AND 
 
 OTHER WAYS. 
 
 m^ 
 
 mmmm 
 
 l-^t^-^ X,f-r:nJ-; 
 
:^_v;..'ff 
 
 ■vHr" 
 
 Ih 
 
 W"" 
 
 Ml 
 
 ^^i^^ .■^.'^/lifi. 
 
 * 
 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class 
 
 ^^^n 
 
 ^fi-^t^l^P^"^^ 
 
 •5! 
 
 ...J^^ 
 
 '^f^^§^< 
 
 w^ 
 
RAILWAYS AND OTHER WAYS. 
 
RAILWAYS AND OTHER WAYS ; 
 
 BEING REMINISCENCES OF CANAL AND RAILWAY 
 
 LIFE DURING A PERIOD OF SIXTY- 
 
 SEVEN YEARS ; 
 
 WITH CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES 
 
 OF 
 
 CANAL AND RAILWAY MEN — EARLY TRAM ROADS AND RAILWAYS — STEAMBOATS 
 
 AND OCEAN STEAMSHIPS — THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH 
 
 AND ATLANTIC CABLE — 
 
 Canada and Its Railways, Trade and Commerce 
 
 WITH NUMEROUS INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES, HUMOROUS AND 
 OTHERWISE, OF CANAL, COACH AND RAIL. 
 
 WITH AN APPENDIX. 
 
 MYLES PENNINGTON 
 
 The oldest railway officer living, still in active service, and first Goods Manager of the Preston and 
 
 Wyre and Xorth Staffordshire Railways of England, and first General Freight 
 
 Agent of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. 
 
 " Now, my lads, you will see the day when mail coaches will go by railway, and it will be 
 cheaper for a working man to travel on a railway than to walk on foot."— Otorge Stephenmn, 1825. 
 
 TORONTO : 
 WILLIAMSON & CO. 
 

 
 Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the Office of the Minister of 
 Agriculture, by Williamson & Company, in the year one thousand eight hundred 
 and ninety •six. 
 

SIR JOSEPH HICKSON. 
 
SIR JOSEPH HICKSON, K.C.M.G., 
 
 LATE GENERAL MANAGER 
 OF THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY OF CANADA, 
 
 WITH FEELINGS OF ESTEEM AND ADMIRATION, 
 
 BY 
 
 HIS HUMBLE SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 9F THE 
 
 Toronto, Canada, October, i^4yi^lVEftSITY 1 
 
 OF 
 
 189767 
 
LIST OF PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 
 
 
 PAOK. 
 
 The Author . . 
 
 
 opp. 
 
 Title 
 
 Sir Joseph Hickson 
 
 
 opp. Dedication. 
 
 Hon. John Ross 
 
 
 " Contents. 
 
 Sir Henry Tyler . . 
 
 
 " Introduction. 
 
 S. P. Bidder . . 
 
 . . 
 
 
 21 
 
 Sir James Allport 
 
 
 
 57 
 
 Group of 18G0. Walter Shanly, Henry Bailey, 
 
 James Hard- 
 
 
 man and Myles 
 
 Pennington 
 
 
 81 
 
 Prince of Wales Medal — Victoria Bridge 
 
 
 95 
 
 William Hendrie 
 
 
 
 105 
 
 John Shedden 
 
 
 
 107 
 
 C. J. Brydges 
 
 
 
 119 
 
 Thomas Swinyard 
 
 
 
 121 
 
 W. K. Muir . . 
 
 
 
 125 
 
 Joseph Price 
 
 
 
 127 
 
 L. J. Seargeant 
 
 
 
 155 
 
 Wm. Wainwright 
 
 
 
 157 
 
 Edmund Wragge 
 
 . . 
 
 
 159 
 
 Jas. Stephenson 
 
 
 
 161 
 
 Abraham Fell 
 
 
 
 167 
 
 W. J. Spicer 
 
 
 
 169 
 
 E. P. Hannaford 
 
 
 
 171 
 
 Cross Section View, 
 
 showing Strata and Construction of St 
 
 
 Clair Tunnel 
 
 . . 
 
 • . 
 
 173 
 
 Ventilating Device for Removing Smoke . . 
 
 
 175 
 
List of Portraits and Illustrations. 
 
 Joseph Hobson . , 
 
 Sectional View, full length of Tunnel under St. Clair 
 
 Tunnel Engine Emerging from Portal 
 S. K. Callaway 
 John Burton 
 John Earls 
 Arthur White 
 Geo. Burdett Spriggs 
 
 A Souvenir of the Great Western Railway of Canada 
 James Charlton . . 
 David Pottinger . . 
 N. Weatherston . . 
 John Weatherston . . 
 Alderman Hallam 
 
 Suspension Bridge (G. T. R.) over Niagara River 
 One Hundred Ton, St. Clair Tunnel Locomotive 
 Sir William C. Van Home . . 
 A Ship's Bill of Lading One Hundred Years Ago 
 Niagara Falls (Two views) . . 
 J, B. Jones 
 Sir Hugh Allan 
 
 River, 
 
 177 
 
 179 
 183 
 189 
 191 
 193 
 195 
 199 
 201 
 217 
 219 
 233 
 259 
 285 
 301 
 305 
 323 
 353 
 379 
 397 
 
Of 
 
 CALIFO* 
 
HON. JOHN ROSS. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I. — pages 21 to 38. 
 
 The Author's Birth— His Father— John Hargreaves, the Carrier, 21 ; School-Boy 
 Day3— School in a Kitchen — School at "Sandy Johnny's," 22 ; " Go to see the 
 Hanging " — Remove to Preston — Apprenticed to a Carrier— Pickford ft Co., 
 —Town of Preston— Its Guild- The Earl of Derby, 23 ; An Enthusiastic 
 Carrier — Pen Portrait of John Uargreaves, 24 ; John Hargreaves as a Coach 
 Driver — John Hargreaves and the Toll-Gate Man — Way Bills — Braithwaite 
 Poole, 2.5 : My First Railway— Its Gauge, 26 ; A Railway Episode— The Oldest 
 Railway Man— Canal-Boat Robbers, 27 ; The Lost Fly-Boat- Game Poachers, 
 28 ; Rates of Carriage — A Clever Teamster — Joe Knows the Rates—" What a 
 Merchant would Stand," 29 ; The " Deead Mon " — A Queer Question —Whiskey 
 and Wool, 30 ; Canal Packet Boats— "The Swiftsure"- A pleasant Sail— The 
 Mysterious Trunk, 31 ; Early case of "Burking" — How Johnny Morrison 
 Balanced his Cash- Book, 32 ; Myles Beck's Cash- Book — Heavy Postage — Billy 
 Bates, 33 ; I'll learn thee to make M.B.— The last Stage-Coach— " We miss the 
 Cantering Team," 31 ; Liquor Sampling — An Old Custom — A Stage-Coach 
 Journey, 35 ; A Runaway — Brandy Blossoms — A Visit to Liverpool— First 
 Sight of a Locomotive — A Ride to Manchester— 15 Miles an Hour, 36 ; The 
 Locomotive " Castle "-Runs Away, 37 ; "John Gilpin "—On Wheels, 38. 
 
 Chapter II. — pages 39 to 53. 
 
 My First Goods Managership -Preston and Wyre Railway— Fleetwood Then and 
 Now— Thos. Drewry's Account of It— S. P. Bidder, C.E.— A Banquet— Geo. 
 Stephenson Talks, 39 ; Sudden Termination of a Ball— My First Goods Classifi- 
 cation—Bobbins and Dead Pigs — Preston and Wyre Railway Shares- -How We 
 Sold the Line, 40 ; First Excursion Trains— Morecambe Bay — A Trip by 
 Steamer "Nile ''-Verses, 41 ; The Poet Anderton, 42 ; His Lines on Railways- 
 John King, Station Master— The First Teetotaler, 43 ; Curious Ideas about 
 Railways — The Old Lady and the Telegraph, 44 ; A Big Enquiry about Clog 
 Soles— Not Wood Enough in England to Make Them— Kill the Calf Without 
 Prejudice — Sea Boulders and Railway Traffic, 45 ; Paving the Streets of Man- 
 
ii. Contents. 
 
 Chester— A Testimonial to S. P. Bidder, 1847, 46 ; The A.uthor's Address, 47 ; 
 Mr. Bidder's Reply, 48 ; I Remove to Staffordshire — The " Knotty Line," 49 ; 
 Ruins of Tutbury Castle — Mary Queen of Scots — Trent and Mersey Canal — Its 
 Tunnels and Aqueducts, 50 ; An Ancient Act of Parliament, 1761 - The Three 
 Celebrated Quakers, 51 ; Edward Pease, the Railway Pioneer— Thos. Edmond- 
 son and the Railway Ticket Printing Machine, 52 ; Geo. Bradshaw, of ' ' Brad- 
 shaw's Guide"— The Baby Guide of 1844— The Giant Guide of 1894— Note by 
 Thos. Drewry on Bradshaw's Death, 53. 
 
 Chapter III. — pages 54 to 65. 
 
 Early English Goods Managers — Importance of Their Work — Power Over the 
 Traffic of the Country, 54 ; Braithwait6 Poole, President of Goods Manager's 
 Conference — A Testimonial to Him — His Work on British Commerce, 55 ; His 
 Parliamentary Evidence, 1845 — His Visit to Canada in 1859, 56 ; Sir James 
 Allport — The Author's Recollections of Him, 57 ; The Old Third-class Travel, 
 58 ; The " Stand-up "—Change made by Sir James— Pullman Cars Introduced 
 on the Midland Railway, 59 ; Railway Servants' Orphanage — His Death — 
 Obituary Remarks, 60 ; How News of Hudson's Election was Conveyed to the 
 London Times Half a Century ago, 61 ; Samuel Eborall — His Fat Book of 
 Rates and Marginal Notes — Colin Eborall — His Successful Career as a Railway 
 Manager— His Visit to Canada with Sir M. Peto— William Cawkwell, Agent at 
 Brighouse —Goods Manager — Reached the Highest Railway Rank, 62 ; Samuel 
 Salt, of Manchester— His Statistical Works— His Proverbs and Wise Sayings — 
 Thos. Kay, Assistant to Mr. Salt, 63 ; Succeeds Him as Goods Manager — 
 Frederick Broughton, Goods and General Manager on English and Welsh 
 Railways, Comes to Canada as General Manager of Great Western Railway — 
 His Lecture on Heraldry — His Sudden Death, 64 ; Other Early Goods Man- 
 agers — W. L. Newcombe — Mr. Walklate — F. Ormandy, of Liverpool, 65. 
 
 Chapter IV. — pages 66 to 70. 
 
 English Railway Clearing House— Its Small Beginning in 1842— Kenneth Morrison, 
 its Founder — Its Greatness and Value, 66 ; Takes Note of Movement of Railway 
 Plant — Fixes Terminal Expenses — Mr. Morrison attends Goods Manager's 
 Conferences— Goods Managers as Ramblers, 67 ; K. Morrison puts on the Curb 
 —•'Kendal," means Windermere, 68 ; Geo. Dartnell Tries to Start a Clearing 
 House in U. S. and Canada — Issues a Pamphlet on the Subject— How Cars were 
 L(Mt — The Great Want of a Clearing House — My Witnesses in liondon, 69 ; 
 A Cumberland Wrestler and an Irish " Cow-Boy "—How I Kept Them in Sight 
 —How I Loet Them— An Irish Jig Among the Lawyers, 70. 
 
Contents. iii. 
 
 Chapter V. — pages 71 to 80. 
 
 The Railway Mania of 1845— People's Eyes had an Uncanny Look — We get npa Bur- 
 lesque Scheme, 71 ; The " Gret Yed " (Wooden Head) to Preside— To Take in 
 the Geese of Bleasdale Fell — An Application for Shares — The Rush for Scrip 
 — A Parody, 72 ; Immense Subscriptions for Stock — A Clergyman's Scheme — 
 How we got it up to Pay 5 per cent. , 73 ; A Dash of His Pen and it Pays 7^ 
 per cent. — The Scheme Partially Carried Out 40 Years Afterwards, 74 ; Direc- 
 tors Sold to Themselves Their Own Land at Their Own Price — How a Railway 
 Secret was Discovered, 75 ; Speculations for the Church— A Vbit to London 
 During the Mania — What I Saw — Scenes in the Lobby of the House of Com- 
 mons, 76 ; Celebrated Men of the Times — How Easy Money was Earned — 
 King Hudson— His Strange Career — A Fortune Left Him was His Misfortune, 
 77 ; His Early Work was a Good W ork for the Country- Makes £100,000 
 in One Day— Kc was no Worse than the Morality of the Period — The World 
 Had Gone Crazy — Hudson's Final Ruin — Dies a Poor Man, 78 ; Price of 
 Shares in 1845— An Old Railway Share List— The Grand Crash of the 
 Mania, 79 ; Groans, Moans and Suicide— Off to the Continent, 80. 
 
 Chapter VI. — pages 81 to 94. 
 
 A Start for Canada Under the auspices of Peto, Brassey, Betts and Jackson — Thos. 
 Brassey, the Famous Contractor — John Roberts, Goods Manager, 81 ; " Hot 
 Scotch" and "Barley Bree "— " Wha'U be King but Charlie "-The Globe 
 Letters— Grand Trunk Reminiscences— "The Battle of the Guage8,"82 ; His- 
 tory of the Guage— Great Mistakes, 83 ; Ohio Gnage — A Locomotive Fixed It 
 —Early Directors- President Hon. Jno. Ross- V. P. B. Holmes -Notes on 
 Deaths of Sir A- T. Gait, James Beaty, and Hon. Jas. Ferrier — Sir Cusack 
 Roney, Sec'y., 84 ; His Interview With Napoleon— Dublin Exhibition, 1853 — 
 Comes to Canada— His Parliamentary Work on Grand Trunk Bills — S. P. 
 Bidder, First General Manager— His Brother, the Calculating Boy — Blackwall 
 Iron Wharves— Engineer on Preston and Wyre R'y. —General Manager of the 
 North Staffordshire Railway, 85 ; General Manager G. T. R,— Many Troubles 
 —Break at Montreal— Contentions with Ice and Snow— Rigid English Locomo- 
 tives—A Magnificent Testimonial, 86 ; Mr. Bidder s Address, 87 ; A Visit to 
 Canada Some Years Afterwards- Meet Him at Niagara Falls— Bron tare 
 O'Brien- A Curious Coincidence— Richard Trevithick Builds the First Locomo- 
 tive in 1804, 88 ; His Son, F. H. Trevithick, is Frst Locomotive Superintend- 
 ent on G. T. R.— He Left Early— A Bear Story, 89; A Whiskey Railway— A 
 Terrible Calamity, 90 ; The Burning of the Boots, 91 ; Walter Shanly, Chief 
 Engineer and General Manager— Jas. Stephenson, Supt. — J. B. Jones, Assist 
 ant G. M., 92 ; Cornelius Judge, Assistant G. M.— A Testimonial to Him— H. 
 
iv. Contents. 
 
 C. Bourlier, Supt. St. Thomas ("Tommy Cod") Line, 93 ; Calves, Sheep and 
 Passengers Ride Together— Passengera da not " Write to the Times," 94. 
 
 Chapter VII. — pages 95 to 103. 
 
 The Victoria Bridge— A Great Undertaking — Ice Shoves like the Glaciers of the 
 Alps — Construction of Coffer-Dams — A Winter's Work More Than Lost, 95 - 
 A. M. Ross, Engineer — Hon. Jno. Young on the Subject of the Victaria 
 Bridge— What Robt. Stephenson Said, 96 ; James Hodges and His Staff of 
 Bridge Builders and Mr. Ross Pull Together— G. R. Stephenson Attempts to 
 rob Mr. Ross of His Weil-Earned Fame— Hon. Jno. Young to the Defence— The 
 Author gets a Letter of Thanks from a Son of A. M. Ross, 97 ; The Attack 
 mainly the Cause of A. M. Ross's Death — First Crossing of th« Victoria 
 Bridge— Prince of Wales Drives the Last Rivet and Lays the Last Stone— A 
 Commemorative Medal — One in the Author's Possession, 98 ; Victoria Bridge 
 as a Thermometer— T. D. King's Experiments, 99 ; The Boulder Monument in 
 Memory of 6,000 Immigrants— A Noble Deed— All Honour to the Bridge 
 Builders— The Moose Deer and the Locomotive, 100 ; Subject for an Historic 
 Painting— Fraudulent Freight Claims, 101 ; The Detective's Story— A Daniel 
 Come to Judgment, 102 ; Putting on Another Horse, 103. 
 
 Chapter VIII.— pages 104 to 109. 
 
 Hendrie & Shedden— Visit to Montreal— The "Pickfords of .Canada," 104 ; Wm. 
 Hendrie, a Sketch— Jno. Shedden, a Sketch— The Shipping Note— Its Impor- 
 tance—Number Issued in Toronto, 105 ; A Novel Shipping Note— Cartage 
 Riots in Montreal— Shedden's Life Threatened, 106 ; Jno. Shedden's Important 
 Contracts — His Terrible Death— Fatality to His Nephew— Monument in the 
 Necropolis Cemetery, Toronto— Wm. Hendrie — Laying the Water Pipes of 
 Hamilton— Adam Brown's Remarks, 107 ; No Leak in the Pipes — Wm. 
 Hendrie's Many Railway Contracts — A Director of Banks — The Firm's Great 
 Number of Employees — Make a Bid for Building the Canadian Pacific Railway 
 — Note on Adam Brown— Post Master of Hamilton, 108 ; Cartage Business in 
 Toronto in 1857 and 1888, 109. 
 
 Chapter IX. — pages 110 to 121. 
 
 B. Holmes, First Vice-President of Grand Trunk Railway- Collector of Customs at 
 Montreal— Died at His Post— T. E. Blackwell Succeeds Mr. Holmes as V. P. 
 —Mr. Blackwell as a Scientist— His Fondness foi Geology and Meteorology^ 
 110 ; One of the Earliest Weather Probs- His "Flying Ferry" at Sarnia- 
 
Contents. v. 
 
 How Worked— Not a Succeas— The "Great Eastern" of the Lakes, 111; 
 Probable Cause of Mr. Blackwell's Death — Henry Bailey— Assistant Greneral 
 ^lanager — Supt. of Portland District— Lieut. -Col. of G-. T. R. Brigade— His 
 Death at Brighton, England— Canadian Travel in the Olden Time, 112 : Early 
 Kail way Travel— Slow but Sure— 20 Miles an Hour — Snow Blockades— A Cold 
 Night Ride to Quebec— Mason & Slidell Trouble— The Sleeping-Car, 113 ; A 
 Crude One at Start — The Morality Question Considered — Pullman Cars Intro- 
 duced — Dollars and Cents — My First Freight Tarifif in Decimal Currency, 114 ; 
 A Blessing to Shipping Clerks— English Currency and Decimal Currency Com- 
 pared—A Sum for School Pupils, 115 ; The Imaginary Charm about Pounds 
 Sterling— Early English Railway Managers— Some Unfit for Office — The Sea 
 Captain— He Insults a Well-known Peer — A Stock-jobber with a Lisp, 116 ; 
 His Experiments with a Rat Trap — John Brown in a State of Grog— Tells GenT. 
 M. to " Come at a More Convenient Season " — Wilson's Terrier Saved its Master 
 from a Severe Reprimand— A Polish Refugee — Sent to Cut Down Salaries — 
 The Marine Surveyor — Inspects His Men Through a Telescope — The Polish 
 Manager Would Make His Line Pay— He Would Double the Fares, 117 ; The 
 Little Dandy Manager — A Model for Order — His Reverence for the Nobility — 
 Manager Taken for a Waiter — The Drunken Genl. M. Gives His Men a Lesson 
 in Politeness— Great Fun for All Round, 118 ; Canadian General Managers — 
 Sir Casimlr Gzowski, the First Genl. M. in Canada, 119 ; C. J. Brydges, 
 the Napoleon of Railways — James Tillinghast, of the Northern and New York 
 Central— Col. F. Cumberland— An Early Pioneer— A. Fell— His Life's Experi- 
 ence on English, Canadian and United States Roads— Thos. Swinyard— London 
 and North- Western, England, 120 ; General Manager, G. W. R. — President 
 Dominion Telegraph Co. — Commissioner Prince Edward Island Railway — Sir 
 Joseph Hickson — An Active Worker in all Railway Departments— Honour of 
 Knighthood, 121. 
 
 Chapter X. — pages 122 to 127. 
 
 S. P. Bidder's Farewell Letter, 122 ; Presentation to Walter Shanly, 123 ; An Ad- 
 dress, and His Reply,124 ; W. K. Muir — In Memoriam, 125 ; Sketch of His Rail- 
 way Career in England, Canada, and the United States, 126 ; Narrow Escape 
 at Desjardin's Bridge Accident — A Memento of Desjardin's Bridge — Model of 
 a Locomotive — In Memory of Engineer and Fireman, 126 ; Joseph Price — 
 Treasurer of a Chicago Line — same on Great Western of Canada — Succeeds W. 
 K. Muir as General Manager— A Testimonial— Now Represents English Asso- 
 ciation of American Bond and Shareholders in London, 127. 
 
 Chapter XI.— pages 128 to 135. 
 
 Three Nights in the Cars— A Bad Start, 128 ; The Beautiful Snow— The Sleeping- 
 Car, 129 ; Stuck in the Snow— Stock of Rations Taken, 130 ; The Glass Tea- 
 
vi. Contents. 
 
 kettle — Foraging Parties go Out, 131 ; Literature at a Premium — Two A.M. — 
 A Look-Out, 132 ; A Dead Engine — Dug Out, 133 ; Supplies Arrive — Con- 
 ductors Adventures — The Snow-Plough, 134 ; Changes Cars — A Wreck, 135. 
 
 Chapter XII. — pages 136 to 147. 
 
 Portland— Its Steamboats — Cheeryble Brothers — Kimbals— Coyle — Brooks— A Colli- 
 sion on the Atlantic — Only a Board Between Us, 136 ; No Shoddy in the Steamers 
 — Earliest of "Old Probs "— S. T. Corser, Superintendent— Old, but Always 
 Fresh and Rosy — A Sound Teetotaler, 137 ; J . S. Millar, Goods Manager- 
 Organized Railway and Ocean Freight — Adapted for any Railroad Position — 
 C. R. Christie, Superintendent — Sketch of His Railway Career— Erastus 
 Wiman's Opinion, 138 ; Christie's Early Death— J, S. Martin —His English 
 and Canadian Career — The Cloaked Figure — The Spectral Locomotive — Martm's 
 Marriage, 139 ; An Incident of Maximillian— David Stark, Engineer and Sup- 
 erintendent—A Successful Man — Wm. Kingsford, C. E. — His Work on Cana- 
 dian Canals — His Great Work — The History of Canada, 140 ; Degree of LL.D. 
 — Superintendent Webster— His Bunk on the Baggage Car— Always on Duty — 
 Starts a Through Bill of Lading Office— Allan Line and G. T. R.— The 
 Pioneers of the North- West — Hudson Bay Co. — Bar banks of St. Paul — Oxen 
 Teams to Fort Garry, 141 ; First Rail and Ship Bill of Lading Introduced 
 — The Author's Suggestion, 142 ; First Contracts at Cincinnati— Grows to be an 
 Immense Trade — Some of Godfray Macdonald's Shipments, 143 ; To 
 Canadian and U. S. Seaports — Cincinnati Enquirer on Through Bill of 
 Lading System — A List of Rates, 144 ; Hardman and the Author's Visit, 
 145 ; The Author's Claim — Robert Bell — Prescott & Bytown Railway — His 
 Wooden Track, 146 ; He Pushes Through — His Many Difficulties- -A 
 Winter's Ride— John Bell, Q.C., of Belleville, 147. 
 
 Chapter XIII. — pages 148 to 163. 
 
 Hon. Jno. Ross, First G. T. R, President— Sketch of His Life— The Victoria Bridge 
 —His Many Government Positions, 148 ; One of the First Senators after Con- 
 federation — Hon. James Ferrier— A Pioneer of Canadian Railways, 149 ; 
 Montreal and Champlain — Director of G. T. R. — His Many Good Works — W. 
 A. Merry, Secretary of M. & C. R. — The Guage Considered— Geo. Reith — 
 General Manager, 150 ; Our Trip to the West — The 10 per cent. Telegram— A 
 Sensation— Resignation, 151 ; A Tin Testimonial— Sir Joseph Hickson— Fur- 
 ther Sketch — English Experience, 152 ; Accountant, Secretary, and General 
 Manager of Grand Trunk — Increase in Mileage— Change of Guage— Double 
 Track, 153 ; St. Clair Tunnel— Royal Commission on the Liquor Traffic— Lewis 
 James Seargeant, General Manager, 154 ; Sketch of His Railway Career, 155 ; 
 
Contents. viL 
 
 Director Habbard's Tefltimony in Favour of Mr. S(Murgeant, 156 ; Wm. Wain- 
 Wright— His Many Railway Appointments— Aaaistant General Manager of 
 Grand Trunk Railway, and Other Offices, 157 ; Edmund Wragge, CE.— His 
 Experience on English Railways, 158 ; C^>e of Good Hope— CosU Rica- 
 Canada's Narrow Gnage— Local Manager G. T. R., 159 ; James Stephenson— 
 Operator— Ticket Clerk— Station Agent— Train Deepatcher— General Superin- 
 tendent, 160 ; Director Hubbard's Eulogy on Major Stephenson, 161 ; A 
 Native of Lancaster- -Chas.* Dickens on Lancaster— The Bonny Lane, 162 ; 
 A Vioe-Royal Reception — Alderman Hallam, 163. 
 
 Chapter XIV.— pages 164 to 171. 
 
 The G. T. R. Audit Office— An Indostrioos Department, 164 ; J. Fred Walker- 
 Traffic Auditor (1892)— Obituary (1893), 165 ; RaUway Accounts in Early 
 Days -A Strange Blunder— The Morality of It, 166 ; Thos. Bell, of Leuning- 
 ton, England— His Early Days on English Lines — In Audit Office on G. T. R. 
 — His Great Western of Canada and Michigan Connections, 167 ; His Retire- 
 ment from Railway Life — His Old Reminiscences— Death of Old Colleagues^ 
 168 ; W. J. Spicer— General Manager— Hiv Start with Chaplin & Home- 
 Canada in 1854— Many Different Positions, 169 ; Now Charge of G. T. R. 
 System West of Detroit- E. P. Hannaford -Chief Engineer of Grand Trunk 
 —Change of Guage— Doubling of Track, 170 ; His Connection of 37 Years — 
 International Bridge— Early Associates, 171. 
 
 Chapter XV.— pages 172 to 183. 
 
 St Clair Tunnel— The Fickle River- A Great Blow From the North— A Real 
 "Underground Road," 172 ; Details of the Tunnel— Joseph Hobson, Its Engi- 
 neer, 173 ; By Birth a Canadian— Chief Engineer^ 6. W. R.— Intomatiooal 
 Bridge— Chief Engineer G. T. R. West of Toronto— Grand Trunk Railway— 
 Four Great Works of Engineering Skill— Sir Henry Tyler— President of G. T. 
 R, 174 ; Short Sketch of His Life-His Knighthood— M. P. for Great Yar- 
 month— St. Clair Tunnel Banquet, 175 ; NoUble Railway Officers— Hon. Mr. 
 Vidal and Hon. (now Sir) Senator Frank Smith— Hon. G. W. Rosa, of Ontario 
 Parliament, present, 176 ; Governor Winan's Speech, 177 ; Sir Henry Tyler's 
 Speech— Joseph Hobeon's Reply, 178 ; Robert Wright, Treasurer G. T. R.— 
 Sketch of His Railway Career, 179 ; Charles Percy— Succeeds Mr . Wright— His 
 Many Positions on G. W. R.. G. T. R., Midland, and Other Interests, 180 ; 
 Joseph J . Tanning— Succeeds Mr. Percy as Assistant to General Manager — A 
 Shtnrt Sketch of His Life in Connection with G. T. R., 181 ; Samuel R. Calla- 
 way— His Start as a Boy— His High Positions on Many Roads, 182 ; Sir Joseph 
 Hickson's Predictions Verified, 183. 
 
viii. Contents. 
 
 Chapter XVI. — pages 184 to 194. 
 
 C. J. Brydges joins G. T. R. -Many Changes -General Freight Agents— The Author, 
 V. Stratton, 184 ; P. S. Stevenson— A Life of Many Vicissitudes— Desjardin 
 Bridge— Always Cheerful— General Freight Agent for Many Years— A Money 
 Present on His Retirement— John Porteous— (Succeeds Mr. Stevenson), 185 ; 
 His Many Advancements— A Step Higher— Entertained by Montreal Mer- 
 chants, 186 ; Now Manager of National Despatch Freight Line— Thomas Tandy 
 — G. F. A. of G. T. R., 187 ; His Early Career— Sudden Death, 188 ; Tribute 
 to His Memory, by G. B. Spriggs- John Burton— Sixth G..F. A.— Starts on G. 
 W. R. — Holds Many Important Offices, 189 ; As Secretary to Railroad 
 Managers in Canada— Succeeded Thos. Tandy — John Crampton — A Short 
 Account of His Very Extensive Railway Career in Canada and the United 
 States— John Earls— A Sketch of His 32 Years' Services on the G. T. R., 190 ; 
 Now the Western District Freight Agent, 191 ; Arthur White— His Early 
 Start on English Railways— His Long Connection with the G. W. R. and G. 
 T. R.— Now Central District Freight Agent— W. R. Tiffin, 192 ; An Account 
 of His 25 Years' Services on the G. T. R.— A Testimonial— Now Assistant 
 Superintendent Western District of G. T. R.— The Old Great Western— A 
 Famous Educational Institution — Alexander Mackay — His Start as a Boy 
 Clerk on the G. W. R., 193 ; His Rapid Success at Chicago— Now G. F. A. of 
 Michigan Central Railway — M. C. Dickson — Agent at Bothwell Station— G. F. 
 A. on Northern — Now District Passenger Agent on G. T. R, at Toronto, 194. 
 
 Chapter XVII. — pages 195 to 214. 
 
 G. B. Spriggs— His Early Start on London & North Western Railway, England, 195 ; 
 General Freight Agent on G. W. R. —A Testimonial, 196 ; Other Railway Con- 
 nections in Canada and the United States — Now G. F. A. of the " NickelPlate " 
 Road, 197 ; His Literary Abilities — Plain Dealer's Remarks on Mr. Spriggs 
 Unique Tribute to the Memory of the Late Thos. Tandy, 198 ; Joseph Taylor- 
 Secretary to G. W. R. General Managers— Secretary to Michigan Car Company 
 —His Work— "A Fast Life on a Modern Highway," 199 ; A Selection From 
 It — "An Application for a Situation"— James Charlton— General Passenger 
 Agent of the Chicago & Alton Road— A Railway Pioneer— His Long Connec- 
 tion with the Great Western, 200 ; Browning's Poetry and Railway Guide — 
 Helps His Friend Witton in a Parliamentary Election— Notable Associates, 
 201 ; Wm. Edgar— Born at Birkenhead, England— His Career on G. T. R.— 
 Succeeds Mr. Charlton as General Passenger Agent on G. W. R.— His Early 
 Death-Nicholas J. Power-Starts on G. W. R. as a Boy Clerk in 18.58— A 
 Successful Career, 202 ; Succeeds Mr. Edgar as G. P. A. of G. T. R.— W. S. 
 Champ — Paymaster— His Long Connection with the G. W. R. and G. T. R., 
 203 ; Hi« Experience on a Pay-Car— Large Sums Paid Out— No Loss— Narrow 
 
Contents. ix. 
 
 Escape— General Caahier, 204 ; Obituary, 205 ; Brackstone Baker— G. W. E. 
 Secretary— His Visits With Sir Thoe. Dakin— H. K. Ritchie— SUtionery 
 Department— An .Important Office— A Paper Carpet— Alex. Fraser- One of 
 the Oldest G. T. R. Officers- As Junior Clerk— Freight Cashier— Freight 
 Agent, 206 ; Travelling Auditor— Paymaster— Plods "The Even Tenor of His 
 Way "—Good for Tears to Come— Captain Tibbits— His Steamer " Arctic "— 
 Winter Navigation at Quebec— Major W. WQy— Joins G. T. R. at Portland, 
 Me.— Freight Agent— Travelling Auditor— Wharfingfer and Agent at Montreal, 
 
 207 ; Fenian Troubles— His Death— Tribute to His Memory, by Edgar Judge 
 —Major Kobt. L. Nelles- Commenced on Buffalo & Lake Huron Railway, 
 
 208 ; Agent at Caledonia— Brantford— Toronto — Important Position on G. T. 
 R— Geo. S. Spence— Starts at Qaeen's Wharf— That Station in 1859- Many 
 Different Offices on G. T. R., 209 ; Travelling Auditor— Agent— Accountant- 
 Toronto Then and Now— Wm. Whyte— Agent— Assistant Superintendent- 
 General Superintendent C. P. R., 210 ; Thoe. Dow— His Start on Scotch Rail- 
 ways — Joins G. W. R. of Canada— Many Positions— Agent at Windsor for 
 More Than 22 Years— Mr. Dow's Story of the Pants and the MaQ Bag, 211 ; 
 Force of Habit, 212 ; John Smith— English Canals— Great Western in Its 
 Early Days— Grain Inspector- Immigration Agent — "Barley King," 213 ; 
 Wm. Orr— Starts on Caledonian Railway— G. F. A. on G. W. R.— Superin- 
 tendent Narrow Guage— Many Different Positions on Scotch, United States, 
 and Canadian Railways, 214. 
 
 Chapter XVIIL— pages 215 to 221. 
 
 Dominion Government Railways— Intercolonial— Grand Scenery, 215 ; The Sport- 
 man's Paradise— The Giant Fishing, 216 ; Summer Resorts— David Pottinger— 
 His Start as a Freight Clerk— Rapid Advancement— Greneral Manager of Gov- 
 ernment Railways, 217 ; Forest Fire of Miramichi, N.B., 218 ; N. Weathers- 
 ton — Starts as a Youth on Scotch Lines — Sells Tickets for the London 
 Exhibition of '51— Comes to Canada, 219 ; His Various Offices on G. W. R. and 
 Other Railways— A Handsome Testimonial, 220 ; Western Agent for Inter- 
 colonial, 221. 
 
 Chapter XIX.— pages 222 to 232. 
 
 The Station Agent— The Lying One— The Happy One, 222 ; His Song : "I'm at 
 Leigh," 223; The Swell Station Agent— "Pride Shall Have a Fall"— A 
 Station Master's Duties- Many, but Finds Time for Other Pursuits — A Fiddle- 
 Maker, 224 ; A Geologist- A Naturalist — A Little King— Cloud Mountain , 
 225 ; Francis Alison -Lady Station Agents, 226 ; The Conductor— His Re- 
 sponsible Position, 227; A Moving Cyclopaedia— Their Benevolent Order— W R. 
 
X. Contents. 
 
 Hill's Statement, 228 ; By Piece, Not by Weight, 229 ; Kind Acts of a Con- 
 ductor, 230 ; Mose, the Fat Conductor, 231 ; His Visit to London— W. K. 
 Snyder— The Evangelist— Tells the Good Old Story, 232. 
 
 Chapter XX.— pages 233 to 239. 
 
 John Weatherston— His Early Railway Work on Many Lines — Geo. Stephenson's 
 Present— Joins Great Western in Canada — Track Superintendent, 233 ; Builds 
 Railways in Michigan — Joins Government Roads and C, P. R. — An Accident, 
 234 ; Leases the Dundas Railway— A Cultivator of Flowers — A Charming 
 Garden, 235 ; Geo. Lowe Reid's Eulogy— James Murphy— The Irish Boy— His 
 Remarkable Career, 236 ; His Start as an Errand Boy — His Education — Rail- 
 way Agent — A Testimonial — Collector of Customs — John Miller Grant — Sec- 
 retary of G. T. R., 237 ; A Testimonial— The French Canadian— Louis Payette 
 — My Best Foreman, 238 ; A Prison Warden — His Long Sickness and 
 Death, 239. 
 
 Chapter XXI. — pages 240 to 245. 
 
 Thos. Cook— The Tourist— What Brought Him to the Front— His Temperance 
 History— A Good Public Speaker— A Publisher, 240 ; His First Excursion— 
 His Success as a Tourist, 241 ; Trips to All Countries— Prince of Wales' Sons- 
 Cook's Staflf of Officers in Many Lands— Banking Arrangements— His Benevolent 
 Institutions, 242 ; All Aboard for Jerusalem— A Railway from Joppa to Jeru- 
 salem—Its Cost, 243 ; The Impudence of Steam, 244 ; Tom Hood's Dream, 245. 
 
 Chapter XXII.— pages 246 to 252. 
 
 Railway Management— The General Manager, 246 ; The Goods Manager— Divi-Divi 
 not in the Classification— G. F. A.'s Important Duties, 247 ; The Pro-Rata 
 Question— The Author's Evidence, 248 ; Freight Rates— An American Rail- 
 way's Figures— Immense Reduction in Rates— The Road to Ruin, 249 ; A One- 
 Way Traffic-G. T. R. Rates in the Early Days— The Question Well Consid- 
 ered, 250 ; Low Price of Wheat— The Nearest Market— A Distance Limit- 
 Change in Products, 251 ; Freight of Wheat and Cheese- Difference in Per- 
 centages, 252. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII.— pages 253 to 259. 
 
 An Order of Merit— Heroic Deeds of Railway Men— Sir Joseph Hickson's Opinion, 
 253 ; A Train Without a Driver, 254 ; Thos. Hunt's Heroism, 255 ; The Safety- 
 Valve was Fast, 256 ; The Runaway Goods Waggons— A Brave Act— " There's 
 
Contents. xi. 
 
 Pooder In," 257 ; A Waggon of Gunpowder and a Fire -A Town Saved— The 
 Three Heroes— No Reward— A Brown-Stout Bath, 258 ; A Little Man's Plunge 
 —"Laugh Now the More," 259. 
 
 Chapter XXIV.— pages 260 to 275. 
 
 The Boston Railway Jubilee— Union of the "Hub" and Montreal— Notabilities 
 Present, 260 ; Lord Elgin— President Fillmore— Great Procession— Mottoes, 
 261 ; Massachusetts' Welcome to Canadians— Speeches, 262 ; Lord Elgin Does 
 Not "Forbid the Bans"— A Great Banquet, 263 ; President Fillmore, Lord 
 Elgin, 264, Daniel Webster and Sir Francis Hincks Speak, 265 ; Hon. Jos, 
 Howe— Mayor Bigelow's Address of Welcome, 266 ; Toronto Citizens' Address 
 — Beautiful Sentiment, 267 ; Railroads in New England States in 1851 — A 
 Grand Trunk Celebration — Mayors " Hobnob " Together —Canada and Maine 
 Fraternize, 268 ; A Big Table Cloth— C. Davidson, 269 ; A Chicago Editor's 
 Speech, 270-272 ; Geo. Stephenson's Centenary— The Old Locomotive and the 
 New— Visit Wy Ian— His Birthplace, 272 ; Grand Trunk Officers in 1856, 273 ; 
 James McMillan— His Successful Career, 274 ; " Car-Building King' —A Big 
 Company— Freight Cars in Use — Life of a Car— Senator of Michigan— Mc- 
 Millan's Hospital, 275. 
 
 Chapter XXV.— pages 276 to 283. 
 
 Railways- Their History— " Outram Roads "—Duke of Bridgewater's Opinion, 276 ; 
 Stockton & Darlington — Liverpool & Manchester, 277 ; Grand Opening — Death 
 of Huskisson — Lord Brougham's Tribute, 279 ; The Eight Locomotives and 
 Their Drivers, 278 ; First Railways in U. S.— First in Quebec Province, 
 280 ; First in Ontario — Railway Speed Then and Now, 281 ; A Lottery for a 
 Railway— A Veteran Railroader— Richard Bond's Death at 82 Years of Age, 
 282-283. 
 
 Chapter XXVI. — pages 284 to 292. 
 
 Grand Trunk System of Railways, 284-285 ; Grand Trunk Pay Roll— Canadian 
 Pacific Railway, 286-287 ; C. P. R. Traffic, 1892 and 1893, 288 ; A Winter 
 Journey from Winnipeg by Montagu Allan's Special— The Province of Mani- 
 toba, 289 ; Its Area, Lakes, Rivers and Prairies, 290 ; First Steamer on the Red- 
 River— How Mr. Swords Got to Canada, 291. 
 
xii. Contents. 
 
 Chapter XXVIL— pages 293 to 308. 
 
 Dominion Railways' Statistics— Railways in United Kingdoms — "On the Line," a 
 Monthly Paper, 293 ; English Railways — Capital — R. Burns' Lecture, 294 ; 
 Railway Plant in United Kingdom — Cost of Some English Railways, 295 ; 
 Railways in United States — Miles in Principal States — Capital — Employees, 
 296 ; Canada has the Longest Railway in the World — Railways of the 
 World— The Dominion Left Out, 297 ; Locomotives 50 Years Ago, 298 ; 
 The Famous " Rocket "—Its History, 298-299 ; St. Clair Tunnel Locomotive- 
 Speed of the Locomotive—" 999," ; Bowman Cooke on Speed, 300-301 : Long 
 Life of a Locomotive — F. Trevithick's " Cornwall, ' 301 ; Accidents — Stage- 
 Coaches vs. Railways — The Sun and the Locomotive — Geo. Stephenson as a 
 Philosopher, 302 ; The Locomotive and the English Lakes— Wordsworth's 
 Sonnet, 303 ; Hon. E. Everett on Wordsworth — Beautiful Scenery Accessible 
 by Railways — Risen From the Ranks, 304 ; Noted Railway Men — Sir W, Van 
 Home — His Unique Career, 305 ; Railway Competition — Liverpool & Man- 
 chester Railway and Canal Fights, 306 ; Plans to Prevent Competition — One- 
 Purse System Considered, 307 ; Governments Responsible for Railway Compe- 
 tition-Electric Motor Railways — A New Source of Competition — Hoist the 
 Caution Signal, 308. 
 
 Chapter XXVIII.— pages 309 to 323. 
 
 Freight Traffic on the Lakes, 309 ; The Great Chain of Inland Lakes — First Canadian 
 Canal, 310 ; St. Lawrence and Welland Canals — The First Steamboat — James 
 Watt and the Steam Engine, 311 ; Fulton's Steamer " Clermont "-Dr. Flem- 
 ing — The First Steamboat in Canada— John Molson, the Pioneer, 312 ; " .John 
 O'Gaunt," Steamer, Arrives at Lancaster,England— Early Ocean Steamers -New 
 York Boat " Savannah," 313 ; " Royal William " the First to Cross the Atlantic, 
 314 ; Dr. Sandford Fleming's Paper, 315 ; Steamship " Great Western " — 
 " Chambers' Information "—The " Sirius " Makes One Trip, 316; Tablet in 
 Memory of " Royal William "—Unveiled by the Governor General at Ottawa — 
 Dr. J . G. Bourinot's Address — Gustavus and Horace Wickstead, 317 ; Cabinet 
 Ministers and Conference Delegates Present, 317-318 ; Atlantic Steamships— 
 "City of Paris"— New Record, 318 ; "Majestic" and "Teutonic's" Trips- 
 Records of Ocean Steamships for Twenty-six Years, 319 ; "Campania" Beats 
 all Records— Relative Sizes of Great Steamers— The " Great Eastern "—Some 
 Accounts of Her — Description and Cost, 320 ; Canadian Ships and Their 
 Tonnage— Increase in the Size of Ocean Steamers, 321 ; A Ship's Bill of Lading 
 One Hundred Years Ago— The Prayer for Safety— The Good Words Abolished, 
 322 ; Tissue Copying of Way Bills— A Ready and Quick Method, 323. 
 
Contents. xiii. 
 
 Chapter XXIX.— pages 324 to 327. 
 
 The Electric Telegraph — The Author as an Operator— Preston & Wyre Railway — The 
 Author's Experiments, 324 ; Superintendents Purkis and Davis — H. P. Dwight 
 — A Sketch of His Career, 325 ; Reaches the Highest Telegraph Position, 326 ; 
 O. S. Wood — Geo. Black— Superintendents and Inventors — Successful Opera- 
 tors — Jas. Walsh — Many Duties of an Operator — A Brakeman's Wit, 327. 
 
 Chapter XXX.— pages 328 to 337. 
 
 The Atlantic Cable— Puck's Girdle Completed— The Cable of 1858— Hnzzahs at Port- 
 land, 328 ; Queen Victoria's Message, 329 ; President Buchanan's Reply — 
 Cyrus W. Field, the Pioneer— His SUrt in Stewart's Store, New York, 330 ; 
 The Father of the Cable— The New Start in 1866— "Great Eastern " Shoulders 
 the Cable, 331 ; Grand Success— Two Continents United, 332 ; Rev. Henry M. 
 Field's Tribute to His Brother's Memor>, 332-333 ; "Clouds Gather "-Cyrus 
 Field's Death— He Sleeps in the " Quiet Valley "— F. N. Gisbome, 334 ; His 
 Early Suggestion of an Atlantic Cable — His Numerous Inventions, 335 ; Sub- 
 marine Cables of the World, 336 ; Cable Construction — A Long Telegraph 
 Circuit, 337. 
 
 Chapter XXXI.— pages 338 to 342. 
 
 Edison- The Wizard of Menlo Park— His Early Days on the G. T. R., 338 ; Hia 
 
 Daring Exploit — His Adventure at Stratford — Edison and Carter Summoned 
 to Toronto, 339 ; Edison's Legion of Patents— Interviewed by A. Bremner, 
 340 ; Mr. Story's Present of Type, 341 ; Edison's Baby and the Phonograph— 
 Farady on Electricity, 342. 
 
 Chapter XXXII.— pages 343 to 348. 
 
 Columbian Exposition— First Crystal Palace— Note on the Transept— Jackson Park 
 — Its Buildings, 343 ; Four Noted Exhibitions— Admissions and Receipts — 
 Chicago Holds the Record — Railways and the World's Fair, 344 ; The Ferris 
 Whetl— Sketch of G. W. Ferris— Cost and Magnitude of the Wheel, 345 ; Des- 
 cription of the Wheel — Its Great Success — The Mammoth Cheese, 346 ; 
 Canada's Cheese Exhibit — Greatest Exporting Country in the World — Babies 
 at the World's Fair, 347 ; One Baby Over— The Record Broken— Funny Inci- 
 dents at the World's Fair—" Exit " First Visited-" Executed in Terra Cotta " 
 —"Where are the Lagoons Kept," 348. 
 
xiv. GontenU. 
 
 Chapter XXXIII.— pages 349 to 353. 
 
 *'The Great Lone Land" — Hon. Dr. Schultz— His Visit to Montreal — His Introduc 
 tion to the Author — The First Kiel Rebellion —Dr. Schultz's Escape on Snow 
 Shoes, 349 ; Province of Ontario — A Large Map — Some Statistics of the Trade 
 and Commerce of the Dominion, 350 ; Dominion Fisheries— Salmon of the 
 Pacific Province — A Railway Clerk's Luck— Wyld's Great Globe, 351 ; The Big 
 Nugget of Gold, 352 ; Queen Victoria and Sir Geo. E. Cartier- -The Victoria 
 Bridge, 353. 
 
 Chapter XXXIV.— pages 354. to 363. 
 
 Old Country Ideas of Canada — The Frozen Bomb-Shell— Kick Cocoanuts ?n the 
 Streets— A Red Indian Idea of Canada — Quebec vs. New York, 354 ; A Com- 
 parison of Distances — Conscience Money Paid to a Railway Co., 355 ; Feeling 
 Against Britishers — Some Rhyming Ditties — "Tackets, Gentlemen " — General 
 Manager's End Predicted, 356 ; Changed Feeling in After Years — Song of the 
 G. T. R. Labourer — English and American Vocabulary, 357 ; How Some Raw 
 Cotton Vanished— Don't Trust to Snow to Put Out a Fire, 358 ; "En Yo Got 
 Ony Trunks " — How the Maine Liquor Law was Carried Out at Paris, Me . — 
 What Became of the Whiskey, 359 ; Acton Copper Mine — " A Big Pocket " — 
 Sir Wm. Logan's Opinion, 360 ; Hon. C. Dunkin, W. H. A. Davies and Mr. 
 Sleeper, the Successful Owners — An Engine-Driver's Feat— Laws of Motion, 
 361 ; Moving Bodies — The Author Gets a Shake — The New Dominion, 362 ; 
 Fathers of Confederation — Greatness of the British Empire — Dr. Beers* 
 Speech, 363. 
 
 Chapter XXXV.— pages 364 to 378. 
 
 The Sturgeon of Lake Huron, 364 ; ' ' Halibut Steaks " — A Frenchman's Fishing 
 Scheme, 305 ; Boston Men in Dreamland — The Burly Frenchman and Grape 
 Culture, 366 ; All Ends in Smoke— A Queer Bed at Fargo, 367 ; One-Armed 
 Jack Maguire— "Clapping His Hands "—A Warm Bed at Island Pond, 368 ; 
 To Meet Him at Midnight — A Madman's Telegram — The " Tossicated " 
 Woman, 369 ; Her First and Last Railway Excursion— (Lancashire Dialect), 
 370 ; How Claims for Accidents Were Settled 50 Years Ago, 371 ; How Friend- 
 ships Were Quickly Made, 372 ; How a Small Pig Became Two Dogs, then a 
 Horse, 373 ; A Subject for the Zoological Sof-iety — A Small Pup and a Lady's 
 Mufif — The Monkey Passenger, 374 ; Keep Out of Foreign Countries— A 
 Customs Collector's Caution — Minton's Encaustic Tiles — "Bowled Out," 375 ; 
 A Coal Story- Sir Wm. Logan's Opinion — A Toronto Professor's Opinion — 
 "Indurated Bitumen," .376 ; An Early Opening of an English Railway— Advice 
 to Station Masters— Champagne — Director's See Double- -How They Came 
 Home, 377 ; " Shunted and Stuck " — A Lady's Complaint — Instructions on a 
 Clock, 378. 
 
Contents. xv. 
 
 Chapter XXXVI.— pages 379 to 391. 
 
 Our Fortieth Anniversary in Canada — J. B. Jones and the Author — His Journal 
 " Outward Bound," 379 ; A Storm at Sea— The " Sarah Sands," 380 ; Toronto 
 and Montreal in 1^53— The " Campania's " First Trip, 381 ; Railways in 1853 
 and in 1893— The " Labrador's " Quick Passage — A Visit to the Mammoth 
 Cave of Kentucky in 1361 ; My Friend Taken Prisoner by the U. S. 
 Police as a Spy During the War, 382-388 ; The Printing Press, 388-390 : Petrol- 
 eum—Its Origin— Its Discovery in Ontario— Some Statistics of Shipments, 391. 
 
 Chapter XXXVIT.— pages 393 to 396. 
 
 My Valedictory— An Address to Railway Employees — Old Adam in " As You Like 
 It "—Total Abstinence the Safety- Valve— Lord Brassey's Navvies— A Prison 
 Warden's Report— Sir Andrew Clarke's Opinion— What Solomon, the Wise, 
 Says— Henry Anderton, the Poet— His Poem " >iature,"— In Remembrance— 
 •• Tiny Tim's " Prayer, 393-396. 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 Explanation— Sir Hugh Allan— Father of Ocean and St. Lawrence Steamship Navi- 
 gation—Sir Hugh's Energy and Pluck— Surmounts all DiflSculties— His Night 
 Journeys— No Pullman Cars— Dent's Sketch of Sir Hugh's Life— Allan Line 
 Starts with One Steamship in 1853, have now Thirty-three, 397-400. 
 
V 
 
 ^»^A_H^ 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY. 
 
 OF hs- 
 
SIR HENRY W. TYLER. 
 
INTEODUCTOEY. 
 
 In Canada and the United States the railroad is of greater value even than in 
 England ; it is there regarded as the pioneer of colonization, and instrumental in 
 opening up new and fertile territories of vast extent— the food-grounds of future 
 nations. — Dr. Samuel Smiles' Life of George Stephenson. 
 
 FACTS and incidents which relate to the early history of great 
 public undertakings are always interesting, as tbey illustrate 
 their usefulness and power for creating important changes in the 
 countries where they are first inaugurated. 
 
 Nothing has done so much to revolutionize the civilized 
 world as the cutting of navigable canals and the building 
 of railways. The first was the pioneer for the movement of 
 heavy merchandise and passengers, in an easy and safe way, 
 from one distant city to another, and though the speed of canal 
 freight boats and passenger packets was slow, it was a cheap and 
 pleasant mode of conveyance, and in its day did much to develop 
 an interchange of traffic between distant places, and added greatly 
 to a nation's prosperity, while it, at the same time, paved the 
 way for the advent of its younger, but gigantic big brother, the 
 steam locomotive railway. This last wonderful power has re- 
 duced rates of freightage to a minimum, and has almost anni- 
 hilated time itself in the transfer of passengers from one point to 
 another. As the author was connected with the canal carrying 
 trade from a boy of fourteen, and for many j-ears afterwards, and 
 with railways since their commencement, he is able to speak 
 with accuracy of many traits in their early history, and to relate 
 incidents and events connected with them. He has tried to 
 
xviii. Introductory. 
 
 render his work as readable as possible by making his sketches 
 short and to the point, at the same time interspersing it with 
 humorous and amusing anecdotes. 
 
 Some years ago the author wrote a number of " Early 
 Reminiscences of the Grand Trunk Eailway of Canada," which 
 appeared in the Toronto Globe. These were well received, and 
 the author's friends asked him to issue them in a more perman- 
 ent form. He now complies with that request, adding a number of 
 other reminiscences of old-time memories of the early Grand 
 Trunk; he has also gone back to the stage coach, stage waggon 
 and canal " fly-boat " times, as well as those of the early Eng- 
 lish railways, and has given some account of the men who were 
 the pioneers in those great public institutions. The author has 
 tried to tell the story of the Railway Mania of 1845, with its 
 terrible effects on the morals of the people of Great Britain and 
 other nations of Europe. 
 
 In a sense, it maybe said that railways have lengthened the 
 life of man for all practical purposes, whether it be for good or 
 for evil, but we may safely claim that their general tendency pre- 
 ponderates in favor of the good and happiness of the human 
 race. 
 
 To enlarge upon the immense progress made in all countries 
 where railways have been introduced, would require volumes to 
 tell, and would be something like an attempt — 
 
 " To gild refined gold, to paint the lily. 
 To throw a perfume on the violet." 
 
 The author's long and intimate connection with the two 
 Canadian pioneer railways, the Grand Trunk and Great West- 
 ern, since their opening, now forty years ago, must be stated as a 
 reason for his giving more than ordinary prominence to the 
 sketches and memoirs of the men who have had the management 
 of these great undertakings, and of many who are still the active 
 
Introductory. xix. 
 
 workers on the Grand Trunk Eailway, and who, in many cases, 
 have grown from youth to mature age in its service. 
 
 The author has given special attention to the wonderful 
 achievements of the electric telegraph, which has brought all 
 nations within speaking distance, and is such an important 
 factor in the safe running of railways. 
 
 He has also collected from many sources some account of 
 the first railways, steamboats and Atlantic steamships, all of 
 which bear upon the great carrying trade by land and water. 
 
 The author has had much hesitancy in sending forth his 
 work for public perusal, knowing his inability to do full justice to 
 a subject so vast and momentous in its results, but he is hopeful, 
 that the book may add something to the history of railways in 
 both countries, and also of the noted men (many of whom have 
 long since passed away), who figured in the projection, construc- 
 tion and management of these great iron roads which now inter- 
 sect and cover all civilized lands. 
 
 For much valuable and many interesting details, the author 
 is greatly indebted to F. S. Williams' (England), " Our Iron 
 Roads " ; Dr. Samuel Smiles' (England), *' Life of George 
 Stephenson"; J. M. & E. Trout's "Railways of Canada"; Dr. 
 Wm. Kingsford's "Canals of Canada"; and other Canadian 
 writers ; also to the Derby and Chesterfield Reporter ,- Port Huron 
 Daily Times ; Toronto GZoi>e ; ^oxonio Empire, and other Canadian 
 and United States newspapers, as well as to many kind friends 
 and brother railway officers. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 Toronto, 
 
 Ontario, 1894. 
 
V 5>p THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 ^ALIFORiii^ 
 
/ 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY DAYS AND THE EARLY CARRYING TRADE. 
 
 Lay down your rails, ye nations near and far ; 
 
 Yoke your full trains to Steam's triumphal car ; 
 Link town to town, and in their iron bands 
 
 Unite the strange and oft embattled lands; 
 Peace and Improvement round each train shall soar, 
 
 And Knowledge light the Ignorance of yore. 
 Men joined in amity, shall wonder long 
 
 That hate had power to lead their fathers wrong ; 
 Or that false glory lured their hearts astray. 
 
 And made it virtuous and sublime to slay. 
 
 — Charlet Mackay. 
 
 WITHOUT attempting to give an autobiography of myself, it 
 may be of interest that I should narrate some details of 
 my boyhood days, and how, in early life, I became connected 
 with the canals and railways of the old country. 
 
 I was born at Lancaster, England, on May 13, 1814. My 
 father, during a long life, was the agent for John Hargreaves, the 
 famous carrier, at his "fly-boat" warehouse, Lancaster. His 
 canal boats sailed from Manchester and Liverpool to Summit, a 
 point on the Manchester and Leeds canal, from which place the 
 communication with the Lancaster canal was made by a rail or 
 tram road of five miles to the town of Preston, from there the 
 route was again by canal to Lancaster and Kendal and 
 thence by stage waggons, Scotch carts, &c., to Penrith, Carlisle, 
 Glasgow, Edinburgh and intermediate towns. Mr. Hargreaves' 
 stage waggons, drawn by four or six powerful horses, and his 
 canal " fly-boats " were institutions of the country, and their 
 arrival at the different towns and cities on the line of route 
 was looked for, by the mercantile community, with as much 
 
22 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 interest as the arrival of railway trains is at the present day. 
 His "fly-boats " could hardly be said to fly, as the speed did not 
 much exceed three miles an hour. 
 
 SCHOOL BOY DAYS. 
 
 One of my earliest recollections is that of attending an old 
 lady's school, held in her kitchen, where I sat on a long wooden 
 form along with a score of other little boys and girls. The 
 schoolmistress was usually employed knitting and instructing 
 us in spelling words of one or two syllables and in the simplest 
 sums in arithmetic. The good old lady occasionally indulged 
 in a quiet smoke, or read to us from a well-thumbed school 
 book, a story of one Tom Brown, a poor boy who loved to learn, 
 and by hard work and perseverance ultimately became a judge. 
 
 My second school was one where there were 150 or 200 
 pupils. This school was nick-named " Sandy Johnny's," from the 
 fact that we learned to write by using a stick and scribbling in 
 shallow boxes of dry sand. The writing was erased by shaking 
 the box ; for the little boys this method was a source of great 
 fun. On the coronation of George the Fourth (1821), the 
 scholars were all treated to cake and a glass of port wine 
 and decorated with a gilt medal, and then marched through the 
 town behind a band of music, much to the admiration of their 
 parents and the gentry of Lancaster. 
 
 My last school was called the "Lancastrian Free School," 
 in which there wei;e 400 boys and only one teacher ; he carried 
 on his school by making his advanced pupils into " monitors." 
 I remember being dubbed as an " extra monitor," and my busi- 
 ness was to teach other boys as much as I knew myself, which 
 I am afraid was very little. At that time (1827) the Lancaster 
 Assizes took place twice a year, and there was often one or 
 more unfortunate prisoners condemned to be hung. The 
 
Early Days and the Early Carrying Trade. 23 
 
 executions took place at noon and on such occasions the school 
 boys were let out half an hour earlier ^^ to go and see the hanging,*' 
 which was supposed to give the boys a good moral lesson. 
 
 It may be fairly said that I was born a carrier, as when 
 a small boy I learned to make out goods (freight) way-bills in 
 my father's office. 
 
 MY CANAL AND KAILWAY RECORD. 
 
 In May 1830 I removed to Preston,* where I was bound an 
 apprentice to Mr. Hargreaves for five years, as a clerk in his 
 fly-boat office there; he to pay my board bill, clothing etc., and I 
 to render him a monthly account of my expenditure. 
 
 The financial arrangement was not at all to the liking of a 
 budding young man, for if a correct statement was made, it must 
 have contained items like the following : — amusements lOd., 
 fruit 6d., lent Bob. 8d., church Is., and so on. At last I openly 
 rebelled against it, and Mr. H. then consented to allow me a 
 weekly payment of sixteen shillings, which was continued until 
 the end of my apprenticeship. 
 
 PICKFOBD AND CO. THE GREAT CARRIERS. 
 
 Pickford & Co. were the carriers between London, Man- 
 chester, Liverpool and other towns. That company and Har- 
 
 ♦ Preston, a large manufacturing town in North Lancashire, England, ie beautifully 
 situated on a gentle eminence by the Ribble, one of the largest rivers in the north of 
 England. Preston is about an equal distance from Liverpool and Manchester, say 30 
 miles, and 21 miles from Lancaster. Preston is of high Saxon antiquity, its records 
 go back nearly a thousand years. It is famous for its "Guild," a grand festival held 
 every twenty years, and which has been kept up for many centuries . The town is 
 noted as having given birth to Moses Holden, the Astronomer ; Joseph Livesey, the 
 Philanthropist, and father of the Temperance Reformation ; also of Sir Richard 
 Arkwright, famed as one of the earliest inventors of cctton spinning machinery. The 
 first cotton factory was built in Preston in 1791, since which " Horvocks' Cottons " 
 have become known all over the world. The celebrated House of Derby has been 
 more or less connected with Preston, and figured in its history for the last three 
 hundred years, and members of the family have from time to time represented the 
 ancient borough in the British House of Commons. The late Governor-General of 
 the Dominion of Canada for a time represented Preston. In 1886 he was created a 
 Peer of the Realm under the title of Baron Stanley of IVeaton, and is now the Earl of 
 Derby. 
 
24 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 greaves' formed the main carriers of England and Scotland, long 
 before other noted carriers entered the field. 
 
 The ancestors of John Hargreaves were carriers in the days 
 of the " pack saddle," one hundred years or more before the 
 renowned Macadam made British roads passable for heavy loads. 
 One would not suppose that there could be anything lik& 
 enthusiasm in such a matter-of-fact business as that of a carrier, 
 but my father was really an enthusiast in the carrying trade. 
 When a youth I used to visit him at holiday times, and when 
 we had talked over the current events of the day, father would 
 say, " Now let us talk about carrying." Heavy weights, fully- 
 loaded canal boats down to the "fender," and big goods trains 
 were first-class poetry to him. When I spoke of the mighty 
 movements of thousands of tons of merchandise being conveyed 
 by the new railways, he was then in his element. I suppose 
 some of this heavy weight enthusiasm must have descended to- 
 his son. 
 
 A PEN PORTRAIT OF JOHN HARGREAVES. 
 
 The artist who first gave a sketch of " John Bull " as that 
 worthy gentleman has often appeared in Punch must have had 
 Mr. Hargreaves in view when he drew the character, the likeness 
 being perfect. 
 
 I, my brothers and sisters, when children, had greai 
 reverence for the imposing looking gentleman and gazed upon 
 him as we would on a king ; with his large head, bulky body,, 
 broad red face, prominent nose, mutton-chop sandy whiskers, 
 dark red curly hair, " broad gauge " legs, ponderous and swinging 
 walk, knee breeches, top shiny boots, massive gold snuffbox, 
 heavy gold chain, with giant seals hanging from his fob, fine silk 
 broad-brimmed hat, immense broadcloth black " top " coat, with 
 pockets of capacious dimensions filled with papers ; a grand 
 English gentleman such as might have been seen occasionally 
 in the early part of this century. 
 
Early Bays and the Early Carrying Trade. 25 
 
 Mr. H. was a lover of horses and owned more than any 
 other man, and understood more about them. All disabled and 
 diseased ones were sent to his large farm and residence at Hart 
 Common, near Wigan, where he doctored them himself. 
 
 No one was his equal in driving a four-horse coach. Often, 
 when a boy, I have seen him, whip in hand, driving the coach 
 into Lancaster, while Jarvey, the coachman, would be seen 
 sitting at his ease smoking a cigar, well knowing that the whip 
 was in safe hands. 
 
 He, Mr. H., visited hie out-stations, between Manchester and 
 Edinbro', every three months, and collected the larger freight 
 accounts himself. In addressing his letters to agents, or speak- 
 ing to them, he never used the word " mister," and always spoke 
 to them in a familiar style as, " Well, John," or ''Well, Thomas," 
 as the case might be. 
 
 JNO. HARGREAVES AND THE TOLL-GATE MAN. 
 
 I once saw Mr. H. have a row with a big, fat, burly toll-gate 
 man, which took place in the goods yard at Lancaster. The man 
 commenced charging toll on Mr. H-'s delivery lorries as they 
 passed through the toll-gate, and this he considered to be illegal. 
 The face of Mr. H. was always red, but on this occasion it was 
 like the rising sun. To give effect to his speech he mounted a box, 
 and such a war of words commenced as I have not heard since. 
 The toll-gate man said, " What are you, sir ? You are only a com- 
 mon carrier." Mr. H. replied, "I am an uncommon carrier, I 
 carry further than any man in England." Mr. H. beat the man 
 out of his claim for toll, and the two finally separated without 
 coming to blows, though very near it. 
 
 WAY-BILLS. 
 
 When English railways started, Braithwaite Poole, (the 
 prince of " goods managers "), changed the old name of way-bill 
 
26 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 to *' invoice" (not so understandable). When I came to Canada I 
 resuscitated the old name " way-bill," and so it still remains. 
 Hargreaves' agents debited themselves with the totals of the way- 
 bills in their cash books and credited themselves with the 
 disbursements, as salaries, wages, &c., carrying on the balance 
 from week to week ; cash on hand, and outstanding debts, if 
 correct, formed the balance, a copy of which was sent to Hart 
 Common along with the original way-bills. Mr. H. sent agents 
 a list of errors every quarter, which they did not like to see, as 
 the balance was often to their debit. 
 
 MY FIRST RAILWAY. 
 
 At Preston, Lancashire, as already stated, there was a railway 
 of 5 miles, forming a link between the Lancaster and Preston and 
 Manchester and Leeds canals, the latter being at a much higher 
 elevation than the former. The line was called a "railway," not 
 a "tram-way," as such roads were usually called. It was worked 
 with horses, the rail was flanged on one side, and the wheel of 
 the waggon was smooth like an ordinary cart or carriage wheel. 
 At the sides of the waggon and in front of each wheel there was 
 suspended a short chain and hook to act as a brake by 
 catching a spoke of the wheel, and it required some careful 
 manipulation on the part of the brakesman or he stood the 
 chance of losing a finger or two ; one of our men, I remember, 
 lost a thumb and forefinger. Each waggon took two or three 
 tons of goods, and a team of horses could draw three waggons up 
 the line and six down. The gauge of this railway was the same 
 as those first built by Geo. Stephenson, viz., 4 feet 8^ inches, 
 which gauge he introduced on the Liverpool and Manchester 
 railway, and it in time became the established gauge of England 
 as well as of this Continent. 
 
Early Days and the Early Carrying Trade. 27 
 
 A RAILWAY EPISODE. 
 
 At this time (1830) drunkenness was almost universal, the 
 world seemed to have adopted Byron's sarcastic maxim that, 
 
 ' ' Man being reasonable must get drunk ; 
 The best of life is but intoxication." 
 
 The Temperance reformation (which has since made such a 
 mighty change in the world) had not commenced. The move- 
 ment was first fairly started in Preston in 1832, and the writer 
 took an active part, with others, in the formation of Youths' 
 Temperance Societies. 
 
