British North America is the next to appear on the scene.
This institution was formed in 1836 by “British capitalists
interested in the prosperity and commerce of the North American
colonies,” to quote from “The Canadian Banking System,” by R.M.
Breckenridge. The nominal capital was £1,000,000 sterling; and
£690,000 of the capital paid up and utilized in the business of
the bank in America. The connections of the British Bank were
in both Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and
Newfoundland. The bank was obliged to procure legislation from
each province or colony. This legislation or authorization was
secured in 1837 and 1838.
Doctor Breckenridge mentions that the Nova Scotia Act recites
that the bank had introduced into that province the system of
cash credits and of allowing interest on deposits, usually
known as the Scotch system of banking. As it was difficult to
operate the bank under authority of so many different provincial
statutes, the directors secured a Royal Charter in 1840. In
granting it, the British Government stipulated that the capital
of £1,000,000 should be fully paid up and that no notes under
one pound currency should be issued. This charter also limited
the liability of the stockholders to the amount of their
subscriptions. The Bank of British North America thus had a wider
territorial scope than any of the other banks in Canada. It
gradually increased its power and influence; and in 1867, when
the Commercial Bank was about to fail, we find that the Bank
of Montreal and the British were regarded as the two big,
strong banks of the metropolis, able to bolster up the crippled
institution if they found it advisable to put forth their
strength.
[Illustration: SPECIMENS OF MONTREAL’S BANKS]
[Illustration: Bank of Toronto]
[Illustration: Canadian Bank of Commerce]
[Illustration: Bank of Montreal]
[Illustration: Bank of British North America]
[Illustration: Molson’s Bank]
[Illustration: Eastern Townships Bank]
[Illustration: La Banque Nationale]
The next bank appearing on the list with head office in Montreal
is the Molsons. This charter was granted in 1855. The original
capital was £250,000, authorized, of which £50,000 were to be
paid in before the bank should begin business; and the whole
amount was to be paid up in five years. The author of “The
Canadian Banking System” says the Molsons, the Zimmerman Bank,
the Niagara District, and the Eastern Townships came into the
field “when the tide of sudden and remarkable prosperity which
followed the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 was beginning.”
The Molsons was one of the few banks to take advantage of the
famous “Act to establish Freedom of Banking,” passed in 1850
by the Legislature of the Province of Canada. Banks taking
advantage of this act were required to deposit with the receiver
general provincial securities for not less than £25,000 currency,
par value, as security for the redemption of their notes. The
receiver general would then deliver to the bank an amount of
registered notes equal to the amount of debenture lodged. The
notes were marked “Secured by provincial securities deposited
with the Receiver General.” This represented an attempt to
introduce to this country the system of bond secured currency
which had then been taken up in the United States. The Canadian
Government’s action in this matter was prompted in part by the
desire to improve the market for its issues of debentures.
At that time the Government resorted to various devices for
converting the resources of the banks to its own uses.
The Bank of British North America also took advantage of the
provisions of the Free Banking Act as regards note issue. It is
understood that the British did so in order to obtain the right
to issue small notes.
The charter of the Merchants Bank of Canada was obtained in 1861;
and it began on 9th May, 1864, with a capital of $100,000, Hugh
Allan being the founder and first president. This bank operated
as a local Montreal institution for the first four years, and in
1868 it expanded into an important branch bank through acquiring
the estate of the Commercial Bank, which failed in 1867, the
failure following closely after the closing of the Bank of Upper
Canada. The bank thereby acquired a valuable connection in
Ontario and placed itself in position to develop with the growth
of that great province.
It is interesting to note that between 1867 and 1873 there was
strong competition in the matter of increasing paid-up capital
among the larger banks. The Bank of Montreal, the Canadian Bank
of Commerce (which had recently been organized in Toronto) and
the Merchants were particularly active in calling up new stock.
The bank return for 30th June, 1867, at Confederation, showed
twenty-eight banks in existence with total assets of $80,772,834.
And at the end of June, 1873, there were thirty-three banks, with
assets of $168,519,746.
Among the existing at present Montreal institutions the Banque
Provinciale ranks next to the Merchants in point of age, taking
into account the fact that it is the successor to Banque Jacques
Cartier. The Jacques Cartier was chartered in 1861, the same year
as the Merchants.
Then comes the Royal Bank--its head office in
Montreal--qualifying it for recognition as a Montreal
institution. The great business now controlled by the Royal
Bank of Canada had its beginning in Halifax in 1864. According
to the “Historical Sketch” of this bank, by J. Castell Hopkins,
a co-partnership institution called the Merchants Bank was
established that year with J.W. Merkel as president and George
Maclean as cashier. In 1869 it was transformed into a joint stock
institution, and received a charter under the name Merchants Bank
of Halifax. The capital was $300,000, the reserve fund $20,000,
and total assets $729,163. In 1887 the bank opened a branch in
Montreal, Mr. Edson L. Pease as manager. Since then the bank’s
business in this city has rapidly increased. In 1901 the bank’s
name was changed to Royal Bank of Canada, as the business had
assumed nation-wide proportions. And on March 2, 1907, the head
office was transferred from Halifax to Montreal. Mr. Pease had
assumed the general management in 1900, and the establishment of
the general manager’s office in Montreal dates from that year.
La Banque d’Hochelaga was organized by French-Canadian
capitalists, and received its charter in 1873.
The story of Montreal’s banking institutions would be incomplete
without a reference to the Montreal City and District Savings
Bank. Although it does not belong to the list of chartered banks,
the City and District, in the sixty-eight years of its existence,
has taken a prominent and very useful part in the financial life
of the metropolitan city. It now has fourteen branches in Greater
Montreal; and its total resources are well above the thirty
million dollar mark.
Also it should be remembered that various other banks, having
head offices in other cities, have taken a very important part
in the work of developing Montreal on the financial side. This
is shown by the record of branch offices operated in the city.
According to Houston’s Bank Directory for December, 1914, the
banks with head offices in Montreal, and other banks, had branch
offices in the city as follows:
BANKS WITH HEAD OFFICES IN MONTREAL
Offices.
Banque d’Hochelaga (1874) 28
Bank of Montreal (1817) 17
Royal Bank of Canada (1869) 21
Molsons Bank (1855) 10
Montreal City and District (1846) 15
La Banque Provinciale (1900) 12
Merchants Bank of Canada (1864) 8
Bank of British North America (1836) 3
---
Total 114
BANKS WITH HEAD OFFICES ELSEWHERE
Offices.
Standard (1873) 1
Bank of Toronto (1855) 8
Canadian Bank of Commerce 7
Dominion Bank 4
Quebec Bank (1818) 5
Bank of Ottawa 2
Imperial Bank of Canada 2
Union Bank of Canada (1865) 5
Banque Nationale (1860) 1
Bank of Nova Scotia 3
Sterling Bank of Canada 1
Home Bank 6
---
Total 45
The Bank of New Brunswick, established in 1820, the oldest of
the list, existed until 1913 when it was merged with the Bank of
Nova Scotia. The Canadian Bank of Commerce is the most important,
the total of its resources having risen to an equality with the
resources of the Bank of Montreal, and the number of its branches
being considerably greater than the number of Bank of Montreal
branches. The Commerce was incorporated originally as the Bank
of Canada in 1858. From the beginning of Canadian banking,
until a comparatively recent period, the Bank of Montreal
occupied a dominating position in regard to the other banks. At
Confederation the Bank of Montreal had roundly one-fourth of the
total capital of the banks, and more than one-fourth of the total
assets.
GROWTH THROUGH ABSORPTION
Largely by means of amalgamations, the Commerce and the Royal
have improved their positions relative to the Bank of Montreal.
The growth of these two banks has been phenomenal. Thus, taking
the Commerce, the total assets in 1870 were $7,844,681; in
1880 they were $21,435,711; in 1890, $22,596,520; in 1900,
$42,822,799; and in 1912 (September 30th), $242,172,114. Since
the beginning of the twentieth century the resources have
increased nearly six fold. In that period it has absorbed the
Bank of British Columbia, the Halifax Banking Company, the
Merchants Bank of Prince Edward Island, and the Eastern Townships
Bank.
The Royal Bank’s phenomenal growth also dates from the end of
the nineteenth century. As late as 1898 its total assets were
but $12,681,664; in 1910 they were $92,510,346; and in 1912
(September 30th), they amount to $172,908,661. In the list of
banks absorbed by the Royal are Banco de Oriente, Santiago, Cuba;
Banco del Comercio, Havana, Union Bank of Halifax, and Traders
Bank of Canada.
The Bank of Montreal, too, has absorbed several other banks; but
it can be said that it has not augmented its resources in that
manner to such an extent as its rivals have. In recent years its
absorptions began with the taking over of the Exchange Bank of
Yarmouth in 1903. Afterwards the People’s Bank of Halifax and
the People’s Bank of New Brunswick were absorbed on successive
occasions. And, of course, the Bank of Montreal acquired a
considerable portion of the Ontario Bank’s business through its
action in assuming the liabilities of that institution.
In order to show the recent progress of the Canadian banking
institutions now in existence, the following table is given,
comparing them in respect of total assets as at September 30,
1912,[3] and December 31, 1890. The banks are given in order
according to amount of paid-up capital as at the end of 1890:
Bank. December 31, 1890. September 30, 1912.
Montreal $ 47,978,000 $ 240,503,000
Commerce 23,061,000 242,172,000
Merchants 21,664,000 83,805,000
British 14,285,000 67,528,000
Quebec 9,030,000 21,343,000
Toronto 12,188,000 57,643,000
Molsons 12,186,000 52,958,000
Imperial 10,055,000 78,110,000
Dominion 12,407,000 73,607,000
Nova Scotia 8,911,000 66,982,000
Ottawa 5,534,000 50,310,000
Hamilton 6,719,000 47,695,000
Nationale 3,997,000 24,158,000
Union 6,419,000 66,985,000
[A]Merchants (Halifax) 5,849,000 172,908,000
Standard 6,052,000 39,758,000
Hochelaga 2,975,000 29,475,000
New Brunswick 3,070,000 12,676,000
[B]Jacques Cartier 2,841,000 12,115,000
------------ --------------
$215,221,000 $1,440,731,000
[A] Now Royal Bank of Canada.
[B] Now Banque of Provinciale.
This table shows at a glance the wonderful progress made by the
banking institutions of the country. Although Montreal can claim
only about one-third of these institutions as her own, in the
sense that they have head office in Montreal, yet it is the case
that the financial development of the city has been promoted by
the growth of practically all of the banks.
Probably there is no other country in the world able to show
such a record of advancement. In the case of eighteen banks with
resources in 1890 of $215,221,000, the increase has amounted to
$1,225,000,000, or nearly six hundred per cent, in less than
twenty-two years. Counting in the new banks it can be said that
the resources at present are seven times the resources possessed
in 1890 by the eighteen banks appearing in the first list.
BANK CLEARINGS
The statistics of bank clearings at the principal centers also
serve to illustrate the financial growth of Montreal and of
Canada. In 1892 there were clearing houses in operation at four
cities--Montreal, Toronto, Halifax and Hamilton. The total
of exchanges for each city in the year ending August, 1893,
was: Montreal, $602,180,723; Toronto (exclusive of the Bank of
Toronto), $326,009,971; Halifax, $59,835,278; and Hamilton,
$38,871,401. The grand total was therefore $1,026,897,373.
Montreal thus had about sixty per cent of the total.
The following table shows how the clearing system of the city and
of the country has developed:
Year Ending
Clearings. May, 1902. December, 1911.
Montreal $ 982,455,000 $2,370,487,000
Toronto 710,860,000 1,852,397,000
Winnipeg 155,506,000 1,170,763,000
Vancouver 49,675,000 543,484,000
Calgary 218,681,000
Ottawa 213,932,000
Victoria 29,071,000 134,929,000
Quebec 133,319,000
Hamilton 43,388,000 125,251,000
Edmonton 121,447,000
Halifax 91,545,000 88,194,000
St. John 40,734,000 77,328,000
Regina 73,032,000
London 71,534,000
Saskatoon 56,757,000
Brandon 29,430,000
Lethbridge 28,818,000
Brantford 27,806,000
-------------- --------------
$2,103,234,000 $7,337,615,000
In 1902 Montreal’s average daily clearing was about $3,270,000;
and in 1911 it was $7,900,000.
