BANKS--INSURANCE--MARINE-TELEGRAPH COMPANIES--ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
--MILLING AND MANUFACTURES--RAPID INCREASE OF POPULATION IN CITIES AND
TOWNS--EXCERPTS FROM ANDREW PICKEN.
The only bank in the Province in 1830 was the Bank of Upper Canada, with
a capital of L100,000. There are now nine chartered banks owned in
Ontario, with a capital of $17,000,000, and there are seven banks owned,
with one exception, in the Province of Quebec, having offices in all the
principal towns. There are also numbers of private banks and loan
companies, the latter representing a capital of over $20,000,000. This
is a prolific growth in half a century, and a satisfactory evidence of
material success.
Insurance has been the growth of the last fifty years. During the
session of the House of Assembly in 1830, a bill was introduced to make
some provision against accidents by fire. Since then the business has
grown to immense proportions. According to the returns of the Dominion
Government for the 31st December, 1879, the assets of Canadian Life,
Fire, Marine, Accident, and Guarantee Companies were $10,346,587.
British, doing business in Canada, $6,838,309. American, ditto,
$1,685,599. Of Mutual Companies, there are 94 in Ontario, with a total
income for 1879 of $485,579, and an expenditure of $455,861. [Footnote:
Inspector of Insurance Report, 1880.]
Fifty years ago the revenue of Upper Canada was L112,166 13s 4d; the
amount of duty collected L9,283 19s. The exports amounted to L1,555,404,
and the imports to L1,555,404. There were twenty-seven ports of entry
and thirty-one collectors of customs. From the last published official
reports we learn that the revenue for Ontario in 1879 was $4,018,287,
and that for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1880, the exports were
$28,063,980, and imports $27,869,444; amount of duty collected,
$5,086,579; also that there are fifty-six ports of entry and thirty-
eight outposts, with seventy-three collectors.
One of the most interesting features in the progress of Canada is the
rapid growth of its marine. It is correctly stated to rank fourth as to
tonnage among the maritime powers of the world. The United States, with
its fifty-four millions of people and its immense coast-line, exceeds us
but by a very little, while in ocean steamers we are ahead. In fact, the
Allan Line is one of the first in the world. This is something for a
country with a population of only five-and-a-half millions to boast of,
and it is not by any means the only thing. We have been spoken of as a
people wanting enterprise--a good-natured, phlegmatic set--but it is
libel disproved by half a century's progress. We have successfully
carried out some of the grandest enterprises on this continent. At
Montreal we have the finest docks in America. Our canals are unequalled;
our country is intersected by railroads; every town and village in the
land is linked to its neighbour by telegraph wires, and we have probably
more miles of both, according to population, than any other people.
The inland position of the Province of Ontario, although having the
chain of great lakes lying along its southern border, never fostered a
love for a sea-faring life. This is easily accounted for by the pursuits
of the people, who as has been said before, were nearly all
agriculturists. But the produce had to be moved, and the means were
forthcoming to meet the necessities of the case. The great water-course
which led to the seaports of Montreal and Quebec, owing to the rapids of
the St. Lawrence, could only be navigated by the batteaux and Durham
boats; and the navigator, after overcoming these difficulties, and
laying his course through the noble lake from which our Province takes
its name, encountered the Falls of Niagara. This was a huge barrier
across his path which he had no possible means of surmounting. When the
town of Niagara was reached, vessels had to be discharged, and the
freight carted round the falls to Chippawa. This was a tedious matter,
and a great drawback to settlement in the western part of the Province.
Early in the century, the Hon. William Hamilton Merritt conceived the
plan of connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario by a canal, and succeeded in
getting the Government to assume the project in 1824. It was a great
work for a young country to undertake, but it was pushed on, and
completed in 1830. From that time to the present vessels have been
enabled to pass from one lake to the other. This, with the Sault Ste.
Marie canal, and those of the St. Lawrence, enables a vessel to pass
from the head of Lake Superior to the ocean. The Ridean Canal undertaken
about the same time as the Welland Canal, was also completed in the same
year. It was constructed principally for military purposes, though at
one time a large amount of freight came up the Ottawa, and thence by
this canal to Kingston. The St. Lawrence was the only channel for
freight going east. All the rapids were navigable with the batteaux
except the Lachine, and up to 1830 there was a line of these boats
running from Belleville to Montreal. [Footnote: The reader may be
interested in learning the amount of produce shipped from the Province
in 1830, via the St. Lawrence, and the mode of its conveyance. It is
certainly a marked contrast, not only to the present facilities for
carrying freight, but to the amount of produce, etc., going east and
coming west. Statement of produce imported into Lower Canada through the
Port of Coteau du Lac, to December 30th, 1830, in 584 Durham boats and
731 batteaux; 183,141 Bls. flour; 26,084 Bls. ashes; 14,110 Bls pork;
1,637 Bls. beef; 4,881 bus. corn and rye; 280,322 bus. wheat; 1,875 Bls.
corn meal; 245 Bls. and 955 kegs lard; 27 Bls. and 858 kegs butter; 263
Bls. and 29 hds. tallow; 625 Bls. apples; 216 Bls. Raw hides; 148 hds.
and 361 kegs tobacco; 1,021 casks and 3 hds. whiskey and spirits; 2,636
hogs. Quantity of merchandise brought to Upper Canada in the same year,
8,244 tons.--_Journal of the House of Assembly_, 1831.] Our canal
system was completed fifty years ago, and all that has been done since
has consisted of enlarging and keeping them in repair. The total number
of miles of canal in the Province is 136.
The number of vessels composing our marine in 1830 was 12 steamers and
110 sailing vessels, with a tonnage of 14,300; and it is worthy of
remark that at that date the tonnage on the lakes was about equal to
that of the United States. The number of steam vessels now owned by the
Province is 385, with 657 [Footnote: Report Marine and Fisheries, 1880.]
sailing vessels, having a total tonnage of 137,481, which at $30 per ton
would make our shipping interest amount to $4,124,430.
A great deal has been done these last few years to protect the sailor
from disaster and loss. Independent of marine charts that give the
soundings of all navigable waters, buoys mark the shoals and
obstructions to the entrance of harbours or the windings of intricate
channels; and from dangerous rocks and bold headlands, jutting out in
the course of vessels, flash out through the storm and darkness of the
long dreary night the brilliant lights from the domes of the
lighthouses, warning the sailor to keep away. By a system of revolving
and parti-coloured lights the mariner is enabled to tell where he is,
and to lay his course so as to avoid the disaster that might otherwise
overtake him. There are now 149 [Footnote: Ib.] lighthouses in the
Ontario division. In 1830 there were only four. Another great boon to
the mariners of the present day is the meteorological service, by which
he is warned of approaching storms. It is only by the aid of telegraphy
that this discovery has been made practically available; and the system
has been so perfected that weather changes can be told twenty-four hours
in advance, with almost positive certainty. We have fourteen drum
stations, eight of which are on Lake Ontario, four on Lake Huron, and
two on the Georgian Bay.
