EXPANSION OF STEAMBOATING ON THE NIAGARA--ITS DECLINE--A FINAL FLASH AND A
MOVE TO THE NORTH.
During this decade the Niagara River was more increasingly traversed by
many steamers, and became the main line of travel between the Western and
Centre States by steamer to Buffalo, and thence, via the Niagara River to
Boston and New York via Ogdensburg and Albany, or by Montreal and Lake
Champlain to the Hudson.
Lewiston had become a place of much importance, being the transhipping
point for a great through freighting business. Until the opening of the
Erie Canal all the salt used in the Western States and Canada was brought
here by water from Oswego, in thousands of barrels, from the Onandaga Salt
Wells. Business in the opposite direction was greatly active, report being
made of the passing of a consignment of 900 barrels of "Mississippi sugar,"
and 200 hogsheads of molasses for Eastern points in the United States and
Canada.
In addition to the sailing craft five different steamers left the docks
every day for other ports on the lake.
A new era was opened in 1847 by the introduction with great eclat and
enterprise of the first iron steamers. The "Passport," commanded first by
Captain H. Twohey and afterwards by Captain Thomas Harbottle, was
constructed for the Hon. John Hamilton, the iron plates being moulded on
the Clyde and put together at the Niagara shipyard by James and Neil
Currie. The plates for the "Magnet" were similarly brought out from
England and put together for J. W. Gunn, of Hamilton, the principal
stockholder, with Captain J. Sutherland her captain. Both these steamers in
their long service proved the reliability of metal vessels in our fresh
water. Both formed part of the Royal Mail Line leaving Toronto on the
arrival of the river steamers.
In the early "fifties" the "American Express Line," running from Lewiston
to Toronto, Rochester, Oswego and Ogdensburg, consisted of the fine upper
cabin steamers "Cataract," "Bay State," "Ontario," and "Northerner."
The "New Through Line," a Canadian organization, was comprised of six
steamers: the "Maple Leaf," "Arabian," "New Era," "Champion," "Highlander,"
"Mayflower." The route they followed was: "Leave Hamilton 7 a.m.; leave
Lewiston and Queenston about half past 8 p.m., calling at all north shore
Ontario ports between Darlington and Prescott to Ogdensburgh and Montreal
without transhipment. Returning via the north shore to Toronto and Hamilton
direct." The through time down to Montreal was stated in the advertisement
to be "from Hamilton 33 hours, from the Niagara River 25 hours."
A good instance of the frequency of the entrances of the steamers into the
harbours is afforded by an amusing suggestion which was in 1851, made by
Captain Hugh Richardson, who had become Harbour Master at Toronto.
The steamers running into the port seem to have called sometimes at one
dock first, sometimes at another, according, probably, to the freight which
may have been on board to be delivered. Much trouble was thus caused to
cabmen and citizens running up and down the water front from one dock to
another.
The captain, whose views with respect to the flying, and the distinctive
meanings, of flags, we have already seen, proposed that all vessels when
entering the harbour should designate the dock at which they intended to
stop by the Following signals:--
For Gorrie's Wharf--Union Jack at Bowsprit end.
For Browne's Wharf--Union Jack at Masthead.
For Maitland's Wharf--Union Jack at Staff aft.
For Tinnings Wharf--Union Jack in fore rigging.
For Helliwells Wharf--Union Jack over wheel-house.
It is to be remembered that in those days the "Western" was the only
entrance to the harbour and Front Street without any buildings on its south
side, followed the line of the high bank above the water so that the
signals on the steamers could be easily seen by all. The proposal was
publicly endorsed by the Mayor, Mr. J. G. Bowes, but there is no record of
its having been adopted.
In 1853 there was built at Niagara for Mr. Oliver T. Macklem the steamer
"Zimmerman," certainly the finest and reputed to be the fastest steamer
which up to that time sailed the river. She was named after Mr. Samuel
Zimmerman, the railway magnate, and ran in connection with the Erie and
Ontario Railway from Fort Erie to Niagara, which he had promoted, and was
sailed by Captain D. Milloy.
