FIRST RAILWAYS AT LEWISTON--EXPANSION REQUIRED--THE RENOWN OF THE "LET HER
B"--A CRITIC OF PLIMSOLL.
The original terminus of the Lewiston branch, after it had emerged from the
cuttings in the Gorge, was at the upper end of the town, about a mile and a
half from the steamboat dock at the shore of the river. During the season
of 1886 the New York Central began again to consider the advisability of
extending their rails so that the trains might be brought to the steamer's
side.
This location had been a relic from the earliest travelling days. The rills
of travel from all parts of the West converged at Niagara Falls and then
passed on to join the steamboats for Lake Ontario.
Davison's "Travellers' Guide," published at Saratoga Springs in 1834,
says:--"A stage leaves Buffalo every morning at 6 o'clock, passing through
the village of Black Rock, 3 miles; Tonawanda, 9 miles; Niagara Falls, 11
miles. Fare $1.60. This line, after giving passengers an opportunity of
witnessing the Falls for two or three hours, proceeds to Youngstown, or
Fort Niagara, passing through Lewiston."
The _Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad_ had been organized and surveyed,
and the first steam trains commenced running in 1836 with a speed of 15
miles per hour, a rate which was considered notable. The track was laid on
wooden sills faced with scrap iron, and during the first winter was so
heaved by the frost, that the steam engines had to be taken off, and horses
used to haul the cars, these being only little ones with four wheels each,
modeled largely after the stage coaches of the period. In 1839, this
railway having been equipped with all-iron rails, had grown to two steam
trains per day each way, between Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
A further extension followed when another small railway company, the
_Niagara Falls and Ontario R.R._ was organized in 1852 to build a railway
of 14 miles from the Falls to the shores of the Lake at _Youngstown_, where
the steamers would be joined. Benj. Pringle, president; John Porter, vice
president; Bradley B. Davis, secretary. The company, at an expense
relatively much greater in those days than at the present, excavated the
rock cuttings and cut the shelf in the side of the cliff upon which the New
York Central Railway now runs through the Gorge, alongside the courses of
the Niagara River, and the railway was graded and opened to Lewiston in
1854. Construction was continued further to Youngstown and the track laid
in 1855, but only one train was run down to the lower port. It has been
said that this was necessary in order to complete the terms of the charter,
and appears to have been a final effort. The means of the company were no
doubt impaired, so that shortly afterward all further work on this
extension was suspended, the track taken up, and thus in 1855 the balance
of the line being leased to the New York Central, the Lewiston station had
become the terminus of the railroad, where it had ever since remained. As
the transfer to the steamers was originally intended to be made at
Youngstown, there had been no need, at that time, for the station at
Lewiston being constructed any nearer to the River bank.
From the very first the break in connection between train and boat had been
found inconvenient, and in the fall of 1855, Mr. Gordon, of the steamer
_Peerless_ wrote to the superintendent of the New York Central Railway,
saying:--"You must get the road down alongside the water at once."
This unpleasant transfer of passengers and their baggage in both directions
by road and bus had existed all these years. The extension now proposed,
would, it was expected, certainly be of advantage both to railway and to
steamboat, as facilitating travel. It would mean a considerable expenditure
to the New York Central Railway, yet they stated that if we would undertake
to put on another boat, they would build the extension. The Michigan
Central at Niagara-on-the-Lake, which had now become one of the New York
Central lines, had had quite enough trial of their "any boat" arrangement
and now desired a permanent service, which the putting on of another boat
would supply.
Decisions had, therefore, to be come to by both parties. "The first thing
for us to decide," said the Hon. Frank, "is whether _Chicora_ is good
enough to build a partner for her. This settled, we will then do our share
on the water, for advancing the traffic of the route while the railways do
theirs on the land."
[Illustration: The CORONA leaving N. N. Co. Dock at Toronto. page 178]
Immediately on the season closing in October, 1886 the steamer was put into
Muir's dry dock at Port Dalhousie and every atom of lining in her hull
removed so that the plates could be seen from the inside as well as from
the outside. The Government hull inspector, and W. White of Montreal,
shipbuilder, were brought over to make the inspection. From the beginning
and throughout as well as assisting in traffic matters the charge of the
hulls and engines had been my particular care. Led by Webster, the chief
engineer of _Chicora_, we entered the hull. Webster was a quiet sort of
fellow, sometimes nervous and at times excitable, perhaps a bit
over-intense in his work. He was lean and with a loose waistcoat. It has
been said by some that a steamboat engineer, to be successful, should have
a decent sized stomach to help steady him through the changing conditions
in his running days. The suggestion is well founded.