The Montreal Telegraph Company, the first in Canada, was organized in
1847. It has 1,647 offices in the Dominion, 12,703 miles of poles, and
21,568 of wire. Number of messages for current year, 2,112,161;
earnings, $550,840. The Dominion Company reports 608 offices, 5,112
miles of poles, and 11,501 of wire. Number of messages, 734,522; gross
earnings, $229,994. This gives a total of 17,845 miles of telegraph,
2,282 offices, 2,846,623 messages, and gross earnings amounting to
$780,834. [Footnote: Annual Report of Montreal and Dominion Telegraph
Companies, 1881.]
The administration of justice cost the Province in 1830, $23,600, and
according to the latest official returns $274,013--a very striking proof
that our propensity to litigate has kept pace with the increase of
wealth and numbers. There were four Superior Court Judges, of whom the
Hon. John Beverley Robinson was made Chief Justice in 1829 at a salary
of $6,000. The remaining judges received $3,600 each. Besides these
there were eleven District Judges, and in consequence of the extent of
country embraced in these sections, and the distance jurors and others
had to travel, the Court of Sessions was held frequently in alternate
places in the district. In the Midland District, this court was held in
Kingston and Adolphustown. The latter place has been laid out for a town
by some farseeing individual, but it never even attained to the dignity
of a village. There was, besides the courthouse, a tavern, a foundry, a
Church of England--one of the first in the Province--the old homestead
of the Hagermans, near the wharf; a small building occupied for a time
by the father of Sir John A. Macdonald as a store, and where the future
statesman romped in his youth, and four private residences close at
hand. When the court was held there, which often lasted a week or more,
judge, jury, lawyers and litigants had to be billeted around the
neighbourhood. As a rule they fared pretty well, for the people in that
section were well off and there was rarely any charge for board. The
courts comprised the Court of King's Bench, the Quarter Sessions, and
Court of Requests. The latter was similar to our Division Court, and was
presided over by a commissioner or resident magistrate. The Quarter
Sessions had control of nearly all municipal affairs, but when the
Municipal Law came into force these matters passed into the hands of the
County Councils. The machinery in connection with the administration of
justice has been largely augmented for, beside the additional courts, we
have six Superior Court Judges, one Chancellor, two Vice-Chancellors,
one Chief-Justice, three Queen's Bench, three Common Pleas, three Court
of Appeal Judges, and thirty-eight County Court Judges.
The manufacturing interests of the Province in 1830 were very small
indeed. I have been unable to put my hand on any trustworthy information
respecting this matter at that time, but from my own recollection at a
somewhat later period, I know that very little had been done to supply
the people with even the most common articles in use. Everything was
imported, save those things that were made at home.
From the first grist mill, built below Kingston by the Government for
the settlers--to which my grandfather carried his first few bushels of
wheat in a canoe down the Bay of Quinte, a distance of thirty-five
miles--the mills in course of time increased to 303. They were small,
and the greater proportion had but a single run of stones. The constant
demand for lumber for building purposes in every settlement necessitated
the building of saw-mills, and in each township, wherever there was a
creek or stream upon which a sufficient head of water could be procured
to give power, there was a rude mill, with its single upright saw.
Getting out logs in the winter was a part of the regular programme of
every farmer who had pine timber, and in spring, for a short time, the
mill was kept going, and the lumber taken home. According to the returns
made to the Government, there were 429 of these mills in the Province at
that time. [Footnote: Journals, House of Assembly, 1831.] There were
also foundries where ploughs and other implements were made, and a few
fulling mills, where the home-made flannel was converted into the thick
coarse cloth known as full cloth, a warm and serviceable article, as
many no doubt remember. Carding machines, which had almost entirely
relieved the housewife from using hand cards in making rolls, were also
in existence. There were also breweries and distilleries, and a paper
mill on the Don, at York. This was about the sum total of our
manufacturing enterprises at that date.
There are now 508 grist and flour mills--not quite double the number,
but owing to the great improvement in machinery the producing capacity
has largely increased. Very few mills, at the present time, have fewer
than two run of stones, and a great many have fewer, and even more, and
the same may be said of the saw mills, of which there are 853. There are
many in the Province capable of turning out nearly as much lumber in
twelve months as all the mills did fifty years ago.
It is only within a few years that we have made much progress in
manufactures of any kind. Whatever the hindrances were, judging from the
numerous factories that are springing into existence all over the
Dominion, they seem to have been removed, and capitalists are embarking
their money in all kinds of manufacturing enterprises. There is no way,
as far as I know, of getting at the value annually produced by our mills
and factories, except from the Trade and Navigation Returns for 1880,
and this only gives the exports, which are but a fraction of the grand
total. Our woolen mills turned out last year upwards of $4,000,000,
[Footnote: Monetary Times, December 17, 1881.] of which we exported
$222,425. This does not include the produce of what are called custom
mills. There are 224 foundries, 285 tanneries, 164 woollen mills, 74
carding and fulling mills, 137 cheese factories, 127 agricultural and
implement factories, 92 breweries, 8 boot and shoe factories, 5 button
factories, 1 barley mill, 2 carpet factories, 4 chemical works, 9 rope
and twine factories, 9 cotton mills, 3 crockery kilns, 11 flax mills, 4
glass works, 11 glove factories, 7 glue factories, 9 hat factories, 12
knitting factories, 9 oatmeal mills, 9 organ factories, 10 piano
factories, 25 paper mills, 4 rubber factories, 6 shoddy mills, 3 sugar
refineries; making, with the flour and saw mills, 2,642. Besides these
there are carriage, cabinet and other factories and shops, to the number
of 3,848. The value of flour exported was $1,547,910; of sawn lumber,
$4,137,062; of cheese, $1,199,973; of flax, $95,292; of oatmeal,
$215,131; and of other manufactures, $1,100,605.
We may further illustrate the progress we have made by giving the
estimated value of the trade in Toronto in 1880, taken from an
interesting article on this subject which appeared in the Globe last
January. The wholesale trade is placed at $30,650,000; produce,
$23,000,000; a few leading factories, $1,770,000; live stock, local
timber trade, coal, distilling and brewing, $8,910,000; in all,
$64,330,000--a gross sum more than ten times greater than the value of
the trade of the whole Province fifty years ago.
Another interesting feature in our growth is the rapid increase in the
cities and towns. Some of these were not even laid out in 1830, and
others hardly deserved the humble appellation of village. The difference
will be more apparent by giving the population, as far as possible, then
and in 1881, when the last census was taken, of a number of the
principal places:--
1830. 1881.
