Barlow Cumberland
A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River
By Barlow Cumberland
TORONTO:
The Musson Book Company
Limited
COPYRIGHTED IN CANADA
1913
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
Although the book is published about two months after the author's death, it will be gratifying to many readers to know that all the final proofs were passed by Mr. Cumberland himself. Therefore the volume in detail has the author's complete sanction. We have added to the illustrations a portrait of the author.[Pg v]
FOREWORD.
This narrative is not, nor does it purport to be one of general navigation upon Lake Ontario, but solely of the vessels and steamers which plyed during its century to the ports of the Niagara River, and particularly of the rise of the Niagara Navigation Co., to which it is largely devoted.
Considerable detail has, however been given to the history of the steamers "Frontenac" and "Ontario" because the latter has hitherto been reported to have been the first to be launched, and the credit of being the first to introduce steam navigation upon Lake Ontario has erroneously been given to the American shipping.
Successive eras of trading on the River tell of strenuous competitions. Sail is overpassed by steam. The new method of propulsion wins for this water route the supremacy of passenger travel, rising to a splendid climax when the application of steam to transportation on land and the introduction of railways brought such decadence to the River that all its steamers but one had disappeared.
The transfer of the second "City of Toronto" and of steamboating investment from the Niagara River to the undeveloped routes of the Upper Lakes leads to a diversion of the narration as bringing the initiation of another era on the Niagara River and explaining how the steamer, which formed its centre, came to be brought to the River service.
The closing 35 years of the century form the era of the Niagara Navigation Co., in which the period of decadence was converted into one of intense activity and splendid success.[Pg vi]
Our steam boating coterie had been promised by Mr. Chas. Gildersleeve, General Manager of the Richelieu & Ontario Naviga-
tion Co., that he would write up the navigation history of the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River sections upon which he and his forbears had been foremost leaders. Unfortunately he passed away somewhat suddenly, before being able to do this, and they pressed upon me to produce the Niagara section which had been alloted to myself.
The narration has been completed during the intervals between serious illness and is sent out in fulfilment of a promise, but yet in hope that it may be found acceptable to transportation men and with its local historical notes interesting to the travelling public.
Thanks are given to Mr. J. Ross Robertson, for the reproduction of some cuts of early steamers, and particularly to Mr. Frederick J. Shepard, of the Buffalo Public Library, who has been invaluable in tracing up and confirming data in the United States.
Dr. A. G. Dougaty, C.M.G., Archivist of Canada, Mr. Frank Severance, of the Buffalo Historical Society, and Mr. Locke, Public
Librarian, Toronto, have been good enough to give much assistance which is warmly acknowledged.
Barlow Cumberland.
Dunain, Port Hope.
1
[Pg vii]
A CENTURY OF SAIL AND STEAM ON THE NIAGARA RIVER. Chap. I.--The First Eras of Canoe and Sail 9
Chap. II.--The First Steamboats on the River and Lake Ontario 17
Chap. III.--More Steamboats and Early Water Routes. The River the Centre of Through Travel East and West. 25
Chap. IV.--Expansion and Decline of Traffic on the River. A Final Flash, and a Move to the North 36
Chap. V.--On the Upper Lakes With the Wolseley Expedition and Lord Dufferin 47
Chap. VI.--A Novel Idea and a New Venture. Buffalo in Sailing Ship Days. A Risky Passage 58
Chap. VII.--Down Through the Welland. The Miseries of Horse-towing Times. Port Dalhousie and a Lake Veteran. The Problem
Solved. Toronto at Last 68
Chap. VIII.--The Niagara Portal. Old Times and Old Names at Newark and Niagara. A Winter of Changes. A New Rivalry Begun
80
Chap. IX.--The First Season of The Niagara Navigation Company. A Hot Competition. Steamboat Manoeuvres 94
Chap. X.--Change Partners Rate-cutting and Racing. Hanlan and Toronto Waterside. Passenger Limitation Introduced 109
Chap. XI.--Niagara Camps Formed. More Changes and Competition. Beginnings of Railroads in New York State. Early Passenger
Men and Ways 119
Chap. XII.--First Railways to Lewiston. Expansion Required. The Renown of the Let-Her-B. A Critic of Plimsoll 134
Chap. XIII.--Winter and Whisky in Scotland. Rail Arrives at Lewiston Dock. How Cibola got Her Name. On the U. E. Loyalist
Route. Ongiara Added 143
Chap. XIV.--Running the Blockade on the Let-Her-B. as Told by Her Captain-owner 156
Chap. XV.--The Canadian Electric Railway to Queenston. An Old Portage Route Revived. The Trek to the Western States. Chip-
pewa Arrives. Railway Chief 165
Chap. XVI.--Cibola Goes, Corona Comes. The Gorge Electric Railway Opens to Lewiston. How the Falls Cut Their Way Back
Through the Rocks. Royal Visitors. The Decisiveness of Israel Tarte. 178
Chap. XVII.--Cayuga Adds Her Name. Niagara and Hamilton Rejoined. Ice Jams on the River. The Niagara Ferry Completed. Once
More the United Management From "Niagara to the Sea" 189 [Pg ix]
INDEX. A.
Accommodation, Steamer 17
Advertising, N. Y. C. 175
Alaska, S.S. 145
Alberta, Steamer 121
2
Albany Northern Railroad 42
Alciope, Steamer 29
Algoma, Steamer 35, 44, 121
Algoma, qualifications of electors 46
American Civil War 43
American Colonists under James II 81
American Constitution Compared 47
American Express Line 37
American Prisoners from Queenston Heights 14
Arabian, Steamer 37
Armenia, Steamer 126
Asia, Steamer 78
Assiniboia, Steamer 121
B.
Barre, Chevalier de la 81
Barrie, R. N., Commodore 29, 30
Baldwin, Dr. 15
Bankruptcy of Steamers on River 43
Bay State, Steamer 37, 105
Baxter, Alderman John 152
Beatty, Jas, Jr., Mayor 114
Bell, Mr. David 64
Benson, Judge 33
Benson, Capt 33
Blockade-Running 160
Bolton, Col. R. E. 48
Book Tickets Introduced 132
Boswell, A. R 114
3
Bouchette, Commodore 13
Bowes, Mayor J. G. 38
Boynton, Capt. George