The outstanding feature of this exhibit is the progress of the
great cities of the West. In ratio of increase the Western cities
far surpass the Eastern cities. Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary
and Edmonton are rushing to the front. Of course, the growth
of the clearings of these secondary centers serves to swell
the clearings at Montreal and Toronto. Ultimate settlement of
differences or balances at the smaller places is made by putting
through drafts on the greater centers.
Montreal stands well up in the list of North American cities in
the matter of bank clearings, her position being from seventh
to ninth. But, when the clearings of a Canadian city are
compared with the clearings of a United States city, it should
be remembered that the existence of the branch system in Canada
has a tendency, in some respects, to make our figures appear
less. For example, the cheques and items drawn on or payable at
the Bank of Montreal, Montreal, which the other branches of the
Bank of Montreal receive each day, do not figure in the daily
clearings. Each institution clears within itself every day a very
large aggregate of transactions.
The banks of Canada originating from Montreal now have an
international reputation. The greatest financial institutions
and the most famous financiers of Europe and America regard
our leading banks as worthy of their respect. Our banks have
established their branches in the United States, Mexico, the West
Indies, Newfoundland, and in England and France; and they do
useful work in all those countries.
II. INSURANCE
A. FIRE
The Phœnix Fire Company, established in Montreal in 1804, was not
only the first insurance company in Canada, but it was the first
insurance corporation to leave England in search of business.
It was founded by a company of merchants to insure their sugar
warehouses, and being an innovation, most business houses in
England up till then having been composed of partnerships, it
was severely frowned upon by the “experts.” Seeing that many
British firms were desirous of insuring their Canadian property
it decided to establish its office here the better to be able to
handle such policies. It soon found that there was a good field
for its activities outside of English owned buildings and its
Canadian office was a flourishing adjunct by the time 1811 was
reached. It was destined to have the field all to itself until
1818, either because it had firmly entrenched itself during this
time or because Montreal and Canada in those days offered a very
unattractive sphere from an insurance point of view. The Phœnix
in those early days won for itself a splendid reputation and
grew to be recognized in the light of a bounteous institution by
the people of Eastern Canada, and today it successfully holds
its own against its younger rivals in the city, while in the
country districts, where tradition probably counts for more,
it is a household word and people insure with it for the not
inadequate reason that their fathers and grandfathers did. The
Phœnix Company not only introduced fire insurance to the rank and
file among our Canadian people, but it encouraged the formation
of fire fighting forces, itself donating engines, the city of
Montreal being a recipient of one of these machines, which put
it in possession of probably the first piece of fire fighting
apparatus it ever owned.
In 1818 the Phœnix monopoly in Canada was challenged at Quebec
by the Quebec Fire Insurance Company, which was established in
that year in the Ancient Capital, its formation being the first
practical effort on the part of Canadians to get a share of the
lucrative business which must have been obtainable at that time
for a corporation operating “on the ground floor” as it were. The
second insurance office to be established in Montreal itself was
the result of the enterprise of the Ætna Fire Insurance Company,
a concern which had been constituted in Hartford, Connecticut,
that birthplace of so many great fire and life institutions, in
1819.
These three companies seem to have practically parcelled up the
business of Eastern Canada among themselves until the ’50s, their
only rivals being several local mutual associations, brought into
existence probably by Montrealers anxious to secure some of the
wealth that was pouring into the coffers of the Phœnix, Quebec,
and Ætna, but which were doomed shortly to meet a disastrous
fate. In Upper Canada the British America, a Canadian enterprise,
and a branch of the Hartford, had begun operations, the former in
1833 and the latter in 1836.
The epochal decades of the ’50s and ’60s saw a tremendous
impetus given to the fire insurance business in Montreal,
seven great companies commencing careers which have continued
with uninterrupted success till the present day. In 1851 the
Royal, the famous English Company, established itself here, as
did the Liverpool and London and Globe, another great British
corporation, while the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of the City
of Montreal was inaugurated in 1859. This last-named concern
changed its title to the Montreal Canada Insurance Company in
1904 and took out a Dominion license, having operated under its
Lower Canada charter until that date.
In 1854 came a tremendous test for all the companies doing
business here--the big fire which practically wiped out the whole
of the east end of the city. The mutual fire associations, which
had been eking out a more or less haphazard existence, were
unable to meet the claims made upon them as a result of this
fire and consequently died ingloriously, much to the advantage
of the Phœnix and the Ætna, which settled every claim promptly,
and liberally. The Royal, and the Liverpool and London and Globe
were also called upon to pay a share of the losses of this
great conflagration, which they did at once, though of course,
their liability was very small compared to that of the older
established companies.
The growth of Montreal’s trade and the increase of her population
during the next decade are reflected in the eagerness with which
British houses, which had hitherto done their Canadian business
from home, decided to operate from this end. In 1862 the North
British and Mercantile Company and the London Assurance opened
head offices for Canada here, to be followed in 1863 by the
Commercial Union, in 1867 by the Northern Assurance, and in 1868
by the Guardian.
The coterie of fire insurance companies then in existence seems
to have been capable of absorbing all the new business that could
be written quite easily because for fourteen years no other
concern thought it advisable to enter the Canadian field. It was
in 1882 that the next office was to be inaugurated, that of the
Scottish Union and National, the Caledonian opening up here in
1883, while in 1886 another Canadian enterprise, the Manitoba
Assurance, was founded here, its policies being guaranteed by the
Liverpool and London and Globe.
After this the colony of insurance headquarters here was swollen
at regular and short intervals as will be seen from the following
list of newcomers between 1886 and 1911 (the nationality of the
companies being given in parentheses):
Atlas (British), 1887; Insurance Company of America (United
States), 1889; Phœnix of Hartford (United States), 1890; Queen
(United States), 1891; Alliance (British), 1892; Law Union and
Rock (British), 1899; Ottawa Assurance (Canadian), 1899; Home
(United States), 1902; German American (United States), 1904; St.
Paul Fire and Marine (United States), 1907; Yorkshire (British),
1907; Provincial (British), 1910; Royal Exchange (British), 1910;
Continental Life (United States), 1910; Underwriters at American
Lloyds (United States), 1910; and Union of Paris (French), 1911.
Since 1912 three or four small fire companies have retired, but
to offset this, others, to the number of six or eight, have
entered the field.
A statistical table prepared in 1912 to show Montreal’s
predominant position in fire insurance underwriting in the
Dominion and its long lead on Toronto, which is the second city
in Canada in this connection, follows:
Gross
Premiums. Losses. Income. Expenses.
Montreal Companies $14,335,000 $6,000,000 $14,657,000 $11,594,000
All Canada 26,867,000 3,912,000 9,333,000 6,596,000
Toronto Companies 7,767,000 10,936,000 26,699,000 21,833,000
Ins. in force. Assets. Cap. paid-up.
Montreal Companies $1,360,720,000 $20,213,000 $53,363,000
Toronto Companies 717,000,000 5,985,000 15,140,000
All Canada 2,279,688,000 38,000,000 72,427,000
B. LIFE
The development of the life insurance business of Canada began in
1846 by the establishment in Montreal of offices by the Scottish
Amicable and Scottish Provident Companies. After doing a fine
business these two corporations relinquished their right to do
new business in the year 1878. In the meantime, in 1847, the
Standard Life Assurance Company, a Scottish institution, had
entered the Canadian field, operating from a head office in this
city, the Royal and Liverpool and London and Globe inaugurating
life departments at the same time as they began to write fire
insurance from their Montreal office in 1851. In 1857 the ranks
of life companies here were augmented by the appearance on the
scene of the Life Association of Scotland, though this concern
has written no new business since 1878.
The period between 1860 and 1911 is punctuated at intervals with
the advent of new life corporations in Canada, Montreal being
selected as headquarters for most of them. In 1862 came the North
British and Mercantile, and a year later the Commercial Union and
London and Lancashire Life.
Eighteen sixty-five may be considered as a banner year for purely
Canadian life insurance underwriting, for the Sun Life, that
splendid monument to the genius of a number of Montreal men, was
founded in this year. The same year witnessed the arrival of
the Hartford Company of Connecticut in this city, this concern
being followed the next year by the Ætna and Phœnix Mutual Life
companies, and in 1868 by the Connecticut, these three last-named
corporations also having their headquarters in Hartford. The
Phœnix Mutual and Connecticut relinquished their licenses as far
as new business was concerned in 1878.
The Equitable, having its head office in New York City, and the
Union Mutual of Portland, Maine, also broke ice here in 1868, the
North Western Mutual of Milwaukee coming in 1871 and deciding to
do more new business in 1878. In 1887 the Germania of New York
State, and the New York Life were attracted to Canada and to
Montreal.
After this there was a lull in the formation of new businesses
until 1907, when the Prudential Life Insurance Company of Canada
was constituted, this company afterwards changing its title and
selecting that of the Security Life. In 1908 the Prudential Life
of the United States began to cater for Canadian business from
headquarters here and in branches elsewhere.
The Phœnix, the doyen of fire insurance companies in Canada,
decided to branch out into life, and launched a department to
deal with this phase of underwriting in 1910. In this year the
Travellers, a strong Canadian enterprise, was formed. Several
others not mentioned also intervened.
Since the above there has been no retirements in life insurance,
but four or five new companies have been added.
The following table indicates that Montreal holds the lead in
life insurance activity in the Dominion in the same way that it
does in the sister sphere of fire:
Gross Paid Total
Premiums. Losses. Income. Expenses.
Montreal Companies $15,858,000 $6,793,000 $21,789,000 $13,240,000
Toronto Companies 14,435,000 4,900,000 18,414,000 7,791,000
All Canada 40,608,000 19,194,128 53,911,619 40,607,303
Ins. in force. Assets. Cap. paid-up.
Montreal Companies $344,573,798 $116,027,692 $18,551,510
Toronto Companies 292,366,595 76,829,479 4,308,024
All Canada 950,220,771 265,214,984 26,540,323
MISCELLANEOUS INSURANCE
To the Guarantee Company of North America, a Montreal concern,
founded by local men and backed by Montreal capital, goes the
palm for being the pioneer among guarantee institution in Canada.
This company, whose standing is second to none in the world, was
brought into being in 1851.
In 1911 the contribution of Montreal to the insurance activity of
the Dominion was as follows:
Fire, 30 companies.
Life, 26 companies.
Miscellaneous, 16 companies.
For the sake of comparison, the figures for the same divisions of
insurance activity in Toronto, which comes second to Montreal in
Canadian business, are given. They follow:
Fire, 17 companies.
Life, 17 companies.
Miscellaneous, 21 companies.
In the whole of the Dominion the totals for these sections in
1911 were as follows:
Fire, 62 companies.
Life, 49 companies.
Miscellaneous, 51 companies.
Six Montreal and three Toronto life companies no longer take new
business.
As against the one small branch office of the Phœnix in 1804,
in 1911 Montreal could boast of possessing 141 offices devoted
exclusively to the handling of insurance in one form or another,
and eighty-three agents. No reliable and exact estimate of the
actual number of people who are employed here by insurance firms
and companies is obtainable, but it is safe to put it up in the
thousands.
In fire insurance Montreal has been made the headquarters of many
of those great British corporations who occupy an impregnable
position in the world in fire underwriting, a number of American
companies also handling their Canadian connection from this
point. Several enterprises with a Canadian backing also operate
from here, while every fire insurance concern in the Dominion of
any importance is represented in Montreal by agents of influence
or by special managers and staffs.
Canada has very largely assumed control of its own life insurance
business, and Montreal financiers have always been to the front
in developing this phase of underwriting. Those British and
American corporations which have selected this city as a starting
point for their Canadian ventures are among the most powerful in
the world, and have materially assisted in placing Montreal in
the first place among Canadian cities in the business done in
life insurance.