 One night in 1830, all the men (agents included), had got so 
 drunk that not a man at Hargreaves' warehouse, Preston, was 
 in a fit state to take a train of waggons (loaded with butter and 
 produce for the Manchester market), to Summit, the point where 
 the canal boat was waiting for them. Knowing its vast impor- 
 tance, I harnessed up a team of horses and started on my night 
 journey, and with the exception of a few mishaps, one of which 
 was getting off the track and having to rouse up a neighboring 
 farmer to help me on again, I reached Summit in safety and 
 was received with three cheers by the boatmen. This then was 
 my first railway experience, now more than 63 years ago, and I 
 think this makes me the oldest railway man living still in active 
 service (1894). 
 
 CANAL BOAT ROBBERS. 
 
 One great trouble in the canal carrying times was the fre- 
 quent pilferage of goods in transit. The freight boats were 
 covered with taurpaulins, cargo was consequently easily reached, 
 and the lonely night journeys gave every facility to the boatmen 
 to plunder it. Liquors, wines, fruits, etc., suffered most. On 
 the Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds canal, it was diflScult to 
 keep up an honest crew of men long; outside harpies were 
 
28 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 always on the lookout to tempt them. In one case a shop was 
 opened at Wigan for the sale of stolen goods. Still, with all this, 
 there were some good men who ranHargreaves' fly-boats for ten, 
 twenty and thirty j'ears, and who might have been trusted with 
 untold gold. 
 
 THE LOST FLY-BOAT. 
 
 One morning the fly-boat had not arrived at its usual time 
 at Lancaster, and my father thought he would take a walk on the 
 canal bank to look for it. After walking three or four miles he saw 
 the boat lying across the canal and the horses quietly grazing on 
 the banks. On getting aboard the boat he found the three men 
 lying at the bottom helplessly drunk, soaked with rum inside and 
 out. They had bored a hole in a hogshead of rum and left the 
 liquor running out, which had done great damage to other valu- 
 able freight, a portion of the cargo. 
 
 GAME POACHERS. 
 
 Some of the boatmen were noted poachers. The canal passed 
 through several fine game preserves, and as the boat quietly 
 glided along, the men would slacken speed, and one of them, gun in 
 hand,wouldjumpoffand run into the wood. "Crack! crack! "would 
 be heard, and down would come a fine pheasant or brace of par- 
 tridge, and before the gamekeeper could come up, the boatman 
 would be on board, smoking his pipe, or whistling " Jim Crow," 
 or some popular tune of the times, gun and game being carefully 
 buried in the bowels of the boat. 
 
 Complaints were often made to Mr. Hargreaves by the 
 gentry on the line of the canal, but he was powerless to stop 
 poaching, and the boatmen were rarely caught in the act. When 
 a small boy, I was on the canal wharf at Lancaster when the 
 fly-boat arrived. A man from the town came up and said to the 
 captain, " En yo got out ? "— " I'hi " says the captain—" Ten 
 
Early Days and the Early Canning Trade. 29 
 
 pheasants." These birds at that time fetched five shillings each, 
 which was a strong temptation to the men to tm-n poachers. 
 
 BATES OF CJLRRIAGE. 
 
 We did not use the term "freight, " ; that was only applied to 
 sailing vessels' rates. Mr. Hargreaves never printed a list of 
 rates, he gave his agents minimum figures, and left them to get 
 the best rates they could. The sending station did not charge 
 out the way-bills, that was done by the receiving station. When 
 I went to Preston the agent gave me a way-bill from Manchester 
 to "charge out." I said, "Where are the rates'?" He said, "Oh, call 
 in Joe, he knows most about rates." I have to remark that Joe 
 Hornby was the carter who collected and delivered goods in the 
 town of Preston. I call in " Joe." He is a clean-shaved, rather 
 pleasant looking fellow ; he comes into the office, strokes his hair 
 in front and looks wondrous wise. The way-bill is from Manchester 
 to Preston (30 miles) ; we charge by the 112 lbs., the ton is not 
 used. We start with bales, boxes and trusses of cotton, cloths, 
 linens, etc. (dry goods). I say, " Tommy Careful, one bale." Four- 
 teen pence," saj's Joe. "Billy Sharp, one bale." "He'll only stand 
 one shilling," says Joe. "Peter Careless, one truss." "He'll stand 
 eighteen pence," says Joe. And thus he went on, parties paying 
 different rates for the same description of goods from the same 
 place. Eates were fixed at what a man uonld stand* This kind 
 of charging was rather difficult to keep track of, and I made a 
 private rate book, which I kept securely locked up in my drawer. 
 Then again, rates of freight were based on caste. Esquires, 
 reverends, military officers, the nobility, etc., had to pay for 
 
 * It must be understood that Mr. Hargreaves did not intend his agentfl to make 
 discriminating rates, giving one party a lower rate than the other. He in the first 
 instance gave one rate for all, but in process of time, merchant A, by competition and 
 strong pressure, would contrive to get a special rate ; in time merchant B would dis- 
 cover this ; then, as a matter of course, his rate had to go down to A's figure, and so on ; 
 hence Joe, the carter, spoke of what so and so " would stand." 
 
30 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 their titles. Rates of freight generally were very high, say ten 
 shillings per hundred weight from Edinbro' to Lancaster, 170 
 miles. The rate by "Pickford's van" from London to Manchester 
 was 18/- or 20/- per 112 lbs., say about eighty-eight dollars per ton 
 of two thousand pounds. When railways opened, the rate on dry 
 goods to and from Manchester and London was reduced to two 
 shillings per 112 lbs., or about ten dollars per ton ; while the time 
 occupied in transit by rail was less, by more than one-half, than 
 that of the time occupied by Pickford's van. 
 
 THE DEEAD MON. 
 
 Curious enquiries were sometimes made of the carriers. A 
 man walked into my father's office one day, and said (in broad 
 Lancashire dialect), " What'en yo charge a hundred weight to 
 Preyston?" " What kind of goods," said my father. "It's for a 
 mon," said the enquirer. " We don't carry passengers," said 
 father, " Bot this is a deead mon," said the man. Father : " the 
 Canal Co. will not allow us to take living passengers, and we will 
 not take dead ones." 
 
 WHISKEY AND WOOL. 
 
 One season we had carried an unusual quantity of bags and 
 packs of wool from Scotland, the canal boats for several months 
 were half loaded with them, and on winding up the business at 
 the close of the season, quite a number of bags remained over 
 without marks, unclaimed. These were being placed in our store- 
 room, when one of the porters laid himself down on his back on 
 one of the bags, and feeling something hard, he cried out 
 ** There's a dead man in that bag ! " It was quickly opened, and the 
 men pulled out a new ten-gallon keg of Scotch whiskey, which 
 was being smuggled into England. The porters did not inform the 
 revenue department, but at once confiscated the liquor them- 
 selves, and were not fairly sober for a month afterwards. 
 
Early Days and the Early Carrying Tirade. 31 
 
 CANAL PASSENGER PACKET BOATS. 
 
 The Lancaster Canal Co. used to carry passengers in 
 covered packet boats, something like those on the Erie Canal. 
 Before railways, the speed was about four miles per hour for these 
 boats, but later, narrow iron packets were put on, and the speed was 
 increased to nine miles per hour, horses being changed every three 
 orfourmiles. Thiswas a pleasant mode oftravel, as the canal passed 
 through a rural country of wood and park and grassy dell, with 
 here and there a farm or quaint old inn, or ivy-covered ruin, and 
 may be an ancient old church or the mansion of some nobleman. 
 One of the packets was called ** Swiftsure," and glided along so 
 smoothly that any one might have written a letter on board with 
 the greatest ease. 
 
 Hargreaves' " fly-boats " were under a penalty of ten 
 pounds per man if they carried passengers, but in spite of this 
 the boatmen generally managed to stow two or three passengers on 
 board, and every now and then Mr. Hargreaves was fined, and 
 made the men pay as much of the fine as he could. One shilling 
 per week was stopped from one captain for 20 years, towards his 
 fine of fifty pounds. 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS TRUNK. 
 
 One Sunday when all our family except my mother were at 
 church, a man came up, wheeling a hand truck with a neatly 
 covered trunk upon it, and said the package was for Edinbro' as 
 addressed, and asked to be allowed to leave it in the goods ware- 
 house. Mother complied, but forgot to name the matter to father. 
 Next morning the yardmen were almost driven from the premises 
 by a horrible stench, which they thought came from some raw 
 hides close by. Shortly a man came into the office, and informed 
 my father that on the previous day he stood near the Liverpool 
 coach on its arrival at Lancaster, and he heard the passengers 
 
 of 
 
 CALlFOj 
 
32 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 protesting that they would "not go one foot further" if that 
 trunk (pointing it out) remained on board, and the coach office 
 men bundled it off as above related. My father then sent the 
 trunk down to the coach office, but the parties refused to receive 
 it. It was then left in the street and soon created a sensation. 
 Finally the police took possession of it, and on opening it, found 
 the bodies of a woman and child doubled up and crammed into the 
 trunk. It was afterwards ascertained that a man's wife and 
 child had died or been murdered in Liverpool, and that the mis- 
 creant husband and father had sold the poor bodies to an agent 
 of a medical professor in Edinbro'. This was probably one of the 
 earliest cases of what was afterwards called "burking," say in 
 1826 or 1827. 
 
 HOW JOHNNY MORRISON BALANCED HIS CASH BOOK. 
 
 Johnny, a Scotchman, was a wharfinger for John Hargreaves, 
 the carrier, at Tewitfield, a point on the Lancaster and Kendal 
 canal. On one occasion my father went to the place to examine 
 Johnny's books, and I went with him. Johnny was a bachelor and 
 lived in a little den above his office. Boy-like I peeped into his 
 domicile. There was a small fire grate which, from appearance, 
 had not been cleaned out for many days ; the ashes and cinders 
 were about to enter the bed which stood close by. Johnny did his 
 own cooking, but he did not do anything else towards house- 
 keeping, and the place looked as if it would have been all the 
 better if feminine hands had had a little to do with it. The 
 office desk below had a layer of dust upon it, carefully preserved, 
 the disturbance of which by a broom would have driven the 
 auditor out of the office, but Johnny took a rag and shoved the 
 dust on one side, forming a sort of square of earth-works for the 
 cash book. 
 
 Johnny had an original method of balancing his cash book. 
 
Early Days and the Early Carrying Trade. 33 
 
 He only added up the credit side, and made the debit side agree 
 with it, regardless of all rules of arithmetic. When father 
 tested the addition, he found it all wrong. " Why, how's this ? " 
 said father, " the addition is incorrect. " Johnny ; " Its a' reet, 
 mon, dinna yekenth'coont balances on baith sides." Father found 
 a considerable shortage of cash, and Johnny's wharfage business 
 had to come to a sudden close. 
 
 HYLES beck's CASH BOOK. 
 
 My namesake, "Myles," was agent for Hargreaves at Preston 
 during a long life. He died two or three years before I removed to 
 that toAvn. I am in possession of one of his old cash-books 
 bearing dates 1811 to 1813. It is full bound in leather, made to 
 last for ages. In my boyhood I made a part of it into a scrap 
 book by cutting out alternate leaves, and since then it has been 
 handled and tumbled about by all my children, and is still in a 
 good state of preservation. 
 
 These were the days of high postage, as will be seen from 
 the following abstract : — 
 
 Postage from Lancaster to Preston 8d. (16 cts.), Carlisle lOd. 
 (20 cts.), Leeds same, London Is. 2d. (28 cts.). Now all are only 
 one penny. 
 
 Other items — Odd pence in' settling Humber's account 4d. 
 Expenses with Trafford and wife, Is. (this was doubtless for wine 
 all round). William Bates, wages, £1. 8s. Od. 
 
 Billy Bates was a favorite stage waggon driver up to about 
 1832, and was well-known on the line of route between Kendal 
 and Edinbro'. He only came on to Preston when the canal was 
 closed with ice. Billy's four-inch-wheeled, high-loaded stage 
 waggon, drawn by six powerful horses, was looked upon with as 
 much admiration as were the first railway trains. The end of 
 the waggon, which was covered over was usually reserved for 
 3 
 
34 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 two or three passengers, and their fare was the driver's 
 perquisite.* 
 
 i'll learn thee to make m.b. 
 
 Myles Beck was quite a character, and those who knew him 
 told me some funny anecdotes about him. One, I recollect, was 
 about one of his carters who delivered goods in the town, and col- 
 lected the freight charges. This man had noticed that when he 
 settled up with Mr. Beck, the latter made his initials, m.b., in the 
 delivery book, in a column for the purpose, and when he saw 
 them he passed the item as " paid." The carter thought he 
 could make m.b., and tried it on, putting the money in his 
 pocket for his own use. This went on for a time, and Myles was 
 puzzled in balancing his cash book, and wondered what had 
 become of his money. In tracing out the cause, he found that 
 his carter had been committing a forgery and imitating his (Mr. 
 Beck's) initials. It must be remembered that, at the time, forgery 
 was a capital crime, and the guilty one stood a chance of being 
 " hung by the neck until he was dead." But good old Myles Beck 
 was not the man to hang another for robbing him of a few 
 pounds. Like American lynchers, he, Myles, took the law into 
 
 ♦ In 1848 I travelled by the last coach from Stafford to Stoke-on-Trent, 
 part of the road for three miles went through charming Trentham park and by the 
 mansion of the Duke of Sutherland. The coach in question was the Inst in a link of 
 40 coaches which used to run between London and Manchester. The North Stafiford- 
 shire railway opened next morning, and poor Jarvey's occupation as coach driver was 
 gone forever. When a small boy I used to go fishing with an old veteran coach 
 driver of 70, and when our floats were motionless on the canal, and fish would not 
 bite, coachee entertained me with wondrous "tales of flood and field, " of highway 
 robberies, and of UickTurpins, and Jack Sheppards, and upsets of coaches, and gibbets 
 at four lane ends, and how their bones rattled on winter nights and how ghosts and 
 hobgoblins were often seen at such places; all such tales I swallowed with great gusto 
 and always asked for more. 
 
 The coach driver and the stage waggon driver were a distinct race who entirely 
 vanished from the scene when the iron roads and " puffing billies " began to spread 
 and travel over the length and breadth of the land, and now 
 
 "We miss the cantering team, the winding way, 
 The road-side halt, the post-horn's well-known air, 
 The inns, the gaping town?, and all the landscape fair." 
 
Early Days and the Early Carrying Trade. 35 
 
 his own hands, called the carter into his ofl&ce, locked the door, 
 got his rather formidable walking stick, and in a few words told 
 the man he had "found him out," and at once set to and 
 thrashed him round and round the office, and every whack he 
 gave him, Myles said " I'll learn thee to make m.b." The 
 man's yells could be heard half a mile off, and he was finally 
 kicked off the premises. 
 
 LIQUOR SAMPLING, AN OLD CUSTOM. 
 
 In the canal carrying times it was the custom for a carrier's 
 agent to take a sample from all casks of ardent spirits, and at 
 the same time to register the gauge of the contents. This was 
 done as a protection to the carrier in case the consignee should 
 make a claim for deficiency in quantity or loss in quality ; more 
 particularly in the latter, as boatmen had a knack of taking 
 out a gallon of rum from a hogshead and replacing it with a 
 gallon of water, and they were not over particular as to the kind 
 of water they put in. The master carrier in some cases claimed 
 these samples, but he rarely got any, the agent either sold the 
 liquor or be and his friends drank it. 
 
 In large carrying establishments, such as those of Liverpool, 
 Manchester and London, an array of sample bottles might have 
 been seen in an agent's office footing up to hundreds, each con- 
 taining about half a pint. Occasionally some of the samples 
 were given to hospitals. 
 
 The custom of sampling was a very bad one, and helped to 
 make many a drunkard. When railways commenced the 
 carriage of merchandise the sampling system was abolished. 
 
 A STAGE COACH JOURNEY — A RUNAWAY. 
 
 How vivid are first impressions ! For months I had antici- 
 pated a trip to Liverpool to see, for the first time, a train 
 
S6 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 of carriages rushing along without horses, or any visible 
 power except that of a puffing, snorting machine called a " loco- 
 motive" or engine. To see the marvel of the nineteenth 
 century, one day in June, 1831, I and two friends embarked on a 
 stage coach at Preston, bound for Liverpool, a distance of 30 
 miles. The driver of the coach, I remember, had a very red 
 face and his nose was artistically decorated with "brandy 
 blossoms," and as we rode along he stopped at every hotel to 
 replenish his inner man with a stiffish tumbler of strong liquor. 
 This after a time had the effect of making him talk very thick 
 and brandish his whip in a most extraordinary manner, not at 
 all liked by the horses, as they got mad and ran away, and the 
 coach began to oscillate from one side to the other, threatening 
 to turn over any moment. To make things worse, right before 
 us we could see a horse and cart going slowly along in the middle 
 of the road, and the driver asleep. We, the passengers, made the 
 welkin ring with our yells and, luckily for us, the man in the 
 cart woke up just in time to get out of the way and thus saved 
 us from a terrible calamity. On went the horses full gallop 
 until they came to a hill which put a stop to their mad career. 
 Since then I have travelled hundreds of thousands of miles by 
 railway and steamships, but I never got such a scare as I did by 
 that stage coach ride of 30 miles. 
 
 On reaching Liverpool, the first thing we did was to walk three 
 or four miles into the country to see a locomotive and train of 
 carriages pass a level crossing of the Liverpool and Manchester 
 Railway, at full speed, which was about 15 miles an hour. To 
 us novices, at the time, it seemed terrific and almost took away 
 our breath, filling us with wonder and astonishment. On the 
 following day we made our first yailway ride on a second-class 
 train bound for Manchester. The carriages were open at the 
 sides, with solid wooden seats, and resembled nothing that can be 
 
Early Days and the Early Carrying Trade. 37 
 
 seen anywhere at the present day. They were swung very loosely 
 on their axles, and the passengers were tossed from side to side, 
 much like being rocked in a canoe by French habitants when 
 crossing the St. Lawrence, when that river is obstructed by float- 
 ing ice. We were three hours on the thirty mile journey, includ- 
 ing stops. 
 
 We made our return trip from Manchester in a first-class 
 train, each compartment of the carriage had six seats fitted up 
 much like the inside seats of a stage coach. The motion had a 
 curious effect of sending one to sleep. In our compartment five 
 out of the six passengers soon went into "the land of nod." 
 This train went at 20 miles an hour, and was considered a 
 " lightning express." It took us ninety minutes to run between 
 the two cities. Twenty years afterwards I made the same jour- 
 ney in thirty-five minutes, without once stopping on the road. 
 
 THE LOCOMOTIVE-— THE CASTLE. 
 
 At the commencement of English railways, they were 
 thrown open to public carriers, and Hargreaves and his sons 
 were early carriers upon them, and sometime afterwards I was 
 transferred to the North Union goods department, Preston, the 
 same station where Mr. Thos. Bell (formerly G. F. A. of the G. 
 W. E., and General Supt. of the D. & M. R.,) had his first rail- 
 way experience. Mr. Hargreaves had a locomotive which was 
 the admiration of the whole country. It was resplendent in 
 polished brass work, had high brass towers, and was called the 
 " Castle." It was a very powerful engine, and could haul a very 
 long train of loaded goods waggons. I remember on one occasion 
 the " Castle " ran away without any one to guide it. On it went 
 over the Kibble bridge, helter-skelter, — towards Wigan. Gate- 
 men saw it coming, and thinking that it was some express with 
 
38 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 important news, that a great man was dead or some such grave 
 matter, were quick to open their gates, when it passed 
 through with fire flying, like a flash of lightning — a regular 
 ** John Gilpin" on wheels. Another engine was sent after the 
 run-away, and found it quiet and cold, still on the track — 17 
 miles from Preston ; luckily it had met with no obstruction in its 
 mad flight. 
 
The Railway and the Locomotive. 39 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 THE RAILWAY AND THE LOCOMOTIVE. 
 MY FIRST GOODS MANAGERSHIP. 
 
 IN 1840, I was engaged as the first goods manager of the 
 Preston and Wyre Railway, a line of 20 miles from Preston to 
 Fleetwood. At the terminus there was the river Wyre and a fine 
 deep harbor, at which point the spring tides rose thirty feet, and 
 a vessel had only to sail two miles before she was in the Irish 
 Channel. The land upon which the town was built had for ages 
 been a rabbit warren, and a resort of seagulls, and other aquatic 
 birds.* Fleetwood sprang up as rapidly as a Canadian town ; and 
 steamships were put on to the Isle of Man, Belfast (Ireland), and 
 to Ardrossan (Scotland). The railway was a single track, and it 
 was the first line in England to make use of the electric 
 telegraph. 
 
 S. P. Bidder (first general manager of the Grand Trunk 
 Railway) was the resident engineer of the P. & W. R. At the 
 opening of the road, the station at Fleetwood was formed into a 
 dining room, and many notabilities attended ; among the guests 
 was the celebrated George Stephenson, who made a short speech 
 in his quaint, characteristic style. In the evening, preparations 
 had been made for a grand ball, which was just opening when a 
 
 * My old friend Thos. Drewry, of Fleetwood, writes me (Sept. 1893), that the 
 town of Fleetwood contains 10,000 inhabitants, a large shipping dock, a sea-shore 
 asphalt promerade, one mile in length, new market buildings, and all the modern im- 
 provements of a Well organized and thriving city; that it is a popular summer resort, 
 as well as a shipping port of some consequence oa the Lancashire coast. 
 
 The rabbits, which in the " forties " honey-combed the sand hills, have long 
 since gone 
 
 ' ' Where the woodbine twineth," 
 ■or have vanished in the form of " jugged hare." 
 
40 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 very tragic event occurred. An excursion train, crowded with 
 passengers inside the carriages and on the top, started from 
 Fleetwood, and had only gone a few hundred yards, when a man 
 in a state of intoxication, fell off, and his head was instantly de- 
 capitated by the wheel. Another man, also under the influence 
 of liquor, picked up the gory head by the hair, and before any 
 one could stop him, marched right into the ball-room among the 
 ladies and gentlemen assembled, and exhibited the ghastly spec- 
 tacle to them, which most effectually brought a sudden finish to 
 that ball. 
 
 MY FIRST MERCHANDISE CLASSIFICATION. 
 
 The Preston & Wyre Eailway Co. put on a steam-packet to 
 run from Fleetwood (across Morecambe Bay), to Bardsea, 
 the port for Ulverstone, only a few miles from the famous ruins of 
 Furness Abbey, in one direction, and the outlet of Lake Win- 
 dermere, in the other. For the goods traffic by rail and boat I 
 printed my first freight tariff, and made my first attempt at a 
 classification. The latter was a very short one, and two items in 
 it, I remember, caused a little merriment among the people. The 
 items, were " bobbins and dead pigs." One gentleman said, " Wliat 
 a conglomeration ! " At that time one was in the habit of calling 
 things by their right names ; in these more polite times the articles 
 in question would have been dignified by the more delicate terms 
 of ** spools and dressed hogs," although the latter were in a 
 decidedly undressed state. 
 
 PRESTON AND WYEE RAILWAY SHARES, AND HOW WE SOLD THE LINE. 
 
 During its early history it did not pay running expenses, 
 and its stock went down to zero. At an auction sale which took 
 place near Fleetwood, some P. & W. R. shares were put up, and 
 instead of getting a single bidder, the matter was met by a laugh 
 of derision, people were afraid of holding the stock as a gift. The 
 directors asked superintendent Cooper and me to try and do some- 
 thing to raise the receipts, giving us full power. We put our 
 
The Railway and the Locomotive. 41 
 
 heads together and hit upon the idea of trying cheap excursion 
 trains to the sea side, which had hitherto been unknown in 
 Lancashire. We first put the fare down one-half, viz., twoshillings 
 from Preston to Fleetwood and back, which took a fair number of 
 passengers, but it did not come up to our expectations. We had 
 not reached a figure which the cotton spinners, weavers and 
 mechanics of Lancashire could afibrd to pay for a day's excursion 
 and a soak (bath), in what they termed sote (salt) wayt^r (water). 
 
 We then put the fare down to one shilling and sixpence (36 
 cents), and I employed messengers to deluge the country round 
 with handbills announcing the fact. Our experiment then was 
 a complete success; we conveyed the people by the thousand, 
 chiefly in stand up u-aggons, for we had not carriages enough to 
 meet the enormous demand. The receipts of the road were soon 
 doubled, and when the wild speculation of 1845 drew near, our 
 line was leased, or sold, to two big railway companies who guaran- 
 teed annual dividends of from 7^ to 10 per cent, and the hundred 
 pounds stock, which had been quoted as low as two or three pounds 
 per share, ran up to more than two hundred pounds, and still 
 continues at from one hundred and fifty to tw^o hundred pounds 
 up to the present time. 
 
 A favorite trip for pleasure seekers visiting Fleetwood was 
 that of sailing across Morecambe Bay to the ruins of Peel Castle 
 about ten miles distant, or a little farther on the same coast to 
 the famous ruins of Furness Abbey. A trip by a small steamer 
 called " The Nile " is thus described : — 
 
 What craft is that in Morecambe Bay, 
 
 So faultless in her rig, 
 Which onward speeds her placid way. 
 
 As lively as a snig ? 
 I ken her fairy fabric now — 
 
 I mark her dashing style — 
 .Behold ! with Nelson on her prow, — 
 
 The gallant Uttle " Nile ! " 
 
42 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 How fearlessly the tide she braves ; 
 
 How well she does her work — 
 She bounds above the swelling waves 
 
 As buoyant as a cork ! 
 Though four feet shallows hem her round, 
 
 Her crew serenely smile, 
 For she can float where others ground — 
 
 The saucy little "Nile! " 
 
 The smoky towns their crowds disgorge, 
 
 ] hear the train's loud hum, 
 From heated mill, and deaf 'ning forge — 
 
 Their pallid thousands come ; 
 And sickly frames with health are stored, 
 
 And spleen forgets her bile, 
 And joy embraces toil — on board 
 
 The merry little " Nile ! " 
 
 Here's three times three, and " one cheer more ! " 
 
 And still may fair winds waft 
 This water witch from shore to shore — 
 
 Well crowded fore and aft. 
 Long may her owner watch her skim 
 
 The sea in dashing style, 
 And feel that she has been to him— 
 
 The GRATEFUL little " Nile ! " 
 Fleetwood, Septembeb, 1844. 
 
 THE POET. 
 
 The writer of the above lines, Henry Anderton, was the 
 station agent at Fleetwood. He had at one time taken an active 
 part in the early teetotal movement (which, as already said, 
 commenced at Preston), and was one of the most popular public 
 speakers in England, quite equal to the late celebrated John B. 
 Gough, when that orator was in his most palmy days. 
 
 Anderton was termed the Preston temperance poet, and was 
 accustomed to illustrate his speeches with vivid descriptive 
 
The Railway and the Locomotive. 43 
 
 sketches in verse. At his death in 1855, my friend, Edward 
 Grubb, collected up Anderton's poetic pieces and published them 
 in a small volume of 200 pages, from which I make another 
 selection, on " Eailways (1845)." 
 
 Some fifty years since, and a coach had no power 
 To move faster forward than six miles an hour, 
 Till Sawney Me A dam made highways as good 
 As paving stones crushed into little bits, could. 
 
 Then coachee, quite proud of his horse-flesh and trip ; 
 Cried " Go it, ye cripples," and gave them the whip ; 
 And ten miles an hour with the help of the thong — 
 They put forth their metal and scampered along. 
 The present has taken great strides of the past. 
 For carriages run without horses at last ; 
 And what is more strange — yet it's truth, I avow — 
 flack-horses themselves are turned passengers now. 
 These coaches alive go in sixes and twelves, 
 And once set in motion, they travel themselves ; 
 They'll run thirty miles while I'm cracking this joke, 
 And need no provisions but " pump milk " and coke — 
 With their long chimneys, they skim o'er the rails. 
 With two thousand hundred weights tied to their tails ; 
 While Jarvey, in stupid astonishment stands. 
 Upturning both eyes, and uplifting both hands ; 
 " My nags " he exclaims, between laughing and crying, 
 " Are good 'uns to go, but you d — Is are flying." 
 
 JOHN KING, THE FIRST TEETOTALER. 
 
 I cannot close my reminiscences of the Fleetwood railway, 
 without referring to another station-agent on that line, viz., 
 John King, a name which will live in history, as the first man 
 known to have signed a total abstinence pledge from all kinds of 
 alcoholic liquors. This pledge was drawn up by Joseph Livesey, 
 cheese factor, printer and publisher of Preston, on the 23rd 
 
44 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 August, 1832, when the two men in question signed it. This 
 then was the origin of what was afterwards termed, the ** teetotal 
 movement," and which has since spread to every part of the 
 civilized world, and has done, and is still doing, more than all 
 other agencies (Christianity excepted), to reform the habits 
 and customs of the people. 
 
 John King was the recipient of numerous medals and badges 
 of honor from different parts of Great Britain, which he wore on 
 special occasions. Both he and Mr. Livesey only died a few years 
 back, each having seen his ninetieth year ! 
 
 CURIOUS IDEAS ABOUT RAILWAYS. 
 
 In the early railway times country people had strange 
 notions about railways, and passengers were often in the habit of 
 asking for tickets, not to the station nearest where they lived, 
 but to the name of the place or road itself where they happened 
 to reside. One day a man put down his money and said, " A 
 ticket to Bloody Looen (lane) Ends." I said, " I never heard of 
 such a horrid place." He seemed to pity my ignorance, and said, 
 ** Why Kaarkem (Kirkhara), to be sure." 
 
 But the people were fairly bewildered with the electric 
 telegraph. How articles and information could come over those 
 wires, caused many a knit brow and deep meditation, and 
 railway men would sometimes play jokes upon parties. One day 
 an old lady had lost her umbrella, and thought she had lost it at 
 the station from which she came. The clerk said he would tele- 
 graph about it, in the meantime a porter had found the umbrella 
 and hung it upon the telegraph wire. The old lady was then told 
 that her umbrella had arrived, and when she saw it hanging on 
 the wire, and on receiving it, she went away rejoicing, repeating 
 the word '* wonderful ! wonderful ! " 
 
The Railway and the Locomotive. 45 
 
 A BIG ENQUIRY FOR A FREIGHT RATE. 
 
 In some pao-ts of England, particularly in Lancashire, clogs, 
 or shoes with wooden soles, were much worn by the working 
 classes. The clog soles, roughly hewn in shape, frequently formed 
 an article of freight for the carrier. On one occasion one of our 
 station agents telegraphed me as follows : "A man here wants 
 a rate for ten million clog soles to Manchester." The quantity 
 was so enormous that we went into a calculation upon the 
 matter and found that if all the alder and willow trees (of which 
 clog soles are formed) in England were cut down and made into 
 clog soles, they would not make the quantity named. The man 
 in asking the question simply did it to get a low rate for two or 
 three waggon loads. 
 
 "kill it without prejudice." 
 
 In settling claims for loss or damage to goods in transit we 
 sometimes wrote the common law term, — " settled without 
 prejudice." One day I got a telegram from one of our agents at 
 a small station, as follows — " I have caught a calf trespassing 
 on the line, for which no owner can be found. What must I do 
 with it ?" I thought I would give him a poser, so I replied, " Kill 
 it without prejudice." The next time I passed the station I 
 said to the agent, " Did you understand my message about the 
 calf?" "Oh yes," said he, " you had reference to the Jexcish 
 Passover.'' 
 
 THE SEA BOULDERS AND RAILWAY TRAFFIC. 
 
 One summer's eve, in pensive thought, 
 I wandered by the sea-beat shore. 
 — Old Song. 
 
 It was pleasant, when at Fleetwood, to have a ramble on 
 the sea shore, and watch the tide coming in, and listen to the 
 
46 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 rattle of the shells and pebbles as they were tossed about by the 
 ever rushing and receding waves. Sometimes, perhaps, one 
 would be looking for variegated colored stones, which when 
 varnished formed a curious collection of natural ornaments for 
 my office mantel-piece. On one occasion, when on such a 
 ramble, accompanied by our poetic station agent Anderton, and 
 while he was addressing the ocean in the well-known verse of 
 Byron, my mind must have been among the more practical and 
 prosaic things of this world, as I noticed that among the sand, 
 pebbles and sea-weed were numerous " boulders," and a bright 
 idea struck me that they were suitable for street paving. I at 
 once opened up a correspondence with the goods manager of the 
 then Manchester and Leeds railway, and the result was that 
 he sent me an order for all the boulders that I could gather. 
 After getting leave of the "lord of the mauor," I set men and 
 teams to work collecting and hauling the pavers, which were 
 duly shipped to Manchester, and sold there. After deducting 
 expense from the proceeds, the balance passed to the credit of 
 the two roads, and gave them a fair freight rate. This went on 
 for some months, when I got a gentle hint from the " lord of the 
 manor," that I had " better draw my paving-stone business to a 
 close as I was carrying away the sea shore, and might, in time, 
 endanger the very stability of the town of Fleetwood." 
 
 The following account of a presentation, etc., is taken from 
 the Fleetwood Chronicle, Sept. 10th, 1847 : 
 
 PRESENTATION OF A TOKEN OF ESTEEM TO S. P. BIDDER. 
 
 On Saturday evening last, a very handsome 18 days Time 
 Piece, of Dresden China, encased in a glass shade, was 
 presented to S. P. Bidder, Esq., by the workmen employed on 
 the Preston & Wyre railway, on his retiring from the com- 
 pany's employ. The presentation took place, after a most 
 
The Railway and the Locomotive, 47 
 
 sumptuous repast, in the large room of the Crown hotel, which 
 was filled with subscribers to the testimonial, and a few friends. 
 After supper Mr. Myles Pennington was unanimously called 
 to the chair. The usual preliminary toasts having been gone 
 through, the Chairman rose and said: — " I have been requested 
 by the workmen in the employ of the Preston & Wyre 
 Railway Company, to present you, on their behalf, the Time 
 Piece which now stands upon the table, the inscription on which 
 is as follows : — 
 
 PRESENTED TO 
 
 SAMUEL PARKER BIDDER, Esq., 
 
 Engineer, 
 
 On his retirement from the service of the Preston & Wyre Railway 
 
 Company by 156 of the Workmen, as a mark of their gratitude and 
 
 respect. 
 
 Fleetwood, 4th September, 1847. 
 
 " In presenting this, I may add that they do so both with 
 feelings of pleasure and regret ; with pleasure as it is a memorial 
 of the esteem in which you are held, with regret that it should 
 be on the occasion of your retirement from a situation which you 
 have filled with credit for so long a time ; and though you may 
 consider that your conduct towards them has been nothing but 
 what is strictly right and just, still having at all times exhibited 
 a kindly feeling towards them, with a desire for their advance- 
 ment, they think it nothing but their duty to acknowledge such 
 kindness in some suitable manner. 
 
 " The poet Burns has truly observed 
 
 ' Man's inhumanity to man 
 Makes countless thousands mourn.' 
 
 "A man in a situation with a number of men under him, 
 has it in his power to make them comparatively happy or 
 miserable ; he may by harsh words, and a general unforgiving 
 
48 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 disposition, keep his men in one constant state of anxiety and 
 dissatisfaction, making them look upon their situations as not 
 worth a week's purchase ; and can it be expected that men kept in 
 this state of suspense will ever become men of character, and 
 desirous of forwarding the interests of their employers ? If you 
 would have men honest and faithful, give them an interest in 
 the concern to which they belong, pay them well for their 
 labour, cause them to look upon their situations with a degree 
 of confidence and security, treat them in every respect as men, 
 and you will have your work done well ; cheaper, better, and 
 more efficiently than by any other kind of treatment. I am 
 speaking the sentiments of the workmen, Mr. Bidder, when I 
 say that you, sir, so far as you could, have acted upon these 
 principles (loud cheers), and it is on that account that they 
 present you with this testimonial, which, I may observe, has 
 been subscribed for, voluntarily and spontaneously by them- 
 selves. They desire me to express to you their regret that they 
 are about to lose you, and at the same time, to wish you health 
 and prosperity in your new and important office, as General 
 Manager of the North Staffordshire railway." 
 
 Mr. Bidder rose and was greeted with the heartiest accla- 
 mations. When the cheering had subsided, he said : — My fellow- 
 workmen, I return you my sincere thanks for this handsome 
 testimonial ; I assure you that never in my life did I feel greater 
 pleasure than I do now in receiving this mark of respect from 
 you, the working men. I assure you that were it of the value of 
 a thousand pounds, it would not be received with more pleasure, 
 and for this reason, because it comes from the heart, and I look 
 upon that which comes from the heart to be of far greater 
 value than anything that can come from the pocket. I have 
 been engaged now 15 years upon these and similar works, and I 
 have always made it my study to promote, in every possible way, 
 the comfort and happiness, and to protect the rights of the 
 
The Railway and the Locomotive. 49 
 
 working classes (cheers), for it is upon them, in a great 
 measure, that the happiness and peace of this and other nations 
 depend. The nobles of the land derive their comfort from the 
 working man ; it is therefore our duty to do the utmost in our 
 power to make him happy and contented. I shall not detain 
 you with a long speech, but, I wish to tell you that I have a 
 little boy at home, and, as soon as he can read, I shall make him 
 commit that inscription to memory, and tell him that when he 
 becomes a man, if he behaves well to the working men, he will 
 be as much respected. (Loud cheers.) We are now about to be 
 separated, but I shall be always delighted to hear of your 
 welfare, and I hope you will all get good masters. 
 
 I REMOVE TO THE STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERIES. 
 
 In 1848, Mr. S. P. Bidder was appointed general manager 
 of the North Stafifordshire Railway, and I went with him as goods 
 manager. Our headquarters were at Stoke-upon-Trent. Mr. 
 George Bidder, the celebrated calculator (brother to S. P. 
 Bidder), was engineer-in-chief. The N.S.R. was one of many 
 branches, much like a huge spider ; the ten towns of the Pot- 
 teries, nine miles in length, forming its trunk. The line 
 connected with the Midland and London and North-Western 
 Railways at several different points. The N.S.E.'s. longest con- 
 tinuous length was from Macclesfield to Derby, fifty-two miles. 
 
 The N.S.R. Co., to distinguish their line from all others, 
 adopted the old traditionary Stafi'ordshire 
 knot, and this peculiar sign (the origin of ^'t'^ 
 which is lost in obscurity), was put upon 
 all their carriages, waggons, tarpaulins, way-bills and other 
 documents, so that the road became known, among railway men, 
 as the " Knotty Line." Its staple freight business was crockery, 
 Burton ale, iron, ironstone, coal and salt. The N.S.R. passes 
 
 4 
 
50 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 through a charming country full of historic interest, crossing 
 and re-crossing several small rivers, as the Churnet, the Blythe, 
 the Dove and the Dane, sometimes running along their banks or 
 giving glimpses of those favorite streams, where, on many a 
 summer day, long ago, the old angler Izaac Walton rambled, rod 
 and line in hand, bent on exercising his well-known skill in hook- 
 ing some wary speckled trout or keen-eyed pike. 
 
 RUINS OF TUTBURY CASTLE. 
 
 The North Staffordshire Eailway passed by, or through, 
 several woody parks, as Sandon and Trentham, winding its way 
 in the romantic Churnet Valley, part in the bed of an old canal, 
 by the well-known charming Alton Towers, then on through the 
 rich, green Dove valley, giving a passing glimpse of the quaint 
 old leaning church of Scropton, with its roof of lead and ivy- 
 covered towers, and on to Tutbury station, near which stands the 
 far-famed ruins of Tutbury Castle. In 1569, this castle was the 
 scene of the captivity of poor Mary Queen of Scots, who was 
 subsequently removed to Sheffield, but brought hither again in 
 1584 and kept close prisoner till 1586, when she was removed to 
 Chartley, and thence in 1587 to Fotheringay, where she was 
 beheaded. During the civil wars the castle was garrisoned for 
 Charles the First, who spent a fortnight there in 1643 ; but after a 
 long siege it surrendered to the Parliamentarians under Colonel 
 Brerton, and was afterwards dismantled, that it might no longer 
 overawe the country and afford shelter to the partisans of the 
 royal cause. 
 
 TRENT AND MERSEY CANAL. 
 
 To avoid competition the North Staffordshire Railway Co. 
 purchased the Trent and Mersey canal. This great undertaking, 
 93 miles in length, with its 126 aqueducts and culverts, 91 locks, 
 and six tunnels, two of which are each nearly two miles in length, 
 was executed by the celebrated engineer, Brindley. The first sod 
 
The Railway and the Locomwtive. 51 
 
 of this canal was cut by Mr. Wedgwood on July 26, 1766, and the 
 work was finished in May, 1777. I have by me a copy of the 
 Act of Parliament for making this canal, which, at this day, 
 reads somewhat quaint and curious. The following is the title- 
 page :— 
 
 ANNO REGNI 
 
 GEORGII III. 
 
 BEOI S 
 
 Magna Britannia, Francia et Hiberni^e, 
 
 SEXTO. 
 
 "At the Parliament begun and holden at Westminster, the 
 Nineteenth Day of May, Anno Dom. 1761, in the First Year of 
 the Eeign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace 
 of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of 
 the Faith, &c. An Act for making a Navigable Cut, or Canal, 
 from the River Trent, at or near Wilden Ferry in the county of 
 Derby, to the River Mersey, at or near Runcorn Gap." 
 
 This great work was completed for the sum of £334,250 stg., 
 and it was one of the best paying concerns in England. Its i6200 
 shares became worth about ,£2,000 before the rise of the railway 
 interest. It was finally disposed of to the N. S. R. on terms 
 equivalent to a payment of £1,170,000, being 3^ times more than 
 the original cost. High as the amount seems, it was considered 
 that the railway company made an advantageous purchase. 
 
 THE THREE QUAKERS. 
 
 " The workers pass, but still their work remains, 
 And fuller lustre through the years attains ; 
 The flame is fed with wishes like their own, 
 And by its light its heavenly source is known. " 
 
 The first was Edward Pease, of Darlington, who was the 
 leading man, in connection with George Stephenson, in projecting 
 
52 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 and building the Stockton and Darlington Eailway, in 1825, the 
 first of the kind in the world. F. I. Williams, in his work, " Our 
 Iron Roads," says. Pease found the railway and Stephenson the 
 locomotive. Some of the main facts with regard to locomotives 
 had already been determined. In certain districts were small 
 engines, which with much clanging and rattling, puffing and 
 smoking, with both a chimney and a steam vent, drew along at 
 the sufficient pace of two or three miles an hour, a dozen or more 
 small iron waggons loaded with coal. 
 
 Edward Pease was a man of great energy and perseverance, and 
 the whole world is indebted to him for the noble manner in which 
 he brought Geo. Stephenson to the front. Dr. Samuel Smiles 
 says, " When I last saw Mr. Pease in the autumn of 1854, he 
 was in his eighty-eighth year, yet he still possessed the hopeful- 
 ness and mental vigor of a man in his prime. Hale and hearty, 
 full of interesting reminiscences of the past, he yet entered with 
 interest into the life of the present, and displayed a warm 
 sympathy for all current projects calculated to render the lives of 
 men happier." 
 
 Second was Thomas Edmondson, who in 1840 was a clerk 
 on the Newcastle and Carlisle Eailway. The tickets used for 
 passengers were cut out of a book and had to be filled in with pen 
 and ink for the traveller on his journey. Mr. Edmondson had the 
 sagacity to see that some uniform system of suitable ticket for 
 railway passengers was wanted, and set his wits to work along 
 with a Mr. Blaylock, a watchmaker, and the result was the 
 invention of the ticket 'printing, consecutive numbering machine 
 and dating press, which have since been in use on all railways on 
 both continents. I remember Mr. Edmondson well, and was 
 well acquainted with bis brother who was principal in an 
 educational institution, viz., Tulketh Hall Academy, Preston* 
 Lancashire. In a lecture " On Modern Inventions," delivered 
 
The Railway and the Locomotive. 53 
 
 by Principal Edmondson in Preston (about forty-five years ago, 
 which I attended), he exhibited his brother's famous machine 
 and told us of its history. 
 
 The third and last of the three famous Quakers was 
 George Bradshaw, the originator of the celebrated railway 
 guide, known by all the travelled world as " Bradshaw's." 
 I remember its first appearance, a small babe of a guide 
 it was, which could be put in one's vest pocket.* But it 
 soon grew bigger and bigger until it reached manhood, still 
 expanding and increasing in its bulkiness as new railways 
 opened and years rolled on, and now, as Mr. Williams says, "It 
 is a volume that contains nearly half a million items, a volume 
 of hundreds of pages, telling us of the movements of the thou- 
 sands of passenger trains that daily run along our great thorough- 
 fares, or wind their course along the innumerable by-ways that 
 cross and re-cross the land." The guide for December, 1891, is 
 \\ inches in thickness and contains upwards of 700 pages. t 
 
 • Among my railway relics, I have just turned up a guide for 1844 ; its size is 3 by 
 4i inches, and contains 38 pages of time tables and 40 of maps and advertisements. 
 
 + Mr. Thos. Drewry of Fleetwood writes me as follows : — "Thou mentions Geo. 
 Bradshaw of 'Bradshaw's Railway Guide,' as one of the ' Three Celebrated Quakers.' 
 Perhaps thou may not know that Geo. Bradshaw died of cholera, at Christiania, 
 Norway, whilst engaged in compiling his Continental Railway Guide. I happened to 
 be at one time in Christiania, and being informed that his grave was in a cemetery in 
 one of the suburbs of that city, I went to visit his tomb and took a sketch of its 
 surroundings. Geo. Bradshaw was invited and expected to be present at a supper 
 (my informant being one of the party), and next morning he succumbed to that ter- 
 rible disease." 
 
64 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 EARLY ENGLISH GOODS MANAGERS. 
 
 PREVIOUS to the opening of railways, several of the first goods- 
 managers had been connected with the canal carrying trade, 
 as Braithwaite Poole, Samuel Salt and others ; hence they were 
 already fairly conversant with the goods traffic of the country, 
 and were able at once to propose and adopt suitable rates of freight 
 for general merchandise to be conveyed on railways, and for still 
 further developing, to a vast and almost unlimited extent, the 
 trade of the country which existed, but up to that time was in a 
 somewhat dormant state for want of better and quicker mean& 
 of transporting it from place to place in the land. 
 
 Some of the early railway directors made great and costly 
 mistakes in appointing unsuitable men to high positions as 
 managers of the lines ; but these directors soon found that they 
 must depend upon the increase of the goods traffic for the 
 payment of dividends, and to do this they must, for goods 
 managers, have men with level heads, sound judgment and great 
 experience, and that to find such men, they must look up the 
 officials of the old carriers, as Pickford & Co., John Hargreaves, 
 Chaplin & Home, and men from the Duke of Bridgewater, 
 Leeds and Liverpool, Trent and Mersey, and other canals. 
 
 The position of goods manager (or general freight agent, as 
 called on this side the Atlantic) is one of the most important in 
 connection with railways. He possesses a power over the merchan- 
 dise traffic of the country, which if carelessly used may involve 
 his company and the public in enormous losses, or, on the other 
 
Early English Goods Managers. 55 
 
 hand, he may, by his care, skill and judicious management, foster 
 and encourage trade, and benefit his company and the public a 
 thousand fold. 
 
 BRAITHWAITE POOLE OF LIVERPOOL. 
 
 For several years I saw much of Mr. Poole, meeting him 
 monthly at the Goods Managers' Conference, over which body he 
 then presided, and occasionally having to consult him on freight 
 matters in connection with our two respective railways. On the 
 21st October, 1848, a testimonial was presented to Mr. Poole by 
 the members of the Railway Goods Managers' Conference, as a 
 token of the great esteem in which he was held by them, and as 
 an acknowledgment of his valuable services as originator and, 
 for some time, honorary secretary of those useful meetings. Mr. 
 Poole was considered as the principal goods manager of the 
 London and North Western Railway, and consulting manager of 
 the Caledonian and some other railways. He was a man of 
 pleasing address and happy turn of mind, and always infused 
 into the goods managers' meetings a genial feeling, which was 
 very necessary among many conflicting elements, arising from 
 different representatives of competing lines. In 1852, Mr. 
 Poole published a very useful and valuable work entitled, " Statis- 
 tics of British Commerce, being a Compendium of the Produc- 
 tions, Manufactures, Imports and Exports of the United Kingdom, 
 in Agriculture, Minerals, Merchandise, Etc., Etc." Each article 
 is fully described, its origin, growth, manufacture or use given, 
 each being reduced in quantity to the number of tons moved. 
 The book contains other interesting information, as the "Carriers 
 Act of Parliament," the number, names and lengths of the canals 
 in Great Britain and Ireland, which, in 1851, were 125 in number, 
 and foot up to 3,115 miles in length, and cost £33,254,000, or 
 about £11,000 per mile. I have a copy of Mr. Poole's work by 
 me, which I always found very useful in framing railway classifi- 
 
56 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 cations of merchandise. With a view of keeping freight for 
 different localities from being mixed, Mr. Poole had the large 
 railway goods warehouse in Liverpool divided into sections, and 
 each section bore a distinct color — thus, east-boun,d freight 
 section was blue, and west-bound red, and so on. When a 
 teamster arrived at the warehouse with east or west-bound 
 freight, he knew at once to what part of the warehouse he was to 
 take it, and it prevented clashing with other teams, and getting 
 in each other's way. In 1845, when so many railway bills came 
 before the British Parliament, Mr. Poole's services were in much 
 demand to give evidence before Parliamentary committees, and 
 for many weeks he travelled from Liverpool to London and back 
 daily, and transacted his own railway business, assisted by a 
 clerk, on board the moving train. This, at the time, was 
 considered a great achievement and was much commented on by 
 the press. Such a thing in these days of rapid transit would 
 hardly excite attention, when men think nothing much of taking 
 a journey of 3,000 miles without stopping over by the way, and 
 when young ladies run round the world in seventy or eighty 
 days. 
 
 In 1859 a number of the Liverpool shareholders of the Grand 
 Trunk Eailway sent Mr. Poole to Canada to inspect and report 
 on its management and future prospects. Mr. Poole made a close 
 inspection of all parts of the line, its traffic, capabilities, etc., and 
 collected an immense amount of statistics in reference to the 
 Canadian and United States trade; and afterwards, for some 
 weeks, ran through the United States at the rate of 500 miles a 
 day, beating his London record by some thousands of miles. Mr. 
 Poole made a long report to the Liverpool gentlemen, but I do 
 not think it was ever published, as we never saw it at this side 
 of the Atlantic. 
 
 Mr. Poole dedicated his work, already spoken of, to the 
 
/-V of -f^^ 
 
 ^93^^^ 
 
 
SIR JAMES ALLPORT. 
 
Early English Goods Managers. 57 
 
 goods managers, and in his introductory address to them he 
 made the following very sensible remarks : — 
 
 " We are engaged in a most honourable and even holy cause, 
 in toiling for the mutual benefit of our fellow creatures, many of 
 whose families are probably dependent to a great extent on our 
 exertions ; and by a friendly alliance we can promote the welfare 
 of all parties concerned. The interests of railway companies 
 with the public in general are closely identified ; every induce- 
 ment, therefore, to encourage reciprocal accommodation should be 
 held out. The more cheaply and quickly goods are transmitted from 
 one place to another, the more extensively will they be carried ; 
 and the more goods the public send by railways, the less will be 
 the rates charged." 
 
 SIR JAMES ALLPORT. 
 
 " When hearts whoso truth was proven. 
 Like thine are laid in earth, 
 There shouUl a wreath be woven, 
 To tell the world their worth." 
 
 The following letter, by the author, appeared in the Toronto 
 Ghhe, August 13th, 1892 :— 
 
 " One of England's greatest railway pioneers has recently 
 passed away, and though many obituary notices of his death and 
 brief sketches of his character have appeared in the papers, they 
 have scarcely done him that justice which his long life of useful- 
 ness deserves. From 1848 to 1853, during which time the 
 writer attended monthly conferences of the English railway 
 goods managers, he had frequent opportunities of meeting Mr. 
 Allport, then in the prime of manhood, and a most energetic 
 railway man, whose advice and counsel were always listened to 
 with great respect by his brother railway colleagues. 
 
 Mr. Allport was then manager of the goods and passenger 
 traffic of the York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway; and afterwards 
 
58 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 general manager of the Sheffield line. In 1853 he was appointed 
 to the same position on the Midland Kailway, which office he 
 held for 27 years. 
 
 The Midland road in its early history had been at a very 
 low ebb, its ilOO shares sinking as low as £32, but under Mr. 
 Allport's management a great change took place. Its capital 
 went up to £80,000,000 stg., with a weekly revenue of £135,000 
 and a mileage of its own, apart from joint lines, through connec- 
 tions, canals and other dependencies, of 1,300 miles. Midland 
 Eailway shares went rapidly up, and in a few years hovered 
 between £150 and £170. In January, 1892, they were quoted 
 at £163 in the share circulars. 
 
 THE OLD THIRD-CLASS TRAVEL* 
 
 But Mr. Allport's managerial career was notable for some- 
 thing perhaps more precious to the public than the extension of 
 commercial undertaking, and he is fairly entitled to be classed 
 as one of England's benefactors and philanthropists. 
 
 Those accustomed to travel on English railways thirty years 
 ago will remember the style of carriage in which third-class 
 passengers had to travel. The prison-like vans were made as mean 
 as possible, with hard seats and small windows, through which one 
 or two passengers, if lucky enough to get in the right position, 
 might get a glance at the beautiful rural scenery of old England, 
 while the great bulk of the passengers had to sit in the close 
 atmosphere and endure a slow, monotonous ride for hours, 
 unrelieved by a peep at the country through which they were 
 passing, and occupying twice the length of time on a journey as 
 that of the more wealthy and well-to-do first-class train passen- 
 gers. 
 
 Some 50 years ago the writer was employed on an English 
 
Early English Goods Managers. 59 
 
 railway of twenty miles. The third-class conveyances on this 
 road were square, open boxes, with sides four feet high and no 
 seats. Passengers were exposed to rain, snow and sun. When 
 a passenger wanted a ticket, he asked for 
 
 A ** STAND-UP " 
 
 to Fleetwood or other station. In time Parliament made laws 
 that railway companies should r«n at least one third-class 
 train over their lines daily, and that the charge to passengers 
 should be one penny each per mile, the carriages to have seats 
 and be covered in ; but ParHament made no provision for the 
 speed of third-class trains or the style of the carriage to be used. 
 In March, 1872, the railway world of the old country was startled 
 by the announcement that the Midland Board, at the urgent 
 request of Mr. Allport, its general manager, had decided to run 
 third-class carriages by all trains, a decision which staggered 
 the directors of other companies, but which was hailed with 
 delight by the general public, particularly the industrial classes. 
 In course of time other companies adopted the same regulation. 
 
 An improvement in the style of third-class carriages rapidly 
 took place. They were furnished with comfortable, cushioned 
 seats, and large, pleasant looking windows, while the outward 
 appearance of the third-class carriages on the Midland was upon 
 a par with those of the first-class. The second-class carriages 
 were finally given up. 
 
 Mr. Allport visited the United States and Canada many 
 years ago, at which time he made an arrangement with the 
 celebrated Mr. Pullman to introduce his drawing room and 
 sleeping cars upon the Midland Railway, and they have long 
 been running between London, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow 
 and Edinburgh. Mr. Allport retired from active service in 1880, 
 
60 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 when the directors and shareholders of the Midland Eailway 
 made him a present of £10,000 and appointed him a director of 
 the company. In May, 1884, the Queen conferred upon Mr. 
 Allport the honour of knighthood. 
 
 Sir James died on the 26th of April, 1892, at the good old 
 age of 81. He will long be remembered and his name revered 
 for the valuable assistance rendered by him in connection with 
 the Eailway Servants' Orphanage. 
 
 The Derby and Chesterfield Reporter, in its obituary of Sir 
 James Allport, says : — * Sir James, like a great many other 
 magnates of the railway world, was the architect of his own 
 fortune. As a railway manager, we assert, without fear of contra- 
 diction, that he had no equal, whether judged by the benefit 
 which his rule conferred on the public at large, or on the Midland 
 shareholders in particular.' 
 
 * If there is one part of my public life,' Sir James remarked 
 to a friend, * on which I look back with more satisfaction than 
 anything else, it is with reference to the boon we have conferred 
 on third-class passengers. I have felt saddened to see third-class 
 passengers shunted on a siding in cold and bitter weather, in a 
 train containing amongst others many lightly-clad women and 
 children, for the convenience of allowing the more comfortable 
 and warmly-clad first-class train passengers to pass them. I 
 have even known third-class trains to be shunted into a siding 
 to allow express freight trains to pass. When the rich man travels 
 or he lies in bed all day, his capital remains undiminished and 
 perhaps his income flows on the same. But when a poor man 
 travels he has not only to pay his fare but to sink his capital, 
 for his time is his capital, and if he now consumes five hours 
 instead of ten in making a journey, he has saved five hours of 
 time for useful labour, useful to himself, his family and to 
 society.' 
 
Early English Goods Managers. 61 
 
 In 1881 the passengers conveyed on ail the railways of the 
 
 United Kingdom, exclusive of season and periodical tickets, 
 
 were as under : — 
 
 Number of Amount 
 
 Passengers. Received. 
 
 First and second class 102,467,761 £7,178,177 
 
 Third class 520,579,126 15,266,519 
 
 It will thus be seen that upwards of two-thirds of the revenue 
 was derived from third-class passengers. 
 
 HOW THE NEWS OF MR. HUDSON* 8 ELECTION WAS CONVEYED TO 
 LONDON, HALF A CENTURY AGO. 
 
 ' When the battle of railway gauges,' said Sir James All- 
 port, ' was being vigorously carried on, I wished to show what the 
 narrow gauge could do before the days of telegraph. The election 
 of George Hudson, as member for Sunderland, had that day 
 taken place ; and I availed myself of the event to see how quickly 
 I could get the information up to London, have it printed in the 
 Times newspaper, and brought back to Sunderland. The election 
 was over at four o'clock in the afternoon, and by about five 
 o'clock the returns of the voting for every half-hour during the 
 poll were collected. After this I started for London with a state- 
 ment of the poll, travelling by relay of trains. On arriving at 
 Euston Station I drove to the Times office and handed the 
 manuscript to Mr. Delane, who, according to arrangement 
 previously made with him, had it immediately set up, a leader 
 written, and a number of impressions taken. Two hours were 
 thus spent in London, and then I set off on my return journey, 
 and arrived in Sunderland the next morning at about ten o'clock, 
 before the announcement of the poll. So that between five o'clock 
 in the evening and ten o'clock in the morning I travelled 600 
 miles, besides spending two hours in London, a clear run of forty 
 miles an hour.' " 
 
62 Railways and Otfier Ways. 
 
 SAMUEL EBORA.LL OF BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 Mr. Eborall, or as he was often called Captain Eborall, 
 having been at one time, as I understood, a captain of a 
 sailing ship. He had every appearance of an " old tar," when 
 sailing craft was ** sovereign of the seas," and ocean steamships 
 had not shoved those grand old ** liners " from navigable waters. 
 
 Mr. Eborall was goods manager over a division of the 
 London and North -We stern Eailway, including Birmingham ; he 
 was senior goods manager when I attended the conferences, say, 
 from 1848 to 1853. He was a man of sound judgment, well con- 
 versant with rates of freight, and with a knowledge of the traffic 
 of the country. We often had discussions upon the best means 
 of keeping a book of rates. I remember Mr. Eborall carried 
 about with him a little fat book of rates, full of marginal notes, 
 which was a curiosity in its way. I have a letter of his dated 
 July 9, 1853, in which he wishes me every success in my under- 
 taking in Canada. 
 
 Mr. Colin Eborall, a son of Mr. S. Eborall, was goods 
 manager of one of the English railways at the same time as that 
 of the former. Mr. C. E. afterwards became a noted railway 
 man, and a general manager of one of the south of England 
 railways ; he visited Canada many years ago along with Sir M. 
 Peto and two or three other English capitalists. 
 
 WILLIAM CAWKWELL. 
 
 My first recollection of Mr. Cawkwell is that of his being 
 agent for the Manchester and Leeds railway at Brighouse in 
 Yorkshire ; he next became goods manager of the Lancashire and 
 Yorkshire Railway, and finally reached the highest railway 
 position in England, viz., that of General Manager of the London 
 and North-Western Railway, which he held for many years, only 
 retiring when necessitated by age, and receiving a handsome 
 
Early English Goods Managers. 63 
 
 pension from the company for his long, faithful and valuable 
 services. He was also appointed Vice-Chairman of the Company. 
 
 SAMUEL SALT OF MANCHESTER. 
 
 Mr. Salt in early life was connected with the canal carrying 
 trade ; he afterwards commenced his railway career as goods 
 manager of a district of the London and North-Western, including 
 their important freight establishment at Manchester. He was 
 an energetic and straight-forward man, considered somewhat 
 eccentric by those who knew him well. During my conference 
 days Mr. Salt did not often attend the G. M. meetings. He was 
 a great statistical authority. In the title page of one of his 
 works he quotes the following : — " Give me the facts, without the 
 long and tedious details, which only tend to puzzle and perplex 
 the mind." He wrote and published several useful books, as 
 " Statistics and Calculations," " Facts and Figures," " Railway 
 Commercial Information." 
 
 The top pages of one of hie works was adorned with proverbs 
 and wise sayings from the Bible, Dr. Franklin and himself. 
 These were a source of some merriment among the office boys at 
 Manchester. In Mr. Salt's absence, one of the clerks would call 
 out, '* A place for everything, and everything in its place ; " a voice 
 from another part of the warehouse would call out " Salt," and so 
 on. Though this was done in joke, it, after all, must have done 
 good, as it tended to rivet these proverbs in the memories of the 
 boys. The books of Mr. Salt will always be useful as regards 
 matters of reference in connection with the early railways of 
 England and the United States. 
 
 Mr. Salt wasa " Fellow of the Statistical Society of London " 
 and ordinary and honorary member of other learned societies. 
 
 THOMAS KAY. 
 
 I have a pleasant recollection of Mr. Kay, assistant to Mr. 
 Salt, and successor to that gentleman. Mr. Kay occasionally 
 
64 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 visited Stoke-upon-Trent to see his friend and my colleague, 
 S. B. Shaw, when I made Mr. K.'s acquaintance. He, like Mr. 
 Cawkwell and some others, rose from the ranks, step by step, 
 until he became chief goods manager of the London and North- 
 western Eailway, which was then considered the highest position 
 of the kind in England. 
 
 FREDERICK BROUGHTON. 
 
 Mr. Broughton was goods manager of the East Lancashire 
 Eailway when I held the like position on the North Staffordshire 
 Eailway, and I met him nearly every month, for a period of two 
 or three years, at the meetings of the goods managers ; he after- 
 wards held important positions on Irish and English railways, 
 and was also, at one time, the general manager of a Welsh 
 railway. 
 
 Old Canadian Great Western officers will remember that 
 Mr. Broughton first came to this country with the Hon, Mr. 
 Childers, then president of the G. W. E., on a tour of inspection, 
 and about six months afterwards he (Mr. B.) came out as General 
 Manager of the Great Western Eailway, at a large salary. This 
 office he held until that road merged into the Grand Trunk 
 Eailway. Mr. Broughton was a man of great ability and 
 extensive experience. He was of rather an excitable nature, and 
 of strong will power. After leaving the Great Western Eailway 
 Mr. Broughton was engaged on American railways, with head- 
 quarters principally at Chicago. Mr. B. was well versed in 
 Heraldry. I remember his giving a very interesting lecture 
 upon the subject at Hamilton. Mr. Broughton' s death was a sad 
 one. On June 8rd, 1889, he took a walk out on his farm at 
 Eastwood, and, not returning, search was made for him, when he 
 was found in an unconscious state in one of his fields, and never 
 rallied but died next morning. 
 
Early English Goods Managers. 65 
 
 I recollect the names of several other of the early goods 
 managers, brief sketches of whom I should like to have given, 
 but I have not suJBBcient data. There was W. L. Newcombe of 
 the York, Newcastle and Berwick, who had previously been a 
 carrier by road and rail, and in 1868 became general goods and 
 mineral manager of the Midland. Mr. Walklate of Birmingham, 
 a man of sterling worth and great ability, who was goods and 
 mineral manager of the Midland for upwards of twenty years. 
 
 Another was Mr. Ormandy of Liverpool, cattle manager of 
 the London and North-Westem, a very important position. 
 
66 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ENGLISH RAILWAY CLEARING HOUSE. 
 
 CLEARING HOUSES for Banks had existed long before the 
 Railway Clearing House was established. In 1841, says 
 Mr. P. S. Williams in his work " Our Iron Roads," " Mr. Ken- 
 neth Morrison, chief auditor of, what was then, the London and 
 Birmingham Railway, made a proposal to its president, G. C. 
 Glynn, Esq., that the Clearing House system used in banking 
 and coaching should be extended to railways. In 1842 j&ve 
 companies agreed to it, in 1846 there were forty- six such 
 companies, and in 1850 the ' Railway Clearing Act ' was passed, 
 ■which defined the powers of the new establishment." 
 
 The number of persons employed at the Railway Clearing 
 House in 1843 was six ; in 1861, when Mr. Dawson was appointed 
 secretary, it rose to six hundred ; in 1883 the number of the staff 
 of clerks and other employees of all kinds was 2,100. 
 
 Kenneth Morrison, as his name would suggest, was a Scotch- 
 man, whom I remember well, having met him frequently at the 
 goods managers' conferences, and called upon him occasionally 
 at the Clearing House in London. My recollections of him are 
 all of a pleasing nature ; he was of a quiet, plodding, unobtrusive 
 disposition ; he never dictated, but gave his opinions calmly and 
 with sound judgment. His advice was always listened to with 
 profound respect by the goods managers at their monthly 
 meetings, which Mr. Morrison generally attended. 
 
 Mr. Morrison was made for his position ; no one could have 
 been better adapted for carrying out successfully his gigantic 
 undertaking, the value of which to English railways cannot be 
 
The English Railway Clearing House. 67 
 
 told in pounds, shillings, and pence. But Mr. M. in his great 
 work had to surmount and overcome whole legions of difficulties ; 
 ' many were the false prophets who predicted his downfall. 
 Others doubted the honesty of the undertaking, and some of the 
 railway companies, who joined the Clearing House, had doubts of 
 the correctness of the returns, simply because Mr. Morrison had 
 originally belonged to a big London railway company ; but in a, 
 few years all their doubt and want of faith in the Railway Clear- 
 ing House vanished forever. 
 
 Among the other valuable adjuncts which the Clearing House 
 took note of was that of the running of waggons and coaches 
 over foreign lines, and crediting the owners of the stock with 
 proper mileage and demurrage, also keeping track of all tarpau- 
 lins, ropes, &c. Another thing was that of introducing a sj-stem of 
 station terminal expenses, a most important matter, especially for 
 short lines. As I happened to have been connected with branch 
 roads for thirteen years, this question of station terminal 
 expenses was fully thought out. The North Staffordshire Rail- 
 way collected freight at its five or six potteries station, and loaded 
 it upon the waggons at great expense, then hauled them a 
 distance of from fifteen to thirty miles, and handed them over to 
 another company. Had the N. S. R. only been allowed a mere 
 mileage division of the receipts, they would have been starved out 
 of existence, but they were protected by fair and reasonable 
 terminal expenses, which were deducted from the through rate 
 before division was made. 
 