We went under deck. Webster was striking somewhat lightly on a plate which
showed some signs of inner scale when White broke out at him. "Mon ar' ye
feart o' goin' through? Gie ma t-hammer." Whereupon he rained his forceful
blows upon the plate with such vigor as to make the din ring. "Hoot," said
he as he stopped, "I'd 'a got through gin 'a could, but 'a couldn't."
At the end of the afternoon the inspecting party came out. "Well, White,"
was asked, "what's the verdict?"
Wiping the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt he answered:
"Wull, ye may tell Mr. Smith that when he, and I, and you are 'a in our
graves _Chicora_ will still be runnin' gin ye keep her off the rocks."
We therefore accepted the position set out by the railway companies and
undertook to build a new steamer to be ready for the season of '88, and run
the risk of profit on the investment while waiting for more traffic to grow
up. We determined that speed was the essential requisite. First to perform
the service with ease and regularity. Second to meet any competition which
might afterwards arise.
There were then in Canada no builders of fast marine engines of the size we
required. These were only to be found on the Clyde, so Mr. John Foy and I
sailed the next week on the _Lahn_ of the North German Lloyd for
Southampton.
We inspected the principal day boats on the lower Thames, and English
Channel, making notes and enquiries. Thence to Liverpool for Isle of Man
steamers. Here we called on the head office of "Lairds," the builders of
the _Chicora_, and made enquiries of her from the manager. "Chicora:
Chicora, I don't remember any steamer of that name--Ah: did you say the
_Let Her B_? Yes, she was the best ship of her class we ever built. There
she is," and raising his hand he pointed to the model of the _Let Her B_,
still hanging on the wall. He said they had built several steamers for
service in blockade running into the ports of the Confederate States during
the American Civil War. Three of these were named _Let Her Go_, _Let Her
Rip_, _Let Her B_. Of all the steamers which they had built the last named
and the last turned out was the most successful. Fast, seaworthy, of a
model which was a thing of beauty, she had not been surpassed. He was quite
enthusiastic about her and added "She had a stronger frame than usual, so
that she would be worth replating should it ever be desirable.[4]" He gave
us every attention and much information and for the requirements which we
detailed to him, advised us to go to the Clyde, giving us letters to some
of the best yards there.
In travelling one makes strange acquaintances. On the day express between
Liverpool and Glasgow when we were running at high speed down the grades
into Carlisle and the carriage was banging from side to side a gentleman,
the only other occupant with us, who had never said a word since we started
suddenly broke into speech, at the same time throwing his feet up on the
seat opposite to him. "Pit yer legs up! Quick!" The necessity for doing
this he explained by adding "Gin we leave the line yer legs might be cut
off by the seats comin' tegither." A good laugh at his fears and
earnestness dispelled the silence which had previously reigned. He was a
Scotch shipowner, and finding we were in the same line became
communicative.
How earnestly he blamed Plimsoll for his legislation in putting his "mark"
for load line on British ships but leaving the foreigner free, with all the
privileges of trading between British ports, and of loading as deeply as he
pleased. The effect, he said, on the British coasting trade was, that as
the foreigner could load as far as he liked, and therefore carry larger
cargoes, he could accept lower rates. Many British vessels were in
consequence of this competition sold out, and transferred to foreign
ownership.
"I suppose he thinks it's not his business to keep the furriner from bein'
drooned, yet he ties our hands and helps him take our trade, and noo he's
at it agin."
Mr. Plimsoll was just then introducing a new Bill into the House of Commons
at Westminster, proposing to make it illegal for Marine insurance companies
to insure the hulls of vessels for more than two-thirds of their value.
With this legislation our Scotch friend was very irate.
"Does the man think I want to lose my vessels. I'm in the business as my
fayther was, and I want to stay in the business. As things are I can insure
for full value. If I meet an accident either I get my vessel back again,
fit for her service, or I get the money and build a new and larger one. If
every time I have a total loss I am to be docked of one-third of my
capital, then it wouldn't be long before I'd be out of business. Ye never
can keep up the British merchant marine that way."
