^ ^^^ "■^"C^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 11.25 12.8 tii m h^ ■ 22 ™ 13.6 m^m m |2g L£ 12.0 I; 9 IE u 1^ VQ 0% /a 4f> r Photographic ^Sciences Coiporation 23 WEST MAIN STVIET WEBSTIII,N.Y. USSO (716) 173-4503 ■JV A. CIHM/iCMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibiiographiques T» to Tho institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. Q D n n Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommag^e Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou pellicula Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes g^ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ D Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ ReliA avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liurM serrie peut causer de i'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge IntArieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenevei- possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouttes lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, *nais, lorsque cela itait oossible, ces pages n'ont pas AtA filmtes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplAmentaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mAthode normale de filmage sont indiqute ci-dessous. D D D D D D D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restauries et/ou pellicul6es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages dAcolor4es, tachet^es ou piqu6es Pages detached/ Pages ddtachtes Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Qualit^ InAgaie de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du mat*tion for a city or town. The fre(juent passage, to and fro, of locomotive engines and long trains of railway cars along a crowded street, is not merely t a public inconvenience in the present, but it is an inconvcnienoe of that class which is forever increasing in degree as the town or city affected by it increases in {wpulat^oa and importance, until at laat the railway conies to be cited as a nuisance. One project, which 1 have lately seen debated in tlie public journals, though not of those to which my attention has been directed by the Harbour Commissioners, I look upon as peculiarly assailable from the foregoing point of view. I allude to the pro- posed line down Wellington Street, a much frequented but narrow highway, of upwards of a thousand yards in length, along which^ supposing that method of extending the Grand Trunk rails into the city were adopted, engines might move and trains be dragged at any h<»ur of the day or night. The Wellington Street scheuic should meet with no kind of favour from tiie citizens of Montreal. It would not be two years on trial ere the universal voice of popular opinion would clamour for its abolition. In dealing with this (juestion of establishing a convenient sta- tion in the city, and bringing the rails into direct connection with the shipping, the leading p)int to be considered, it appears to me, is not merely, " What will suit the requirements of to-day," but in what way th<;y may be met within the limits of reasttnable pre- sent outlay, and yet upon a plan, that, while affording all necessary accommodation now, will admit of being enlarged and extended from time to time, as the exigencies of trade niay demand, without necessitating the abandonment of. and consequent loss of expen- diture on, any portion of tlie works at first to be carried out. It would be unwise, it strikes me, for the citizens of Montreal, or the Grand Trunk Railway Company, or both united, to attempt to matun; all at once a terminal scheme of such comprehensive- ness as to ho. suited to what th- trade of this port and of the rail- ways in connection with it may be expected to be in 1870. How to l>ogin right is what should now, chiefly engage the attention of all parties interesttid. Of the seven proposed terminal points to which my attention has been drawn by the Commissioners, the two which contemplate gaining the harbour by means of tunnels, are, on that score, very m objectionable in practice. Apart from the great expense and uncertainty of ttinnellin<^, tlie jwsition of the two places referred to, the ( Ihanip-de-Marw and Viger S^juare, relatively to the harbor, u such as would involve very abrupt curvature in any links con- n4nt I J 8 •pace for a passenger and freight station for Montreal, oven if available to the fall limit of those proportions — which it would not be, and for the following rt-asons : , The longest side of the oblong runs north and south, or at right angles to Craig Street, while the line of railway access to it must be in the contrary direction, east and west. No matter, then, whether the approach be formed by extending the line of the Lachine Railway down Bonaventure Street (which would neces- aii,aic its curving through the block of buildings between