Montreal can also show that it has always lead in that section
of insurance enterprise covered by the term “miscellaneous” and
which includes the writing of policies on automobiles, accidents,
employer’s liability, plate glass, steam boilers, burglary,
sickness, inland transit, sprinkler leakage, titles, live stock,
hail, weather and tornado, etc.
To-day the bulked insurance business of Montreal institutions is
probably the greatest of any one city in the world by reason of
the fact that most of those influential enterprises which are
split up and divided among a number of cities in Great Britain
and the United States have concentrated their head offices for
Canada in this city.
It is safe to say that next to the great banking and railway
business done by local institutions more money is handled by the
insurance companies than by any other group of enterprises.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] An article by H.M.P. Eckhardt has been mainly used in this
chapter.--_Ed._
[2] One of these, the Banque du Peuple, established on July 11,
1835, has since lapsed.
[3] The statistics in the accompanying pages do not go, for
the most part beyond 1912. They will suffice for comparative
purposes. The rates of losses or gains will be found to be
comparatively the same till 1914.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
TRANSPORTATION
I
SHIPPING--EARLY AND MODERN
BY RIVER AND STREAM
MONTREAL HEAD OF NAVIGATION--LAKE ST. PETER--JACQUES CARTIER’S
DIFFICULTIES--THE GRADUAL DEEPENING OF THE CHANNEL--THE LACHINE
CANAL IN 1700--ITS FURTHER HISTORY--MONTREAL THE HEAD OF THE
CANAL SYSTEM OF CANADA.
From a very early age of improvement in the art of navigation
it must have become evident that water carriage was that which
presented the cheapest and most easy mode of transporting
merchandise from place to place. Accordingly, with some
exceptions, such as occur to all rules, we find that great cities
have always arisen either upon convenient ports of the sea, or
upon large navigable rivers and inland waters.
Such being the case, it is no wonder that the spot on which
Montreal now stands was early chosen for the foundation of a
commercial city.
It is true that the commerce of Canada in the early days was not
such as to employ many hands.
Peltry was for a long period the only traffic to which importance
was attached, and the cargoes of a few canoes, rich though they
were in value, required little labour for their transfer to the
hold of the European merchantman, and the market was managed by a
very few agents of the great houses in France.
While furs were the only exports, the bateau was suited to
the trade in both directions; but when agricultural exports
commenced, grain was first sent down before 1800 on the rafts and
in scows or “arks” which were broken up and sold as lumber in
Montreal. Merchandise was at that time carted to Lachine, whence
the bateaux and Durham boats took their departure (in “brigades”
of five or more boats that their united crews might help one
another at the rapids) and sailed through Lake St. Louis.
Still, such as the trade was, Montreal presented a most favorable
site for carrying it on. Never was a place for shipment and
transhipment more plainly indicated by natural laws.
For hence, more or less, navigable water courses spread out like
a fan over hundreds of thousands of miles in the interior, and
permitted the canoe of the Indian trader to penetrate in all
directions, while on the other hand, a broad and safe river led
to the great ocean.
When the labours of the voyageur and native hunter gave way
before the steady toil of the agricultural settler, the
advantages which had first prompted the selection of Montreal
were by no means diminished. The articles of export had changed,
but those by which they were followed could only reach Europe by
water and could be sent only thence by the same means.
The St. Lawrence, however, with all its acknowledged capacity,
was not without its drawbacks. Foremost was the long winter which
sealed its waters during six months of the year, and next were
the dangers of navigation of nearly nine hundred miles to the
sea. The first could not be overcome, but the enterprise of the
people has, to a great extent, done away with the other.
In years gone by, when, for instance, Jacques Cartier visited
the town then upon the site of Montreal, he was compelled by
the shallowness of the river to abandon his larger vessel and
approach the town by means of his pinnace.
In the year 1805 the Trinity House was established by act of
Parliament, with important powers relative to the navigation of
the St. Lawrence.
The principal difficulty met with was at Lake St. Peter, over
which (prior to 1851) only vessels of 250 tons could pass and
come up to the wharves of Montreal. As early as 1831, the
attention of the Legislature was directed to the matter. For
ten years it was discussed and in 1841 the Board of Works was
authorized by act to commence operations. At that time there were
only eleven feet at low water on the lake.
Up to 1846, some $400,000 had been expended without important
results. In June, 1851, the Harbour Commissioners, under the
impulse of Hon. John Young, began dredging, and in November of
the same year it was deemed a wonderful advance when the City
of Manchester passed down the river, drawing fourteen feet. In
1853 the depth was increased to sixteen feet two inches, and the
breadth of the channel to 150 feet. Every year saw improvements
made and by 1869 vessels drawing twenty feet could make the
passage in safety, while today the channel will permit navigation
by vessels drawing thirty feet.
This deepening of the channel accompanied and caused a vast
expansion of the shipping of the city, made more important by
the establishment of steam navigation. The commerce of Montreal
in the future will always be in direct proportion to the future
depth of the channel.
LACHINE CANAL
Before the construction of canals the great inland waters were
of but little value to commerce, the only means of reaching them
being by the bark canoe or bateau of the voyageur.
Many still living recollect how Sir George Simpson, Governor of
the Hudson’s Bay Company, made his annual canoe journeys from
Montreal to the Red River country. Having “sung at St. Ann’s
their parting hymn,” the flotilla of canoes ascended the Ottawa,
breasted the rapids, and after many weary days, by river, lake
and portage, reached Lake Huron and the Sault Ste. Marie, thence
along the north shore of Lake Superior to Fort William and the
Grand Portage and by Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods to Fort
Garry.
With the self-possession of an emperor he was borne through the
wilderness, and is said to have made the canoe journey to the Red
River forty times.
For his distinguished management of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s
affairs and for his services to the trade of Canada, Governor
Simpson was knighted. He died in 1860, a man who would have been
of mark anywhere.
The Lachine Canal, therefore, is to be closely connected with the
history of transportation, seeing that it was the initial stage
of the journey from Montreal, northward.
The credit of being the pioneer of the first Lachine Canal is
to be given to the Sulpician Dollier de Casson who, in 1700,
undertook to deepen the Little St. Pierre River and to make it
navigable for canoes through Lake St. Pierre between Montreal and
Lachine and thence to open a cut from the lake to a point on the
St. Lawrence above the worst part of the rapids.
The engineer was Gédéon de Catalogne between whom and Dollier de
Casson a notorial contract was made for the excavation of canal
twenty-four arpents (about one mile) in length, twelve feet wide
at the surface of the ground and of varying width at the bottom,
according to the depth of the cutting.
The water flowing through the canal was to be at least eighteen
inches deep at the lowest water in the St. Lawrence.
The work was begun in 1700. It was apparently never fully
completed, though it is very likely that the imperfect channel
could be used by canoes, for Upper Canada, during the period of
high water.
About the year 1780 certain short cuttings with locks available
for canoes and bateaux were made at few points on the St.
Lawrence where the rapids were wholly impassable.
As early as the 1795-6 session of the Provincial Parliament,
a bill was introduced for the construction of a canal and a
turnpike to Lachine by the Hon. John Richardson.
In 1804 was completed a channel three feet in depth along the
shore line of the Lachine Rapids, connecting with short canals
at the Cascades, Split Rock, and Coteau du Lac, which were
provided with locks eighty-eight feet long and sixteen feet wide,
admitting of the passage of “Durham boats.”
In 1805 the first attempt was made to improve the Lachine rapids.
The sum of $4,000 was voted to be expended in removing any
obstacles to navigation.
It is scarcely necessary to add that the attempt proved futile.
It had, however, the advantage of making perfectly plain that the
only means of overcoming these rapids was by the construction of
the Lachine canal.
The necessity of such a work, owing to increased intercourse with
Upper Canada, was obtaining more general recognition; but some
few years were to elapse before definite steps were taken to
carry the project into effect.
The proceedings of 1805 are worthy of record, as the first
practical attempt at any improvement of the navigation at this
spot.
The history of the modern Lachine Canal begins in 1815 when an
appropriation of £25,000 was voted for its construction, but no
steps were taken until 1819 when a joint stock company was formed
with a capital of $600,000. Surveys were made and the design
perfected by 1821 when the government took it up as a provincial
undertaking.
The work was commenced July 17, 1821, and was completed in 1825
at a cost of $438,404. The first sod was turned by the Hon. John
Richardson.
It had seven locks, each 100 feet long, 20 feet wide and with 4½
feet of water on the sills, but it was inadequate for the wants
of the trade as may be gathered from the following notice from
the Quebec Gazette of the 3d November, 1831:
“Public notice is hereby given that the undersigned, and others,
will apply to the Legislature of this Province as its ensuing
session for the privilege to form a Joint Stock Company for the
purpose of making a Canal, Locks, and Basins, in such places as
they may find necessary for a useful navigation from the Lake
of the Two Mountains to the waters of Lachine, and from thence
to the foot of the current St. Mary, with a branch to the port
of Montreal should they think fit, of dimensions not less than
will admit the passage of such vessels as can pass through the
locks of the Rideau Canal, and to acquire lands for basins and
water privileges as may be wanted by the said Company for the
Navigation and the use of the waters thereof.
Horatio Gates
Dr. Arnoldi
Thomas Phillips
Andrew White
Peter McGill
Joseph Masson
Jules Quesnel
J. Bouthillier
Frs. Ant. La Rocque
Jos. Logan
Montreal, 1 October, 1831.”
The enlargement was not, however, undertaken until 1843.
In 1843-49 it became a “Ship Canal” with five locks, each
200 feet long, 45 feet wide, and nine feet of water, costing
$2,149,128.
The enlargement, commenced in 1875, cost $6,500,000 and by this
the locks were increased to 270 feet in length and 14 feet depth
of water throughout the canal.
The Lachine Canal movement also included that for overcoming
the rapids of the Cedars, the Cascades and the Coteau. These
were completed in 1871. Since Montreal gave the impulse a canal
system has been instituted, so that from Belle Isle at the mouth
of the St. Lawrence via Montreal there is a water communication
by navigable rivers and great lakes to Port Arthur at the head
of Lake Superior, a distance of 2,200 miles, Duluth 2,343, and
Chicago 2,272. The number of locks passed from Montreal to Port
Arthur is forty-nine.
II
THE DEVELOPMENT OF MONTREAL SHIPPING
A--SAILING VESSELS
BIRCH BARK CANOE--BATEAU--DURHAM BOAT--SHIPBUILDING IN MONTREAL.
B--STEAM VESSELS
JOHN MOLSON’S ACCOMMODATION, 1809--PASSENGER FARES BETWEEN
MONTREAL AND QUEBEC--PASSAGE DESCRIBED--THE TORRANCES--INLAND
NAVIGATION--THE RICHELIEU AND ONTARIO COMPANY--THE FIRST UPPER
DECK STEAMER TO SHOOT THE LACHINE RAPIDS.
C--ATLANTIC LINERS
THE ROYAL WILLIAM FIRST OCEAN STEAMER AND PIONEER OF THE
OCEAN LINERS--ITS CONNECTION WITH MONTREAL--MAIL SERVICE TO
MONTREAL--THE GENOVA--ARRIVAL IN MONTREAL IN 1853--DINNER TO
CAPTAIN PATON--THE CRIMEAN WAR--THE MONTREAL OCEAN STEAMSHIP
COMPANY--THE FIRST CANADIAN ATLANTIC SHIP COMPANY--THE ALLAN
LINE--EARLY BOATS--MAIL CARRIERS--1861 DISASTERS--SUBSEQUENT
SUCCESS--THE PRESENT MONTREAL ALLAN SERVICE--THE CANADIAN PACIFIC
RAILWAY STEAMSHIP LINES--OTHER LINES--THE SHIPPING AND THE WAR OF
1914--THE GREAT ARMADA.
The early navigation apart from the few small sailing vessels
that would come up from Quebec was confined in great part to the
birch bark canoe, than which nothing yet has been found more
successful for primitive transportation. These were supplanted
later by the bateau. In 1679 La Salle, whom Montreal may claim
as one of its earliest citizens, launched the Griffin above
Niagara Falls in which he sailed to Lake Michigan, but previous
to 1790 little else but the bateau or open boat was constructed.
