 At Montreal the passengers had to transfer to barges known as Durham boats to ascend the St. Lawrence Rapids to Prescott before catching a steamer to Kingston, Ontario and Toronto (then still called York).When the Rideau Canal was open the rapids could be avoided by using the Ottawa River and the canal.About 1800 people were sent to Canada by the scheme mostly from 1832 to 1837, although 170 went from 1838 to 1850 on ships of other agents.