 The early goods managers were of a somewhat rambling 
 turn ; they wanted to see old England and Scotland at all the 
 popular resorts, hence they found it necessary to hold their con- 
 ferences at different towns and cities. When " The Duke's" 
 funeral took place, and in the time of the Great Exhibition of 
 *51, they went, of course, to London. When the Queen visited 
 Perth, the G. M.'s followed suit and right loyally went to Perth, 
 
68 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 but when they got there the Queen had fled, I think, to Sth-- 
 ling, on account of a case of cholera having been reported at Perth. 
 But the G. M.'s were not to be driven by any reports of cholera ; 
 they held their conference at the hotel prepared for the Queen and 
 enjoyed all the good things provided for Her Majesty and suite, 
 and drank the Queen's health with three times three and one cheer 
 more. Mr. Momson would occasionally put a curb upon this per- 
 ambulating system of the G. M.'s, stating that the General 
 Managers and Presidents were apt to make remarks about it. Then 
 the G. M.'s would decide to confine their meetings to London only ; 
 this would last for a few months, when another desire would 
 spring up to run off to Hull, Bristol, Edinburgh or the Lakes. 
 Once, I remember, it was decided to go to Windermere. But 
 it would never have done to say so in the conference minutes ; so 
 Kendal was fixed upon. But Braithwaite Poole (our chairman) 
 said, as we were leaving, " Remember, gentlemen, that Kendal 
 means Windermere." 
 
 However, the author thinks that this changing of the place of 
 meeting occasionally was attended with good results, as it 
 enabled the goods managers to become conversant with each 
 other, as well as with the lines of road which each represented. 
 
 GEORGE DARTNELL. 
 
 In concluding my observations on the Railway Clearing 
 House, I have to refer to another old railway colleague, viz., 
 George Dartnell, who commenced his railway career on one of the 
 early English lines. In 1854 he came out to Canada under the 
 auspices of Mr. C. J. Brydges, who gave him a position on the 
 Great Western Railway. Sometime afterwards Mr. S. P. Bidder 
 appointed him (Mr. Dartnell) as the first general ticket agent on 
 the Grand Trunk Railway. During this time, Mr. Dartnell went 
 to a great deal of trouble, in which I assisted him, in getting up 
 a pamphlet on the desirability of establishing a Railway 
 
The English Railway Clearing House. 69 
 
 Clearing House in the United States and Canada. It was 
 printed and published, and a copy of it was sent to 
 every manager and railway superintendent in the U. S. The 
 pamphlet contained much valuable information, but it did not 
 result in anything being done towards establishing a Eailway 
 Clearing House, although some of its suggestions and principles 
 have since been carried out by special lines of different railway 
 associations, but no general Railway Clearing House has yet 
 been formed. I am of the opinion that railways of this continent 
 have suffered from want of a well-organized Clearing House, 
 particularly in that of a proper system of taking note of, and 
 charging for, the mileage and demurrage of rolling stock. Only 
 j-ecently I read an account of a railway company who sent out 
 a detective to hunt up a missing freight car, for which purpose 
 the detective travelled some thousands of miles, tracing the 
 fugitive car from place to place, east, west, north and south, 
 occupying many weeks of time on his journeys. He finally 
 returned home and found that the car had just turned up. Years 
 ago I heard of freight cars going out, but never coming 
 back, having been smashed up in some wreck. A railway super- 
 intendent once told me that a freight car arrived at a station on 
 his line which, for some peculiarity about it, was recognized as 
 belonging to his company; but the car was shining in a new dress, 
 having been re-painted, re-numbered, and even re-initialed, and 
 entirely losing its old identity. 
 
 Mr. Dartnell after leaving the G. T. R. went into business, 
 for a time, at Hamilton. When I last heard of him, he had gone 
 to occupy some position on a railway in India. 
 
 I VISIT THE METROPOLIS WITH A CUMBERLAND MAN AND AN IRISH 
 
 CATTLE JOBBER. 
 
 I once visited London to give evidence in an arbitration 
 case between the North Staffordshire and the London and North- 
 
70 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 "Western Eailway Companies, and took with me an Irish cattle 
 jobber and a Cumberland railway man to assist in our ease, which 
 was one as to cattle traffic beween the two Companies. The 
 Cumberland man, a big, powerful fellow, had an itching desire to 
 show his skill in the art of wrestling among the Cockneys, while 
 the Irishman was very desirous of giving an exhibition with his 
 shelalah, or dancing an Irish jig. I was told that the arbitration 
 would not come on for three days. Now, how I was to keep the 
 men in sight for so long a time was somewhat of a puzzle. 
 However, in taking them round to seethe " lions" during the day 
 and to Astley's or some other theatre at night, I managed to keep 
 my " eye on them" until the third night, when they contrived 
 to elude my vigilance and disappear. I concluded that I should 
 not see the men again in London, but they turned up by day- 
 light next morning with phizes much the worse for the night's 
 adventures. The Cumberland man had had many a wrestle 
 with professionals, while the Irishman had left many impressions 
 upon the heads of those with whom he had done battle with his 
 shelalah. Both seemed well satisfied with the skill they had 
 been able to show the Cockneys in some of the fine arts of 
 Cumberland and Kilkenny. How they escaped the gentlemen of 
 *' Scotland Yard" is rather strange, considering the sensation 
 they must have made. After the arbitration in one of the law 
 offices, the Irishman danced an Irish jig among the lawyers, which 
 much disturbed the gravity of those learned gentlemen. 
 
 I never felt so much relief as I did when I got my two 
 ■witnesses on board the railway train bound for the north. 
 
The Railtuay Mania, I84S. 71 
 
 CHAPTEK V. 
 
 THE RAILWAY MANIA, 1845. 
 
 " Old men and young, the famished and the full, 
 The rich and poor, widow, and wife, and maid. 
 Master and servant — all, with one intent, 
 Rushed on the paper scrip ; their eager eyes 
 Flashing a fierce unconquerable greed — 
 Their hot palms itching — all their being filled 
 With one desire. " 
 
 FROM time to time during the last 150 years, different manias 
 have sprung up, which have sent men wild to rush into 
 them with a view of making money quick and without much 
 trouble, but none was so extensive, so wide-spread, and disas- 
 trous in its results as the great railway mania of 1845. As 
 described in the above quotation, all classes went into it : the man 
 who held the plough, and he who made the laws, the judge, the 
 magistrate and the criminal, the teacher and his pupils, the 
 preacher and his hearers — all alike were infected with the same 
 greed for money getting. People's eyes had an uncanny look, as 
 if they saw thousands of pounds within their ready grasp. No 
 matter how absurd the scheme, the moment it came out, 
 thousands applied for allotments of shares, and were ready to 
 pay down the first deposit of from one pound to four pounds per 
 share. 
 
 During the mania an occasional burlesque scheme came out. 
 The author remembers that be and two or three acquaintances, 
 for the fun of the thing, issued a prospectus of a railway from 
 some unknown seaport, to some out-of-the-way place over hill 
 
72 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 and dale, regardless of all engmeering difficulties. The directors 
 names were the most absurd that could be thought of — as 
 
 X. Oficio, Esq., President ; 
 
 T. Widegauge, Director ; 
 
 Leatherhead Salthouse, Esq., Director; 
 
 Professor Whale, Director. 
 In the absence of the president, the Gret Yed (head) 
 O'Preeea was to preside. This was a big wooden head which 
 figured as a tavern sign, called " The Saracen's Head," atPresall. 
 The prospectus said that the railway would run past Presall 
 grave-yard, and that every provision had been made for the 
 comfortable interment of any passengers who might be killed. 
 
 Another paragraph said the road was " to take in the geese of 
 Bleasdale Fell, and land the Irish pigs in the Trough of Bolland."* 
 No secretary's name was given. 
 
 Notwithstanding the absurdity of the scheme, a gentleman 
 at Leeds applied for twenty shares in it ; and as, he said, no 
 secretary's name was given, he sent his application to the secre- 
 tary of the railway on which I was then employed, and I have 
 that application somewhere among my railway records. 
 
 From Frederick S. Williams' famous book, " Our Iron 
 Roads," I select the following interesting details. First a parody 
 on Byron's " Waterloo." 
 
 " There was a sound that ceased not day or night 
 
 Of speculation. London gathered then 
 Unwonted crowds, and moved by promise bright ; 
 
 To Capel Court rushed women, boys and men, 
 
 All seeking railway shares and scrip ; and when 
 The market rose, how many a lad could tell. 
 
 With joyous glance, and eyes that spake again. 
 It was e'en more lucrative than marrying well ; 
 When, hark ! that warning voice strikes like a rising knell." 
 
 ^ Localities in Lancashire or Yorkshire. 
 
The Railway Mania, 1845. 73 
 
 " Taking the list of the members forming the provisional 
 directors of twenty-three companies, one man belonged to them 
 all; two, each of whom figured on 19 companies ; three had given 
 their names to 17 ; fourteen who belonged to 14 companies ; 
 twenty-five to 10 ; twenty- three to 8 ; and twenty-nine to 7. 
 These twenty-three provisional committees divided among them- 
 selves 352,800 shares, at the rate of 2,800 a piece." 
 
 The Manchester Guardian said, "that during one week 
 eighty-nine new schemes had been announced in three news- 
 papers, the capital required for which was estimated at more 
 than £84,000,000 stg. ; while in the space of a month, 357 rail- 
 way projects were advertised in the same journals, having an 
 aggregate capital of £332,000,000 stg., or $1,623,110,816." 
 
 " In the year 1844, the number of projects in respect of 
 which plans were lodged with the English Board of Trade, had 
 been 248 ; the number in 1845 was 815. In November, 1845, the 
 enormous number of 1,428 lines were either made, or authorized 
 to be made, or announced to the public, and registered. The 
 estimated capital of these projected lines amounted to £701,243,- 
 208 stg., and upon which a deposit of £49,592,816 had been 
 paid." It was the immense sum of deposit money that enabled 
 the provisional directors to fairly revel in wealth, and to spend it 
 without regard to economy, or the slightest regard for their 
 gullible victims who had subscribed the money. 
 
 HOW A RAILWAY PROSPECTUS WAS GOT UP A CLERGYMAN'S SCHEME. 
 
 In the autumn of 1845, friend Charles Cooper and I 
 were employed by a clergyman of the Church of England, a well- 
 known speculator, residing at Manchester, to get up the statis- 
 tics for the prospectus of a railway from Fleetwood to 
 Lancaster. For this purpose I went over to Lancaster, and 
 placed a party on the canal bridge there, with instructions 
 
74 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 to count every man, woman and child which went over 
 the bridge going south ; the number of course was put down 
 as the probable passenger traffic over the projected line, 
 while Cooper was counting all the people who crossed the ferry 
 at Fleetwood, as well as those who left by steamers. Then the 
 road was to pass by, or through. Pilling Moss, at which place 
 peat (or turf, as called there) was cut for fuel ; the carrying of 
 this was to be a source of much revenue. Then stone for building 
 purposes was to be carried by tens of thousands of tons, and a 
 large income was to be derived from excursion trains, which, in 
 summer time, were to convey passengers by thousands to the 
 salt water. Cooper and I then summed up our statistics, and 
 made the railway pay 5 per cent, dividend the first year. We then 
 handed our document to the parson, who scanned it over with a 
 sharp eye, and said, " Ah ! very good ; but then you know there 
 is the usual expected increase of traffic to be added after the line 
 opens," and with one dash of his pen, made the line pay 7j per 
 cent.* 
 
 Now Cooper and I thought that in all conscience, we had 
 done quite enough in making the scheme pay 5 per cent., and 
 we stared at each other, our lips quivering for a laugh, and we 
 retired as soon as possible to have it out. 
 
 This was the only projected line in which I was allotted some 
 shares, and by the time the scheme was fairly afloat the smash 
 came, and the scrip was not worth the paper on which it was 
 printed. 
 
 The above may be taken as a fair example of the mode in 
 which most of the thousand and one schemes were got up; 
 imagination was the main ingredient in their construction. 
 
 * Our Hcheme contemplated a direct line from Fleetwood to Lancaster, but I find 
 that the same object has since been attained by a railway being built from Fleetwood 
 to Garstang, there joining the London & North Western, and so on to Lancaster. 
 
The Railway Mania, 184S. 75 
 
 Dr. Samuel Smiles, in his " Life of George Stephenson," 
 when speaking of the railway mania, says : — " The influence 
 which landlords had formerly brought to bear upon Parliament 
 in resisting railways when called for by the public necessities, 
 was now employed to carry measures of a far different kind, 
 originated by cupidity, knavery and folly. But these gentlemen 
 had discovered by this time that railways were as a golden mine 
 to them. They sat at railway boards, selling to themselves their 
 own land at their own price, and paying themselves with the 
 money of the unfortunate shareholders. Others used the railway 
 mania as a convenient and, to themselves, comparatively inex- 
 pensive mode of purchasing constituencies. It was strongly 
 suspected that honorable members adopted what Yankee legisla- 
 tors call 'log-rolling,* that is, * You help me to roll my log, and I 
 help you to roll yours.' " 
 
 AN INCIDENT OF THE RAILWAY MANIA HOW A SECRET WAS DISCOVERED. 
 
 Strange things took place during the railway mania. Specu- 
 lators tried to find out what King Hudson and his satellites were 
 about to do next, and the man who could, by foul means or fair, 
 worm out a secret, saw gold waiting to be drawn into his coffers. 
 The following case was related to me, many years after the mania, 
 by the actor himself, as follows : " One night in '45, there arrived 
 
 at B station two railway presidents, and asked R-^ 
 
 for the use of his oflfice for a time, which was granted. The 
 gentlemen then locked themselves in the office for an hour or two. 
 
 "When they came out, E went in and found the floor covered 
 
 with bits of paper. These he carefully picked up ; then, with paste- 
 brush and a large sheet of paper, set to work fitting each scrap 
 of paper to its fellow scrap, and after a night's work had a read- 
 able document before him, which proved to be an agreement 
 which the two presidents had entered into in reference to some 
 
76 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 scheme of speculation they were about to enter on. R and 
 
 his friends took advantage of this secret, and entered into the 
 speculation on their own account, and made money by it." 
 
 SPECULATIONS FOB THE CHUBCH. 
 
 To satisfy conscience, which was apt to bother professed 
 religious men, they gave part of the proceeds of their specula- 
 tions to the church. A Doctor W , in my hearing, said : I, 
 
 have bought such and such railway scrip ; and whatever I make 
 out of the operation I will give to my church." 
 
 A VISIT TO THE METEOPOLIS IN 1845. 
 
 During the height of the railway mania, I went up to London 
 to give evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, 
 on a projected railway. Our solicitor had chartered the Craven 
 Hotel in the Strand for his large number of witnesses, and for 
 whom it was fairly an open house, free of cost to them. Among 
 the gentlemen were some old topers who had a great time of it ; 
 they revelled in champagne, and never knew when they had had 
 enough. We had to wait a fortnight before our bill came on. In 
 the meantime the lions of the great city were seen to perfection. 
 The committee rooms and lobby of the House of Commons pre- 
 sented such a scene as had never been seen before, and may 
 never be seen again. All the rooms were crowded, gigantic maps 
 were nailed upon the walls ; the maps had fiery red lines upon 
 them, crossing valleys, rivers and hills. The map for our line 
 was thirty feet in length. Then there were long tables covered 
 with documents of every possible description, with members of 
 Parliament sitting in judgment upon the various plans, and 
 listening to the long harangues for and against the different 
 schemes. Engineers, land surveyors, lawyers, councillors, etc., 
 were seen here, there and everywhere. In the rooms and lobbies 
 
The Railway Mania, 18Jij5. Tl 
 
 many familiar and noted faces were observable, as Lord Brougham, 
 Palmerston, Peel, Gladstone, Russell, Disraeli, Dan O'Connell, 
 King Hudson, George Stephenson, etc. 
 
 As an instance of the way in which money was spent, I 
 cite the following. One day Mr. S. P. Bidder and I were walk- 
 ing along the lobby of the House of Commons, when a lawyer 
 rushed up to Mr. Bidder and said : " You are just the man I 
 want to give evidence about some railway points and crossings in 
 our committee room," and he almost carried Mr. Bidder into the 
 room in question. I, in the meantime, sauntered about until that 
 gentleman returned, say, in about fifteen minutes, when he showed 
 me a cheque for twenty pounds, which he had received for his 
 brief services. 
 
 I conclude this account of my visit to London, by stating 
 that we got our bill safe through the committee, and returned 
 with flying colours, and the line was afterwards made, and now 
 forms a portion of one of the great English railways. 
 
 KINO HUDSON. 
 
 Any account of the railway mania would be incomplete if it 
 failed to give a sketch of the leading man, who figured so much 
 in the great swindling speculations. About him, Mr. F. Williams 
 says: "George Hudson was born in 1800, and served his 
 apprenticeship in the ancient City of York, and subsequently 
 carried on business there as a linen draper, and became a man 
 of considerable property. ' The happiest part of my life,' Mr. 
 Hudson said, * was when I stood behind the counter and used the 
 yard measure in my own shop; my ruin was having a fortune 
 left me. I had one of the snuggest businesses in York, and turned 
 over my thirty thousand pounds a year, when a relation died and 
 left me a goodish fortune. It was the very worst thing which 
 
78 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 ever happened to me. It let me into railways and to all my 
 misfortunes since.' Mr. Hudson's first railway scheme was a line 
 between York, Leeds and London, and he was made the chairman 
 of the board of directors, and he had the satisfaction of seeing 
 it opened on May 29, 1839, and on the first of July, 1840, trains 
 ran through from York to London. This made Mr. Hudson very 
 popular, and the people called the railway 'Hudson's Line.' 
 Other great undertakings followed. Ever active, vigorous and 
 energetic, his capacity for business was singular ; and it may 
 without dispute be asserted, that up to a particular period of his 
 history, his efforts were highly advantageous to the railways 
 with which he was connected." 
 
 " Mr. Hudson's name became an authority on railway 
 speculation, and the confidence reposed in him was unbounded. 
 In two days he obtained approval of forty railway bills, involv- 
 ing the expenditure of ^10,000,000 stg. He was looked upon with 
 feelings of admiration and wonder, as one whose magic touch 
 turned everything into gold. His achievement in the view of 
 thousands was the fact that he had made £100,000 in one day, 
 and he was deified because he enabled others to be successful 
 too." * The truth is,' said a writer of that time, ' Mr. Hudson 
 is neither better nor worse than the morality of 1845. He rose 
 to wealth and importance at an immoral period ; he was the 
 creature of an immoral system ; he was elevated into the dicta- 
 torship of railway speculation in an unwholesome ferment of 
 popular cupidity, pervading all ranks and conditions of men ; 
 and whatever may be the hue of the error he committed, it is 
 rather too much to expect of him that he should be purer than 
 his time or his associates.* " 
 
 During the height of the mania, the mere rumour that Mr. 
 Hudson was going to take hold of a scheme, was quite sufficient 
 
The Railway Mania, 184S. 79 
 
 to send the shares up with a rush. I remember one line the 
 scrip of which stood at £4 per share when Hudson joined 
 the directorship, and in three or four days the stock went up to 
 £40 per share. 
 
 In October, 1845, the mania began to have a downward 
 tendency. People began to shake their heads, and to say that the 
 top of the speculation had been reached, and they had an inclina- 
 tion rather to sell than to buy ; for two or three weeks attempts 
 were made to bolster up the grand gambling swindle, and scrip 
 rose and fell in price. I have an old share list of the time before 
 me, from which I make a few extracts of the prices of shares of 
 a few of the lines. 
 
 Amount Selling 
 
 Railway Paid Price. 
 
 Bolton, Wigan k Liverpool, per share £4 ,£40 
 
 Trent Valley " " 2 17 
 
 Midland £40 shares " " 6 26 
 
 West Riding Union ** " 2 12 
 
 These and other figures show the enormous gains which 
 came to the directors of the varied schemes and to those to 
 whom allotments of scrip were made. 
 
 Its demoralizing efifect upon all classes was terrible and 
 made hosts of defaulters. Clerks who were receiving salaries of 
 j£80 or £100 per annum would reason thus : "Here am I serving 
 a whole year for the paltry salary of £100, while my near 
 neighbour, by a lucky stroke of railway speculation, makes his 
 1,000 pounds in one day," 
 
 When the great crash came, and scrip went down, down 
 every minute of the day, men groaned, and went about with 
 blanched cheeks ; thousands upon thousands were ruined, many 
 committed suicide. Directors and speculators ran off to the 
 
80 Raihvays and Other Ways. 
 
 Continent. The scene was described by a noted writer, in 
 imitation of the well-known words of the poet : 
 
 "Oh ! many a stag late blithe and brave, 
 Forlorn, ' mounts the ocean wave ' ; 
 And many a ' letter ' has been torn, 
 And countless scrip to trunks be borne ; 
 And many an antler'd head lies low, 
 Which whilome made a glorious show 
 And many a fast coach now ' crawls slow ' ! 
 
GROUP OF i860. 
 
 Henry Bailey. 
 James Hardman. 
 
 Walter Shanly. 
 
 Myles Pennington. 
 
Reminiscences of Early Days of 0. T. R. 81 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 KEMIXISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE GRAND TRUNK 
 
 RAILWAY. 
 
 A START FOR CANADA. 
 
 IN July, 1853, I sailed from Liverpool with my wife and family 
 by the auxiliary screw steamer and full-rigged sailing ship 
 Sarah Sands for Quebec. James Hardman, John Roberts and 
 I came out on a five years' engagement with Mr. S. P. Bidder, 
 General Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, and 
 under the auspices of Peto, Brassey,* Betts and Jackson, the 
 noted railway contractors and builders of the Victoria Bridge, 
 and G.T.R. East of Toronto. Jas. Hardman was auditor of the 
 North Staffordshire Railway for five years, during which time I 
 was its goods manager. Mr. H. was afterwards auditor on the 
 Grand Trunk Railway about nine years. 
 
 JOHN ROBERTS. 
 
 When I first knew Mr. Roberts he was goods manager, of 
 the Chester & Birkenhead Railway ; during a period of five 
 
 ♦ The name and fame of Thomas Brasset will endure as long as railways exiit. 
 He was a man of invincible character ; no work was too great for him to grapple 
 with. He went at it at once ; he was never discouraged, never lost heart— viaducts 
 might crumble down— tunnels cave in and floods destroy the work of months, they 
 did not disturb his temper ; he merely said "go at it again." His motto was "for- 
 ward" — rocks vanished, forests were laid low, valleys crossed and mountains pene- 
 trated at the approach of his grand army of English navvies. 
 
 I well remember Thomas Brassey, seeing him at the opening of several of the 
 «arly English railways, where he was wont to appear surrounded by his gallant army 
 
82 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 years I met him monthly at the goods managers meetings^ 
 We had also business arrangements together in the movement of 
 flints to the Staffordshire Potteries. For two or more years Mr. 
 Roberts had charge of the freight traffic on the Portland division 
 of the Grand Trunk Railway. 
 
 Mr. R. was a ruddy-faced Englishman of convivial dispo- 
 sition — a good singer, especially some of the old Jacobite songs,, 
 as "Wha'll be king but Charlie," "Come o'er the heather, come 
 altogither," which made him a great favourite among Scotch- 
 men, and led to his having many invitations to join a jovial 
 company of them at Boston, where ** hot Scotch " and "barley 
 bree" were always plentiful and freely indulged in, and of course 
 with the usual results — my old friend did not improve by 
 these kindly meant invitations. Mr. Roberts retired from the 
 G. T. R. and returned to England in 1855 or 1856. 
 
 The following six articles by the author, in this and the 
 three succeeding chapters, appeared in the Toronto Glohe on 
 the dates mentioned. With some slight verbal alterations and 
 corrections they are reproduced here as they were originally 
 printed. 
 
 No. 1. — Some Interesting Reminiscences of Canada* s Great Road.. 
 
 From the Globe, January 2l8t, 1888. 
 
 A great mistake in the building of railways was that of 
 making them of different gauges, such as the two that existed m 
 England for many years and caused many a tug of war among 
 engineers, the fight being known as " The battle of the gauges." 
 
 of navvies, who loved him as a father. I last saw and had the pleasure of a shake of 
 the hand of Mr. Brassey on his visit to Canada in 1854 or 1855. 
 
 Lord Brassey, M.P. for many years, was his father's right hand man in the 
 larfi^e railway contracts. He is noterl for his valuable writings on trade and 
 commerce, and in particular one on " Works and Wages." The pleasant descriptive 
 writings of the late lamented Lady Brassey will long be regarded with great interest 
 by all readers. Her " Round the World in the Yacht Sunbeam" is a gem of the 
 first quality and those who have not read it have a great literary feast in store. 
 
Reminiscences of Early Days of G. T. R. 83 
 
 It was therefore not strange that Canada should have 
 fallen into a similar error in fixing upon a five feet six inch 
 gauge, while four feet eight and a half inches had been adopted 
 generally in the United States. Still the Canadian gauge was 
 probably the best if our big neighbours had adopted the same. I 
 know that early locomotive drivers used to like the 5 ft. 6 gauge, 
 giving as one reason that there was more room about the 
 machinery of the engine and it was easier to get at. The 4 ft. 
 8^ gauge was really that of the old coach, carriage and stage 
 waggon of the olden time, and the same came to be adopted on 
 the first tram or horse railways, such as that on which Geo. 
 Stephenson ran his first locomotive. 
 
 THE GAUGE. 
 
 As respects the 5 ft. 6 gauge I am inclined to think that the 
 idea of it originated in Portland, Me., at about the same time 
 that the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railway was in progress from 
 Montreal to Island Pond, Vt., and the Atlantic & St. Lawrence 
 was in progress from Portland to Island Pond ; the first section 
 of the latter, 11 miles, was opened on July 4, 1848, and the first 
 of the former road from Longueuil to St. Hyacinthe, 30 miles, 
 was opened on December 27, 1848. 
 
 On visiting Portland in 1853 I was curious to inquire into 
 the history of the 5 ft. 6 in. gauge, and was informed that it had 
 beefi adopted in order to make Portland the terminus of the 
 Canadian roads, and prevent the trade going past them to 
 Boston. 
 
 This only shows how short sighted even the most intelligent 
 of men sometimes are. The vast cost of changing to an uniform 
 gauge, the loss in rolling stock, the blockade and delays to 
 freight, the expense of the transhipment, etc., must have been 
 nearly enough to double the whole gauge of the country. 
 
84» Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Luckily for the Canadian Pacific Eailway it was saved from 
 this huge blunder. The Ohio gauge was formerly 4 ft. 10 in., 
 but I suppose it has been altered since. A Cincinnati gentle- 
 man once told me how it originated. Said he : — *' A number of 
 gentlemen met to project the first Eailway in Ohio, when they 
 found that some man had built a locomotive, the gauge of which, 
 by accident, was made 4 ft. 10 in., and these gentlemen bought 
 that locomotive, and it was the origin of the Ohio gauge." The 
 gentleman learnedly observed that " an inch or two in a railway 
 gauge made no difference." 
 
 EARLY DIRECTORS. 
 
 Of the first chief officers of the Grand Trunk, President the 
 Hon. John Ross, Vice-President Benjamin Holmes, Secretary, 
 General Manager and about ten of the first Canadian directors, 
 three only are now living, viz.. Sir A. T. Gait,* Mr. James 
 Beaty,f and the Hon. James Ferrier;! the latter respected veteran 
 being still a member of the Board. (January, 1888.) 
 
 SIR CUSACK RONEY. 
 
 The first Secretary of the Grand Trunk was in early life con- 
 nected with the press. Afterwards he was secretary of the 
 Eastern Counties Railway, from which he retired in 1851, and, 
 along with that prince of contractors, Mr. Dargan, took a very 
 prominent part in organizing and carrying out the Dublin 
 
 • Sir Alexander T. Gait died at Montreal on September 19th, 1893, being the 
 last of the early directors of the Grand Trunk Railway. The life of Sir Alexander 
 fills a large space in Canadian history for the paat half century. He was the first in 
 Parliament to advocate a Confederation of the liritish North American Provinces, 
 and stood prominently forward as one of its most zealous and active fathers. 
 
 t Mr. James Beaty died early in 1892. He will long be remembered as the 
 Editor and Proprietor of the Toronto Leader newspaper. 
 
 t The Hon. Jas. Ferrier died on May 30th, 1888. (See further for a sketch of 
 his life.) 
 
Reminiscences of Early Days oj G. T. R. 85 
 
 exhibition of 1853. In the first stages of this undertaking Mr. 
 Eoney visited the Continent for the purpose of securing the 
 co-operation of the principal manufacturing countries of Europe, 
 on which occasion he had an interview with Napoleon, then the 
 Prince-President of France. For these varied and valuable 
 services the honour of knighthood was conferred upon Mr. Cusack 
 Koney by the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 Sir Cusack had much to do in consultation with members 
 of Government in reference to the different Grand Trunk bills 
 brought before Parliament, and during the session of 1853-54 
 might often have been seen seated near the Speaker of the 
 House, Sir Cusack being allowed that special privilege. His 
 round, smiling face was pleasant to look upon. He was at 
 home among the reporters of the press, and he and Lady Eoney 
 were general favourites among the citizens of Montreal, Quebec 
 and Toronto. 
 
 S. p. BIDDER, FIBST QENERAL MANAGER. 
 
 The first General Manager of the G. T. E. was a brother of 
 George Bidder, once known throughout Europe, the United 
 States and Canada as The Wonderful Calculation Boy, but 
 who afterwards became a railway engineer second only to 
 Eobert Stephenson in celebrity. S. P. Bidder was brought up 
 as an engineer under his brother and the Stephensons. One of 
 his early works was the construction of the iron wharves at 
 Blackwall, London. Afterwards he was engineer for eight years 
 for the Preston & Wyre Eailway, Harbor and Dock Company ; 
 and then General Manager of the North Staffordshire Eailway and 
 Trent and Mersey Canal Navigation Co., from which he retired 
 in 1853 to assume the management of the Grand Trunk Eailway 
 of Canada. 
 
86 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Mr. Bidder was a thorough railway man, and, from having 
 had large bodies of men under him from time to time in the con- 
 struction of public works, had acquired great power and con- 
 trol over them. He worked hard to make the Grand Trunk a 
 success, but he had great difficulties to contend with. 
 
 An early mistake, which gave great trouble to the 
 managers of the Grand Trunk, was the introduction of a 
 number of the six-wheeled rigid English locomotives, with- 
 out the American swivel ** Bogie." These engines, though 
 well enough adapted for the smooth-finished, slightly- 
 curved English roads, were unsuited to the Canadian railway, 
 with its sharp curves and new, rough road-bed, 40 miles of 
 which was run over the first winter without being ballasted, 
 and had to be closed for some time when the spring thaw 
 set in. 
 
 Then the break at Montreal before the Victoria Bridge was 
 built had to be overcome by barges, steamboats and sleighs, to 
 take over freight and passengers ; and twice a year there was 
 an entire stoppage of traffic from one to three weeks. On one 
 occasion a number of passengers, along with cheery old 
 Lecompte, the G. T. E. teamster (well known in Montreal at 
 the time as bandmaster of his own band), with a number of 
 sleighs, were crossing the ice bridge to Longueuil, when the 
 whole field of ice, many square miles in extent, began to move, 
 but it fortunately stopped again after going some distance, and 
 all escaped in safety except one gentleman, a Mr. Sanderson, 
 who died on the ice from excitement and exhaustion. 
 
 Mr. Bidder was of a genial disposition and well liked. He 
 came to Canada on a five years' engagement. When the 
 time expired he returned to England. On leaving he 
 was presented with a magnificent dinner service of plate, 
 value $8,000, subscribed for by his friends, the directors, 
 
Reminiscencea of Early Days of G. T. R. 87 
 
 officers and 1,200 men from every department of the Grand 
 Trunk Eailway. On the occasion of his farewell address he 
 fiaid : — " There is nothing, gentlemen, in which perfect har- 
 mony and good feeling between employees are so necessary 
 as in the working of a railway. The safety of the passengers 
 and the success of the road depend chiefly upon them, and the 
 superintendents, I am sure, will give me credit for never having 
 missed an opportunity of calling their attention to the import- 
 ance of unity and harmony always existing between them and 
 their subordinates. There is nothing more likely to create a 
 bad feeling amongst those engaged on great undertakings than 
 ■departmental recriminations. These should be avoided in every 
 possible way. Managers, superintendents, locomotive foremen and 
 ihe men under them should go hand in hand in everything, and 
 feel that the success of the one is necessary to the advantage 
 of the other. Every man should be taught to feel that he is 
 cared for by his superior and that his good conduct will be 
 noticed and rewarded. These are the principles, gentlemen, I 
 have always endeavoured to inculcate, and I hope they will 
 take deep root in the management of the Grand Trunk road, 
 for where discord reigns no man can manage a railway with 
 either satisfaction to the public, himself, or the company he 
 serves. I know my worthy successor, Mr. Walter Shanly, 
 fully concurs with me in this belief, and will do all in his power 
 to secure that harmony of action so essential to produce the 
 results which you are all striving to accomplish, viz., to make 
 the Grand Trunk railway a dividend-paying concern." 
 
 Mr. Bidder visited this country again two or three years 
 tifterwards on business connected with the Welland Eailway, 
 and he telegraphed to me to meet him at the Suspension 
 Bridge and spend Sunday with him at the Falls. On my 
 arrival at the Monteagle House on a Saturday evening, I 
 
88 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 found Mr. Bidder and another middle-aged gentleman both 
 smoking cigars and chatting very pleasantly together. Mr. 
 Bidder introduced me to Mr. Brontere O'Brien, who I found 
 had recently returned from exile and was on his way to see his 
 old friend, Thos. D'Arcy McGee, at Montreal, where he (Mr. 
 O'Brien) had a great reception. The meeting of Mr. Bidder 
 and Mr. O'Brien at this quiet place, where the voice only of the 
 great Falls was heard, struck me as a curious coincidence, for I 
 remembered that after the O'Brien insurrection in Ireland the 
 Government offered a reward of £500 sterling for his appre- 
 hension, and that he was taken on an Irish railway by a guard 
 (conductor), who was afterwards afraid of his life and came over 
 to England, and Mr. Bidder (then the manager of the North 
 Staffordshire Railway) gave him a job as guard on that line. But 
 every one soon knew that he was the man that took Brontere 
 O'Brien, and for a time the guard was lionized, but he seemed to 
 have a constant fear that some day he would be assassinated, 
 which had such an effect upon the poor fellow as to cause hi& 
 death two or three years afterwards. 
 
 Of course this incident in life's chapter was not alluded tO' 
 by Mr. Bidder, and he and Mr. O'Brien had a long chat about 
 Canada and its progress as a great country and with a great 
 future before it. 
 
 No. S. — Richard Trevithick, the Father of the Locomotive. 
 
 From the Toronto Globe, Feb., 1888. 
 
 Towards the end of the last century and the beginning of 
 the present one, a steam engine to run over the common roads 
 began to be written and talked about among scientific men. 
 
 Samuel Smiles, in his life of George Stephenson, says that 
 Richard Trevithick, a captain in a Cornish tin-mine, constructed 
 the first steam carriage and exhibited it in London in 1804> 
 
Reminiscences of Early Days of G. T. R. 89 
 
 Sir Humphrey Davy took great interest in the invention and 
 called it, " Trevithick's dragon." 
 
 Coleridge relates that whilst the vehicle was proceeding 
 along the road towards the port of Plymouth at the top of its 
 speed, and had just carried away a portion of the rails of a 
 gentleman's garden, Andrew Vivian (who was riding on the 
 machine) descried ahead of him a closed toll-gate and called 
 out to Trevithick to slacken speed. He immediately shut oflf 
 steam,but the momentum was so great that the carriage proceeded 
 some distance, coming dead up, however, just on the right side 
 of the gate, which was opened like lightning by the toll-keeper. 
 "What have us got to pay here ?" asked Vivian. The poor toll- 
 man, trembling in every limb, his teeth chattering in his head, 
 essayed to reply, '* Na-na-na-na" — . ** What have us got to 
 
 pay, I say ?" " No-noth-nothing to pay, my de-dear Mr. D 1. 
 
 Do drive on as fast as you can ! Nothing to pay !" 
 
 Trevithick shortly afterwards made the first locomotive 
 which was tried on Merthyr-Tydvil Railway in South Wales. A 
 son of this inventor, F. H. Trevithick, was the first locomotive 
 superintendent of the Grand Trunk Railway. He was a gentleman 
 of great practical experience as a mechanic and engineer, and 
 had been connected with the building of locomotives and railways 
 from their commencement. He was a man of method, and 
 introduced some valuable rules and regulations into the com- 
 pany's workshops. He retired early from the service. 
 
 A BEAR STORY. 
 
 One day Superintendent Martin was inspecting the Quebec 
 and Richmond line when he received a telegram from the Vice- 
 President which read as follows : — " Send me two black bears by 
 first train." On getting this rather astonishing message Mr. 
 Martin thus soliloquized : — " Strange order — well this is a pretty 
 
90 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 wild country and there may be black bears about — still they are 
 not as plentiful as black berries and cannot be seen at every 
 nook and corner — I suppose the V. P. is going to give a feast 
 and bear meat is to be the staple commodity. Still I should 
 have thought that one bear would surely have been enough for 
 that, but railway magnates are noted for roasting oxen whole 
 and the V.P. wishes to change the roast this time." Mr. Martin, 
 being a bit of a wag and fond of a joke, replied as under : — "No 
 black bears in sight ; shall I get up a hunting expedition and send 
 scouts out?" The reply came, "No; I want two black bass; 
 you can get them in Quebec market." 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT F WOULD MAKE HIS LINE PAY. 
 
 An engineer and superintendent of the G. T. E. thought he 
 had " struck oil" when he rented out all the stations on the 
 Quebec and Kichmond district as drinking saloons. "When the 
 facts came to the General Manager's ears he at once started for 
 the whiskey dispensing line, and peremptorily ordered the keepers 
 of the saloons to "shut up instanter." All except one did so, 
 but Chaudiere stood out, put himself in a state of siege, gave 
 battle and did not give in until the station doors and windows 
 were taken out and the building partially unroofed. 
 
 When Supt. F was remonstrated with he said (with a 
 
 slightly nasal twang), "Well, he guessed he would make his 
 line pay." 
 
 A TERRIBLE CALAMITY. 
 
 Railways and great public undertakings are rarely long 
 without some terrible event. One of the first serious calamities 
 in connection with the Grand Trunk was the bursting of the 
 boiler of a new car ferry steamer just as she was leaving 
 Longueuil one summer's day with a great number of passengers. 
 The shock was terrific, and a large number of passengers — men, 
 women and children — were killed or drowned. The captain was 
 
Reminiscences of Early Days of G. T. B. 91 
 
 on the hurricane deck when the explosion took place and was 
 hurled amid thousands of splinters of wood and iron one hundred 
 feet in the air and fell back into the river. He was picked out 
 alive, but a mass of bruises and broken bones ; yet he recovered, 
 to the astonishment of the medical faculty, and was walking 
 about Longueuil three months afterwards. Mr. P. H. Carter 
 (one of the oldest officers of the Grand Trunk and still in its 
 employ in the freight department at Toronto) was on board the 
 boat at the time and escaped without any serious injury, while 
 a friend, who had come with Mr. Garten from the Maritime 
 Provinces, was killed. 
 
 I refer to this sad event more particularly to relate the 
 graphic manner in which the explosion was described to the 
 writer by a French Canadian cabman. 
 
 I was about leaving the G.T.E. offices in Little St. James 
 street, Montreal, on the day in question, when a cabman rushed 
 up in great excitement and called out : — " Grond Tronc steam- 
 boat blow up at Longueuil — was on Jacques Cartier wharf — 
 (nearly three miles away) — heard great noise — felt shake — saw 
 steam big as cathedral !" 
 
 THE BURNING OF THE BOOTS. 
 
 On one occasion the Grand Trunk officers had arranged to 
 hold a conference at the Victoria hotel, Point Levis. Nearly all 
 went down on the previous day, but I only got there on the 
 morning of the day of meeting. On reaching the hotel I found 
 the place in great confusion, guests were running about, some in 
 slippers and some in stocking-feet, all calling in stentorian 
 voices for their boots, but nobody could give any account of 
 them until a servant went to replenish the large box stove in 
 the hall, when she saw the fragments of a boot. On exhibiting 
 it to the guests, one of them, using a rather strong expression, 
 said : " That's a part of my ten dollar boots with cork soles." 
 
 The boots had all been put in the stove during the night. 
 
92 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 The whole party, shod with extemporary slippers, old brogans, 
 then adjourned to Quebec, where there was a boom in boots, the 
 like of which has not been seen in the ancient capital since. A 
 drunken crank who had done the mischief was discovered some 
 time afterwards. 
 
 WALTER SHANLY, CHIEF ENGINEER AND GENERAL MANAGER. 
 
 In looking round at this date one misses a great number of 
 the early staff of the Grand Trunk. Among those still actively 
 engaged in their various duties and professions are as under : — 
 Mr. Walter Shanly, M.P., who is too well known and appreciated 
 by the people of Canada to need any panegyric from me, except 
 to say that he is one of " nature's noblemen" and that he was 
 always honoured and respected by those who served under him, 
 and one whose name and fame will ever be associated with most 
 of the great public works of the Dominion. 
 
 JAMES STEPHENSON. 
 
 Some thirty years ago I remember a smooth-faced youth of 
 pleasing address and of a cheerful disposition, who was, I think, 
 lirst an operator on the Grand Trunk Co.'s telegraph. This was 
 James Stephenson, who by steady habits, industry and persever- 
 ance, step by step, through the various grades of office, has 
 risen to his present proud position as the worthy and popular 
 superintendent of Canada's great trunk road. 
 
 J. B. JONES. 
 
 The writer and Mr. J. B. Jones came out to Canada in the 
 old historic ocean steamship Sarah Sands * one of the pioneers 
 
 * I think it was during the Crimean war that the Sarah Sandt, with troops 
 on board, took fire en route, and the soldiers for many hours fought the fire until 
 
Beminiscencea of Early Days of 0. T. R. 93 
 
 of the St Lawrence route. Mr. Jones was first my assistant in 
 the freight management, and for the next twenty years filled the 
 various agencies of the company with great credit at Toronto, 
 London, Detroit and Montreal, when he retired to join the 
 Dominion Line Steamship Company as its Western freight and 
 passenger agent at Toronto, where he still remains. 
 
 Mr. Jones commenced his railway career on the North 
 Staffordshire Railway, England, in 1848, and was agent at 
 Tutbury station, near which was the famous ruins of Tutbury 
 Castle. 
 
 CORNELIUS JUDGE. 
 
 Mr. Judge succeeded Mr. Jones as my assistant in the 
 general freight business, and retired from it in 1862, to accept 
 that of manager for Allans, Rae & Co.'s steamship line at Quebec, 
 which position he has faithfully filled for the past twenty-six 
 years.* 
 
 On Mr. Judge's retirement from the G.T.R., the ofl&cers and 
 friends presented him with a handsome testimonial as a mark 
 of their great esteem and respect. 
 
 H. C. BOURLIER. 
 
 H. C. Bourlier, who for the last sixteen years has so 
 successfully represented the Allan Line at Toronto as its general 
 western passenger agent, was one of the early officers of the 
 Grand Trunk, first at Point Levis (Quebec), and for many years 
 the station master at Toronto. 
 
 When the line opened from Port Levis to St Thomas (now 
 «, part of the Intercolonial), 48 miles, in 1855, Mr. Bourlier took 
 
 nearly all the woodwork of the ship was destroyed, but they succeeded in reaching 
 shore in safety without the loss of a single man, leaving the old ship a mere 
 iron shell. 
 
 * 1894. — Mr. Judge is still in his old position. 
 
04- Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 charge of it. He was manager, agent and conductor all in one, 
 and he can tell some humorous anecdotes in reference to his little 
 road. The first winter he was fairly frozen out and had to shut 
 up for three or four months. 
 
 Mr. B. dubbed his road " the Tommy Cod Line" from the 
 large quantity of that little fat-bellied fish he used to carry. 
 
 The fish are caught by the bushel below Quebec, and may 
 be seen at this time of the year on every fish stand in the 
 Province. 
 
 Mr. Bourlier says they never refused traffic on his road, 
 even when they had only one passenger car on. Butter, eggs, 
 fish, vegetables, sheep, calves and passengers — all went into the 
 car together, a perfectly happy family. No one ever grumbled 
 or threatened to ** write to the Times.'" 
 
THE VICTORIA BRIDGE. MONTREAL. 
 
 MEDAL I.N COMMEMORATIONl OF OPENING OF THE BRIDGE, i860. 
 
The Victoria Bridge and More Reminiscences. 95 
 
 CHAPTER TIL 
 
 THE VICTORIA BRIDGE AND MORE REMINISCENCES. 
 THE VICTORIA BRIDGE. 
 
 rPHEEE perhaps never was an undertaking so beset with diffi- 
 JL culties as that of the building of the Victoria Bridge at 
 Montreal. The contractors had to contend with a roaring rapid, 
 two miles wide, shoves of ice from three to seven feet in thickness 
 and from fifteen to twenty square miles in extent, coming along 
 slow but sure with a pressure of millions of tons, like the 
 mighty glaciers of the Alps. 
 
 I do not propose to attempt any description of this wonder- 
 ful work, it having been so ably done by others, but merely 
 relate one circumstance in its history. 
 
 Before building a coffer-dam wherein to erect a stone pier 
 it was necessary to put down above the site of the pier certain 
 mooring cribs to hold barges and steamboats in position while 
 the building of the coffer-dam was in progress. 
 
 One winter a large staff of men and horses were employed 
 on the ice cutting holes through it, and putting down wooden 
 cribs which were weighted with heavy blocks of stone. This 
 was done to save time in spring, but when the ice shove came it 
 cleared away all the cribs as if they had been so much match 
 wood, and carried the stone from the cribs into the very spot 
 where the coffer-dam was to be erected. 
 
 Thus the whole winter's work, instead of being of any 
 advantage, was attended with a very heavy loss, both in time 
 
96 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 and money, for in spring new cribs had to be put down, arid 
 the stones strewn over the bottom of the river had to be fished 
 up one by one before the building of the coffer-dam could be 
 commenced. 
 
 No. 3. — A. M. Ross, Engineer of the Victoria Bridge. 
 
 From the Toronto Globe, Feb. 18, 1888. 
 
 The engineer of the Victoria Bridge, A. M. Boss, had been 
 connected with many railway and great public works in the Old 
 Country before he visited this country. He came to Canada on 
 behalf of English capitalists in 1852. On arrival at Quebec he 
 met the late Hon. John Young, Chief Commissioner of Public 
 Works. It was then that Mr. Young pointed out to Mr. Eoss 
 the importance of bridging the St. Lawrence. The two gentle- 
 men afterwards went to Montreal to inspect the locality for a 
 bridge, and Mr. Eoss suggested an " iron tubular bridge," and 
 returned to England in the fall of 1852 and carried with him 
 soundings and plans of the bridge as designed and located 
 by him. 
 
 In August, 1853, a complimentary dinner was given to 
 Kobert Stephenson at Montreal. On that occasion he said : — 
 
 ** I cannot sit down without referring to the all important 
 subject of a bridge over your magnificent river. Abundance of 
 information was brought to me in England by my esteemed 
 friend Eoss during the last visit he paid to that country, so 
 that I was able to get a good notion of what the bridge was to 
 be before I came out here. The first idea was certainly rather 
 startling. I had been here 25 years before, and the St. Lawrence 
 seemed to mo like the sea, and I certainly never thought of 
 bridging it." 
 
 On the same occasion he said : " I assure you I appreciate 
 your kindness most amply, and one of the proudest days of my 
 
The Victoria Bridge and More Reminiscences. 97 
 
 life will be that when I was called on to confer with the engineers 
 of the Grand Trunk Railway on bridging the St. Lawrence." 
 
 It will be seen from this that while Robert Stephenson was 
 the consulting engineer for the great work, to Alex. M. Ross 
 must be given the credit of being the suggester, planner and 
 designer of the Victoria Bridge. 
 
 Mr. Ross was a man of genius and of great eminence in 
 his profession. He was one of few words, of rather a sombre 
 disposition, but when among friends could throw ofif this reserve 
 and be as cheerful as anyone.* 
 
 Mr. James Hodges, the bridge builder for the contractors, 
 with his clever staff of engineers, pulled well together with Mr. 
 Ross, and spent many hundreds of days and nights in discussing 
 the "ways and means" of carrying out this gigantic under- 
 taking.! 
 
 Robert Stephenson died before the bridge was opened, and 
 a relative of his, a George R. Stephenson, attempted to rob 
 Mr. Ross of his well-earned fame as the projector and designer 
 
 * To show that my remarks in reference to the late Mr. Ross were appreciated, I 
 may state that I received letters of thanks from Mr. John Ross and Miss C. Rosa, 
 son and daughter of A. M. Ross. The one from J. R. reads as follows : — 
 
 Manchester, England, March 28, 1888. 
 My Deab Sib,— 
 
 I have just seen your article in the Toronto Olohe of Feb. 18, giving an 
 account of the Victoria Bridge at Montreal, and I feel that I must at once write 
 and thank you most cordialljr for the exceedingly kind way in which you speak 
 of my father and his just claims. It is comforting that there are some who know 
 and believe the truth. My mother wishes to join me in my thanks to you and 
 believe me, 
 
 Yoors very truly, 
 
 John Ross. 
 M. Pennington, Esq., Toronto. 
 
 t The following particulars respecting the Victoria Bridge may be interesting 
 and useful for referanca : Length, nearly 2 miles ; number of piers, 24 ; number of 
 iron tubes, 25 ; width central span, 330 feet ; width side spans, 242 feet ; width piers, 
 18 feet ; material of piers, blue limestone ; quantity in each, 8,000 tons ; total weight 
 of piers, 222,000 tons ; height of tubes, 22 feet ; width of tubes, 16 feet ; total weight 
 of tubes, 10,400 tons ; height from water, 60 feet ; cost of bridge, $7,000,000. Engi 
 neers : A. M. Ross, Robert Stephenson. Builders : Messrs. Peto, Brassey, Betts and 
 Jackson, under the superintendence of Mr. James Hodges. 
 
 7 . 
 
98 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 of the bridge. The late Hon. John Young came nobly to the 
 front in defending A. M. Eoss from this unwarranted charge, 
 but the mischief was done. The attack referred to had a painful 
 effect upon the mind of Mr. Ross and was one main cause 
 which led to his death shortly afterwards. 
 
 Eobert Stephenson was too much of a gentleman to aggran- 
 dise himself at the expense of his fellow engineers, but he had 
 passed away, and the voice which would have saved poor Ross 
 was hushed forever. 
 
 The stone for the first pier of the Victoria Bridge was laid 
 July 22, 1854, by Sir Cusack Roney, along with Vice-President 
 Holmes, Mr. James Hodges, A. M. Ross, C.E., and other gentle- 
 men, who were also joined by Lady Roney, Mrs. Hodges and 
 Mrs. Maitland, each taking the trowel and assisting in preparing 
 the mortar-bed for the first stone in the first pier of the great 
 undertaking. 
 
 FIRST CROSSING OF VICTORIA BRIDGE. 
 
 On November 24, 1859, Vice-President Blackwell, Hon. 
 G. E. Cartier, Attorney-General, James Hodges, A. M. 
 Ross, Walter Shanly, Major Campbell, Messrs. Gzowski, Mac- 
 pherson, Forsyth, Captain Rhodes and others, were the first to 
 cross the Victoria Bridge. Mr. Blackwell was on his way to 
 England to attend the Grand Trunk meeting when he was able 
 to report himself as coming " via Victoria Bridge." 
 
 On August 25, 1860, the last stone was laid and the last 
 rivet driven by the young Prince of Wales, on which occasion a 
 grand banquet was held near the Bridge, and addresses given by 
 the Prince, the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Blackwell, Mr. A. M. 
 Ross, Mr. Hodges and others. 
 
 To commemorate this event Mr. Blackwell had a medal 
 prepared by J. S. Wyon, chief engraver of Her Majesty's seals, a 
 
The Victoria Bridge and More Beminiscences. 99 
 
 gold one of which was presented to the Prince of "Wales and a 
 bronze one to each of the officers of the G.T.R. One of the 
 latter is in my possession. It bears a fine impression in relief 
 of the Prince as he then was, with the Prince's Feather on the 
 reverse side, and the words, " Welcome, Albert Edward, 
 Prince of Wales." " Visited Canada and Inaugurated the 
 Victoria Bridge, 1860." 
 
 A NOVEL THERMOMETER. 
 
 The \^ctoria Bridge consists of 12 double iron tubes and one 
 centre tube ; about 2 inches of space between each section is 
 left for expansion and contraction, the tube being placed on 
 rollers, for it must be observed that the great bridge never rests 
 — it is constantly on the move. When the temperature sinks 
 to 20 below zero, 24 to 30 inches of this massive structure 
 actually disappear from view, to be restored again in full when 
 the summer sun sends up the thermometer to 90 in the shade. 
 
 The late Mr. T. D. King, of Montreal, one of the early 
 officers of the G.T.E., a lover of art and science, took advantage 
 of this contraction and expansion in the tubes, and made the 
 big bridge register its own movements. He erected a frame- 
 work with a scale of degrees upon it, which rested on the stone- 
 work of the first pier of the Bridge, alongside a section of the 
 iron tubes, and Mr. King was wont to tell his friends that the 
 Victoria Bridge showed so many degrees above or below zero, 
 as the case might be. 
 
 THE BOULDER MONUMENT. 
 
 The traveller on leaving the Montreal side of the Victoria 
 Bridge going east may have observed, on his left, a huge boulder 
 placed upon a cut-stone mason work surrounded with a picket 
 fence. This massive stone and many like it, which may be 
 
100 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 seen cropping out of the ground in Queen's Park, Toronto, and 
 other parts of Ontario and Quebec, geologists say have been 
 carried imbedded in thick ribbed ice from distant regions during 
 the glacial period. 
 
 The boulder in question was dug up in the vicinity of the 
 Bridge and weighed about 30 tons. 
 
 On the 2nd of December, 1859, the ceremony of lifting it to 
 its place was done in the presence of the Anglican Bishop, the 
 Rev. Canon Leach, LL.D., the Rev. Mr. Ellegood, B.A., and 
 other clergymen, also James Hodges and all the workmen of the 
 Victoria Bridge as well as the principal officers of the Grand 
 Trunk Railway. The boulder bears this inscription : — " To 
 preserve from desecration the remains of 6,000 immigrants who 
 died from ship-fever in 1847 and '48. This monument is 
 erected by workmen in the employment of Messrs. Peto, Brassey & 
 Betts engaged in the construction of the Victoria Bridge, 1859." 
 
 The Bishop made some remarks appropriate to the occasion. 
 The Rev. Mr. Ellegood said prayer, and Rev. Dr. Leach gave 
 some particulars of that great affliction. 
 
 The stone is of intense hardness, and those who cut the 
 facing for the inscriptions said it was the hardest they had 
 ever chiseled. 
 
 This monument, while it commemorates the poor victims 
 from a distant land, tells of the goodness of heart of the bridge- 
 builders, who, in their multitudinous duties, had respect to, and 
 did not forget, the poor immigrants whose ashes rest below. 
 It was a noble deed and will be as imperishable as the piers of 
 the Victoria Bridge. 
 
 THE MOOSE DEER. 
 
 When the Grand Trunk opened to Portland, that part of 
 the boundary line where the road enters Vermont was quite 
 
The Victoria Bridge and More Heminiscences. 101 
 
 unsettled and in its native wilderness. A large moose deer 
 which inhabited that part of the country had evidently watched 
 the invasion of " Puffing Billy " into his territory with some 
 degree of vexation, and had come to a determination to put a 
 stop to it. One morning as the driver of a locomotive 
 approached the boundary line he descried an immense moose 
 deer, with huge antlers down, coming at full tilt for the engine, 
 but too late to prevent a collision with the animal. The loco- 
 motive was thrown off the track without doing much damage, 
 and moose was suddenly converted into venison.* 
 
 The trainmen and others feasted on venison for many days. 
 The writer tried hard to get the antlers as trophies, but a 
 Vermont adventurer was " in at the death " and walked off with 
 the prize, f 
 
 FRAUDULENT FREIGHT CLAIMS. 
 
 One of the most troublesome things in connection with the 
 working of a railroad, particularly in the freight department, is 
 that of claims for loss or damage. Public companies are not 
 
 * It may be suggested that this subject would be a fine one for an historic painting 
 illustrative of "The Early Days of the Grand Trunk Railway." It is questionable 
 if such an event ever happened before. A word picture : Scene— A wilder- 
 ness in all its natural grandeur — To the left a wild primeval forest of maple, 
 spruce, pine and hemlock trees with a thick underground of bush and creeping plants 
 — To the right a calm, still, small lake, its surface decorated here and there with 
 water lilies, and a covey of wild ducks floating along in search of their prey. In the 
 centre a single railway track, with a locomotive and cars rushing along, approaching 
 up the track, in an opposite direction, is seen coming at full speed an enormous moose 
 deer, its antlers lowered ready to meet, in deadly combat, its new enemy, the 
 locomotive. 
 
 + River du Loup Junction, Que., Jan. 15.— A wing-plough special on the Temis- 
 couata Railway to-day sighted and ran down two beautiful moose half a mile north of 
 Edmunaton, N.B, Engineer King, on engine 3, relates a most exciting hunt. The 
 moose came on the track about 100 yards ahead of his engine. The track being old 
 and fairly high banks of snow on either side, they took the track. He gave chase at 
 full speed, and only after an exciting chase of half a mile did he overtake them. They 
 ran beautifully. The first one he struck suffered a broken leg, and was thrown from 
 the track, but escaped to the woods on three legs. The other was not so fortunate. 
 It was badly injured, though it still had vitality enough to run, but was captxired by 
 Roadmaster McEwan and brought to Edmunston ata.tion.— Empire, 16th January, 1894. 
 
102 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 supposed to have any souls and are therefore fair game to be 
 plucked without mercy. 
 
 It is well known that when an accident happens, a lot of 
 harpies generally rush to the spot to buy up the claims. 
 
 As an illustration of a freight claim, I give 
 
 THE detective's STORY. 
 
 One day a man called at the freight office in Montreal and 
 produced a shipping note of a sewing machine from the States. 
 On referring to the books it was found that some one had called 
 for the machine, paid the freight and receipted for it and taken 
 it away. The man was supposed to be a carter, but he could not 
 be found. 
 
 The owner claimed $70 for the machine and demanded it or 
 the money and came often about it, telling a pitiful tale, how he 
 and his family were suffering for want of it. The company's 
 detective, Smith, thought there was something wrong about the 
 affair and started to trace the machine back from its point of 
 shipment, which he found to be a small village in Massachusetts. 
 There he ascertained that the claimant was well known, and 
 that it was equally known that the man never had what we 
 imderstood as a sewing machine, but that he had a stitching ma- 
 chine, such as he used in his trade of boot and shoe maker. Armed 
 with this information Detective Smith returned, went direct to the 
 claimant's house and there, sure enough, he found the man 
 working away with the identical machine before him. The man 
 had stolen his own machine and then made a claim for it. 
 Before steps could be taken to bring him to account he was 
 off to the States. 
 
 A DANIEL COME TO JUDGMENT. 
 
 During a severe snow blockade of three or four days the 
 station and freight shed at Point Levis were destroyed by fire, 
 
The Victoria Bridge and More Reminiscences. 103 
 
 along with a lot of freight waiting to be shipped forward for 
 which a number of claims were made. The company's solicitor 
 resisted these claims on the ground that trains were prevented 
 from running by stress of weather, over which they had no 
 control. 
 
 The judge asked: — "Did you run any trains during the 
 alleged blockade ? " 
 
 "Yes; we did get passenger trains through with great 
 difficulty." 
 
 Judge — " Oh, then it was only a questioD of putting on 
 another horse." 
 
 Solicitor — " We had not got another horse (locomotive) ; 
 they were all engaged hauling the passenger trains." 
 
 Judge — " That was your business," and gave judgment for 
 the plaintiff. 
 
104 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 THE PICKFORDS OF CANADA. 
 No. Jf. — Messrs. Hendrie and Shedden. 
 
 From the Toronto Globe, March 24, 1888. 
 
 FOE a century or more before the inauguration of railways, Pick- 
 ford & Co. were the principal carriers in the Old Country, 
 and their name is still " familiar as household words." They 
 carried merchandise by canal-boats, stage-waggons, carts and 
 vans between London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and 
 other places. The van was run on the turnpike roads at a 
 quick speed, and took small parcels and the more valuable freights 
 *' Pickford's van " was as well known and as popular as the old 
 stage coaches. 
 
 When railway trains began to run, the old carriers saw that 
 their occupation, like Othello's, would soon be gone, and they 
 put themselves in the way of doing the terminal, work for the 
 railway companies, more particularly the collection and delivery 
 of freight in London and other large cities, and this business in 
 a short time became immense, requiring thousands of men and 
 horses to do the service. 
 
 Some thirty-two years ago, about the time that the Grand 
 Trunk railroad was opened from Montreal to Toronto, two 
 intelligent and enterprising young Scotchmen called at the office 
 of the Grand Trunk Railway in Montreal to see Mr. S. P. Bidder, 
 General Manager, and the author, when they stated that they 
 had commenced a railway cartage agency in Hamilton and 
 
The Pickfords of Canada. 105 
 
 London ; that their object was to collect and deliver freight in 
 the towns and cities for the railways in Canada, similar to what 
 was done by Pickford & Co. in the Old Country ; that they in 
 fact aimed to be "the Pickfords of Canada." These young 
 men were Mr. Wm. Hendrie and Mr. John Shedden, who had the 
 sagacity to see that an important adjunct of the great Canadian 
 raUways would be an efficient and well-managed cartage 
 system. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Hendrie came to Canada in 1854, and was for a 
 time in the general freight office of the Great Western Railway at 
 Hamilton. Previous to that he had been employed on railways 
 in Scotland. 
 
 Mr. John Shedden, for some time before coming to 
 Canada, was, although a very young man, a railway contractor 
 in Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1855, Messrs. Hendrie & 
 Shedden commenced the cartage agency for the Great Western 
 Railway, by arrangement with Mr. C. J. Brydges, its managing 
 director. In 1856, when the Grand Trunk opened from Mont- 
 real to Toronto, the cartage system was introduced upon that 
 line. 
 
 Hendrie & Shedden opened offices in the different cities, 
 where orders could be left and inquiries made. A more suitable 
 waggon, or lorry, for moving heavy merchandise was introduced, 
 instead of the little, inconvenient, cramped-up carts of the past. 
 Each waggon was provided with a good waterproof cover to keep 
 goods dry. 
 
 A uniform blank shipping note, with duplicate stubs in 
 blank form, was given to the merchants.* This was a most 
 
 * By favour of Mr. R. L. MeUea, G. T. R. freight agent at Toronto, I am able to 
 show the vast importance of an uniform system shipping note, from the fact, that 
 during the year 189.3, 363,400 shipping notes were issued at the Grand Trunk freight 
 station, Toronto, alone. For future reference, the shipping notes, numbered consecu- 
 T9QQ ' *"^® stitched and paper-bound. The number of volumes for the past year was 
 
106 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 needful reform and an important thing for the railway com- 
 panies, and came as a blessing to the shipping clerk, who had 
 to decipher these mystic documents by gaslight or an oil lamp. 
 Previous to this time, with a few exceptions by large merchants, 
 shipping notes used to be made out on the first scrap of paper 
 that presented itself, and of all colors and all shapes, viz., frag- 
 ments of old songs, old envelopes, corners of newspapers, mostly 
 written in pencil and often illegible. One of these ancient 
 legends I have now before me. It is dated March 16, 1857, and 
 reads as follows : — " Keceived from Thos. Clarkson, Toronto, 
 4 brls. flour, * Merchants' mills,' balance of lot, for Janes & 
 Oliver, Montreal," written in pencil. On the back of it is printed 
 a well-known and popular sacred hymn with many Scriptural 
 references. It may be asked, was this done as an act of irrever- 
 ence, or was it done for the benefit of the railway shipping clerk ? 
 As I happened to know the consignor and consignees well, I can 
 give them credit for the latter. 
 
 Great changes from old habits or customs, which happen to 
 clash with some existing interest, have generally to run the gaunt- 
 let of opposition, and the cartage agency was no exception to this 
 rule, and they (Hendrie & Shedden) came in for their full share of 
 it. Public meetings were held to denounce the system, physical 
 force was appealed to, a riot took place in Montreal, Mr. Shedden's 
 stables were set on fire once or twice, and his life was threatened. 
 Hendrie & Shedden from time to time jointly, and afterwards 
 separately, imported a superior class of draught horses into the 
 Province, and at this day their powerful and brightly harnessed 
 teams with steady drivers are seen and admired in Montreal, 
 Toronto and other cities of the Dominion, as well as in parts of 
 Michigan and Illinois. 
 
 They (Hendrie & Shedden) were together for several years, 
 but finally dissolved partnership and arranged for a division of 
 
»^]^3a>^^V' 
 
 OF 
 
 THE 
 
 of 
 
JOHN SHEDDEN. 
 
The Pickf(yrd8 of Canada. 107 
 
 territory, Mr. Shedden mainly acting for the Grand Trunk and 
 Mr. Hendrie for the Great Western. Both became eminent 
 contractors for the building of railways and other public works- 
 
 JOHN SHEDDEN. 
 
 Among those built by Mr. Shedden were the Union Station 
 and Grand Trunk elevator, Toronto, the latter being erected twice, 
 the first one having been burned down. He also built the Toronto, 
 Grey & Bruce (narrow gauge), and the Toronto & Xipissing, of 
 which he became president. On May 16, 1873, he, with a num- 
 ber of citizens from Toronto, went up the T. & N. road to attend 
 a land sale of Mr. Shedden's. On returning, he got out of the 
 car at Cannington station, and on attempting to get in again, 
 while the train was in motion, his foot slipped at an opening in 
 the station platform, and he fell between the car and the plat- 
 form and was crushed to death. He was 48 years of age, and 
 — strange fatality — only two days previous to this Mr. Shedden's 
 nephew, Wm. H. Paton, a promising young man of 25, was 
 drowned in Stoney Lake. A monument in the form "of a massive 
 granite obelisk to their memory may be seen in the Necropolis 
 Cemetery, Toronto. 
 
 Since this sad event the agency has been successfully con- 
 tinued by the Shedden Co. (limited), under the management of 
 Mr. Hugh Paton, of Montreal, and the superintendence of Mr. C. 
 McKenzie, of Toronto. 
 
 WM. HENDRIE. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Hendrie, in addition to the cartage agency — as 
 already named — became a large contractor. One of his early 
 undertakings was the laying of the water pipes for the Hamilton 
 water-works. At the recent 30th anniversary supper, given by 
 Hendrie & Co. to their employees, to which Adam Brown, M. P., 
 
108 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 was invited, he — in responding to the ** Parliament of the Do- 
 minion" — made some interesting remarks in reference to Mr. 
 Hendrie's early career. Speaking of the Hamilton water-works 
 he (Mr. Brown) said that "there was not a leak in any of the 
 pipes for seven years after they were put down." * 
 
 Among the railways built by Messrs. Hendrie & Co. were 
 the Wellington, Grey & Bruce, the Hamilton & Northwestern, 
 and other lines in Canada and the State of Michigan. 
 
 Mr. W. Hendrie is a director of several banks and other 
 monetary institutions, and was recently elected vice-president of 
 the Hamilton & Northwestern Railway. 
 
 At the supper already referred to, Mr. Thos. McBride, super- 
 intendent for Hendrie & Co. at Hamilton, in speaking of Mr. 
 Wm. Hendrie, of Hamilton, and of his brother, Mr. Geo. Hendrie, 
 of Detroit, said that some 2,500 to 3,000 men were in the 
 employment of the firm. 
 
 It will be remembered that when the Government were 
 about closing with the syndicate for the construction of the 
 Canadian Pacific Eailway, Mr. William Hendrie and other 
 capitalists came forward and made a bold bid for the great 
 undertaking on terms far below those offered by the other com- 
 pany, and to show that they (Hendrie and party) meant what 
 they said, deposited $200,000 as a guarantee of good faith. 
 