Toronto 2,860 86,445
Kingston 3,587 14,093
Hamilton, including township 2,013 35,965
London, including township 2,415 ----
Brantford, laid out in 1830 ---- 9,626
Guelph, including township 778 9,890
St. Catharines (Population in 1845, 3,000) ---- ----
Ottawa contained 150 houses ---- ----
Belleville, incorporated 1835 ---- 9,516
Brockville 1,130 7,608
Napanee (Population in 1845, 500) ---- 3,681
Cobourg ---- 4,957
Port Hope ---- 5,888
Peterboro', laid out in 1826 ---- 6,815
Lindsay, " 1833 ---- 5,081
Barrie, " 1832 ---- ----
Ingersoll, " 1831 ---- 4,322
Woodstock (Population in 1845, 1,085) ---- 5,373
Chatham, settled in 1830 ---- 7,881
Stratford, laid out in 1833 ---- 8,240
Sarnia, laid out in 1833 ---- 3,874
I hope the humble effort I have made to show what we Upper Canadians
have done during the fifty years that are gone will induce some one
better qualified to go over the same ground, and put it in a more
attractive and effective shape. It is a period in our history which must
ever demand attention, and although our Province had been settled for
nearly half a century prior to 1830, it was not until after that date
that men of intelligence began to look around them, and take an active
interest in shaping the future of their country. There were many
failures, but the practical sense of the people surmounted them, and
pushed on. All were awake to the value of their heritage, and
contributed their share to extend its influence; and so we have gone on
breasting manfully political, commercial and other difficulties, but
always advancing; and whatever may be said about the growth of other
parts of America, figures will show that Canada is to the front. At the
Provincial Exhibition in Ottawa, in 1879, the Governor of Vermont, in
his address, stated (what we already knew), that Canada had outstripped
the United States in rapidity of growth and development during recent
years, and the Governors of Ohio and Maine endorsed the statement. We
have a grand country, and I believe a grand future.
"Fair land of peace! to Britain's rule and throne
Adherent still, yet happier than alone,
And free as happy, and as brave as free,
Proud are thy children, justly proud of thee.
Few are the years that have sufficed to change
This whole broad land by transformation strange.
Once far and wide the unbroken forests spread
Their lonely waste, mysterious and dread--
Forest, whose echoes never had been stirred
By the sweet music of an English word;
Where only rang the red-browed hunter's yell,
And the wolf's howl through the dark sunless dell.
Now fruitful fields and waving orchard trees
Spread their rich treasures to the summer breeze.
Yonder, in queenly pride, a city stands,
Whence stately vessels speed to distant lands;
Here smiles a hamlet through embow'ring green,
And there the statelier village spires are seen;
Here by the brook-side clacks the noisy mill,
There the white homestead nestles on the hill;
The modest school-house here flings wide its door
To smiling crowds that seek its simple lore;
There Learning's statelier fane of massive walls
Wooes the young aspirant to classic halls,
And bids him in her hoarded treasure find
The gathered wealth of all earth's gifted minds."
--PAMELA S. VINING.
Since writing the foregoing, I accidentally came across _The Canadas,
&c._, by Andrew Picken, published in London in 1832, a work which I
had never previously met with. It is written principally for the benefit
of persons intending to emigrate to Canada, and contains notices of the
most important places in both Provinces. I have made the following
extracts, thinking that they would prove interesting to those of my
readers who wish to get a correct idea of our towns and villages fifty
years ago.
"The largest and most populous of the towns in Upper Canada, and called
the key to the Province, is Kingston, advantageously situated at the
head of the St. Lawrence, and at the entrance of the great Lake Ontario.
Its population is now about 5,500 souls; it is a military post of
importance, as well as a naval depot, and from local position and
advantages is well susceptible of fortification. It contains noble
dockyards and conveniences for ship-building. Its bay affords, says
Howison, so fine a harbour, that a vessel of one hundred and twenty guns
can lie close to the quay, and the mercantile importance it has now
attained as a commercial entrepot between Montreal below and the western
settlements on the lakes above, may be inferred, among other things from
the wharfs on the river and the many spacious and well-filled warehouses
behind them, as well as the numerous stores and mercantile employes
within the town. The streets are regularly formed upon the right-angular
plan which is the favourite in the new settlements, but they are not
paved; and though the houses are mostly built of limestone,
inexhaustible quarries of which lie in the immediate vicinity of the
town, and are of the greatest importance to it and the surrounding
neighbourhood, there is nothing in the least degree remarkable or
interesting in the appearance of either the streets or the buildings.
The opening of the Rideau Canal there, which, with the intermediate
lakes, forms a junction between the Ontario and other lakes above, the
St. Lawrence below, and the Ottawa, opposite Hull, in its rear, with all
the intervening districts and townships, will immensely increase the
importance of this place; and its convenient hotels already afford
comfortable accommodation to the host of travellers that are continually
passing between the Upper and Lower Provinces, as well as to and from
the States on the opposite side of the river.
"York is well situated on the north side of an excellent harbour on the
lake. It contains the public buildings of the Province, viz., the House
of Assembly, where the Provincial Parliament generally holds its
sittings; the Government House; the Provincial Bank; a College; a Court
House; a hall for the Law Society; a gaol; an Episcopal Church; a
Baptist Chapel (Methodist); a Scots' Kirk; a Garrison near the town,
with barracks for the troops usually stationed here, and a battery which
protects the entrance of the harbour. Regularly laid out under survey,
as usual, the streets of the town are spacious, the houses mostly built
of wood, but many of them of brick and stone. The population amounts now
to between four and five thousand.
"By-Town, situated on the southern bank of the Ottawa, a little below
the Chaudiere Falls, and opposite to the flourishing Village of Hull, in
Lower Canada, stands upon a bold eminence, surrounding the bay of the
grand river, and occupies both banks of the canal, which here meets it.
Laid out in the usual manner with streets crossing at right angles, the
number of houses is already about 150, most of which are wood, and many
built with much taste. Three stone barracks and a large and commodious
hospital, built also of stone, stand conspicuous on the elevated banks
of the bay; and the elegant residence of Colonel By, the commanding
Royal Engineer of that station.
"The town-plot of Peterborough is in the northeast angle of the Township
of Monaghan. It is laid out in half acres, the streets nearly at right
angles with the river; park lots of nine acres each are reserved near
the town. The patent fee on each is L8, Provincial currency, and office
fees and agency will increase it 15s or 20s more.
"The settlement commenced in 1825, at which time it formed a depot of
the emigration under Hon. P. Robinson. The situation is most favourable,
being an elevated sandy plain, watered by a creek, which discharges into
the river below the turn. The country round is fertile, and there is
great water-power in the town-plot, on which mills are now being built
by Government. These mills are on an extensive scale, being calculated
to pack forty barrels of flour, and the saw-mill to cut 3,000 feet of
boards _per diem_.
"The situation of Cobourg is healthy and pleasant. It stands immediately
on the shore of Lake Ontario. In 1812, it had only one house; it now
contains upwards of forty houses, an Episcopal church, a Methodist
chapel, two good inns, four stores, a distillery, an extensive grist
mill; and the population may be estimated at about 350 souls.