it and Craig Street, facing Commissioners' Square), or whether, on leav- ing the Lachine station it should at once cross Bonaventure Street and be pushed directly towards the proposed terminus (whereby it would have to pass through much private property, all built over) — in neither case I say, could a track be laid down on any practicable railway curve which would not in its curvature so far encroach upon the longest side of Hay-Tiarket Square as to leave scarce half its length available, in straight line, for station build- ings. The width of the so-called square, east and west, is quite too insignificaut to be thought of lor the length of a passenger station for Montreal. It would scarcely be suited to that of an ordinary way-station platfon i at a second-rate town. Id brief, no long trains drawu by locomotive engines could be laid lengthwise of the Hay Market by any practicable extension of t' r* Lachine Railway ; and for the same causes that operate to preveu' their being so manoeuvred, they could not be headed from the Hay Market down McGill street, so as to be moved towards the harbour near the foot of McGill Street agfi'n, and the corner would have to be turned, and which the engine and train could not turn without passing tiirough the centre of the Grey-Nun enclosure. What is desired by the citizens, I take it, in agitating this question ni' a City Station, is to obtain one of such comprehen- siveness of character, aH will eqiially accommodate the travelling conununity and the uierchant, — one of such amplitude of space as will admit, in the future at all events, of the erection of a com- modious and handsimie passenger building as one of the adorn- ments of the city, and where at the same time the freighting busi- ness ol" the city can, to a certain extent, also bo transacted. I also take it for granted that so lame a plan as that of drag- ging the passenger carriages into town by horses, leaving the merchandise cars still outside, would meet with no public favor at all. If I am correct in my views, the Hay Market is the least eligi- ble place on the list, for all the purpose which it is sought to combine. Projects Nos. 2 and 3 may be taken as one. Chaboillez Square (No. 2) could only spare room enough from it modest proportions lor the reception of a very moderately sized passenger building : but, taken as an adjunct of the Lachine Railway Station, to which It IS near by and easy of u.-cess, it could for such a purpose /oMte-de.mimx, be turned to tolerably good account. \ should be ^rry, however, to suppose that this city might not, and at no dis- tant day, aspire to possessing a station for the accommodation of travellers, equal, in '.til important p(,ints of capacity, to that at Portland for instance, the length of which is pretty nearly one half as much again a.s the entire stretch of Chaboillez Square. It IS hardly necessary, I imagine, to comment further upon pro- jects No. 2, and I now turn to its neighbour,— the Bonaventure Street station of the Lacliine Railway ; the grounds in connection with which are sufficiently spacious for all ordinary purposes of a Station, and would afford ample room for the freighting business of both lines as far as the merchandise- to be received and sent out of the city proper is concerned; and, looking to the conveni- ence of the citizens alone, I believe that were the Grand Trunk rails extended no further into tcwn than to the Lachine Station, the people generally, after some little time at least, would be satis- fied with it ; and, setting aside the harbour question, I am satisfied that, with the friendly co-operation of all parties interested, none of the proposed schemes could be carried out within such moderate limits of expenditure or so early brought into useful operation. To reach the wharv!3S frou) that point would, however, be atti nded with no inconsiderable difficulty and exp^nise. I do' not mean engineering difficulty, for of that there would be none beyond what must be met by any plan that can be devised,— the having to descend from the level of Comtuissioner Street to 10 the evel of the wharves (14 feet) within a very limited digt;>nce, — but whatever the Kne adopted to connect Bonaventure Street with the shipping, much private property must necessarily be interfered with, and which, if the line be laid so as to shun the College and Grey-Nun domains altogether, is all more or less built upon. It would probably be found necessary to purchase for " right of way " some 50,000 superficial feet of occupied ground. The great distance (about four miles) which trains would liavc continually to traverse between the Bonaventure Street Station and Point St. Charles, where the principal business establishmentB of the Grand Trunk Railway must ever be maintained, will of course, prevent the GrtinJ Trunk "Managers from viewing with favor the proposed union •with the Lachine line as a means of ingress to the city; and as that objection, undeniably forcible as it is, applies in common to every mooted project except No. 1, it, The Windmill Point Scheme, may, in my opinion, be so modified, if not wholly acceptable as it stands, as, at all events, to form the basis of a plan on which the majority of interests involved would be most likely to unite. The Windmill Point route has unquestionably striking railway advantageous over all competitors. No other line could be laid down which would effect so intimate a connection between the points it is sought to unite, — Point St. Charles, the City, and the Harbour; while it also presents anotlier favorable feature, peculiarly its own, and from which the Railway C(>mpany and an important section of the manufacturing interests of the city would alike derive bene- fit, — that is, its passing close along the mills and factories establish- ed on the Canal. Grain in bulk, for the handling and storing of which there are no conveniences at Point St. Charles, could, with such a line of rails laid down, and by aid of the simple and inex- pensive expedient of elevators on the rear as there already ai"e on the front or Canal side of the storehouses, be delivered directly at the mill door from the Grand Tnmk cars ; and I presume, that, with- out any niat*!rial additions to, and with but trifling alterations in the present buildings, from 50,000 to 100,000 bushels of grain might conveniently be stored away on the railway side of the pre- mises along Mill Street. In like manner other raw material could 11 be brought in, and manufactured articles taken away, wholly inde- pendent of the medium of oartajre. A})art altogether from the general question of extending the Grand Trunk rails, the businesH creat^-d by the water power of the Canal is of such importance even now, and fio expansive in it* character, a.' to render it probable that a side track would ere long have to be nin down from Point St. Charles on piirixjse to IMXionnnodate it. The opportunitii'.s for laying down such a track at sniall expense are as favorable as could bo desired. From tlie present Station tbe ground is almost (m a dead level to and along Mill Street ; and whether it be a question of trafHc to or from tbe East, or to or from th<>. West, the means of connecting with the main line are of the most facile order. The distance from Point St. Charles to the competing points for Station honor, and to the wharves, by way of those points are: To Windmill Point, 1,800 yards. " Bonaventure Station, 6,800 ' " Island Wharf by way of Windmill Point, 2,700 " by way of Bonaventure street,.. 8,300 " It II These distances tell powerfully in favor of the Windmill Line; but for station purposes at the Wiudiriill J'oint the ground would have tx) be nearly altogether reclaimed from the river ; there is not, naturally, sufficient dry laud there available to afford more than .Buere temporary accommodation, should it be so required, for the passenger business of the railway. Tbe major porti(m of thstern commerce will be received and stored, and when called for at the sea board or in the New Knp;- laiid market, from thence it is that tlu'> will be deppatthed, TJu! railway businesH to be transacted within the crowded por- tions of tlie citj will consist, for the most part, of the receiving and forwurdin^ the end of M<;('iill Street, in such a way that a train once across, on the north side, would b« in the c Irect line of the street. Immediately on crossing tll..1i.-^'.'l>.vt,'f^'-'''^"^i*tion as large as tho Portland one would be had; and larg^ 1 (ban that Montreal would never wiuit, be her growth what it may. Passenger and Freight Station would thu.s be " located " in close proximity to one another, on one of the wide stroet.s of tlie city, and. it secuiH to me, as convenient to the centre of buai- tiess lus any reasonable mau can expect. ^ I 16 I do not believy that any plan, not involving the purchase of lands and buildings of too great value to admit of its being onter- taiued aR/emibk, can bo devised which will so well roeet the exi- gencies of city truffle in connection with the Grand Trunk Kail- way, aa that which I have .sketched above, and which will bt.' ren- dered raore int^^lligible by reference to the map accompanying this lieport. If it cannot be carried out because of tbo i;ost attendini^ it, or because others should differ from me in my estimate ol' its adaptation or adequacy t«i the purposes sought to be subsurved, then, in my judgment, the choice of a site for the city station will lie betwt^en that at Bonaventure Street, us it is, and that at WindunU Point, with the water to be convertt;d into dry land. Ah a railway man, I am in favor of the latter, for -t would allow of