 Perhaps no figures could be given which will be better 
 understood as to the enormous increase of trade in the Province 
 
 * Adam Brown, the present Post Master of Hamilton, Ontario, should not be 
 forgotten in these records, as one of Canada's zealous and active railway pioneers. 
 I remember his great exertions, along with other gentlemen of Hamilton, some 25 
 or 30 years ago, to provifle railway facilities for the counties of Wellington, Grey 
 and Bruce. Many were the hard battles fought by Mr. Brown and his colleagues in 
 favor of railways of the established gauge against the advocates of the narrow gauge, 
 as well as to secure bonuses to assist in the construction of the former. The inhabit- 
 ants of the counties referred to are under a debt of gratitude to Mr. Brown, who spent 
 his time and means in their cause and did so much to open up their fine and fertile 
 country, which had previously been retarded for lack of the means of transporting 
 its products to the marts of commerce. 
 
The Pickfords of Canada. 109 
 
 than that of a comparison of the railway cartage agency in 
 Toronto 30 years ago with that of the present day, the statistics 
 of which have been kindly furnished me by Mr. W. Wilkie, 
 manager for Hendrie & Co. ; Mr. C. Mackenzie, superintendent 
 for the Shedden Company, and Mr. W. Walker, superintendent 
 for the Dominion Transport Company, all of Toronto. 
 
 Average number of horses kept constantly employed in 
 collection and delivery of freight for all the railways in the 
 City of Toronto : — 
 
 1857— Hendrie & Shedden 28 
 
 1888-Hendrie & Co 100 .... 
 
 " — Shedden Company 138 .... 
 
 '• —Dominion Transport Co. (C. P.R.) 74 
 
 312 28 
 
 This is, ot course, exclusive of horses employed by city 
 expresses, of which the number is legion, and which had no 
 existence at all 30 years ago. 
 
110 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SKETCHES AND FURTHER REMINISCENCES. 
 No. 5. — Benjamin Holmes, First Vice-President. 
 
 From the Toronto Globe, April 7, 188S. 
 
 ONE of the earliest men connected with the Grand Trunk Eail. 
 way was Mr. Benjamin Holmes, who took an active part in 
 its organization and became its first Vice-President. He was 
 well known as an able financier and had previously been 
 manager of the Bank of Montreal. He was a man of great 
 determination of character, an energetic public speaker and 
 often took a prominent part in Parliamentary elections. Mr, 
 Holmes continued in office as Vice-President of the G.T.R. for 
 four or five years. On retiring he was appointed Collector of 
 Customs for the port of Montreal, which office he retained until 
 his death. The writer well remembers that event, as lie was 
 close by the Custom-house when it occurred, and on going into 
 the collector's office saw Mr. Holmes sitting in his chair with 
 pen in hand and unfinished manuscript before him, but the 
 vital spark had fled — the collector had died at his post. 
 
 Mr. Holmes was succeeded by Mr. T. E. Blackwell, a civil 
 engineer of note, from the Old Country. He was one of the 
 true English type, genial, a£fable and pleasant to all who came 
 in contact with him. He was fond of scientific investigations, 
 particularly of geology and meteorology. With a view of 
 becoming thoroughly acquainted with the Canadian climate, he 
 
Sketches and Further Beminiscencea. Ill 
 
 had daily weather reports sent him from all the stations on the 
 G.T.E., and he is fairly entitled to be classed as one of the 
 earliest of " weather probs." 
 
 THE FLYING FERRY. 
 
 Mr. Blackwell had noticed in his travels a mode of 
 crossing some European rivers by means of a rope or chain 
 secured to an anchor or post up and in the middle 
 of the stream, the other end of the rope being attached 
 to a boat two-thirds of the distance from its bow : the boat is 
 then carried across by the force of the current and is brought 
 back again by simply changing the position of the rope 
 to two-thirds from the bow, the boat being made to sail either 
 way. To carry out a similar plan for crossing the St. Clair 
 River at Point Edward (Sarnia),Mr. Blackwell had a large barge 
 built to take over a train of freight cars at one time ; to this 
 barge was attached a strong chain cable about 1,000 feet in 
 length, the other end of the cable being secured to an 
 immense anchor (such as was in use on the Great Eastern 
 steamship); this was sunk in the middle of the river at the outlet 
 of Lake Huron, a slip or dock being made at each side the 
 river for the barge to take and receive cars. 
 
 The plan worked very well in ordinary weather, but if a 
 strong wind set in up the river a tidal wave was formed up the 
 lake and the current in the river, for the time, was reversed, 
 while a strong wind from the north made the current so rapid 
 that the barge fairly flew across, and it became a source of 
 danger to passing vessels. This mode of crossing was 
 finally abandoned, and steam-power used to take the barge 
 between Point Edward and Port Huron. 
 
 From the immense size of the craft it got the title of the 
 " Great Eastern of the Lakes." 
 
112 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Mr. Blackwell retired from the company in 1861 or '62, on 
 account of his health failing, and died shortly afterwards. The 
 probable cause of his death was an injury to his spine from 
 a railway accident in England before he came to Canada. 
 
 LIEUT.-COL. BAILEY. 
 
 Mr. Henry Bailey came to Canada with Mr. S. P. Bidder in 
 1853, as his secretary. The former wrote and spoke the French 
 language fluently, which made him of great service to the 
 General Manager. Shortly afterwards Mr. Bailey was appointed 
 assistant manager of the G.T.E. Though Mr. Bailey was not 
 originally a railway man, he, by his energy and perseverance, 
 soon made himself thoroughly conversant with railway manage- 
 ment ; and when he presided at the superintendents' conferences 
 he always impressed upon them the importance of making good 
 rules and seeing that they were carried out, and it is doubtless 
 to this that may be ascribed the comparative freedom from 
 serious accidents on the road during the early years of its 
 existence. Mr. Bailey was in the employ of the Company for 
 about twenty years, part of the time as superintendent of the 
 Portland district.* 
 
 At the time when it was considered advisable for every 
 Canadian railway man to become a soldier, Mr. Bailey took an 
 active part with Mr. Brydges and Mr. Hickson in the formation 
 of the Grand Trunk Brigade, and Mr. Bailey was appointed 
 Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment. 
 
 When the Grand Trunk Railway opened, old travellers were 
 wont to relate their experience of travel by " flood and field-' in 
 the olden time ; how they were hauled up the St. Lawrence in 
 batteaux or flat-bottomed boats ; or, if in winter, what journeys 
 they had from Montreal to Toronto, over snow, corduroy or mud 
 
 * Mr. Bailey died at Brighton, England, in June, 1892. 
 
Sketches and Further Reminiscences. 113 
 
 roads, a week or more in transit. Now we may compare early 
 railway travel with the present ; in the former, there was no cosy 
 Pullman or Wagner car, where a man could go to bed, dream 
 away his time and wake up at daybreak to find himself at 
 his journey's end. In going from Montreal to Toronto the travel- 
 ler had to sit bolt upright for sixteen or eighteen hours, until 
 every bone in his body ached and each particular bone seemed 
 to have had a quarrel with its fellow-bone — all feeling as if they 
 had been engaged in a pitched battle. 
 
 Once on a night ride to Quebec, when the late Sir Allan 
 McNab and several members of Parliament were on board the 
 train, the thermometer was 40° below zero. The intense cold 
 congealed the oil in the tail lamp, and it went out over and over 
 again and had to be brought in'o the car to be thawed. The 
 stove in the middle of the car was kept at red heat and all the 
 passengers huddled round it, yet were almost perished with 
 cold, and to finish up were landed in a snow bank at 4 
 o'clock in the morning two miles from Point Levis station. 
 
 At that time the trains were run much slower, and railway 
 men were only learning the art of fighting snow. During the 
 Mason and Slidell trouble, when troops came out from England 
 in midwinter, one of the regiments, in a train drawn by two or 
 three locomotives, left Montreal on a Monday morning and did 
 not reach Toronto until the Saturday following. The Grand 
 Trunk people had to supply the soldiers with rations at nearly 
 every station. 
 
 THE SLEEPING-CAB. 
 
 When sleeping-cars began to be talked about, the superin- 
 tendents of the G. T. R. met in solemn conclave to consider the 
 advisability of putting on sleeping-cars, and it seems strange at 
 this time for me to report that there was a strong objection to 
 8 
 
114 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 their introduction, mainly, as they said, on account of such cars 
 having recently been put on some of the American roads, which 
 had been infested by bad characters. Finally the matter was 
 compromised by introducing benches or bunks the whole length 
 of the car, without any curtains or divisions, and only one rug 
 and small pillow for each passenger. When one entered one of 
 these cars at midnight, one saw a medley of dark, grotesque-look- 
 ing objects, with arms and legs sticking up in much "admired 
 disorder," looking as if the passengers had been shovelled into 
 the car. 
 
 Improvements in the sleeping-car were made from time to 
 time, until the Pullman car made its appearance in all its glory, 
 and as each of the cars was in charge of a smart conductor, the 
 bugbear as to the morality question was effectually quashed, and 
 the traveller found himself as comfortable and as much protected 
 as if he were in a first-class hotel. 
 
 No. 6. — Dollars and Cents versus £ s. d. 
 
 From the Toronto Globe, May 12, 1888. 
 
 In 1853, when the Grand Trunk Eailway was opened from 
 Montreal to Portland, Canada had decided to abandon what was 
 termed Halifax currency, viz., pounds, shillings and pence, and 
 to adopt the American system of dollars and cents. One of the 
 first documents of any magnitude in which the new currency 
 was introduced was the large freight tariff of the G. T. R., made 
 out by the writer and circulated in the fall of 1853. He remem- 
 bers that there was a good deal of objection to it, particularly 
 among some of the French Canadians, who looked upon it as an 
 innovation, preferring to talk and deal in pounds, shillings and 
 pence, and it was many years before the latter method was quite 
 abandoned. 
 
Sketches and Further Reminiscences. 115 
 
 That the Dominion should have been saved from adopting 
 the Old Country system of pounds, shillings and pence sterling 
 ■was a most fortunate thing for railway men and Canadian car- 
 riers generally, and they, above all others, have good reason to 
 be thankful for it ; for if ingenuity had done its best it could not 
 have devised a scheme of currency more complicated than that 
 of English sterling money, coupled with its ton weight of 
 2,240 lbs. To illustrate this from a railway shipping point of 
 view, I would ask some of our school pupils to work out the fol- 
 lowing little sum and see how many j&gures it takes to give the 
 answer, viz. : — John Thomas is forwarding 4 tons 17 cwts. 
 8 qrs. 19 lbs. of fish from Toronto to Guelph, the rate of freight 
 of which is to be 8s. 9d. per ton of 2,240 lbs., what amount in 
 sterling money will he have to pay ? Then put the problem 
 into decimals and for purposes of this calculation take the Eng- 
 lish shilling as equal to 24 cents and the penny at 2 cents, and 
 the question will read as follows : — What will 10,967 lbs. come 
 to at 9 375-1,000 cents per 100 lbs.? Both calculations will 
 give the same results in value. The simplicity of the latter 
 system over the former, as respects the time taken and the figures 
 used, will be seen at a glance. It will be found that it requires 
 about 98 figures to show the amount in sterling and only 38 
 figures in decimal currency, and the latter would only require 11 
 figures if the fractions of 375-1,000 were dispensed with, which 
 would be done in nearly all freight transactions. 
 
 Such calculations as the first given were what the early Eng- 
 lish shipping clerk had to make often after 7 p.m., perhaps 50 of 
 them all different. There were experts who adopted methods of 
 their own for making quick calculations, but the ordinary calcu- 
 lator could not do them in any reasonable time, and in a year 
 or two a clever fellow, after many months of hard work, made a 
 ponderous ready reckoner to assist the clerks. The subject ot 
 
116 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 introducing decimal currency into England has often been dis- 
 cussed, but there have always arisen a thousand things to oppose 
 it, among which are prejudice, the dislike of change and the 
 imitation of anything American. Then there is the imaginary 
 golden charm which seems to float round about the very words 
 pounds sterling, that it is something more solid and real than 
 any other currency, so that another century may pass before 
 any change is made. Still, one would have thought that the 
 Colonies, such as Australia, New Zealand, etc., would have 
 adopted decimal currency, the same as the Dominion of Canada. 
 
 EARLY ENGLISH RAILWAYS. 
 
 In bringing these reminiscences of the early days of the 
 Grand Trunk to a close, it may perhaps not be out of place, but 
 may be of some interest, to make a few remarks in reference to 
 the early management of some English railways, as compared 
 with those of the Dominion of Canada. When some of the first 
 English roads were opened, the most unfit and unlikely men 
 were appointed as general managers. Directors then thought 
 that any one could run a railway. A few incidents which occurred 
 upon roads with which I was connected in those early times will 
 give a faint idea of the style of some of the men who were put on 
 to govern these important undertakings. 
 
 No. 1 had been a sea captain, who had been wont to rule his 
 crew with a rod of iron ; he swore like a trooper and tried this 
 on the passengers who travelled by his railway, as much as to 
 say : ** I am Sir Oracle ; when I speak, let no dog bark." On one 
 occasion he insulted a well-known peer, and the directors had to 
 call the manager to account and finally to pension him off. 
 
 No. 2 had been a stock-jobber ; he was a nice, smooth-faced 
 gentleman, a regular Cockney, with a lisp ; he was perfectly 
 harmless as a man, good-natured and well liked. One day when 
 
Sketches and Further Reminiscences. 117 
 
 I went to consult him I found him experimenting with a rat-trap, 
 and he explained to me how when the rat went into the trap 
 " itth back wath broken." We had a porter named John Brown- 
 He was rather a character in his way, fond of quoting from 
 Byron, Shakespeare and the Bible, but John was fond of beer as 
 well. One day the General Manager went into the porter's room 
 and found John drunk and lying on the floor asleep. Manager 
 gave John a kick, when he opened his eyes and said : " I do not 
 feel in a fit position to speak to thee on the present occasion ; 
 come at some more convenient season and I will talk to thee ;" 
 then closed his eyes and went to sleep again. Manager thought 
 for a moment, then said : " God bleth me. the manth mad." A 
 shipping clerk had been neglecting his duties, and the manager 
 went to the office to reprimand him and said : " I tell you wath 
 it ith, Wilthon, you are a careleth, good-for-nothing boy, and I 
 will — (Wilson's little dog just then ran in) — poor little fellow ; 
 good dog," patting it with his hand, and manager quietly marched 
 out of the office, being perfectly vanquished by the little cur, who 
 thus saved its master from punishment at that time. 
 
 No. 3 was a Polish refugee, 6 feet 3 or 4 inches in height ; 
 had been a military man ; he was sent by the London directors 
 to cut down the salaries of a general manager and a marine sur- 
 veyor, and after making the places too hot to hold them, to take 
 the management of both himself. This he soon did. 
 
 It may be mentioned that the marine surveyor had a great 
 number of men under him engaged in improving the harbor, and 
 he was in the habit of inspecting them through a telescope at a 
 distance of two miles; this was much pleasanter than being 
 amongst the men, wading about in mud boots. 
 
 One day the Polish manager had a bright idea, and he said 
 to Superintendent Cooper : " I will make this road pay " (so far 
 it had barely paid expenses). " What will you do ? " said Cooper. 
 
118 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Manager : " The receipts are now about £700 per week. I will 
 at once make them £1,400 by doubling the fares ; " and he tried 
 it for one week, when the receipts went down to £300. 
 
 No. 4 manager was a little dandy sort of a man, who had 
 been a share broker. He was a model man for order, so far as 
 appearances went, but if a document got into his ofl&ce it was- 
 lost forever. For fun, the clerks used to ask him for papers,, 
 and he would tell them he could jfind them in a minute, but 
 always told them to " look in again." He was not like the 
 captain already mentioned. On the contrary, he had great 
 reverence for lords and the nobility. The clerks knowing this 
 failing, would run and tell him when a lord was in the train, and 
 the little manager would rush out of his office into the station 
 and begin to bow and scrape before his lordship, but he was 
 greatly taken down one day when a certain lord asked the 
 manager if he belonged to the hotel. Of course his lordship took 
 the manager for a waiter. 
 
 No. 5 had been a decent clerk in an accountant's office, but 
 to be launched from that to the position of general manager of a 
 railway was too much for him. He soon got into drinking habits. 
 One morning he came to me in a half-inebriated state and said : 
 ** Mr. Pennington, I find the men are not sufficiently respectful 
 to their superior officers. Come with me and we'll give them a 
 lesson." The first man we met was my foreman, Bob Snape* 
 The manager said : " Look here, Bob, whenever you see me, Mr. 
 Pennington, or any superior officer of the company, acknowledge 
 the same by touching your hat — thus," taking off his own hat 
 and making a bow to Bob. This farce was played for a couple 
 of hours on a public wharf, in full view of a number of the towns- 
 people, who went off in a roar of laughter. The poor fellow's 
 term of office soon expired. 
 
 In time, directors found that it was necessary to have men 
 
Sketches and Furthei" Jierniniscences. 119 
 
 of ability and general experience to manage their railways ; that 
 they were as important as generals in an army or Ministers of 
 State ; that they (the general managers) had the power to make 
 or mar the trade of a country ; and that the blunder of a manager, 
 through his self-will, ignorance or folly, might result in the loss 
 of tens of thousands to the company he served. The directors 
 then began to select for general managers men from the ranks, 
 particularly from among the freightmen — those who had to build 
 up dividends and engage in the battle of hard work, such as the 
 Eboralls, the Cawkwells, the Allports, and others of the same 
 class. 
 
 CANADIAN GENERAL MANAGERS. 
 
 As Canadian railways commenced at a much later period, 
 directors had the experience of time to guide them, and thus 
 escaped the infliction of inefficient managers. I think all who 
 have watched the progress of the railways in the Dominion will 
 agree with me in this. Canada has been well served by its rail- 
 way men. I need only refer to a few of the names to insure a 
 general assent to this assertion. In preceding chapters I 
 have spoken of General Managers Bidder and Shanly, the 
 early men of the Grand Trunk, but I must go back nearly 40 
 years to refer to one who, I think, I am right in saying was the 
 first general manager of a railway in Canada, and that was a 
 gentleman still amongst us, an honored and respected citizen of 
 Toronto, viz., the veteran Col. Gzowski,* who when a young man 
 had the management of the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Eailway some 
 years before that road became a portion of the Grand Trunk. 
 Col. Gzowski's name must always be associated with the building 
 of a large portion of the western sections of that line as well as 
 other important public works in the Dominion. 
 
 * Now Sir Casimir Gxowski. 
 
120 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Mr. C. J. Brydges, whose name among railway men is "as 
 familiar as household words," had his first experience on English 
 railways. He came to Canada in 1853 as Managing Director of 
 the Great Western Railway, which post he held for ten years, and 
 then became Managing Director of the Grand Trunk for about 
 the same period. He was afterwards appointed as Commissioner 
 of the Intercolonial and other roads by Government. For some 
 years he represented the Hudson Bay Company as Land 
 Commissioner. Mr. Brydges has been well characterized as the 
 " Napoleon of Railways." 
 
 Mr. James Tillinghast was one of the early managers of the 
 Northern Railway, since which he has occupied different positions 
 of trust under the Vanderbilts on the New York Central & Hud- 
 son River Railway, and for some years he has been the active 
 vice-president of that wealthy road. 
 
 The late lamented Col. F. Cumberland will long be remem- 
 bered as one of the early railway pioneers of Canada, and the 
 able manager of the Northern Railway for a quarter of a century. 
 
 Mr. A. Fell, who as a boy rose from the ranks in the freight 
 department of the London & Northwestern Railway at Liverpool, 
 was one of the early men on the Buffalo & Lake Huron road, 
 first as general freight agent, then as manager, and for some 
 years he has held a high position on one of the railroads running 
 from Buffalo. 
 
 THOMAS SWINYARD. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Swinyard was connected with the London & 
 North-Western Railway, the largest concern in England, from 
 early youth, and became secretary to the General Manager of 
 that line. On Mr. Brydges' retirement from the Great Western 
 Railway in 1862, Mr. Swinyard succeeded him as General 
 Manager which position he successfully held for many years. 
 He was also for the same period the active president of the Detroit 
 
^f^^^^ 
 
 THE 
 
 of ^ . 
 
(Tcicr^^^yo^^a^ J 
 
Sketches and' Further Reminiscences. 121 
 
 & Milwaukee Eailway. Some time after his retirement he was 
 appointed General Manager of the Dominion Telegraph Company, 
 then Vice-President and finally President, which office he still 
 holds. He was also employed by the Dominion Government as 
 Special Commissioner to take over the Prince Edward Island 
 Eailway from the Local Government and reorganize the road. 
 Recently he has been connected with the management of an 
 American railway. He now resides in New York. 
 
 JOSEPH HICKSON. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Hickson, the present General Manager of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway, has probably had more varied experience 
 than any other railway man, having passed through and been 
 an active worker in almost every department on railways in 
 England as well as in Canada. It is twenty-six years since his 
 arrival at Montreal, during which time he has been successively 
 auditor, accountant and treasurer, secretary, and finally Gen- 
 eral Manager. Mr. Hickson has seen the old gauge changed 
 from end to end, a mighty undertaking of itself. The mileage 
 has risen from 1,200 to 4,000 or 5,000 miles, and the very 
 statistics of cars, stations, locomotives, agencies, employees, 
 etc., etc., read like a chapter of some work of fiction. Mr. 
 Hickson has had the good sense, when he drew other rail- 
 ways into the arms of the Grand Trunk, to stick to the old staff 
 if they were good men, thus surrounding himself with willing, 
 able and experienced officers, by which he has been able to ex- 
 ercise his " one-man power " with skill and judgment, and also 
 to keep pace with his younger big brother, the C. P. R., alongside 
 of him.* 
 
 * Tn 1890 Mr. Hickaon received the honor of knighthood from the Queen. On 
 January let, 1891, Sir Joseph retired from the management of the G. T, R., after 
 twenty-nine years of active service, and was succeeded by Mr. L. J. Seargeant, wlio, 
 for so many years, had occupied the important post of traffic manager for the 
 Company, 
 
122 Railways and Othei' Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 TESTIMONIAIiS AND PRESENTATIONS. 
 
 THE several matters in this chapter might perhaps have been 
 placed more fitly elsewhere ; but for certain reasons I 
 wished to reproduce my letters to the Glohe substantially as they 
 were first printed, and I was unwilling to disarrange their order by 
 the introduction of new material, although aptly pertaining to 
 the subjects treated of. I quote Mr. Bidder's letter, not because 
 it is addressed to myself, but to show the fine spirit and high 
 sense of duty which always animated the man. 
 
 s. p. bidder's farewell letter. 
 
 G. T. E. Offices, Montreal, 
 
 18th December, 1857. 
 My Dear Sir : — 
 
 I have to inform you that after the first of January all 
 letters, hitherto sent to me, must be addressed to Mr. Walter 
 Shanly, who takes upon himself the duties of general manager, 
 and also those of chief engineer. 
 
 In thus announcing my official separation, I cannot allow 
 this opportunity to pass without assuring you that I shall ever 
 revert, with pleasure, to our past connection in the development 
 of one of the grandest schemes ever devised for the improve- 
 ment of a country ; and in thus leaving, I feel it a duty I owe 
 to you to express my thanks for the valuable assistance I have 
 at all times received at your hands. 
 
Testimonials and Presentations. 123 
 
 It will be gratifying for you to know that in my successor 
 you will have a gentleman from whom you will receive every 
 kindness and consideration compatible with his duties to the 
 Company, in the future working of this important railway. 
 Heartily wishing you every prosperity, 
 
 Believe me, dear sir. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 M. Pennington, S. P. Bidder. 
 
 Freight Manager, 
 
 Grank Trunk Eailway, Montreal. 
 
 PRESENTATION TO WALTER SHANLY. 
 
 On the retirement of Mr. Walter Shanly from the position 
 of General Traffic Manager of the G. T. E., a number of the chief 
 officers of the Company entertained him at dinner at the St. 
 Lawrence Hall, Montreal, and, on proposing his health, the fol- 
 lowing address was presented to him : — 
 
 To Walter Shanly, Esq., late General Traffic Manager of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada : — 
 
 We, the undersigned officers and men in the service of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway Company, deeply regret that you have 
 thought fit to retire from the high and important office of 
 General Traffic Manager ; and it is only in deference to your ex- 
 press desire, that we adopt this simple and unostentatious 
 method of recording the sentiments of affection and esteem with 
 which we regard you. 
 
 We feel that the character of the man we address demands 
 that we abstain from a single expression which could be con-^ 
 sidered either adulatory or exaggerated. 
 
124 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 It is most gratifying to us to know that, although no longer 
 connected with the Company, your interest in the welfare and 
 success in this great Province line will remain unabated. 
 
 We beg to express our grateful sense of the kindness and con- 
 sideration which you have invariably shown to all who have been 
 employed under you ; and with mingled feelings of admiration 
 and regret we tender you this very inadequate offering, in testi- 
 mony of our sincere respect and regard. 
 
 Mr. Shanly replied as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Elliott and my other kind friends, — I have difficulty in 
 finding words wherein to thank you for this very complimentary 
 address, or to express how highly I value this written evidence 
 of your esteem ; and when I remember that it does not emanate 
 from yourselves alone, but that you are assembled here this 
 evening as the representatives of many of your associates, whom 
 circumstances have prevented from attending, as also of nearly 
 3,000 warm-hearted workingmen, I feel, as I have a right to 
 feel, very proud indeed ; I shall ever treasure this handsome 
 document as a precious record of the good-will of my fellow- 
 labourers in an arduous undertaking, and as evidence of the 
 existence, between all classes of the Company's servants, of that 
 spirit of unanimity and cordiality which is so indispensable to 
 success in railway working. My gratification at receiving so 
 numerously signed and so handsomely decorated an address, too, 
 is not a little increased when I call to mind that the signatures 
 it bears are not those only of persons from every parish and 
 township on the line of the Grand Trunk from Riviere du Loup 
 to Sarnia and London, but that the United States also are rep- 
 resented in it, for I trust to be able to recognize in its ample 
 pages many familiar names from Maine, Vermont and New 
 Jlanopshire in the East, and Michigan in the West. My appre- 
 ciation of the value I place upon this handsome testimonial 
 
V 
 
 ' OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 of 
 ILIFO 
 
 RHi> 
 
Testimonials and Presentations. 125 
 
 cannot be better expressed than in the words you, Mr. Elliott, have 
 just used in presenting it to me, when speaking of the price to 
 be put on the esteem of one's fellowmen. It will ever be more 
 highly prized by me than " gold and precious stones." 
 
 The address is handsomely bound in morocco silver mounted 
 and is inscribed : 
 
 PRESENTED TO 
 
 WALTER SHANLY, 
 
 BY 
 
 Three Thousand Men of the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada. 
 
 June, 1862. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM OF THE LATE W. K. MUIR OF DETROIT. 
 
 Mr. Muir's name has been frequently mentioned in these 
 pages, and always in terms of appreciation and esteem. When 
 his death was announced I sent the following letter — dated June 
 24th, 1892 — to the Toronto Globe, and reproduce it here as a 
 sincere, if inadequate, tribute to his memory': 
 
 As an old officer who served under Mr. Muir when 
 that gentleman was general manager of the Great Western 
 Eailway of Canada, I cannot allow the sad event of his death to 
 pass without offering a humble but sincere tribute to his memory. 
 
 Mr. Muir was one of nature's noblemen, one who had the 
 interests of his employees at heart, and was always willing to 
 lend a helping hand. 
 
 Like most eminent railway men of the past half century, 
 Mr. Muir rose from the ranks, and by zeal for the company he 
 served and sheer ability he gained the top of railway position. 
 
 Mr. Muir commenced his railway career as a boy on Scottish 
 railways some fifty years ago, and after passing through the 
 various grades of office there he came out to Canada and entered 
 the service of the Great Western Railway under the late Mr. C. 
 J. Brydges as superintendent of the road. 
 
126 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 An incident in Mr. Muir's life will be long remembered, 
 forming as it does a sad chapter in the annals of the old Great 
 Western. On the evening of March 12th, 1857, Mr. Muir 
 started from Toronto, by train, for Hamilton, taking his place in 
 the last car and the last seat with his back to the engine. On 
 nearing the Desjardins bridge he heard a crash and without 
 looking back made a rush for the door of the car, jumped out 
 and landed safely on the track just as the whole train tumbled 
 into the abyss and frozen river below, killing and wounding the 
 great bulk of the passengers and men in charge of the train.* 
 
 For many years Mr. Muir was the general superintendent 
 of the Detroit & Milwaukee Eailroad. Also for a time he held 
 the same position on the Michigan Central. When Mr. Swin- 
 yard retired from the services of the G. W. E., Mr. Muir once 
 more returned to that road and became its General Manager. 
 In 1873 he retired from the service and became General Manager 
 of the Canada Southern. In a few years he gave up railway life 
 with all its hard work and became President of the Eureka Iron 
 Company, Detroit, where he was able to get some rest to the end 
 of his days. 
 
 Mr. Muir, though not an engineer, was as much at home 
 amongst the locomotives or the laying and grading of the tracks 
 
 * A memento of this sad event may be seen in the Burlington Cemetery, Hamil- 
 ton, Ontario, in the form of a marble column upon the top of which stands a very 
 pretty model of a locomotive. 
 
 One aide of the monument bears the following inscription : 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 Alexander Bumfield and also of George Knight, who lost their lives by the acci- 
 dent on Desjardins bridge, Great Western Railway, on the 12th March, 1857, while 
 acting in their respective capacities as engineer and fireman. 
 Life's Railway o'er, each station past. 
 In death we're stop'd and cease at last ; 
 Farewell, dear friends, and cease to weep. 
 In Christ we're safe, in him we sleep. 
 This monument was erected as a token of respect by their fellow workmen. 
 An historic interest attaches to Burlington Cemetery. During the war of 1812, 
 Burlington Heights were held by the British and Canadian troops, and the earth 
 woricB thrown up on that ocoaaion may still be seen in the cemetery. 
 
Y^-^^*^^^^ 
 
Testimonials and Presentations. 127 
 
 as any one of the profession, and always ranked Al amongst the 
 railroad men of this continent. He was a good man — a good 
 Christian. Peace to his ashes. 
 
 JOSEPH PRICE, NOW OF LONDON, ENGLAND. 
 
 Mr. Price, in early life, commenced his railway career on 
 the Sheffield line, England. In 1859 he came out to Chicago 
 as treasurer of the Chicago & Alton Railway, and in 1864 
 assumed a similar position on the Great Western Railway, at 
 Hamilton, Ontario. 
 
 When W. K. Muir resigned the general managership of 
 that line, Mr. Price succeeded him. In 1875 he retired from the 
 service and returned to England, since which time he has repre- 
 sented the interests of many English gentlemen who were bond- 
 holders of American railways, and also acted as president of one 
 U.S. road. 
 
 Mr. Price will long be remembered as a genial, pleasant, 
 affable Englishman. He was a general favourite in Western 
 Canada, and his smiling face has been much missed by his 
 many friends at Hamilton, as well as by officers and other 
 employees of the old Great Western. 
 
 On Mr. Price's retirement from the company, the officers, 
 employees and his friends presented him with a gold watch and 
 chain and a set of diamond ear-rings for Mrs. Price, along with 
 an address signed by 450 employees and a large album contain- 
 ing their photographs. 
 
 Mr. Price has an office at No. 5 Winchester street, London, 
 E.G., and represents the English Association of American Bond 
 and Share Holders (Limited). My old friend, Thos. Bell, of 
 Leamington, England, writing me in October, '93, says : " Mr. 
 Price had, for years, a serious ailment, but is now quite well. 
 He has become quite an authority on American railways." 
 
128 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THREE NIGHTS IN THE CARS-DIFFICULTIES OF WINTER TRAVEL. 
 
 Thick clouds ascend, in whose capacious womb 
 A vapoury deluge lies, to snow congealed ; 
 Heavy they roll their fleecy world along, 
 And the sky saddens with the gathering storm. 
 
 — Thomson. 
 
 THE following description, by the author, of a trip from 
 Montreal to Toronto, is taken from the Toronto Globe and 
 is now given to illustrate the trouble which the G.T.R. sometimes 
 had in the early days of its existence. The article was after- 
 wards copied into several English papers. 
 
 A BAD START. 
 {From my Diary.) 
 
 Montreal, March 9, 1869. 
 
 The night is fine and mild, as I arrive at Bonaventure 
 street station, and there seems every prospect of slipping 
 through to Toronto between the snow-storms ; but a friend, by 
 way of consolation, slightly whispers to me that the barometer 
 is falling. This is ominous, and I am afraid tells of ills to come. 
 I notice that the train is not " made up " as is usual at 8.15 p.m. 
 On enquiring the cause, I am informed that about 4 miles west 
 the axle of a car of a passenger train is broken, and that a 
 " truck " has just been sent out to replace the damaged one, and 
 that the only available sleeping-car is with that train. So after 
 
Three Nights in the Cars. 129 
 
 some time, we all went into an ordinary first-class car, and at 
 10 p.m. make a start ; but only run out to the Tanneries 
 Junction, where we have to wait the arrival of the disabled train. 
 The time is spent as pleasantly as possible, mainly by the 
 amusing talk of a funny Englishman, of the kind that is 
 
 " Wont to set the table in a roar ; " 
 
 and, like Mark Tapley, is jolly under all circumstances ; for, 
 as he says, " what's the use of complaining when you can't help 
 it," and recommends all to make themselves as happy as 
 possible ; and thus the time whiles away until 2 a.m., when we 
 get the sleeping cars and make a fresh start. 
 
 " THE BEAUTIFUL SNOW." 
 
 As we pass along, I notice that the train runs between two 
 walls of snow, varying from four to twelve feet in height, and 
 that the country presents one plain of pure white, with no fences 
 visible, broken only by trees which look all branches, their 
 trunks being buried in the deep snow, with here and there a 
 cottage emerging from the surface, having the appearance of 
 being stunted in its growth, giving a strange aspect to the winter 
 landscape. 
 
 The thought of a sudden thaw, with heavy rain, cannot be 
 contemplated without a shudder, as the rapid melting of this bed 
 of solid snow, compressed from ten or twelve feet to about five or 
 six feet, over hundreds of miles of country would produce floods 
 of a terrible magnitude. 
 
 THE SLEEPING-CAR. 
 
 There is the usual making up of beds and fixing upon berths, 
 and one by one creep under nice clean sheets, and are soon 
 playing all kinds of tunes upon the nasal organ, and dream not 
 of the morrow. 
 9 
 
130 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 March 10. — At dawn of day we are at Prescott, and a soft 
 snow is falling, which gradually increases to a storm by the time 
 we reach Brockville. This continues until we arrive at a point 
 three miles east of Gananoque, where we come suddenly to a 
 stand. 
 
 STUCK IN THE SNOW. 
 
 Now the storm rages with terrific fury ; the snow comes 
 sweeping over the plain, gritty and blinding as the sands of the 
 desert ; it flies in eddies and whirlpools ; it rushes round stumps 
 of trees, pelting the cars, penetrating every corner and crevice of 
 the intricate parts of the locomotive ; it chokes up axle-boxes, 
 throws up embankments, creates all kinds of architectural forms, 
 and buries the railway track out of sight. 
 
 ANOTHER IRON HORSE. 
 
 A freight train from the East arrives, and the engine, being 
 detached, comes to our help ; and now commences a hard struggle of 
 pushing behind and hauling in front ; and for two hours this is kept 
 up, with men all the time plying the shovel to keep the wheels 
 clear, but it is labour in vain ; for as fast as the snow is thrown 
 out it comes back again, and the two locomotives puflf and 
 scream, and their driving wheels fly round, but no progress 
 is made ; and the work is at last abandoned as utterly hopeless. 
 Our engine, along with the conductor, then start for Gananoque 
 for relief, and the freight engine struggles for some time to get 
 back, but is fairly beaten, and dies in harness. 
 
 STOCK OF PROVISIONS IS TAKEN. 
 
 The train containing upwards of 150 passengers is now left 
 alone. It is noon and we are yet without breakfast, having 
 calculated upon getting that meal at Kingston, distant 20 miles. 
 Each passenger begins to look into his or her larder, and many 
 
Three Nights in the Gars. 131 
 
 were the long faces that were made on finding such scanty 
 supplies ; one musters a few sandwiches, another a few apples 
 or an orange, or a few crackers. Two gentlemen with two little 
 boys, think they have enough for three days' siege, as they have 
 a good-sized basket and two parcels, the whole having been made 
 up by kind friends ; the contents were unknown to the gentlemen. 
 The result of the inspection exhibits two bottles of milk and half- 
 a-dozen small sandwiches in the basket. Parcel No. 1, some 
 ginger cakes and candies. No. 2 is a paper box, and must 
 contain something substantial. It is opened — on the top there 
 is a thin layer of sweet cakes ; then a stratum of paper. Now 
 expectation is on the tiptoe (solids are always found at the bottom) ; 
 the paper is removed, and in a moment eight rosy apples, all in 
 a row, come to full view, to the utter consternation of the two 
 gentlemen and the great glee of the two little boys, who believe 
 in apples as the staff of life. Deep in the dark recesses of his 
 carpet-bag one gentleman finds an ancient meat pie (the relics 
 of a lunch provided for a former railway expedition) ; and though 
 it looks hard and dry, and rather like one of those pies dug up 
 in Pompeii, still it is cut up, divided and pronounced an excel- 
 lent morsel. One gentleman has transformed a glass bottle into 
 a teakettle ; with this he manufactures curious mixtures for the 
 children. 
 
 FORAGING PARTIES. 
 
 Observations of the surrounding country are taken through 
 the thick snow. One gentleman thinks he descries the outlines 
 of a house. He puts himself in the best condition for travel 
 and boldly leaves the cars, sinks up to his middle in snow, and, 
 after plunging on a few yards, vanishes like the ghost in Hamlet. 
 Anxious eyes are kept on the lookout for his return, and in about 
 an hour a spectral object comes out of the snow-cloud, which 
 
132 Railways and Other Ways, 
 
 turns out to be the gentleman in question. He carries a large 
 bundle and a jug of hot tea. How he has kept the tea hot 
 is a puzzle to all on board. This is encouraging. Other expe- 
 ditions are formed and leave the cars in the course of the day 
 and make new discoveries of farm houses, whose inmates 
 willingly throw open their larders and set to cooking in good 
 earnest to supply the wants of the belated travellers, so that 
 by night all on board the train are pretty well satisfied. One 
 gentleman returns with his ear frozen and swollen. Some jokes 
 were passed upon him, as he would not cover himself with a rug 
 when he went forth, but said he could stand a storm like this 
 and did not care for it. An elderly Scotchman said the young 
 man had got an " elongated lug." 
 
 STOCK OF LITERATURE, DISCUSSIONS, ETC. 
 
 Our stock of reading matter is rather scanty and there is 
 no news-boy on board the train. We have a Toronto Globe of 
 the previous Saturday, Montreal papers of Tuesday, a Dominion 
 Monthly, two or three novels and three or four magazines. 
 Political discussions take place on Confederation, Annexation, 
 Reciprocity, the Nine Martyrs, etc., and night draws on. The 
 storm continues with unabated fury, the car being kept rocking 
 to and fro by the high wind. By nine o'clock all in our car are 
 in bed. I am in an upper berth, and the windows and doors of 
 the car being closely shut, it is very uncomfortable for want of 
 ventilation ; but I dose a little and am wakened at two a. m. by 
 the distant whistle of a locomotive ; but after waiting for the 
 sound to be repeated, I find it is the stentorian snore of my next 
 neighbour. 
 
 TWO A.M. — A LOOK OUT. 
 
 It is now calm, but the snow is still falling, and what a 
 scene of desolation presents itself without — a wide plain of 
 
Three lights in the Gars. 133 
 
 snow with the dark stumps of trees standing forth clear and 
 distinct, requiring no great stretch of imagination to endow them 
 with motion and being, engaged in some wild fantastic dance, 
 the whole encircled by the dark outline of the forest, and in the 
 midst the train with its Hving freight, from the infant in arms 
 to the old man of seventy. Some were sleeping, others in moody 
 speculation ; and what hopes and fears are here congregated 
 together. In our car one gentleman mourns the loss of his 
 young wife who died a week ago ; a second, the sad loss of a 
 little sister accidentally poisoned ; a third, the sudden death of 
 a young friend by inflammation of the lungs ; and a fourth is 
 journeying to a distant city in fear that his father will be dead 
 before he arrives. In the other cars the passengers lie in every 
 possible position and are constantly changing to ease the weary 
 body. Here the air is close and sickly, and the lamps cast a 
 yellow light upon the upturned faces seen below. 
 
 A DEAD ENGINE. 
 
 Distant twenty yards is the dark figure of the dead locomo- 
 tive ; the snow has held high revel under it, on it and around it, 
 adding many a piece of ornamental frost-work to its iron sides. 
 It makes one melancholy to look at it — a mechanical Samson 
 shorn of its might — the genius of steam prostrated — its breath- 
 ing gone — its power annihilated — unwieldy as a ship on shore — 
 there it stands looking like some monument of past greatness. 
 
 DUG OUT. 
 
 March 11th, 7 a.m. — The snow on both ends of the train 
 stands level with the platforms of the cars. Section men arrive 
 and set to work with willing hands to dig us out ; they cut the 
 snow in blocks, and as they throw it out it looks like the purest 
 marble. 
 
1S4 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 SUPPLIES ARRIVE. 
 
 9 a.m. — Sleigh bells are heard, and up comes the conductor 
 ■with cargoes of provisions. Soon we have steaming hot coffee, 
 which, with sandwiches of gigantic proportions, are handed 
 round. Now there is a general rejoicing in the cars — a huge 
 picnic takes place ; knives and forks we have none, but pen- 
 knives and jacknives are brought into play, and where these are 
 lacking, fingers and teeth are plentiful enough, and each person 
 does not hesitate to use them regardless of all rules of etiquette 
 and the customs of civilized society. 
 
 A loud report is heard near the stove — it is the gentleman's, 
 teakettle bottle, which has burst after two days' active service. 
 
 THE conductor's ADVENTURES. 
 
 The conductor relates his adventures — how, when he left us,. 
 the engine only got a mile from us and then stuck fast in a 
 snow-bank — how he then battled his way to Gananoque and 
 telegraphed to Kingston for food and assistance, and how a train 
 started from Kingston on the previous night, but stuck in the 
 snow three or four miles west of Gananoque, and that sleighs 
 were sent out to bring in the supplies and convey them to us ; 
 and he further gladdened us by the news that three locomotives 
 and a snow-plough were then on their way from Kingston to* 
 haul us out of this place. 
 
 THE SNOW-PLOUGH. 
 
 Soon a series of whistles are heard and three engines and 
 a snow-plough arrive ; and after many hard pulls we are on the 
 move again, and go on with slight interruptions to Kingston, 
 arriving there at 6 p.m. Here the Grand Trunk Company, with 
 great liberality, has provided a free dinner for all the passengers^ 
 and full justice is done to it. 
 
Three Nights in the Gars. 135 
 
 Kingston is left at 9 p.m., and having settled down in a 
 clean, fresh, comfortable sleeping car, we think our troubles are 
 over and so go to sleep. 
 
 " CHANGE CABS ! " 
 
 March 12, 2 a.m.— These were the words that disturbed 
 us in our pleasant dreams of home, and they were found to pro- 
 ceed from the strong lungs of the sleeping-car conductor. We 
 pop out our heads and enquire the " reason why," and are told that 
 about three miles ahead, near Grafton, there are two engines oflf 
 the track. There is now a general muffling-up — rolling children 
 in rugs, and other preparations for a night march through the 
 snow. We reach the point of obstruction and there leave the 
 cars, form a long procession in Indian file, and thus hobble 
 through the snow, meeting as we go another similar procession 
 on march to take possession of the cars just vacated by us. We 
 pass the two engines ; they are abreast of each other, blocking 
 up the whole track most effectually. By 4 a. m. we once 
 more make a start and go on without any further trouble, arriv- 
 ing at Toronto at 11 a. m. — sixty-two hours after we left 
 Montreal. Here we require some washing, polishing and brush- 
 ing up to make us presentable to the denizens of the fair city 
 of Toronto. 
 
136 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 EA.RLY RAILWAY AND STEAMBOAT OFFICERS. 
 THROUGH BILL OF LADING SYSTEM PORTLAND STEAMBOATS. 
 
 ON the opeDing of the G-. T. R. to Portland, a through line from 
 thence to Boston was formed with the Portland & Boston* 
 Steam Packet Company. I have a pleasant recollection of its 
 managers : Mr. Kimbals, Secretary ; Capt. Coyle, Commodore of 
 the fleet; L. Billings, agent at Portland, and Mr. Joseph Brooks, 
 agent at Boston. I was wont to call them " The Cheeryble 
 Brothers," they were such a comfortable, quaint and genial sort 
 of men ; and they did much to clear away any cobwebs of 
 English prejudice which we, as new comers, might have had 
 against " down easters." The managers used to dine together 
 daily on board the steamer promptly at noon ; and when down 
 at Portland I occasionally joined them, one item in the bill of 
 fare being ** clam chowder " cooked to perfection, *' a dainty 
 dish to set before a king." The company was its own insurer, 
 and its boats had run, nightly, for, I think, about twenty years 
 without an accident of any moment ; but one night, when I. S. 
 Millar, our Portland agent, and I were on board, going to B(^ton, 
 the pilot of one of the steamers somehow lost his hea^ and 
 caused a collision between our boat and the sister boat, on its 
 way from Boston to Portland. It took place on the Atlantic 
 Ocean some ten or fifteen miles from land, all the timbers of our 
 boat were cut through near the paddle-wheel, except a very thin 
 plank, which saved us from going to the bottom of the sea ; the 
 l)ow of the other boat was smashed to atoms, but the bulkhead, 
 
Early Railway and Steamboat Oficers. 137 
 
 a watertight compartment, saved her from sinking. Many jokes 
 were passed upon me afterwards as being "the Jonah of the 
 ship." There was no " shoddy " in the construction of this 
 line of steamers — they were made to battle with the wildest 
 Atlantic waves. The company's managers were, doubtless, the 
 first to make use of the electric telegraph as a guide in conveying 
 intelligence of the movements of storms, and they regulated the 
 sailing of their boats accordingly, and are fairly entitled to be 
 classed among the earliest of " old probs." Mr. Brooks acted as 
 G. T. E. agent at Boston for many years. I was much indebted 
 to him for assisting me in bringing about bonding regulations 
 with the United States customs, a matter of great importance, 
 which was sometimes beset with many difficulties, but the princi- 
 pal arrangements, then made, are still in force. 
 
 S. T. C0R8ER. 
 
 Mr. Corser was superintendent of the Portland district 
 from the opening of the line, and held the office for about 12 
 years. White haired and clean shaved he always looked fresh 
 and rosy. He was, though well advanced in years, ever at his post 
 in summer's heat and winter's cold ; pushing his way in winter 
 with snow-plough, through the snow drifts, among the White 
 Mountains. He had his own way of working the road, and none 
 knew better how to do it. 
 
 Mr. Corser was a regular attender at the G. T. R. Officers' 
 Conference, and fraternized famously with the English and 
 Canadian management. He was a great believer in the " Maine 
 Liquor Law," and his example had a marked effect upon the 
 employees, by whom he was much respected and beloved. I 
 never saw a drunken man in his district. On Mr. Corser's 
 retirement from the services of the Grand Trunk, he was 
 appointed to a position in the United States customs depart- 
 ment at Portland. 
 
138 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 I. S. MILLAR. 
 
 Mr. Millar, now residing at Montreal, is a son of the *' Em- 
 erald Isle." When I came to Canada in 1853, he was a clerk on 
 the G. T. R. at Longueuil ; shortly afterwards he went to Port- 
 land as freight agent, and when Mr. Roberts left the company, 
 Mr. Millar was appointed to succeed him, as goods manager of 
 the Portland District. He was a man of push, energy and first- 
 class ability. He organized the working of the freight traffic 
 between railways and ocean steamships, and did much towards 
 making the through bonding freight system a successful under- 
 taking. 
 
 There is not room for every man to reach the top of the 
 tree, but no one was better adapted than Mr. Millar to have taken 
 •a high position on Canadian railways. 
 
 C. R. CHRISTIE. 
 
 Mr. Christie, a native of Scotland, was one of the earliest 
 officers on a Canadian railway, viz. : the St. Lawrence & Atlan- 
 tic, before that road formed a portion of the Grand Trunk. He 
 filled the dijBferent offices of freight agent and superintendent of 
 the Island Pond District. On the opening of the road from 
 Toronto to Guelph, Mr. Christie was appointed superintendent 
 of the Western Division, which office he retained for 9 or 10 
 years. No one worked harder or could have done more to develop 
 the traffic of the country. Mr. C. S. (now Sir Casimir) Gzowski 
 had the highest opinion of his worth, and it was that gentleman 
 who gave Mr. Christie the appointment on the St. Lawrence & 
 Atlantic Railway, when he (Sir Casimir) was the Chief Engineer 
 and General Superintendent of that road. 
 
 In the Annual Report of the Toronto Board of Trade for 
 1860, its editor, Erastus Wiman, then commercial reporter of 
 the Globe, said : '* We hear of but one opinion as to the efficiency 
 
Early Railway and Steamboat O^ers. 139 
 
 of Mr. Christie, superintendent of the Western Section, who has 
 done the best that could be done with the resources at his com- 
 mand." 
 
 In 1864, Mr. Christie went to Montreal to take charge of 
 the freight department there, but immediately after he was taken 
 suddenly sick of heart disease, which caused his death in a few 
 days, much regretted by all the officers and employees of the 
 G. T. K. A tablet to his memory may be seen in Mount Koyal 
 Cemetery at Montreal. 
 
 J. S. MARTIN. 
 
 Grand Trunk veterans, now linng, will remember stout, 
 cosy, genial Superintendent Martin. He could not have been 
 taken as belonging to any nationality but that of Old England. 
 He was good looking and, like the far-famed John Gilpin, 
 " carried weight." Mr. Martin was a good tenor singer and a 
 famous mimic, and these advantages, which would have made 
 his fortune on the stage, and his gentlemanly manner, made him 
 a great favourite at social parties, to which he had many invita- 
 tions from the gentry of the cities and towns where he chanced 
 to reside. At one time, I remember, Mr. Martin lived in a nice 
 little cottage near the Don at Toronto, when that sluggish river 
 was a little purer than it is to-day, and when the locality was a 
 rural one, with a few cottages with gardens and flowers in sum- 
 mer time. Sometimes during the midnight hour a locomotive 
 might have been seen quietly making its way from Toronto 
 station towards the Don with a large cloaked figure on board. 
 The newspaper of the day said it was " Superintendent Martin's 
 Don Express," but others said it was no such thing; that it was 
 a spectral locomotive; that they had seen but not heard it; that, 
 like all phantoms, it glided along and made no noise. 
 
 Mr. Martin married a very estimable lady of Brockville, 
 Ontario. 
 
140 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 On his retirement from the G. T. E., after about ten years' 
 service, he returned to England, and his friend. Sir Samuel 
 Morton Peto, got him the appointment of superintendent of the 
 London, Chatham & Dover Eailway,* which he held until his 
 death. 
 
 DAVID STARK, C. E. 
 
 General Manager Bidder had the idea that a resident 
 engineer of a railway should at the same time act as superin- 
 tendent, and he appointed Mr. Stark to take charge of both 
 positions on the Montreal & Island Pond Division. Mr. Stark, 
 a careful, shrewd business man, carried on the two departments 
 very successfully for many years. 
 
 WILLIAM KINGSFORD, C. E. 
 
 For a short time Mr. Kingsford was Kesident Engineer and 
 Superintendent of the Western Division of the G. T. R., but early 
 retired from it to assume a contract for " Maintenance-of-Way." 
 In 1865 he published a work on " The Canadian Canals : their 
 History and Cost," which contains a large store of valuable 
 information about those great undertakings, the grand pioneers 
 in opening up the country and bringing the two provinces of 
 Upper and Lower Canada together. But Mr. Kingsford will be 
 best known and his name handed down to future generations by 
 his great work, " The History of Canada," a work upon which 
 he has been engaged for many years, and six large volumes of 
 which have already been published. In recognition of the liter- 
 ary merits of this work Mr. Kingsford was, a few years ago, 
 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and the Uni- 
 
 ♦ When the Emperor Maximilian was leaving England on his ill-fated journey 
 to Mexico, Mr. Martin conducted him over the London, Chatham & Dover Rail- 
 way. On embarking at Dover, Maximilian presented Mr. Martin with a souvenir 
 of nis respect, which will no doubt be handed down as an heirloom to his 
 descendants. 
 
Early Railway and Steamboat Officers. 141 
 
 versity of Queen's College, Kingston, conferred on him the hon. 
 degree of LL.D. 
 
 S. T. WEBSTER. 
 
 Mr. Webster was station agent at Coaticook, Eastern Town- 
 ships, when the railway opened. He was afterwards appointed 
 as Superintendent of the Montreal & Kingston Division. He 
 was an industrious and hard-working officer ; he almost lived on 
 the cars. There were no sleeping cars in those days, but anyone 
 making a night journey to Toronto at that time and happening 
 to look into the baggage ear would most likely have seen little 
 Webster curled up on an improvised bunk, ready to be called up 
 on any emergency. On leaving the G- T. R., after ten or eleven 
 years' service, Mr. Webster removed to Chicago, and for some 
 years conducted a through booking agency for freight to Europe. 
 
 THE ALLAN LINE AND GRAND TRUNK THE PIONEERS OF THE 
 NORTH-WEST CARRYING TRADE. 
 
 The Hudson Bay Company formerly got their supplies of 
 clothing, boots and shoes, teas, gunpowder and other goods, not 
 only for their own officers and men but for their vast trade with 
 the Indians, from London, England, by sailing ship to York 
 Factory on Hudson Bay. One or more vessels arrived there 
 every year, and the coming of the ship was always looked for 
 with great interest and no little anxiety, for its non -arrival was 
 a serious calamity to the inhabitants of the far North land, as 
 it brought not only needed supplies but the news from the old 
 world and letters from dear friends at home. About thirty-four 
 years ago the Allan line and G. T. E. made a contract with the 
 Hudson Bay Company to carry its supplies by steamship from 
 Liverpool to Quebec or Portland, thence by railway to St. Paul, 
 from which point Messrs. Burbank of that city undertook the 
 freighting of the goods by ox-teams and otherwise to Fort Garry, 
 
142 Railways and Other Ways, 
 
 now Winnipeg. When the merchandise came via York Factory, 
 it came in packages of about one hundred pounds each. This was 
 done as a matter of convenience, the packages having to be car- 
 ried on men's backs over many portages before reaching their 
 final destination at Fort Garry and the other forts and stations of 
 the Hudson Bay Company. The same weight of package was con- 
 tinued when the route was changed, and these pecuHar looking 
 packages were usually regarded with some degree of curiosity as 
 . they were conveyed on the railways. 
 
 THBOUGH BILLS OF LADING BETWEEN WESTERN STATES AND EUROPE. 
 
 On my trip with Mr. Eeith hereafter referred to, I suggested 
 to him, as something new to talk about on our visit to western 
 merchants, that we should ventilate the idea of introducing a system 
 of giving through freight bills of lading between western cities 
 and England in connection with the Grand Trunk Railway and 
 the Allan Line of Steamships. This idea we carried out on our 
 visits to merchants at St. Paul, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, 
 Cincinnati, etc., and they were delighted with our proposal ; par- 
 ticularly so were the pork and box meat shippers, for, said some 
 of them : It is just what we have been wanting for years. At 
 present we send our provisions to New York, where they have to 
 remain until shipped by steamer before we can obtain bills of 
 lading, often taking up several weeks. Now by your plan we 
 could get bills of lading here immediately on delivering our freight 
 at the railway depot, and at once make use of them with the 
 bank. Commence your through plan and we will give you our 
 encouragement and support. 
 
 Mr. Reith left the company on his return from his western 
 trip. I, therefore, explained the matter to Mr. Shanly and he 
 highly approved of the plan, and jointly with the late Sir Hugh 
 .Ulan, a suitable form of through bill of lading for rail and steam- 
 
Early Railway and Steamboat Oncers. 143 
 
 ship was drawn out, and our western agents instructed to start 
 the system. 
 
 The first contract was one of " Box Meats " from Cincin- 
 nati to Liverpool, for which a through bill of lading was given by 
 the G. T. E. agents at Cincinnati ; Messrs. Taylor & Brother, 
 Chicago & Milwaukee agents, were the next to give through bills 
 of lading. The first outward through booking was one of 
 crockery for Huntington & Brooks of Cincinnati. For three or four 
 years, the Grand Trunk and Allan line had a monopoly of the 
 through business, and it was the best paying one they ever had. 
 Through billing agencies gradually sprang up as that of J. D. 
 Hayes, who afterwards became secretary of the " Blue Line," 
 and S. T. Webster, who was formerly one of the early superin- 
 tendents of the Grand Trunk Railway. This then is the origin 
 of the through bill of lading system, which has grown to be by 
 far the largest business between the United States, the Dominion 
 of Canada and Great Britain. 
 
 Every steamship now leaving the Atlantic and St. Lawrence 
 ports is to a great extent loaded with cargo which comes under 
 the through booking system. 
 
 Shipments of two items during the season of 1891 will give 
 some idea of the immense extent of the through trade, as taken 
 from the Toronto Globe of December, 1891 : 
 
 TONS. 
 
 Cheese from the Port of Montreal 40,580 
 
 Cheese from Utica and Little Falls, U.S 17,486 
 
 BABKELS. 
 
 Apples from New York, Boston, and Montreal for 
 
 Liverpool 352,264 
 
 GODFREY MACDONALD, OF CHICAGO, 
 
 East-bound and export-freight agent for the " Nickel Plate 
 Line " at Chicago, who represented the Great Western and other 
 
14 4 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 railways at Chicago for many years as European agent, has had 
 more general experience in the shipments of freight on through 
 rail and ocean bills of lading than any other agent in the United 
 States. Mr. Macdonald has, through my old friend, Mr. G. B. 
 Spriggs, kindly furnished me with elaborate statements of 
 freight on through bills of lading, which passed through his 
 agency from the years 1871 to 1879 inclusive. These show the 
 large growth of the through system up to that time, and it has 
 continued to increase yearly ever since. I have only room for the 
 grand totals of tons shipped during the periods named — Chicago 
 to Europe from 1871 to 1875 (five years) : 
 
 To seaports, in tons. 
 
 Boston 160, 702 
 
 New York 187,794 
 
 M„';;L"alf '^'^^^ 
 
 Baltimore 14,432 
 
 Philadelphia 153,891 
 
 586,112 
 
 Shipment of freight through Michigan Central and Great 
 Western Railways to Europe from April Ist, 1876, March Slst, 
 1879 ; from Chicago and Milwaukee, 358,562 tons. 
 
 THE ORIGINATOR OF THROUGH BILLS OF LADING. 
 
 The following article appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer, 
 November 14th, 1859 : 
 
 " We have already stated the formal opening of the Detroit 
 and Sarnia branch of the Grand Trunk Railway will take place 
 on Monday next, when through trains will leave Detroit direct 
 for Portland, the running time being thirty-six hours. In view 
 of this, and the importance of the direct connection between 
 this city and Detroit, and thence to Portland, Mr, J. Hardman, 
 
Early Railtuay and Steamboat Officers. 145 
 
 General Ticket Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway, and Mr. 
 M. Pennington, General Freight Manager, arrived in the city 
 yesterday morning for the purpose of making the acquaintance 
 of our business men, and posting them in regard to the advan- 
 tages of the new route in connection with the Montreal and 
 Portland line of steamships. The agents will remain in town 
 imtil Monday. 
 
 "The great advantfige of this route, to importers, is the 
 facilities which it offers in bringing goods direct from Liverpool 
 to Cincinnati, in bond, with only two transhipments between 
 these two extreme points, or between Liverpool and Chicago and 
 St. Louis. In order that our merchants may know what the 
 cost of direct shipments will be, we give below the rates for three 
 classes of importations from Liverpool to the points named, 
 including wharfage, customs, bonding and all charges except 
 Marine Insurance ; 
 
 RATES OF FREIGHT VIA PORTLAND. 
 
 Crockery, 
 Dry Goods, Hardware, Iron in Bars, etc., 
 
 Per 40 Cubic feet. Per 2,000 lbs. Per 2,000 lbs. 
 
 From Liverpool to 
 
 Detroit $21 90 $26 76 916 82 
 
 Chicago 24 33 29 20 19 47 
 
 Quincy 27 98 34 07 23 12 
 
 Galena 2920 3529 25 55 
 
 Milwaukee . . 25 55 30 42 25 69 
 
 Burlington ... 27 98 34 07 23 12 
 
 Dubuque 29 20 35 29 25 55 
 
 Cincinnati . . 24 33 29 23 19 47 
 
 St. Louis 2r> 76 32 85 21 90 
 
 " The agents of the line in Liverpool are authorized to make 
 
 through contracts direct from Liverpool to Cincinnati, or any of 
 
 the points named above. When our merchants understand the 
 
 advantages of the new route, they will, doubtless, avail them- 
 
 10 
 
146 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 selves of it, in making their importations direct, and with less 
 delay." 
 
 In concluding these notes on the through bill of lading 
 system, between railways and ocean steamships, first introduced 
 by the author in 1859, he has to remark that, from time to time, 
 more than one individual has sprung up claiming to be father 
 of this very important measure, but the extract from the 
 Cincinnati Enquirer sets aside any such claim ; but, if neces- 
 sary, tariffs in the author's possession, as well as documents in 
 the archives of the Grand Trunk Eailway and the Allan line of 
 steamships, could be produced in verification of his statements. 
 It is only fair that " honour should be given to whom honour is 
 due." 
 
 ROBERT BELL. 
 
 Among Canada's early railway pioneers, I must not forget 
 genial, pleasant, humoroas Kobert Bell, manager of the Prescott 
 & Bytown (Ottawa) Eailway, who must have passed through 
 such an ordeal in building a railway as no man in all railway 
 history ever passed through. It would require many chapters to 
 tell the story, but I can only refer to two or three incidents 
 connected with it, as told me by Mr. Bell himself. After getting 
 his track laid within three or four miles of Bytown, he found 
 himself stuck for want of rails ; the P. & B. Company's coffers 
 had long been empty and there was no chance of raising any 
 more funds. Then some of the people of Bytown jeered at Mr. 
 Bell and pointed the finger of scorn at him ; said he had got to 
 ** the end of his tether," and was stuck in the backwoods with his 
 railway without a terminus. This raised the ire of the manager, 
 and, like the emigrant crossing the plains to California in 
 the early days, who, when his waggon broke down, chalked upon 
 it this inscription, " I'll get through or bust," Mr. Bell, inspired 
 by some such feeling, said: '* I'll get through to Bytown yet in 
 
Early Railway and Steamboat O^Hcers. 147 
 
 spite of 'em." He set to work, secured a lot of timber, and laid 
 a wooden railway for the remainder of the distance, merely 
 putting a strip of hoop-iron on the top of the wooden rails ; and 
 in d short time he entered Bytown on his locomotive in triumph, 
 much to the astonishment of the inhabitants. For a long time 
 Mr. Bell had to labour under a legion of difficulties : he had no 
 funds to draw upon ; the traffic, too, was poor ; the income 
 necessarily very small ; so he had no alternative but that of giving 
 promissary notes in great numbers for sums of five dollars and 
 upwards. These notes became a sort of paper currencj in the 
 district, and were bought and sold at various shades of discount. 
 Then when Mr. Bell moved about he was liable to be met at 
 every street corner by some one holding these " promises to pay," 
 which were often shaken in his face, accompanied by some such 
 words as " pay me what thou owest." In time the traffic on the 
 P. & B. line improved and all the notes were redeemed at par. 
 
 One winter's day, Mr. Bell ran me up from Prescott to 
 Bytown on a locomotive at 50 miles an hour, and over that 
 wooden track ; and I freely confess that I was mighty glad when 
 we got through in safety without paying a sudden visit into the 
 backwoods. 
 
 For some years Mr. Bell was a member of Parliament — I 
 think before Confederation — and he was a very useful member, 
 particularly in all matters connected with railway bills and 
 developing the means of transportation throughout the country. 
 
 The late Robert Bell was a brother of Mr. John Bell, of 
 Belleville, who for more than the third of a century has held the 
 high position of Chief Solicitor for the Grand Trunk Railway 
 Company. 
 
148 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 DIRECTORS AND MANAGERS OF G. T. R. 
 HON. JOHN ROSS, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY. 
 
 THE name of the Hon. John Ross must always be associated 
 with the organization of the Grand Trunk Railway and the 
 building of the Victoria Bridge. Mr. Ross, the then Governor- 
 General, Lord Elgin, Sir Francis Hincks, Sir Casimir Gzowski, 
 Sir A. T. Gait, Sir Geo. Cartier, Hon. John Young, Hon. James 
 Ferrier, Engineers T. C. Keefer and Walter Shanly, and some 
 others, were the moving spirits in pushing these grand enter- 
 prises, which have done more to advance the interests of Canada, 
 and created more wealth for its people, than all other enterprises 
 combined. 
 
 The following brief sketch of Mr. Ross' life is, in part, con- 
 densed from Morgan's Celebrated Canadians (1862) ; 
 
 Mr. Ross was born in the county of Antrim, Ireland, on the 
 10th March, 1818, and at the tender age of three months 
 embarked at Belfast with his parents for Quebec. Young Ross 
 remained under the care of his uncle, at Brockville, until he was 
 three years of age. His education was derived chiefly from 
 the district school. As a juvenile, young Ross was chiefly 
 remarkable for the ease and expedition with which he dispatched 
 his lessons. At the age of sixteen he became a student-at-law. 
 Upon attaining his majority, in 1839, Mr. Ross was called to the 
 bar, and entered at once upon the business of life. In a short 
 time he became noted as a practitioner in the courts. His 
 
Directm^s and Managers of 0. T. B. 149 
 
 political career, extending over many years, forms a large 
 chapter in the History of Canada. In 1852 Mr. Ross was sent 
 to England to superintend the completion of the contracts for the 
 construction of the Grand Trunk Railway, afterwards holding 
 the office of the first president of the company. With the aid of 
 Mr. (afterwards Sir) A. T. Gait, who was one of the early 
 directors, and others, who were earnest in their desire to promote 
 to the utmost the interests of the country, so far as those were 
 capable of expansion by the comparatively new science of com- 
 prehensive and rapid inter-communication, Mr. Ross took a 
 prominent part in securing the construction of the Victoria 
 Bridge, one of the wonders of the engineering art, and, to the 
 honour of Canada, without a rival in the world. Returning to 
 Canada in 1853, Mr. Ross received the appointment of Attorney- 
 General and, in the following year, he was elected Speaker of the 
 Legislative Council. In 1858 he was appointed Receiver-Gen- 
 eral and, on his resignation of that office, he became, a few 
 days later, in August of the same year. President of the Execu- 
 tive Council, a position which he retained until his retirement 
 from official public life. He continued to be a member of the 
 Legislative Council of Upper Canada until Confederation, when 
 he was made one of the first Senators of the Dominion. He 
 died January 31st, 1871, in the 53rd year of his age. His life 
 was a comparatively short one, but it was full of enterprise, 
 endeavour and good work. A monument to his memory may be 
 seen in St. James' Cemetery, Toronto ; but his most enduring 
 monument will be found in the great public undertakings with 
 which his name is so intimately associated. 
 