The bateau which supplemented the birch bark canoe was a large,
flat-bottomed skiff, sharp at both ends, about forty feet long
and six to eight feet wide in the middle, and capable of carrying
about five tons. It was provided with masts and lug sails,
with about fifteen feet hoist, an anchor, four oars and six
setting-poles shod with iron and a crew of four men and a pilot.
With forty barrels of flour on board it drew only twenty inches
of water. This was a very safe and adaptable vessel.
The Durham boat, an improvement on the bateau, was introduced
by the Americans after the War of 1812. They were flat-bottomed
barges with keel and center board and with rounded bows, eighty
to ninety feet long and nine to ten feet beam, with a capacity of
about ten times that of a bateau down stream, but in consequence
of the rapids and want of back freight they brought up on an
average only about eight tons.
A--SAILING VESSELS
The first ships built in Montreal were those constructed by Mr.
David Munn, who commenced his operations about the year 1806.
Two or three years later he entered into partnership with Mr.
Robert Hunter; the vessels they built were generally from 200 to
350 tons burthen; one, the Earl of Buckinghamshire, was 600 tons.
J. Storrow & Co. built two vessels in 1808 and 1809.
James Dunlop, in the three following years, built several of 330
to 350 tons burthen each.
James E. Campbell, M’Kenzie and Bethune, and James Millar & Co.
also built a number of vessels generally of about this same
tonnage.
There were built in the Province in 1825, 61 vessels; in 1826, 59
vessels; in 1827, 35 vessels; in 1828, 30 vessels, and in 1831,
only 9 vessels.
The Canada Ship Building Company from London began to build in
1828, but finished only two vessels.
In 1829 Shay and Merritt took possession of the yard and that
year built the steamboat British America, 170 feet long, 30-foot
beam, for John Torrance & Co. as a trader between Montreal and
Quebec; in 1830 the steamer John Bull, 182 feet long, 32-foot
beam, for John Molson & Co. as a trader between Montreal and
Quebec; the same year the steamboat St. George, 160 feet long,
26-foot beam, for John Torrance & Co.; in 1831 the steamboat
Canada, 175 feet long, 26-foot beam; also the steamboat Eagle
for Mr. James Greenfield, 140 feet long, 24-foot beam, and the
steamer Canadian Patriot, 130 feet long, 24-foot beam, for a
joint stock company.
In 1833 they built the steamboat Britannia, 130 feet long,
24-foot beam, for John Torrance & Co.; in the same year the
Varennes, 140 feet long, 23-foot beam, for Rasco & Co.; also the
steamer Montreal, 96 feet long, 18-foot beam, for James Wait.
In 1834 was built the ship Toronto of 345 tons for Captain
Collinson, running between this port and London; also the
Brilliant and Thalia, each 472 tons, for James Millar & Co., sent
home for the Baltic trade.
In 1835 the ship Dougles, 348 tons, was built for Captain Douglas
and in 1836 the bark Glasgow, 347 tons, and the bark Thistle, 260
tons, were built for Millar, Edmonstone & Co., and sent home for
West India trade.
In 1837, the bark John Knox, 347 tons, and in 1838, the ship
Gypsey, 572 tons, for the same company.
The same year--1838--the bark Colburne, 340 tons, and the brig
Wetherall, 252 tons, were built for Captain Collinson.
The situation of these shipbuilding yards was very favourable,
as the timber was hauled in at once from the St. Lawrence. The
length of the yard was 200 feet and all conveniences then known
were at hand for facilitating and completing the work in the most
perfect manner.
B--STEAM VESSELS
To a citizen of Montreal belongs the honour of launching the
second steam vessel which navigated the waters of America, and
the first on the river St. Lawrence.
In 1809 Hon. John Molson launched the Accommodation, a steam
vessel of eighty-five feet length.
When eighteen years of age he had come to Montreal in 1782 and
there he built the brewery. It was from the river bank at the
back of his brewery that he launched his first vessel broadside
into the river. The early history of steam navigation should
always remember Molson’s name.
The inventor of the application of steam to a marine engine was
William Symington who first constructed, in 1788, a vessel on
Lake Delawater, Dumfrieshire. In 1801-2 he completed a tow-boat
on the Forth and Clyde canal called the Lady Charlotte of Dundas.
Robert Fulton obtained drawings of the machinery and constructed
his Clermont, the machinery being made by Boulton & Watts of
Birmingham, England. The Clermont navigated the Hudson River in
1807.
John Molson now began to equip his Accommodation, fitting it with
engines, also by Boulton & Watts, and launching it in November,
1809. Though it caused him a loss of £3,000 he persevered and his
venture was followed by the Swiftsure in 1811; Lady Sherbrooke,
the Car of Commerce, and other vessels. These steamboats were a
powerful factor during the War of 1812 in forwarding troops and
supplies up the St. Lawrence to Montreal. Mr. Molson died in 1836
in his seventy-third year.
The first trip, November 3, 1809, of the Accommodation was thus
described by a contemporary writer:
“The Accommodation shot out into the current and after a voyage
of some sixty-six hours, of which some thirty hours were spent
at anchor in Lake St. Peter, reached Quebec. As might have been
expected, this vessel created a great deal of excitement, and
the Quebec Mercury chronicles its arrival thus: ‘On Saturday
morning at 8 o’clock, arrived here from Montreal the steamboat
Accommodation with ten passengers. This is the first vessel of
the kind that ever appeared in this harbour.
“‘She is continually crowded with visitants. She left Montreal
Wednesday at 2 o’clock, so that her passage was sixty-six hours,
thirty of which she was at anchor.
“‘She arrived at Three Rivers in twenty-four hours.
“‘She has at present berths for twenty passengers, which next
year will be considerably augmented.
“‘_No wind or tide can stop her._
“‘She has seventy-five feet keel and eighty-five feet deck. The
price for a passage up is nine dollars and eight down, the vessel
supplying provisions.
“‘The real advantage attending a vessel so constructed is that a
passage may be calculated on to a degree of certainty in point of
time, which cannot be the case with any vessel propelled by sail
only.
“‘The steamboat receives her impulse from an open double spoked,
perpendicular wheel on each side, without any circular band or
rim.
“‘To the end of each double spoke is fixed a square board that
enters the water, and a rotary motion of the wheel acts like a
paddle.
“‘The wheels are kept in motion by steam operating within the
vessel.
“‘A mast is to be fixed on her for the purpose of using a sail
when the wind is favourable, which will occasionally accelerate
her headway.’”
The first steamboat advertisement we quote from the Canadian
Courant:
“THE STEAM BOAT
will leave Montreal tomorrow at 9 o’clock precisely for Quebec.
Those wanting to take a passage will make choice of their Birth
(sic) and pay their Passage money before 8 o’clock tomorrow
morning, that a proper supply of fresh Provision may be provided.
FARES TO QUEBEC
For Passenger £2--10s--0d
Child under 11 £1--5s-- 0d
Servant with birth £1--13s--4d
Servant without birth £1--5s-- 0d
N.B.--60 lbs. weight will be allowed for each full Passenger, and
so in proportion. Way Passengers are to pay 1s per league and if
a meal occurs in the going, not less fifteen leagues, will be
gratis, if less will be charged Two Shillings and Six-pence each
meal.
Montreal, 4th June, 1810.”
* * * * *
The Accommodation was the first steamer on the river between
Montreal and Quebec. She made her first trip from Montreal
November 3, 1809. The Swiftsure followed in 1811, the Car of
Commerce, the Caledonia and others came later, but these early
steamers landed their passengers and freight at Molson’s wharf
at the foot of the current, and these which first ascended the
current did so with the aid of oxen or horses.
The Hercules (a tow-boat) was the first vessel with steam power
and without other aid to ascend St. Mary’s current, with the ship
Margaret in ballast in tow, during the season of navigation in
1824.
The well known writer M. de Gaspé, says of traveling between
Montreal and Quebec at this period, 1818:
“This reminds me of a first voyage from Quebec to Montreal by
steamer. It was in October of 1818, at 11 o’clock in the evening,
when the Caledonia, in which I had taken passage, left the
Queen’s wharf.
“Between 7 and 8 o’clock on the following morning my companion,
the late Robert Christie, opened the windows of his stateroom and
called out, ‘We are going famously.’
“We were really progressing well, for we were opposite Pointe
Aux-Trembles: aided by a strong wind we had made seven leagues in
nine hours.
“We arrived at the foot of the current below Montreal on the
third day, congratulating ourselves on the rapidity of steamer
trips, nor did we feel humiliated in the absence of favourable
winds, which did not last more than twenty-four hours, to have
recourse to the united strength of forty-two oxen to assist us in
ascending the current.
“I acknowledge that the Caledonia deserved to be ranked as a
first class steamer of that time, and it was with regret that we
bade adieu to it, after the pleasant time we had on board.”
Among the names of those who were chiefly connected with the
introduction and development of steam navigation in the Province
of Quebec may be mentioned, besides the Hon. John Molson, the
father of the steamboat enterprise in Canada, those of Messrs.
John and David Torrance, who, in 1826, placed the steamboat
Hercules on the Montreal-Quebec route, and who were also the
first in Canada to branch out into direct trade with the East
Indies and China; and George Bush, in 1834 manager of the Ottawa
and Rideau Forwarding Company, and after 1840 the sole proprietor
of the Eagle Foundry in Montreal.
[Illustration: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STEAMSHIP]
[Illustration: Early steam vessel with auxiliary sails]
[Illustration: The Allan liner “Alsatian”]
[Illustration: Old style sailing vessel]
[Illustration: Montreal harbor in 1872]
INLAND NAVIGATION
The Canada Steam Ship Lines, Ltd., succeeding the Richelieu and
Ontario Navigation Company, had its inception in 1845 when the
Richelieu, a small boat of 125 tons, commanded by M. Sincennes
who formed the Company, was put on its route between Montreal and
Chambly for the transportation of freight and passengers.
As this venture proved a success, the Jacques Cartier was built
three years later and ran between Montreal and Berthier.
In 1855 the Company added two greatly improved boats, the
Victoria and Napoleon, 350 tons each, to ply between Montreal
and Quebec. As a result of the keen competition thus produced
the Torrance Company, which had, prior to this, controlled the
entire traffic of the route, in 1858 sold their boat, the Quebec,
for $30,000 to the Richelieu Company, which by this time had a
capital of upwards of $125,000. During 1860-61 two additional
boats, the Columbia and the Europa, were added and the capital of
the Company considerably added to.
During 1862 the Company was increased by the fusion of
Terrebonne, and l’Assomption and Lake St. Peter Lines with the
Richelieu Company.
In 1861 the Montreal, costing $12,000, was placed on the line; in
1863 the Francois Yamaska was added, and in 1864 the Quebec was
constructed at a cost of $172,000.
In 1875 the company line was further enlarged by the taking
over of the line of boats running from Montreal to Toronto and
Hamilton.
This amalgamation took the name of the Richelieu and Ontario
Navigation Company and had a capital of $1,500,000 and eight
steamboats. Four more were soon added, the Athenian and
Abyssinian in 1876, the Cultivateur in 1880, and the St. Francis
in 1883.
From 1876 to 1882 the late Sir Hugh Allan was president of the
company, succeeded by L.A. Senecal, who died in 1887.
In 1895 Louis J. Forget became president of the company.
June 21, 1898, the company launched at Toronto, The Toronto, a
handsome new steel steamer, costing about $250,000. In 1913 the
Richelieu and Ontario became the Canada Steamship Lines Company,
which amalgamation controls most of the freight and passenger
boats operating in Canadian waters between the Gulf and the Great
Lakes, except the Sincennes, McNaughton Line, which controls the
towing in the district of Montreal, the Montreal Transportation
Company, the Hall Forwarding Company and several smaller inland
lines.
The Steamer Ontario, Captain Hilliard, was the first upper-deck
steamer to descend Lachine Rapids, August 19, 1840. Her name was
afterward changed to the Lord Sydenham.