"The two projected towns of most consideration in this district (London
district), however, are London-on-the-Thames, further inland, and
Goderich, recently founded by the Canada Company, on Lake Huron. London
is yet but inconsiderable, but from its position, in the heart of a
fertile country, is likely to become of some importance hereafter, when
the extreme wilds become more settled. The town is quite new, not
containing above forty or fifty houses, all of bright boards and
shingles. The streets and gardens full of black stumps &c. They were
building a church, and had finished a handsome Gothic court-house, which
must have been a costly work.
"Guelph. Much of this tract belongs to the Canada Company, who have
built, nearly in its centre, the town of Guelph, upon a small river,
called the Speed, a remote branch of the Ouse, or Grand River. This
important and rapidly rising town, which is likely to become the capital
of the district, was founded by Mr. Galt, for the Company, on St.
George's day, 1827, and already contains between 100 and 200 houses,
several shops, a handsome market house near the centre, a schoolhouse, a
printing office, and 700 or 800 inhabitants.
"The Bay of Quinte settlement is the oldest in Upper Canada, and was
begun at the close of the Revolutionary War. We crossed over the mouth
of the River Trent, which flows from the Rice Lake, and it is said can
be made practicable for steamboats, though at much expense; thence to
Belleville, a neat village of recent date, but evidently addicted too
much to lumbering.
"Brockville is a most thriving new town, with several handsome stone
houses, churches, court-house, &c., and about 1,500 souls."
SKETCHES OF EARLY HISTORY.
[Footnote: This paper was read before the Mechanics' Institute in
Picton, twenty-six years ago. Soon afterwards, the then Superintendent
of Education, Dr. Ryerson, requested me to send it to him, which I did,
and a copy was taken of it. An extract will be found in his work, "The
Loyalists of America," Vol. ii; page 219. Subsequently, in 1879, I made
up two short papers from it which appeared in _The Canadian Methodist
Magazine._ The paper is now given, with a few exceptions, as it was
first written.]
EARLY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS--BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC--LOVE
OF COUNTRY--ADVENTURES OF A U. E. LOYALIST FAMILY NINETY YEARS AGO--THE
WILDS OF UPPER CANADA--HAY BAY--HARDSHIPS OF PIONEER LIFE--GROWTH OF
POPULATION--DIVISION OF THE CANADIAN PROVINCES--FORT FRONTENAC--THE
"DARK DAYS"--CELESTIAL FIREWORKS--EARLY STEAM NAVIGATION IN CANADA--THE
COUNTRY MERCHANT--PROGRESS--THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE.
After having consented to read a paper on the subject which has already
been announced, I do not think it would be quite proper for me to begin
with apologies. That they are needed I confess at once, but then they
should have been thought of before. How often have we heard the
expression, "Circumstances alter cases," and this is just why I put in
my plea. If I had not been preceded by gentlemen whose ability and
attainments are far and away beyond mine, I should not have said a word.
But when these persons, some of whom finished their education in British
Universities, who have trodden the classic shores of Italy and mused
over the magnificent monuments of her past greatness, or wandered
through old German towns, where Christian liberty was born and cradled;
who have ranged the spacious halls of Parisian Institutes, or sauntered
in places where many historic scenes have been enacted in grand old
England--when these persons, I repeat, must crave your indulgence, how
much more earnestly should I plead, whose travels are bounded in the
radius of a few hundred miles; and whose collegiate course began, and I
may say ended, in the country school-house with which many of you are
familiar. What wonderful scholars those early teachers were.
"Amazed _we_, gazing rustics, rang'd around;
And still _we_ gaz'd, and still our wonder grew
That one small head could carry all he knew."
It is no wonder that we were often awed by their intellectual
profundity, nor that they gave our youthful brains an impetus which sent
them bounding through the severe curriculum we had to face.
The narrow-minded and unyielding policy of George III., as every one now
admits it to have been, brought about the American Revolution, and gave
birth to the American Republic. As always happens in every great
movement, there were two sides to this question, not only between Great
Britain and her colonists, but among the colonists themselves. One side
clamoured boldly for their rights, and, if need were, separation. The
other side shrank from a contest with the mother land, and preferred a
more peaceful solution of their difficulties. A moderate degree of
liberality on the part of the British Government would have appeased the
demands of the malcontents, and another destiny whether for better or
worse, might have been in store for the American people. But those were
days when the policy of the nation was stern and uncompromising, when
the views of trade were narrow and contracted, when justice was
untempered with mercy, and when men were bigoted and pugnacious.
Protracted wars consumed the revenues and made many draughts on the
national purse, and when the trade of the colonies was laid under
contribution, they refused the demand.
The Government, true to the spirit of the age, would not brook refusal
on the part of its subjects, and must needs force them to comply. The
contest began, and when, after a seven years' struggle, peace was
declared, those who had sided with the old land found themselves
homeless, and rather than swear allegiance to the new _regime_,
abandoned their adopted country and emigrated to the wilds of Canada and
the Eastern Provinces. Two results grew out of this contest: the
establishment of a new and powerful nationality, and the settlement of a
vast country subject to the British Crown, to the north, then an
unbroken wilderness, now the Dominion of Canada, [Footnote: This has
been changed. When the paper was written, the Confederation of the
Provinces, if it had been thought of, had not assumed any definite
shape. It followed eight years after, in 1867.] whose rapid strides in
wealth and power bid fair to rival even those of the great Republic.
The history of our country--I am speaking of Upper Canada--remains to be
written. It is true we have numerous works, and valuable ones too, on
Canada; but I refer to that part of history which gives a picture of the
people, their habits and customs, which takes you into their homes and
unfolds their every-day life. This, it seems to me, is the very soul of
history, and when the coming Canadian Macaulay shall write ours, he will
look in vain for many an argosy, richly freighted with fact and story,
which might have been saved if a helping hand had been given, but which
now, alas! is lost forever.
It can hardly be expected that I should be as familiar with the early
scenes enacted in this part of the Province as those who are very much
older. Yet I have known many of the first settlers, and have heard from
their lips, in the days of my boyhood, much about the hardships and
severe privations they endured, as well as the story of many a rough and
wild adventure. These old veterans have dropped, one by one, into the
grave, until they have nearly all passed away, and we are left to enjoy
many a luxury which their busy hands accumulated for us.
As a Canadian--and I am sure I am giving expression, not so much to a
personal sentiment, as an abiding principle deeply rooted in the heart
of every son of this grand country--I feel as much satisfaction and
pride in tracing my origin to the pioneers of this Province--nay more--
than if my veins throbbed with noble blood. The picture of the log
cabins which my grandfathers erected in the wilderness on the bay shore,
where my father and mother first saw the light, are far more inviting to
me than hoary castle or rocky keep. I know that they were loyal, honest,
industrious, and virtuous, and this is a record as much to be prized by
their descendants as the mere distinction of noble birth.