 THE HON. JAMES FERMER 
 
 Was born at Fifeshire, in Scotland, in 1800. He came to 
 Montreal in 1821. For a short time he was a clerk in a store, 
 
150 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 then entered into business on his own account, and in thirteen 
 years amassed enough of money to retire. A full memoir of the 
 Hon. Jas. Ferrier would be the history of Montreal for a period 
 of sixty years. He was prominent in all works of general public 
 utility, as well as in those of education, charity and religion. He 
 took an active part in the promotion of the pioneer railways in 
 Canada, and was an early President of the Montreal & Cham- 
 plain road, until that line was leased by the Grand Trunk 
 Eailway ; after which he was a director of the latter Company, 
 and held the Chairmanship of the Canadian board until his 
 death, which occurred on May 20th, 1888, when he was close 
 upon eighty-eight years of age. The Hon. James Ferrier was 
 one of the grand men of the age in which he lived, who 
 
 " Departing leave behind them 
 Footprints on the sands of time." 
 
 W. A. MERRY. 
 
 Here it may be well to name another railway pioneer, viz., 
 Mr. Merry, secretary and superintendent of the Montreal & 
 Champlain line, who successfully managed that undertaking for 
 many years. It must be remembered that the Montreal & 
 Champlain and the Lachine Eailways were built on the 4 feet 8^ 
 inch gauge. The writer remembers having many a discussion 
 with Mr. Merry, upon the question of the 4 feet 81 and the 5 
 feet 6 inch gauges, each defending his own gauge, but after 
 years proved that, in defending his own gauge, Mr. Merry was 
 right, as the 4 feet 8^ inch is now the uniform gauge in the 
 Dominion and the United States. 
 
 GEORGE REITH. 
 
 Mr. Reith had had much experience on railways in Scotland 
 as goods and general manager. He came to Canada in 1859, 
 
Directors and Managers of G. T. R. 151 
 
 mainly through the influence of the Liverpool shareholders of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway. Mr. Reith told the writer that his 
 appointment was that of traffic manager. On his arrival Mr. 
 Walter Shanly resigned his position as General Manager of the 
 G. T. R., and Mr. Reith succeeded him and assumed that title. 
 Mr. Reith was a man of undoubted ability and well conversant 
 with the details of railroad management ; but he came out at a 
 most gloomy period, business of all kinds was dull, the traffic 
 receipts of the G. T. R. were poor, there was a want of rolling 
 stock, and to him, as he said, there seemed no prospect of 
 improvement. 
 
 In June, 1859, I accompanied Mr. Reith on a tour through 
 the Western States. On reaching Detroit he saw Mr. W. K. Muir, 
 General Superintendent of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railway 
 and had some conversation with him about rates of wages, and 
 found that Michigan rates at that time were somewhat lower 
 than those paid in Canada. Mr. Reith then sent a telegram to 
 Assistant General Manager Bailey at Montreal as follows : " Re- 
 duce wages and salaries of all employees ten percent.," and con 
 tinned his trip to the West. I had not the slightest idea of this 
 bombshell message having been sent, although he and I travelled 
 together for a month afterwards and talked about everything 
 that we could think of in connection with the G. T. R., its past 
 history and its future prospects, but he never gave me a hint of 
 that momentous telegram. 
 
 On our return om- agent at Detroit told me all about the 
 *'ten per cent." telegram, said that the whole staff of the road 
 had been in a high state of fever on account of it, but the Presi- 
 dent, the Hon. John Ross, and the directors had told Mr. Bailey 
 not to carry out Mr. Reith's order. This, of course, ended Mr. 
 Reith's services on the Grand Trunk, and his engagement was 
 compromised by the Company paying him £4,000 sterling. 
 
152 Bailways and Other Ways. 
 
 I heard that on Mr. Eeith's return home he was appointed 
 to a good position in Glasgow, in connection with the Clyde 
 Trust. On Mr. Keith's retirement from the service of the 
 G. T. E., Mr. Walter Shanly, at the urgent request of the 
 directors and chief officers of the Company, once more assumed 
 the position of General Manager. 
 
 A TESTIMONIAL. 
 
 One day Mr. Cheney, of the Express Company, called at the 
 G. T. E. office, Montreal, and informed Assistant General Mana- 
 ger Bailey that a large, strange-looking packing-case had arrived 
 from the United States, addressed to Mr. George Eeith, and 
 would he, Mr. B., come and take a look at it. Mr. B. went and 
 had the case opened, when it was found to contain a monster tin 
 tray with tin goblets to match, in size as large as I have some- 
 times seen used in the play when the King drinks to Hamlet. 
 These were being sent to Mr. Eeith as a testimonial from 
 some of his ironical American friends. Mr. Bailey stopped the 
 delivery of the things to Mr. Eeith, and that gentleman was never 
 informed of the arrival of the Yankee testimonial. 
 
 The large tin tray might have been seen figuring as a floor 
 protector for a box stove in the Audit Office of the Grand Trunk 
 Kailway for many a day afterwards, while Mr. Bailey stored away 
 the goblets in his museum of relics, to be shown in distant ages 
 as curious souvenirs of the early Grand Trunk. 
 
 SIR JOSEPH HICKSON. 
 
 To the few remarks already made in this work in reference 
 to Sir Joseph Hickson, ex-General Manager of the Grand Trunk 
 Eailway, I now add some further details relating to that gentle- 
 man's remarkable and even phenomenal career. 
 
 Mr. Hickson commenced railway work when a boy in one 
 of the offices of the York, Newcastle & Berwick Eailway, at 
 
Directors and Managers of G. T. R. 153 
 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 1847. He had before this been, for a 
 short time, employed with the great carrying firm of Chaplin, 
 Home & Carver, and, before his engagement with them, with a 
 relative who was doing a large business in transporting traffic 
 along the old "Chevy Chase" road, between England and 
 Scotland. Subsequent to 1847 he went to the Maryport & Car- 
 lisle Eailway as agent at Carlisle. In 1851 he joined the Man- 
 chester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway at Manchester, where 
 he became assistant to the General Manager. While thus en- 
 gaged, Mr. Hickson attracted the notice of Mr. (now Sir) Edward 
 Watkin, then Commissioner, and afterwards President of the 
 Grand Trunk Eailway of Canada; a gentleman who has dis- 
 tinguished himself in connection with so many important rail- 
 way and public enterprises, and, as a member of the British 
 Parliament. Mr. Hickson was appointed by him to the position 
 of Chief Accountant of the Grand Trunk in December, 1861, and 
 afterwards became Secretary and Treasurer of the Company. 
 These varied, responsible and important positions Mr. Hickson 
 held, with very satisfactory results, until the resignation of Mr. 
 C. J. Brydges as Managing Director of the Grand Trunk Railway 
 in 1874, when he was appointed to succeed him as General 
 Manager of the system, which position he only resigned in 1890. 
 A history of the Grand Trunk Railway in the interval between 
 these dates would show marvellous extension and improvements. 
 A great part of the line was then of the old gauge, 5 feet 6 
 inches ; it was all changed in a year or two. The mileage of 
 the road was 1,389 miles ; it ended at Portland on the Atlantic, 
 and at Detroit in the West. Railway after railway was added to 
 the system, which was extended to Chicago in the West, to the 
 great lakes in the North, and through the Central Vermont Rail- 
 road, practically to Boston, in the East The mileage had in- 
 creased to about 4,300 miles, with a controlUng interest in another 
 
154! Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 1,000 miles. The revenue had risen from $10,300,000 in 1874 
 to nearly $25,000,000 in 1890. A large portion of the distance 
 between Hamilton and Montreal, nearly 400 miles, had been 
 laid with a second line of rails, and the groat tunnel under the St. 
 Clair River had, practically, been completed. It is not easy to 
 realize the labour and anxiety which any man charged with the 
 chief responsibility of controlling, operating and conducting the 
 negotiations necessarily carried on, during these sixteen years, 
 in connection with such a vast and constantly expanding system 
 must have undergone. 
 
 When Sir Joseph Hickson visited England in 1881, under 
 the instructions of the Grand Trunk directors, so highly appre- 
 ciated was his constant and untiring devotion to the interests of 
 the proprietors, that they presented him with gold and silver 
 plate to the value of £2,500 sterling. 
 
 Sir Joseph was married in 1869 to Catherine, daughter of 
 the late Andrew Dow of Montreal, and they have three sons and 
 three daughters living. 
 
 Sir Joseph Hickson, notwithstanding his arduous duties for 
 upwards of forty years, was not allowed to altogether rest upon 
 his oars, for in 1892 he was appointed chairman of a royal com- 
 mission on the liquor traffic, which is still pursuing its investi- 
 gations (December, 1893). 
 
 LEWIS JAMES SEARGEANT. 
 
 The following extract is taken from the Port Huron Daily 
 Times, Tunnel Opening Edition, September 19th, 1891 : 
 
 " Mr. L J. Seargeant, who succeeded Sir Joseph Hickson 
 as General Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway, was born at 
 Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, and from an early age has been 
 connected with railways. His English career was associated 
 with the largest of British railway systems, the Great Western, 
 
of 
 CALlFOj 
 
Directors and Managera of G. T. R. 155 
 
 his earliest experience of railway construction and management 
 having been in connection with the South Wales Railway, a 
 Great Western affiliated line, which promoted the development 
 of Milford Haven as an international port, more particularly in 
 connection with American commerce. On the amalgamation of 
 the South Wales with the Great Western Railway Company, Mr. 
 Seargeant was the recipient of a substantial douceur from the 
 proprietors in recognition of his services, and the Great Western 
 Board appointed him Superintendent of the South Wales 
 division. Early, further promotions followed. Mr. Seargeant 
 was appointed chief officer of the South Devon, and subsequently 
 of the Cornwall & West Cornwall Railways, which together 
 constituted a compact system between Exeter and Penzance. 
 Upon Mr. Seargeant devolved the duties of General Manager, 
 Secretary, and Secretary of the Joint Committees of the Great 
 Western, Bristol & Exeter, South Devon & Cornwall Com- 
 panies. He was also official representative of those interests 
 before parliamentary committees. The success of Mr. Sear- 
 geant's management of these properties was evidenced by largely 
 increased dividends. Upon the resignation of his several offices 
 in 1874 to come to Canada, Mr. Seargeant received evidence of 
 the highest consideration and friendship, chief among which was 
 an intrinsically valuable presentation from a large number of 
 directors and officers of the companies with which he was con- 
 nected, and of men serving under him. Mr. Seargeant arrived in 
 Montreal in 1874 to join the staff of the Grand Trunk Company, 
 of which he to-day has the general management, and was 
 appointed to the office of Vice-President of the Executive Council, 
 Sir Joseph (then Mr.) Hickson, being the President. He also 
 became Vice-President of the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway 
 Company and other affiliated lines, while his position on the 
 parent road was that of Traffic Manager, he being the first gen- 
 
156 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 tleman to hold such an office on this continent. Mr. Seargeant's 
 services to the Grand Trunk have been many and important. 
 He conducted with marked ability the various arbitrations which 
 secured to that railway a fair share of the through American 
 traffic, and which forms no inconsiderable part of its total 
 business. He was instrumental in forming the ' Central Traffic 
 Association ' of the Western American lines, and has represented 
 the Grand Trunk at meetings of the Board of Presidents in New 
 York in the absence of the late General Manager, Sir Joseph 
 Hickson. Mr. Seargeant, it may be added, is a member of the 
 Vice-Presidents' Committee of the same organization. In his 
 official intercourse with representatives of other trunk lines he 
 has strongly advocated the division of traffic between the rail- 
 ways interested, instead of an insane competition, which can 
 only be hurtful to all concerned, including the public." 
 
 I may add by way of further testimony to Mr. Seargeant's 
 worth and ability, the following extract from Director Hubbard's 
 address at the annual Grand Trunk meeting, 1892 : 
 
 " I must say I have not found a director here who is not as 
 anxious as you are to keep expenditure down to the last farthing. 
 We are all of the same mind, yet instead of working together as 
 we ought to do, and instead of creating good feeling amongst 
 ourselves, unpleasant observations are continually made at these 
 meetings. These reports go out verbatim, and they are read by 
 the officials, and discouragement exists because there is no con- 
 fidence placed in those who work for us. Then, with regard to 
 our General Manager, I am told that if you go to Exeter and 
 South Devon they will tell you what they think of Mr. Seargeant. 
 Well, I can tell you what the opinion is. I was chairman of the 
 South Devon Railway — Mr. Seargeant was General Manager 
 when I was there — and the opinion everyone has is, that we have 
 at the head of our road a man thoroughly devoted to its interests 
 

 v)SW 
 
 of 
 
 CAL> 
 
 fO^ 
 
W. WAINWRIGHT. 
 
Directors and Managers of G. T. R. 157 
 
 and capable of establishing it on a better basis than ever 
 before." 
 
 WILLIAM WAINWRIGHT. 
 
 " Mr. Wainwright, a native of England, was born on April 
 80th, 1840. At eighteen years of age he entered the services of 
 the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway as a junior 
 clerk in the chief accountant's office. He was afterwards secre- 
 tary to the general manager of the same line. In 1862 Mr. 
 Wainwright came to Montreal and for a year served as senior 
 clerk in the accountant's office of the Grand Trunk Railway ; then 
 he was appointed secretary to the Managing Director, and in 
 that capacity continued for three years. We next find him 
 filling the office of senior clerk in the managing director's 
 department, and taking charge of the car mileage. Thus passed six 
 years more, and then Mr. Wainwright became General Passenger 
 Agent of the Grand Trunk system. As such he was widely 
 known and gave great satisfaction, as well to his colleagues and 
 superiors as to the public that had dealings with him. He 
 remained in that position for upwards of eight years, until in 
 May, 1881, he received the appointment of Assistant General 
 Manager, the duties of which he still ably discharges. Mr. W. 
 was also General Manager of the North Shore Railway from 
 April, 1883, until the transfer to the Canadian Pacific Railway." 
 
 I am indebted for the above particulars to Rose's "Canadian 
 Biography." 
 
 It will thus be seen that Mr. Wainwright has had more than 
 thirty years of steady, uninterrupted service in the Grand Trunk, 
 and has passed with credit through nearly every department of 
 official work, in which he must have acquired a knowledge of 
 railway management equal to that of the most noted men of the 
 kind in any country. 
 
158 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 EDMUND WRAGGE. 
 
 Biographies of Canadian railway managers, particularly 
 those of the G. T. E., since its opening, now forty years ago, 
 would form many interesting volumes, not only of railway history, 
 but of characteristic scenes and sketches of notable events in 
 many lands, and of men who have made their mark in the world 
 during the last half century, a period which will be commemo- 
 rated throughout all time, as one big with great inventions and 
 remarkable discoveries. 
 
 In illustration of the above observations a brief account of 
 the railway Hfe of Mr. Edmund Wragge, Local Manager of the 
 Grand Trunk Eailway at Toronto, may be given, from which it 
 will be seen that his career has been a very eventful one, full of 
 interest as showing the different positions he has held and the 
 important engineering and other works he has been engaged in 
 for about thirty-eight years in England, the Cape of Good Hope, 
 Costa Kica, and the Dominion of Canada. 
 
 Mr. Wragge was born in Worcestershire, England, in 1837. 
 He was educated at Kossall. In 1854 he became a pupil of 
 Messrs. Fox, Henderson & Co., at their works, Smethwick, near 
 Birmingham. In 1859 he was appointed District Engineer on 
 the Cape Town & Wellington Eailway, Cape of Good Hope, 
 and remained in that position until 1862, when he returned 
 to England. In 1863 he was employed as an Assistant Engi- 
 neer on the London, Chatham & Dover Eailway. In 1864 he 
 was appointed Eesident Engineer in charge of the Victoria 
 and Battersea Improvements, which works were carried out 
 for the London, Chatham & Dover, London, Brighton & South 
 Coast, and London & South Western Eailways by Mr. Wragge, 
 under the late Sir Charles Fox, who was Chief Engineer. 
 These works included the widening of the existing Victoria 
 
Directors and Managers of G. T. R. 159 
 
 Bridge over the Thames, which was widened from 30 feet to 132 
 feet 6 inches, being now wide enough for 10 lines of rails, and is, 
 probably, still, the widest bridge in the world for its length, 
 nearly 1,000 feet. In 1867-8 and part of '69 Mr. Wragge was in 
 practice in London as a Civil Engineer, during which time, 
 among other employments, he was Engineer of the Waterloo & 
 "Whitehall Railway, and went to Costa Eica to make a survey of 
 a line of railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific for the Govern- 
 ment of that country. 
 
 In September, 1869, he arrived in Canada as Chief Engineer 
 of the Toronto, Grey & Bruce and Toronto k Nipissing Railways 
 (his friend Sir Charles Fox, together with his son, now Sir 
 Douglas Fox, being the Consulting Engineer), and in such 
 capacity constructed the line of the former railway from Toronto 
 to Owen Sound, and from Orangeville to Teeswater, a total mile- 
 age of 191 miles, and of the Toronto & Nipissing Railway, 80 
 miles. After these lines were completed Mr. Wragge was (in 
 1875) appointed General Manager, as well as Chief Engineer, of 
 the Toronto, Grey & Bruce Railway. 
 
 It will be remembered that both of these railways were 
 oi'iginally constructed on the narrow gauge system of 3 ft. 6 
 in. In 1880-'81 Mr. Wragge changed them to 4 ft. ^ in., to 
 which gauge the Grand Trunk and Great Western had shortly 
 before been changed from their original gauge of 5 ft. 6 in. In 
 1883 the Toronto, Grey k Bruce was leased to the Ontario & 
 Quebec Railway Company and became a part of the Canadian 
 Pacific system, after which Mr. Wragge was offered and accepted 
 the position of Local Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway 
 Company at Toronto, an office which he has so long and so 
 satisfactorily filled and which he still retains (1894). 
 
 Mr. Wragge was elected a member of the Institution of 
 Civil Engineers of England (M. Inst. C. E.) in January, 1870, 
 
160 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 and a member of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers (M. 
 Can. Soc. C. E.) at its inception in 1887. 
 
 MAJOR JaMES STEPHENSON. 
 
 Mr. Stephenson was born in June, 1837, at Lancaster, Eng- 
 land; the following particulars of his eminently successful career 
 I take from Eose's "Canadian Biography" (Ed., 1888), to which 
 very useful work I have already had occasion to acknowledge my 
 indebtedness : 
 
 " Early in life he came to Canada, and in 1855 he obtained 
 a situation in the British American Telegraph Company, and in 
 the following year, on the amalgamation of that company with 
 the Montreal Telegraph Company, he was offered a position on 
 the Grand Trunk Railway and severed his connection with his 
 former employers. It was at the Don Station, Toronto, that, in 
 1856, he made his debut in the new calling which was henceforth 
 to be the business of his life. Two months later the G. T. E. 
 was opened between Montreal and Toronto. To have been a 
 railway man at that date makes good his title to the rank of 
 
 veteran The first duties that were intrusted to Mr. 
 
 Stephenson were those of Ticket Clerk and Operator, but in 1858 
 he succeeded to the agency of the station. In 1860 he was 
 appointed Train Despatcher ; in 1862, Divisional Telegraph 
 Superintendent and Agent at Belleville; in 1864, Assistant 
 Superintendent, and in June, 1881, General Passenger Agent. 
 But the promotion of Mr. Stephenson did not stop here, for in 
 July, 1884, the Company recognizing his great ability, he was 
 promoted, to the satisfaction of his colleagues and the public, to 
 the responsible position of General Superintendent which (1888) 
 he still holds. Mr. Stephenson is a true Briton, and was not the 
 man to look on inactive, when in 1866 Canada was the victim of 
 unprovoked attack from the Fenian element of the United States. 
 
X^ALlFOJilii^ 
 
y^ y:^ ^ ^ /^ ^><^A*> 
 
Directors and Managers of G. T. R. 161 
 
 He buckled on his armour with thousands of other brave men to 
 meet and repel the invaders. He "was quickly raised to the rank 
 of Captain, and in March, 1867, had earned his majority. In 
 1871 he retired, retaining his rank. His certificates of qualifi- 
 cation are dated, second class, March, 1867 ; first class, May, 
 1867. He married on Sep., 1866, Agnes Frances, eldest daughter 
 of the late Captain Richard Arnold of Toronto. In private life 
 Mr. Stephenson is much respected and has many friends." 
 
 Since the above was written Mr. Stephenson has been still 
 further promoted ; in April, 1892, he was appointed General 
 Superintendent of the whole of the Grand Trunk system of rail- 
 ways in Canada and that portion in the United States nor^h of 
 the St. Clair and Niagara rivers, the length of territory under 
 his supervision being 3,350 miles. It is a question whether any 
 one railway superintendent in the world has such an extended 
 length of road under his command as Major Stephenson. 
 
 Director Hubbard in his speech at the Annual Meeting of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway, 1892, from which I have already quoted, 
 made the following well-deserved references to Mr. Stephenson 
 and Mr. Wallis, another efficient officer of the Company : 
 
 " I am sorry to hear such remarks as have been made at 
 this meeting in relation to our officers that we have met in 
 Canada, and who deserve your confidence. One gentleman says 
 our affairs have been grossly mismanaged. Now, I am sure of 
 this, that I knew none of the officers, except the General 
 Manager, until I went out there, but I can speak of all the offi- 
 cers you have in Canada in the highest terms. We have Mr. 
 Stephenson, Superintendent of the line, who has undertaken 
 additional duties, a gentleman occupying a position of great 
 responsibility, who discharges his work well and in the interest 
 of the Company. Then there is Mr. Wallis, Mechanical Super- 
 intendent, who has our interest at heart, and when we met and 
 11 
 
162 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 considered how could we reduce the expenditure, he frankly met 
 us and suggested everything in his power." 
 
 Mr. Stephenson, like myself, is a native of the quaint old 
 historic town of Lancaster,* with its massive and time-honoured 
 castle. Nothing can be more imposing than the aspect which 
 the fine old memorial of feudal power and baronial magnificence 
 presents to the stranger as he ascends the slope which leads 
 from the principal thoroughfare of the town direct to the frown- 
 ing gateway of the hoary castle, over which stands the statue of 
 
 "Old John o'Gaunt — Time-honoured Lancaster." 
 
 Charles Dickens, in his story of " The Lazy Tour of Two 
 Idle Apprentices," imagines a bridal chamber in the King's Arms 
 Hotel, Lancaster, and says: " 'I have heard there is a good old 
 inn at Lancaster, established in a good old house : an inn where 
 they give you bride-cake every day after dinner,' said Thomas 
 Idle. 'Let us eat bride-cake without the trouble of being married, 
 or of knowing anybody in that ridiculous dilemma.' Mr, Good- 
 child, with a lover's sigh, assented. Mr. Goodchild concedes 
 Lancaster to be a pleasant place — a place dropped in the midst 
 of a charming landscape — a place with a fine ancient fragment 
 of a castle — a place of lovely walks — a place possessing staid old 
 houses richly fitted with old Honduras mahogany." 
 
 Here then, at this old town, Mr. Stephenson and I, though 
 at long periods apart, passed our boyhood days and had many 
 a pleasant ramble on the banks of the bonny river Lune, catch- 
 ing sea crabs on its shores, or having a duck in its briny flood 
 when the tide came in. 
 
 * Sir Richard Owen, the greatest living authority on Comparative Anatomy, was 
 a native of Lancaster. I remember attending a lecture of Sir Richard's, when from 
 a single fossil bone dug up in some country^ he chalked upon a blackboard the 
 gigantic bird, the " Dinornis," fifteen feet in height, which once stalked the earth. 
 
Directors and Managers of 0. T. R. 168 
 
 It would be hard to find any country in the world where the 
 hardy sons and daughters of Lancashire have not their repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 A VICE-ROYAL LANCASHIRE RECEPTION. 
 
 Shortly after the late Governor-General of this Dominion, 
 Lord Stanley of Preston,* came to Canada, he and Lady Stanley, 
 by request, gave a reception at Alderman Hallam's-f* residence, 
 Toronto, to the " Lads and Lasses of Lacashire," and many 
 were the greetings and in various dialects spoken, for in Lanca- 
 shire the dialects dififer considerably at points twenty to thirty 
 miles apart. Selections from Tim Bobbin, Edward Waugh and 
 other writers were freely quoted. 
 
 The reception was strictly a temperance one, but a jollier 
 set of Lancashire " folk " never met together. 
 
 * Now the Earl of Derby. 
 
 t Alderman Hallam was bom at Chorley, near Preston, Lancashire, England, in 
 1833. He passed much of his early youthful days in Preston. It may fairly be said 
 of him that he was his own educator. He came to Canada in I806, and after some 
 years of hard work he entered into business on his own account, and by pluck, 
 steadiness and perseverance was eminently successful, and to-day the Alderman 
 controls the largest trade in hides and wool in Toronto. The citizens must ever 
 be under a debt of gratitude to Alderman Hallam for his philanthropic work as 
 the founder of Toronto's Free Library, to which he has been a Urge contributor of 
 books. 
 
164 Raihvays and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 AUDIT OFFICE— THOS. BELL, W. J. SPICER, E. P. HANNAFORD. 
 
 AUDIT OFFICE. 
 
 ONE unfamiliar with the routine of railway work can have but 
 a faint idea of the magnitude of the audit business con- 
 nected with the Grand Trunk Railway. The kind of work is 
 very similar to that of the English Railway Clearing House 
 already referred to in this book. The vast number of documents 
 in connection with the freight and passenger departments com- 
 ing in daily would be enough to bewilder the most ingenious as 
 to the ways and means of distributing them among the officers 
 and clerks, so as to bring the greatest order out of an apparent 
 disorder. The G. T. R. Audit Department does not admit of 
 passing over errors however trifling — the accounts must be 
 absolutely correct. Once deviate from this principle and there 
 would be an end to all discipline and to correctness in book- 
 keeping. A travelling auditor once told me that on examining 
 the books at a small country station, he found a shortage of five 
 cents in balancing up. The agen t, a new man, said : " Oh, that 
 is easily made right," put his hand into his pocket and hauled 
 out five cents, which he handed to the auditor, saying: " There, 
 that squares us up." But the auditor explained that that was 
 not the way the Audit Department conducted its business. 
 
 When it is considered that the Audit Department has to 
 keep separate accounts for each leased line — audit, scrutinize 
 and reduce to a focus the returns from upwards of five hundred 
 
Audit O^Hce. * 165 
 
 local stations ; check and keep track of the business of freight 
 and passengers between the Grand Trunk and foreign roads, as 
 well as ocean steamships, with a thousand other things, it will 
 be seen that the work assumes tremendous proportions, such, 
 one would think, as to deter an accountant, however skilled, 
 from attempting to grapple with so formidable a task. 
 
 J. FRED. WALKER, TRAFFIC AUDITOR, 
 
 and his industrious stsiff, consisting of one hundred and fifty 
 officers and clerks, including many ladies, by division of labour 
 and reducing the complicated work to a complete system, 
 matured only through long years of experience, are able to 
 bring order out of chaos, and to present to the management, 
 directors and shareholders every half year, a concise statement 
 in dollars and cents of the traffic over the great Canadian iron 
 road, which the most unprofessional can easily understand and 
 appreciate ( Oct- 1892 ). 
 
 OBITUARY. 
 
 It is with much pain and sorrow that I have to chronicle 
 the death of Mr. J. F. Walker, on the 'ilst May, 1893, after a 
 very short illness, much regretted by his numerous friends and 
 railway associates throughout the Dominion, as well as by the 
 whole body of Canadian Masons, of whom five hundred accom- 
 panied his remains to their last resting place in Mount Royal 
 Cemetery. 
 
 A brother Mason, speaking of Mr. Walker, says : '* He was 
 prominent in Masonic circles, occupying high positions in the 
 various bodies, in every case, I believe, by the unanimous vote of 
 his brethren." 
 
 Mr. Walker was born in Brantford, Ont., in 1842. He 
 joined the Detroit & Milwaukee Railway Stores Department 
 
166 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 under Mr. James McMillan (now Senator of Michigan), in 1858, 
 went to the Grand Trunk Eailway Stores in May, 1862, and took 
 the position of Assistant Auditor in Montreal in 1874, and that 
 of Traffic Auditor of the G. T. R. in 1887. It will thus be seen 
 that Mr. Walker entered the railway service when a boy of 
 sixteen, and continued in it until his death, a period of thirty- 
 five years. 
 
 CURIOUS BLUNDERS IN THE ACCOUNTS OF EARLY RAILWAYS. 
 
 Before the existence of the English Railway Clearing House, 
 the system of keeping accounts between one company and 
 another was in a somewhat crude state ; railway book-keeping 
 was new ; accountants and auditors were not always up to the 
 mark, and some curious and rather serious blunders took place. 
 I may mention one which came under my notice : Railway A and 
 Railway B sent goods over each other's line and settled up their 
 accounts monthly. B, in due course, sent an account to A; the lat- 
 ter on examining it found that certain "back charges," or "paid 
 outs," which should be debited to A were so charged in the first 
 instance, but by some curious process, the details of which I 
 cannot now remember, the accountant of B again deducted the 
 amounts from A's account, thus cancelling the transaction. This 
 was pointed out to the secretary of A line, who chuckled, and 
 said: "Let B find it out; in the meantime, as our road is poor, 
 we williiold on to the money and keep a credit account open of 
 the moneys in favour of B in our books." The morality of this 
 transaction needs no comment. The blunder went on for two 
 or three years, by which time the total amount had reached a 
 very large sum, when B line leased A line, and the accountant of 
 the former came down to overhaul the latter's books. On com- 
 ing to the credit account in favour of B, he exclaimed: " What's 
 

Audit Oj(fice. 167 
 
 this ? " The cat, so to speak, was then let out of the bag. B's 
 accountant quietly passed the amount over to his company and 
 said never a word. 
 
 THOMAS BELL, OF LEAMINGTON, ENGLAND. 
 
 Mr. Bell commenced his railway career as audit clerk on 
 the North Union Railway (now the London & North -Western) at 
 Preston, Lancashire. I was a clerk in the goods office at the 
 same station from 1838 to 1840. Mr. Bell was born at Dumfries, 
 in the south of Scotland. In a letter to me, dated November, 
 1892, he says : " When a youth of nineteen years of age, I came 
 to Preston and entered the service of the N. U. R. Part of my 
 duties as audit clerk was to check over passengers' soft paper 
 tickets. At that time (1844) Edmondson's card system of tickets 
 had not come into general use, and passengers had to give their 
 names, which were written on the paper tickets. The names of 
 most of the gentlemen travellers were either ' Smith ' or 
 ' Snooks.' These I had to enter in elaborate books at a great 
 expense of stationery." 
 
 Mr. Bell came to Canada in 1854, and for a time was a 
 clerk in the Grand Trunk Railway Audit Office at Montreal. He 
 had not been there long before he was attacked by that terrible 
 disease, the cholera ; and he has always had a grateful word for 
 those " Angels of Mercy," the Nuns of Montreal, who attended 
 him faithfully and pulled him through during his terrible sick- 
 ness. Mr. Bell next removed to Hamilton and passed through 
 various grades of office in the Great Western Railway there, 
 until Mr. C. J. Brydges gave him the important post of General 
 Freight Agent, Mr. Bell being the first who bore that title on 
 the Great Western Railway. This office he held for many years. 
 Sometime after Mr. Swinyard became General Manager of that 
 line he made Mr. Bell Treasurer for the Company, and finally 
 
168 Railway 8 and Other Ways. 
 
 he was appointed General Superintendent of the Detroit & Mil- 
 waukee Railway, which position he retained until the year 1872, 
 when he resigned and returned to England. He and Mrs. Bell 
 spent the next four years in wandering at their leisure through 
 Europe, visiting all points of interest there. In 1876 Mr. Bell 
 settled down amid the charming rural scenery of Lillington, then 
 a suburb of Leamington, in a country brimful of historic 
 interest, and not far from the great poet's birthplace, Stratford- 
 on-Avon. Mr. Bell has made himself useful in the local govern- 
 ment of Lillington, and taken a praiseworthy part in the 
 advancement of its educational institutions. Mr. and Mrs. Bell 
 are fond of horticulture and bees, in which they have found a 
 pleasing occupation, and here eighteen years of their lives have 
 glided serenely by. 
 
 In a letter, dated February 18th, 1890, Mr. Bell says : "We 
 live in a delightful part of the country ; it is not hilly, but undu- 
 lating, with splendid roads, and I can assure you I make good 
 use of them, being fond of both riding and driving." Further 
 he says : " Recalling old times, I sometimes wonder what 
 changes have taken place in the Canadian freight classification 
 wrought by yourself, A. Fell, of the Bufifalo & Lake Huron, and 
 myself. There has recently been a great stir and fuss in 
 this country (England) about the classification, rates, terminal 
 charges, etc., and the board of trade authorities have their hands 
 full. But I am happy to think I am out of it all ; and instead 
 of tariffs and special rates, I have my plants and bees and happy 
 home to absorb my thoughts and time." 
 
 Referring to the deaths of old G. T. R. and G. W. R. officers, 
 such as Chas. Crookall, F. Broughton, C. J. Brydges and P. S. 
 Stevenson, Mr. Bell says : " You say truly enough we are often 
 reminded by the sudden death of friends that we too have to 
 follow them and should try to be ready. There is not a day that 
 passes without some circumstance happening that reminds me 
 
Avdit OjUce. 169 
 
 of my age and liability to be called hence. None of as know how 
 soon the dread summons may come, and your quotation, ' Be ye 
 also ready,' is appropriate to all of us, young and old." 
 
 W. J. 8PICER, GENERAL MANAGER. 
 
 The record of many Grand Trunk and old Great Western 
 Railway officers is so good, and so many of them have risen from 
 office boys up to the highest position of railway rank that, in 
 speaking of their gradual rise, one can hardly avoid the repetition 
 of terms, owing to the similarity of their careers. In describing 
 the career of any one individual, the same remarks are almost 
 equally applicable to the rest. In introducing another railway 
 manager, to whom the above observations will in particular 
 apply, Mr. W. J. Spicer, I do so with very great pleasure, having 
 watched his upward progress for very many years. His life is an 
 example of what steady conduct and perseverance will do for a 
 man, and one which any young man would do well to imitate. 
 
 Mr. Spicer, on leaving school, commenced as a junior clerk 
 with Chaplin & Home, the old and noted English carriers, in 
 London. Afterwards he joined the Goods Department of the 
 London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. In 1854 he left to 
 join the Great Western Railway in Canada, his connection with 
 that company dating from November of the same year, first 
 serving as agent at Suspension Bridge, then at Hamilton, and 
 still later at Detroit, where he held the position of joint agent of 
 the Great Western and Detroit & Milwaukee Railways until 
 1860, when he was appointed Superintendent of the Great 
 Western by Managing Director Brydges. 
 
 In 1862 he went to Montreal with Mr. Brydges as Super- 
 intendent of the Grand Trunk, and afterwards had charge as 
 
170 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 General Superintendent of the entire line until 1884, when he 
 was appointed General Manager of the Chicago & Grand Trunk, 
 the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Eailways, and of the 
 entire system of the Grand Trunk Eailway Company's affiliated 
 lines west of the St. Clair Eiver, which position he still occupies. 
 It will thus be seen that Mr. Spicer's railway advancement has 
 been unique, and that it embraces a period of forty years. 
 
 When Mr. Spicer was on the Canadian Grand Trunk he 
 took a prominent part, by precept and example, in inculcating 
 habits of strict temperance among the employees, a valuable 
 factor in the safe working of a railway; and no doubt Mr. 
 Spicer's exertions were amply rewarded in the improved steadi- 
 ness and good conduct of those under his charge. 
 
 E. p. HANNAFORD, C. E. 
 
 Of the early staff of Grand Trunk officers, I notice with 
 pleasure the name of E. P. Hannaford, now Engineer in Chief. 
 My memory turns back to 1857, when I first saw Mr. Hannaford, 
 who had then just arrived from England. 
 
 Thirty-five years, of course, has made a difference, but he is 
 still comparatively a young man and full of vigour, and the work 
 he has done for the Company speaks of his ability. 
 
 In 1872, '73 and '74 he narrowed the gauge of the road from 
 5 feet 6 inches to 4 feet 8^ inches, without detaining any train 
 more than a few hours. This great work was accomplished by 
 personal supervision and a system so thorough that no other 
 instance has been recorded of a distance of four hundred and 
 twenty miles of main line having been changed in its gauge 
 within eight hours, as was done between Montreal and Stratford ; 
 and in the district east of Montreal the work was as quickly and 
 successfully performed. 
 
V^ Of THE 
 
 of 
 
 RtiJ 
 
E. P. HANNAFORD. 
 
AvAiit 0^. 171 
 
 Mr. Hannaford was also the Chief Engineer of the Interna- 
 tional Bridge across the Niagara Eiver, between Buffalo in the 
 State of New York, and Fort Erie in the Dominion of Canada. 
 This is the only bridge that has ever been constructed with piers 
 founded in that river, and its success financially and as an 
 engineering achievement has been a matter of general congra - 
 tulation. 
 
 Mr. Hannaford entered the service of the Grand Trunk 
 Railway in 1857, being employed for a short time by the con- 
 tractors in the work of construction. In 1858 he joined the 
 permanent staff of the Company and worked his way, without 
 influence, to the head of the Engineering Department. 
 
 His early associations are connected with such men as the 
 ate Mr. William Froude, and he had many years of field-work 
 and engineering construction before he came to this country. 
 
172 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE ST. CLAIR TUNNEL. 
 
 The St. Clair, at Sarnia, is the most fickle of all rivers, the 
 strength and action of its current always varying, being entirely 
 dependent upon which way the w^ind blows. Sometimes its 
 waters rush with great fury towards Lake Erie — anon it stands 
 still, losing all its characteristics of a river and becoming appar- 
 ently an inlet of Lake Huron ; then, when a strong wind blows 
 from the south, its waters turn back and make for the great lake 
 as if loth to leave the place whence they had come. As far back 
 as 1859 the author, then at Montreal, remembers receiving some 
 such telegram as the following from George Holmes, agent at 
 Point Edward, Sarnia: "A great blow from the north — an ice 
 jam — river impassable." This kind of trouble in winter has 
 continued more or less ever since, causing much obstruction to 
 the traffic of the Grand Trunk Railway at that point. 
 
 I have already alluded to the late Vice-President Blackwell's 
 experiments with the " Flying Ferry " at Point Edward. Little 
 did that gentleman dream that in the year '91, flying ferries, 
 steam tugs and car barges would no longer be required ; that a 
 gigantic and marvellous piece of engineering work would be 
 accomplished in tunnelling under the great St. Clair River, and 
 thus uniting the Dominion of Canada, at Sarnia, by a real 
 " underground road," with the United States, at Fort Huron in 
 the State of Michigan, and enabling the Grand Trunk Railway 
 to run its cars on dry ground tlirough to Chicago without any 
 break or interruption. 
 
ST. CLAIK TUNNEL. 
 
 CROSS SECTION VIEW SHOWING STRATA AND 
 CONSTRUCTION. 
 
The St. Clair Tunnel. 173 
 
 When it is considered that the river St. Clair in its deepest 
 spot is forty feet, and its width about half a mile, and 
 that it forms the channel through which the great 
 lakes, Hui'on, Michigan and Superior, empty their sur- 
 plus waters into Lake Erie, it will be seen that the undertak- 
 ing of boring and constructing a tunnel under this mighty river 
 was one of immense magnitude, and that its successful com- 
 pletion confers on Mr. Joseph Hobson, its chief engineer, a well- 
 earned and permanent niche in the temple of fame ; while it will 
 at the same time be a lasting monument to President Sir Henry 
 W. Tyler, ex-General Manager Sir Joseph Hickson and others, 
 who inaugurated and provided the means for carrying out a work 
 of such incalculable value to both countries. 
 
 The tunnel proper is 6,026 feet in length, and, including 
 the approaches, 11,553 feet. 
 
 The time of construction was a little over two yeai'S, and it 
 cost in the neighbourhood of $2,700,000. 
 
 The following item, culled from a local paper, will throw 
 some light on how the financing for the work was accomplished : 
 " One of the largest mortgages ever placed on record in Michigan 
 was recorded in Port Huron on August 26th, 1890. It amounted 
 to $2,500,000, and was given by the St. Clair Tunnel Company to 
 E. W. Meddaugh and Lewis James Seargeant, as trustees, to 
 secure bonds, running fifty years and bearing five per cent, 
 annual interest, to build yards, engine-houses, etc. This mort- 
 gage covers all the property of the Company on both sides of the 
 St. Clair River, and contains a provision that rents and tolls 
 may be collected by the Grand Trunk from other railways using 
 the tunnel." 
 
 The tunnel was open for freight traffic on October 27th, and 
 for passenger traffic, December 7th, 1891, 
 
174 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 JOSEPH HOBSON, C. E. 
 
 During my long connection with the Great Western Rail- 
 way I had the pleasure of seeing much of Mr. Hobson, and al- 
 ways found him an obliging and unassuming gentleman, ever 
 ready to listen to the wants of the freight management, which 
 were no doubt very numerous, but he always met one's wishes 
 to the best of his ability. 
 
 Mr. Hobson is a Canadian by birth, having been born near 
 Guelph, Ont. He was Resident Engineer for the International 
 Bridge across the Niagara River at Black Rock, Buffalo. His 
 railway experience runs over a period of about thirty years, 
 say from 1862, mainly in connection with the old G. W. R. and 
 G. T. R., and for many years as Chief Engineer on the Western 
 Division, in which he still continues. 
 
 The Grand Trunk Railway Company may fairly claim that 
 its connections, between the east and west sides of the St. Clair, 
 Niagara and St. Lawrence Rivers, are made by four construc- 
 tions of engineering skill vaster and grander than those of any 
 other railway company in the world, viz.: The Victoria Tubular 
 Bridge, the Niagara Cable Suspension Bridge, the International 
 Bridge and the St. Clair Tunnel. 
 
 SIR HENRY TYLER. 
 
 The following particulars are taken from the Port Huron 
 Daily Times tunnel opening edition, Sept. 19, 1891 : 
 
 " Sir Henry Tyler, as President of the Grand Trunk, was the 
 chief promoter of the great St. Clair River Tunnel. In Merrie 
 England, Sir Henry's home and native land, he has been closely 
 connected with great railway and engineering undertakings, and 
 has been employed to report on various continental and colonial 
 systems of railway. He was specially employed to inspect the 
 railway ports of Italy, and to report on the best means of eastern 
 
^' OF THE 
 
 'IVER-SITV 
 
 OF 
 
The St. Clair Tunnel. 175 
 
 communication, and on his report the Brindisi route to India 
 was adopted. As Chairman of the English Channel Tunnel 
 Commission, he signed with his colleagues a formal convention 
 in 1874, between the English and French governments, for build- 
 ing a tunnel under the Straits of Dover, connecting France 
 with England. Sir Henry was a Captain of the Royal Engi- 
 neers, and was for years a government inspector of railways in 
 England. He was knighted for his distinguished services, and 
 is altogether a remarkable man and a worthy successor in the 
 long line of great English inventors, discoverers and engineers 
 that have done so much for England's greatness. 
 
 " Sir Henry Whatley Tyler, eldest son of the late John Chat- 
 field Tyler, Esq., born, 18*27 ; married, 1852, Margaret, daughter 
 of General Sir Charles Pasley, K.CB.,R.E.; was educated at the 
 Military Academy, Woolwich ; entered the Eoyal Engineers as 
 Lieutenant, December, 1844 ; became Captain, 1853 ; retired, 
 1867 ; appointed Inspector of Railways (Board of Trade), 1853 : 
 Chief Inspector, 1870 ; retired, 1877 ; was M. P. for Harwich, 
 April, 1880, to November, 1885, since when he has represented 
 Great Yarmouth ; is President Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. 
 Residence, Pymmes Pai-k, Edmonton." 
 
 The following account of the banquet at Sarnia to celebrate 
 the formal opening of the tunnel is condensed from the special cor- 
 respondence of the Montreal Witness, September 23rd, 1891 : " On 
 Saturday the guests were assembled at Sarnia to celebrate the 
 completion and opening of a work that has cost the Company 
 only a little less anxiety than did the great tubular Victoria 
 Bridge which now turns its frowning piers and abutments stern- 
 ly and triumphantly against the sweeping waters of the St.- 
 Lawrence. The railway's condition is more hopeful financially 
 to-day than it was then. Its earning power is greater, and its 
 prospects are more hopeful. 
 
176 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 "As each train passed through Sarnia, there were dropped one 
 or two invited personages, and the guests swelled up to 270 
 when the festivity was at its height, that number having sat 
 down to the banquet. It was a gathering of gentlemen expected 
 to represent the commerce of Canada and of the United States. 
 Hon. Mr. Eoss, for Ontario, and Hon. Frank Smith and Hon. Mr. 
 Vidal, representing the Parliament of Canada, were present. 
 Mr. Seargeant, General Manager, Mr. James Stephenson, Mr. 
 Hannaford, Mr. Herbert Wallis, Mr. Edgar, Mr. Spicer, and others 
 of the G.T.E. staff ably assisted Sir Henry Tyler in the recep- 
 tion of the guests, while Mr. J. J. Lanning, Mr. Seargeant's 
 private secretary, was the presiding genius of the banquetting 
 arrangements. 
 
 "It was inspiring to meet men from all sections of the northern 
 and central parts of North America, to reflect upon the smiling 
 farms and orchards through which the fast train of the Grand 
 Trunk Railway had been running, and which in the memory of 
 many present had been changed by the Grand Trunk Railway 
 and other commercial aids from the trackless forest to the track- 
 covered checkerboard of farms and gardens, with some tall 
 chimneys of manufactories between. 
 
 " It was inspiring, too, to reflect that a Canadian engineer, 
 Mr. Joseph Hobson, had completed this tunnel. Mr. Hobson, 
 by the way, is one who, to quote Sir Henry Tyler, had ' never 
 been outside of Canada to profit by the advantages and educa- 
 tion ' which Sir Henry appeared to think could not be had in 
 Canada, a Dominion, however, from which the Shanlys went 
 forth to complete the great Hoosac tunnel for the people of 
 Massachusetts, and among whose sons are engineers who have 
 proved themselves to possess the very first merit. Standing on 
 the Canadian side the British guests mingled with the Americans, 
 and both parties looked across the water to the United States 
 
V^ OF THE 
 
 OF . 
 
The St. Clair Tunnel. 177 
 
 side. It is a surging, rushing stream ; but there was no difference 
 in the appearance of the waters — practically no difference, either 
 in the appearance of the men of both nations, either in dress, 
 manners, or language, except that there was here and there a 
 German or a French accent, a deep nasal, a touch of Doric, or a 
 bit of Tipperary brogue to mark the origin. Mr. W. Kennedy, 
 Harbour Engineer, and Mr. F. B. McNamee of Montreal 
 were added to the guests, and Mr. Reeves, the Grand Trunk's 
 Chicago champion, was there in the first person singular, and 
 received very hearty welcome from his Montreal friends, as did 
 also Mr. ForteouS of the Central Vermont, whose greetings were 
 numerous and hearty. Sir Henry Tyler proposed ' The Gover- 
 nor of the State of Michigan,' a toast heartily honoured. He 
 said that the Grand Trunk Railway ran through seven States 
 of the Union, and while they entertained the most friendly feel- 
 ings for all, still the State of Michigan owned one-half of the 
 tunnel and he trusted that their relations would be entirely 
 harmonious. He thanked them for their courteous treatment of 
 the Grand Trunk and the friendly manner in which they had 
 feted him on the previous "fevenings. 
 
 "Governor Winans responded and gave a brief resume of the 
 State of Michigan, which, he said, he had watched for the past 
 fifty years. From a wild territory it had advanced to the proud 
 position of the ninth in the forty-four States in point of wealth 
 and population, and was undoubtedly destined to take a yet 
 higher rank ere long. He hoped the tunnel now opened between 
 Canada and his own State would be an harbinger of peace which 
 would for ever continue. He hoped the only weapon used 
 between the two would be ' the steel of the railway road.' He 
 concluded by proposing the toast, ' Success to the Grand Trunk 
 Railway and St. Clair Tunnel Companies and Sir Henry Tyler," 
 to which Sir Henry replied. 
 12 
 
178 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 " Sir Henry Tyler, in his response, said that the St. Clair 
 Tunnel Kailway, hardly three miles long, and costing about 
 $2,500,000, was no very gigantic operation, but looked very 
 small as one means of communication between the 14,000 miles 
 of railway in Canada, costing $800,000,000, and the 165,000 
 miles of railway in the United States, costing $9,000,000,000. 
 But it was the first example of a tunnel 20 feet in diameter, so 
 constructed to carry a railway under a river on this continent 
 or elsewhere, and as such, it was likely to be followed in other 
 localities. Sir Henry proceeded: 'While I was considering 
 these questions from time to time. Sir Joseph Hickson forwarded 
 to us in London a survey of the river by Mr. Walter Shanly, 
 and on seeing it I at once realized that the position of the 
 present tunnel was one that could best be utilized. Firstly, 
 there was clay at the bottom, and on both sides of the river. 
 Secondly, the width and depth of the river were moderate. Third- 
 ly, it was the point where the Sarnia branch of the Grand Trunk 
 Eailway and the Chicago & Grand Trunk come to opposite 
 sides of the river. I remembered Mr. Peter Barlow's smaller 
 tunnel under the Thames, constructed for ^620,000 — through 
 clay — 84 years ago, and the same principle of the shield had 
 been employed in America, and was again being applied 
 under the Thames, for a tunnel ten feet in diameter. The Grand 
 Trunk board approved of the construction of a tunnel in this 
 locality, and I suggested to Sir Joseph Hickson the employment 
 of Mr. Hobson as the engineer.' 
 
 "Sir Henry then went into a history of the tunnel difficulties, 
 and told how hard the work had been, ending by proposing the 
 health of Mr. Hobson. The applause with which this toast was 
 received made the rafters ring. 
 
 " Mr. Hobson modestly responded, and called upon Mr. 
 Murphy, his assistant, who also said a few words." 
 
^' Of THE 
 
 Of 
 
^^ 
 
 i2I^L^ 
 
 ROCK 
 
 SECTIONAL VIEW FULL LENGTH OF TUNNEL. 
 
 TUNNEL ENGINE EMERGING FROM PORTAL. 
 
The St. Clair Tunnel. 179 
 
 The following interesting sketches of the varied railway 
 careers of Messrs. Wright, Percy and Lanning are mainly taken 
 from the Toronto Mail, of March 20, 1894, and I have great 
 pleasure in giving them a place in these records of Grand Trunk 
 Eailway prominent officials. 
 
 ROBEBT WRIGHT. 
 
 " Mr. Robert Wright, the Treasurer of the Grand Trunk Rail- 
 way, has placed his resignation in the hands of the General Mana- 
 ger of the Company. Mr. Wright's health, under pressure of his 
 arduous duties, broke down at the end of last summer, and he 
 was forced for some months to seek a rest on the other side of the 
 Atlantic. Not finding that speedy relief and improvement that 
 he expected, he has returned to Canada with the object of set- 
 tling his personal affairs and closing up his official duties. Mr. 
 Wright was born at Darlington, England, on November 5th, 
 1843. He entered the railway service in 1858 as a junior clerk 
 in the accountant's office of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. 
 In 1860 he received an appointment in the office of the assistant 
 general manager of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire 
 Eailway. In January, 18G2, he entered the service of the Grand 
 Trunk Company in the London office, and in a short time after 
 his appointment was sent to the office of the Secretary and 
 Treasurer of the Company in Canada. On the 1st of January,. 
 1878, he was appointed Treasurer of the Grand Trunk Railway. 
 In addition to this office, he held that of Secretary and 
 Treasm-er of the Chicago, Detroit, and Canada Grand Trunk 
 Junction Railway, International Bridge, Montreal and Cham- 
 plain Junction, Michigan Air Line, and Jacques Carter Union 
 Railway Company. Mr. Wright gained for himself the reputa- 
 tion of being a hard-working and painstaking officer, thoroughly 
 honourable and straightforward in all matters. It is the wish 
 
180 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 of bis many friends that he may in a very short time be 
 restored to his usual good health." 
 
 Of Mr. Wright, it may be said, he was born in a railway 
 atmosphere and made his first start on the old historic road 
 of George Stephenson, the Stockton & Darlington — the first 
 railway in the world. 
 
 CHAELES PERCY. 
 
 Mr. Chas. Percy, assistant to the General Manager, has 
 been appointed to the position of Treasurer. He was born at 
 Greenwich, in the County of Kent, England, in the year 1845. 
 The first fifteen years of his business life were spent at the 
 railway clearing house, London. The latter four, in the office 
 of the secretary to an association for the regulation of traffic 
 between England and Scotland, led to his selection in 1875 
 as Treasurer of the Great Western Eailway of Canada, whence 
 the bondholders of the Midland Eailway of Canada, whose 
 afifairs were very much involved, secured his services. He 
 was thereafter charged with the management of that pro- 
 perty, but owing to its weak financial position it then escaped 
 the control of the interests he represented. At that period, 
 1878, the Grand Trunk Company was acquiring its route to 
 Chicago, and Mr. Percy was nominated as Secretary and 
 Treasurer of the five railway companies soon after consoli- 
 dated, and now known as the Chicago & Grand Trunk 
 Eailway. Consequent upon the fusion of the Great Western 
 with the Grand Trunk Eailway, Mr. Percy was transferred in 
 1885 to Montreal, continuing the Secretaryship, to which office 
 soon after was added the more arduous one he has up to this 
 date filled. Mr. Percy continues in office for the Chicago & 
 Grand Trunk and other western lines, and as a Director or as 
 the Secretary and Treasurer attends to Grand Trunk interests in 
 the International Bridge, the St. Clair Tunnel andother affiliations. 
 
The St. Clair Tunnel. 181 
 
 Like other Englishmen he further identified himself with 
 his adopted country by marriage, and his alliance with Miss 
 Meredith, daughter of the late Henry Howard Meredith, of 
 Port Hope, connected him with one of the best known families 
 in Canada. Mr. Percy is a very popular official, courteous 
 and affable, and no better choice for Treasurer could have been 
 made. 
 
 JOSEPH JOHN LANNING. 
 
 " Mr. Joseph John Lanning succeeds Mr. Percy as assistant 
 to the General Manager of the Grand Trunk Eailway. Mr. Lanning 
 was born in Templemore, Ireland, on the 3rd June, 1852. He 
 was educated at Great Yarmouth and Carlisle, England, and at 
 Dundalk, Ireland. On his amval in Montreal in June, 1868, 
 he obtained employment with the firm of Wm. Hiam & Bros., in 
 Lemoine street. In the October following he entered the service 
 of the Grand Trunk Eailway Company, as junior clerk in the 
 store department. Having rapidly acquired a knowledge of 
 shorthand, and his service being considered more valuable, he 
 was transferred in November, 1870, to the office of the late C. J. 
 Brydges, then Managing Director ; so he has been over 23 years 
 in the executive office of the Company, in this country, thus gain- 
 ing an experience which thoroughly qualifies him for the position 
 to which he has just been appointed. He is an expert shorthand 
 writer, and has — as may readily be supposed — a thorough know- 
 ledge of railway operations. Mr. Lanning, as private secretary, 
 has for the last 17 years invariably accompanied the President 
 and General Manager in their many trips over the line, and is 
 well known to all the employees of the system between Portland, 
 Quebec and Chicago. It is no exaggeration to say that next to 
 the General Manager and Traffic Manager, no officer of the Com- 
 pany has during that period had a more intimate knowledge of 
 
182 Raihvays and Other Ways. 
 
 the policy of the Board of Management than Mr. Lanning. 
 His promotion will be a source of satisfaction to his numerous 
 friends in the Grand Trunk and out of it. Mr. Lanning is a 
 Justice of the Peace for the city and district of Montreal." 
 
 SAMUEL R. CALLAWAY. 
 
 It must strike the most casual reader who peruses this 
 work, that nearly every individual sketched in its pages has 
 risen to his present high position from the ranks, and has, so to 
 speak, been the builder of his own fortune. 
 
 The creation of railways in all countries has given fine oppor- 
 tunity for bringing out and fully developing the latent energies, 
 and mental qualities of young men, each in his own particular 
 profession. 
 
 In illustration of the above remarks, I give a brief memoir of 
 the railway life of Mr. S. K. Callaway, who was born December 
 24th, 1850. In 1863 he entered the office of Mr. (now Sir Joseph) 
 Hickson, then Chief Accountant of the Grand Trunk Railway at 
 Montreal, as office-boy at a salary of $100 per annum. In 1865 
 he went as Secretary and stenographer to Mr. Gilman Cheney, 
 Manager of the Canadian Express Company, and left there in 
 1865) to enter the service of the Great Western Railway of Canada 
 under Mr. W. Wallace, Superintendent at London, and was sub- 
 sequently Private Secretary to W. K. Muir, at Hamilton. Mr. 
 Callaway retired to enter the service of the Detroit & Mil- 
 waukee, of which railroad he was Superintendent from 1875 
 to 1878. Upon the absorption of the D. & M. R. by the 
 Great Western, Mr. Callaway was appointed General Super- 
 intendent of the Detroit & Bay City Railway, and in 1880 
 General Manager of the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway 
 and President of the Western Indiana Railways. 
 
 Still higher honours waited him, for we find that in the 
 spring of 1884 Mr. Callaway was offered and accepted the 
 
^ OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY J 
 
The St. Clair Tunnel. 183 
 
 Vice-Presidency and General Management of the Union Pacific 
 Eailway and allied lines of nearly 6,000 miles. In 1887 he 
 was elected President of the Toledo, St. Louis <fe Kansas 
 City Eailway, which position he now holds. 
 
 Mr. Callaway thoughtfully and very kindly says : " One 
 of the most interesting features in my career has been the 
 friendship and confidence of Sir Joseph Hickson. In 1863 I 
 was office boy at $100 a year. Mr. Hickson predicted a suc- 
 cessful career for the boy and promised to keep an eye on 
 him. This promise was more than fulfilled seventeen years 
 later, when Sir Joseph offered me, then a young man of but 
 27 years of age, the General Management of the Chicago «i- 
 Grand Trunk Railway, of which he (Sir Joseph Hickson) was 
 President." 
 
184 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 GENERAL FREIGHT AGENTS (GOODS MANAGERS). 
 
 " No castle is theirs, no palace great, 
 
 No princely pillared hall ; • 
 But thjy well can laugh at the roofs of State, 
 
 'Neath the heaven which is over all. 
 Each bares the arm for the ringing strife, 
 
 That marshals the sons of soil. 
 And the sweat drops in the battle of life 
 
 Are gems to the crown of toil." 
 
 WHEN the late Mr. C. J. Brydges left the services of the 
 Great Western Eailway, in 1862, to accept the position 
 of Managing Director of the Grand Trunk Eailway, he appoint- 
 ed several of the old G. W. E. officers to places of importance 
 on the G. T. E., and this necessitated the retirement of many 
 the old G. T. E. staff, who had served the Company for nine or ten 
 years. The author left the G. T. E. in 1863, and was succeed- 
 ed by Mr. F. Stratton, who had previously held positions of 
 trust on the G. W. E. for many years. Mr. S., as the second 
 general freight agent, did not remain long, but went west to 
 hold a similar office on a Western Eoad. 
 
 After leaving the Grand Trunk, Mr. Swinyard appointed 
 the author as agent for the Great Western at Montreal, and 
 subsequently Assistant General Freight Agent for that line, 
 with headquarters at Hamilton. This post the author held 
 for about fifteen years. 
 
General Freight Agents. 185 
 
 p. 8. STEVENSON. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson commenced his railway career as agent on 
 the Great Western Eaihvay at Hamilton wharf, about 34 years ago. 
 When Mr. Brydges became Managing Director of the Grand 
 Trunk, he appointed Mr. Stevenson to the freight agency at Mont- 
 real, and shortly afterwards he succeeded Mr. Stratton as General 
 Freight Agent, which office he held for many years, until con- 
 tinued sickness caused him to resign. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson's life was one of many vicissitudes. In early 
 life a vicious horse bit off his left arm. I have often heard an 
 old friend of mine speak of this terrible event, which, I think, 
 occurred at Ottawa. On March 12th, 1857, Mr. S. lost his first 
 wife in the fated Desjardins Bridge accident, near Hamilton. In 
 after years Mr. S. was afHicted with spinal complaint, which for 
 many months confined him to a reclining position on a sofa. 
 During this trouble I called upon him several times, and there I 
 found him dashing away at his work with his immense rate-book 
 before him and his shorthand clerk beside him. He rapidly 
 dictated his letters with as much apparent ease as if no pains of 
 the spine existed. 
 
 He had an ingenious arrangement by which he could screw 
 himself up on his sofa. This appliance, again, was the occasion 
 of many kindly jokes. To see a man so cheerful, while afflicted 
 with so many ills, was amoral tonic, and one always felt the better 
 from a visit to the invalid. 
 
 When Mr. Stevenson retired from the services of the Grand 
 Trunk, the Company made him a very handsome cash present. 
 Afterwards he was restored to fair health and entered into the 
 brokerage business. He died three or four years ago. 
 
 JOHN PORTEOUS, OF BOSTON. 
 
 From the sketches of the careers of railway officers por- 
 trayed in this work, it will be observed that nearly all of them, 
 
186 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 as a rule, and in one respect, are somewhat like the ministers of 
 the Methodist body, being movers. The writer, in his railway 
 career, has changed from place to place in the Old Country and 
 in Canada about a dozen times. But I now give the career of 
 Mr. John Porteous, of Boston, a gentleman who beats the record 
 in this respect ; at the same time it must be noticed that Mr. 
 Porteous in all his movements had one object in view, and that 
 was to make a step higher ! In October, 1854, he joined the 
 Great Western Eailway at Hamilton, Ont., as billing and cor- 
 responding clerk in the freight department ; six months after- 
 wards he was doing the same kind of duty at Suspension Bridge. 
 In 1855 he was corresponding clerk at Windsor, then promoted 
 to the position of freight cashier and accountant at the same 
 station. In November, 1857, his health giving way, he resigned 
 and left for Scotland, but returned to Canada in July, the follow- 
 ing year, when Mr. Brydges appointed him cashier and account- 
 ant of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad at Mil- 
 waukee, Wis. In 1863 he was removed to Portland, Me., to hold 
 a similar office on the Grand Trunk Eailway there. On the 
 death of Mr. Graham, the Portland agent, in November of that 
 year, Mr. Porteous succeeded him as freight agent at that im- 
 portant depot. In this position he remained until April, 1876, 
 when Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Hickson sent him to England to 
 establish the Grand Trunk agency at Liverpool. On Mr. Por- 
 teous' return to Montreal he was appointed assistant general 
 freight agent of the G. T. R. on January 1st, 1877, and when the 
 late Mr. P. S. Stevenson resigned the general freight agency, on 
 account of sickness, Mr. Porteous succeeded him on July Ist, 
 1878, being the fourth G. F. A. since the opening of the line. 
 This position he held until December, 1886, when he resigned to 
 accept that of general manager of the through freight depart- 
 ment of the Central Vermont Railroad, with headquarters at 
 Boston. 
 
General Freight Agents. 187 
 
 On this occasion, the merchants of Montreal entertained Mr. 
 Porteous at a public dinner, when he was much complimented 
 on the manner he had conducted the Company's freight business 
 for the past eight years, and the satisfaction he had given to the 
 mercantile community, with many feelings of regret at his de- 
 parture from amongst them, and best wishes for his future 
 prosperity. 
 
 On the first of February, 1892, Mr. Porteous was again 
 fm-ther promoted to the general managership of the National 
 Despatch Freight Line, with office at Boston, which position he 
 still retains. He has very recently opened an agency of the N. 
 D. F.L. at Toronto (March, 1893). 
 
 THE LATE THOMAS TANDY. 
 
 I remember Mr. Tandy from about the year 1868. He was 
 then a young man in the office of the mechanical department of 
 the Great Western Railway at Hamilton. When Mr. Broughton 
 became general manager of the G. W. R. he took Mr. Tandy into 
 his office to act as corresponding clerk. On the retirement of 
 Mr. Arthur White, as assistant G.F.A. of the G. W. R., Mr. 
 Tandy succeeded him, and when Mr. G. B. Spriggs resigned the 
 general freight agency of the G. W. R., Mr. Tandy was appointed 
 to that office and retained it until the G. W. R. merged into the 
 Grand Trunk, after which time he acted as general freight agent 
 of through traffic for the Grand Trunk, with headquarters at 
 Detroit. On the retirement of General Freight Agent Porteous 
 from the company, Mr. Tandy was appointed to that office as the 
 fifth G. F. A., which he held until his death, which took place 
 very suddenly on the 4th October, 1889, at the early age of 42 
 years, much regretted by his many friends. 
 
 MR. Tandy's memorial. 
 The following tribute to the memory of Mr. Tandy is taken 
 from the Cleveland Leckfer of Nov. 15th, 1889 : 
 
188 Railvjays and Other Ways. 
 
 ■"At the meeting of the Central Trafl&c Association at 
 Chicago last week, the following memorial to the late General 
 Freight Agent Tandy, of the Grand Trunk, was presented by Mr. 
 G. B. Spriggs, chairman of the committee, and adopted by the 
 Association : 
 
 " Inasmuch as on the evening of Friday, October 4th, 1889, 
 Thomas Tandy, then general freight agent of the Grank Trunk 
 Railway of Canada, was surprised by swift death as he was 
 steadily ascending the ladder of life and of fame, in the flush of 
 health and successful achievement, his right hand grasping 
 the rung two-thirds from the ladder's base, his face uplifted 
 towards the zenith in earnest hope and fair expectancy of arriv- 
 ing at the exalted and coveted goal which the masterful 
 endeavour of this man, strong in the strength and pride of a full 
 manhood, with efforts intelligently and skilfully directed into 
 the channel of a laudable ambition, seemed to place within his 
 deserving reach ; and 
 
 " Inasmuch as the passing from earth of this strong soul to 
 where 'time is not, nor days, nor months, nor years — an everlast- 
 ing now — ' has left a gap in the ranks of the great army of his 
 co-workers and friends, by whom will be heard no more his burst 
 of humour and quaint conceit, his ready and abundant wit, which 
 scintilated from his quick brain like sun-flashes from polished 
 brass, his sometimes wholesale sarcasm, neither sparing in modest 
 criticism his friends, nor rending the cloak of their self-respect; 
 and 
 
 " Inasmuch as no longer will be heard the melody of song 
 which found expression in his rich voice, tunefully sympathetic 
 with and ever dear to his always eager listeners, nor longer will 
 be felt the magnetism of his manly nature attracting to itself the 
 quick response which mind gives to mind when inspiriting in- 
 vitation indicates the pathway to fields of mutual enjoyment : and 
 
 " Inasmuch as his native modesty bespoke a well-balanced 
 
JOHN I5UKTUN. 
 
General Freight Agents. 189 
 
 mind, making his life like to a pendulum vibrating between the 
 steps of high ambition on the one hand and lowly self-apprecia- 
 tion on the other, and as his daily bearing, in his home regard- 
 fully affectionate; among his friends, acceptably equipoised; 
 and in his business pursuits, broadly liberal and confident ; chal- 
 lenged the admiration and esteem of all with whom he came in 
 contact ; and as his pursuit of and familiarity with classic and 
 current literature had for him its delights and allurements, 
 rounding his life and stimulating his brain so that while piu-suing 
 his business with the unflinching exactitude of arduous require- 
 ment a charm was imparted to his intercourse with his fellows 
 and a permeating grace to his epistolary coiTespondence seldom 
 attained under the carking cares of business life ; therefore 
 
 "Eesolved, That in his sudden and untimely death this asso- 
 ciation loses one of its most brilliant members, many of us a warm 
 personal friend, and all an associate endeared by the exhibit of 
 native humours and passions found only in a thorough man, and 
 we hereby extend to his wife and children our heartfelt sympathy 
 at their great and overwhelming loss. 
 