It is not recorded that more than one steamer ever succeeded in
ascending the rapids of the St. Lawrence River. In November,
1838, the little Dolphin, after four weeks of incessant toil,
was towed up the Long Sault rapids with the aid of twenty oxen,
besides horses, capstans and men, added to the working of her
engine--the first and probably the last steamer that will ever
accomplish the feat.
C--ATLANTIC LINERS
Montreal can claim some share in the success of the first ship
that ever crossed the Atlantic under steam. The Royal William was
built in the yards of Campbell and Black in Quebec in 1830-1, the
designer being Mr. John Gondie.
The ship was launched in the spring of 1831 and towed to Montreal
to receive her machinery, and on being fitted out for sea her
first voyage was to Halifax, thence to Boston, being the first
British steamer to arrive at that port.
Her dimensions were: Length, 176 feet; hold, 17 feet, 9 inches;
breadth outside, 44 feet; breadth between paddle boxes, 28 feet.
She had three masts, schooner rigged; builders’ measurement,
1,370 tons; with accommodations for sixty passengers. She left
Quebec for London on August 5, 1833, via Picton, Nova Scotia.
Thence her voyage was twenty-five days.
Ten days after her arrival she was chartered by the Portuguese
Government to enter the service of Dom Pedro. In 1834 she was
sold to the Spanish Government and was converted into a war
steamer under the name of the Ysabel Segunda and was employed
against Don Carlos.
She was undoubtedly the pioneer of the great Atlantic liners.
The connection of Montreal and the Atlantic Service is now to be
told.
The origin of the Montreal steamboat mail service is indicated
from an article by Thomas C. Keeffer, civil engineer, 1863. “On
the 13th of August, 1852, a contract was entered into between
the Commissions of Works of Canada and Messrs. McKean, McLarty &
Company, a Liverpool firm, for a term of seven years, by which a
line of screw steamers of not less than 1,200 tons, carpenter’s
measurements, 300 horsepower and capable of carrying 1,000 tons
of cargo, besides coal, for twenty-two days, were to commence
running between Liverpool, Quebec and Montreal in the spring
of 1853, one every fortnight during the season of navigation,
and to Portland once a month; the outward passage not to exceed
fourteen days and the homeward passage thirteen days. The maximum
rate of freight to be charged was 60 shillings per ton. Fourteen
trips were to be made from Liverpool to the St. Lawrence and
back, for which at least five steamers were to be provided; and
five trips to Portland and back, for which three steamers were
required. The vessels were all to be ready and to commence their
fortnightly service on or before the 1st of May, 1854, and a
sufficient number to be ready and to commence the monthly trips
in the spring of 1853. The price to be paid by the province was
for fourteen fortnightly trips to the St. Lawrence, £1,238--1--11
sterling. The Grand Trunk Railway was to pay £388--6--8 sterling
for each monthly trip to Portland. In October, 1852, Messrs.
McKean, McLarty & Company formed a provisional company under
the title of the Liverpool & North American Screw Steamship
Company, and petitioned the Board of Trade for a Royal Charter
with limited liabilities. In this they were vigorously and
successfully opposed by the Cunard Steamship Company (already
magnificently subsidized by the British government) and generally
by ship owners not protected by a limited liability, and were
compelled to attempt the formation of their company under a
Canadian charter.
“Under this contract the Genova, a small steamer of 700 tons and
160 horsepower, was sent out in 1853, the first trans-Atlantic
steamer which entered the St. Lawrence proper.”
It reached Montreal carrying the royal mail on Friday, May
13, 1853, amidst great rejoicing. She was an iron boat from
Liverpool, commanded by Captain Paton.
On the evening of her arrival a dinner was given in the Donegani
Hotel, the following being the text of the address presented to
Capt. Walter Paton, who with Mayor Wilson and the others sat at
the banquet:
* * * * *
“Captain Paton, Sir.--Your arrival in the Port of Montreal in
charge of the Genova, the pioneer steamer of the Ocean Line, is
an event of too much importance to Canada to be allowed to pass
without notice.
“To mark the sense which the City Council entertains of this very
gratifying token of our Country’s advance, I have been instructed
to welcome you with heartfelt congratulations, and to offer you
the hospitalities of the City.
“It is now happily beginning to be understood that the highways
which nature has provided for access to the interior Countries,
are usually the shortest and most practicable, and a single
glance at the Map of North America, should convince the most
skeptical that the St. Lawrence, with its chain of lakes, is the
true channel for the commerce of the Great West. To divert into
other outlets the products of the vast granaries which skirt our
waters for thousands of miles, has employed the talents, energies
and resources of our great rival and neighbour, and not without
success.
“The time, however, is fast approaching when the tide of trade
and travel will take its proper and destined course. Canada
begins to feel its strength and to value its advantages. Its
pupillage has not been altogether misspent. Arrived at the
maturity which demands self-reliance it is ready to take
its place, as a full grown worker, and little doubt need be
entertained of the vigour which it is prepared to bring to the
task. What the future of Canada will be, the largest minds have
not adequately conceived. A knowledge of its unbounded resources,
the tithe of which has not been developed--an appreciation of its
salubrious climate, and the essentially liberal character of its
institutions offer guarantees to the emigrant for the successful
pursuit of competency and happiness which no other country can
exceed.
“The disturbance of our waters by your gallant vessel is one
of those strong pulsations which indicate the high health of
Canada. And the time cannot be very distant when this pulse will
beat--not once in the month, but with greatly increased power and
frequency. Nevertheless, Dear Sir, The Genova and Captain Paton
will ever be associated in the history of a note-worthy era; and
when the first Steamer of the ocean line is referred to, these
names will stir up the most pleasurable reminiscences. Again,
then, we hail your advent among us; and we may express the hope
that your connexion with this enterprize will be sufficiently
prolonged to place you in competition with other rivalries in the
same honourable strife.”
The Genova was followed by the Lady Eglinton, 600 tons and 160
horsepower, and the Sarah Sands, 1,200 tons and 150 horsepower.
But these boats only made five trips in 1853. The average voyage
was fourteen to twenty-two days, home twelve to eighteen days;
and 80 shillings freight instead of 60 shillings was charged. In
consequence of this total failure on the part of the contractors
the government of Canada annulled the contract.
The Crimean war of 1854 now broke out and no doubt the vessels
were needed for military transport purposes, so that no new
contract was made with the firm. This was the great opportunity
which was seized upon by the Allan Company, so that on September
28, 1855, a new contract was entered into with Hugh Allan, of
Montreal, to commence in April, 1856, and to give the same time
and number of trips as before, but with vessels not less than
350 horsepower. The subsidy was £24,000 sterling per annum, and
a penalty of £1,000 for every trip lost was provided for, the
deduction of a pro rata amount of the subsidy. The contract
was terminable by the contractors at the end of any year by
giving six months previous notice. Although the line was not
remunerative in its first season, 1856, the contract was
fulfilled in the most satisfactory manner, the outward passage
being under thirteen days and the home work a little over eleven
days. The Montreal Ocean Steamship Company was, therefore, the
first “Canadian Atlantic steamship company.”
But it must not be imagined that this was a brand new firm. It
had been long connected with the Montreal shipping ventures. The
Allan line dates back to 1822. In that year Capt. Alexander Allan
sailed to the St. Lawrence from Glasgow in the brig Jean--not
one-fiftieth of the tonnage of the liners of today, but the first
of the fleet, withal. Captain Alexander was succeeded by his five
sons, Captain Bryce commanding some of the earlier ships.
Hugh Allan arrived as a boy in Montreal, sailing from Greenock
in Scotland with his father on the brig Favorite. We can imagine
the scene of landing from the state of the development of the
port at that time. Hugh went into business as a bookkeeper to
William Kent & Company, but in 1831 he entered the office of
Messrs. William Edmonstone & Company, ship agents and ship
builders. Andrew, his brother, joined him later and they both
married sisters, daughters of R. John Smith, a wealthy importer.
These two brothers represented the Allan line in Montreal, while
Glasgow and Liverpool were served by the three other sons.
Meanwhile the Allan fleet, especially since 1834, had been
growing with such ships as the clippers Glennifer, Abeona, the
Corinthian, and their first steamship Sardinian, of which Captain
Dutton, a religious-minded but capable seaman, known as “Holy
Joe,” was the commander, afterwards becoming the commodore of the
fleet.
THE ALLAN LINE ROYAL MAIL STEAMERS
The firm now owned a fleet of fast sailing vessels of about three
hundred and fifty tons register--full-rigged ships which, with
ice-blocks round their bows, pushed their way through the ice, so
that sometimes they would arrive in port on the 15th of April. In
1853 Mr. Hugh Allan, who was a man of great tenacity of purpose,
and at the same time of remarkable foresight, saw that the time
had come for the building of iron ships for the St. Lawrence
trade. Besides, there was the consideration that they would run
to Portland in the winter time, and connect with Montreal by
rail. He enlisted the support of several wealthy men, including
Mr. William Dow and Mr. Robert Anderson, of Montreal, and formed
the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company. The Canadian and Indian
were the first two boats built by the company.
The boats cost about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars each
and had a speed of eleven knots.
They were wonders at the time and made a great impression, as
the people had not been accustomed to see iron ships. Thus it
happened that when about this time the Crimean war broke out,
and the government was at its wit’s end to provide transports,
the Allans went into the business, and while the war lasted made
large profits.
The Canadian Government now made a contract with Mr. Hugh Allan
for carrying the mails, paying an annual subsidy of $120,000 per
annum. The Anglo-Saxon, a new boat, ran from Quebec to Liverpool
in nine days on one occasion. This was thought to be wonderful,
as the people had been accustomed to a voyage of forty days on
the old sailing vessels. At that time the ships got 30 cents per
bushel for carrying grain. Contrast this with the 2 cents of
today, or the carrying of grain for nothing, as is done by New
York shipping at certain periods of the year, in order to get
ballast on an outgoing trip.
The requirements of the service in 1858 demanded more
accommodation, and the Allan brothers determined on a weekly
service.
Larger and faster boats were introduced. The government paid
subsidies to the new service totalling $416,000 per annum. Year
by year the Allans launched new boats, always bigger and faster,
though speed was never the chief consideration with the company.
In 1861 they had a fleet of over twenty vessels; but a sinister
fortune befell the company in the first ten years of its
existence. Eight ships were lost in as many years.
In 1857 the Canadian, in 1859 the Indian, in 1860 the Hungarian
and the second Canadian, and the North Briton in 1861, and later
the Anglo-Saxon, the Norwegian and the Bohemian--all became total
wrecks. The river was badly lighted. The tides did not run true.
The pilots were incompetent. The compass deviated, owing to some
strange local attraction due, it was said, to mineral deposits
in the gulf. Anyway, disaster followed disaster, and, as was
said at the time, any other man than Mr. Allan would have given
up in despair. But that gentleman had something of the firmness
of his native granite in his composition, and he never wavered.
Difficulties in time were overcome; the Allans began to prosper
and from this on their boats were singularly free from accidents.
To show, however, how little even the most perspicacious can see
in advance of their time, it may be stated that at the banquet
which the citizens tendered Mr. Hugh Allan in 1850, he said that
ships of 1,700 tons were the most suitable for the Montreal
trade. He lived to see his boats grow to 5,500 tons.
The line prospered; the number of boats was constantly increased
to meet the need; the Northwest was opened up; and the Allan
boats brought in many thousands of immigrants. In addition the
company branched out to South America.
The building of the Parisian in 1881 was supposed to be about the
last word in shipbuilding. She was far in advance of anything
to be seen on the route. Today she is, by comparison with the
leviathans of the route, almost as antique as the old Favorite
was when steamships came in.
In 1887, the Canadian Government decided to subsidize a line of
fast steamships. They asked for twenty knots an hour and that
the vessels should call at a French port. The Allans held that
the first demand was impracticable, owing to the fact that high
speed would be dangerous because of the fogs in the gulf; while,
as to the second, it was deemed to be out of the question. The
Government played with a tender from another firm, Anderson,
Anderson & Co., of London, which, however, did not make good;
and the fast Atlantic service, in spite of much discussion and
tentative efforts on the part of the Government and the shipping
people, has never come to anything to this day. The C.P.R.
offered to build a fast service; but the terms were deemed by the
government to be too onerous.
