"July 2. Commenced trips leaving Niagara 7 a.m., Toronto 11 a.m., and Hamilton 4 p.m., arrived here (Niagara) 8 p.m. Accomplished the 121 miles in ten and a half hours, a rate not exceeded by any boat on the lake."
The advertisements of the running times as then given in the press are interesting.
"The 'Queen Victoria' leaves Lewiston and Queenston 8 o'clock a.m. and Niagara 8.30 o'clock for Toronto. The boat will return each day, leaving Toronto for these places at 2 o'clock p.m."
A further enlargement of the running connections of this steamer on the route in 1839 stated:
"Passengers will on Monday and Thursday arrive at Toronto in time for the "William IV." steamer for Kingston and Prescott. Returning. On arrival at Lewiston, railroad cars will leave for the Falls. On arrival at Queenston stages will leave for the Falls, whence the passengers can leave next day by the steamer "Red Jacket" from Chippawa to Buffalo, or by the railroad cars for Manchester."
The "Railroad Cars" were those of the "Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad" opened in 1836, then running two trains a day each way between Buffalo and the Falls, leaving Buffalo at nine in the morning and five in the afternoon. Manchester was the name of the town laid out[Pg 32] in the neighborhood of the Falls, where, from the abundance of water power it was expected a great manufacturing centre would be established.
An advertisement in a later year (1844) mentions the steamer "Emerald" to "leave Buffalo at 9 a.m. for Chippawa, arrive by cars at
Queenston for steamer for Toronto, Oswego, Rochester, Kingston and Montreal."
The "cars" at Queenston were those of a horse railroad which had been constructed along the main road from Chippewa to Queen-
ston, of which some traces still remain. The rails were long wooden sleepers faced with strap iron.
During one season the "Queen Victoria" was chartered as a gunboat for Lake Ontario, being manned by officers and men from the
Royal Navy. She presented a fine appearance and was received with great acceptance at the lake ports as she visited them.
A more direct route from this distributing point at the foot of the rapids on the Niagara River direct to the head of Lake Ontario and the country beyond, instead of crossing first to Toronto, was evidently sought. In 1840 the steamer "Burlington"--Captain Robert Kerr--is advertised to "Leave Lewiston 7 a.m., Niagara 7.30 a.m., landing (weather permitting) at Port Dalhousie (near St. Catherines, from which place a carriage will meet the boat regularly); Grimsby, and arrive at Hamilton about noon. Returning will leave at 3 p.m., and making the same calls, weather permitting, arrive at Lewiston in the evening."
The 30th July, 1841, was a memorable day in steamboating on the Niagara River. A great public meeting was held that day on Queenston Heights to arrange for the building of a new monument in memory of General[Pg 33] Brock to replace the one which had been blown up by some dastard on 17th April, 1840.
Deputations from the military and the patriotic associations in all parts of the province attended.
Four steamers left Toronto together about 7.30 in the morning. The "Traveller"--Captain Sandown, R.N., with His Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Sydenham, on board; "Transit"--Captain Hugh Richardson; "Queen Victoria"--Captain Richardson, Jr.; "Gore"--Captain Thomas Dick. At the mouth of the Niagara River these were joined by the "Burlington"--Captain Robert Kerr, and "Britannia" from Hamilton and the head of the lake, and by the "Gildersleeve" and "Cobourg" from the Eastern ports and Kingston.
Amidst utmost enthusiasm, and with all flags flying, the eight steamers assembled at Niagara and marshalled in the following order, proceeded up the river to Queenston:--
TRAVELLER. GILDERSLEEVE. COBOURG. BURLINGTON.
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GORE. BRITANNIA. QUEEN. TRANSIT.
The sight of this fleet of eight steamers must have been impressive as with flying colours they made up the stream.
Judge Benson, of Port Hope, says that his father, Capt. Benson, of the 3rd Incorporated Militia, was then occupying the "Lang House" in Niagara, overlooking the river, and that he and his brother were lifted up to the window to see the flotilla pass by, a reminiscence of loyal[Pg 34] fervor which has been vividly retained through a long life. Is it not a sufficient justification and an actual value resulting from special meetings and pageants that they not only serve to revivify the enthusiasm of the elders in annals of past days, but yet more to bring to the minds of youth actual and abiding touch with the historic events which are being celebrated?
The meeting was held upon the field of the battle, the memories of the struggle revived and honour done to the fallen.
The present monument was the result of the enterprise then begun.
Much rivalry existed between the steamers as to which would open the season first, as the boat which got into Niagara first before
1st March was free of port dues for the season. In this the "Transit" excelled and sometimes landed her passengers on the ice. The Niagara Dock Company in 1842 turned out the "Chief Justice Robinson" commanded by Captain Hugh Richardson, Jr.
This steamer, largely owned by Captain Heron and the Richardsons, was specially designed to continue during the winter the daily connection by water to Toronto, and so avoid the long stage journey around the head of the lake. For this purpose her prow at and below the water line was projected forward like a double furrowed plough, to cut through the ice and throw it outwards on each side.
This winter service she maintained for ten seasons with commendable regularity between the outer end of the Queen's Wharf at Toronto (where she had sometimes to land passengers on the ice) and Niagara. On one occasion, in a snowstorm, she went ashore just outside the harbour[Pg 35] at Toronto, and was also occasionally frozen in at both ends of the route, but each time managed
to extricate herself. After refitting in the spring she divided the daily Lewiston-Toronto Route after 1850 with the second City of Toronto, a steamer with two separate engines, with two walking beams built at Toronto in 1840, which had been running in the Royal Mail Line, but in 1850 passed into the complete ownership of Captain Thomas Dick.
The steamer "Rochester" is also recorded as running between Lewiston and Hamilton in 1843 to 1849. [Pg 36]
CHAPTER IV.
Expansion of Steamboating on the Niagara--its Decline--a Final Flash and a Move To the North.
During this decade the Niagara River was more increasingly traversed by many steamers, and became the main line of travel between the Western and Centre States by steamer to Buffalo, and thence, via the Niagara River to Boston and New York via Ogdensburg
and Albany, or by Montreal and Lake Champlain to the Hudson.
Lewiston had become a place of much importance, being the transhipping point for a great through freighting business. Until the opening of the Erie Canal all the salt used in the Western States and Canada was brought here by water from Oswego, in thousands of barrels, from the Onandaga Salt Wells. Business in the opposite direction was greatly active, report being made of the passing of a consignment of 900 barrels of "Mississippi sugar," and 200 hogsheads of molasses for Eastern points in the United States and Canada.
In addition to the sailing craft five different steamers left the docks every day for other ports on the lake.
A new era was opened in 1847 by the introduction with great eclat and enterprise of the first iron steamers. The "Passport," commanded first by Captain H. Twohey and afterwards by Captain Thomas Harbottle, was constructed for the Hon. John Hamilton, the iron plates being moulded on the Clyde and put together at the Niagara shipyard by James and Neil Currie. The plates for[Pg 37] the "Magnet" were similarly brought out from England and put together for J. W. Gunn, of Hamilton, the principal stockholder, with Captain J. Sutherland her captain. Both these steamers in their long service proved the reliability of metal vessels in our fresh water. Both formed part of the Royal Mail Line leaving Toronto on the arrival of the river steamers.
31
In the early "fifties"