 ' Yon rising moon that looks for as again — 
 How oft hereafter will she wax and wane ; 
 How oft hereafter rising look for us 
 Through this same garden— and for one in vnin." " 
 
 JOHN BURTON, GENERAL FREIGHT AGENT. 
 
 Mr. Burton entered the service of the Great Western 
 Railway when quite a young man, about thirty years ago. 
 For a short time he was in the office of Mr. A. Irving, then 
 the Company's Solicitor, and was afterwards a shorthand writer 
 for General Manager Swinyard, at Hamilton. Subsequently 
 he acted as Correspondent and Secretary to the several 
 managers, Muir, Price and Commissioner Brydges. He was 
 afterwards, for some years, engaged on railways in New York 
 State, and this gave him a good opportunity for making him 
 
190 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 self acquainted with the through traffic between the Eastern 
 and Western States. We next find him back in Canada, occupy- 
 ing important positions on the Grand Trunk Railway. On 
 the death of Mr. Thos. Tandy, in October, 1889, Mr. JBurton 
 was appointed to succeed him as (sixth) General Freight Agent 
 of the Grand Trunk Railway, which office he still holds, and 
 may he long continue in it. 
 
 JOHN CRAMPTON, GENERAL FREIGHT AGENT. 
 
 Among other old members of the staff of the G. W. R. 
 may be mentioned Mr. John Crampton, who held different 
 offices on that line, including the Detroit Agency, the Gen- 
 eral Freight Agency of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad and a 
 like position on the Great Western, the whole covering a 
 period of about thirty years. For some time he has held an 
 important post on one of the American roads with head- 
 quarters at Buffalo. Mr. Crampton is a gentleman of great 
 ability and considered a high authority among railway mana- 
 gers. Very few men have had such varied experience in 
 freight matters, local and foreign, in both Canada and the 
 United States. 
 
 The author having been a brother officer with Mr. Cramp- 
 ton, on the old Great Western Railway, for some years, has 
 many pleasant memories of that gentleman's universal kind- 
 ness and genuine good feeling, on all occasions of their meet- 
 ing together. 
 
 JOHN EARLS, WESTERN DISTRICT FREIGHT AGENT. 
 
 The long length of time which most of the principal 
 officers of the Grand Trunk have spent on that railway speaks 
 well in favour of its General Managers, who knew when they 
 had got a trustworthy and reliable man and took good care 
 
JOHN EARLS. 
 
General Freight Agents. 191 
 
 to keep him in their employ. As a further illustration of this 
 I need only refer to another gentleman well known to the 
 business community of Canada, viz., Mr. John Earls. 
 
 He first entered the service of the G. T. R. in 1862 as 
 clerk in the office of the Western General Freight Agent, 
 Toronto. From '63 to '66 he was freight clerk at Point Edward 
 (Sarnia). In '66 he was corresponding freight clerk at Port- 
 land, Me. In '68 he was promoted to be cashier and steam- 
 ship accountant at the same station. In '71 we again find 
 Mr. Earls at Toronto, as chief clerk to General Freight Agent 
 Stevenson, and when that gentleman removed his head- 
 quarters to Montreal, Mr. Earls accompanied him and re- 
 mained in the same position up to 1875. From '75 to '77 
 he was assistant general freight agent of the Eastern Division 
 with office at Montreal. From '77 to '84 he was Assistant 
 General Freight Agent of the Western Division, with office at 
 Toronto. In '84 was made District G. F. A., said District 
 comprising the late Great Western Railway and the Grand 
 Trunk section west of Toronto, and has held a position simi- 
 lar to that until the present time, his headquarters now be- 
 ing at Hamilton, Ont., with branch office at Toronto. In 
 addition to the above duties, Mr. Earls was one, with a 
 number of others, who originated the General Freight Agents 
 Association of Canada, and was instrumental in having a 
 joint classification of merchandise compiled, which had the 
 effect of making a uniform one for all the railways in Canada. 
 This was found of great advantage as compared with the various 
 conflicting classifications of roads which had previously been 
 in use. Mr. Earls is at present (Feb., 1893), President of 
 the General Freight Agents Association of Canada, and 
 Chairman of the Canadian Joint Freight Classification Com- 
 mittee. 
 
192 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 ARTHUR WHITE, CENTRAL DISTRICT FREIGHT AGENT. 
 
 It is always interesting as well as instructive to follow a 
 man's career from his first venture in life and to see him gradu- 
 ally advance, " up the Hill Difficulty," step by step to higher 
 positions, until he has reached the goal of his ambition. In this 
 work I have endeavoured to sketch the career of many such men, 
 among whom I name, with great pleasure, Mr. Arthur White, 
 whose example any young man might follow with great advantage 
 to himself. He was born November, 1840, at Hadleigh, Suffolk, 
 England. He entered railway service in 1859. From 1859 to 
 1866 he was in the service of the Great Eastern Railway, 
 England, successively office-boy and clerk. He entered the ser- 
 vice of the Grand Trunk Eailway as freight checker at Toronto 
 in 1866, and was successively clerk, agent, and assistant general 
 freight agent on the Great Western and Midland Divisions of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway. The title of all Grand Trunk Railway 
 assistant general freight agents was changed in April, 1892, to 
 that of district freight agent, which position he now holds, with 
 office in the Board of Trade Rooms, Toronto. From the above 
 it will be seen that Mr. White's railway experience in both 
 countries extends over thirty-three years. Having known him 
 for about twenty years, I can speak of him as a man of push 
 and great energy in all business connected with the working of the 
 freight traffic on both the Grand Trunk and old Great Western 
 Railways. 
 
 W. R. TIFFIN, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, G.T.R. 
 
 Owing to the numerous changes made in the staff of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway in 1892, Mr. W. R. Tiffin, assistant super- 
 intendent, Stratford, was transferred to London, and relinquished 
 control of the Wellington, Grey & Bruce and Georgian Bay & 
 Lake Erie sections of his old district. The employees of these 
 
^* OF THf 
 
 OF 
 
 IFOSJi- 
 
ARTHUR WHITE. 
 
General Freight Agents. 193 
 
 two branches met in the offices at Palmerston, Saturday evening, 
 November 19th, and presented Mr. Tiffin with a very handsome 
 illuminated address and a silver tea service for his wife. The 
 address, which was signed by Messrs. K. A. Shea and H. Hynd- 
 man, jr., of Palmerston, on behalf of the men, set forth the facts 
 that Mr. Tiffin was leaving a portion of the division after having 
 been in charge of it since its construction, twenty-two years 
 before, and was thereby separated from some of the employees of 
 the road who had been under his supervision during the whole 
 of that period, and that most of those present had grown up from 
 boyhood under him. Mr. John Quirk of Kincardine and Mr. 
 John Forbes, Harriston, who made the presentation, expressed 
 their regret in parting with one who had been so long associated 
 with them. Mr. Tiffin, in reply, said he could never forget the 
 kindness shown him. It had been his duty to maintain strict 
 discipline, and after doing so for so long a period he was gratified 
 to know they entertained such kindly sentiments toward himself 
 and family. A number of other speeches closed a very enjoyable 
 hour. 
 
 THE OLD GBEAT WESTERN RAILWAY. 
 
 The old Canadian Great Western was a famous railway 
 educational institution, and will always be held in grateful 
 remembrance by many who started their early career in its 
 offices and who now hold lucrative and important positions on the 
 Grand Trunk, Michigan Central, Chicago & Alton, and other 
 railways in Canada and the United States. In the lengthy list 
 of names, I call to mind 
 
 ALEXANDER MACKAY, 
 
 a bright and intelligent boy who, about twenty-five years ago, 
 was employed in our general freight offices at Hamilton in copy- 
 ing and endorsing letters, etc. After serving there some years 
 13 
 
194 Railways arid Other Ways. 
 
 and gaining the rudiments of railway office freight work, he was 
 promoted to the Great Western Kailway office at Chicago, as an 
 assistant to A. Wallingford, an old, trustworthy, and much 
 esteemed agent of the Company in that progressive city. At 
 Chicago Mr. Mackay soon made his mark and pushed his way to 
 higher positions until he reached that of general freight agent of 
 the Michigan Central Eailway, which office he has held with high 
 honour for many years, and long may he continue in it. 
 
 M. C. DICKSON, DISTRICT PASSENGER AGENT. 
 
 I have much pleasure in referring to another old officer of 
 the Great Western, viz., Mr. M. C. Dickson, whom I rememher 
 as the active station agent at Bothwell many years ago. Since 
 then he has held different important positions on Canadian rail- 
 ways. For some years he was general freight agent on the 
 Northern Eailway, and when that road merged into the Grand 
 Trunk, Mr. Dickson was appointed district passenger agent for 
 the G.T.E., with office at the Union Station, which position he 
 still retains. 
 
L0>^^V 
 
 
GEORGE BURDETT SPRIGGS. 
 
Other Officers, Incidents and Anecdotes. 195 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 OTHER OFFICERS, INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES. 
 GEO. BURDETT SPRIGGS. 
 
 OF this gentleman, the Station Agent, a monthly magazine, 
 thus speaks in its issue of August, 1893 : 
 " We are pleased to present to our readers this month, one 
 of the prominent Cleveland traffic officials, one of the best known 
 in railway circles and one who has a national reputation, Mr. G. 
 B. Spriggs, general freight agent of the New York, Chicago & 
 St. Louis Eaih'oad (Nickel Plate). 
 
 '• The outline of his career is an interesting one, showing a 
 steady rise from the lowest to the highest position in the freight 
 department. Mr. G. B. Spriggs was born in England in November 
 1834, and at the age of eighteen entered the service of the London 
 & Northwestern railway as junior clerk in the freight department 
 at Eockiugham. After a year's service in that position he was 
 made corresponding clerk at Stafford Station. Two years of 
 this work was sufficient to show his employers that he had 
 the right stuff in him, and he was made corresponding clerk and 
 chief accountant at Wolverhampton. In 1858 he was further 
 promoted to the chief clerkship of the district goods manager's 
 office, remaining in that position until 1862 when he accepted, 
 by direct invitation from the management in Canada, the position 
 of freight agent at Hamilton, Ont., on the Great Western Rail- 
 way of Canada. From 1862 until 1870 his career was a series 
 
196 Raihvays and Other Ways. 
 
 of steadily ascending steps, being promoted from freight agent 
 at Hamilton to through freight agent, and finally general freight 
 agent, leaving the service on a change of management. From 
 1871 to 1877 he was assistant general freight agent of the Balti- 
 more & Ohio system, and developed the freight business of the 
 Chicago Division of that road from its opening in 1874. But in 
 1877, on the management retiring under whose regime he had 
 left in 1870, Mr. Spriggs returned to the Great Western Rail- 
 way as general traffic manager, with headquarters at Hamilton, 
 Gnt. In the summer of 1882, the Great Western and Grand 
 Trunk being then about to amalgamate, the executive officers of 
 the Nickel Plate began casting about for a man who could man- 
 age the freight department of the new road and manage it in the 
 manner necessary for the success of the to be rival for a slice of 
 the Vanderbilt business. Mr. Spriggs was the man who fitted 
 the place exactly, and in August, 1882, he accepted the position 
 he now holds." 
 
 To the above sketch of Mr. Spriggs' very interesting railway 
 career I have great pleasure in adding some further reminis- 
 cences from my own personal recollections of him, when I was 
 assistant G. F. A. on the old Great Western Railway. 
 
 In September, 1866, Mr. Spriggs felt himself compelled to 
 resign his position ofG.F. A. in consequence of ill-health and 
 to return to England in the hope of improvement. 
 
 On this occasion the officers and employees of the G. W. R. 
 presented him with an address, an exquisitely fine gold watch 
 and chain and a purse of gold. I give the following extracts 
 from the Hamilton Times, Sept. 15th, 1866 : 
 
 " Mr. Swinyard in a very pleasant speech alluded to the 
 very opportune assistance which Mr. Spriggs had often afforded 
 him in the many complicated questions which had arisen, and 
 pronounced a very high encomium on the ability and character o^ 
 
Other Oncers, Incidents and Anecdotes. 197 
 
 the gentleman about to sever his connection with the Compan}'. 
 He then read the address, to which Mr. Spriggs made the follow- 
 ing reply : 
 
 " ' Gentlemen, — I cannot too gratefully acknowledge the kind- 
 ness and goodwill which are manifested towards me in every ex- 
 pression of the address you have just now read to me, and which 
 is subscribed by so many of my fellow officers and workmen. I 
 am doubly grateful that this spontaneous evidence of regard 
 should come at a time when I am about to leave the country and 
 give up a connection which has been to me a source of pride and 
 pleasure, and which I cannot sever without the deepest regret. 
 
 " 'When I came to this country nearly four years ago, I was 
 a stranger to all, but by pursuing a steady course and endeavour- 
 ing to win the regard of those amongst whom my lot Was cast, I 
 soon discovered that the great principle of charity was not con- 
 fined to the other side of the Atlantic, but that men's hearts 
 were as warm here as elsewhere, and that if I long remained a 
 stranger it would be my own fault. Four years have passed and 
 the hand of friendship is extended to me from all sides, and I 
 am almost bewildered to think that in the hereafter of our lives 
 only the influence and not the presence will be felt. 
 
 *"If I have been successful in the various offices I have filled 
 under the Great Western Company, it is due as much to the 
 efficiency of the freight staff generally as to my own exertions. 
 My staff have always shown a willingness to co-operate with me 
 in all matters of detail, and the good understanding which exists 
 between us will ever yield me the utmost satisfaction, and I only 
 regret that the generally bad state of my health compels me to 
 break a tie which seems to have in it much more than the char- 
 acter of a business connection. 
 
 " We heartily second the wishes expressed in the beautiful 
 address which was read to Mr. Spriggs, accompanied by our 
 
198 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 regret that so excellent an officer, in a department of so very 
 much concern to the public, should be compelled to leave from 
 such a cause. 
 
 "Mr.Crampton was introduced by Mr. Swinyard to the heads 
 of departments, as the successor of Mr. Spriggs." 
 
 After Mr. Spriggs had been in England for a short time he 
 found himself quite recuperated and he once more embarked for 
 Canada. Mr. Swinyard then gave him the charge of the car and 
 mileage department of the G. W. E. 
 
 The details of his career afterwards have already been 
 given. 
 
 Mr. Spriggs' varied experience, in the three countries, has 
 given him a' knowledge of railway business possessed by few. He 
 is now looked upon as one of the prominent freight managers in 
 the United States. 
 
 Mr. Spriggs' talents of a literary character are first class, 
 and had he have turned his attention in that direction he would 
 undoubtedly have made his mark in the literary world.* 
 
 I remember he, at one time, wrote a number of humorous 
 letters which appeared in the Hamilton Times, under the nom- 
 de-plume of a "Country Cousin," or "Cousin Joe." I regret 
 that I have not any copies of them. 
 
 ♦ Referring to the resolutions, already quoted in full, passed at a meeting of the 
 Central Traffic Association at Chicago, on the death of Thos. Tandy, the Cleveland 
 Plain Dealer B&ya : "They were written by Mr. George B. Spriggs, of this city, 
 General Freight Agent of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Road. As the eulo- 
 gist of his Canadian friend, Mr. Spriggs has achieved special distinction by being the 
 author of resolutions which leave tho beaten path of commonplace and give exjires- 
 sion in choicest diction to the feelings of the heart at the loss which the associates 
 and friends of Mr. Tandy sustained by his death. The tender of respectful sympathy 
 to the family of the deceased and the enumeration of the brilliant qualities which he 
 possessed are expressed in language which is quite out of the ordinary set forms used 
 on such occasions, and has caused the resolutions to b« extensively copied in the press. 
 Mr. Spriggf is not onl^ one of the most thoroughly informed men in the country on 
 railway matters, but is also possessed of literary ability of a high order." 
 

 OS 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 a; 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 < 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 H 
 
 iz; 
 
 o 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 
 W 
 
 < 
 
 ^ 
 
 £ 
 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 < 
 
 z 
 
 W 
 
 z 
 
 P^ 
 
 z 
 
 O 
 
 Oh 
 
 Q 
 
 <i 
 
 O 
 
 :^* 
 
 W 
 
 >« 
 
 E 
 
 CQ 
 
 H 
 
 W 
 
 
 K 
 
 O 
 
 0. 
 
 < 
 
 
 o 
 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 HH 
 
 O 
 
 Z 
 
 X 
 
 w 
 
 a. 
 
 > 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 OS 
 
 c/) 
 
 b 
 
 
 u 
 
 < 
 
 Oi 
 
 
 < 
 
 
 !A 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 X 
 
 
 H 
 
Other Officers, Incidents and Anecdotes. 199 
 
 JOSEPH TAYLOR — AUTHOR OF "FAST LIFE." 
 
 In another part of this volume I have spoken of railway men 
 who have dibbed into the mines of literature, as Poole, Salt and 
 Anderten, and which show that men, however multitudinous their 
 duties, many 3-et find some time to ramble into the fields of 
 science, fiction or poesy. 
 
 I now speak of a gentleman on this side of the Atlantic, 
 viz : Joseph Taylor, who, when I first knew him, was a short- 
 hand writer for General Manager Swinyard of the old Great 
 "Western Railway ; subsequently he was chief clerk to the late W. 
 K. Muir, when that gentleman was General Manager of the G. 
 W. E. 
 
 Mr. Taj'lor possesses literary abilities of a high order, 
 with a particular bent for writings of a humorous character. 
 In 1874 he wrote a book entitled, "A Fast Life on the Modern 
 Highway," illustrated and published by Harper Bros., New York. 
 The work contained much valuable information in connection 
 with railways and their mode of working, with characteristic 
 sketches of railway officers, and several graphic, romantic and 
 humorous tales. 
 
 Mr. Taylor on retiring from the G. W. E. went to Detroit 
 and joined the Detroit Sc Milwaukee Eailroad Company. Here 
 he met Mr. James McMillan, " The Car-Building King," and the 
 two became warm friends, and for eighteen years have been 
 closely related in all business transactions, Mr. Taylor holding 
 the position of Secretary to the Michigan Car Company, and, 
 like Mr. McMillan and other gentleman connected with that 
 great undertaking, has greatly prospered. 
 
 The following is a selection from " Fast Life on a Modern 
 Highway:" 
 
 AN APPLICATION FOR A SITUATION. 
 
 " The following is from a fond, gushing parent, seeking em- 
 ployment for his innocent lad, only thirty-two years of age : 
 
200 Rcdhvays and Other Ways. 
 
 " * Respected and Dear Sir, — 
 
 " 'Happy is the man that hath his kwiwer full of them, as 
 the Salmist says. I have got a sweet lad, he is quick as litenin, 
 and is going into his 33th year. At his time of life most men 
 would only be in their 21th year — he's so kwick. When he was 
 a hinfant he would say he would be a railrode man. He is full 
 of the thort of a railrode life ; and though I say it as should not, 
 I never see a lad hoe turnips so kwick in all my days. He has 
 wrote a verse which runs like a him ; it is as follows : 
 
 ' I choose to be a brakesman, 
 If I might be a flower ; 
 To run along the top of cars, 
 And screw up the brakes.' 
 
 " ' He also wrote another him, which begins like these : 
 
 ' How doth the busy boot-black. 
 Improve each shining hour,' etc ! 
 
 '* ' Now respected Sir, can you help him to reach his gole ? He 
 is cute to a degree. If you want a good operator, he could soon 
 LEARN ! Do a good turn when you can, * as the treadmill says 
 to the Convict' please note : He enters on his 33st year 
 on Wednesday ; and it would be elegant to give him your oifer 
 on that date. ' " 
 
 JAMES CHARLTON, CHICAGO. 
 
 Mr. Charlton commenced his railroad career in England, 
 about forty-five years ago. He came to Canada in 1857, and 
 entered the services of the Great Western Railway Co., as a clerk 
 in the audit office, and from time to time was advanced to higher 
 positions, until he was appointed Auditor and General Passenger 
 and Ticket Agent, which offices he filled with untiring zeal and 
 much success. He is fairly entitled to be classed as one of 
 Canada's early railway pioneers. Mr. Charlton retired from the 
 G. W. R. service in 1870, to accept the position of General Pas- 
 senger Agent of the North Missouri Railroad, and in 1871 he was 
 
^^^^^^^^^^S- 
 
Other Officers, Incidents and Anecdotes. 201 
 
 appointed to a similar position on the Chicago & Alton road, 
 which he still retains. As a railroad officer, in his particular 
 department, he stands in the front ranks, and has no superior. 
 Like most successful railway men he has sprung from the 
 workers, and has pushed his way to his present high post of 
 honour by sterling integrity and sheer ability. The Directors 
 and Managers of the Chicago & Alton road have always paid 
 great deference to Mr. Charlton's judgment and intrusted him 
 with almost unlimited powers. Mr. C. is fond of literature and 
 has come in contact with and enjoyed the friendship of many' 
 notabilities on both sides of the Atlantic, among whom I name 
 Sir Charles Gavin Duffy, ex-Premier of Australia, and George 
 Jacob Holyoake, of Brighton, England. 
 
 Mr. Charlton is a good public speaker, and has occasionally 
 come out as a warm politician. I remember the great assistance 
 he rendered to Mr. Witton, his friend and fellow G. W. E. 
 employee, in securing that gentleman's election as member of 
 Parliament for the city of Hamilton. Mr. Charlton is a 
 great admirer of the poetry of Piobert Browning, and some 
 eighteen years ago he commenced the novel but laborious task of 
 publishing Browning's works in the Chicago & Alton official 
 Railroad Guide. This he carried on for some months, but found 
 it was too great a tax upon his time, and he had to discontinue 
 it ; still what he did had the effect of calling the special attention 
 of the American public to Browning's poetry, as upwards of 
 10,000 copies of the Guide, in neat pamphlet form, were distri- 
 buted freely all over the country every month. 
 
 This is the only case in which I have seen the charms of 
 poesy combined with the prosaic uses of a railway time table. 
 
 I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Charlton recently, and 
 though the frost of winter had tinged the beard, giving him 
 somewhat of a venerable appearance, his eye was still bright and 
 
202 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 his step elastic, and he seemed good to wield the "Baton" of 
 the Chicago & Alton railroad for many years to come. 
 
 WILLIAM EDGAR. 
 
 Mr. Edgar was born at Birkenhead, England, on June 14, 
 1841. He came to Canada when a mere boy and was employed 
 as a clerk on the Great Western Eailway. His promotion was 
 rapid. I remember him as chief clerk to General Passenger Agent, 
 Mr. James Charlton, about twenty-five years ago. Shortly after- 
 wards Mr. Edgar was appointed District Passenger Agent for the 
 Western Division, with office at Detroit, and when Mr. Charlton 
 removed to Chicago to assume the General Passenger and Ticket 
 Agency of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, Mr. Edgar suc- 
 ceeded that gentleman as General Passenger Agent of the Great 
 Western and, on the absorption of that line by the Grand Trunk, 
 he was appointed Assistant General Passenger Agent of that road, 
 with office at Toronto. In 1884 Mr. Edgar reached the highest 
 step, being promoted to the General Passenger Agency of the 
 Grand Trunk system, with office at Montreal. This position h^ 
 held with great credit until his untimely decease on the 13th 
 April, 1892. Though only fifty years of age when he passed away, 
 he had been engaged on Canadian railways for thirty-four years, 
 during which time he rose, step by step, from the lowest to the 
 highest rank in his profession. 
 
 NICHOLAS J. POWER. 
 
 Here is the record of another successful old Great Western 
 employee : 
 
 Mr. Nicholas J. Power, late Assistant Accountant of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway in Montreal, who has been appointed to 
 the position rendered vacant by the death of Mr. William Edgar, 
 was, like his predecessor, one of the employees of the Great 
 
Uther Officers, Incidents and Anecdotes. 203 
 
 "Western Eailway, who entered the Grand Trunk employ at 
 the time of the absorption of the former road. He entered the 
 service of the Great Western as a clerk in the freight department 
 early in 1858, whence he was transferred to the audit depart- 
 ment, where he rose gradually until appointed General Book- 
 keeper in 1868- He was next made Accountant in 1873, and in 
 1878 he became Chief Accountant, with the additional charge of 
 the audit department. At the time of the fusion of the two roads 
 in 1882 he was removed to Montreal to take a position as Assistant 
 Accountant, which position he held until his well-deserYed pro- 
 motion. Mr. G. F. Bell, late chief clerk to Mr. Edgar, who has 
 been promoted to the position of Assistant General Passenger 
 Agent, is also an energetic and capable servant. 
 
 W. S. CHAMP, PAYMASTER. 
 
 Mr. Champ's railway career has been a remarkable as 
 well as a succesful one. When quite a youth he entered the 
 office of Brackstone Baker* who was then secretary of the Great 
 Western Eailway at Hamilton. Here Mr. Champ remained nine 
 years under, at different times, W. C. Stephens and W. K. Hen- 
 derson, Secretaries ; Thos. Reynold, Financial Director ; Thos. Bell 
 and Joseph Price, Treasurers. 
 
 In 1863 Mr. Champ was appointed Paymaster of the G. W. 
 E. ; this position he held, uninterruptedly, for fifteen yeai'S. In 
 1878 he was promoted to that of General Cashier for the Com- 
 pany, which he held until the fusion of the Great Western with the 
 
 * Old railway officers and residents of Ontario well remember genial, humorous 
 Brackstone Baker, the Secretary of the Great Western Railway, at Hamilton, 
 Ont., in the Company's early days. He was afterwards Secretary for theG.W.R. 
 at London, England, for fifteen or twenty years. He from time to time visited Canada 
 during this period along with the President, Sir Thos. Dakin, and other Directors. 
 Mr. Baker was always welcomed by old friends and particularly by gentlemen of 
 the press, he in early life having been connected with the newspaper press in 
 London. England. On Mr. Baker's retirement from the Company's service the 
 G.W.R. Directors awarded him a pension as a mark of their esteem for his 
 long and faithful attention to the interests of the Company. 
 
204 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Grand Trunk Railway. The Hamilton Cashier office being now 
 abolished, Mr. Champ in 1882 once more became Paymaster, now 
 on the Grand Trunk, which position he still retains. It will be 
 interesting to know that during Mr. Champ's twenty-seven years' 
 occupation of the position as Paymaster, he has paid out in 
 salaries and wages (mainly from his travelling pay-car) the 
 enormous sum of sixty-two million dollars, and that practi- 
 cally, luithout any loss. It is very questionable if another such 
 record could be found on the American Continent. 
 
 Mr. Champ has had some occasional " scares," but has never 
 been attacked by robbers. He, of course, goes well armed, and, 
 as a rule, a detective has his eagle eye upon the pay-car. 
 
 Mr. Champ, as Cashier and General Cashier, has had an 
 equally large sum of money passed through his hands, indepen- 
 dent of the amount from the pay-car. 
 
 Many interesting incidents might be related from Mr. 
 Champ's out-look of twenty-seven years from a pay-car. One 
 I may relate, as I well remember the circumstance, and which 
 illustrates the immense value of an instant of time. 
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE. 
 
 Early one December morning, in 1866, the G. W. R. pay- 
 car (with Mr. Champ only partially dressed inside) stood next 
 to some freight cars on the main line at Komoka Junction 
 during some shunting that was going on. Owing to a blunder 
 (which could only be explained by diagrams), a long train of 
 cattle came up at full speed, when Colin Ross, track foreman^ 
 seeing that a terrible crash was inevitable, called out in a 
 stentorian voice — " Jump, Mr. Champ, jump." Mr. C. did 
 not ask the " reason why," but sprang off, and the next moment 
 the pay-car was smashed into a thousand splinters and 
 buried in a wreck of locomotive, freight cars, living and dead 
 
other Officers, Incidents and Anecdotes. 205 
 
 <jattle. Mr. Champ's gold watch, his clothing and a small 
 sum of money were destroyed in the general wreck (1893). 
 
 Mr. Champ died unexpectedly of pneumonia, March 11th, 
 1894. The sudden death took his friends by surjDrise, as he 
 Tvas in charge of his pay-car the previous day although not 
 feeling well, and was assisted by Paymaster Fraser of the 
 Northern Division. Mr. Champ was well known throughout 
 railway circles, he having gone into the G. W. R. employ 
 forty years ago. He was over twenty-seven years paymaster and 
 about four years cashier, the latter at the time of the fusion 
 of the G. W. E. and G, T. R. He was beloved and respected 
 by all railway employees with whom he came in contact, and 
 there was a general feeling of sorrow at his sudden demise. 
 A widow, four sons and three daughters are left to mourn, 
 one being Mrs. Henry Beckett, of John Gillard & Co., whole- 
 sale grocers. 
 
 FUETHER EARLY OFFICERS. 
 
 In writing of events and circumstances of long ago, and 
 of the men whose faces were once so familiar, and who took 
 such an active part in the working of our great national 
 railway, one cannot but feel somewhat saddened to think 
 that by far the greater number of them have passed away 
 and joined the ever-increasing majority. Still it is pleasing 
 to find that a few of the old staff of officers yet remain, 
 whose names and faces I knew so well from thirty to forty 
 years ago, and I cannot close these reminiscences without 
 giving a passing glance to them as well as to those who 
 have gone. 
 
 H. K. RITCHIE. 
 
 Mr Ritchie has had charge of the stationery business 
 almost from the commencement of the Grand Trunk Rail- 
 
206 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 way, and when it is considered that he has to supply upwards 
 of 500 local stations, the general offices, out agencies, etc., 
 with books and all kinds of stationery, it will be seen that 
 it requires an amount of skill and attention equal to that re- 
 quired in the management of a large mercantile house, and 
 that Mr. Eitchie's office is no sinecure. I have often wondered 
 how many billions of documents Mr. Eitchie has sent out. 
 To make a rough guess, I should think the quantity would be 
 quite sufficient to cover the surface of the Dominion with a 
 paper carpet. 
 
 ALEXANDER ERASER. 
 
 Among the few men now remaining of the early Grand 
 Trunk staff is Mr. A. Eraser. He has seen the line extend 
 from its babe-like proportions of 290 miles to its present 
 magnitude of 4,000 or 5,000 miles. In the exercise of his 
 duties, as Travelling Auditor, he has, at one time or another, 
 audited the accounts at every station in the G. T. E. system. 
 In 1854 he entered the service as Time-keeper for Mr. E. 
 Lawson, Divisional Engineer. In 1856 he was a junior clerk 
 in the freight office at Longueil. In 1859 he was in charge 
 of the freight office on Montreal wharf, when the business 
 was taken to Longueil by ferry boats. When the Victoria 
 Bridge was opened, Mr. F. was removed to Point St. Charles, 
 as Freight Cashier, and remained there until 1864, when he 
 was appointed Freight Agent and District Cashier at Point 
 Levis and Quebec. 
 
 Mr. Eraser relates that when there was no ice bridge at 
 Quebec the winter freight and passenger service was done by 
 French habitants, who used large canoes ; and it was a novel 
 and somewhat fearful sight to see these fearless French- 
 Canadians take over a hogshead of sugar or other bulky 
 package in a canoe made out of a simple pine log. At an 
 
Other Oficers, Incidents and Anecdotes. 207 
 
 early period, Mr. Tibbits, an enterprising gentleman, put on 
 a strong-built steamer, " The Arctic," and did the winter ferry 
 service for the Grand Trunk for many years. Mr. Tibbits had 
 the honour of being the first to navigate the St. Lawrence at 
 Quebec by steamer in mid- winter. 
 
 In 1873 or '74, Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Hickson, appointed 
 Mr. Fraser as Travelling Auditor for the G. T. E., in which he 
 continued up to 1891, when he was further promoted to that of 
 Paymaster, still retaining the Auditing of accounts at princi- 
 pal stations west of Toronto, which positions he still occupies. 
 
 Mr. Fraser was always a quiet, good-tempered fellow, and 
 though he has " plodded the even tenor of his way " on the 
 rough and smooth paths of the Grand Trunk for about thirty- 
 eight years, time has dealt kindly with him, touching him 
 with a very gentle hand, so that he is still enabled to attend to 
 his highly responsible duties with much of the usual energy of 
 youth. 
 
 MAJOR WALTER WILY. 
 
 I remember that the late Major Wily started his railway 
 career at Portland, Me., as clerk with Mr. I. S. Millar, who at that 
 time was agent for the Grand Trunk Railway there. This was 
 about thirty-three years ago. loften heard Mr. Millar speak in very 
 high terms of the ability of young Wily, and as one likely to make 
 his mark on railways ; and in this opinion Mr. Millar was not 
 mistaken. In after years Mr. Wily was promoted to different 
 responsible offices on the Grand Trunk, as agent at Point Ed- 
 ward (Sarnia), Travelling Auditor, etc., and he, for the last ten 
 3-ears, has had the superintendence of the large freight depart- 
 ment of the G.T.E. at Montreal, including the business connected 
 with the shipping interests at the wharves there, the whole re- 
 quiring an amount of skill, energy and intelligence which few- 
 possess. 
 
208 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Mr. Wily was born in Halifax, N.S., on March 5, 1837. 
 He was the eldest son of Col. Wily, who was at that time attached 
 to the 53rd Kegiment, then stationed at Halifax. He moved to 
 Montreal with his parents when quite a lad, and was one of the 
 boys at Caj^tain Button's Academy. 
 
 Major Wily was one of the first members of the old Montreal 
 Eifle Eangers. He afterwards was Major in the Grand Trunk 
 EifleSjWas stationed at Sarnia during the Fenian troubles of 1866, 
 and was much beloved by his comrades in the ranks of our citizen- 
 soldiers. Major Wily was one of the civilian veterans who turned 
 out during the Eiel insurrection. 
 
 The Major's death took place rather suddenly, on October 
 27th, 1892, in his 56th year. He has left a wife to mourn his 
 loss. He has also one brother, Mr. Arthur Wily, who is attached 
 to the Toronto offices of the Grand Trunk Eailway. 
 
 At a meeting of the Montreal Corn Exchange Association Mr. 
 Edgar Judge paid a high tribute to the memory of the late 
 Major Wily and moved a resolution expressing the kindliest feel- 
 ings of the Board, sorrow at the great loss of so useful a public 
 officer, and deep sympathy for Mrs. Wily, his bereaved wife. 
 
 MAJOR ROBT. L. NELLES. 
 
 The following details are taken from the Eev. Dr. W. 
 Cochrane's " Men of Canada :" 
 
 Mr. Nelles was born on March 7, 1842, near York, County of 
 Haldimand, Ont. His father, who was extensively engaged in 
 lumbering and farming on the Grand Eiver, died when he was of 
 tender age, so his education and training were entirely under the 
 supervision of his mother and his uncle, the late Michael Har- 
 court, M.P., father of the Hon. Eichard Harcourt, now Provincial 
 Treasurer of Ontario. After completing his education, Mr. 
 
Other Officers, Iiiddents and Anecdotes. 209 
 
 Nelles spent a few years on the farm before entering upon busi- 
 ness life. 
 
 He was married on January 9th, 1862, to Agnes Thorburn. 
 daughter of the late James Thorburn. In the same year he en- 
 tered the service of the Buffalo & Lake Huron Railway Co., (now 
 part of the Grand Trunk Eail way) and has remained with the Com- 
 pany ever since, occupying positions of trust in the service at dif- 
 ferent points, until, from Caledonia, he was appointed traffic agent 
 at Brantford. In 1887 he succeeded Mr. Jno. W. Loud, as freight 
 agent of the G.T.E. at Toronto, that point being now the centre 
 shipping and receiving depot of freight formerly done at different 
 stations by five separate railway companies, viz., the Grand 
 Trunk, the Great Western, the Northern, the Nipissing, and the 
 Midland. 
 
 Mr. Nelles' s character as a freight manager stands high 
 in Western Canada, being well known and much appreciated by 
 the mercantile community. He has been connected with the 
 active militia since the "Mason and Slide 11 " or Trent diffi- 
 culty, and was in active service during the Fenian trouble. At 
 present he holds the position of Major in the 37th Battalion 
 under Lieut-Col. Davis. 
 
 GEORGE S. SPENCE. 
 
 I remember Mr. Spence as far back as 1859. He was then 
 a young man and employed as freight checker on the Grand 
 Trunk at Toronto. At that time the whole of the freight busi- 
 ness of the Company was done in the small brick warehouse, 
 situated on the margin of Lake Ontario, at Queen's Wharf. This 
 building was afterwards used by the Toronto, Grey & Bruce 
 Eailway, and subsequently by the C.P.R. The G.T.R. agent at 
 that time (1859) was Mr. J. B. Jones, who with five clerks and 
 
 14 
 
210 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 twenty-five checkers and porters attended to the freight business 
 at Toronto. 
 
 Mr. Spence was from time to time promoted to higher posi- 
 tions ; in 1864 as cashier and in 1871 as chief clerk, with charge 
 of the accounts and the staff of clerks under him. The latter 
 number had then risen to fourteen or fifteen, among whom was 
 Mr. William Whyte.* 
 
 In 1872 Mr. Spence was appointed freight agent at Toronto, 
 which he held up to 1876, when he was transferred to Montreal, 
 in charge of the freight accounts there. In 1883 we find him as 
 travelling auditor over a portion of the old G.W.E. and W.G. & 
 B., with headquarters at Toronto. In 1884 he was appointed to 
 take charge of the freight accounts of the Grand Trunk at 
 Toronto, in which position he still remains. 
 
 Mr. Spence says the fusions of the Great Western in 1882 
 and the Northern in 1888 added vastly to the freight traffic at 
 Toronto, so that the staff now required to conduct the immense 
 business consists of M. E. L. Nelles, the agent, and some seventy- 
 five officers and clerks and about one hundred and ninety 
 checkers and porters. It will be seen that Mr. Spence has had 
 thirty-five years of active railway service in many different de- 
 partments ; and his quiet disposition and steady habits have 
 brought him down to the present time almost as vigorous now 
 as in the days of his youth. 
 
 Mr. Spence considers that comparing the Toronto freight 
 traffic of the G.T.R. for 1859 with that of 1894, the latter has 
 increased fourteen times over the former. It must, however, be 
 remembered that in 1859 the G.T.R. consisted of a single road, 
 
 * Mr, Whyte subsequently became Grand Trunk freight agent, first at London, 
 then at Toronto, also assistant superintendent. He afterwards joined the Canadian 
 Pacific Kailway, and for some years has held the high position of general superinten- 
 dent of the Western Division of the O.P.R. at Winnipeg. 
 
other Officers Incidents and Anecdotes. 211 
 
 while now it consists of five amalgamated or leased lines, includ- 
 ing the old Great Western with all its branches. 
 
 THOMAS DOW. 
 
 It may be said of Mr. Dow that he was born for a railway 
 life, as he began his career in 
 
 "The land of the mountain and the flood" 
 
 in 1849, then only fourteen years of age, as a boy clerk at a small 
 station on the old Edinboro' & Glasgow Railway, and after serving 
 at three different stations, including Waverley station, Edinboro', 
 he in 1853 embarked for Canada, amving just in time to get an 
 appointment on the Great Western Railway, then preparing for 
 its opening. Mr. Dow's first post was that of a clerk at St. 
 Catharines, and afterwards he was removed to Niagara Falls 
 (Suspension Bridge). We next find him promoted to the position 
 of cashier at the thriving station of Hamilton, and then to that 
 of chief clerk to General Freight Agent G. B. Spriggs. At this 
 time the author had charge of the local freight traffic of the 
 G.W.R., and, being in the same office, saw much of Mr. Dow, 
 and can bear testimony, if any were needed, to Mr. D.'s ability 
 as a correspondent and first-class accountant. He afterwards 
 acted as station agent for short periods at Sarnia, Paris and 
 Guelph, thus gaining great experience in the various duties per- 
 taining to railway work. For the last twenty-two years Mr. 
 Dow has been the active agent and representative of the Great 
 Western and subsequently of the Grand Trunk Railway at 
 Windsor, which important position he still holds. 
 
 THE PANTS AND THE MAIL BAG. 
 
 Mr. Dow's reminiscences of the early days of the old Great 
 Western Railway are replete with interest. He can tell some 
 funny stories of those times. He says when the road opened the 
 
212 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 country west of London was a wilderness of forest. Trains 
 were few and very irregular. At small wayside stations the night 
 mail train did not stop ; it merely slackened speed, and the 
 station master in charge threw the mail bag into the baggage 
 car. One moonlight summer night an agent at one of the way- 
 stations felt sleepy, and being a light sleeper, he thought he 
 might as well go to bed, trusting to the sound of the whistle to 
 rouse him up, when he could draw on his pants and rush out in 
 time to throw the mail bag to the train. But it was a warm 
 night and the sleeper played music on the nasal organ, and 
 dreamed of anything but noisy trains. Lo, a roaring whistle 
 sounds in his ears ; he jumps up, in a bewildered state of mind, 
 seizes both pants and mail bag and rushing on the platform in 
 his night clothes throws his pants into the open door of the bag- 
 gage car, retaining the mail bag in his hand. Then for a moment 
 he looks on the moving train, when, to his astonishment, he 
 just discerns a pair of pants held out by a mysterious hand 
 from the baggage-car door. This leads him to see what he 
 holds in his hand, and then, to his horror, he spies the mail bag, 
 his old pants having gone on to represent Her Majesty's mail. 
 There were no instantaneous photo men in those days, but had 
 there been one and he could have taken a " snap shot " at that 
 station man's phiz., photo man's fortune would have been made. 
 What the Postal authorities said, when they received an ancient 
 pair of pants instead of the mail bag, and how their risible facul- 
 ties were set in motion thereby, Thos. Dow sayeth not. 
 
 FORCE OF HABIT. 
 
 Mr. N. Weatherston tells another anecdote of the old G.W.R. 
 He says there was a station master who had done night duty 
 only, for a long time and had got so accustomed to it that he 
 failed to distinguish that there was any difference between the 
 
Other O^ers, Incidents and Anecdotes. 213 
 
 running of night and day trains, so far as the company's mles 
 and regulations were concerned. The night train had to show 
 a light when approaching and passing a station. One day the 
 night man was put on day duty, and when the noan train passed 
 he reported the conductor as having passed his station without 
 showing a light. 
 
 JOHN SMITH, EX-DOMINION EMIGRATION AGENT, HAMILTON, ONT. 
 
 Among the very few old faces which loom up to one's mem- 
 ory is that of my old friend, Mr. John Smith, who as a boy com- 
 menced his carrying career on the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal 
 in Manchester, at a time when Railways were in their infancy. 
 He left Manchester for Liverpool to take charge of the shipping 
 depai'tment at the Duke's Dock, and afterwards conducted the 
 joint agency of the Duke's and the Birkenhead, Lancashire & 
 Cheshire Eailway Lines. From Liverpool he was removed to 
 Birmingham on the opening of the Great Western Railway from 
 Oxford to Bu-miQgham, whence he emigrated to Canada in 1854, 
 joining the Great Western Eailway under Mr. Brydges as agent 
 for the Lake and Rail through traffic, in which he took a promi- 
 nent part for four years, retiring from the service in 1858 to 
 enter into business on his own account as Lake Carrier and Gen- 
 eral Produce Merchant, conducting one of the largest businesses 
 in Western Canada, being known as the " Barley King." On re- 
 tiring from business he was appointed Grain Inspector by the 
 Dominion Government, still keeping up his connection with 
 railways as an advocate of branch lines and a promoter of muni- 
 cipal bonuses for their construction. 
 
 In 1874 he was appointed Dominion Immigration Agent 
 by the late Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. In 1892, on the abolish- 
 ment of the Agency, he was retired and placed upon the super- 
 annuation list. 
 
 But Mr. Smith could not rest upon his oars for we find him 
 
214 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 again once more returning to his first love, and as active as ever, 
 having joined the National Despatch Fast Freight Line in con- 
 nection with the Ontario Agency, with offices in Toronto. 
 
 WM. ORR, GENERAL FREIGHT AGENT, DULUTH, SOUTH SHORE AND 
 ATLANTIC RAILWAY. 
 
 The wanderings and movements of railway men are some- 
 thing phenomenal. I am led to this remark, by scanning over a 
 sketch of the railway adventures of my old friend, Wm. Orr. 
 A brief account of his journeyings from one country to another 
 and of his varied experience on Scottish, Canadian, and United 
 States railways will be interesting. 
 
 Mr. Orr began railway life on the Caledonian road, in Scot- 
 land, some thirty-five years ago. He came out to Canada in 
 1868, and had charge of a section of the freight department 
 of the Great Western Eailway ; but in a year or two he once more 
 returned to Scotland to occupy his old position as Chief Clerk to 
 the General Superintendent of the Caledonian. In a few months 
 he was appointed Superintendent of the Scottish Central Eailway, 
 with office at Perth. This position he held for a few years, when 
 a strong desire seized him to cross the Atlantic again, and in 
 1870 or '71 we find him in Toronto as Superintendent of one 
 of the then Narrow Gauge roads. In two years he joined the 
 Canada Southern Eailway, as its Travelling Freight Agent, and 
 removed to Buffalo, N.Y. In 1880 he became chief assistant 
 to the General Freight Agent of that line. In 1883 he became 
 Secretary of the the Middle and Western States Freight Associa- 
 tion. For a short time he was the commercial agent at Chicago 
 for the Wabash Eailway, and, in 1887, he was appointed General 
 Freight Agent for the Duluth, South Shore k Atlantic Eailway, 
 with head-quarters at Marquette, Mich., which position he still 
 retains ; but he tells me that his department is about to be re- 
 moved to the progressive and thriving city of Duluth, at the head 
 of Lake Superior. 
 
Dominion Government Raihvays. 215 
 
 CHAPTEK XYIII. 
 
 DOMINION GOVERNMENT RAILWAYS. 
 
 THE Canadian Government Eailways are made up of two divi- 
 sions, the Intercolonial Division having a length of 1,14-1 
 miles, and the Prince Edward Island Division 210 miles, making 
 a total of 1,354 miles. 
 
 They are under the control of the Department of Railways 
 and Canals, at the head of which is a Cabinet Minister, the 
 Honorable John Haggart ; and Mr. Collingwood Schreiber is 
 Deputy Minister and Chief Engineer. Mr. David Pottinger is 
 General Manager of the Government Railways. 
 
 My reason for introducing the Government Railways in my 
 book is that the Intercolonial was constructed under the com- 
 missioner ship of Mr. C. J. Brydges, then General Manager of 
 the Grand Trunk Railway, and from the time it was first opened 
 for traffic as a through line in 1876, its connection was neces- 
 sarily with the Grand Trunk at Riviere du Loup, and its 
 business, therefore, closely identified with the latter road. 
 
 The Intercolonial Railway was constructed with a view of 
 giving rail connections between the several Provinces of the 
 Dominion of Canada. It, at first, had its western terminus 
 at Riviere du Loup, but it was found to be in the interest both 
 of the Intercolonial and Grand Trunk that the former should 
 extend to Levis, opposite Quebec ; and to attain that end the 
 Grand Trunk disposed of the section of their line from Levis to 
 Riviere du Loup to the Government of Canada. 
 
216 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 The Intercolonial therefore now commences at the eastern 
 terminus of the Grand Trunk, at Levis, opposite Quebec, both 
 roads arrivmg at and departing from the same station. It then 
 winds its iron way eastward, following the valley of the St. 
 Lawrence, passing Cacouna, one of Canada's favorite summer 
 resorts, and touching at Eimouski, the point at which Her Majes- 
 ty's mails and passengers are landed during the summer season 
 irom the Ocean Mail Steamers ; and on reaching Ste. Flavie, it 
 crosses the Gaspe Peninsula, following the beautiful valley of the 
 Metapedia and Restigouche to the Bale des Chaleurs, upon the 
 shores of which, in close proximity to the Railway, may be seen 
 " Dalhousie," one of Canada's lovely watering places, and passing 
 through Moncton, has seaport termini at St. John, Point du 
 Chene, Halifax, Pictou, Mulgrave and Sydney, the latter being 
 its most eastern terminus. At Point du Chene and Pictou it 
 connects with the Prince Edward Island Division by steamer. 
 Halifax, one of its termini, is the winter port of Canada for the 
 Ocean Mail Steamers, and a considerable traffic is done at this 
 point both in ocean borne passengers and freight. The European 
 mails are here despatched and landed during the winter* 
 being usually put through by special train with great des- 
 patch ; and a large interchange of traffic is conducted over this 
 road between the several provinces, extending from ocean to 
 ocean, the Intercolonial being an important link in the Trans- 
 continental Railways. 
 
 To the tourist and pleasure- seeker the Intercolonial Railway 
 has many attractions, as game of all kinds abounds along its 
 route. Those who carry a gun or rifle and are fond of a forest 
 life have the opportunity of bringing down moose, caribou, bear, 
 wild geese, brant, ducks and partridges ; while the rivers, lakes and 
 ocean along the line teem with fish, from the tiny snielt to the 
 white whale, including herring in shoals, the jolly fat tommy-cod, 
 
^^^^^'> 
 
 '.^ 
 
Donfiinion Government Railways. 217 
 
 bass, speckled trout, halibut, salmon, tuladi, big sturgeon 
 and fat porpoise, so that the fisherman can have his choice ; and 
 if twentj-pouuders are too small a fish, he can go in for bigger 
 game and to some extent imitate the " Giant Angler :" 
 
 ' ' His rod was made of a sturdy oak, 
 His line a cable which in storms ne'er broke, 
 His hook he bated with a dragon's tail, 
 And sat upon a rock and bob'd for whale." 
 
 As a field for the artist the Intercolonial may be said to 
 stand at the head of all railways for its variety of scenery in 
 river, lake, bay, gulf, island, mountain, valley, forest and ocean. 
 
 Since the Intercolonial was first put in operation the traffic 
 has developed surprisingly, it having increased nearly three-fold, 
 and it forms one of the most important lines of transportation 
 in Canada. 
 
 The chief officers of the several departments of the Interco- 
 lonial are men of practical experience, who have passed through 
 the different grades of railway work, having won their present 
 responsible positions by their own industry. 
 
 DAVID POTTINGER. 
 
 The public are apt to think that Government officials 
 usually gain their appointments by patronage alone, without 
 much regard to the fitness of the men for the particular posi- 
 tions they are selected to fulfil ; but this has certainly not been 
 the case with Mr. David Pottinger, as will be seen from the brief 
 sketch of his railway career. He has risen, step by step, from that 
 of a freight clerk to his present high rank as General Manager 
 of Government Railways, and that by his own intrinsic merit, 
 steadiness and perseverance; and it may fairly be said of him? 
 as was said of the late Sir James Allport, " He was the architect 
 of his own fortune." 
 
218 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Mr. Pottinger was born in the town of Pictou, Nova Scotia, 
 October 7th, 1843. He was educated in Pictou Academy,- and 
 entered the railway service in 1863 as a clerk in the freight office 
 of the Nova Scotia Eailway at HaHfax, where he continued until 
 May, 1871, when he was appointed cashier of the same railway, 
 and served as cashier until November, 1872, when the office was 
 abolished by the amalgamation of the Nova Scotia Eailway with 
 the Intercolonial Eailway. From November, 1872, to August, 
 1874, he was station master of the Intercolonial Eailway at 
 Halifax. In August, 1874, he was removed to Moncton, New 
 Brunswick, the headquarters of the Intercolonial, and appointed 
 general storekeeper of the Eailway, in which position he con- 
 tinued until February, 1879, when he was appointed Chief 
 Superintendent. He occupied this position until December 1st, 
 1892, when he was appointed General Manager of Government 
 Eailways, which position he still occupies. 
 
 THE FOREST FIRE OF MIRAMICHI, N. B. 
 
 Though not in any way connected with the subject in hand, 
 one cannot pass over that portion of the Intercolonial Eailway in 
 the neighborhood of Miramichi without reverting to the terrible 
 forest fire of October, 1825. It was talked about in England 
 when the author was a boy. 
 
 In speaking of it, W. Kilby Eeynolds, in his book, "An 
 Intercolonial Outing," says : — 
 
 "Briefly stated, the Miramichi fire was one of the greatest 
 of which the world has any record. It swept over the country, 
 from the head waters of the St. John Eiver, in a sheet of flame 
 one hundred miles broad, and burned all before it in an area of 
 more than four thousand square miles, four hundred miles of 
 which was settled country. It will never be known how many 
 lives were lost. Cooney says there were one hundred and sixty, 
 
Dominion Government Raihvays. 219 
 
 but as many who perished in the woods were strangers without 
 kindred to trace their disappearance, the estimate is undoubtedly 
 a low one. The fire destroyed about a million dollars worth of 
 property, including six hundred houses and nearly nine hundred 
 head of cattle. The light of it was seen as far as the Magdalen 
 Islands, and its cinders were, by the fury of the hurricane, scat- 
 tered over the streets of Halifax." 
 
 N. WEATHERSTOX. 
 
 Mr. Weatherston is a native of Scotland, and a son of Mr. John 
 Weatherston, a narrative of whose railway life is given in this 
 work. The son bids fair to equal, if not to surpass, the railroad 
 record of the father. As a youth he entered the service of the 
 North British Railway Go., more than forty years ago, and he 
 remembers selling tickets at Kelso Station, Scotland, to parties 
 going to the first Great Exhibition held in London in 1861. 
 He also assisted in the goods department on the same line 
 Early in 1854 he was transferred to Hawick and had charge of 
 the goods office there. In the autumn of the same year he 
 decided upon emigrating to Canada, his parents having been 
 settled there for two years. In January, 1855, he entered the 
 services of the Great Western Railway of Canada, and was 
 at first a clerk at Windsor station. In a short time he was 
 removed to Dundas, in charge of the freight traffic there. In 1857 
 the late W. K. Muir was appointed Traffic Superintendent of 
 the G. W. R. and he choose Mr. Weatherston for his chief clerk. 
 Mr. Weatherston was afterwards appointed G.W.R. agent at 
 Guelph, which office he successfully filled until 1865, when Gen- 
 eral Manager Swinyard gave him the important post of 
 freight and passenger agent in the City of Toronto, which he 
 held with high honour for seven years. He resigned the Toronto 
 agency in 1872 to accept the position of General Superintendent 
 
220 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 of the Toronto, Grey & Bruce Eailway, which he retained for 
 three years, leaving it in 1875 to embark in the grain trade. 
 On this occasion, to mark the high esteem in which he was held 
 by the directors and employees of the company, his friends and 
 the merchants doing business on the line, he was presented 
 through the President of the Company, with a splendid gold 
 watch and chain costing $300, and a purse containing a large 
 sum of money, a testimonial unprecedented, when it is consid- 
 ered that Mr. W. had only been three years in the service. Like 
 most railway men who have been brought up on railways, Mr. 
 W. had an itching desire to return to the old fold again, for in 
 1881 he was induced to accept the management of the Grand 
 Junction Eailway (Belleville and Peterboro'), which he held until 
 that road was sold to the Grand Trunk, when he accepted a 
 sum of money in lieu of a new railway appointment. Once more 
 he went into the grain trade and continued at that until 1889, 
 when he entered the service of the Dominion Government as 
 Western Freight and Passenger Agent for the Intercolonial Eail- 
 way of Canada, with headquarters at Toronto, which post he now 
 holds. 
 
 Mr. Weatherston, like many of his colleagues of the Grand 
 Trunk and Great Western Eailways, commenced his railway 
 career at the foot of the hill, and, step by step, by years of hard 
 work, at length gained the summit, and can now look back with 
 some degree of satisfaction to the struggles endured, since by 
 them victory was achieved. Mr. Weatherston is still actively 
 engaged in railway work, but it is of a more peaceful nature, free 
 from the responsibility of moving trains, such as that which 
 applies to railway superintendents, who, to some extent like the 
 medical profession, are liable to be called upon at any moment, 
 night or day, and obliged to rush off by special express to some 
 scene of grave casualty hundreds of miles from home. Of this 
 
Dominion Government Railways. 221 
 
 Mr. Weatherston has had his full share, and it was quite time 
 to take a rest from those head-exciting labours. 
 
 In a talk with my old colleague of the G. W. E., he re- 
 marked that, " Few railway men in the higher ranks have had 
 outside business experience. My experience in the grain trade 
 has enabled me to do much better for the railway than I other- 
 wise could have done. The natm-e of my business kept me in 
 touch with the railways, so that when I returned to the * old 
 love,' I did not feel the least bit rusty." 
 
 Mr. Weatherston is Second Vice-President (1893) of the 
 Association of General Freight Agents of Canada, also a member 
 of the Canadian Ticket Agents' Association, in which he has been 
 an office-holder. He is also a zealous and useful member of the 
 Toronto Board of Trade. Mr. W. has been actively engaged in 
 promoting trade between Canada and the West Indies in con- 
 nection with the Intercolonial Eailway. This trade has now 
 assumed large proportions, particularly in the Province of Ontario, 
 and mainly through his efforts. 
 
222 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 THE STATION AGENT AND THE CONDUCTOR. 
 THE LYING AGENT. 
 
 SME of the most unlikely men were put on as agents on 
 the early railways. I remember one, Sidney Abbot, a cock- 
 ney, who was appointed agent at Preston, England, at a salary of 
 eighty pounds sterling per annum. On my introduction to him 
 he asked me to go round the town with him to look for a house. 
 I showed him several cottages, the rent of which I thought 
 would come within his means, but he pooh-poohed the idea and 
 said he wanted a large house where he could keep four 
 or five servants. On my hinting that his salary would hardly 
 meet that, he replied that his salary was mere pocket money, 
 and he had plenty of means. I began to think that I had got 
 in company with some lord in disguise. Another day he said 
 he was about taking a large contract from the Preston corpora- 
 tion to build a sea wall and had to see the officials again in the 
 afternoon. On his return from his second alleged visit to the 
 corporation he informed me that he had completed the contract. 
 I said to him, " Where are you to build the sea wall ?" and he 
 replied, " On the moor.'' The moor was about two miles from the 
 river and fifteen miles from the sea. I then found that Abbot 
 was the greatest liar I had ever met. I and others wrote to 
 him on business matters frequently, but we never got any 
 replies. One day I asked one of his porters if he knew what 
 on earth became of our correspondence, " Oh," he said, "Abbot 
 
The Station Agent and the Conductor. 223 
 
 throws your letters into the fire, and says that's the way to 
 answer correspondence." The agent's term of office soon 
 expired. 
 
 THE HAPPY AGENT. 
 
 Another cockney was put on at a rather important station 
 where the freight business was large, and the agent soon got 
 all the office work into " sixes and sevens," when he was re- 
 moved to Leigh station, near a quiet rural village. The little 
 river Blyth ran along side the station, a nice rippling trout 
 stream, famous as one of Izaak Walton's favorite resorts. 
 Most of the trains passed the station without stopping, so 
 the agent had little to do except to lower the " all right " 
 semaphore signal and let the trains pass. When the agent 
 reached the station he was so delighted at the change he was 
 making from the perplexing and worrying life he had had at 
 Burslem, that he out with his flute and played " Happy 
 Land." A local rhymester thus parodied Henry Russell's song — 
 " I'm afloat — I'm afloat," (Leigh is pronounced Lee) : 
 
 SONG OF THE HAPPY STATION AGENT. 
 
 I'm at Leigh — I'm at Leigh, where the traflBc is small, 
 
 And there's little to look for but waggons of coal. 
 Down, down with the signal, let the train hurry by, 
 
 I'm at Leigh — I'm at Leigh, and I laugh till I cry. 
 No abstracts to bother, no Scotchman* to suit, 
 
 I've little to do but to fish or to shoot. 
 I fear not the Audit, I heed not its law, 
 
 While in a few minutes a balance can show. 
 Quick, quick with my rod and throw in a line 
 
 And I'll warrant a famous big trout shall be mine. 
 Drop the semaphore down, let the train hurry by, 
 
 I'm at Leigh — I'm at Leigh, and I laugh till I cry. 
 
 * Referring to the Manager of the Railway Clearing House. 
 
224 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 THE SWELL STATION MASTER. 
 
 Mr. Mosely, once well known in England as manager for 
 Pickford & Co., the celebrated carriers, became General Manager 
 of the Eastern Counties Eailway. On one occasion he paid a 
 visit to one of the stations on his line, when he saw on the plat- 
 form a tall young man dressed in the pink of fashion — shiny silk 
 hat, patent-leather boots, immense shirt-cuffs and front, 
 immaculate kids, slender cane in hand, curly ringlets hanging 
 down his back — and as he strutted about he looked the embodi- 
 ment of self-importance. Mr. Mosely was unknown to any one 
 at the station, and he asked a porter who that was, pointing 
 to the young man. " Oh, that's the station master," said the 
 porter. Mr. Mosely then went up to the young man and said, 
 "When does the next train leave for London?" The swell 
 replied in the most supercilious tone, " Aw, doncht know ; ask 
 the porter." Mosely then said, " My name's Mosely. I want 
 you to send a telegram to our office in London." The swell's 
 attitude at once fell below zero and he hurried off to the telegraph 
 office. " Now," said Mosely, " write the message : ' Send John 
 Brooks down to this station to take charge at once ' "; and then 
 Mr. Mosely left the young man to meditate on the drama of 
 "Pride shall have a fall." 
 
 THE STATION MASTER. 
 
 The duties of a station master, particularly at a small sta- 
 tion, are often varied ; he may have charge of the ticket and 
 goods office, the telegraph, the semaphore signals, and the 
 switches. His occupation therefore is somewhat confining to 
 one spot ; still he will generally find time for gardening and the 
 cultivation of flowers ; or, if situated on the banks of some river 
 or trout stream, in the Old Country usually carefully preserved, 
 
The Station Agent and the Conductor. 225 
 
 he will generall}^ if a civil and obliging fellow, get permission to 
 fish in the preserved waters. Some are experts in sketching and 
 oil painting. One station master, I remember, filled his office 
 windows with transparencies of mountain views. 
 
 Some station masters make the grounds about the place 
 gems of beauty, and are noted for their knowledge of horticultm-e, 
 and in the exhibits of rare plants and flowers they are able to 
 compete with professional gardeners. The station master is a 
 sort of little king in the vicinity of his little palace, and one who 
 is referred to on matters of public interest. He knows all that is 
 going on in the outside world ; he hears the telegraph chatter, 
 chatter, all day long, if he cares to listen to its never-ceasing 
 voice, telling somebody hundreds of miles away of political 
 events, who's in and who's out, that wheat is up and corn is down, 
 and a hundred other things. Most station masters have hobbies 
 of some kind. One may be a geologist, hunting fossils and relics 
 of by-gone ages ; another will have a love for natural history and 
 be a collector of birds and insects. One, I recollect, with his 
 jack-knife cut curious chains out of oak and plaster-stone, which 
 would have compared favorably with the products of Japanese or 
 Chinese art. 
 
 On the Churnet Valley division of the North Staffordshire 
 Eailway there is a pretty little Elizabethan style of cottage and 
 station, named Bosley. It is beautifully situated on the banks 
 of the Eiver Dane, a charming stream at the foot of Cloud 
 Mountain. 
 
 " I climb the Cloud— the Mountain Cloud, 
 In heather dressed or murky shroud, 
 And looking o'er the broad champaign, 
 I ken the cottage by the Dane. 
 
 " The old grey church among the tombs, 
 The ancient yew, like funeral plumes. 
 Its branches waving to and fro. 
 O'er those who sleep in peace below." 
 15 
 
226 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 FRANCIS ALISON. 
 
 The present station master at Bosley had served his time 
 to some trade "which he found was affecting his health. He 
 therefore put himself in training for the position of a station 
 master, and after a time was appointed to Bosley station, where 
 (with the exception of a short removal to another station) he has 
 been ever since the line opened, about forty-five years ago ; 
 and he is now the oldest employee on the N.S.R Some years ago 
 Mr. Alison, being somewhat of a musician, took it into his head to 
 make a violin, and as he succeeded to his satisfaction and 
 enjoyed the work, he continued to fill up all his spare time from 
 his railway duties in the making of violins, and up to the end of 
 1893 he had made forty or fifty. 
 
 Mr. A.'s son, my nephew, writing to me recently, said he had 
 been on a visit to his father at Bosley, and when there he saw 
 hanging in the little cottage, twenty- five new fiddles all in a row. 
 Mr. Alison is now in his seventy-sixth or seventy-seventh year, and 
 may still be seen polishing and varnishing his violins with all the 
 earnestness of youth. 
 
 LADIES AS STATION AGENTS. 
 
 Some forty years ago employment for females was mainly 
 confined to domestic service, attending in stores (shops), or 
 working in cotton or other factories. To see a girl acting as a 
 book-keeper was quite uncommon and looked upon with some 
 degree of wonder as an innovation upon existing customs. 
 
 Now lady book-keepers are numerous, particularly upon this 
 continent. Other work for females has sprung up, as teaching 
 in public schools, telegraph and telephone operating, short-hand 
 and typewriting, post office work, ornamental work, painting, and 
 a variety of other light and pleasant occupations. 
 
 But this beneficent change has not been brought about 
 without much grumbling, and many objections being made to 
 
The Station Agent and the Conductor. 227 
 
 girls being so employed. A married lady said : " The girls com- 
 peted with young men, thereby bringing down wages, which pre- 
 vented the men from marrying, as they could not earn enough to 
 keep a wife." Well, this may be true to some extent, but surely 
 it is not the girls' fault, but rather that of their employers, who 
 take advantage of the weaker sex by cutting down their wages. 
 The remedy rests with the girls themselves, and they are fast 
 finding this out. That girls can do work of the kind named, 
 quite as well as men if not better, there is not a shadow of doubt, 
 and they should be fairly remunerated for it. Some years ago 
 I visited the Treasury Department at Washington, where a great 
 number of ladies were employed as book-keepers. I was then 
 shown and allowed to examine some of their ponderous ledgers 
 and other books, and I must say that the writing and figures, for 
 neatness and clearness, could not be excelled by the most accom- 
 plished accountant. 
 
 On the Grand Trunk Eailway there are three or four ladies 
 who hold positions as station agents. One, I remember, when 
 very young commenced learning railway office work by assisting 
 her father, who was then agent at a western station. When 
 her father died she succeeded him as station agent and has held 
 the office ever since, and proved herself capable of attending 
 to all the duties pertaining to it. The lady's way-bills and other 
 documents are made out in a plain, round, business-like haad 
 and will compare favorably with those of any other agent on the 
 line. 
 
 THE CONDUCTOR. 
 
 Of the conductor or guard, as called in England, much in- 
 teresting information might be given did space permit. They are 
 an intelligent and responsible body of railway employees. They 
 see humanity in all its varied phases and are experts in physiog- 
 nomy. In their daily duties they have to use much forbear- 
 
228 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 ance in dealing with the whims and caprices of some of their 
 passengers, and are expected to be civil and obliging under all 
 circumstances no matter however antagonistic are those with 
 whom they come in contact. 
 
 A conductor is supposed to be a moving cyclopedia, one who 
 can answer all questions however intricate and far from the mark. 
 Like the captain of an ocean steamship he feels that the safety 
 of his passengers is mainly dependent upon his forethought and 
 care. Most conductors have risen from lesser positions in rail- 
 way work and are therefore well posted in all matters connected 
 with the movements of trains. 
 
 It is with great pleasure that I have to remark that con- 
 ductors, as a body, have a great thought for the comfort and 
 happiness of their families in providing for a "rainy day." In 
 illustration of this I need only refer to their grand life insurance 
 association, denominated, " The Order of Eailway Conductors," 
 in reference to which conductor W. R. Hill, of the G.T.R. has 
 kindly furnished me with some interesting details. 
 
 The association was established twenty-seven years ago, but 
 the system of life insurance now in force only commenced about 
 ten years ago. No member is insured for less than $1,000, or 
 more than $5,000. The Order embraces all passenger conduc- 
 tors in the United States, Mexico, the Dominion of Canada, and 
 some parts of South America. 
 
 On April 30, 1893, the total number of members was 11,761. 
 