The line increased, however, in ships, in business done, in
reputation, both from our own and the American ports.
Mr. Hugh Allan was knighted in 1870. In 1877 he determined to
associate his name with the C.P.R. enterprise. He, in fact,
formed the first syndicate to build it. The fall of the Macdonald
Government defeated his plan.
He succumbed to an attack of gout in 1882, at the age of
seventy-two years. His remains were brought out to Canada in one
of his own ships, and laid to rest in Mount Royal Cemetery.
Alexander Allan died at Glasgow in 1892, leaving a fortune of
three million dollars. Andrew, so well remembered by Montrealers
for his public spirit, his identification with good works, his
“canny” Scotch caution, compatible, at the same time, with an
enterprise and boldness in the conduct of his business, died in
Montreal in the ’90s.
The business today is carried on by Mr. Hugh A. Allan, chairman,
resident in London, and Mr. Andrew A. Allan, vice chairman,
resident in Montreal.
The firm has broadened out in many important ways. It was the
first to introduce turbines on the St. Lawrence, and it is still
augmenting the fleet.
Of the Allan fleet, the steamers on the Montreal-Quebec-Liverpool
service making the port of Montreal are: Tunisian, 10,576.38
tons; Victorian, 10,629.09 tons; and Virginian, 10,569.62 tons.
The steamers on the Montreal and Glasgow line are: Corsican,
11,436 tons; Grampian, 10,900 tons; Scandinavian and Hesperian,
12,100 and 10,900 tons, respectively.
Those in the Montreal and London service are: Ionian, 8,267.61
tons; Sicilian, 6,229.49 tons; Scotian, 10,490 tons; Corinthian,
6,229.49 tons; and Tunisian, 10,576.38 tons.
Those in the Montreal and Havre service are: Ionian, 8,267.61
tons; Scotian, Corinthian, Sicilian, 6,229.49 tons; and Tunisian,
10,576.38 tons.
The year 1914 also saw the introduction to the Liverpool service
of the Allan Line the new steamers Alsatian and Calgarian,
quadruple screw turbine steamers, ships of 18,000 tons, 21
knots speed, the largest, fastest and most luxuriously equipped
steamers on the St. Lawrence route.
Among the great mercantile fleets of the world no house flag is
better known than the red pennant and tri-color of the Allan
Line and none represents to the ocean voyager a greater degree of
safety and comfort.
To the Allan Liner Corsican, Capt. John Hall, belongs the honour
of being the first ocean liner to make the port of Montreal in
1914, arriving here at 12:30 p. m., Wednesday, April 29th.
Following the time honoured custom Captain Hall was presented by
the Harbour Commissioners with a gold headed cane and a silk hat.
OTHER FLEETS
Another great fleet connected closely with Montreal is that of
the Canadian Pacific Railway steamship service. The history of
the inception and development of the railway is told elsewhere.
The history of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, as steamship
owners, dates back for more than a quarter of a century, for it
was early in 1883 that the company contracted on the Clyde for
the construction of three steel screw steamships for service on
the Great Lakes. In 1887 a trans-Pacific service was established,
and in 1889 a car ferry service was put into commission
between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. In 1896 the
C.P.R. bought the Kootenay Navigation Company, and in 1903 was
established the British Columbia Coast service. In 1903 also the
Atlantic service was established, and all these services have
been extended until as it may be said it is possible to take a
trip completely around the world on a C.P.R. ticket and never
leave a C.P.R. boat or train.
It has also a trans-Pacific and a Mediterranean fleet. The
Canadian Pacific railway steamship service also operates three
freight boats between Montreal and Avonmouth Dock in summer and
from Halifax in winter. In 1906 the Empress of Ireland, which met
disaster in May, 1914, and the Empress of Britain were put on the
Quebec route.
The Elder Dempster line established the South African line in
1902 and in 1905 established the service to Cuba and Mexico.
The White Star Dominion established a weekly service in 1909
between Liverpool, Quebec and Montreal and the great liners, the
Laurentic and Megantic, appeared at Montreal in the early summer
of that year.
Meanwhile the Thomson & Donaldson lines had long been connected
with the port under the agency of the Reford Company, so long
connected with commercial and shipping interests of the port. The
Furness Withy Company, which has its agency here, also have been
trading for some time between Montreal and Manchester, and the
east coast of England.
Another fleet closely connected with Montreal is the Royal Line,
owned and operated by the Canadian Northern Railway Company since
1912, between Montreal and Bristol.
For various reasons the Royal Line did not wish to run to
Liverpool, which was already overcrowded with Canadian shipping.
So they ran to Avonmouth dock instead, and opened up an entirely
new artery of traffic to the Canadian ports. Before the
inauguration of the Royal Line, no passenger ships of importance
ran to Bristol, and naturally the securing of the Royal Line
service was made an occasion of much rejoicing.
The Royal George and the Royal Edward began their trips in 1912.
These are the only Canadian registered ocean liners. The other
fleets entering the Port are connected with agencies elsewhere
and only enter into the history of the Port inasmuch as they
contribute largely to its success as a mercantile center.
These include the White Star-Dominion, Canada, the Cunard,
the Monson and Donaldson lines, which the Reford Company so
long connected with the commercial circles of the city, the
Furness-Withby lines to Manchester, the Elder-Dempster Dominion
lines.
Today ten big ocean steamship lines now run passenger vessels to
the port of Montreal, and many smaller lines of coastwise and
tramp traffic swarm the port during the shipping season which
opens in May and closes in November.
During the season of 1912 the Allan Line alone carried 87,159
passengers into and out of Montreal, while the C.P.R., White
Star, Donaldson, Thompson, Cunard, Royal, Elder-Dempster, Canada,
Canadian Northern Railway and Dominion Line boats carried
passengers in proportion.
During the same season the Custom House in the port collected
$15,508,124.53 in duties on foreign made goods imported here.
These figures take no account of exported goods, goods made in
Canada, or the tremendous grain business which is done each fall,
and to a lesser degree throughout the season. In 1912 125,000
tons of coal were brought into the port of Montreal from the
mines at Glace Bay alone, and 736 ocean-going vessels entered
the port during the season, showing a total tonnage of 2,403,924
tons, and in wharfage dues, $461,396.43.
During the last two years the Port of Montreal has seen the
advent of the Cunard Line, originally founded by Mr. S. Cunard of
Halifax, who had the first contract with the British government
for a fortnightly mail service in 1850 from Halifax to Liverpool
and Boston.
CHAPTER XXXIX
TRANSPORTATION
I
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PORT OF MONTREAL--HERIOT’S DESCRIPTION
IN 1815--T.S. BROWN IN 1818--THE ISLAND WHARF--THE
CREEK--THE PRIMITIVE WHARVES--THE “POINTS”--THE RIVER
FRONT--THE SPRING FLEET--FIREWOOD RAFTS--TOW BOATS--THE
EVERETTA--AN ACCOUNT OF 1819--BOUCHETTE’S PLAN OF 1824--THE
FIRST HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS, “THE TRINITY BOARD”--FIRST
REPORT--LATEST REPORT--EARLY ENGINEERS--REVIEW OF HARBOUR IN
1872--A TRANSFORMATION FROM 1818--GRAIN ELEVATORS--NUMBER
OF VESSELS--MARKET AND WOOD BOATS--THE BONSECOURS
MARKET--1875 PLAN FOR IMPROVEMENT NOW CARRIED OUT--FLOATING
DOCK--DESCRIPTION OF PRESENT HARBOUR--ITS FACILITIES FOR
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT--THE DESIRE TO LENGTHEN THE SHIPPING SEASON.
II
HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS--THE HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS FROM 1830 TO THE
PRESENT TIME.
III
CUSTOMS--SHIPPING FEDERATION--THE PILOTAGE AUTHORITY--IMPORTS AND
EXPORTS.
I
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PORT OF MONTREAL
Heriot in his travels, thus describes the harbour front about the
year 1815: “A natural wharf, very near to the town is formed by
the depth of the stream and the sudden declivity of the bank. At
the breaking up of the river, the buildings of the town, which
are situated nearest the bank, are sometimes subject to damage by
the accumulating of ice, impelled by the rapidity of the current.”
A description of three years later is to be found in a rare
pamphlet entitled,
THE HARBOUR OF MONTREAL IN 1818 AND IN 1872
By T.S. Brown
I came to Montreal on the 28th day of May, 1818, in a Bateau from
La Prairie--no steamer had made the trip at the time--and landed
on a sloping, rough beach, exactly where the pier next below the
Custom House runs out to the Island wharf and St. Lambert Ferry.
What is now the Island wharf was then a rocky Island separated
from the main land by a Channel about one hundred feet wide.
On my left was a small brook called the “Creek,” being the
discharge of a wide open ditch that ran from the Champ de Mars,
through Craig Street, round to Inspector Street and then down
Commissioners Street to a stone bridge, crossing at the bottom
of St. Francis Xavier Street. From this till near the river it
ran between the wall of a rough stone building, on the site
of the present Custom House, and another wall that supported
Commissioners Street.
Above the brook a low narrow wooden wharf ran to Port Street,
Common Street being supported by a wooden revetment, with gaps
for sloping roadway to the river.
All beyond Port Street was the natural Bank, the same as in the
front of country villages, except a small wharf opposite the
north end of Youville Street, at which point, then called Pointe
à Blondeau, there was a cottage, with garden in front, running
down to the water.
Here, too, was a shipyard and the east wall of the Grey Nunnery.
Further on, all was vacant, except some buildings at the corner
of Grey Nun Street, and beyond here open fields, running up to
Point St. Charles, with three windmills, the graves of three
soldiers, shot for desertion, and the Nuns buildings at Point St.
Charles, since used for offices, while Victoria bridge was in
course of construction.
The Lachine Canal had not been commenced, and distances appeared
so much farther than now, that the river front was divided into
“Pointe à Callière,” “Pointe à Blondeau,” “Windmill Point,” and
“Point St. Charles.”
Directly before me was a sloping beach running up to an opening
or street between low houses, forming the east side.
On the square, now occupied by the old Custom House, and then by
the “old Market,” so much frequented by Country people, that they
blockaded the approaches, and had sometimes to be driven away by
constables to the “new market,” then built on Jacques Cartier
Square.
On my right the natural beach continued down to Hochelaga, or
“the Cross” as it was then called. A wooden revetment held up
Commissioner Street and St. Sulpice Street and thence downward
there was nothing but the natural bank, on which weeds grew
profusely. There may have been something more opposite the
Barracks.
The buildings fronting on the river were mostly old, low and
dilapidated. A good part of the space was occupied by walls and
mean outbuildings of the houses fronting on St. Paul Street. The
new buildings were the three-story brick stores just above St.
Diziers Lane, and a three-story store just below.
The “spring fleet” mostly in port (a part may have arrived a few
days later), consisted of, I think, half a dozen brigs of from
one hundred and eighty to two hundred and fifty tons burthen,
moored to the muddy beach; below them were some “Durham boats,”
which we should now call small barges, navigators to Upper
Canada, carrying a very large fore and aft sail and top sail.
Wind then had to do what is now done by steam. Below these,
opposite the present Jacques Cartier Square, were moored many
rafts--mostly of firewood.
[Illustration: THE HARBOR OF MONTREAL]
[Illustration: General view of sheds]
[Illustration: Grain Elevator No. 2. First entire concrete
elevator in the world. Capacity 2,622,000 bushels]
[Illustration: King Edward Pier. Vessels loading and unloading
grain]
[Illustration: Duke of Connaught Pier and Floating Dry Dock.
Capacity 25,000 tons]
There were no steamboats, except those running to Quebec, clumsy
things, with bluff bows, built on the model of sailing vessels,
rigged with bowsprit, high mast and square sail; the deck flush,
and cabins all below.
Their steam power was so small that they could not get fifty
miles from Quebec unless they left with the tide; and oxen were
frequently used in assisting them up the current, below the city.
