1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hull (Quebec)

HULL, a city (1875) and railway junction of the province of Quebec, Canada, and the capital of Wright county, opposite the city of Ottawa. Pop. (1901) 13,988. The magnificent water-power of the Chaudière Falls of the Ottawa is utilized for the lighting of the city, the operation of a system of electric railways connecting Hull with Ottawa and Aylmer, and a number of large saw-mills, pulp, paper and match manufactories. Hull has gone through several disastrous fires, but since that of 1900, which swept out most of the town, an efficient system of fire protection has been established. Three bridges unite Ottawa and Hull. The city is governed by a council composed of a mayor and twelve aldermen elected annually. Champlain was the first white man to set foot on the site of Hull, but long before he came it was a favourite meeting-place for the Indians. Later it became familiar to explorers and fur-traders as the foot of the Chaudière portage, and many a canoe has been carried shoulder high over the site of future busy streets. Philemon Wright, of Woburn, Massachusetts, was the first man to settle here in 1800. The report he sent back was so favourable that a number of other families followed from the same place and laid the foundations of the future city. His descendants have remained among the substantial men of the town.