It has been said that love of country is not a characteristic of
Canadians; that in consequence of our youth there is but little for
affection to cling to; that the traditions that cluster around age and
foster these sentiments are wanting. This may be to a certain extent
true. But I cannot believe but that Canadians are as loyal to their
country as any other people under the sun. The life-long struggle of
those men whom the old land was wont "to put a mark of honour upon," are
too near to us not to warm our hearts with love and veneration; they
were too sturdy a race to be lightly over-looked by their descendants.
Their memory is too sacred a trust to be forgotten, and their lives too
worthy of our imitation not to bind us together as a people, whose home
and country shall ever be first in our thoughts and affection.
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said
'This is my own, my native land?'
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned
As home his footsteps he hath turned?"
Is there any place in the world where such marvellous changes have taken
place as here? Where among the countries of the earth shall we find a
more rapid and vigorous growth? Ninety years [Footnote: The reader will
bear in mind the date when this was written.] ago this Province was a
dense and unknown forest. We can hardly realize the fact that not a
century has elapsed since these strong-handed and brave-hearted men
pushed their way into the profound wilderness of Upper Canada. Were they
not heroes? See that man whose strong arm first uplifts the threatening
axe. Fix his image in your mind, and tell me if he is not a subject
worthy the genius and chisel of a Chantrey. Mark him as he swings his
axe and buries it deep into a giant tree. Hark! how that first blow
rings through the wood, and echoes along the shores of the bay. The wild
duck starts and flaps her wings; the timid deer bounds away. Yet stroke
follows stroke in measured force. The huge tree, whose branches have
been fanned and tossed by the breeze of centuries, begins to sway.
Another blow, and it falls thundering to the ground. Far and wide does
the crash reverberate. It is the first knell of destruction booming
through the forest of Canada, and as it flies upon the wings of the
wind, from hill-top to hill-top, it proclaims the first welcome sound of
a new-born country. And did these men of whom we have been speaking make
war alone upon the mighty forest? Did they find their way alone to the
wilds of Canada? No: they were accompanied by women as true and brave as
themselves; women who unmurmuringly shared their toils and hardships,
who rejoiced in their success, and cheered them when weary and
depressed. They left kindred and friends far behind, literally to bury
themselves in the deep recesses of a boundless forest. They left
comfortable homes to endure hunger and fatigue in log cabins which their
own delicate hands helped to rear, far beyond the range of civilization.
Let us follow a party of these adventurers to Canada.
In the summer of the year 1795 or thereabouts, a company of six persons,
composed of two men and their wives, with two small children, pushed a
rough-looking and unwieldy boat away from the shore in the neighbourhood
of Poughkeepsie, and turned its prow up the Hudson. A rude sail was
hoisted, but it flapped lazily against the slender mast. The two men
took up the oars and pulled quietly out into the river. They did not
note the morning's sun gradually lifting himself above the eastern
level, and scattering his cheerful rays of light across the river, and
along its shores. All nature seemed rejoicing over the coming day, but
they appeared not to heed it. They pulled on in silence, looking now
ahead, and then wistfully back to the place they had left. Their boat
was crowded with sundry household necessaries carefully packed up and
stowed away. At the stern are the two women; one, ruddy and strong,
steers the boat; the other, small and delicate, minds her children. Both
are plainly and neatly dressed; and they, too, are taking backward
glances through silent tears. Why do they weep, and whither are they
bound? Their oars are faithfully plied, and they glide slowly on. And
thus; day after day, may we follow them on their voyage. Now and then a
gentle breeze fills the sail and wafts them on. When the shades of
evening begin to fall around them they pull to shore and rear a
temporary tent, after which they partake of the plain fare provided for
the evening meal, with a relish which toil alone can give, and then lay
them down to rest, and renew their strength for the labours of the
morrow.
They reach Albany, then a Dutch town on the verge of civilization.
Beyond is a wilderness land but little known. Some necessaries are
purchased here, and again our little company launch away. They reach the
place where the city of Troy now stands, and turn away to the left into
the Mohawk river, and proceed slowly, and often with great difficulty,
up the rapids and windings of the stream. This rich and fertile valley
of the Mohawk was then the home of the Indian. Here the celebrated Chief
Brant had lived but a short time before, but had now withdrawn into the
wilds of Western Canada. The voyageurs, after several days of hard
labour and difficulty, emerge into the little lake Oneida, lying in the
north-western part of the State of New York, through which they pass
with ease and pleasure. The most difficult part of their journey has
been overcome. In due time they reach the Onondaga River, and soon pass
down it to Oswego, then an old fort which had been built by the French,
when they were masters of the country, as a barrier against the
encroachments of the wily Indian. Several bloody frays had occurred
here, but our friends do not tarry to muse over its battle-ground, or to
learn its history.
Their small craft now dances on the bosom of Ontario, but they do not
push out into the lake and across it. Oh no: they are careful sailors,
and they remember, perhaps, that small boats should not venture far from
shore, and so they wind along it until they reach Gravelly Point, now
known by the more dignified name of Cape Vincent. Here they strike
across the channel, and thence around the lower end of Wolfe Island, and
into Kingston Bay, where they come to shore. There were not many streets
or fine stone houses in the Limestone City at this time; a few log
houses composed the town. After resting and transacting necessary
business they again push away, and turn their course up the lovely Bay
of Quinte. What a wild and beautiful scene opens out before them! The
far-reaching bay, with its serried ranks of primeval forest crowding the
shores on either hand. The clear pure water rippling along its beach,
and its bosom dotted with flocks of wild fowl, could not fail to arrest
the attention of the weary voyageurs. Frequently do they pause and rest
upon their oars, to enjoy the wild beauty that surrounds them. With
lighter hearts they coast along the shore, and continue up the bay until
they reach township number four. This township, now known as
Adolphustown, is composed of five points, or arms, which run out into
the bay. They sail round four of these points of land, and turn into Hay
Bay, and, after proceeding about three miles, pull to shore. Their
journey it would seem has come to an end, for they begin to unload their
boat and erect a tent. The sun sinks down in the west, and, weary and
worn, they lay themselves down upon the bed of leaves to rest. Six weeks
have passed since we saw them launch away in quest of this wilderness
home. Look at them, and tell me what you think of their prospects. Is it
far enough away from the busy haunts of men to suit you? Would you not
rather sing--
"O solitude, where are the charms
Which sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place."
With the first glimmer of the morning's light all hands are up and at
work. A small space is cleared away, trees are felled, and in due time a
house is built--a house not large or commodious, with rooms not
numerous or spacious, and with furniture neither elegant nor luxurious.
A pot or two, perhaps a few plates, cups and saucers, with knives and
forks and spoons, a box of linen, a small lot of bedding, etc., with
"A chest, contrived a double debt to pay--
A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day."