All the structure on the deck of the largest, called the “Car of
Commerce,” was a square house over the stairway, which may still
be seen, converted into a summer house, with gallery surrounding,
at St. Catherines, that all may notice on the right side of the
road, when riding round the mountain.
There were no tow boats then. Vessels from sea had to make their
way to Montreal by wind which often took a month or more, the
worst being the last mile where I have seen oxen used on a tow
line, as otherwise the light winds would be insufficient to
enable them to overcome the force of the strong current.
The “ship” of the period was the Everetta from London, which
arrived some days after, and summer goods were advertised about
the middle of June, there being no way of getting Spring and
Summer “fashions” earlier, so that our ladies were always one
year behind the age.
I have in my possession a bill of lading of goods by this ship,
dated 25th of March, 1800. She brought the supplies to the
“Northwest Company,” which then carried on the great Indian
Trade, from Montreal, by canoes, up to Lake Superior, and onwards.
The Ship remained moored at the foot of St. Sulpice Street all
summer, till the canoes returned with the year’s catch of furs,
and carried them to England.
A traveller quoted by Mr. Sandham in “Ville Marie” as visiting
the city in 1819 thus describes the activity of the water side:
“We crossed the river in a canoe hollowed out of a single log,
and on landing we climbed a steep and slippery bank, and found
ourselves in one of the principal streets of the city.”
“In the morning” continues the account “we witnessed a scene of
considerable activity, caused by the carts and horses which are
driven into the river as far as possible to obtain wood, etc,
from the boats, and as they go out so far, the body of the cart
is sometimes out of water and the larger sticks are drawn out
with a rope.”
It would be hard to imagine a more hopeless outlook than existed
in the Harbour of Montreal, as indicated on Bouchette’s plan of
1824. The first Lachine Canal was only completed in 1825, having
a depth over the sills of 4½ feet, and is not shown on that plan.
Two stone windmills marked the progress of industrial development
to the westward of what is now McGill Street. They were situated
on top of the open beach.
The Grand Trunk Railway Company’s elevator now stands on the site
of the water front of 1824.
A small wharf 200 feet long existed, providing a depth of water
of 9 feet, in the position of the flood wall opposite the present
Harbour Commissioners’ office.
Another irregular wharf known as Berthelette’s Wharf existed
between the Harbour Commissioners’ office and the Custom House.
From the Little River, now the Custom House, downward, the beach
was unimproved except by the construction of sloping roadways
down to the water.
Shallow water, even points of exposed rocks, existed two-thirds
of the distance across to St. Helen’s Island, in the early days
before the Moffatt’s Island Wharf was built.
The size and type of the vessels trading to Montreal may be
imagined from the fact that Lake St. Peter limited the draft to
11 feet, and even that depth was not available at any of the
wharves in the Harbour.
The shipping trade of a whole season, eighty years ago, could
have been carried in one or two of the modern ships which now
frequent the port.
Sloping roadways down to the water where the river was so low
as to permit of rocks showing above the current, a long stretch
of beach where the children of those days romped and played,
and the poorer women washed the linen using the big stones as
washing boards, a long unbroken line of trees and shrubberies
past Maisonneuve, where now the Harbour Commissioners’ powerful
locomotives transport merchandise from vessels of 15,000 tons
register to the various railway terminals, these were the
features of the Port of Montreal long before Confederation had
ever been dreamed of. In those days inland navigation commenced
at Lachine. Goods for Upper Canada were carted to Lachine and
from there taken up the Haldimand Canals in bateaux about
thirty-five feet long and 5½ feet beam, built of the type of a
modern raft boat with pointed bow and stern.
From 1824 to 1892 the development of the port progressed but
slowly. Still, in the early days the development of the harbour
was a very live question and it was on the 8th of May, 1830, that
George Moffatt, Jules Quesnel and Capt. Robert S. Piper, R.E.,
were appointed commissioners under the Great Seal of the Province
of Lower Canada and signed by His Excellency the Governor at the
Castle of St. Louis; for the purpose of carrying into effect an
Act of the Provincial Legislature, 10 and 11, Geo. IV., Cap. 28:
“An Act to provide for the Improvement and Enlargement of the
Harbour of Montreal.”
The first works undertaken were for the construction of wharves,
ramps, slips for Durham boats, a revetment wall and a bridge to
Oyster Island, which was to be the principal wharf.
In their first annual report the commissioners, who were called
the Corporation of the Trinity Board of Montreal until 1855 when
an act was passed changing the name to the Harbour Commissioners
of Montreal and increasing the number of commissioners from
three to five, stated that they confidently anticipated that the
wharves undertaken, when completed, would be superior to any
works of the kind in the Province, and would enable the City of
Montreal to be advantageously contrasted with any other in North
America for beauty, solidity and convenience of approach by
water, and the present Harbour of Montreal rather justifies the
modest boast of the commissioners of eighty years ago.
Writing in 1839, before the improvements had been made in the
harbour by the commissioners, Mr. Newton Bosworth in “Hochelaga
Depicta” quotes a New York traveller, who, on landing from
a bateau which brought him from La Prairie, thus afterwards
expressed himself:
“The approach to Montreal conveyed no prepossessing idea of the
enterprise of its municipality; ships, brigs and steamboats lay
on the margin of the river at the foot of the hill, no long line
of wharves, built of the substantial free stone of which there is
an abundance in the very harbour affording security to vessels
and profit to owners; the commercial haven looked as ragged and
as muddy as the shores of Nieu Nederlandt when the Guede Vrow
first made her appearance off the battery.”
“Now,” remarks Mr. Bosworth in 1839, commenting on this “if
he were to repeat his visit he would be constrained to make a
different report, and find himself able to step ashore without
more trouble than in walking across a room.”
The appropriation for the first three years amounted to $4,000,
while at present the Harbour Commissioners have undertaken a
series of improvements which are soon to be completed at an
approximate cost of $6,000,000.
During the past ten years no less than thirty-eight million
dollars has been expended to improve the local harbour and ship
channel, nearly one-half of which immense sum has gone towards
the establishment of harbour and terminal improvements.
Millions of dollars have been spent on lighthouses, light ships,
submarine bell stations, whistling buoys, the dredging of the
main ship channel from 27½ to 30 feet at low water, its widening
and straightening have been carried out at a cost of $14,000,000,
the reorganization of the pilotage system has cost $140,000,
the establishment of fifteen land telephone stations between
Quebec and Montreal has involved the expenditure of $150,000,
while hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent for other
important projects.
Since 1830 some of the best Engineers in Canada, the United
States and Great Britain, have from time to time been called upon
to investigate and submit plans for improvements.
Messrs. Gzowsky, Keefer, Forsythe, Trautwine, Legge, Nish, and
Slippell all submitted plans up to 1873.
A picture of the results of the improvements during the
intervening period is to be found in Mr. T.S. Brown’s retrospect,
already quoted.
“I visited it (the harbour)” says the same writer, “at the end of
fifty-four years, on the 28th of May, 1872. And what did I see?[1]
“A canal of the largest dimensions coming in at Windmill Point,
and the old fields converted into basins, filled with steamers,
schooners and barges, one side fringed by manufactories, and the
other by lofty warehouses, and platforms filled with merchandise.
“From ‘Pointe à Blondeau,’ or Grey Nun Street, to the Barracks,
there is a high stone revetment wall, supporting Commissioners
Street, with Ramps at convenient distances, leading to a broad
platform or wharf running down to below the barracks and
Dalhousie Square, along which is a track for Railway Cars, and
from which project many piers, one connecting with the Island
before mentioned, and others lower down, extending further out.
“This platform or line wharf, and the piers, are covered and
filled with merchandise, of all discriptions, in bars, bundles,
casks, cases, boxes and bales, a part being covered with
temporary sheds.
“The quantity and weight is so immense that one wonders where it
comes from, and where it goes to, but the immense mass extending
along Harbour and Canal for a mile, is but a small portion of
what is passing into or through the port, for while countless
carts and cars, are daily removing from one side, steamers and
ships fill up every space by discharging on the other, with steam
power and regiments of laborers. The taking in of the cargo is
going on at the same time and elevators alongside the ships are
taking from propellors alongside from the west and far west
thousands of bushels of grain. Instead of the half a dozen brigs
of 1818, with an aggregate tonnage of twelve to fifteen hundred
tons discharging slowly with skids on a rough beach, there lays
one steamer that will measure more than the whole put together.
“In all there is in port, stretched along the wharves and piers
from Grey Nun Street to below the Barracks, 21 Ocean Steamers,
22,612 tons; 20 Ships, 17,710 tons; 22 Barques, 12,409 tons; 3
Brigs, 760 tons; 4 Brigantines and Schooners, 278 tons, in all 70
Vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 53,769 tons.
“The shore (I have often seen it bare), below the foot of St.
Sulpice Street has been dredged and wharfed to accommodate ships
drawing twenty feet of water. A Quebec Steamer, not stumpy,
low and flush deck, but long, built on a skiff model, with two
stories of staterooms raised above the deck, is at a pier at
the bottom of Jacques Cartier Square, stretching out beyond the
limits of the old firewood rafts, brought down by farmers from
Chateaguay and neighbouring regions, to be sold in June, when
they were impatient to get home, for $2.00 a cord.
“Directly below is a fleet of ‘Market Boats,’ really elegant
steamers, of modern build, that navigate to all ports down to
‘Three Rivers.’
“Mixed with these are a fleet of ‘Wood Barges,’ rigged on the
principle of a ‘Chinese Junk’ (which some of them resemble on a
small scale), with a very high mast, and very long square-sail
yards.
“These bring up firewood, hay, grain, lumber, etc., from below, a
trade little dreamed of in old times.
“Further down are piles of boards, planks, and other lumber, and
ships being loaded with it for the South Atlantic, or perhaps
Pacific, and work is in progress for continuing the wharves to
Hochelaga where I have seen many ships launched.
“Where stood the ‘Mansion House’ (in 1818 our great hotel), a
former residence of Sir John Johnson, and dwelling houses with
small gardens, there is now the Bonsecour Market. The old walls
and sheds, along the ‘front’ to ‘Pointe à Calliêre,’ are replaced
by tall warehouses. An elegant Custom House on the Pointe
replaces an old potash store. Other warehouses are built on the
old ship yard, and the Grey Nuns having removed to their new
establishment on Guy Street, their buildings are disappearing,
St. Peter Street being continued to the harbour by cutting
directly through their old church.
“Such was the aspect of the harbour of Montreal in 1818, and
such it is today (1872) and I sincerely hope this article may be
preserved to be republished half a century hence, accompanied by
a description of the harbour as it then was.”
To continue the story of the developments of the harbour for the
greater part of fifty years. In 1875 Mr. Robert Bruce Bell, Major
General Newton and Mr. Sanford Fleming drew up a report and plan
for the improvement of the Habour. Mr. John Kennedy, for so many
years Chief Engineer of the Harbour Commissioners, has not only
designed but carried out many of the improvements now existing.
Ten years ago there was no Alexandra Basin or wharf to speak of,
there was no level harbour front, no permanent sheds, over a
dozen of which have only been finished within the past four years.
Magnificent concrete wharves with corrugated iron sheds built on
solid concrete foundations have been built opposite the plants of
some of Montreal’s largest industries.
The Harbour Commissioners’ tracks pass behind the sheds affording
direct communication all over the harbour, while excellent
wharfage facilities permit of the circulation of any amount of
traffic.
The greatest addition to the port in recent years, however,
and urged by the Montreal Board of Trade since 1887, has been
the huge floating dock, the “Duke of Connaught,” which was
successfully towed across the Atlantic in the fall of 1912.
It was dedicated by H.R.H., the Governor General on 18th of
November, 1912.
H.R.H. the Governor General in replying to the Commissioners’
address well said that “by the arrival and installation of this
great floating dock, the great reproach against the St. Lawrence
trade route has been removed, and the largest vessels can now run
up to Montreal, secure in the consciousness of entering a port
which is in possession of a competent modern equipment for repair
and examination.”
