan who commented: “He was the first to point out the locality of the stone with which the parliamentary buildings are being erected. To this he drew the attention of the Earl of Elgin, a circumstance which tended, perhaps more than anything else, to give to Ottawa favourable publicity.”
[ Henry James Morgan, 1862, Sketches of Celebrated Canadians: And Persons Connected with Canada, Hunter and Rose, Co., London, 779 pages at page 750.]
Nevertheless, when I looked at Dr. Van Cortlandt’s own writings, I was left in doubt. The first clues are found in the text of Dr. Van Cortlandt’s paper entitled Observations on the Building Stone of the Ottawa Country – a Lecture delivered before the Ottawa Silurian Society of Ottawa on the 15th November, 1858. (Perhaps 1859? The date is changed in pen on the cover.) In the text of his paper, when covering sandstone, he does discuss what we would now call Nepean sandstone, but he discounts it as a building stone because it is “so extremely dense that no tool can be tempered sufficiently to work it”, though he does conclude that “This stone exists on both sides of the Ottawa in Templeton, Stony Swamp and various other situations in inexhaustible quantities, and in some instances advantageously stratified.” Much later in his paper Dr. Van Cortlandt , when discussing Trenton Limestone, draws attention to an outcrop of a dark limestone of a “very superior compact description” below Mr. Blythe’s Cabinet warehouse, and continues: “I was the first person to call who sent a specimen of this stone, together with one of sandstone of a lightest green colour, hitherto unnoticed by the Board of Works, and who called their attention to them. If it is discovered on further examination and investigation to realize my expectations, and is adjudged worthy of consideration as a building stone, and deserves a place in the new Parliamentary buildings, I shall be rewarded amply in knowing that I have been the humble instrument of saving several thousand pounds of public money since this stone is on public property.”
The second clue is in the Postcript to Dr. Van Cortlandt’s paper, where he states:
“Since these pages were sent to press, the author has had the gratification of finding that the most proximate favourable locality pointed out by him, has been selected for procuring a portion of the stone to be used in the new Parliament Buildings, and deems it requisite to call the attention of the proper authorities to the paramount necessity which exists...for exercising care and caution in the selection of the material. It is a fact well knows to geologist, that the Trenton Limestone is frequently rendered more or less objectionable as a building stone, if indescriminatley selected ... Both these attributes are clearly illustrated in the stone at the base of the promontary below Mr. Blythe’s...”.
I understand the references in the text of the paper and in the postscript to mean that Trenton Limestone from the locality identified by Dr. Van Cortlandt would be used to construct the Parliament Buildings. This makes sense when you realize that it was initially intended to construct the Parliament Buildings out of limestone. Later, is was decided to use sandstone. However, while Dr. Van Cortlandt is taking credit for a source for limestone, I note that he sent a sample of limestone and a sample of sandstone to the Board of Works.
Interestingly, support for Dr. Van Cortlandt having influenced the choice of Nepean Sandstone can be found in a recent book by Dr. Don Nixon entitled The Other Side of the Hill that was published in 2012 by Don Nixon Consulting Inc. Of Carleton Place, Ontario and that is available from the Ottawa Public Library. He mentions that an 1858 “story in the Ottawa Banner of April 22 where Dr. Van Cortlandt called public attention to the existence of a quarry of compact sandstone on Lot 24, 22nd Concession Templeton about four miles away, and said that if the stone was carefully selected quite free from iron stains that it would be in demand for the new Parliament Buildings.” and that “In November 1859, Van Cortlandt gave a lecture on building stones and showed some beautiful specimens of sandstone from Nepean, Templeton, Pembroke, and the Calumet. It may have been that Fuller [the chief Architect for the Parliament Buildings] attended the lecture and started thinking about sandstone because it was about that time... that he started looking for a different stone.”
[Nixon, Don, 2012, The Other Side of the Hill, Don Nixon Consulting Inc., Carleton Place, Ontario at page 78]
While Dr. Don Nixon’s research suggests that Dr. Van Cortlandt influenced the choice of Nepean sandstone as the primary stone used to construct the Parliament Buildings, the extent of his contribution is still not clear. However, it is clear from Dr. Nixon’s research that it was Dr. Van Cortlandt who was responsible for the selection of marble from the Portage du Fort quarry in Pontiac County, Quebec for use as the cornerstone for the Parliament Buildings. Dr. Nixon notes that “Upon its arrival, the big block of stone was paraded up and down the streets. The wagon halted at Dr. Van Corlandt’s house, and everyone gave him three hearty cheers of appreciation.” [Nixon, Don, 2012, The Other Side of the Hill, page 67]
Conclusion
Dr. Van Cortlandt saw many changes over his lifetime. When he arrived at Bytown it was a small lumber town of secondary importance to Perth and there were barracks on what we now call Parliament Hill. By the time he died Ottawa had become the nation’s capital with a population seven times that of Perth and the Parliament Buildings had been constructed. While it has been 140 years since his death, his name is still mentioned. Archaeological specimens from his collection can be found in the collection of the McCord Museum and the Redpath Museum. The fossil Carabocrinus vancortlandti, Billings is still referenced in scientific papers. There has been recent debate in the various journals concerning the location of his dig reported in his paper Notice of an Indian Burial Ground. He was also years ahead of his time in predicting acid rain and the affect of industrialization on spawning grounds, on navigation and on public health. And if he did contribute to Nepean Sandstone being used as the stone for the exterior of the Parliament Buildings, it was a lasting contribution.
Christopher Brett
Perth, Ontario