These constitute pretty nearly the sum total. This is not a fancy
sketch. I have heard the story many a time from the lips of the little
old grandmother [Footnote: The writer is one of her grandsons. The
incident will be found in Dr. Ryerson's book.] who was of the party. She
lived to rear a family of nine children, and to see most of them married
and well settled; to exchange the log house for a large and comfortable
home, and to die peacefully at a good old age.
It is hardly possible for us to conceive the difficulties that beset the
first settlers, nor the hardships and privations which they endured.
They were not infrequently reduced to the very verge of starvation, yet
they struggled on. Tree after tree fell before the axe, and the small
clearing was turned to immediate account. A few necessaries of life were
produced, and even these, limited and meagre as they were, were the
beginnings of comfort. Comfort, indeed! but far removed not only from
them, but from the idea we associate with the term. I have in my younger
days taken grist to the mill, as the farmers say. But I can assure you I
would prefer declining the task of carrying bags of wheat upon my back
for three miles, and then paddling them in a canoe down to the Kingston
Mills, [Footnote: This mill was built by the British Government in the
first settlement of the Province for the benefit of the settlers.] and
back again to Adolphustown--about seventy miles--after which resuming
the pleasing exercise of backing them home. [Footnote: This was an early
experience of my grandfather, which he liked to relate in his old age to
young men.] Such things do not fatigue one much to talk about, but I
fancy the reality would fit closer to the backs of some of our young
exquisites than would be agreeable. Nor do we, when we stick up our
noses at the plainer fare of some of our neighbours, remember often what
a feast our fathers and mothers would have thought even a crust of
bread. How often--alas, how often!--were they compelled to use anything
they could put their hands upon, in order to keep soul and body
together. Could we, the sons of these men, go through this? I am afraid,
with one consent, we would say "No."
But time rolled on. The openings in the forest grew larger and wider.
The log cabins began to multiply, and the curling smoke, rising here and
there above the woods, told a silent but more cheerful tale. There dwelt
a neighbour--miles away, perhaps--but a neighbour, nevertheless. If you
would like an idea of the proximity of humanity, and the luxury of
society in those days, just place a few miles of dense woods between
yourself and your nearest neighbour, and you will have a faint
conception of the delights of a home in the forest.
There are persons still living who have heard their parents or
grandparents tell of the dreadful sufferings they endured the second
year after the settlement of the Bay of Quinte country. The second
year's Government supply, through some bad management, was frozen up in
the lower part of the St. Lawrence, and, in consequence, the people were
reduced to a state of famine. Men were glad, in some cases, to give all
they possessed for that which would sustain life. Farms were given in
exchange for small quantities of flour, but more frequently refused. A
respectable old lady, long since gone to her rest, and whose
grandchildren are somewhat aristocratic, was wont in those days to go
away to the woods early in the morning to gather and eat the buds of the
basswood, and then bring an apronfull home to her family. In one
neighbourhood a beef bone passed from house to house, and was boiled
again and again in order to extract some nutriment from it. This is no
fiction, but a literal fact. Many other equally uninviting bills of fare
might be given, but these no doubt will suffice. Sufficient has been
said to show that our fathers and mothers did not repose upon rose-beds,
nor did they fold their hands in despair, but with strong nerves and
stout hearts, even when famine was in the pot, they pushed on and lived.
The forest melted away before them, and we are now enjoying the happy
results.
The life of the first settler was for a long time one of hardship and
adventure. When this Utopia was reached he frequently had difficulty in
finding his land. He was not always very particular as to this, for land
then was not of very much account, and yet he wished, if possible, to
strike somewhere near his location. This involved sometimes long trips
into the forest, or along the shores. After a day's paddling he would
land, pull up his canoe, and look around. The night coming on, he had to
make some preparation for it. How was it to be done in this howling
wilderness? Where was he to sleep, and how was he to protect himself
against the perils that surrounded him? He takes his axe and goes to
work. A few small trees are cut down. Then he gathers some limbs and
heaps them up together. From his pocket he brings a large knife; then a
flint and a bit of punk. The punk he places carefully under the flint,
holding it in his left hand, and then picks up his knife and gives the
flint a few sharp strokes with the back of the blade, which sends forth
a shower of sparks, some of which fall on the punk and ignite, and soon
his heap is in a blaze. Now, this labour is not only necessary for his
comfort, but for his safety. The smoke drives the flies and mosquitoes
away, and keeps the wolves and bears from encroaching on his place of
rest. But the light which affords him protection subjects him to a new
annoyance.
"Loud as the wolves in Oroa's stormy steep
Howl to the roaring of the stormy deep,"
the wolves howled to the fire kindled to affright them away. Watching
the whole night in the surrounding hills, they keep up a concert which
truly "renders night hideous;" and bullfrogs in countless numbers from
adjacent swamps, with an occasional "To-whit, to-whoo!" from the sombre
owl, altogether make a native choir anything but conducive to calm
repose. And yet, amid such a serenade, with a few boughs for a bed, and
the gnarled root of a tree for a pillow, did many of our fathers spend
their first nights in the wilderness of Canada.
The first settlers of Upper Canada were principally American colonists
who adhered to the cause of England. After the capitulation of General
Burgoyne, many of the royalists, with their families, moved into Canada,
and took up land along the shores of the St. Lawrence, the Bay of
Quinte, and the lakes. Upon the evacuation of New York at the close of
the war a still greater number followed, many of whom were soldiers
disbanded and left without employment. Many had lost their property, so
that nearly all were destitute and depending upon the liberality of the
Government whose battles they had fought, and for whose cause they had
suffered. They were not forgotten. The British Government was not tardy
in its movement, and at once decided to reward their loyalty. Immediate
steps were taken to provide for their present wants, and also to provide
means for their future subsistence.
These prompt measures on the part of the Government were not only acts
of justice and humanity, but were sound in policy, and were crowned with
universal success. Liberal grants of land were made free of expense on
the following scale: A field officer received 5,000 acres; a captain,
3,000; a subaltern, 2,000, and a private, 200. Surveyors were sent on to
lay out the land. They commenced their work near Lake St. Francis, then
the highest French settlement, and extended along the shores of the St.
Lawrence up to Lake Ontario, and thence along the lake, and round the
Bay of Quinte. Townships were laid out, and then subdivided into
concessions and lots of 200 acres. These townships were numbered, and
remained without names for many years. Of these numbers there were two
divisions: one, including the townships below Kingston in the line east
to the St. Francis settlement; the other, west from Kingston to the head
of the Bay of Quinte. They were known by the old people as first,
second, third, fourth town, etc. No names were given to the townships by
legal enactment for a long time, and hence the habit of designating them
by numbers became fixed.