In this same year there was sailed regularly from Niagara another iron
steamer, the "Peerless," owned by Captain Dick and Andrew Heron, of
Niagara. This steamer was first put together at Dunbarton, Scotland, then
taken apart, and the pieces (said to be five thousand in number) sent out
to Canada, and put together again at the Niagara dockyard. These two
steamers thereafter divided the services in competition on the Niagara
Route to Toronto.
These years were the zenith period for steamboating on Lake Ontario and the
Niagara River, a constant succession of steamers passing to and fro between
the ports. Progress in the Western States and in Upper Canada had been
unexampled. Expansion in every line of business was active, population fast
coming in, and the construction of railways, which was then being begun,
creating large expenditures and distribution of money. The steamers on the
water were then the only method for speedy travel, so their accommodation
was in fullest use, and their earnings at the largest.
The stage routes around the shores of the lakes in those days were tedious
and trying in summer, and in winter accompanied by privations. The services
of the steamers in the winter were greatly appreciated and maintained with
the utmost vigour every year, particularly for the carriage of mails
between Toronto, Niagara, Queenston and Lewiston, for which the steamer
received in winter L3 for each actual running day, and between Toronto and
Hamilton, for which the recompense was L2 for service per day performed.
In 1851 the _Chief Justice Robinson_ is recorded (Gordon's Letter Books) as
having run on the Niagara River during 11 months of the year. The remaining
portion, while she was refitting, was filled by the second _City of
Toronto_.
It is mentioned that at one time she went to Oswego to be hauled out on the
marine cradle there at a charge of 25 cents per ton.
In 1852-53 the services were performed by the same steamers. In 1854 the
_Peerless_ made two trips daily during ten months, the _Chief Justice
Robinson_ taking the balance of this service and also filling in during the
other months, with the second _City of Toronto_ on the Hamilton Route.
The winter service to the Niagara River for 1855 was commenced by the
_Chief Justice Robinson_ on 1st January, the steamer crossing the lake on
22 days in that month. February was somewhat interrupted by ice, but the
full service between the shores was performed on 23 days in the month of
March.
So soon as the inner water in the harbour of Toronto was frozen up all
these services were performed from the outer extremity of the Queen's
Wharf, and in the mid-winter months mostly from the edges of the ice
further out, the sleighs driving out alongside with their passengers and
freight. It seems difficult for us, in these days of luxury in travel, to
comprehend the difficulties under which the early travellers laboured and
thrived.
There was a wonderful and final exploit in the winter business of the
Niagara River Route.
The "_Niagara Falls and Ontario Railway_" was opened as far as Lewiston in
1854 and by its connection at the Falls with the _New York Central Railway_
brought during its first winter of 1854-55 great activity to the Niagara
steamers.
The Crimean War was in progress and food products for the armies in the
field were being eagerly sought from all places of world-supply and from
America. Shipments were accordingly sought from Upper Canada. In summer the
route would be by the Erie Canal to Albany or by the St. Lawrence and
Montreal, but both routes were closed in winter.
The _New York Central_ had been connected as a complete rail route as far
as Albany, where, as there was no bridge across the Hudson, transportation
was made by a ferry to the _Hudson River Railroad_, on the opposite shore
for New York, or to the _Western Railroad_ for Boston.
[Illustration: The WILLIAM IV. 1832.
From the "Landmarks of Toronto." page 30]
[Illustration: The CHIEF JUSTICE ROBINSON. 1841.
From the "Landmarks of Toronto." page 84]
There was, at that time, no railroad around the head of Lake Ontario so a
Freight Route by steamer across the lake was opened to Lewiston, from where
rail connection could be made to the Atlantic.
In January, 1855, large shipments of flour made from Upper Canada mills
along the north shore of Lake Ontario began to be collected. The
enterprising agent of the _Peerless_ (Mr. L. B. Gordon) wrote to the
Central that he hoped to "make the consignment up to 10,000 barrels before
the canal and river opens." This being a reference to the competing
all-water route via the Erie Canal and Hudson River.
The first winter shipment of a consignment of 3,400 barrels was begun by
the _Chief Justice Robinson_ from the Queen's Wharf on 17th January.
