a training centre. The place was known locally as Camp X, by the Canadian government as file 25-1-1, and by the British government as STS 103.
Camp X was the first secret agent training school in North America. It was designed to help the Americans and Canadians learn the art of espionage. For that reason it was built where easy access to the United States was possible: on the shores of Lake Ontario.
Camp X opened its doors to recruits just two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. During the war years, Canada, the United States, and Britain trained secret agents in the art of clandestine warfare. Due to the extreme secrecy surrounding the 275-acre site, local residents of Whitby and Oshawa were unaware of these activities. Some local residents worked at the Camp, but they were sworn to secrecy.
One of the intelligence officers who attended the camp was Ian Fleming, and he is believed to have conceived the idea for his series of James Bond novels while stationed at the camp. Major Paul Dehn, a poet, musician, and lyricist, who was chief instructor at Camp X, used his talents to write propaganda. From his wartime experience he went on the write the screenplays of such famous films as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. The “Shanghai Buster,” William Ewart Fairbairn, invented the famous double-edged commando knife and taught Camp X recruits the art of silent killing. The 1976 international bestseller about Stephenson, A Man Called Intrepid, claimed that Camp X represented “the clenched fist” of all Allied secret operations in the Second World War.
The camp closed in 1946 and remained vacant for several years. All that remains is a small park by Lake Ontario, off Thickson Road, beside the Liquor Control Board of Ontario warehouse. The park is simply named Intrepid Park. In front of it is a short curving wall moulded in grey concrete and mounted with four flagpoles. Embedded in the wall is a bronze plaque.
Today, in 2011, Oshawa remains the home of General Motors of Canada. This company greatly assists in growing many smaller, related industries, who find a ready market in the GM corporation. The question arises, however, “How much longer will they last with gas and other energy crises?”
The cultural centre of the city is represented by three museums: the Henry House and the Robinson House museum are located at the bottom of Simcoe Street by Lake Ontario. The Canadian Automotive Museum is found on Simcoe Street near the downtown district. The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, situated next to city hall, represents the work of many well-known Canadian artists. Visitors to the city may also enjoy the recreational activities included in the more than 50 parks. Windfield Farms, Canada’s National Stud Farm, lies north of the city, as does Durham College of Applied Arts and Technology.
Oshawa’s main historic site, Parkwood, the estate of the late Colonel R.S. McLaughlin, stands on Simcoe Street next to the Oshawa General Hospital. Sightseers can tour this formidable mansion and view the magnificent landscape and expansive grounds.
R.S. McLaughlin had this to say about life: “The things I cherish are harder-wearing than gold, the worth of a lifetime spent working at a job that drew the best from me and the men I worked beside. Above all these, I treasure the love of my wife and the affection of my family. Those are the things of real worth in my life.”
Ottawa
Who could have imagined that this raw frontier town, situated on the south bank of the Ottawa River, would one day become the capital of a new country.
In the spring of 1826, Colonel By was ordered to oversee the construction of the Rideau Canal. This artificial waterway was designed to link the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario to provide an alternative strategic route between Upper and Lower Canada.
Colonel By quickly established his base of operations at the present site of Hull, Quebec, near the headlocks of this canal. Phileman Wright, an American, arrived at this site in 1800, with his wife and a few other settlers. Wright eventually established a gristmill, a tannery, a blacksmith shop, and a bakery, and the community became known as Wright’s town or Wrightville, until 1875, when it changed to Hull.
It was the governor-in-chief’s wife, Lady Dalhousie, who lifted the first shovel of earth of this 200-kilometre-long (125 mile) canal project. News of this massive canal project attracted hundreds of Irish labourers from the cities of Montreal and Quebec. Although work was plentiful, housing shortages abounded. Hazardous working conditions meant there were numerous injuries and deaths from explosions, falling rocks, and trees.
In 1827 Colonel By turned his attention to establishing a townsite at the canal’s northern terminus, where some of the early settlers had put down roots. This new settlement was named Bytown, in his honour.
Jehiel Collins, a United Empire Loyalist, was actually the first to settle on the present-day site of Ottawa. He arrived in 1809 at a canoe landing on the south bank of the river below the Chaudiere Falls. In 1817 a civil engineer named John Burrows settled on 200 acres that is now the downtown core of Ottawa. The property was bounded in the north by present-day Wellington and Rideau Streets, on the south by Laurier Avenue, on the west by Bronson Avenue, and on the east by Waller Street. Burrows sold his property to Nicholas Sparks for the sum of 95 pounds.
When Sparks heard about the proposed Rideau Canal, he saw potential! Land meant money, and he quickly surveyed his own property and sold lots. He even designated a new street to be named after him. His wealth and generosity soon gained Sparks a tremendous influence in the political arena and the social circles of Bytown. He donated land for the first Methodist chapel, the Anglican Church, the courthouse, and the gaol. Bytown’s first town hall was situated on land owned by Sparks.
The early days of Bytown prompted building — houses, shops, stores and, of course, taverns. An outbreak of swamp fever in 1828 greatly reduced the pioneer population of French, Irish, Scottish, English, and American settlers. Work in Bytown ground to a halt. The first civilian cemetery appeared on land between the present Metcalfe and Elgin Streets. Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics were placed in separate burial sections. Life was so grim that the Royal Sappers and Miners, a contingent of soldier-labourers from England, deserted the fever-stricken settlement. Many Bytown workers turned to alcohol to ease their anxiety. Since law and order was yet to be established, street fights became a daily occurrence. No one was safe! The swamp fever epidemic eventually subsided, and by 1832, the Rideau Canal had been completed. Bytown began, once again, to flourish, this time as a lumber centre.
Colonel By, in the meantime, who had actualized the wishes of his superior British officers, was summoned to England. Perhaps he was to be commended or promoted for his loyal service. No one ever dreamed it would be to stand accused, by a parliamentary committee, of the misuse of funds.
Although Colonel By was exonerated, his spirit was broken. He never returned to Bytown. He was the man who saw the true potential of this place, the man once quoted as saying, “This land will be very valuable some day. It will be the capital of this country.” Colonel By died a very disillusioned man, on February 1, 1836, at the age of 53.
Rideau Falls, Ottawa, in the 1880s. Small wonder Colonel By understood the value of this land.
Archives of Ontario
By the 1850s Bytown was linked by rail to other larger centres and had become a community of new opportunities. In 1855 the town became a city and was renamed Ottawa. The population was nearing 10,000.
When the union of Upper and Lower Canada occurred in 1841, cities such as Quebec, Montreal, York, and Kingston had vied to be the capital. Kingston managed to be appointed as the capital for a short time, as did Montreal. Government officials then believed it was beneficial to alternate the seat of