 The total amount received from assessments and all other 
 sources during the whole period up to April 30, 1893, was 
 $1,239,252. 
 
 The total amount of benefits paid during the same time was 
 $1,190,376, and total amount expenses, $48,876. 
 
 The Order has no accumulation of funds ; all its liabilities 
 are met by a direct assessment upon its members. 
 
The Station Agent and the Conductor. 229 
 
 The total working expenses for April were : for salaries, $355 ; 
 postage, stationery and printing, S370 ; the three latter were for 
 supplies and work for more than a month. 
 
 Taking the above amount for salaries as a fair average 
 for each month, it makes the total for the year the small sum of 
 $4,260, which proves that this large association is worked upon 
 the most economical principles, and therein lies the secret of its 
 great success. 
 
 During the month of April seven deaths occurred, princi- 
 pally from accidents, and $18,000 was paid. 
 
 In the last decade the order, it will be seen, has disbursed 
 nearl}" one million and a-quarter dollars among the families 
 of its members. How many hearts must have been soothed and 
 cheered in then- hours of deep aflfliction, by this beneficent insti- 
 tution, those who have felt its friendliness alone can tell. 
 
 Unlike ordinary life insurance companies, the Order pays 
 the full amount of the life policy in case a member by loss of 
 limb, eyesight or any other cause is disabled from following his 
 duties as a railway conductor. 
 
 Mr. Hill says his average assessment for the past two years 
 has been three dollars per month, for which he has a life policy 
 of three thousand dollars, as well as all the above named 
 privileges. 
 
 BY THE PIECE AND NOT BY WEIGHT. 
 
 Alderman Hallam relates the following : Some years ago I 
 was travelling on the cars from Hamilton to London. As soon 
 as we got out of Hamilton the conductor came around to collect 
 the tickets for Dundas and punch others. 
 
 In two seats which faced each other there sat a lady and four 
 children, with sundry bundles of wraps and satchels. 
 
 The conductor, who was a solid, good-natured man, asked 
 the lady for her ticket. She turned up her sweet little face, 
 
230 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 and smiling, handed him the ticket. It was punched and handed 
 back. 
 
 "Are these children yours ?" said the conductor to the lady. 
 " Yes, they are my children," replied the lady. 
 
 " Have you a ticket for that little girl ?" asked the conduc- 
 tor. " I have no ticket. The conductor on the other section 
 was a gentleman, and never asked me for a ticket for the chil- 
 dren." 
 
 The conductor replied, " He may be a gentleman, but he 
 did not do his duty to the Company, and I wish to have the 
 money or a ticket for the little girl, who is over ten years old." 
 
 The lady began using her persuasive powers in the nicest 
 way possible, but the conductor was immovable and demanded 
 the ticket or the money, and when she found that the conductor 
 would not be put off she began to show temper and cry and asked 
 the conductor how much it was. " Four dollars," was the reply. 
 Still she showed no signs of paying the money. 
 
 The conductor said she had better hurry up and either 
 give him the money or the ticket, or she or her little girl would 
 have to get off at the next station. 
 
 At this remark the lady's eyes flashed fire and she said : 
 " You are not a father of any children, or you would never have 
 said that my little girl must get off in a strange land, all alone ! " 
 
 She excitedly put her hand in her pocket and pulled out her 
 purse and reluctantly handed him the four dollars. In doing 
 so she said : " Do you see that big fat man over there ? " " Yes, 
 what of him ?" " Why he weighs more than I and my four chil- 
 dren put together." " That may be, madam," he replied, "but 
 the Company does not carry passengers by weight; it carries 
 them only by the piece." 
 
 Many kind traits in the characters of conductors might 
 be mentioned. On one occasion, when travelling between 
 
The Station Agent and the GondtLctor. 231 
 
 Boston and Portland, the conductor of the tram showed a gentle- 
 man (who sat next to me) a beautiful bouquet of flowers which 
 he was taking to a sick person. The gentleman afterwards told 
 me that the conductor seemed to take the greatest pleasure in 
 doing some act of kindness, especially to the poor and friendless; 
 and the beam of satisfaction in his face certainly gave one that 
 impression. A good, genial, cheerful fellow was Conductor 
 Mose, in the early days of the Grand Trunk. Old residents 
 of Quebec will remember him as the " Fat Conductor " between 
 Montreal and Quebec. Mose was a Cockney by birth. I think 
 he had been on a railway in the old country and came out 
 to Canada under the auspices of one of the G. T. E. Directors. 
 Notwithstanding his Falstaff proportions, he was a conductor 
 for many years, and afterwards station master at Point Levis. 
 After being for nearly a decade in Canada, Mose went on a 
 visit to see his friends in the Old Country. Mose did not 
 seem to have enjoyed his long looked-for visit, for on his re- 
 turn, when relating his experience, he said : " You know I went 
 still full of old reminiscences of my youthful days, but I found 
 most of my friends married and with lots of children. They 
 seemed cold and frigid as the snows of Quebec and would say, 
 * Ah, how are you, old fellow, glad to see you,' and that was all. 
 All the pleasant associations of early days had gone out of them. 
 One Sunday I went to visit a rich fi'iend living in a nice, flower- 
 surrounded residence in the suburbs of London. So far as the 
 good things for eating and drinking were concerned there was 
 plenty, but, like my host, I had to lookgrave and sit bolt-upright 
 in my chair and make no allusion to youthful times. I was glad 
 to get back again to the city." One day, S. P. Bidder, (who had 
 then retired from the G. T. R.) was crossing London Bridge, when 
 he found Mose standing still on the bridge, evidently in a " brown 
 stady," wondering when and where he should go next. Mr. 
 
232 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Bidder roused Mose from his meditations by giving him a good 
 shake and saying, " Hello, Mose." The latter, much astonished, 
 told Mr. Bidder that he was sick of London and was making 
 ready to return to Canada, preferring the summer heat and win- 
 ter cold of Quebec to the smoky atmosphere of old London. 
 
 When going over the Quebec & Kichmond Railway some 
 two years ago, I asked a French habitant (who sat next me) if 
 he remembered Mose, the fat Conductor. " Certainement," said 
 he, " he vas de grandest shentleman I ever did see — his face vas 
 always full of great big smiles." 
 
 A loving tribute to thy memory, good old Mose. 
 
 " Take him for all in all 
 I shall not look upon his like again. " 
 
 WM. K. SNIDER. 
 
 The name of Conductor Snider has, in Quebec and Ontario, 
 become " as familiar as household words," as the earnest and 
 popular Evangelical Preacher. He has from time to time occu- 
 pied the pulpits of the largest Methodist churches and public 
 halls from Windsor to Montreal. 
 
 He was born on the 1st March, 1852, was educated at the 
 public schools and Walker's Academy, at Guelph. At a very 
 early age he commenced his railway career as a newsboy on the 
 late Great Western Railway, and has occupied the positions of 
 brakesman, baggageman, freight train conductor, and for many 
 years past that of passenger conductor, all of which he filled 
 with satisfaction to the railway company and pleasure to the 
 travelling public. 
 
 Mr. Snider is a fluent speaker and his style is much like 
 that of some of thebest leaders in the Salvation Army. He lets no 
 opportunity pass, both in public and in private, of telling the 
 good old story of " peace on earth, good will to men." He is a 
 strong temperance advocate on true teetotal principles. 
 

 
 
 •^m 
 
 
 
 ,^iib 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 
 H|^iw#«| 
 
 
 W^m 
 
 P^ 
 
 
 ^^^^« 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 mmim.M 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 ■\ 
 
 
 
 i '■ 
 
 
 \ ^ 
 
 ^J 
 
 ^ 
 
 ■\v^"^ 
 
 
 ^ai 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 ^a * 
 
 ^^^M 
 
 ! 
 
 ll^lli^x^^^^ 
 
 ~ '" -> '^^tpHSHIIH 
 
 
 
 ir-*^ 
 
 JOHN WEATHERSTON. 
 
Diligent Lives. 233 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 DILIGENT LIVES. 
 JOHN WEATHEKSTON. 
 
 ME. WEATHEESTON'S career as a railway man is full of 
 interest. In 1835, when thirty-one years of age, he com- 
 menced his first work on the Normanton & Leeds Eailway, which 
 was then being built by the famous George Stephenson, with whom 
 Mr. W. was on intimate terms, and at one time Mr. S. presented 
 him with a rule, covered with all sorts of mathematical calcula- 
 tions, which he much prizes. In 1838 he superintended the lay- 
 ing of the first rails into Euston Square station, London. In 1840 
 he was engaged in the same kind of work into the old City of 
 York. In 1841 he was driving piles for the high-level bridge at 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, and in the following year was doing the same 
 service for the building of the Eoyal Border Victoria Bridge 
 at Berwick-on- Tweed. He afterwards entered the service of 
 the London & South Western Railway Co., and held a respon- 
 sible position in the head office. In 1852 he was induced to 
 come out to Canada with Mr. C. J. Brydges, Managing Director 
 of the Great Western Eailway, then in course of construction. 
 Mr. Brydges appointed him Track Superintendent, a position he 
 held for twenty-five years. Among other great undertakings 
 in which Mr. W. was an active factor, may be mentioned that 
 of laying down a third rail on the G. W. E., so as to admit of the 
 American narrow gauge cars passing over the G. W. R. : but 
 the greatest achievement by far was changing the whole gauge 
 
234 ' Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 of the G. W. E. from its original one of 5ft. Gin. to the American 
 one of 4ft. 8|^in., and this was done without the stoppage of a 
 single train. Mr. W. left the service of the Great Western in 
 1877, and for some years was engaged on the Michigan Central 
 Eailway. After leaving that company he, on his own account, 
 built eighty miles of railway for Mr. William Hendrie, from Gay- 
 lord to Mackinac in Michigan. When this was completed he went 
 to Montreal and entered the service of the Dominion Government 
 as Eoad Superintendent of the North Shore Eailway ; and when 
 the Canadian Pacific took the road over, Mr. W. continued with 
 the latter company as Track Superintendent between Montreal 
 and Sudbury. While fulfilling the duties of this position he met 
 with an accident, which almost cut him off. It was at Calumet 
 on the C.P.E. A loose wheel threw two cars off the track and 
 over an embankment. Mr. Weatherston was in one of the cars, 
 and was badly hurt. The flesh was torn off his face, exposing 
 the bone ; and besides receiving other internal injuries, his spine 
 was severely injured. At this time he was four score years of 
 age and was laid up for nearly a year ; but fought through it 
 and in spite of the doctor's predictions that he must die, he once 
 more stood forth a man of vigour, fully prepared for new and 
 even greater feats in the railway world. After this he removed 
 to Hamilton, the city which had so long been his former home, 
 and purchased a residence there ; and he now seemed likely to 
 rest upon his oars. He was a shareholder and a director of the 
 Hamilton & Dundas Eailway, which was at a very low ebb and 
 had not been paying for some years. Mr. W. complained much 
 about this, and said the road was eaten up in expenses. The direc- 
 tors felt worried and in sheer despair said : " Take the road your- 
 self, Mr. Weatherston, and see what you can make of it." "I will," 
 said he. A lease was at once made out for a term of years, and 
 Mr. W. was put in possession. At this time the road was much 
 
Diligent Lives. 235 
 
 run down and the first thing the lessee did was to put the line 
 in good working order. He then set himself to reforming the 
 management by undertaking the whole thing himself and, as the 
 Hamilton Spectator said, in its able sketch of Mr. Weatherston's 
 career which appeared in its columns on August 21st, 1890, and 
 to which I am indebted for most of the above details, " he be- 
 came general manager, freight and passenger agent, chief engineer, 
 locomotive and track superintendent, ticket clerk, cashier, book- 
 keeper and paymaster," assisted only by his son, then quite a 
 boy. Mr. W. fairly lifted the little railway out of chaos and 
 made money for himself and for the company. "When the lease 
 expired, in July, 1890, the directors were so well satisfied with 
 his work that they wanted him to renew the lease. This he 
 declined, but agreed to continue on untilother arrangements were 
 made. When he retired from the service he ,was in his eighty- 
 seventh year and had been engaged on railways for fifty-five 
 years. 
 
 "When I called upon him last fall I found him looking about 
 the same as he did thirty years ago ; his hair and beard were only 
 slightly tinged with the frost of age, and, as he said, he was by 
 no means disabled for work, only he thought it was about time 
 to give up active employment. Mr. "Weatherston was bom on 
 the 31st January, 1804, in the border county of Berwickshire, 
 Scotland. In early life he was employed as a surveyor and land- 
 scape gardener on the estate of the Duke of Koxburghe. His love 
 of horticulture still continued. Like George Stephenson, he was 
 fond of flowers, and knew how to cultivate them ; and amid his 
 many duties he found time, by rising with the sun.tofoUowuphis 
 favorite pursuit. His garden at the corner of Victoria Avenue 
 and the track at Hamilton, was a marvel of beauty. Travellers 
 in the cars, as they passed the locality, gave many an admiring 
 glance to the charming spot, particularly when the roses were in 
 
236 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 full bloom. About thirty years ago I remember Mr. W. used to 
 exhibit his flowers at the annual horticulture show in Hamilton, 
 and, as an amateur, cleared off nearly all the prizes ; so much so, 
 that in time he ceased competing in order to give some chance 
 to others. 
 
 Many old residents of Ontario will remember Mr. G. Lowe 
 Eeid, the efficient and popular Chief Engineer of the G.W.E. from 
 its commencement, and who held the position for twenty-four 
 years. In 1890 Mr. Eeid wrote Mr. Weatherston from Brighton, 
 England, and from his letter the following extracts are made : 
 " Although it is seventeen years since I left Canada, I have by 
 no means forgotten you. I have been constantly informed of 
 your movements and enterprise. I have heard with great 
 pleasure of your very successful career and of the substantial 
 position you have attained since you left the G.W.E. Indeed, I 
 suppose you are the only survivor of the chief track and bridge 
 inspectors whom I left on the line when I returned to England in 
 December, 1872. I was myself particularly fortunate in having 
 as my chief practical helper such a reliable and efficient assistant 
 as yourself. I rejoice in your well-earned prosperity and pray 
 that you may still have a good many years of tranquil enjoyment 
 in the autumn of your long and useful life." 
 
 Mr. Weatherston, now in his ninetieth year, is still hale and 
 hearty, living with his wife and the younger branches of his 
 family ; and at this time of the year (June, 1893,) he may be 
 seen in the early morning among his floral companions, as in 
 the days of his youth ; and he bids fair to see the advent of the 
 next century. 
 
 THE IRISH BOY. 
 
 The following narrative is given to show how trust, steadi- 
 ness and energy, if persevered in, are sure to lead to success : 
 
Diligent Lives. 237 
 
 In 1852 and '53, 1. M. Grant, secretary to Sir Cusack Roney, 
 in connection with the Dublin Exhibition, employed an Irish 
 boy to run messages and other work. Shortly afterwards Mr. 
 Grant came to Canada as assistant secretary in the Grand Trunk 
 Eailway service. One day the same identical message boy pre- 
 sented himself before Mr. Grant at Montreal, to that gentleman's 
 great astonishment. The boy, Mr. Grant found, had started out 
 from Ireland alone, and managed somehow to make his way to 
 Canada and hunt him up. Superintendent Martin was at that 
 time living as a bachelor in an upper room of the station at 
 Longueuil, or Eichmond, and he engaged the boy, James Murphy, 
 to attend him, at the same time telling him to try and improve 
 himself by attending a night school, and to learn telegraphing. 
 The boy's education was then very limited. He improved, how- 
 ever, very rapidly and soon acted as clerk and operator at Eich- 
 mond, and afterward became station agent at Eichmond Junction, 
 a position which he retained until a few years ago, when he 
 was appointed Collector of Customs at Eichmond. 
 
 One of the first things that James Murphy did, as soon as 
 he was able, was, at his own expense, to bring out from Ireland 
 his parents and other members of his famil3^ Many years ago 
 his friends in Eichmond and Melbourne were so pleased with his 
 management and attention that as a mark of their esteem the}' 
 presented him with a gold watch and chain valued at three hun- 
 dred dollars. 
 
 JOHN MILIiER GRANT. 
 
 My introducing a short notice of Mr. Grant here, may seem 
 out of place, as regards time and position, but I feel sure 
 that he must be glad to hear of the success of his old protege 
 (James Murphy) the Irish Boy, of forty years ago. 
 
 Very few of the G.T.E. early staff of officers now remain, 
 
238 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 but among the few, I may mention Mr. Henshaw, one of the 
 Grand Trunk Pay-masters, who is a brother-in-law of Mr. Grant. 
 Mr. H. informs me that that gentleman is still living in London, 
 England. 
 
 When Sir Cusack Eoney resigned the Grand Trunk Railway 
 Secretaryship, Mr. Grant succeeded him, and was for many 
 years the General Secretary for the Company in London, after- 
 wards retiring to go into the brokerage business. 
 
 Going into a bookseller's store in Toronto, very recently, 
 a very old relic was put into my hands, which proved to be a 
 Notman photograph of a service of plate, bearing the following 
 inscription : — 
 
 " Presented to John Miller Grant, Secretary in Canada to 
 the Grand Trunk Railway Company, on the occasion of his 
 leaving the Province, by his brother ofl&cers and others as a mark 
 of their esteem and respect. — May, 1860." 
 
 The author has much pleasure in adding the above brief 
 record of an old friend of the early days of the Grand Trunk. 
 
 THE FRENCH CANADIAN. 
 
 Before the opening of the Victoria Bridge, Longueuil was 
 an important station of the G.T.R. In summer, freight and 
 passengers were taken over the river by steam ferry boats, 
 and in winter in sleighs over the ice bridge, and the latter 
 means of transit, as already related, was one of some peril and 
 risk. A large staff of men was kept at Longueuil in charge of 
 Foreman Louis Payette, a French-Canadian, a better man than 
 whom could not have been found for that position. He spoke 
 the two languages and knew how to deal with and govern men, 
 and Louis always did his work well. One winter, I remember, 
 the freight shed was surrounded with huge masses of ice, and 
 
Diligent Lives. 239 
 
 inside the building there was two feet of water, arising from an 
 unusual ice-shove in the Eiver St. Lawrence. Much damage was 
 done to freight, mainly English dry-goods via Portland, but 
 nothing more could have been done than Payette and his men did 
 in the emergency. About the time the Victoria Bridge was 
 opened, Louis Payette left the service of the Company to accept 
 the position of prison warden for the jail of Montreal, which he 
 retained until his death last year, a period of more than thirty 
 years. A few months before his death I paid him a visit. He 
 was then reclining on a sofa, weak but without pain, and it 
 pleased him to talk over old times and the men of the early days 
 of the Grand Trunk. (1892.) 
 
240 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 THOMAS COOK, THE FAMOUS TOURIST AGENT. 
 
 *' The good begun by thee shall onward flow, 
 In many a wider stream, and onward grow 
 The seed, that in these few and fleeting hours. 
 Thy hands unwearied and unsparing sow, 
 Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers, 
 And yield the fruits divine in heaven's immortal bowers." 
 
 AMONG the notable men which the early Temperance move- 
 ment brought to the front, such as John Bright, the states- 
 man, John Cassells, the London publisher, and others, may be 
 named Thomas Cook, the world-renowned originator and manager 
 of tourists' trips, who has done far more than any other man to 
 develop the railway and steamship system all over the world. 
 
 In early life Mr. Cook was a popular Temperance speaker. 
 The author had the pleasure of hearing him several times about 
 fifty-five years ago. Mr. Cook was a writer of considerable liter- 
 ary ability. In 1844 he edited and published the National 
 Temperance Magazine. A copy of the first volume is in my pos- 
 session. 
 
 Thomas Cook was born in 1808, at Melborne, in Derbyshire. 
 He began to earn his living at ten years of age as a market boy 
 at Derby. He was afterwards apprenticed to a wood-turner, and 
 in 1832 he set up in business for himself at Market Harborough, 
 as a wood-turner and cabinet maker. It was in that town 
 that he first prominently associated himself with the Temperance 
 cause, of which he was an ardent friend throughout his subse- 
 quent life. 
 
Thomas Cook, the famous Tourist Agent. 241 
 
 He was in the habit of attending Temperance meetings in 
 Leicester and neighboring towns and villages. In the spring of 
 1841, whilst walking from Market Harborough to Leicester to 
 attend a Temperance meeting the thought occurred to him that 
 it might be possible to carry at a cheap rate a number of tee- 
 totalers from Leicester to Loughborough. He accordingly made 
 arrangements with the railway company for the proposed excur- 
 sion. The distance was only 11^ miles, and the reduced fare 
 for the return journey was one shilling. The experiment was an 
 unqualified success ; 570 passengers joined in the excursion. 
 From this small beginning sprang the great system of tours 
 which at the present time encircles the globe. 
 
 Trips from Leicester to Liverpool were followed by trips to 
 the Isle of Man and Dublin — a daring project in those days, but 
 nevertheless a decidedly popular innovation. Scotland and 
 Wales were next laid under tribute to this Napoleon of travel. 
 
 Mr. Cook generally issued a guide for his cheap trips, and 
 the author, when on the North Staffordshire Eailway, remembers 
 furnishing Mr. C. with some descriptive sketches of points of 
 interest on that portion of the N. S. E. over which the Welsh 
 excursion train had to pass. 
 
 Thomas Cook died at Leicester, England, on July 19th, 
 1892, aged 84 years. The Manchester Weekly Times, in its obit- 
 uary notice, said: — " As showing the immense development of 
 his system and the progress made by the firm of which he was 
 the head, we may state that in 1865 the whole personnel of the 
 business consisted of himself, his son, Mr. John M. Cook, two 
 assistants, and one messenger, and the total receipts for that 
 year were not quite i'20,000. In 1890 the firm had in operation 
 80,348 different series of tickets, giving travelling facilities over 
 1,823,959 miles of railways, oceans and rivers, with 350,000 
 
 miles of the railway and steamboat communications of the globe. 
 16 
 
24!2 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 During that year 3,262,159 tickets were issued. To regulate 
 the business and to conduct it in all parts of the globe the firm 
 had 45 distinct banking accounts, 84 offices worked by a salaried 
 staff, 85 agencies, and a staff of 1,714 permanent salaried mem- 
 bers. There were, in addition, 978 persons, chiefly Arabs, for 
 working the business in Egypt and Palestine, making a total of 
 2,692 employees of the firm." 
 
 The Derby and Chesterfield Reporter of July 22nd, 1892, 
 said : — " The personally-conducted trips to Palestine were com- 
 menced in 1868, and later came the Indian tours and the voyage 
 round the world. The Prince of Wales's two sons travelled in 
 the Holy Land under arrangements confided to Messrs. Thomas 
 Cook & Son ; while in the military expeditions in Egypt inesti- 
 mable public service was rendered by the firm. When the relief 
 expedition was despatched to Khartoum in the vain hope of sav- 
 ing the heroic Gordon, Messrs. Cook were entrusted with the 
 duty of conveying troops and stores, and in the accomplishment 
 of this task they had twenty -eight steamers running between 
 Egypt and England, 13,000 railway trucks at their disposal, 
 twenty-seven steamers and 650 sailing vessels on the Nile. They 
 had also in their employment 5,000 fellahs in Lower Egypt. 
 A very large proportion of the pleasure and the comfort 
 and the cheapness of modern travelling is undeniably due to the 
 energy, the integrity, and the resourcefulness of the late Mr, 
 Thomas Cook, and he will long be remembered as an upright^ 
 single-minded, public-spirited citizen, who, so far as his organ- 
 isation of travelling is concerned, may be pronounced to have 
 been practically a man of genius." 
 
 In addition to the great services rendered to society in all 
 countries by Thomas Cook's achievement in introducing cheap 
 and safe travelling to all parts of the world, which entitles him 
 
Thomas Cook, the famous Taurist Agent 243 
 
 to be classed as a public benefactor, he will long be remembered 
 in the Midland Counties of England for his many kindly acts of 
 benevolence and his liberal help to an Orphan Asylum and many 
 other kindred institutions. 
 
 ALL ABOARD FOR JERUSALEM. 
 
 When the author started his railway career in the year 
 1830, he little dreamt that in the year 1893 he would be able to 
 read of the opening of a railway in Palestine, the " Garden of the 
 Lord," the " Glory of all lands." Below is an account of this 
 notable event taken from the Halifax, N.S., Herald of March 4th, 
 1893. 
 
 The Jaflfa & Jerusalem Eailroad has been formally opened, 
 writes United States Consul Selah Merrill to the state depart- 
 ment. The event was celebrated on the part of the Mohamme- 
 dans by an address from one of their priests of high rank in 
 Jerusalem, after which three sheep were slaughtered on the plat- 
 form as a kind of propitiatory sacrifice, and on the part of the 
 company it was celebrated by a dinner given in the evening 
 under the tents at the Jerusalem station. 
 
 The greatest popular interest was manifested in this event, 
 and for the first time in its history Jerusalem showed a little of 
 the life and bustle which characterizes cities in the western 
 world. The road just completed, the first ever built in Palestine 
 and Syria, is a little over 53 miles long, 30 miles of which are on 
 the plain land, and the remaining 23 in the mountains. There 
 are no tunnels on the road, the builders preferring to go around 
 bluffs that might be tunnelled rather than to bore through them. 
 There are at least five deep cuttings among the hills and three 
 or four iron bridges. The steepest grade is 2 per cent., or about 
 100 feet to the mile. 
 
244 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 The track is narrow gauge, exactly one meter in length. Be- 
 tween Jaffa and Jerusalem, not including these, there are five 
 stations. 
 
 For the station in Jerusalem, which is one mile from the 
 city, a little more than 8^ acres of land were purchased at a very 
 high price — not less than $25,000 — land which thirty years ago 
 was sold for $1 per acre. This station is 2,476 feet above the 
 level of the station at Jaffa, and the exact length of the road is 
 86|^ kilometers, or 536-10 miles. The cost of the road is not far 
 from $2,000,000. The company was organized in 1890, and the 
 concession was obtained in that year, three years being allowed 
 for the construction of the road, but the builders completed it in 
 2^ years. French money built the road, and the principal owners 
 reside in Paris, where also is Ihe headquarters of the company. 
 Besides the peasants of the country, the builders employed in 
 the construction of the road 300 Italians and a large number of 
 Algerines and Egyptians. The men who did most of the stone 
 work — blasting through hills, laying walls to support embank- 
 ments and cutting stone for stations and bridges — were from 
 Bethlehem and the nearest neighboring village to it, called Beit 
 Jala, men whose ancestors have been stonecutters from ancient 
 times.* 
 
 "the impudence of steam." 
 
 Tom Hood's Dream More than Verified. 
 
 Godfrey of Boulogne and thou 
 
 Richard, lion-hearted king, 
 Candidly inform us now, 
 
 Did you ever ? 
 
 No, you never 
 Could have fancied such a thing, 
 
 * Joppa, formerly called Japhe, and now Jafli, a city and port of Palestine, situ- 
 ated on a rocky eminence on the Mediterranean coast, north-west of Jerusalem. It is 
 one of the most ancient seaports in the world.— iSannwter'* " Holy Land." 
 
Thomas Cook, the famous Tourist Agent 245 
 
 Never such vociferations 
 Entered your imaginations 
 As the ensuing : 
 
 " Ease her, stop her I " 
 *' Ajiy gentleman for Joppa ? " 
 " Mascus, Mascus ? " Ticket, please, sir ! " 
 " Tyre or Sidon ? " " Stop her, ease her ! " 
 '• Jerusalem, 'lem, *lem " — " Shur ! Shrir ! " 
 "Do you go on to Egypt, sir ? " 
 " Captain, is this the land of Pharaoh ? " 
 " Now look alive there I Who's for Cairo ? " 
 ' ' Back her : " " Stand clear, old file ! " 
 " What gent or lady's for the Nile 
 
 Or Pyramids?"' "Thebes! Thebes! sir!" "Steady!" 
 *' Now, Where's that party for Engedi ? " 
 
 Pilgrims holy, red-cross knights, 
 
 Had you e'er the least idea, 
 Even in your wildest flights, 
 Of a steam trip to Judea ? 
 What next marvel time will show 
 
 It is difficult to say, 
 " Bus," perchance, to Jericho — 
 " Only sixpence all the way ! " 
 Cabs in Solyma may ply — 
 'Tis a not unlikely tale— 
 And from Dan the tourist hie 
 Unto Beersheba by " rail". 
 
246 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. 
 
 IN another part of this work I have referred to some of the 
 earliest railway managers in the Old Country who, as a rule, 
 were unfit for such responsible duties ; but they soon gave way 
 to a better class of men, taken mainly from among the old canal 
 agents who had had much experience in the carrying trade of the 
 country. Eailway managers, at the present day in all coun- 
 tries, are a body of practical men in real earnest, whose influence 
 is felt far and wide. 
 
 There is a popular idea that a railway manager's position 
 is a sort of sinecure ; that he is one who rides about in his private 
 car, and has an annual pass over all lines on the continent, with 
 power to come and go here, there and everywhere whenever the 
 desire seizes him. There never was a greater mistake. A rail- 
 way manager's life is one of never-ceasing occupation and excite- 
 ment, that of one who burns the midnight oil and does not sleep 
 upon a bed of roses ; who has to " work — work — work while the 
 cock is crowing aloof," and who is liable to be freely assailed by 
 the wail of the ever-complaining public, or the grumbles of far-off 
 shareholders coming like the rumblings of distant thunder. 
 Then the electric telegraph keeps its vigilant eye upon him and 
 follows him like a spectre wherever he goes. Once, when travel- 
 ling with a general manager, he exclaimed, " Oh, if only for a 
 few hours, one could get beyond the reach of the telegraph ? " 
 
 Another manager said " it would be an agreeable change to 
 retire, and take charge of a railway level crossing and hold up a 
 
Railway Management. 247 
 
 flag when the trains went past." Goods managers or general 
 freight agents, above all others, are fair game for many a kick 
 from dissatisfied shippers, who try to worry you into the giving 
 of an exclusive special rate for themselves ; also for a large class 
 of fault-finders who question your policy and judgment. Upon 
 this question I can e-peak feelingly, having had some half a cen- 
 tury's experience in the business. In 1845, at the fag-end of 
 the railway mania, it was my business to call upon a gentleman 
 in Manchester who was a large shareholder in the railway upon 
 which I was employed, and whose immense railway speculations 
 had got him the title of " second railway king." At the time I 
 
 called upon Mr. T , he was not in the best of tempers, as 
 
 railway shares and scrip had a downward tendency, and I came in 
 opportunely as one upon whom he could vent his wi-ath ; and 
 this he did inmost unmeasured terms, accusing me and the other 
 officers of our railway of every kind of mismanagement under the 
 sun. I defended myself as well as I could, told him I had 
 always done my duty for the interest of the company. " Yes," 
 said he, " did you ever know a man when he was drunk admit 
 that he was drunk? " I saw it was of no use having further talk 
 with the rabid gentleman, and bid him good-day. 
 
 I have already spoken of the importance and great respon- 
 sibility of the men who have the movement of the merchandise 
 traffic of a country. Their brain duties are most arduous ; 
 they cannot, like those in any other profession, leave their 
 business in the office ; it goes with them to their homes and 
 worries them in their dreams. 
 
 In the early days of the Grand Trunk, some of my time was 
 taken up in replying to pamphlets and English letters attacking 
 om* management. One writer criticising our merchandise class- 
 ification, said, " to think that the Grand Trunk Goods Manager 
 should have left out ' Divi-Divi ' in his classification ! " Poole 
 
248 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 describes this article as being " like a pea-shell curled up, filled 
 with yellow powder, and a few dark brown seeds, used in 
 tanning, and imported from Maracaibo and Savanilla, chiefly 
 into Liverpool and London." In order to answer that objection, 
 I went around among some Canadian tanners and asked each one 
 if he knew anything of " Divi-Divi." One said he " never heard 
 of such a chap ; " another said he never heard of the article, 
 that he used hemlock bark in tanning. This occurred thirty-four 
 years ago. At the present day " Divi-Divi ' ' may, to some extent, 
 be used in tanning leather, but it does not appear to have gained 
 sufficient importance to call for its insertion in the Canadian 
 freight classification. 
 
 THE "pro-rata" question. 
 
 Numerous are the discussions which have taken place in 
 most countries upon the above knotty question during the last 
 half century. It has come up in the Parliaments of England and 
 Canada as well as in the Legislature of the United States. About 
 twenty years ago the subject came up before a committee of the 
 House of Commons at Ottawa, and I attended to give evidence, 
 when I pointed out a fact which is generally lost sight of when 
 the pro-rata question is under discussion, viz.: that the terminal 
 expenses (which include station buildings, side tracks, switches, 
 crossings, semaphore signals, the telegraph, storage, handling, 
 weighing, loading, shunting, billing, etc.) were the same upon a 
 ton of freight going 50 miles as they were upon a ton of freight 
 going 500 miles ; nay, in most cases, terminals might only apply 
 in the latter case to the forwarding or receiving station, while in 
 the former case they would apply to both. On through freight, 
 that is freight passing from road A over road B and on to C road, 
 the terminal expenses on B were nearly if not quite nil. 
 
 Anyone will at once see, that to cover these terminal 
 expenses, short distance freight necessitates far higher rates 
 
Raihuay Management. 249 
 
 than that over long lengths of road, or what is termed, " through 
 freight," and that to charge the same rate per ton per mile over 
 short distances as that for long distances was neither reasonable 
 nor just. 
 
 FREIGHT RATES. 
 
 In December, 1893, the following item appeared in the 
 Toronto Empire, credited to the Philadelphia Press : — 
 
 The decline that has taken place in freight rates in this 
 country during the past twenty-eight years is made plain in the 
 following figm-es from the report of the Chicago, Milwaukee and 
 St. Paul railway, which show the average rate per ton per mile 
 received for freight by that company in the years named : 
 
 Cents. Cents. 
 
 1865 
 
 4.11 
 
 1880 
 
 1.76 
 
 1866 
 
 3.76 
 
 1881 
 
 170 
 
 1867 
 
 3.94 
 
 ISS'Z 
 
 1.48 
 
 1868 
 
 3.49 
 
 1883 
 
 1.39 
 
 1869 
 
 3.10 
 
 1884 
 
 1.29 
 
 1870 
 
 2.82 
 
 1885 
 
 1.28 
 
 1871 
 
 2.50 
 
 1886 
 
 1.17 
 
 1872 
 
 2.43 
 
 1887 
 
 1.09 
 
 1873 
 
 2.50 
 
 1888 
 
 1.006 
 
 1874 
 
 2.38 
 
 1889 
 
 1.059 
 
 1875 
 
 2.10 
 
 1890 
 
 995 
 
 1876 
 
 2.04 
 
 1891 
 
 1892 
 
 1.003 
 
 1877 
 
 2.08 
 
 1.026 
 
 1878 
 
 2,80 
 
 1893 
 
 1.026 
 
 1879 
 
 1.72 
 
 
 
 The above figures are very startling, showing a gradual 
 downward tendency of freight rates from 1865 to 1890, after 
 which a slight re-action took place. 
 
 Similar reductions have no doubt taken place upon other 
 roads on this continent and give a reason why many of them do 
 not pay, and why some have passed into the hands of Keceivers. 
 
250 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 While the average rate is given, it does not give any idea at 
 what rate the great bulk of heavy freight is carried, such as coal, 
 iron, grain, flour and other staple articles. 
 
 According to freight tariffs, groceries, dry-goods and 
 general merchandise are charged, as per classification, at from 
 two to five cents per ton per mile, and they probably constitute 
 twenty-five per cent, of the whole of the freight traffic, and these 
 higher rates do much to increase the average, but this does not 
 represent the figure at which the seventy-five per cent, of heavy 
 freight is conveyed and the rate instead of being one and a 
 quarter cents per ton per mile, will only be about three-quarters 
 of a cent per ton per mile, a rate which barely pays running 
 expenses. 
 
 Then it must be remembered that the movement of produce 
 is most irregular, much more being shipped at one season of 
 the year than the other, and to accommodate it at busy seasons 
 necessitates a large stock of railway plant (cars and locomotives) 
 to be kept in readiness for it ; while during the slack season 
 thousands of freight cars are laid up in sidings earning nothing 
 and suffering decay from the sun and rain more than if they were 
 at work and in motion. 
 
 Further, heavy freight as a rule, is a one way traffic ; that is, 
 a great proportion of the cars have to be returned empty. Let 
 any one examine a west-bound freight train and he will find from 
 fifty to seventy-five per cent, of the cars empty, and the cost of 
 hauling them back is nearly as much as when running them 
 loaded. 
 
 In the early days of the Grand Trunk Eailway the question 
 of freight rates was very fully discussed by its managers, including 
 all departments, the object being to fix upon a minimum rate for 
 produce in full train loads for long distances ; and after carefully 
 
RaiLivay Management. 251 
 
 considering the question of expenses, as locomotive -power, 
 wear and tear of cars, maintenance of way, agencies, return of 
 empty ears and other minor charges, it was not deemed desirable 
 to go below one cent per ton per mile, for freight in train loads 
 for distances of 500 miles and upwards, and though this rate 
 would do little more than pay expenses, it was worth encouraging 
 with a view of developing a general merchandise traffic at more 
 remunerative rates. 
 
 LOW PRICE OF WHEAT, SPRING OF 1894. 
 
 A farmer living near a market at the present price of wheat 
 hardly pays expenses, then what must be the position of the 
 farmer who resides 500 or 1,000 miles from a market. His case 
 must indeed be deplorable. 
 
 Does it not seem most important that a settler should select 
 a farm as near a market as possible, though he may have to give 
 a much higher figure for the land, as the cost of moving his pro- 
 duce to market is of far greater consequence than anything else. 
 
 A DISTANCE LIMIT. 
 
 It will be seen, at a glance, when the price of wheat is low, 
 as at present, there is a limit to the distance at which it can be 
 carried, so as to give any profit to the farmer or the Eailway 
 Company. 
 
 Under such circumstances would it not be advisable, as often 
 suggested, that a farmer residing at a great distance from a 
 market should turn his attention more to producing other 
 products rather than wheat, such as cheese, butter, eggs, 
 poultry, live stock, etc., as such articles are not aftected by freight 
 
252 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 rates to anything like the same extent as wheat, as the following 
 illustrations will show : 
 
 A car with 500 bushels of wheat leaves a station 500 miles 
 west of a principal market, on reaching that point its 
 
 value is 60 cents per bushel, say f 300 00 
 
 Less freight at 15 cents per bushel 75 00 
 
 1225 00 
 The freight being 25 per cent, on the market value. 
 
 A car containing 30,000 lbs. of cheese leaves the same station, 
 
 on reaching the market its value is $3,000 00 
 
 Less freight at 50 cents per 100 lbs i 150 00 
 
 $2,850 00 
 Freight being 5 per cent, on the market value. 
 
 Wheat only is named, but the market will equally apply to 
 corn or other grain. 
 
An Order of Merit for Heroic Deeds. 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 AN ORDER OF MERIT FOR HEROIC DEEDS. 
 
 A COLLECTION of heroic incidents in which railway employees 
 have distinguished themselves would be a most interesting 
 record, telling of feats of valour not surpassed by those of soldiers 
 who have gained the Victoria Cross for remarkable acts of 
 bravery. 
 
 As an illustration, I give the details of two or three cases 
 which came under my own observation many years ago. 
 
 I am not aware whether the Humane Society takes note of 
 such cases, but have no doubt it would do so if they were brought 
 before its notice. 
 
 It seems only right that the Government of a country should 
 have some order of merit, or badge of honour, to be awarded 
 to railway men for acts of courage in risking their own lives to 
 save the lives of passengers under their charge. 
 
 How often have we heard of engine drivers sticking to their 
 posts when apparent death was before them ; and surely such 
 noble fellows are worthy of something more than a mere money 
 reward. 
 
 SIR JOSEPH HICKSON's OPINION. 
 
 In reply to an enquiry I made of Sir Joseph Hickson, on the 
 above question, he answered as follows : " I do not know of any 
 * Order of Merit ' which is conferred upon railway servants in 
 England ; but I do know that some companies have recognized, 
 by money grants, in some cases, acts of bravery and forethought. 
 I think your suggestion a very good one." 
 
254 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 A PASSENGER TRAIN WITHOUT AN ENGINE DRIVER. 
 
 Preston station was close to the mouth of a tunnel, 
 beyond which were coal sidings and engines constantly moving and 
 shunting waggons of coal. One day a locomotive superintendent 
 was standing on the platform at the station when he saw coming 
 along at a great and unusual speed, a passenger train, and, 
 to his horror, he saw that the engine had neither driver nor 
 fireman on board. The superintendent took in the situation in 
 a moment, placed himself at the edge of the platform ; on came 
 the rushing train and when the engine got opposite to him, he 
 made one flying leap, secured a footing upon the locomotive and 
 quickly reversed the engine, and before the train had got through 
 the tunnel he had full control of the runaway, thus saving the 
 train from wreck and a terrible loss of life to the passengers. 
 When the people on the platform saw the train coming back in 
 safety to the station, they cheered and hurrahed the locomotive 
 superintendent, and the newspapers of the day gave him columns 
 of praise ; but no badge of honor ever decorated his breast. It 
 was afterwards ascertained that the engine driver and his fire- 
 man had (at a station three miles from Preston) gone into a 
 tavern to have a drink, and while there the engine started off 
 without them. 
 
 This curious prank of locomotives running off on their own 
 account did happen sometimes in the early railway days, as shown 
 in my account of the " Castle,'' but not being posted in mechan- 
 ics, I cannot explain how it occurs. To show that locomotives 
 still run away, the following incident, reported in the London 
 Daily Telegraph of Oct. 3, 1893, is recorded here : " A driver and 
 fireman on the Great Southern & Western Railway, of Ireland, 
 shut off steam yesterday and left the locomotive on an incline 
 while they went into a public house. The engine started off, 
 
An Order of Merit for Heroic Deeds. 255 
 
 and going through Cork at forty miles an hour did not stop until 
 near Queenstown. Extraordinary as it may seem, no damage 
 was done." 
 
 THOMAS HUNT. 
 
 I have an impression that the actor in the case of the "train 
 without a driver," was Mr. Hunt, with whom communication has 
 recently been made. He says : " My memory is not very clear 
 as to the runaway engine through Preston northwards, yet the 
 incident may have happened and I may have thought so little 
 about it as to allow it to pass from my recollection. I was the only 
 locomotive superintendent at Preston from early in 1839 to Aug. 
 1851, and if Mr. Pennington's remembrance of the incident is 
 correct, I must have had a hand in it." 
 
 This enquiry has brought out two other remarkable incidents 
 which prove Mr. Hunt to have been a man of prompt action and 
 invincible courage, and that in cases when a terrible death threat- 
 ened him. I give the story of one of these incidents in his own 
 words. Writing from Egerton Mount, Heaton Chapel, England, 
 he says : " A goods engine arrived at Preston from Carlisle 
 (I was then locomotive superintendent of the engines working the 
 Lancaster & Carlisle Eailway), and having discharged its train at 
 the warehouse, a spare driver was put on it to prepare it for a 
 trip down to the Kibble to fetch up empty waggons, and, without 
 any special reason for doing so, I accompanied the engine down to 
 the riverside siding where, the waggons not being ready, we had 
 to wait some time during which I, the driver and fireman left the 
 engine and interested ourselves in observing what was going on 
 there. During this interval I observed puffs of steam, at first 
 very slight, escaping from underneath the barrel of the 
 boiler of the engine, which at the moment I thought 
 insignificant ; but, on further observation, the puffs 
 increased in volume and frequency, and being about fifty yards 
 
256 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 from the engine I walked up to and looked under the boiler and 
 saw steam escaping between the joints of the clothing. I had not 
 then the slightest idea of the cause, especially as I saw steam 
 escaping slightly from the safety valve. However the quantity of 
 steam escaping from underneath the boiler increased and I then 
 went to the footplate end of the engine and saw that the index 
 finger of the spring balance of the safety valve was at the bottom 
 of the groove, which of course meant that the safety valve ivasfast! 
 How I got on to the footplate and unscrewed the nut of the spring 
 balance, I don't know ; but immediately I gave the valve relief 
 the steam escaped with a roar which brought every one in the 
 immediate neighbourhood to the engine, and there being clouds of 
 steam about they could not see me on the footplate and thought 
 that an accident to me had been the cause of the escape. How- 
 ever the steam soon cleared away and the escape from underneath 
 the barrel ceased. On examination into the cause of this I found 
 that the pivot on the safety valve had got slightly out of the centre 
 of the valve and canted it off its face, thus allowing steam to 
 escape at will. How and when this originated was never known. 
 The clothing was removed from the boiler and the seam of the 
 centre ring of plates forming the barrel underneath the boiler was 
 found to have slipped, that is, the outer lap of the plate had moved 
 on the inner lap one-sixteenth inch. Of course it is mere conjec- 
 ture as to the moment the explosion would have taken place had 
 I not relieved the valve, but there can be no doubt it would have 
 been immediate, and as there were many workmen about, the 
 consequences would have been serious." 
 
 THE RUNAWAY GOODS WAGGONS. 
 
 On the Stoke and Burton Division of the North Staffordshire 
 Railway there was a very heavy grade (I think one in ninety) 
 commencing close to Stoke-upon-Trent Station and extending 
 
An Order of MeHt for Heroic Deeds. 257 
 
 upwards of two miles. Near the top of the grade was a tunnel 
 
 and at the mouth of the latter there was a switch connecting the 
 
 up with the down rails. One day a portion of a long goods train 
 
 going up the grade broke loose from the rest when in the tunnel, 
 
 owing to the breaking of a coupling, and the liberated waggons 
 
 then started to run back with no one on board. The engine driver 
 
 and his fireman took in the situation at once, uncoupled the 
 
 balance of the train, crossed the switch on the down line, and 
 
 gave pursuit after the run-away waggons, the speed of which was 
 
 increasing every moment. After chasing them for a mile, the 
 
 engine got alongside the escaping waggons, which by this time 
 
 had attained a speed of fifty miles an hour ; one of the men then 
 
 jumped from the engine on to one of the flying waggons, put 
 
 on the brake, scrambled from one waggon to the other, putting 
 
 on brake after brake, and before they reached the station at 
 
 Stoke he had them under control and brought them to a stand 
 
 without the slightest damage. 
 
 Had the waggons not have been stopped, a terrible calamity 
 was ine\-itable, for at the foot of the grade was a sharp curve and 
 a row of cottages, and the waggons running at fifty or sixty miles 
 an horn*, must have crushed into these cottages with the force of 
 cannon balls from a heavy battery. 
 
 A BRA^'E ACT " THERE's POODER IN." 
 
 One night, long ago, three boatmen were sleeping in a canal 
 boat in a carrier's warehouse at Kendal, Westmoreland, when 
 they were aroused by the cry of ** fire," and rushing up remem- 
 bered that there was a stage-waggon, loaded with gunpowder, 
 standing in the shed ; and by the time they got out of the cabin, 
 the upper floor, right over the gunpowder (which was merely 
 covered over with a tarpaulin) was in flames and sparks falling all 
 round. The three boatmen did not hesitate a moment, but made 
 17 
 
258 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 for the waggon, seized hold of it, and seemed to be endowed with 
 super-human strength, for they drew the wagon out of the ware- 
 house into a place of safety. Crowds of the town's people had 
 come down to see the fire, but soon got a hint that there was 
 powder in the building and all of them ran o£f to a man, crying 
 out as they ran, *' there's pooder in / there* s pooder in f' It may 
 be asked, how were these three brave fellows rewarded for prob- 
 able saving the town of Kendal from destruction ? ** Oh, tell it 
 not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon." One lib- 
 eral soul in Kendal gave the three men ten shillings (about 
 eighty cents each). 
 
 The author (only a boy at the time) felt indignant and wrote 
 his first letter to a newspaper, calling attention to the matter, 
 but nothing more was done. 
 
 A BROWN-STOUT BATH. 
 
 Though it is foreign to the subject in hand, I am tempted to 
 relate an anecdote about this fire. After the town's people 
 had been assured that there was no more "pooder" in the build- 
 ing they caine down to assist in extinguishing the fire. Among 
 them was a little dandy style of a man, whom everybody knew 
 on account of the prominent position he took upon all public 
 occasions, such as elections, town meetings, etc. As a talker he 
 was a great man, but repudiated the idea of working with his 
 hands. In the burning warehouse was a hogshead of porter 
 standing, head up. The man in question being little, mounted 
 on the top of the porter hogshead, where all the people could see 
 him. Perched on this point of eminence, and with much gesticu- 
 lation he gave his orders, calling out " men do this," " men do 
 that," " throw water," when, lo and behold, the head of the cask 
 gave way and down went the little man up to his neck in porter^ 
 
ALDERMAN HALLAM. 
 
 I 
 
An Order of Merit for Heroic Deeds. 259 
 
 from which there arose a column of froth, castmg an halo of 
 glory round his head through which his astonished face was 
 just visible. 
 
 It was said that this comical event almost paralyzed the 
 people from doing any more work in putting out the fire, as they 
 had to lie down and laugh, get up, lie down again and still laugh 
 on. 
 
 " Let them now laugh who never laugh'd before, 
 And they who always laugh'd, laugh now the more. 
 
260 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 RAILWAY CELEBRATIONS. 
 THE BOSTON RAILROAD JUBILEE. 
 
 " Now let us haste those bonds to knit, 
 
 And in the work be handy, 
 That we may blend ' God save the Queen,' 
 
 With ' Yankee Doodle Dandy !' " 
 
 THE above inscription was placed under the full-length por- 
 traits of President Fillmore and Lord Elgin, which hung 
 across Dover Street, Boston, during its celebrated Eailway 
 Jubilee, September 17th, 18th, and 19th, 1851. 
 
 This Jubilee was to commemorate the union of Boston and 
 Montreal in bands of iron, and is now historical. 
 
 The event was considered of sufficient importance, by the 
 Boston committee of the City Council, to warrant the publication 
 of a book of 300 pages, giving a detailed account of the celebra- 
 tion, its decorations, festivities, speeches, etc., etc., from which 
 I have culled a few extracts which may be of interest, even at 
 the present day. 
 
 The festival was remarkable from the number of notabilities 
 who attended and took part in the proceedings, among whom 
 were : President Fillmore ; Lord Elgin, Governor-General of 
 British North America ; Hon. Jno. F. Crampton, the British 
 Charge d' Affaires at Washington ; Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretary 
 of State, Washington; Sir Allan McNab, M.P.P.; the Hon Joseph 
 Howe, Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia; Hon. F. Hincks, 
 Inspector General ; Hon. E. P. Tache, Receiver General ; Hon. 
 
Railway Celebrations. 261 
 
 Jos. Bourret, Chief Commissioner of Public Works ; Hon. J. H. 
 Price, Commissioner of Crown Lands ; Hon. Lewis T. Drum- 
 mond, Solicitor General for Lower Canada ; Hon. J. Sandfield 
 Macdonald, Solicitor General for Upper Canada ; Hon. Hamilton 
 H. Killaly, Assistant Commissioner of Public Works ; Governor 
 Boutwell, of Massachusetts ;Hon. Edward Everett, Boston; Hon. 
 Josiah Quincy; Hon.Robert C. Winthrop ; His Honor Jno. P. Bige- 
 low. Mayor of Boston ; Hon. N. F. Belleau, Mayor of Quebec ; 
 Hon. Charles Wilson, Mayor of Montreal ; Hon. Jno. G. Bowes, 
 Mayor of Toronto; Eev. E. Eyerson, D. D., Chief Superintendent 
 of Education in Canada West ; Hon. Wm. Morris,M.L.C.; George 
 Brown, Esq., M.P.P. ; Eobt. Bell, M.P.P., of Canada ; Alderman 
 Magill, Hamilton ; Ben. Holmes, Esq., M.P.P. ; Judge T. C. 
 Aylwin, Montreal ; Hon. John Molson, President of the Cham- 
 plain & St. Lawrence Eailway ; The Eev. Dr. Beecher, and his 
 son, Eev. Edward Beecher; Eev. J. Jenkins, of Montreal; Thos. 
 and W. H. Merritt, of St. Catharines. 
 
 Among the many features of interest at the Jubilee was 
 the monster procession consisting of guests, visitors and officials 
 in carriages, school children in scores of decorated waggons, 
 trades of all kinds with emblems of their art, military corps, 
 benevolent and other societies and numerous bands of music with 
 banners, English, Canadian and American, of all kinds. 
 
 The procession took two hours to pass any given point, and 
 was S^ miles in length. 
 
 The mottoes, generally ran across the streets, which were 
 seen along the line of route were much admired, and a few are 
 here given. 
 
 " Grand Railroad Jubilee, 
 September 17th, 18th, 19th, 1851." 
 
 " The Canadas and the Great West." 
 
262 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 " Welcome Canadians." 
 
 " England and America," 
 
 Perpetual Peace, 
 The Queen, — the President." 
 
 " Our guests from the British Soil, 
 
 We bid them welcome 
 
 To Yankee Land.' 
 
 " Hon. Joseph Howe and the Colonial Railroads." 
 *' Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, united by Railway." 
 " Montreal and Boston — United We Prosper." 
 
 A PLEASING INCIDENT. 
 
 Miss Paxton, representing Massachusetts, was escorted to the 
 carriage containing Lord Elgin, to whom she presented a fine 
 bouquet, with this address : — 
 
 " Massachusetts welcomes to the hospitality of her metro- 
 polis, with cordial salutation, the distinguished Chief Magistrate 
 of Her Majesty's Provinces in North America." 
 
 To this his Lordship replied in substance as follows : — 
 
 ** I shall preserve this as a token of the kindness and hospi- 
 tality of the State of Massachusetts and the City of Boston, and 
 also as a valued memorial of the fair representative of the State." 
 
 On Lord Elgin's arrival at Boston, Mayor Bigelow tendered 
 to him a public welcome and said : — 
 
 " We recognize you, not only as the ruler of extensive and 
 important provinces, but as the principal representative on this 
 continent of the venerated land of our ancestors. It is told of 
 Samoset, the Indian Chief, that his first salutation to the Pil- 
 grims at Plymouth, was * Welcome, welcome, Englishmen.' 
 
 " Our festival may be considered, in some sort, as the cele- 
 bration of a conjugal union between Canada and the Ocean. 
 We can dispense with the golden ring, which was used in the 
 
Railway Cdd/raMona. 263 
 
 espousals of Venice with the waters of the Adriatic ; for this 
 Tmion is effected by bands of iron, which at once attest its 
 perpetuity and strength." 
 
 In replying, Lord Elgin said : — 
 
 " I am quite overcome by this kind and cordial reception ; 
 but gentlemen, I have been travelling all day, and my throat is 
 so full of dust that you will excuse me if I do not attempt to 
 follow the Mayor in his most eloquent address. 
 
 "But there is one thing he has said, which I cannot allow 
 to pass unnoticed. He has suggested that we should consider this 
 celebration the ' conjugal union of the Canadas with the Ocean.' 
 "VMiatever may be my object in coming to Boston, I assure you, 
 Sir, that I do not come to ' forbid the banns.' " 
 
 A great banquet was held in a gorgeous Pavilion erected on 
 the Common. The tables comfortably accommodated 3,600 per- 
 sons. Interesting speches were made by President Fillmore, 
 Lord Elgin, Mayor Bigelow, Hon. Daniel Webster, Governor 
 Boutwell, Hon. Francis Hincks, Hon. Charles M. Conrad, Hod. 
 Joseph Howe, Hon. Edward Everett, Hon. Josiah Quincy and 
 others. 
 
 I have only space to give a few brief extracts from the 
 speeches made. 
 
 The President, who was laboring under a slight indisposition, 
 said: "I meet you as citizens of Boston. On this festive 
 occasion we know no party distinction. Nay, more, we scarcely 
 know a national distinction. There are gathered at this board 
 the Briton and the American, living under different laws, but 
 thank God, representing two of the freest nations under the sun. 
 The asperity that was engendered by the revolution which separ- 
 ated us from our mother country, I am happy to say, has long 
 since disappeared, and we meet like brethren of the same family. 
 
264 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Speaking the same language, and enjoying the san^e religion — 
 are we not one ? 
 
 " I trust, fellow citizens, that the unfortunate necessity 
 which compels me to leave you thus early on this occasion, will 
 induce no one to leave the table on my account. I trust partic- 
 ularly that his Lordship, the Governor-General of Canada, will 
 remain with you." 
 
 Lord Elgin rose and said : " One single word. I should 
 have felt it my bounden duty to follow the President of the 
 United States out of this room, if he had not interposed to prevent 
 me from doing so. But I do not forget that while I am on the 
 territory of the United States, I am under his authority. As, 
 therefore, he has imposed upon me his commands to remain 
 with you, most certainly I shall remain. And I must say that I 
 never received an order, which more completely jumped with my 
 own wishes." 
 
 Lord Elgin responded to the sentiment, " The health of Her 
 Majesty, the Queen," in a most interesting and somewhat amus- 
 ing speech, from which a few extracts only can be given. 
 
 ** Gentlemen, as I have the honour to address a company 
 which consists, in the greater part, of persons who live under 
 different institutions from myself, perhaps I may be permitted to 
 observe that we British subjects, honour and respect our Queen, 
 not only beause of her exemplary character, her many public and 
 private virtues, and the singular tact and firmness which has 
 enabled her to secure the well-being of her own people, and to 
 promote cordiality and good will among the nations of the earth, 
 but also because we recognize, in the constitutional and heredi- 
 tary throne upon which she is seated, the symbol of our national 
 unity, and the type of the continuity of our existence as a people. 
 
 " Allow me, gentlemen, as there seems to be in America 
 some little misconception on these points, to observe, that we, 
 
Railway Celebrations. 265 
 
 monarchists though we be, enjoy the advantages of self-govern- 
 ment, of popular elections, of deliberate assemblies, with their 
 attendant blessings of caucuses, stump orators, lobbyings and log- 
 rolling — and I am not sure but we sometimes have a little pipe 
 laying almost,if not altogether, in equal perfection with yourselves. 
 I must own, gentlemen, that I was exceedingly amused the other 
 day, when one of the gentlemen who did me the honour to visit 
 me in Toronto, bearing the invitation of the corporation of the 
 City of Boston, observed to me, with the utmos t gravity, that he 
 had been delighted to find upon entering our Legislative Assem- 
 bly at Toronto, that there was quite as much liberty of speech 
 there as in any body of the kind he had ever visited. I could 
 not help thinking, that if my kind friend would only favour us 
 with his company in Canada for a few weeks, we should be able 
 to demonstrate, to his entire satisfaction, that the tongue is 
 quite as ' unruly ' a ' member ' on the north side of the line as on 
 this side. 
 
 ** I find from the most authentic records, that the citizens 
 of Boston were altogether carried away by panic when it was 
 first proposed to build a railway from Boston to Providence, 
 under the apprehension that they themselves, their wives and 
 their children,their stores, and their goods, and all they possessed, 
 would be swallowed up bodily by New York. 
 
 " I hope that Boston has wholly recovered from that panic. 
 I think it is some evidence of it, that she has laid out fifty 
 millions in railways since that time. I give you, gentlemen, 
 * Prosperity to the trade and the City of Boston.' " 
 
 The Hon. Edward Everett, ex-Governor of Massachusetts, 
 made a most eloquent speech, concluding as follows, — " I do not 
 know, Sir (turning to Lord Elgin), but in this way, from the 
 kindly seeds which have been sown this week, in your visit to 
 Boston, and that of the distinguished gentlemen who have pre- 
 
266 ■ Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 ceded and accompanied you, our children and grandchildren, as 
 long as this great Anglo-Saxon race shall occupy the continent, 
 may reap a harvest worth all the cost which has devolved on 
 this generation." 
 
 Hon. Joseph Howe, Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia 
 (the old man eloquent), made a famous speech, concluding thus : 
 " I hope, Sir, that many years will not pass away before you 
 are invited to a railroad celebration on British soil, and this I 
 promise you, — that when that day comes, even if our railroads 
 should not be as long as yours, the festival shall be as long, 
 and the welcome as cordial." 
 
 Mayor Bigelow's address at the banquet was a burst of 
 eloquence, from which I give a few pearls " at random strung." 
 " This meeting is held to celebrate the triumphs of the arts of 
 peace ; to rejoice in the result of enterprises which tend to culti- 
 vate good will among men, to promote their material interests, 
 and augment the sum of human happiness." 
 
 " Boston takes occasion, in this presence, to acknowledge 
 with honest pride, that her founders were Britons. We claim 
 as New Englanders, that the history of the British people, until 
 a comparatively recent period, is our history, — that the poets, 
 statesmen, philosophers, patriots, and warriors, — in a word, the 
 myriads of the good and great, who for many centuries contri- 
 buted to the happiness and glory of the British Isles, were the 
 brethren, the fellow-countrymen of our ancestors." 
 
 " Hills have been cut in sunder, valleys have been filled up, 
 and running waters have been spanned, to facilitate the commun- 
 ication with every section of the land. Our iron pathways are our 
 rivers, and they more than compensate for deficiency of natural 
 channels. They follow the routes, and terminate at the exact 
 points, indicated by our judgment or wishes. They allow of 
 velocity of transit of which no water courses admit ; they are 
 
Railway Celeh^ations. 267 
 
 never frozen by the winter's blast, nor is their passage dangerous 
 in autumnal storms." 
 
 The Mayor closed with the following peroration, — " To- 
 morrow our festival will have terminated ; om- tents of Jubilee 
 will be struck, and many of you will be far away on your return 
 to your pleasant homes. But to-day you are our honoured guests. 
 I bid you welcome, rulers and ruled, statesmen, scholars, soldiers, 
 farmers, mechanics and merchants. Welcome ! ye from the 
 banks of the Ottawa, the Chaudiere, the St. Lawrence, the Ni- 
 agara, and the St. John. Welcome ! from the shores of Erie, 
 Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Superior. Welcome ! from the 
 borders of the Penobscot, Kennebec, Connecticut, Hudson, Dele- 
 ware, Susquehannah, and Potomac, — the waters of the Sunny 
 South, and of the valley of the Mississippi, and her tributaries. 
 Welcome ! from every city, town and hamlet which is here 
 represented. Welcome ! Englishmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, 
 Frenchmen, Germans and Americans. Welcome ! thrice welcome ! 
 are you all to the Pilgrim City, and the Pilgrim Feast !" 
 
 Several addresses were presented to Mayor Bigelow and the 
 City Council of Boston, viz : — 1st, by the Canadian Ministers, 
 through the Hon. Francis Hincks ; 2nd, by Mayor Wilson and 
 the Corporation of Montreal ; 3rd, by Mayor Bowes and the Cor- 
 poration of Toronto ; 4th, by the citizens of Toronto, signed by 
 Alex. Manning, A. M. Clark, Fred. Perkins and fifty-two others. 
 This address closed with the following beautiful sentiment : " The 
 destinies of the world for good or for ill, for peace or for war, are 
 suspended in the united hands of the two great nations to which 
 we respectively belong ; and we sincerely pray that the sentiments 
 of fraternal regard with which we have felt inspired during the 
 celebration of your great festival may be perpetual, and that 
 peace and happiness under the joint influence of our respective 
 rulers may forever pervade the earth." 
 
268 
 
 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 RAILROADS IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 
 
 The New England States made early and rapid progress in 
 developing her railroad system. The first road was the Boston 
 & Worcester partially opened in April, 1834, and the Boston and 
 Providence in June the same year. 
 
 In September, 1851, the railroads in operation were as 
 under : — 
 
 Maine 281 miles. 
 
 New Hampshire 455 
 
 Vermont 366 
 
 Massachusetts 1142 
 
 Ehode Island 50 
 
 Connecticut 551 
 
 2845 
 And 567 miles in course of construction. 
 
 A GRAND TRUNK CELEBRATION. 
 
 In November 1856, Montreal was a scene of gaiety and 
 splendour, the occasion being the celebration of the opening of 
 the Grand Trunk Eailway from Montreal to Toronto and Strat- 
 ford. The streets were crowded with thousands of visitors from 
 all parts of Canada and the United States ; there were balls, 
 military parades, trade and society processions, torch-light 
 marches, firework illuminations, etc. 
 
 The Mayors of Boston, Cleveland, and Portland, " hobnob- 
 bed " with the Mayors of Montreal and Toronto. The Governor- 
 General of Canada fraternized with the Governor of the State of 
 Maine. 
 
 A large workshop, newly built by the Grand Trunk, at 
 Point St Charles, was turned into a gorgeous banquet hall, with 
 seating accommodation for 4,400 guests, all of which was filled. 
 
Railway Celebrations. 269 
 
 Speeches were made by the Governor-General, the Governor of 
 Maine, General Sir William Eyre and other notabilities. The 
 Mayor, in his address, said that in 1839 there were only 15 
 miles of railway in Canada ; in 1849, 50 miles ; and in 1856, 850 
 miles. The Montreal Herald, in describing the banquet hall, 
 said that the table cloth was close upon one mile in length. 
 
 In winding up the banquet, a Chicago editor made an elo- 
 quent and soul-stirring speech, which will be read with interest 
 at the present day, and is well worth preserving. A copy of it, 
 taken from the Montreal Herald of November 13th, 1856, is here- 
 with given. 
 
 " After the regular toasts had been disposed of quite a call 
 was made for representatives of the Western commercial cities. 
 C. Davidson, commercial editor of the Chicago Daily Tribune, 
 being reporting near the stand, was called up and said : — 
 
 " The scenes of this occasion, here in the banquet hall, and 
 elsewhere, the * gay dance of bounding beauty's train,' the warm 
 pressure of the hand which has been extended to welcome us, 
 makes this an era in the life of each of us. We cannot be 
 insensible to the generous and cordial festal and fraternal feel- 
 ings with which we have been greeted in the heart of British 
 American Empire. We have been made to forget that we are in 
 a foreign land. With accents of our own native speech to speak 
 us greetings, with tones of welcome that bear favored sounds to 
 our ears, we have been made to feel the truth of the maxim that 
 one touch of nature makes all the world of kin. We feel that 
 we are among neighbours and kindred. Many of us have, separ- 
 ately and as strangers, traversed your country, floated on your 
 St. Lawrence, amid its inspiring scenery, which has, to some 
 extent, realized the grand impressions which swelled the soul of 
 Jacques Cartier, when in the balmy month of May of 1535, he 
 
270 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 glided down the stream, and first gazed on the wonders of your 
 country, and of your still overshading Mount Eoyal. 
 
 " We have, many of us, trodden your thronged streets, and 
 walked beneath the shadows of your mighty cathedral, and have 
 realized in your city that monument which Anglo-Saxon genius 
 never fails to rear on every arena of its exertion. 
 
 "We know your history and have watched your stages of 
 development in transition since, a feeble colony, you first began 
 to subdue the wilderness and triumph over the severities of 
 climate, until this your hour of expanded and prosperous growth ! 
 Of your frontier perils, when your soil was yet warm with the 
 footprints of the Mohawk, your woods rang with the Huron's war 
 whoop, and your clear skies tinged with the smoke of the Iroquois' 
 wigwam — and your streams, which now throb with the ceaseless 
 stir of steam, and cloud up with the white sails of commerce, 
 were disturbed only by the plash of the Indian's paddle, or the 
 soft cadences of the voyageur's evening song. Part of the school- 
 boy impressions, which have woven themselves into imperishable 
 memories of our hearts, are those which commemorate the hero- 
 ism of Wolfe and the chivalry of Montcalm. But these remi- 
 niscences, which thus throng the mind, belong to the past and are 
 committed to the keeping of history. Our feelings and our busi- 
 ness are with the present, lovingly as we might linger over the 
 past. 
 