The settlement of the surveyed portion of the Midland District, which
then included the present counties of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington,
Hastings, and the county of Prince Edward, commenced in the summer of
1784. The new settlers were supplied with farming implements, building
materials, provisions, and some clothing for the first two years, at the
expense of the nation, "And in order," it was stated, "that the love of
country may take deeper root in the hearts of those true men, the
government determined to put a mark of honour," as the order of the
Council expresses it, "upon the families who had adhered to the unity of
the Empire, and joined the royal standard in America, before the treaty
of separation in the year 1783." A list of such persons was directed in
1789 to be made out and returned, "to the end that their posterity might
be discriminated from the future settlers." From these two emphatic
words--The Unity of the Empire--it was styled the U.E. list, and they
whose names were entered therein were distinguished as U.E. Loyalists.
This, as is well known, was not a mere empty distinction, but was
notably a title of some consequence, for it not only provided for the
U.E. Loyalists themselves, but guaranteed to all their children, upon
arriving at the age of twenty-one years, two hundred acres of land free
from all expense. It is a pleasing task to recall these generous acts on
the part of the British Government towards the fathers of our country,
and the descendants of those true and noble-hearted men who loved the
old Empire so well that they preferred to endure toil and privation in
the wilderness of Canada to ease and comfort under the protection of the
revolted colonies. We should venerate their memory, and foster a love of
country as deep and abiding as theirs.
In order further to encourage the growth of population, and induce other
settlers to come into the country, two hundred acres of land were
allowed, upon condition of actual settlement, and the payment of
surveying and office fees, which amounted in all to about thirty-eight
dollars.
In 1791 the provinces were divided, and styled Upper Canada and Lower
Canada--the one embracing all the French seigneuries; the other all the
newly-settled townships. The first Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves
Simcoe, arrived in 1792, and took up his residence at Newark (Niagara),
then the capital of the Province. Here the first Parliament of Upper
Canada met and held five successive sessions, after which it was moved
to York. Governor Simcoe laboured hard and successfully to promote the
settlement of the Province.
Kingston is the oldest town in Upper Canada by many years. The white man
found his way here more than a century before any settlement in the west
was made or thought of. Small expeditions had from time to time
penetrated the vast wilderness far to the west, either for the purpose
of trading with the Indians, or led by some zealous priest who sought
for the glory of God to bring the wandering tribes into the fold of the
Roman Church. The untiring energy and zeal displayed by these early
Fathers, together with the hardships, dangers and privations they
endured, form one of the most interesting pages of adventure in our
country's history. The crafty and industrious French Governor, De
Courcelles, in order to put a stop to the encroachments of the Five
Nations, despatched a messenger from Quebec to their chief to inform him
that he had some business of great importance to communicate, and wished
them to proceed to Cataraqui, where he would meet them. As soon as the
Indian deputies arrived, a council was held. The Governor informed them
that he was going to build a fort there, to serve principally as a depot
for merchandise; and to facilitate the trade that was springing up
between them. The chiefs, ignorant of the real intention of the wily
Governor readily agreed to a proposition which seemed intended for their
advantage. But the object was far from what the Indians expected, and
was really to create a barrier against them in future wars.
While measures were being completed to build the fort Courcelles was
recalled, and Count de Frontenac sent out in his place. Frontenac
carried out the designs of his predecessor; and in 1672 completed the
fort, which received and for many years retained his name.
Father Charlevoix, who journeyed through Western Canada in the year
1720, thus describes Fort Cataraqui. "This fort is square, with four
bastions built with stone, and the ground it occupies is a quarter of a
league in compass. Its situation is really something very pleasant. The
sides of the view present every way a landscape well varied, and it is
the same at the entrance of Lake Ontario, which is but a small league
distant. It is full of islands of different sizes, all well wooded, and
nothing bounds the horizon on that side. The Lake was sometimes called
St. Louis, afterwards Frontenac, as well as the fort of Cataraqui, of
which the Count de Frontenac was the founder, but insensibly the Lake
has regained its ancient name Ontario, which is Huron or Iroquois, and
the fort that of the place where it is built. The soil from this place
to la Sallette appears something barren, but this is only in the
borders, it being very good further up. There is over against the fort a
very pretty island in the middle of the river. They put some swine into
it, which have multiplied, and given it the name of Isle du Porcs.
"There are two other islands somewhat smaller, which are lower, and half
a league distant from each other. One is called Cedars, the other Hart's
Island. The Bay of Cataraqui is double; that is to say, that almost in
the middle of it there is a point that runs out a great way, under which
there is a good anchorage for large barks. M. de la Salle, so famous for
his discoveries and his misfortunes, who was lord of Cataraqui, and
governor of the fort, had two or three of them, which were sunk in this
place, and remain there still. Behind the fort is a marsh, where there
is a great plenty of wild fowl. This is a benefit to and employment for
the garrison. There was formerly a great trade here, especially with the
Iroquois, and it was to entice them to, as well as to hinder their
carrying their skins to the English and keep these savages in awe, that
the fort was built. But the trade did not last long, and the fort has
not hindered the barbarians from doing us a great deal of mischief. They
have still families here, in the outside of the place, and there are
also some Missisaguas, an Algonquin nation, which still have a village
on the west side of Lake Ontario, another at Niagara, and a third in the
strait." Such is the description we have of Kingston a century and a half
ago. The Mohawk name for it is Gu-doi-o-qui, or, "Fort in the Water."
I am unable, from any information I can get, to give the origin of the
name of our beautiful bay. It seems to have borne its present name at a
very early date in the history of the country. It is supposed by some to
be an Indian name with a French accent. I am disposed, however, to think
that it came from the early French voyageurs, from the fact that not
only the bay, but an island, are mentioned by the name of Quinte. The
usual pronunciation until a few years ago was _Kanty._
In the year 1780, on the 14th day of October, and again in July, 1814, a
most remarkable phenomenon occurred, the like of which was never before
witnessed in the country. "At noonday a pitchy darkness completely
obscured the light of the sun, continuing for about ten minutes at a
time, and being frequently repeated during the afternoon. In the
interval between each mysterious eclipse, dense masses of black clouds
streaked with yellow drove athwart the darkened sky, with fitful gusts
of wind. Thunder, lightning, black rain, and showers of ashes added to
the terrors of the scene, and when the sun appeared its colour was a
bright red." The people were filled with fear, and thought that the end
of the world was at hand. These two periods are known as the "dark
days."
Many years after this, another phenomenon not less wonderful occurred,
which I had the satisfaction of seeing; and although forty-five years
have elapsed, the terrifying scene is as firmly fixed in my memory as
though it had happened but an hour ago. I refer to the meteoric shower
of the 13th of November, 1833. My father had been from home, and on his
return, about midnight, his attention was arrested by the frequent fall
of meteors, or stars, to use the common phrase. The number rapidly
increased; and the sight was so grand and beautiful that he came in and
woke us all up, and then walked up the road and roused some of the
neighbours. Such a display of heaven's fireworks was never seen before.
