PrologueIt was 10:30 a.m. when a small chimney fire started in a wooden building in Hull, across the river from Ottawa. At first the fire was considered nothing out of the ordinary. It seemed there were always fires in the shabby housing of the mill hands. Even the mills had fires from time to time. Wood was a cheap and plentiful building material, so fire prevention was not a big concern. Why, just four months earlier Hull City Council had refused to spend 00 to buy new fire-fighting equipment because of a budget deficit.

But that morning, everything would change. A steady wind picked up, blowing from the south towards Ottawa. Soon the wind speed reached 50 kilometres an hour. The fire spread from house to house, to offices, and to factories. Then it reached the banks of the Ottawa River, where thousands of metres of dried wood were piled, waiting to be shippedto market.Some people, seeking refuge from their burning homes and businesses, jumped in the river to escape the smoke and flames. But the water was turning warm from the heat as flaming piles of timber floated downstream.Suddenly - spurred on by the wind and the rising flames - the fire leaped over the river.

In no time, the palatial houses that the lumber barons had built beside the ChaudiËre Falls were gone, just like those of their mill workers. By nightfall, the Ottawa River glowed red with the reflected light of the fire. With more fuel and a strong wind, the fire slashed right through west Ottawa to Dowís Lake and the Dominion Experimental Farm. It could not be stopped. And it was spreading faster than a man could run.Days later, when it was all over, only a few brick chimneys, blackened stone walls, and charred tree trunks remained standing. Rows of metal wheels from destroyed railway cars curved through the flattened lumberyards. Reconstruction began immediately and, 10 months later, most of the businesses and some 750 houses had been rebuilt ó out of wood.

The Great Fire of 1900 marked the end of the capital as a lumber city. In the 20th century, Ottawa would become a government city. And now, in the 21st century, it is becoming a city of technology.But lumber was where it began.