The through rates of freight, as recorded in Mr. Gordon's books, are in
these modern days of low rates, remarkable. Not the less interesting are
the proportions accepted by each of the carriers concerned for their
portion of the service, which were as follows:
Flour, per barrel, Toronto to New York--
Steamer--Queen's Wharf to Lewiston 12-1/2c
Wharfage and teaming (Cornell) 6
New York Central, Lewiston to Albany 60
Ferry at Albany 3
Hudson River Railroad to New York 37-1/2
-----
Through to New York $1.19
What would the Railway Commissioners and the public of the present think of
such rates!
The shipments were largely from the products of the mills at the _Credit_,
_Oakville_, _Brampton_, _Esquesing_, and _Georgetown_, being teamed to the
docks at _Oakville_ and _Port Credit_, from where they were brought by the
steamers _Queen City_ and _Chief Justice Robinson_ at 5c per bbl. to the
Queen's Wharf, Toronto, and from there taken across the lake by the _Chief
Justice Robinson_ and the _Peerless_.
The propeller _St. Nicholas_ took a direct load of 3,000 barrels from Port
Credit to Lewiston on Feb. 2nd. Shipments were also sent to Boston at
$1,24-1/2 per bbl., on which the proportion of the "New York Central" was
68c, and the "Western Railroad" received 35c per bbl. as their share.
Nearly the whole consignment expected was obtained.
Another novel route was also opened. Consignments of flour for local use
were sent to Montreal during this winter by the _New York Central_,
Lewiston to Albany, and thence by the "_Albany Northern Railroad_" to the
south side of the St. Lawrence River, whence they were most probably teamed
across the ice to the main city.
Northbound shipments were also worked up and received at Lewiston for
Toronto--principally teas and tobaccos--consignments of "English Bonded
Goods" were rated at "second-class, same as domestic sheetings" and carried
at 63c per 100 pounds from New York to Lewiston.
It was a winter of unexampled activity, but it was the closing effort of
the steamers against the entrance of the railways into their
all-the-year-round trade.
Immediately upon the opening of the Great Western Railway from Niagara
Falls to Hamilton in 1855 and to Toronto in 1856, and of the Grand Trunk
Railway from Montreal in 1856, the steamboating interests suffered still
further and great decay. In the financial crisis of 1857 many steamers were
laid up. In 1858 all the American Line steamers were in bankruptcy, and in
1860 the _Zimmerman_ abandoned the Niagara River to the _Peerless_, the one
steamer being sufficient.
The opening of the American Civil War in 1860 opened a new career for the
Lake Ontario steamers, as the Northern Government were short of steamers
with which to blockade the Southern ports.
The "Peerless" was purchased by the American Government in 1861 and left
for New York under command of Captain Robert Kerr, and by 1863 all the
American Line steamers had been sold in the same direction and gone down
the rapids to Montreal, and thence to the Atlantic. A general clearance had
been affected.
The "Zimmerman" returned from the Hamilton Route to the Niagara River,
which had been left vacant by the removal of the "Peerless," but, taking
fire alongside the dock at Niagara in 1863, became a total loss. During the
winter the third "_City of Toronto_" was built by Captain Duncan Milloy, of
Niagara, and began her service on the river in 1864 and thereafter had the
route to herself. In 1866 the "Rothsay Castle" brought up by Captain Thomas
Leach from Halifax, ran for one season in competition, but the business was
not sufficient for two steamers so she was returned to the Atlantic. The
"City" then had the route alone until 1877, when the "Southern Belle,"
being the reconstructed "Rothsay Castle," re-entered upon the scene and
again ran from Tinnings Wharf in connection with the Canada Southern
Railway to Niagara.
Such had been the courses of navigation and steamboating on the Niagara
River from its earliest days--the rise to the zenith of prosperity and
then the immeasurable fall due to the encircling of the lakes by the
increasing railways. The old time passenger business had been diverted from
the water, the docks had fallen into decay, only one steamer remained on
the Niagara River Route, but it was fair to consider that with more vigor
and improved equipment a new era might be begun.