the desired connection being brought about with the least mileage of trains. The convenience of the citizens might, perhaps. l)e us well served at the first named place Certain it is, however, that, by no other line can the Grand Trunk trains be worked into thft city, and access to the harl^xmr had, on so low u scale of running exjjenses for all time U> come as by the line via Mill Street and the Wind Mill Point ; nor do I think that any plan of which that line is not a part, can properly provide for extension of and additions to the station premises in the future. The making of land south of the canal, abreast of the lower basin and lock, is a mere question of expen.se. Of ground at that jwint, suited to the business of all the year round, the cost would necessarily be high; because, as has already ber tlie earlier wuTitn of the cortiniunity ut all ev(int,s, on the city side of the CJinal. IJoth .sides, it is to be hoped, will he CUi/ by and by, and th.it all railway a'lvantaires may be made to keep pare with the rtj(mireinentK of com- rnen'e witliout piariiiii; tlie usefulness of whatever j Ian may be adnptid and iiefed u|)on in the nieantinit!. liOokin^ to eTdiirt:en)ent of aeeouunodation ui ennnectidn with the Met'iill Street Station, its above susrjrested : If on the east side of the ^treet a«trip of ground eo\ild be had fron) the Grey Nun property all the way to the St. Ann Market, and '.)f about 12tt t'l'et in dej)'h, — and if on the west side it were possible to Hcenre the wbole length from Commissioner Street to William Street, with (Jrey Nun Street for its rear boundary, — Montreal would then be provided with all reasonable conveniences for the establishment of a general Station, easy of access in every way, and as nearly central to the forwarding business of the city, as, coiribining other advantages, it would, T imagine, now be possible to reach. Failing the practicability of obUiining the whole of the space indicated, however, its partial iXM-upation, even in the manner herein-above described, would be sure t*t prove a great public con- venience. Before finally closing with this part of my subject, [ would make one more suggestion a.s regards the passenger st:ttion, but (>idy as an alttirnative, tin ihrnirr resort, in the event of the McGill Street site proving to be out of rciich. I have already shown that the Hay Market is not conveniently accessible by rail from IJon. aventure Street. From McGill Street, via the Mill Street line, it is Should Windmill Point be chosen as the sitanal, and all due precautions to guard against the intrusion of ice, which sometimes packs to a consider- able height in rear of Gould's mill, and calculating to leave a clear, unembarrassed width of 40 feet for the street, would involve an expenditure, ere a train could be run into McGill Street, of .£25,000, or bordering upcm that; and in that »um is not embraced the cost of station land or of any buildings whatsoever. The space to be acquired frouj private property for the proposed station at foot of McGill Street would ainount to about 100,000 supt^rlicial feet. B 18 If the Grand Trunk rails are to be extended into the city, the expense of erecting a large freight shed will be common to any pon and iuaturin to uf^rec to iaak(^ the Wst they can of existing arrLnf^emeiits, until the adopted HeHign can be brought into use in it^ entifty, IJefore closing this Report, there is one otlier iwint to which I have an yet made no alluHion but which is of tor. much iinportAuec if he overlooked in fairly dis» no question that their projiKir entry int(> the city will be considi-rably uaat of the centre, and their first acceart to the river Inilow the present .sy.«^teni of wharves. Railway entry from the West, eo an to include a harbour line, is, I have already r< corded my opinion, limited t« the Bonaventure StriHit route and tha.t. by Mill Street, to both of which one mode of direct connection witlithe wharves is common. Once at wharf level, the line of rails can be extended CJifltward, puri panu^ with the wharves as they advance? in that direction, at a rate of cost just the same a« laying rails on any other dead level would he, — 8ouie two dollars per fKl can be (Icviacd om that ahove traced, — by way of th»^ wl;ar\'(!S f( • one .season of thf romuioreial year, and, wifoudly. alnn^ Cotnint.>>8ioncr Stret;t (from the (.'anal Basin) to the Military lIoHpital, and ho on, along tht river, to the Bay below. I remain, Your obedient servant , W. SHANLY. Alexani>er Clerk, Esq., V •"* Secretary, C ; o »•' - \ Harbour Coniiuissioncrs, ) .,,,kj;t; .■ ,^)i /Mif) •,• *,./. m- ,t' ■* ff. W, ■-■•'( -l <'i, •' 'kJ'> ' i-r. iti'M \ \ \ ■ ■ I •qowM* J i/iiaamM a»««nMar«MMMa«pi t.-'— .tiansM , jnaui WITH REPORT OCTOB t5V - j^.. Tk,*^*' REPORT TO HARBOR COM M?? OCTOBER. 4Tf 1859 SvarusU/ iSSFTlQ k