If the air had been filled with rockets they would have been but match
strokes compared to the incessant play of brilliant dazzling meteors
that flashed across the sky, furrowing it so thickly with golden lines
that the whole heaven seemed ablaze until the morning's sun shut out the
scene. One meteor of large size remained sometime almost stationary in
the zenith, emitting streams of light. I stood like a statue, and gazed
with fear and awe up to the glittering sky. Millions of stars seemed to
be dashing across the blue dome of heaven. In fact I thought the whole
starry firmament was tumbling down to earth. The neighbours were terror
struck: the more enlightened of them were awed at contemplating so vivid
a picture of the Apocalyptic image--that of the stars of heaven falling
to the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is
shaken by a mighty wind; while the cries of others, on a calm night like
that, might have been heard for miles around.
Young and poor as Canada was half a century ago, she was not behind many
of the older and more wealthy countries in enterprize. Her legislators
were sound, practical men, who had the interest of their country at
heart. Her merchants were pushing and intelligent; her farmers frugal
and industrious. Under such auspices her success was assured. At an
early day the Government gave material aid to every project that was
calculated to foster and extend trade and commerce, as well as to open
up and encourage the settlement of the country. Neither was individual
enterprize behind in adopting the discoveries and improvements of the
time, and in applying them not only to their own advantage but to that
of the community at large. Four years after Fulton had made his
successful experiment with steam as a propelling power for vessels on
the Hudson, a small steamer was built and launched at Montreal; and in
1815 the keel of the first steamer that navigated the waters of Upper
Canada was laid at Bath. She was named the _Frontenac_.
The village of Bath, as you all know, is situated on the Bay of Quinte,
about thirteen miles west of Kingston. It was formerly known as
Ernesttown. Those of you who have passed that way will remember that
about a mile west of the village there is a bend in the shore round
which the road leads, and that a short gravelly beach juts out,
inclosing a small pond of water. At the end of this, west, stands an old
frame house, time-worn and dilapidated. Behind this house the steamer
already mentioned was built, and three years later another known as the
_Charlotte_ was launched here. [Footnote: I have often heard my
father tell about going to see the launch of the _Charlotte_. He
went on foot a round distance of over thirty miles.] Thousands of people
were present, and the event was long remembered. They were, no doubt,
marvellous things in those days--much more so, perhaps, than that huge
mammoth of steam craft of later days, the _Great Eastern_, is to
us. I cannot give the dimensions of these boats, but it is safe to say
that they were not large. Their exploits in the way of speed were
considered marvellous, and formed the topic of conversation in many a
home. A trip in one of them down the bay to Kingston was a greater feat
then than a voyage to Liverpool is now; and they went but little faster
than a man could walk.
Early travellers predicted that Ernesttown would be a place of
importance, but their predictions have come to naught. It reached many
years ago the culminating point in its history. Still, in the progress
of our country the above must give it more than a passing interest.
Gourlay speaks of Bath in 1811, and says, "The village contains a
valuable social library"--a thing at that date which could not be found
probably in any other part of the Province.
Previous to the introduction of steamers, which gave a wonderful impetus
to trade, and completely revolutionized it, the traffic of the country
was carried on under great disadvantages. Montreal and Quebec, the one
the depot of merchandise and the other the centre of the lumber trade,
were far away, and could only be reached during six months in the year
by the St. Lawrence, whose navigation, on account of its rapids, was
difficult and dangerous. There was but little money, and business was
conducted on an understood basis of exchange or barter. During the
winter months the farmer threshed his grain and brought it with his pork
and potash to the merchant, who gave him goods for his family in return.
The merchant was usually a lumberman as well, and he busied himself in
the winter time in getting out timber and hauling it to the bay, where
it was rafted and made ready for moving early in the spring. As soon as
navigation was open, barges and batteaux were loaded with potash and
produce, and he set sail with these and his rafts down the river. It was
always a voyage of hardship and danger. If good fortune attended him, he
would, in the course of three or four weeks make Montreal, and Quebec
with his rafts two or three weeks later. Then commenced the labour of
disposing of his stuff, settling up the year's accounts, and purchasing
more goods, with which his boats were loaded and despatched for home.
The task of the country merchant in making his selections then, was much
more difficult than it is now. Moreover, as he could reach his market
but once in the year, his purchases had to be governed by this fact. He
had to cater to the entire wants of his customers, and was in the
letter, as well as the spirit, a general merchant, for he kept dry
goods, groceries, crockery, hardware, tools, implements, drugs--
everything, in fact, from a needle to an anchor. The return trip with
his merchandise was slow and difficult. The smooth stretches of the
river were passed with the oar and sail, the currents with poles, while
the more difficult rapids were overcome by the men, assisted with ox-
teams. Thus he worried his way through, and by the time he got home two
or three months had been consumed. During the winter months, while the
western trader was busy in collecting his supplies for the spring, the
general merchant of Montreal, a veritable nabob in those days, locked up
his shop and set off with a team for Upper Canada, and spent it in
visiting his customers. The world moved slowly then. The ocean was
traversed by sailing ships--they brought our merchandise and mails. In
winter, the only communication with Montreal and Quebec was by stage,
and in the fall and spring it was maintained with no small difficulty.
One of the wonders of swift travelling of the day was the feat of
Weller, the mail contractor and stage proprietor, in sending Lord Durham
through from Toronto to Montreal in thirty-six hours. Many a strange
adventure could be told of stage rides between Toronto and Quebec, and
of the merchants in their annual trips down the St. Lawrence, on rafts
and in batteaux; and it seems a pity that so much that would amuse and
interest readers of the present day has never been chronicled.
There was one thing brought about by those batteaux voyages for which
the farmer is by no means thankful. The men used to fill their beds with
fresh straw on their return, and by this means the Canadian thistle
found its way to Upper Canada.
As Canada had not been behind in employing steam in navigation, so she
was not behind in employing it in another direction. Stephenson built
the first railroad between Liverpool and Manchester in 1829. Some years
later, 1836, we had a railway in Canada, and now we have over 5,000
miles in the Dominion. These two agencies have entirely changed the
character both of our commerce and mail service. The latter, in those
early days, in the Midland district, was a private speculation of one
Huff, who travelled the country and delivered papers and letters at the
houses. This was a very irregular and unsatisfactory state of things,
but was better than no mail at all. Then came the wonderful improvement
of a weekly mail carried by a messenger on horseback; and as time wore
on, the delivery became more frequent, post-offices multiplied, postage
rates were reduced, and correspondence increased. There were two other
enterprises which the country took hold of very soon after their
discovery. I refer to the canals and the telegraph. The first, the
Lachine Canal, was commenced in 1821, and the Welland in 1824. The
Montreal Telegraph Company was organized in 1847. So that in those four
great discoveries which have revolutionized the trade of the world, it
will be seen that our young country kept abreast with the times, and her
advance, not only in those improvements, but in every branch of science
and art, has been marvellous.