But wouldn't it be better for the insurance companies?
"No, not at all. The insurance companies make their money, not on the
ships' hulls, but on the cargoes which the ships carry. A single ship in
one season will carry dozens of cargoes. We are the shuttles which carry
backwards and forwards the cargo values on which the companies earn their
rates. In fact, we help to earn their money for them. Where would be the
cargoes without the ships? 'Gin Plimsoll had his way he'd wipe all the
British ships off the seas, but we're no so bad as he wad paint us."
There was a good deal of truth in what he said, for given that the repute
and moral hazard is good, it matters little so far as the owners exercise
of care for the avoiding of loss is concerned, whether the insurance
carried is for total value or only partial.
Needless to say the Plimsoll Bill did not carry. As evidence of our faith I
may mention that in the early days, when the Niagara company was simply a
family ownership, we insured only against fire and collision, carrying the
whole of the marine risk ourselves. But we watched with infinite closeness
the ships and our men, as is equally done now when the company insures for
a portion of the value.
November in Glasgow! A mixture of smoke, fogs and grime. Never was such
gloomy weather experienced. A soot of blue murkiness seemed to pervade the
atmosphere. We visited and consulted with the builders of the fast steamers
particularly the Fairfield Co. at Govan and the Denny's of Dunbarton.
Nothing could exceed the freedom with which the fullest information was
laid before us.
We also inspected the fast day steamers of the David Mactryne and the
Caledonian S.S. companies among them the _Columba_ and _Lord of the
Isles_, whose repute as day steamers for speed and equipment stood on the
highest scale and are still (1912) performing their regular service.
While there was much to admire in them, yet we found they were lacking in
many things in both exterior and interior fittings which our summer lake
passengers would consider important.
For instance--in making a trip one day on one of these steamers there was a
nasty drizzling rain. It dribbled down the main stairway which was open to
the sky, and there were no awnings or coverings over the upper deck. As a
result the passengers, who wished to have fresh air, sat along the deck
seats, either huddled together under umbrellas, or wrapped up in the Scotch
plaids with which almost everybody seemed to be supplied.
"What for why?" said the captain in reply to a suggestion that a deck
awning might be a good thing. "To keep off the rain," was the reply. "Ah
mon," said he, "it wad keep aff the sun."
Perhaps in the contrast between the Scotch climate and ours in Canada, he
was right, for they cannot spare any of the glimpses of the sun so
sparingly vouchsafed to them.
After fullest enquiry and consideration, we came to the conclusion that the
best thing we could do was to repeat a highly successful day passenger
paddle steamer, the _Ozone_ which had been built on the Clyde, and sent out
to Australia a year and a half previously, and had there obtained a
splendid record for speed and commercial success.
She was just the size we wanted, 250 feet long, 28' 6" beam in hull, or 52
feet over guards, draft 6 ft. 6 in. Compound engines with two cylinders of
47 inches, and 87 inches, developing 2000 horse power, and sending the
steamer at the officially certified speed of 20 miles per hour on the
Scotch trials on the Clyde between the _Cloch_ and the _Cumbrae_.
This would be a step larger and a step faster than _Chicora_. We arranged
with Mr. Robert Morton, the designer and supervisor of the _Ozone_, for a
set of plans and specifications for the hull, which, constructed of Dalzell
steel, would be put together on the shores of Lake Ontario, where the upper
cabin works would be added according to our own requirements.
They offered to deliver a fully completed steamer at Montreal in four
months, but we would have had to cut her and take off one of the guards to
get her up through the canals. For my part, I had had quite enough of
bringing steamers in parts up the St. Lawrence River on which the smaller
canals were still incompleted, so we decided to erect our new steamer on
the shores of Lake Ontario.
The engines would be built by Rankin, Blackmore & Co., of Greenrock, from
whose shops had come some of the fastest engines on the Clyde. These would
be a repetition of the engines which had been so successfully built by them
for the _Ozone_ and would be shipped out in parts to Montreal by the first
steamer in the spring.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] _Chicora_ was put in dry dock at Kingston in the winter of 1904 and
largely replated at an expense of $37,000.