The dock is capable[2] of accommodating vessels of Olympic size
or larger and necessitates the employment of a staff of 500 men,
the majority of them skilled workmen. The dock can accommodate
thirty vessels at present operating on the St. Lawrence route
which are too wide of beam to be taken into any existing dock
between here and Halifax, 1,000 miles away.
A ship building plant which is to be operated in connection with
the dock is to give employment to about two thousand men.
The type of Port of Montreal is a combination of a protected
tidal basin, riverside quays and pier jetties.
There is no rise and fall of tide, but the river level fluctuates
to an extent of about 12 feet from high water in the spring to
low water in the autumn.
During the winter, due to ice shoves, the water occasionally
rises to an extreme of 28 feet above the low water level. An
artificial embarkment, parallel to the shore, about one and
one-third miles long, protects the whole of the upper part of
the harbour, including the entrance to the Lachine Canal, from
not only the currents of the river but from ice shoves. This
constitutes the protected tidal basin in which the water rises
and falls with the river level.
It has not been necessary to purchase any land above the high
water mark on the beach, as all piers and wharves have been made
artificially by building out into the shallow water and the
berths formed by dredging.
From the entrance to the protected basin for about two and
one-half miles downstream, to Hochelaga, the river channel is
too much contracted to permit of the construction of piers or
jetties, and this part of the harbour is developed as riverside
quays, sufficient width for harbour purposes being obtained by
building the quay-walls in deep water and filling in the area
behind to give a width from 100 to 250 feet. Below Hochelaga,
where the river section is larger, piers have been built out into
the river, inclined so as to give an easy angle of approach from
the ship channel.
The success of the port is due primarily to its early
development, before any of the water front had been alienated
from the crown, and to its geographical, physical and trade
situation.
No rights or franchises stand in the way of further extensions,
and the sentiment of the country is in favour of a continuance
of the policy of retaining the whole harbour area in the public
interests.
The facility of approach both by ocean vessels, inland vessels
and railways to a convenient point of transfer makes Montreal
almost unique, there being nothing in the way of close connection
for traffic from all points, and almost in the heart of a large
and growing city.
Montreal Harbour is also the terminus of the St. Lawrence Canal
System, which affords navigation between Montreal and Lake
Erie, a distance of 300 miles, for vessels of 14 feet draft
and a carrying capacity of 2,500 tons. From Lake Erie to this
head of Lake Superior vessels are able to navigate with a draft
of 20 feet and a carrying capacity of 10,000 tons. The inland
navigation centering in Montreal therefore commences either by
the all lake route of 1,600 miles and vessels of 14 feet draft,
or by the lake-and-rail routes, using the 10,000 ton boats to
Georgian Bay ports or Port Colborne, and connecting with Montreal
either by short-haul rail route or the St. Lawrence canals.
The following figures give the total trade in the Harbour from
1901 to 1914:
Sea-going Vessels Inland Vessels.
Arrived in Port.
Total Total
Number Tonnage Number Tonnage
1912 736 2,403,924 12,586 4,649,767
1900 726 1,393,886 8,310 1,659,616
Total Trade
1911 $201,066,256
1901 $121,292,349
1914 $251,873,912
About two-thirds of the grain comes to Montreal in steamers
carrying 2,500 tons on the 14 foot draft. These vessels cannot
afford to wait, but must be unloaded at once if they are to be
attracted to Montreal. The rest of the grain coming from the
Georgian Bay ports by rail must also be unloaded quickly, as
during the grain rush there is a constant railway car shortage.
The storage and rapid handling of grain has thus become, in the
last few years, a new factor in the problem of harbour economy.
There are three modern grain elevators at present in the harbour
and none of the older type. Of the modern elevators, one belongs
to the Grand Trunk Railway. It had a capacity of 1,000,000
bushels, but has been enlarged to a capacity of 2,100,000. The
others belong to the Harbour Commissioners. No. 1 in 1915 will
be capable of storing 4,000,000 bushels; while No. 2, recently
erected opposite Bonsecours Market, has a capacity of 2,600,000,
and can handle 1,000,000 bushels a day. It is entirely built of
reinforced concrete, and is the largest of this kind in the world.
It is easy to see that Montreal Harbour, being the farthest
inland ocean port of the Northern Continent and also the terminus
of the inland Canadian canal and railway routes, is an important
factor in the grain carrying trade of the Northern part of the
Continent.
In 1914 about two million dollars have been expended by the
Harbour Commission in dredging, renovating piers and wharves,
building new sheds and wharves, and other work incidental to the
five-year program of development undertaken by them at a total
cost of $15,000,000. All this work has been under the direction
of Mr. W.G. Ross, chairman, Mr. Farquhar Robertson, and Colonel
A.E. Labelle, commissioners.
The great desire is now to lengthen the shipping season.
Professor Barnes, of McGill University, has made the study of
ice his specialty and he is at present carrying on experiments
for the Canadian government. He is of the opinion that winter
navigation is a possibility. At present the government has, on
the St. Lawrence, two ice-breakers, which extend the time of
navigation by a few days. The ice difficulty arises where the
river widens into a lake, as at Lake St. Peter. Ice forms on the
sides of the lake and is blown into the current. When the banks
again converge, this ice jams, soon forming a solid ice-bridge.
The ice-shoves which occur in the spring are caused in the same
way. The solution of the problem is to have ice-breakers always
suitably situated to break these bridges as soon as they form.
II
HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS
The following is a list of the Boards of Harbour Commissioners
that have executed the duties of the Trust from 1830 up to the
present time showing the interest represented by each member:--
* Indicates the President of the Board.
(_c_) Indicates the representative of the Corn Exchange.
(_t_) Indicates the representative of the Montreal Board of Trade.
(_m_) Indicates the representative of the City of Montreal.
(_s_) Indicates the representative of the Shipping interest.
(_c de c_) Indicates the representative of the Chambre de Commerce.
The members not indicated as representatives of the Corn
Exchange, Board of Trade, City of Montreal, Chambre de Commerce
or Shipping interest have been appointed by the Government of
their time. From 1907 the members have been exclusively appointed
by the Government.
1830 to 1836.
Hon. George Moffatt.*
Jules Quesnel, Esq.
Capt. Robert S. Piper.
1836 to 1839.
P.L. Letourneux, Esq.
Thomas Cringan, Esq.
Turton Penn, Esq.*
1839 to 1840.
Turton Penn, Esq.*
Thomas Cringan, Esq.
William Lunn, Esq.
1840 to 1850.
J.G. Mackenzie, Esq.*
John Try, Esq.
C.S. Rodier, Esq.
1850 to 1855.
John Try, Esq.*
Hon. John Young,* from 1853.
Louis Marchand, Esq.
1855 to 1856.
Hon. John Young.*
H.H. Whitney, Esq.
Sir George E. Cartier.
Doctor Nelson. (_m_)
Hon. H. Starnes. (_t_)
1856 to 1858.
Hon. John Young.*
H.H. Whitney, Esq.* Chairman _pro tem_.
Sir George E. Cartier.
Hon. H. Starnes. (_m_)
Hon. L.H. Holton. (_t_)
1858 to 1859.
Hon. John Young.*
Sir George E. Cartier.
H.H. Whitney, Esq.
Hon. L.H. Holton. (_t_)
J.A. Berthelot, Esq. (_m_)
1859 to 1860.
C.S. Rodier, Esq. (_m_)
Hon. John Young.
H.H. Whitney, Esq.*
Thomas Kay, Esq. (_t_)
A.M. Delisle, Esq.
1860 to 1861.
C.S. Rodier, Esq. (_m_)
Hon. John Young.
H.H. Whitney, Esq.*
A.M. Delisle, Esq.
Thomas Cramp, Esq. (_t_)
1861 to 1862.
C.S. Rodier, Esq. (_m_)
Hon. John Young,* Chairman _pro tem_ in 1862.
H.H. Whitney, Esq.*
A.M. Delisle, Esq.
E. Atwater, Esq. (_t_)
1862 to 1863.
Hon. John Young.
H.H. Whitney, Esq.*
Hon. L.H. Holton. (_t_)
A.M. Delisle, Esq.
Hon. J.L. Beaudry. (_m_)
1863 to 1864.
Hon. John Young.*
A.M. Delisle, Esq.
Thomas Cramp, Esq. (_t_)
Hon. J.L. Beaudry. (_m_)
Henry Lyman, Esq. (_t_)
1864 to 1865.
Hon. John Young.*
Thomas Cramp, Esq.
Hon. J.L. Beaudry. (_m_)
John Pratt, Esq.
P. Redpath, Esq. (_t_)
1865 to 1866.
Hon. John Young. *
Thomas Cramp, Esq.
Hon. J.L. Beaudry. (_m_)
John Pratt, Esq.
J.H. Winn, Esq. (_t_)
1866 to 1867.
Hon. H. Starnes. (_m_)
A.M. Delisle, Esq.*
J. McLennan, Esq. (_t_)
George Stephen, Esq.
William Workman, Esq.
1867 to 1869.
Hon. H. Starnes. (_m_)
A.M. Delisle, Esq.*
George Stephen, Esq.
William Workman, Esq.
Thomas Rimmer, Esq. (_t_)
1869 to 1870.
Hon. H. Starnes. (_m_)
A.M. Delisle, Esq.*
J.H. Winn, Esq. (_t_)
George Stephen, Esq.
William Workman, Esq.
1870 to 1871.
Hon. John Young. (_t_)
Hon. H. Starnes. (_m_)
A.M. Delisle, Esq.
George Stephen, Esq.
William Workman, Esq.
1871 to 1872.
Hon. John Young. (_t_)
A.M. Delisle, Esq.*
George Stephen, Esq.
William Workman, Esq.
C.J. Coursol, Esq. (_m_)
1872 to 1873.
A.M. Delisle, Esq.*
George Stephen, Esq.
William Workman, Esq.
C.J. Coursol, Esq. (_m_)
Hugh McLennan, Esq. (_t_)
1873 to 1874.
Hon. John Young.*
A.M. Delisle.
William Workman, Esq.
Hugh McLennan, Esq. (_t_)
Doctor Bernard, (_m_)
Victor Hudon, Esq.
M.P. Ryan, Esq.
Andrew Allan, Esq. (_s_)
W.W. Ogilvie, Esq. (_c_)
1874 to 1875.
Hon. John Young.*
Thomas Cramp, Esq.
John Pratt, Esq.
Hugh McLennan, Esq. (_t_)
Doctor Bernard. (_m_)
Andrew Allan, Esq. (_s_)
W.W. Ogilvie, Esq. (_c_)
Peter Donovan, Esq.
Adolphe Roy, Esq.
1875 to 1876.
Hon. John Young.*
Thomas Cramp, Esq.
John Pratt, Esq.
Hugh McLennan, Esq. (_t_)
Doctor Bernard. (_m_)
Andrew Allan, Esq. (_s_)
Peter Donovan, Esq.
Adolphe Roy, Esq.
Charles H, Gould, Esq. (_c_)
1876 to 1877.
Hon. John Young.*
Thomas Cramp, Esq.
Hugh McLennan, Esq. (_t_)
Andrew Allan, Esq. (_s_)
Peter Donovan, Esq.
Adolphe Roy, Esq.
Charles H. Gould, Esq. (_c_)
Dr. W.H. Hingston. (_m_)
Hon. J.R. Thibaudeau.
1877 to 1878.
Hon. John Young.*
Thomas Cramp, Esq.* _pro tem_ 1877.
Hon. J.L. Beaudry. (_m_)
Hugh McLennan, Esq. (_t_)
Andrew Allan, Esq. (_s_)
Peter Donovan, Esq.
Adolphe Roy, Esq.
Charles H. Gould, Esq. (_c_)
Hon. J.R. Thibaudeau.
1878 to 1879.
Thomas Cramp, Esq.*
Hon. J.L. Beaudry (_m_)
Hugh McLennan, Esq. (_t_)
Andrew Allan, Esq. (_s_)
Peter Donovan, Esq.
Adolphe Roy, Esq.
Charles H. Gould, Esq. (_c_)
Hon. J.R. Thibaudeau.
Edward Mackay, Esq.