Another of Thomas Burrowes’s responsibilities in the early period of the Rideau Canal project was to survey land at the head of the Entrance Locks in preparation for the construction of Sappers Bridge (crossing the canal in the area of today’s Château Laurier in Ottawa): In the early part of August, 1827, Burrowes wrote . . .

“I was directed to take levels and draw a section of the ground from the end of Rideau Street, Lower Bytown, to the opposite high ground to the west of the Rideau Canal, in order to ascertain the facilities of crossing the canal by a bridge."

The man shown sketching to the right of the 1845 painting below is Thomas Burrowes at work. The painting also shows the Lower Town section of Bytown stretching eastward from Barracks Hill (now Parliament Hill). Sappers Bridge, at the centre, was erected in 1827. “