The decadence of trade had been so great, and the prospects of the Niagara
River presenting so little hope that Captain Thomas Dick had turned his
thoughts and energies into the direction of the North Shore of Lake Huron,
where mining and lumbering were beginning, and to Lake Superior, where the
construction of the Dawson Road, as a connection through Canadian
territory, to Fort Garry was commenced. He had several years previously
transferred the second _City of Toronto_ to these Upper Lake waters, and
after being reboilered and rebuilt, her name had been changed to _Algoma_,
commanded at first by his half brother, Capt. Jas. Dick, and in 1863 he had
obtained the contract for carrying the mails for the Manitoulin Island and
Lake Huron Shore to Sault Ste. Marie.
If ever there was a steamer which deserved the name of "_Pathfinder_," it
was this steamer "Algoma." It was said that all the officers, pilots and
captains of later days had been trained on her, and that she had found out
for them every shoal along her route by actual contact. Being a staunchily
built wooden boat with double "walking beam" engines, working
independently, one on each wheel, she always got herself off with little
trouble or damage. One trip is personally remembered. Coming out from Bruce
Mines the _Algoma_ went over a boulder on a shoal in such way as to open up
a plank in the bottom, just in front of the boilers. Looking down the
forward hatch the water could be watched as it boiled up into the
fire-hold, but as long as the wheels were kept turning the pumps could keep
the in-rush from gaining, so the steamer after backing off was continued on
her journey.
When calling at docks the engines were never stopped, one going ahead the
other reversed, until after Sault Ste. Marie had been reached and the
balance of the cargo unloaded, when the steamer, with the men in the
fire-hold working up to their ankles in water, set off on her run of 400
miles to Detroit, where was then the only dry dock into which she could be
put.
After a long and successful career the brave boat died a quiet death
alongside a dock, worn out as a lumber barge.
This transference of Captain Dick's interests to the Upper Lakes was,
strangely enough, the precursor to the events which led to the creation of
another era in navigation on the Niagara River. This "North Shore" route,
although for long centuries occupied by the outposts of the Hudson Bay and
North West fur companies, was so far as immigration and mercantile
interests were concerned, an undeveloped territory. Along its shores was
the traditional canoe and batteaux route from French River to Fort William
on the Kaministiqua River for trade with the great prairies by the
interlacing waterways to Lake Manitoba and the Red River. At intervals,
such as at Spanish River, Missassaga, Garden River, Michipicoten and
Nepigon River, were the outlets for the canoe and portage routes, north to
the Hudson Bay and great interior fur preserves. This ancient rival to the
Niagara River route had remained little varied from the era of canoe and
sail. The secrets of its natural products, other than fur, being as well
kept as were those of the fertility of the soil of the "great Lone Land,"
under the perennial control of the same adventurers of Charles II.
The creation of the "Dominion of Canada" and of the "Province of Ontario"
under Confederation in 1867 and its establishment as the "District of
Algoma" brought it political representation in the Provincial Legislature
and a development of its unoccupied possibilities.
The size of the constituency was phenomenal. Its first representative in
the Legislature of Ontario used quizzically to describe it: "Where is my
constituency? Sir, Algoma, is the greatest constituency on earth, and
larger than many an Empire in Europe. On the east it is bounded by the
French River, on the south by all the waters of Lakes Huron and Lake
Superior, on the west by Manitoba, with an undecided boundary, and on the
north by the North Pole, and the Lord knows where."
Its permanent voters were few and sparsely spread along a line of nigh 500
miles. By the Act of Confederation, Algoma was given a special
qualification for its voters being for every male British subject of 21 or
over, being a householder. Thus it has sometimes been averred that during
hotly contested elections the migratory Indians for a while ceased to
wander, that "shack towns" suddenly arose in the neighborhood of the saw
mills, composed of small "slab" sided dwellings in which dusky voters lived
until election day was over. It may be from these early seedlings that the
several constituencies which have since been carved out from their great
progenitor, have not been unremarkable for eccentricities in methods of
ballot and in varieties of voters.
Further diversion of vessel interests from the Niagara Route to the Upper
Lakes, and the circumstances which, within personal knowledge, accompanied
it, are a part of the history, and a prelude to the return to the river.