 " In the glow of this banqueting hour, and in the warmth of 
 our welcome, we foretaste, as we hope, a nearer and closer inti- 
 macy of the Northwest and the Canadas. Nature had already 
 indicated the identity of interest and feeling which should exist 
 between you and us, in those island seas and magnificent streams 
 which traverse and border upon your country and ours. In such 
 facilities of intercourse, she bade us strike a fellowship of com- 
 merce and alliance of fraternity. The city of Chicago, for which 
 
Railway Celeh'atioois. 271 
 
 I speak, rears a rapid and marvellous prosperity on the shore of 
 waters which on their way to the ocean, sweep beneath the sha- 
 dows of your own Montreal — breezes, laden with the perfumes 
 of distant prairies, there swell the sails of a commerce which 
 bears you the products of innumerable prairie acres, now smiling 
 with the rewards of industry and teaming with the evidences of 
 advancing civilization. The instincts of business men here and 
 in the states, with the sagacity worthy of their parent stock, dis- 
 cerned where the mart of commerce must take its eastern way, 
 and capital has already struck out the path. The severity of 
 Northern climates has been obviated, and steam has triumphed 
 over space. A continuous chain of iron ways makes ^Montreal 
 harbor but 32 hours distant fiom the piers of Chicago. 
 
 " To-day, therefore, this communication, commemorated in 
 this brilliant banquet, inaugurates an era in the relations of 
 Chicago with you, and concerns us personally in your own pros- 
 perity. You have signalized to us this union with you by a 
 warmth, a generosity and splendour of hospitality which must live 
 forever in the memory of our hearts. The few hours of time 
 which separate you and us leaves Montreal no longer a stranger 
 to Chicago. The Eed Cross of St. George and the Stars and 
 Stripes will float together in our respective harbors, and the 
 strains of * God Save the Queen' may, we hope, mingle not in- 
 harmoniously with the notes of ' Yankee Doodle ' among Ameri- 
 can and Canadian tars. We feel that our interests are mutual, 
 and our hearts should be kindred. We hope that in our com- 
 minglement of cordial courtesies we foresee a more direct, kindly, 
 and general intercourse beteen the two queen cities of the North. 
 The Reciprocity Treaty, fortunately and opportunely, promotes 
 and encourages a commercial, and, to some extent, a social inti- 
 macy which will intertwine more closely the interests of the 
 regions of the lakes, and of the St. Lawrence, etc., as one of the 
 
272 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 great commercial ports of the West, Chicago is deeply interested 
 in the moral and material benefits of such an intercourse. Her 
 commercial and business men will necessarily more and more 
 mingle and establish relations with your business men ; such 
 relations necessitate and nurture those kinds instincts and sen- 
 timents which take their form in the amenities and courtesies of 
 life. It will be the pride and the pleasure of the city of Chicago 
 to cultivate, extend and perpetuate with your olden city, such 
 relations as these. I know I speak the voice of her citizens here, 
 and of that larger mass of her citizens at home, when I offer 
 you the sentiment to which they will all respond : ' The continued 
 prosperity of Montreal.' " 
 
 THE GEORGE STEPHENSON CENTENARY. 
 
 This event was celebrated with great eclat at Newcastle-on- 
 Tyne, on June 9th, 1881, to do honour to the memory of " the 
 Father of Railways," when, says Mr. H. C. Knight, in his interest- 
 ing story of " The Eocket," "There was a great procession of 
 modern railway engines, which started from the Central Eailway 
 Station, and proceeded amidst the cheers of thousands, toWylan, 
 George Stephenson's birthplace, eight miles distant. These 
 engines, sixteen in number, were the finest modern science could 
 construct. On reaching Wylan, they were placed for exhibi- 
 tion along with five old original locomotives, namely, the Killing- 
 worth (the first that Stephenson ever made), the Hatton Colliery 
 engine, the old Darlington engine, No. 1 Locomotive from Dar- 
 lington, and Stephenson's old "Victor " from the North-Eastern 
 Kail way. 
 
 A special train followed, carrying the Mayors of Newcastle 
 and other towns, with many persons of local celebrity. Opposite 
 George Stephenson's birthplace it stopped : the Mayor of New- 
 castle alighted with his friends, and in honour of the day planted 
 
Raihuay Celebrations. 273 
 
 an oak-tree. The next event was a procession of members of the 
 corporation, public bodies, trade societies, and workmen of New- 
 castle, Jarrow and South Shields, together with the miners of 
 Northumberland, some 40,000 altogether." 
 
 DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS OF THE G.T.R. IN 1856. 
 
 The following list of Grand Trunk Railway Directors, 
 Officers, Agents and Contractors appeared in the Montreal 
 Herald of November 13th, 1856. 
 
 President — Hon. John Eoss. 
 Vice-President — Benj. Holmes, Esq. 
 London Directors. — Thos. Baring, Esq., M.P.P.; George 
 Carr Glynn, Esq., M.P.P.; W. HoUaston Blake, Esq.; Kirkman 
 
 D. Hodgson, Esq. 
 
 Canadian Directors. — James Beaty, Esq.; Hons. F. Lemieux, 
 William Cayley, Sir Allan McNab, Peter McGill, L. T. Drum- 
 mond ; G. Crawford, Esq., M.P.P.; W. H. Ponton, Esq.; E. F. 
 "SVhittemore, Esq.; John Eose, Esq., Q.C. 
 
 Directors in Portland, as stipulated in the Lease of the 
 Atlantic and St. Lawrence Eoad. — W. John Smith, President ; 
 John B. Brown ; John M. Wood; C. E. Barrett; J. S. Little; 
 Phineas Barnes ; Hon. G. J. Shepley ; James L. Farmer ; Eufus 
 
 E. Wood ; Solomon H. Chandler. 
 
 contractors' departjient. 
 
 Contractors for the Eoad from Trois Pistoles to Toronto, in- 
 cluding the Victoria Bridge : Messrs. Peto, Brassey, Betts and 
 Jackson. 
 
 Agents : — At Montreal, James Hodges ; Point Levi, James 
 Eeekie ; Brockville, W. Ellis ; Gananoque, E. Crawford ; Kingston, 
 
 F. J. Eowan ; Port Hope to Toronto, Geo. Tate ; Contractors from 
 
 Toronto to Sarnia, Messrs. Gzowski, Holton, Gait and McPherson. 
 18 
 
274) Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Engineers' Department. — A. M. Eoss, Chief Engineer ; Wm. 
 Betts, Secretary to Chief Engineer ; Samuel Keefer, Assistant 
 Engineer; W. Shanly, ditto ditto, Toronto ; W. Kingsford, Superin- 
 tendent, Toronto ; F. H. Trevithick, Locomotive Superintendent ; 
 R. Wingate, Resident Engineer, Point Levi ; S. S. Bennett^ 
 Resident Engineer, Portland; D. Stark, Resident Engineer and 
 Manager, Island Pond. 
 
 Managers' Department. — S. P. Bidder, General Manager ; 
 Henry Baily, Assistant to ditto ; M. Pennington, Goods Man- 
 ager ; James Hardman, Traffic Auditor. 
 
 Superintendents. — S. T. Corser, Portland; S. T. Webster^ 
 Point Levi ; I. S. Martin, Brockville ; G. W. Purkis, Superinten- 
 dent of Telegraphs, Montreal; W. S. McKenzie, Locomotive 
 Superintendent. 
 
 Secretary's Office. — Sir C. P. Roney, Secretary in London ; 
 John M. Grant, Assistant Secretary, Montreal ; W. H. A. Davies, 
 Accountant ; Charles E. Barrett, Treasurer, Portland. 
 
 Paymasters. — S. B. Haskell, Portland ; D. Davidson, Long- 
 ueuil. 
 
 Agents. — G. A. Holmes, Montreal Depot; J. S. Millar, Port- 
 land ; Geo. Dartnell, Travelling Agent. 
 
 SENATOR JAMES MCMILLAN, OF MICHIGAN. 
 
 About 30 years ago I remember a youth in Hamilton named 
 James McMillan , a son of Mr. McMillan, a Scotchman, who for 
 more than 20 years was the popular wood agent for the Great 
 Western Railway. James went to Detroit and was appointed as 
 purchasing agent for the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, which 
 position he held for some years. In 1864 he and three others 
 organized the Michigan Car Company with a capital of $20,000. 
 Its success and progress was very rapid and it did an immense 
 business. Very recently the Michigan Car Company and a rival 
 concern, the Peninsular Car Company of Detroit, joined hands ; 
 
Railway Celebrations. 275 
 
 and now the consolidation of the corporation consists of the fol- 
 lowing companies: — The Michigan Car Company, the Detroit 
 Car Wheel Company, the Detroit Pipe and Foundry Company, 
 the Michigan Forge and Iron Company and the Peninsular 
 Car Company. 
 
 This is the combined daily capacity : 
 
 One hundred freight cars. 
 
 Two hundred tons of castings. 
 
 Eight hundred car wheels. 
 
 One hundred tons of cast-iron pipes. 
 
 One hundred and fifty car axles. 
 
 One hundred and fifty tons of bar iron. 
 
 The capital stock of the corporation is 88,000,000, and 5,000 
 men are on the pay roll. James McMillan is chairman ; Col- 
 onel Frank J. Hecker, President ; Joseph Taylor, Secretary. 
 
 Mr. McMillan is at the head of perhaps forty corporations. 
 His friends estimate that he is worth six million dollars. 
 
 It is pleasing to find that he is, while in life, doing some 
 good with his money. His generosity is spontaneous and un- 
 affected, and his heart for suffering mankind is so big that he 
 practically built and now largely supports a magnificent and 
 faultless free hospital, bearing the name of his beloved daughter. 
 
 When the Michigan Car Company started business a box 
 car sold for about §900. Now 1,000,000 can be bought for S550 
 each. 
 
 The total number of freight cars in the United States is p.ut 
 at 1,200,000 ; if placed in line they would form a train 6800 miles 
 in length. 
 
 The average life of a box car is 8 years and 140,000 freight 
 cars wear out every year. It will therefore be seen that there is 
 a steady and lasting work for car builders for all time to come. 
 
 [For the above details I am mainly indebted to the Chicago 
 Herald of November 12th, 1892.] 
 
276 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 RAILWAYS- THEIR HISTORY. 
 
 FOR an account of the first railways we must go back more 
 than 200 years. They were brought into use for the removal 
 of coal and other minerals ; the rails were simply planks laid ex- 
 actly straight and parallel to each other, and in the course of 
 time cast-iron was used. The term tram-road or plate-way was 
 usually applied to those roads. A Mr. Outram made some im- 
 provements on the plate-way roads, and they became known as 
 ** Outram roads," but for shortness got the name of " tram 
 roads." The rails, in some cases, had a flange on one side, such 
 as described in another part of this work. 
 
 Samuel Smiles, in his life of Geo. Stephenson, says, ** The 
 first iron rails are supposed to have been laid down at White- 
 haven as early as 1738. This cast-iron road was denominated a 
 plate- way from the plate-like form in which the rails were cast. 
 
 " The Duke of Bridgewater when congratulated by Lord 
 Kenyon on the successful issue of his canals, made answer with 
 far-sighted shrewdness — 'Yes, we shall do well enough if we 
 
 can keep clear of these d d tram-roads — there's mischief in 
 
 them!'" 
 
 OEOBOE STEPHENSON AND THE FIRST STEAM RAILWAY. 
 
 Geo. Stephenson the Pioneer of the Locomotive and Railway 
 was born at the colliery village of Wylan, about eight miles west 
 of Newcastle-on-Tyne, on June 9th 1781, and died at his county 
 house of Tapton in Derbyshire on August 12th, 1848, in the 
 sixty- seventh year of his age. 
 
RaUivays — Their Histoid. 277 
 
 His first gi-eat success was the opening of the Stockton and 
 Darlington Railway on September 27th 1825 ; his next the 
 opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Eailway on the loth 
 September, 1830. 
 
 F. S. Williams, in his " Our Iron Roads," in describing the 
 opening of the Stockton and Darlington line says, " The train 
 moved off at the rate of from ten to twelve miles an hour, with a 
 weight of eighty tons, with one engine — * No. 1 ' — driven by 
 George Stephenson himself; after it six waggons, loaded with 
 coals and flour ; then a covered coach containing directors and 
 proprietors ; next twenty-one coal waggons, fitted up for pas- 
 sengers with which they were crammed ; and lastly, six more 
 waggons loaded with coals. Off started the procession, with a 
 horseman at its head with a flag, but George Stephenson soon 
 told the horseman to get out of his way, and put on the speed to 
 fifteen miles an hour." 
 
 No. 1 Engine cost only j£500. 
 
 THE LIVERPOOL AKD MANCHESTEB RAILWAY. 
 
 The Stockton and Darlington Railway was undoubtedly the 
 pioneer of these great undertakings, but it was the Liverpool and 
 Manchester Railway which set the whole civilized world in com- 
 motion and gave a stimulus to railway enterprise. 
 
 The public opening of the railway took place on the loth 
 September, 1830. Eight locomotives had been constructed by the 
 Messrs. Stephenson and placed upon the line. The whole of 
 them had been repeatedly tried, and with success, weeks before. 
 
 The completion of the work was justly regarded as a great 
 national event and was celebrated accordingly. The Duke of 
 "Wellington, then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, Secretary of 
 State, Mr. Huskisson, one of the members for Liverpool and an 
 
278 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 earnest supporter of the project from its commencement, were 
 present, together with a large number of distinguished person- 
 ages. 
 
 The ** Northumbrian " engine took the lead of the procession 
 and was followed by the other locomotives and their trains, 
 which accommodated about 600 persons.* 
 
 At Parkside, seventeen miles from Liverpool, the engines 
 stopped to take in water. Here a deplorable accident occurred 
 to one of the most distinguished of the illustrious visitors pre- 
 sent, which threw a deep shadow over the subsequent proceedings 
 of the day. The " Northumbrian " with the carriage containing 
 the Duke of Wellington, was drawn up on one line, in order that 
 the whole of the trains might pass in review before him and his 
 party on the other. Mr. Huskisson had, unhappily, alighted 
 from the carriage, and was standing on the opposite road, along 
 which the " Eocket " engine was observed rapidly coming up. 
 At this moment the Duke of Wellington, between whom and Mr. 
 Huskisson some coolness had existed, made a sign of recognition, 
 and held out his hand. A hurried but friendly grasp was given, 
 and before it was loosened there was a general cry from the by- 
 standers of " Get in, get in." Flurried and confused Mr. 
 Huskisson endeavoured to get round the open door of the carriage 
 which projected over the opposite rail ; but in doing so he was 
 struck down by the " Eocket " and falling with his leg doubled 
 
 * The engines with which the line was opened were the following : 
 
 1. The "Northumbrian," driven by George Stephenson. 
 
 2. The " Phoenix," by Robert Stephenson. 
 
 3. The " North Star," by Robert Stephenson, senior (brother of George). 
 
 4. The "Rocket," by Joseph Locke. 
 6. The " Dart," by Thomas L. Gooch. 
 
 6. The "Comet," by William AUoard. 
 
 7. The " Arrow, " by Frederick Swanwick. 
 
 8. The " Meteor," by Anthony Harding. 
 (S. Smiles' Life of George Stephenson.) 
 
Railways — Their History. 279 
 
 across the rail, the limb was instantly crushed. His first 
 words, on being raised, were : "I have met my death," 
 which unhappily proved too true, for he expired that 
 same evening in the neighbouring parsonage of Eccles. A tablet 
 to his memory may still be seen at Parkside opposite the spot 
 where he met his death. 
 
 LORD brougham's TRIBUTE TO THE CONSTRUCTORS OF THE RAILWAY. 
 
 " "When I saw," said he, " the difficulties of space, as it 
 were, overcome ; when I beheld a kind of miracle exhibited 
 before my astonished eyes ; when I sm-veyed masses pierced 
 through on which it was before hardly possible for man or beast 
 to plant the sole of the foot, now covered with a road and bearing 
 heavy waggons, laden not only with innumerable passengers, but 
 with merchandise of the largest bulk and heaviest weight ; when I 
 saw valleys made practicable by the bridges of ample height and 
 length which spanned them ; saw the steam railways traversing 
 the water at a distance of sixty or seventy feet perpendicular 
 height ; saw the rocks excavated and the gigantic power of man 
 penetrating through miles of the solid mass, and gaining a great, 
 a lasting, an almost perennial conquest over the powers of nature 
 by his skill and industry ; when I contemplated all this, was it 
 possible for me to avoid the reflections which crowded into my 
 mind not to praise man's great success ; not in admiration of the 
 genius and perseverance he had displayed, or even of the corn-age 
 he had shown in setting himself against the obstacles that 
 matter oflered to his course — no ! but the melancholy reflection 
 that these prodigious efforts of the human race — so fruitful of 
 praise, but so much more fruitful of lasting blessing to mankind 
 — have forced a tear from my eye by that unhappy casualty 
 which deprived me of a friend and you of a representative ? " 
 
280 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 EARLY RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 A section of 14 miles of the Baltimore and Ohio Kailway 
 was completed in 1830 and opened for traffic. It was worked 
 by horse power. In the next year a locomotive engine, the first 
 of American manufacture, was placed on this line. In the same 
 year an English engine, weighing six tons, was obtained for the 
 Mohawk and Hudson, but this proving destructive to the per- 
 manent way, an engine of American make, weighing only three 
 tons, was substituted in its place.* In 1832, the South Carolina 
 Eailway was opened, also the New York & Harlem, and the 
 Camden & Amboy, in New Jersey. The Boston & Lowell, in 
 the State of Massachusetts, was commenced in 1831, and the 
 Boston & Providence, and Boston & Worcester, in the fol- 
 lowing year. These three roads were completed in 1835. 
 
 All these schemes were crude and ill-judged. (Trout's 
 "Eailwaysof Canada.") 
 
 THE FIRST RAILWAY IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. 
 
 In 1836 the first attempt at working a railway in Canada 
 was made. The St. Lawrence & Champlain (now the Montreal 
 & Champlain), was opened in that year. The rails were of wood, 
 with flat bars of iron spiked on them ; and from the tendency 
 of this class of rail to curl or bend upwards as the wheels passed 
 over it, it became known as the " snake rail." The first loco- 
 motive used on the line was sent from Europe, accompanied by 
 an engineer, who, for some unexplained reason, had it caged up 
 and secreted from public view. The trial trip was made by 
 moonlight in the presence of a few interested parties, and it is 
 
 ♦A comparison— The weight of the Locomotive, now in use (1892) for hauling 
 trains through the St. Clair Tunnel at Sarnia, when in actual service, is found to be 
 approximately <yne hundred tons. 
 
Railways — Their History. 281 
 
 not described as a success. Several attempts were made to get 
 the " Kitten " — for such was the nick-name applied to this 
 pioneer locomotive — to run to St. John, but in vain ; the engine 
 proved refractory and horses were substituted for it. It is 
 related, however, that a practical engineer being called in from 
 the United States, the engine, which was thought to be hope- 
 lessly unmanageable, was pronounced in good order, requiring 
 only " plenty of wood and water." This opinion proved correct, 
 for after a little practice the " extraordinary rate of speed of 
 twenty miles per hour was obtained,"* 
 
 ONTAKIO'S FIRST RAILWAY, 1853. 
 
 " Forty years ago to-day," says the Toronto Empire, of May 
 3, 1803, " the first railroad in Ontario was opened. It was then 
 called the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron. Later on it became the 
 Northern, and to-day it is part of the great system controlled by 
 the Grand Trunk, and taps all the choicest agricultural and 
 picturesque portions of the northern part of Ontario. 
 
 " The late F. C. Capreol was the chief promoter of the road, 
 his object being to control the traffic, both passenger and 
 freight, of lakes Ontario, Simcoe and Huron. The locomotive 
 that drew out several filled passenger coaches from Brock street 
 station on that memorable morning of May 16th, 1853, was 
 constructed at James Good's foundry, on the corner of Yonge 
 and Queen streets, and was transported to the starting point on 
 
 *A great change in railway speed has taken place since the days of the " Kitten," 
 as will be seen from the following incident : 
 
 I am at Toronto, two miles from the Union Station. It is 7.30 a. m., August 7, 
 1892 ; a ring is heard at my door ; my son has arrived from Montreal by the Grand 
 Trunk ; he says he " came by Xo. 5 Express, timed to leave Montreal at 10.15 p. m., 
 but the train did not leave until 11 p. m., yet arrived on time in Toronto." 
 
 Deducting refreshments and other stops, which would exceed one hour, it made 
 the actual running time fifty miles an hour, and as my son said, " it did not seem 
 anything extraordinary or unasoal, so smoothly did the train skim along." 
 
282 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 a movable track, over a week being consumed in the undertaking. 
 The train carried its passengers to Belle Ewart, that being as 
 far as the roadway was safely constructed. It was a long dreary 
 journey both going and returning. There are surviving now not 
 more than half a score of persons who attended the opening 
 ceremonies." 
 
 A LOTTERY AND AN OLD RAILWAY SCHEME. 
 
 The Northern was not the first railway promoted by Mr. 
 Capreol. The following curious advertisement appeared in the 
 Upper Canada Gazette, of December 24th, 1840 : 
 
 " Notice is hereby given that Frederick Chase Capreol, of the 
 City of Toronto, in the Province of Upper Canada, will apply in 
 the next session of the Legislature for leave to bring in a bill to 
 authorize him to construct a substantial railroad, with all 
 the necessary station houses, entrances, &c., &c., for the speedy 
 conveyance of goods and passengers between Kingston and 
 Montreal, and to raise the funds for the same by way of lottery, 
 to carry it into effect as soon as possible. 
 " Toronto, 27th March, 1840." 
 
 From the Empire of August 15th, 1893, I take the following 
 short sketch of 
 
 RICHARD BOND, 
 
 who enjoyed the distinction of being Canada's first locomotive 
 engineer : 
 
 ** One of the pioneer railroad constructors in America passed 
 away on Sunday, in the person of Mr. Eichard Bond, who had 
 been living with his daughter, Mrs. Atkinson, at 32 Sheridan 
 avenue, Toronto. Mr. Bond, who was in his 82nd year, came to 
 this country from Chorley, Lancashire, England, in 1852, to 
 build the St. Andrew's & Quebec Railway in New Brunswick. 
 
Railways — Their History. 283 
 
 He was the first man to run a locomotive in British North 
 America. Two years later he came to Upper Canada and 
 superintended the construction of the first bridge on the Great 
 Western KaUway. It spanned the Humber Eiver. Mr. Bond 
 did some work in the Old Country also, having when there last, 
 inspected the construction of the great Grimsby docks. He left 
 three sons and three daughters." 
 
284 Raihvays and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVI. 
 
 G. T. R. AND C. P. R. SYSTEMS. 
 THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY SYSTEM. 
 
 THE following concise summary of the lines now included in 
 the Grand Trunk system in Canada, in addition to the Grand 
 Trunk proper, is taken from the Port Huron Daily Times, Tunnel 
 Opening Edition, 1890 : 
 
 Quebec Branch. 
 
 Three Rivers Branch. 
 
 Rouse's Point Branch. 
 
 Hemmingford Branch. 
 
 Montreal & Champlain Junction Ry. 
 
 Beauharnois Junction Ry. 
 
 Jacques Cartier Union Ry. 
 
 Kingston Branch. 
 
 Gait Branch. 
 
 Waterloo Branch. 
 
 London & St. Mary's Branch. 
 
 Midland Railway. 
 
 Northern Railway. 
 
 Northern & Pacific Junction Ry. 
 
 Hamilton & Northwestern Ry. 
 
 Great Western Railway. 
 
 Wellington, Grey & Bruce Ry. 
 
 London, Huron & Bruce Ry. 
 
 Brantford, Norfolk, & Port Burwell Ry. 
 
^^iLA-R 
 
 THE 
 
 Of . ^ 
 
CO 
 
 h-1 
 
 < 
 
 < 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 Q 
 I— I 
 
 P:i 
 
 O 
 I— I 
 
 CO 
 
 W 
 
 CO 
 CO 
 
G. T. K and C. P. R. Systems. 285 
 
 Welland Eailway. 
 
 Grand Trunk, Georgian Bay & Lake Erie Ey. 
 
 Buffalo & Lake Huron Ey. 
 
 Brantford Branch. 
 
 Petrolia Branch. 
 
 Peterborough & Chemong Lake Ey. 
 
 Cobourg & Harwood Branch. 
 
 The total mileage of the railways in Canada owned, leased 
 or operated by the Grand Trunk Company is 3,136 miles. 
 
 In the United States the lines leased by the Grand Trunk 
 Company and operated by it, are : 
 
 Atlantic & St. Lawrence Ey. 
 
 Lewiston & Auburn Ey. 
 
 Norway Branch. 
 
 Champlain & St. Lawrence Ey. 
 
 United States & Canada Ey. 
 
 Chicago, Detroit & Canada Grand Trunk Junction Ey. 
 
 Michigan Air Line Ey. 
 
 The total mileage of these is 360 miles. 
 
 The lines in the states of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, 
 controlled and operated in harmony with the Grand Trunk, but 
 under separate management, namely : 
 
 Chicago & Grand Trunk Ey. 
 
 Grand Trunk Junction Ey. 
 
 Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Ey. 
 
 Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon Ey. 
 
 Cincinnati, Saginaw & Mackinaw Ey. 
 
 Aggregate, 676 miles. 
 
 The Grand Trunk system therefore comprises in the United 
 States and Canada, 4,172 miles of railway. It also controls a 
 line of steamers running between Milwaukee and Grand Haven. 
 
 The Grand Trunk Company are owners of the boats which 
 have performed the car ferry service between Fort Gratiot and 
 
286 Railways and Other Ways, 
 
 Point Edward, and between Detroit and Windsor. They also 
 hold a controlling interest in the International Bridge across the 
 Niagara Eiver, near Buffalo, and are lessees of the Suspension 
 Bridge crossing the same river below the Falls. 
 
 By arrangements with the Central Vermont Eailroad and its 
 connections, the traffic of the Grand Trunk Main Line has access 
 to Boston and New England points. The Great Western Section 
 of the Grand Trunk has through connection via the Niagara 
 frontier with the New York Central ; West Shore ; New York, 
 Lake Erie & Western ; Delaware, Lackawanna & Western ; 
 Lehigh Valley & Rome ; Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroads. At 
 Detroit it connects with the Wabash Railroad and the Detroit, 
 Lansing & Northern Railway, and at Hamburg Junction with 
 the Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railway. 
 
 The St. Clair Tunnel constitutes the central link between 
 the two divisions of the Grand Trunk system East and West of 
 the St. Clair and Detroit rivers. 
 
 GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY PAY ROLL. 
 
 "We employ in Canada on Grand Trunk property, no fewer 
 than about 20,000 people, of whom, roughly, one-third are in the 
 traffic department, one-third in the mechanical department, and 
 one-thu'd in the way and works department — that is to say, 6,000 
 and 7,000 in each of these departments. The pay rolls 
 amounted for the year 1892 to ^1,760,000 sterling, and in 1893 
 to £1,733,000, or $8,432,000." (Sir Henry W. Tyler, at the half- 
 yearly meeting, April 30, 1894.) 
 
 THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. 
 
 For the following brief sketch of the C. P. R.'s history I am 
 indebted to " The New Highway to the Orient," kindly furnished 
 me by Mr. AV. R. Callaway, its popular District Passenger Agent ; 
 
G. T. R. and C. P. R Systems. 287 
 
 " The Canadian Pacific Eailvray Company was organized 
 early in 1881, and immediately entered into a contract with the 
 Government to complete the line within ten years. 
 
 "The railway system of Eastern Canada had already advanced 
 far up the Ottawa Valley, attracted mainly by the rapidly grow- 
 ing traffic from the pine forests, and it was from a point of con- 
 nection with this system that the Canadian Pacific Railway had 
 to be carried through to the Pacific coast, a distance of two 
 thousand five hundred and fifty miles. Of this, the Government 
 had under construction one section of four hundred and twenty- 
 five miles between Lake Superior and Winnipeg, and another of 
 two hundred and thirteen miles from Burrard Inlet, on the 
 Pacific coast, eastward to Kamloops Lake in British Columbia. 
 The company undertook the building of the remaining nineteen 
 hundred and twenty miles, and for this it was to receive from the 
 Government a number of valuable privileges and immunities, and 
 twenty-five million dollars in money and twenty-five million acres 
 of agricultural land. The two sections of the railway already 
 under construction were to be finished by the Government, and 
 together with a branch line of sixty-five miles already in opera- 
 tion from Winnipeg southward to the boundary of the United 
 States, were to be given to the company, in addition to its sub- 
 sidies in money and lands ; and the entire railway, when com- 
 pleted, was to remain the property of the company. 
 
 " W^ith these liberal subventions the company set about its 
 task most vigorously. While the engineers were exploring the 
 more difficult and less known section from the Ottawa River to 
 and around Lake Superior, and marking out a line for the navvies, 
 work was commenced at Winnipeg and pushed westward across 
 the prairies, where one hundred and sixty miles of the railway 
 were completed before the end of the first year. During the 
 second year the rails advanced four hundred and fifty miles. The 
 
288 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 end of the third year found them at the summit of the Eocky 
 Mountains, and the fourth in the Selkirks, nearly a thousand 
 and fifty miles from Winnipeg. 
 
 " While such rapid progress was being made west of Winni- 
 peg, the rails advancing at an average rate of more than three 
 miles each working day for months in succession, and sometimes 
 five and even six miles in a day, armies of men with all modern 
 appliances and thousands of tons of dynamite were breaking 
 down the barriers of hard and tough Laurentian and Huronian 
 rocks, and pushing the line through the forests north and east of 
 Lake Superior with such energy that Eastern Canada and the 
 Canadian North- West were united by a continuous railway early 
 in 1885. 
 
 " The Government section from the Pacific coast eastward had 
 meanwhile reached Kamloops Lake, and there the company took 
 up the work and carried it on to a connection with the line 
 advancing westward across the Eockies and the Selkirks. The 
 forces working towards each other met at Craigellachie, in Eagle 
 Pass, in the Gold or Columbian range of mountains, and there, 
 on a wet morning, the 7th of November, 1885, the last rail was 
 laid in the main line of the Canadian Pacific Eailway." 
 
 CANADIAN PACIFIC EAILWAY, 1893 AND 1894. 
 
 Comparative receipts and expenditure for the past two years : 
 
 1892. 1893. 
 
 Passengers 3 5,556,316 40 $ 5,656,204 90 
 
 Freight 13,330,540 19 12,673,075 38 
 
 Mails 483,922 58 496,134 49 
 
 Express 302,259 34 333,975 39 
 
 Parlor and sleeping cars 331,202 73 380,470 10 
 
 Telegraph and miscellaneous 1,405,110 53 1,422,457 18 
 
 Total f21,409,35l 77 $20,962,317 44 
 
 Expenses 12,989,004 21 13,220,901 39 
 
 Net earnings ^,420,347 66 ^,741,416 05 
 
G. T. R. and C. P. R. Systems. 289 
 
 Mileage of the road 6,327 
 
 Mileage of other roads worked 776 
 
 Mileage under construction 115 
 
 A WINTER JOURNEY FROM WINNIPEG. 
 
 When the first talk was heard about building a railway 
 around the rock-bound shores of Lake Superior to Fort Garry, 
 and over the almost unlimited extent of prairie, and on through 
 the mighty Eocky Mountains, and still on to British Columbia, 
 grave men shook their heads and said " it can't be done," and 
 " if a railway was ever made, it could never be worked in winter^ 
 and if a train was sent out, it and its passengers would be beard 
 of no more until the melting of the snows in spring." 
 
 The following cutting from the Montreal Star of January 18, 
 1893, shows how futile were the prognostications of the wise men 
 of 20 years ago, and what was done even in mid-winter, and 
 that one of the severest during the last half century. The occa- 
 sion, which called forth this remarkable railway run, was a sad 
 one, viz : that of Mr. Montagu Allan going from Winnipeg to 
 Montreal to attend his lamented brother's funeral : 
 
 " Mr. H. Montagu Allan arrived in town this morning from 
 Winnipeg, having come on by C. P. E. special. His train maxie 
 remarkably good time for this season of the year, having covered 
 the distance from Winnipeg to Montreal, 1425 miles, in 45^ 
 hours, an average of 31^ miles an horn-. Between Winnipeg and 
 Fort William the average time made was 35 miles an hour." 
 
 THE PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 
 
 A correspondent of the Toronto Globe, March 4, 1893, gives 
 the following description of the Prairie Province, its resources 
 and possibilities : 
 
 " By many Manitoba is considered a small section of country 
 
 situated somewhere " out west," and where the climate is too 
 19 
 
290 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 severe to even think about. It will pay anyone who is really 
 anxious to know something of this young province to take a map 
 of North America and closely study the location and extent of 
 Manitoba. It is as nearly as possible the exact centre of the 
 North American continent. By the Canadian Pacific railway, 
 Winnipeg, the capital of the province is 1,424 miles from Mont- 
 real, the Atlantic seaport, and 1,482 miles from Vancouver on the 
 Pacific. The area of Manitoba is 116,021 square miles, equal to 
 about 74,000,000 acres. The southern boundary is the 49th 
 parallel of latitude, and, by examining a map of the world, you 
 will observe that Manitoba lies further south than England, Ire- 
 land, Belgium or Holland. The general feature of the country 
 is that of a broad, rolling prairie. In contemplating the bewilder- 
 ing extent of this realm of prairie, many have pictured it in their 
 minds as a dreary, lonesome expanse of a dead sea level. Noth- 
 ing can be more erroneous. The country, though termed prairie, 
 is by no means a treeless plain, devoid of hills and other topo- 
 graphical features pleasing to the eye. The surface varies from 
 a gently undulating to a high-rollipg prairie ; and belts of hills, 
 several hundred feet in height, and clad in forests of the evergreen 
 spruce, pine, oak, elm, birch and poplar, while bluffs of timber 
 dot the undulating surface of the plains. 
 
 " Scattered throughout the province there are numerous rivers 
 and small lakes, whilst in the eastern boundary and in the 
 northern and northwestern parts there are such large bodies of 
 waters as the Lake of the Woods, 1,500 square miles in extent ; 
 Lake Winnipeg, 280 miles long, and containing 8,500 square 
 miles; Lake Winnipegosis, 1,936 square miles, and Lake Mani- 
 toba, with an area of 1,900 square miles. Winnipeg, the capital, 
 is about 400 miles from Fort William and Port Arthur on Lake 
 Superior, from which points vessels proceed direct to the Atlan- 
 tic tidewater at Montreal. 
 
G. T. R. and C. P. R. Systems. 291 
 
 "In 1881 there were about 275 miles of railway in the Province ; 
 in 1891 there were about 1,375 miles of railway. Increase in ten 
 years, 1,100 miles." 
 
 AN INCIDENT OF THE NORTH-WEST. 
 
 When Mr. Eeith and I were at St. Paul, Minn., in June, 
 1859, we found that the principal talk at the hotels, at the time, 
 was that of floating a steam packet from the Minnesota river to 
 the Red Eiver of the North, and news of the event was anxiously 
 looked for. It may be remarked that the Minnesota river 
 empties itself into the Mississippi a few miles below Minne- 
 apolis. It was said that the Minnesota and Eed rivers took their 
 rise near each other, between which there were certain shallow 
 lakes or ponds, and that in spring time the waters rose suffici- 
 ently to float a vessel from one river to the other. We heard, 
 afterwards, that the experiment was a failure, and that the 
 steamer was finally taken to pieces, carried across to the Red 
 River and then put together again ; and that, I believe, was the 
 first steam-boat that navigated the Eed River of the North. 
 
 HOW PATRICK SWORDS FOUND HIMSELF IN THE NORTH-WESTERN 
 
 TERRITORY, 
 
 Old residents of Canada will remember Swords' Hotel, at 
 Quebec and at Toronto, the latter of which was ultimately 
 developed into the present fine Queen's Hotel. Swords' Hotel was 
 a favorite resort of the Members of Parliament and when that 
 august body alternated between the two cities, Mr. Swords 
 followed in its wake. He once told me how he came to the North- 
 West and Canada, which must have been somewhat of a romantic 
 nature. He said that when a boy he went on board a ship in the 
 port of Liverpool, I think, or London, and boy-like wanted to see 
 what a ship was like below decks. He explored it thoroughly, and 
 
292 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 then being tired, he went to sleep in a corner and was not 
 observed by any of the crew. When he roused up he found the ship 
 in full sail, some miles from land, and that he was in for a long 
 voyage to York Factory, Hudson's Bay. I regret that I did not get a 
 detailed account of his adventures, which must have been very 
 interesting. However, Mr. Swords remained in the country, and 
 prospered, and eventually drifted down to Quebec, and he must 
 have done well as he was able to go into the hotel business, which 
 he continued until quite an old man. 
 
SoTne Railway Statistics. 293 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 SOilE RAILWAY STATISTICS. 
 RAILWAYS OF THE DOMINION. 
 
 SO much has akeady been said about Canadian Railways, 
 that in this chapter it is only necessary to give, with respect 
 to them, the following brief summary to show their extent, cost 
 and volume of business. The figures are for 1893 : 
 
 Number of roads 65 
 
 Miles in operation 15,020 
 
 Paid up Capital $872,156,000 
 
 Working expenses 836,616,000 
 
 Net earnings $15,426,000 
 
 Passengers carried 13,618,000 
 
 Freight carried tons 22,003,599 
 
 Train mileage 44,385,000 
 
 RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
 
 Up to 1888 the railways in the United Kingdom foot up to 
 19,812 miles, and the paid up capital for their construction was 
 £864,695,963 sterling, or §4,208,225,861. 
 
 The number of persons employed in working the railways 
 (exclusive of those employed in the construction of new lines) is 
 about 375,000. 
 
 The number of railway tunnels above one mile in length is 
 twenty-eight, the longest of which is the one under the River 
 Severn 7,664 yards — say nearly 4J miles. 
 
 "on the LINE." 
 
 A sixteen-page monthly paper (price one half-penny), with 
 the above title, has been published in England for the last eleven 
 years, it being the "Journal of the United Kingdom Railway 
 
294 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Temperance Union," now consisting of 15,000 members, devoted 
 to pure temperance on teetotal principles. It gives reports of 
 temperance meetings of railway employees, and much interesting 
 matter connected with railways and temperance all over the 
 kingdom, and is doing a good work. The Secretary, Mr. A. C. 
 Thompson, No. 4. The Sanctuary, Westminster, S. W., has 
 kindly sent me Number 133, of On The Line, which contains a 
 report of a lecture delivered by Mr. E. Burns (City of London 
 Y. M. C. A.), entitled "Eailway Travelling and Railway Signal- 
 ing in various parts of the world," from which I make the 
 following very valuable extracts : 
 
 ** They all knew the necessity and importance of using the 
 most effectual means for securing the safe working of railways, 
 and with a view to bring home to them the extent of the business 
 carried on by railways, he had taken out the figures for the year 
 1892. The railway capital at the end of that year was 
 ^£944,000,000. Probably by this time it had grown to 
 ^6970,000,000, and that would make it £300,000,000 greater than 
 the National debt. He mentioned the capital cost rather in the 
 way of parenthesis, as the actual and working figures were those 
 which showed the traffic passing over the railways. During the 
 year 1892, there were no less than 864,000,000 passengers, 
 exclusive of season ticket holders, carried on the railways of this 
 country, and 310,000,000 tons of goods. The train, or profitable 
 mileage, incurred in carrying this traffic amounted to 327,000- 
 000 miles. Now, the point he was coming to was this. This vast 
 traffic had been carried with comparative safety, and why ? They 
 knew the answer as well as he did. It was because of the per- 
 fection to which the signal arrangements and other means for 
 the protection of traffic had been carried, and what was of equal, 
 or indeed, he should say, of paramount importance, the discipline 
 of the staff and the strict observance of the regulations. No 
 
Sortie RaUivay Statistics. 295 
 
 system, however perfect, could ensure safety unless carried out by 
 trained, intelligent, and sober men, and he was very happy to 
 think that they had in the railway service a body of men so well 
 trained and disciplined and so zealous in the performance ofthei 
 duties." 
 
 RAILWAY PLANT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.* 
 
 At the close of 1892 there were on the railways of the United 
 
 Kingdom on the 31st December : 
 
 Locomotives 17,439 
 
 Passenger Carriages 40,079 
 
 Vans, Carriages, Trucks, &c 14,751 
 
 Waggons 575,436 
 
 Vans and other goods vehicles 12,611 
 
 LOCOMOTIVES. 
 
 The locomotives owned by the five leading lines were as 
 
 under : 
 
 London & North-Western 2,712 
 
 Midland 2,172 
 
 Great Western 1,690 
 
 North & Eastern 1,560 
 
 Lancashire & Yorkshire 1,171 
 
 COST OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL ENGLISH RAILWAYS.f 
 
 The London & North-Western Eailway, the leading one 
 in Great Britain, is a wonderful organization, and is the richest 
 transportation company in the world. It has a capitalization of 
 3523,430,000, or more than four times as much as the greatest 
 American railroad ; yet it has but 1,890 miles in operation. 
 
 The Midland comes next with $470,000,000, and the Great 
 Western is third with S38 1,430,000. The five next roads in order 
 of resources are the North-E astern, Lancashire & Yorkshire, 
 North British, Great Eastern, and Great Northern. Their aggre- 
 gate capital is 81,207,655,000. 
 
 • • The English " Railway World," September, 1893. 
 tUtica, N.Y., "Globe," Sep. 30, 1893. 
 
29G Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The following figures appear in a recent number of a railroad 
 
 journal, showing the growth of railroad mileage of the United 
 
 States, by decades, for the past sixty years : 
 
 In 1830 23 miles. 
 
 " 1840 2,818 " 
 
 " 1850 9,021 " 
 
 " 1860 30,626 " 
 
 " 1870 62 922 " 
 
 " 1880 93,296 " 
 
 To June 30, 1890 163,597 " 
 
 Between 1880 and 1890 the increase was 70,301 miles. 
 Illinois still keeps the lead, as for many years, as the State of 
 greatest railway mileage. The order of precedence in this 
 respect among the States having 4,000 miles or more at the com- 
 mencement 1891 was as follows : 
 
 1 Illinois 10,129 
 
 2 Kansas 8,900 
 
 3 Texas 8,710 
 
 4 Pennsylvania 8,700 
 
 5 Iowa 8,416 
 
 6 Ohio 7,988 
 
 7 New York 7,746 
 
 8 Michigan 7,106 
 
 9 Missouri 6,142 
 
 10 Indiana 6,106 
 
 11 Wisconsin .. 5,615 
 
 12 Minnesota 5,545 
 
 13 Nebraska 5,407 
 
 14 Georgia 4,593 
 
 15 California 4,330 
 
 16 Colorado 4,291 
 
 The young State of Kansas has become second, while New 
 York has now taken seventh place. 
 
 The total capitalization of railways in the United States up 
 to June 30th, 1890, was $9,871,378,389, or nearly ten billions of 
 dollars. 
 
 The number of passengers carried by the railways of the 
 United States during the year ending June 80, 1890, was 492,- 
 430,865. 
 
 The number of tons of freight carried during the same 
 period was 636,541,617- 
 
 Gross earnings from operation for the year, $1,051,877,632. 
 
Some Railway Statistics. 297 
 
 Total number of employees (exclusive of those employed by 
 Express companies) on United States railways on June 30, 1890> 
 749,301. 
 
 THE LONGEST RAILWAY. 
 
 The longest railroad in the World, in any one country, with- 
 out a break, is in the Dominion of Canada, viz : 
 
 miles. 
 From MulgTOTe, Nova Scotia, to Levis (South Quebec) — Intercolonial 734 
 
 Levis to Toronto, G. T. R 505 
 
 Toronto to North Bay, G. T. R 228 
 
 North Bay to Vancouver, B.M., C. P. R 2,542 
 
 4,009 
 The next longest railway is in the United States, viz : 
 
 miles. 
 
 Van cebero to Bangor, Maine 114 
 
 Bangor to Portland 44 
 
 Portland to Boston 108 
 
 Baston to Chicago, via Albany and Buffalo 1,047 
 
 Chicago to San Francisco 2,357 
 
 3,670 
 In the above calculations the shortest distances are not taken. 
 
 RAILWAYS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 A press despatch from Washington, Nov. 22, 1892, gave the 
 following information : The census office to-day issued a bul- 
 letin of the statistics of railway mileage of the world in 1890. It 
 shows that out of a total railway mileage for the world of 370,281 
 miles, the United States have no less than 163,597 miles, or 
 44.18 per cent, of the whole. Europe has 136,865 miles ; Asia, 
 18,798 miles ; and Africa, 3,992 miles, making an aggregate of 
 159,665 miles. Germany has 25,969 miles ; Austria and Htm- 
 gary, including Bosnia, 16,467 miles ; Great Britain and Ireland, 
 19,939; France, 22,586; and Italy, 8,117 miles.* 
 
 • The Washington census department omitted to say that there was a country to 
 the north of the United States, called the "Dominion of Canada," and that it had 
 15,000 miles of railway, including a length of 4,000 miles vntkout a break, from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. 
 
298 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 LOCOMOTIVES OF FIFTY-SIX YEARS AGO. 
 
 The Toronto Telegram of Feb. 22, 1893, called them rare 
 old relics, when it reported their passage through to the World's 
 Fair at Chicago : — 
 
 " There arrived at Toronto Junction, from St. John, N.B., 
 two Intercolonial flat cars, containing the two oldest locomotives 
 in existence — the * Samson,' 1837, and the * Albion,' 1838. 
 There were also a tender and passenger coach, the latter up- 
 holstered in white satin, in a splendid state of preservation. It 
 is about the size of an old-fashioned stagecoach and like one in 
 appearance. They left for Chicago last night, for the World's 
 Fair. 
 
 " The engines are queer pieces of mechanism, as compared 
 with those in use to-day. They have perpendicular cylinders and 
 connecting rods, with the old Hook motion. The fireman fired 
 up from the front end where the smoke boxes now are, with a 
 return flue from the front end, the fire boxes and smoke boxes 
 being side by side there also. The * Samson ' is mounted on a 
 wooden frame, plated with iron , while that of the * Albion ' is 
 of iron and stands on plates rivetted to the boiler. They were 
 built at Durham, England, in the years mentioned above, and 
 have come direct from France, where they were on exhibition." 
 
 THE FAMOUS " ROCKET." 
 
 " The * Samson,' and the * Albion,' are no doubt the 
 oldest locomotives now upon this Continent, but they are not the 
 oldest in existence, as Geo. Stephenson's famous old ' Eocket ' 
 still exists, and it was built when George IV. was King." Dr. 
 Samuel Smiles, in his life of George Stephenson, says : " The 
 immense consequences involved in the success of the ' Rocket ' 
 and the important influence in the locomotive contest, in which 
 
Some Railway Statistics. 299 
 
 it came off the victor, exercised upon the future development of 
 the railway system, might have led one to suppose that the 
 directors of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway would have re- 
 garded the engine with pride and cherished it with care, as 
 warriors prize a trusty weapon which has borne them victoriously 
 through some grand historical battle. The French preserve 
 with the greatest care the locomotive constructed by Cugnot, 
 which is to this day to be seen in the Conservatoire des Arts et 
 Metiers at Paris. But the * Rocket ' was an engine of much 
 greater historical interest. And what became of the * Rocket ? ' 
 The directors of the Liverpool & Manchester RaUway Company 
 sold it in 1837 ! Heavier engines were brought upon the road, 
 and the old * Rocket ' was regarded as a thing of no value. It 
 was purchased by Mr. Thompson, of Kirkhouse, the lessee of the 
 Earl of Carlisle's coal and lime-works near Carlisle. He worked 
 the engine on the Midgeholm Railway for five or six years, during 
 which it hauled coals from the pits to the town. There was 
 wonderful vitality in the old engine, as the following circum- 
 stance proves. When the great contest for the representation of 
 East Cumberland took place, and Sir James Graham was super- 
 seded by Major Aglionby, the * Rocket ' was employed to convey 
 the Alston express with the state of the poll from Midgeholm to 
 Kirkhouse. On that occasion the engine was driven by Mark 
 Thompson, and it ran the distance of upwards of four miles in 
 four and a half minutes, thus reaching a speed of nearly sixty 
 miles an hour — proving its stUl admirable qualities as an engine. 
 But again it was superseded by heavier engines ; for it only 
 weighed about four tons, whereas the new engines were at least 
 three times the weight. The 'Rocket ' was consequently laid 
 up in ordinary in the yard at Kirkhouse. It was subsequently 
 purchased by Mr. Stephenson, and is now preserved in the loco- 
 motive works at Newcastle-upon-Tyne." 
 
300 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 There may it long remain as a memorial of its builder, George 
 Stephenson, the greatest genius of modern times.* 
 
 THE ST. CLAIR TUNNEL LOCOMOTIVES. 
 
 The engines used to pull the trains through the tunnel and 
 up the steep grade after emerging, are the largest in the world, 
 having ten driving wheels, and weighing nearly 200,000 pounds. 
 The boilers are 74 inches in diameter, the fireboxes 132|^ inches 
 long and 42|^ inches wide, and the cylinders are 22 inches in 
 diameter, with 28-inch stroke. These monster engines were built 
 especially for this service by the celebrated Baldwin Locomotive 
 Works, of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 SPEED OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 A question may be asked : Has the locomotive reached the 
 maximum speed at which it may be run with safety ? 
 
 Mr. C. J. Bowman Cookes, in his admirable and interesting 
 work on " British Locomotives," recently published in London 
 and New York, gives some instances of great speed attained by 
 British locomotives, one of which may be stated as follows : 
 
 " On February 7, 1893, the 7 ft. compound engine, No. 1309, 
 when working the 3.30 p.m. up Scotch express from Crewe to 
 London, ran from Standon Bridge to Norton Bridge, a distance 
 of 4f miles, in three minutes. Speed, 87 miles per hour ; ap- 
 proximate weight of train and engine, 240 tons (537,600 lbs.) ; 
 gradient, 1 in 650 and 1 in 505 down." 
 
 The now celebrated locomotive, " 999," of the New York 
 Central Railway Co., which was on exhibition at the World's 
 Fair, in an experimental trial, attained the enormous speed of a 
 mile in 32 seconds, a rate of 112^ miles an hour. 
 
 * A model of the " Rocket" was on exhibition at the White City, Chicago, during 
 
 the World's Fair. 
 
I— < 
 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 w 
 ;z; 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 Q 
 W 
 
 cc; 
 
 Q 
 
 iz; 
 
 D 
 
 W 
 O 
 
Some Railway Statistics. 301 
 
 Upon this question of speed, Mr. Cookes makes the following 
 just and invaluable remarks : 
 
 " It should, however, be borne in mind by those persons en- 
 trusted with the timing of passenger trains, that such speed as 
 these must not be quoted as precedents for ordinary working. 
 Under favorable circumstances they may be attained by engines 
 in a high state of efficiency ; but locomotives, like human beings, 
 while able when put on their metal to exhibit extraordinary 
 powers, are also like them subservient to natural laws, and there- 
 fore give better satisfaction when their powers are normall}' 
 exerted within reasonable limits only. It is far more satisfactory 
 to the public generally and to railway companies themselves, 
 when trains are timed at such a speed as will enable them to be 
 worked punctually under all circumstances." 
 
 THE LONG LIFE OF A LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 In another part of this work I have referred to Mr. F. 
 Trevithick, the first locomotive superintendent of the Grand 
 Trunk Eailway ; previously he had been locomotive superinten- 
 dent of the London & North-Western Eailway Works at Crewe. 
 " In 1847," Mr. C. J. B. Cooke says, " Trevithick constructed an 
 engine now well known in locomotive history. It was called the 
 Cornwall, and had single driving wheels, 8 ft. 6 in. in diameter." 
 
 The peculiar features introduced in this engine it is un- 
 necessary to explain. 
 
 Mr. Cooke continues : ** The ' Cornwall ' as originally con- 
 structed, was not a success, and it was subsequently re-built at 
 Crewe. It is still running (1893) on the London & North- 
 Western Railway, although not able to work main line express 
 trains of the present day." 
 
302 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 ACCIDENTS STAGE COACHES VS. EAILWAYS. 
 
 When an accident happens upon a railway it is sometimes 
 terrible in its results and people are apt to run oS. with the idea 
 that travel by railway is both risky and dangerous ; but if they 
 will compare it with the stage-coaching times they will find that 
 the accidents by the old mode of conveyance were enormously 
 more in proportion to the number of passengers carried than by 
 railways. The author has a vivid recollection of two stage 
 coach up-sets in one tveek, occuring near his father's residence 
 in England, and of seeing unfortunate passengers carried by on 
 stretchers, with shattered limbs and perhaps in a dying state. 
 In the old coaching days, before railways and telegraphs, news 
 travelled slowly, and the news of many a coach mis-hap seldom 
 spread further than the immediate neighbourhood where the 
 accident took place ; while at the present time a railway accident 
 happening to-day is known all over the globe to-morrow. 
 
 The author would here remark, that he has travelled more 
 or less on railways for sixty years, and, for one half the time, 
 his journeys were from ten to twenty thousand miles per annum, 
 yet he was never in a railroad accident ! 
 
 THE SUN AND THE LOCOMOTIVE BY GEO. STEPHENSON.* 
 
 " One Sunday when Dr. Buckiand and Mr. Stephenson had 
 just returned from church, they were standing together on the 
 terrace near the Hall, and observed in the distance a railway 
 train flashing along, throwing behind it a long line of white 
 steam. * Now Buckiand,' said Mr. Sephenson, 'I have a poser 
 for you. Can you tell me what is the power that is driving that 
 train ?' ' Well,' said the other, ' I suppose it is one of your big 
 engines.' * But what drives the engine ? ' * Oh, very likely a canny 
 Newcastle driver.' 'What do you say to the light of the sun?' 
 
 *Sarauel Smiles' life of Geo. Stephenson. 
 
Some Baihuay Statistics. 303 
 
 How can that be?' asked the Doctor. * It is nothing else,' said 
 the engineer; * it is light bottled up in the earth for tens of thou- 
 sands of years — light absorbed by plants and vegetables being 
 necessary for the condensation of carbon during the process of 
 their growth, if it be not carbon in another form, and now, after 
 being buried in the earth for long ages in fields of coal, that latent 
 light is again brought forth and liberated, made to work as in 
 that locomotive, for great human purposes.' 
 
 " The idea was certainly a most striking and original one ; 
 like a flash of light, it illuminated in an instant an entire field of 
 science." 
 
 THE LOCOMOTIVE AND THE ENGLISH LAKES. 
 
 One summer's day, long before railways had penetrated the 
 English Lake region, my brother, a friend and I made a pilgrim- 
 age on foot, from Kendal to Windermere to get our first view of 
 that charming lake among the hills, and to spend a day sailing 
 over its crystal waters. This incident calls to one's mind the 
 celebrated sonnets written by Wordsworth when he heard that 
 the Lake region was going to be invaded by " Puffing Billy " and 
 railway coaches. I give one of the Sonnets on the projected Ken 
 dal & Windermere Eailway. 
 
 '• Is there no nook of English ground secure 
 From rash assault ? Schemes of retirement sown 
 In youth, and mid the busy worW kept pure 
 As when their earlier flowers of hope were blown, 
 Must perish ; — how can they this blight endure ? 
 And must he, too, the ruthless change bemoan, 
 Who scorns a false utilitarian lure 
 Mid his paternal fields at random thrown ? 
 Baffle the threat, bright scene from Orrest head 
 Given to the pausing traveller's rapturous glance ; 
 Plead for thy peace, thou beautiful romance 
 Of nature ; and, if human hearts be dead, 
 Speak, passing Winds ; ye Torrents, with your strong 
 And constant voice, protest against the wrong." 
 October 12th, 1844). 
 
304 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 The Hon. Edward Everett, in his famous speech at the Bos- 
 ton Railway Jubilee, referred to the above as follows : — 
 
 " Mr. Wordsworth was a kind-hearted man, as well as a most 
 distinguished poet, but he was entirely mistaken as it seems to 
 me, in this matter. The quiet of a few spots may be disturbed ; 
 but a hundred quiet spots are rendered accessible. The bustle of 
 the station hou^e may take the place of the Druidical silence of 
 some shady dell ; but, Gracious Heavens ! Sir, how many of 
 those verdant arches, entwisted by the hand of God in our path- 
 less woods, are opened to the grateful worship of man by these 
 means of communication. 
 
 " How little of rural beauty you lose, even in a country of 
 comparatively narrow dimensions like England — how less than 
 little in a country so vast as this — by works of this description. 
 You lose a little strip along the line of the road, which partially 
 changes its character ; while, as the compensation, you bring all 
 this rural beauty, — 
 
 ' The warbling woodland, the resounding shore. 
 The power of groves, the garniture of fields,' 
 
 within the reach, not of a score of luxurious tourists, but of the 
 great mass of the population, who have senses and tastes as keen 
 as the keenest, and who but for your railways and steamers 
 would have gone to their graves and the sooner for the privation, 
 without ever having caught a glimpse of the most magnificent 
 and beautiful spectacle which nature presents to the eye of man 
 — that a glorious combing wave, a quarter of a mile long, as it 
 comes swelling and breasting towards the shore, till its soft green 
 ridge bursts into a crest of snow, and settles and dies along the 
 whispering sands !" 
 
 BIBEN FBOM THE BANKS. 
 
 In perusing the many sketches of railway men in this work, 
 it will be noticed that nearly all of them have risen from the 
 
V^ »F -THE 
 
 of 
 
SIR W. C. VAN HOKNE. 
 
Soriie Railway Statistics. 305 
 
 ranks, and I now give from McClure's Magazine for January, 
 1894, a list of a number of men in the United States, who, from 
 the most humble beginnings, have risen to the highest etninence 
 in railway positions. 
 
 " The best engineman has been a fireman ; the best con- 
 ductors are mad6 of brakemen ; the best officials are promoted 
 from the ranks. Mr. John M. Toucey, General Manager of the 
 New York Central, was once a trainman. President Newell, of 
 the Lake Shore, used to carry a chain in an engineering corps 
 on the Illinois Central. President Clark, of the Mobile & Ohio, 
 was a section man, afterwards a fireman. Another man who 
 drove grade stakes is President Blockstand, of the Alton. Allen 
 Manvill, the late president of " the largest road on earth," was 
 a storehouse clerk. President Van Home,* of the Canadian 
 Pacific, kept time on the Illinois Central. A man named Town, 
 who used to twist brake-wheels on the Burlington, is now Vice- 
 President Town, of the Southern Pacific. President Smith, of 
 the Louisville & Nashville, was a telegraph operator. Marvin 
 Hughitt, of the Chicago & Northwestern, began as a telegraph 
 messenger boy. President Clark, of the Union Pacific, used to 
 
 * SiK William Van Hokne.— The high honour of Knighthood was conferred 
 upon Mr. Van Home by the Queen, on Her Majesty's birthday, 1894. The following 
 sketch of Sir William Van Home's unique railway career is taken from the Toronto 
 Mail of May 28th: "He was bom in Will county, Illinois, in February, 1841. 
 ^Thirty-two years ago he entered the service of the Illinois Central Railway as a tele- 
 graph operator at Chicago. Subsequently he served the Michigan Central in several 
 capacities. From 1866 to 1872 he was connected with the Chicago & Alton Railway 
 as train despatcher, superintendent of telegraphs, and assistant superintendent of the 
 railway. In 1872 he became General Superintendent of the St. Louis, Kansas & 
 Northern Railway. From 1874 to 1878 he was General Manager of the Southern Min- 
 nesota line, being President of the company from December, 1877, to December, 1879. 
 From October, 1878, till December, 1879, he was also General Superintendent of the 
 Chicago & Alton Railway. In 1880 Mr. Van Home became General Superintendent of 
 the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, and remained in this position for two 
 years. It was in 1882 that Mr, Van Home joined the Canadian Pacific Railway as 
 manager, and it was in 1885, under his able direction, that the last spike was driven 
 in that road at Eagle Pass by Sir Donald Smith. In 1884 the Manager was made 
 Vice-President ; and on August 7, 1888, he was appointed the supreme head of the 
 great corporation." 
 
 20 
 
306 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 c}»eck freight and push a truck on the Omaha platform. The 
 Illinois Central, I believe, has turned out more great men than 
 any other road. President Jeffrey, of the Denver & Eio Grande, 
 began in the Central shops, at 45 cents a day." 
 
 EAILWAY COMPETITION. 
 
 Competition is popularly said to be the life of trade, but if 
 the maxim was reversed to that of the death of trade, it would 
 be nearer the mark. A person who starts a new business and 
 appears to be doing fairly well in it, is sure to be followed by a 
 competitor, and one or both soon go to the wall. 
 
 No undertakings have suffered so much as those of railways 
 by a reckless competition. No sooner was the Liverpool & 
 Manchester Eailway opened than a fight began between it and 
 the canals. I remember, at one time, raw cotton was carried 
 from Liverpool to Manchester at sixpence per ton, which, of course, 
 did not pay for handling. Then, as soon as two railways ran 
 between two important points, a war of rates at once broke out, 
 each cutting his neighbour's throat and his own at the same 
 time — a sort of dual suicide, while the public looked on, laughed 
 and shared the spoil, at the cost of the unfortunate shareholders. 
 After much fighting terms would be come to, and all would for . 
 a time be serene, to break out again in fresh quarters upon the 
 loosening of some screw in the agreement. 
 
 Railways, on this continent, have suffered more than those 
 in Great Britain from ruinous competition. Many remedies 
 have been tried and state laws enacted to prevent cutting of 
 freight rates and passenger fares, but none have iJeen very suc- 
 cessful. The subject is one beset with many difficulties, but still 
 it is one which Companies should successfully grapple with. 
 
Some Railway Statistics. 307 
 
 The diflferent schemes for preventing competition may be 
 •enumerated as under : 
 
 1. "WTien there are two or 'more roads running between 
 competing points, they shall be operated by one management. 
 
 2. An agreement between competing companies shall be 
 entered into, fixing rates and fares, and a severe penalty levied 
 upon any company for a breach of the agreement. 
 
 3. The earnings of all roads running between competing 
 points to be put into one purse, and divided among those lines 
 interested, upon some scale to be agreed upon. 
 
 4. Each company shall deduct 50 per cent, of its gross 
 -earnings of freight and passengers conveyed between competing 
 points, depositing the remaining 50 per cent, in a common purse, 
 "the latter amount to be divided between the roads in the agree- 
 ment upon some equitable scale. 
 
 COMMENTS ON THE ABOVE SCHEMES. 
 
 1. This may be looked upon as impracticable without a 
 general amalgamation of all the Companies concerned. 
 
 2. This system, though often tried, is liable to be broken in 
 some way by drawbacks in tonnage or rates, almost impossible to 
 discover as long as the contractor and shipper keep faith with 
 «ach other. 
 
 3. The one purse system for all the earnings seems to be 
 defective, as a question might arise as to who is to carry the 
 freight. One Company might say, why bother about the freight 
 as long as we get a share of the earnings, whether we carry the 
 freight or not ; and between the Companies the traffic might be 
 neglected. 
 
 4. Any system to be successful must deal fairly with all, 
 and each Company must have an interest in securing all the 
 
308 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 freight it can, and this can only be done by deducting a certain 
 per centage from the gross earnings for working expenses, and 
 depositing the balance in a common purse for division among 
 those Companies under the agreement. I name 50 per cent, in 
 each case, but that is a matter for consideration. 
 
 This seems to be the only feasible scheme, as it gives each 
 Company an interest in conveying all the freight it can, and as 
 it participates in the purse earnings, it removes the temptation 
 to cut rates, since by doing this, it would be doing an injury to 
 itself. 
 
 It is no gain to a country that its great powers for trans- 
 porting merchandise from one locality to another, should be an 
 unremunerative one to its projectors. It may, apparently, by 
 low rates of freight, be a public benefit in reducing the price of 
 food, clothing and other things, but such benefits are more than 
 counterbalanced by a loss to thousands who have invested their 
 money in railways, and they have a fair and legitimate claim 
 for some consideration from the community. 
 
 Governments are greatly responsible for much of reckless 
 railway competition, inasmuch as they granted charters to com- 
 panies for the building of parallel lines of road when there was 
 not traffic enough to support already existing lines ; but there is 
 another powerful factor of competition looming in the distant 
 horizon, like the cloud no bigger than a man's hand. I refer 
 to the Electric Motor Eailway. At present this new power is 
 mainly confined to towns and cities and their surburbs, but it is 
 threatening to creep along the highways and byways all over the 
 country, tapping its local traffic at every point. The cost of 
 these electric roads is insignificant when compared with the cost 
 of the locomotive railway. The road bed of the electric line is 
 already made; no deep cuttings to excavate, and few bridges to 
 build. Railway companies would do well to hoist the caution 
 signal ; there is danger ahead ! ! ! 
 
Canal, River, Lake and Ocean Sailing Craft. 309 
 
 CHAPTEK XXYIII. 
 
 CANAL, RIVER, LAKE AND OCEAN SAILING CRAFT. 
 FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE GREAT LAKES. 
 
 THE following account of the freight traffic on the lakes is 
 taken from the Toronto Globe of Sept. 20th, 1893 : 
 " The vessel traffic passing through the Detroit River is 
 greater than passes any other point in the world. In the year 
 1889 it was 36,203,606 tons. The last census of the United 
 States shows that during the 234 days of navigation of 1890 there 
 ■were carried on the great lakes in the United States foreign trade 
 2,003,047 tons of cargo and in the domestic trade of the United 
 States 28,295,959 tons of freight. These figures throw a flood 
 of light on the nature of the traffic on the lakes. It is largely 
 domestic business — that is, exchanges of commodities 
 between United States ports. The vast bulk of it is repre- 
 sented in the traffic between Bufifalo at one end of the system 
 and Chicago and Duluth at the other, with the intermediate 
 towns taking an exceedingly prominent part in the rivalry. The 
 traffic eastward is largely grain, lumber and iron ore ; that west- 
 ward is largely coal. The grain for export is bound either for 
 Montreal or New York, that for domestic consumption is absorb- 
 ed proportionately by all the lake ports along the route. The 
 lumber is almost all for domestic consumption — for Detroit, 
 Toledo, Cleveland, Sandusky, Erie and Buffalo. These are all 
 depots for interior towns, such as Pittsburg, Newark and Cincin- 
 nati, and for the populous country south of Lake Erie. The iron 
 ore is in demand to a greater or less extent in all of the cities 
 

 Height 
 
 Breadth. 
 
 above the 
 
 
 Sea. 
 
 160 miles. 
 
 600 feet. 
 
 190 " 
 
 578 " 
 
 25 " 
 
 570 " 
 
 80 " 
 
 665 " 
 
 65 " 
 
 232 " 
 
 80 " 
 
 578 " 
 
 310 Railways avd Other Ways. 
 
 mentioned, and the extent of this traffic may be estimated when 
 it is stated that from the Lake Superior region alone 7,000,000 
 long tons of ore are annually shipped. Of the westward-bound 
 traffic coal is the main article. It is shipped from all the Lake 
 Erie ports, Buffalo, Ashtabula, Cleveland, etc., which are nearest 
 the coal areas." 
 
 THE GREAT CHAIN OF INLAND LAKES. 
 
 Length. 
 
 Superior 355 miles. 
 
 Huron, with Georgian Bay 280 " 
 
 Saint Clair 26 " 
 
 Erie 240 " 
 
 Ontario 180 " 
 
 Michigan 320 " 
 
 THE FIRST CANADIAN CANAL. 
 
 *' The Chambly, the first Canadian Canal, ll^ miles in 
 length, was constructed to overcome the Chambly Eapids, which 
 run almost interruptedly from St. John's to Chambly, the dif- 
 ference of level being 74 feet. The work was commenced 1st 
 Oct., 1831, but owing to financial troubles was not completed 
 until the 17th Nov., 1843, when the canal was opened for naviga- 
 gation. This difficulty being removed the route is open from 
 the Saint Lawrence, by the Kichelieu river at Sorel, to Chambly, 
 thence by the Chambly Canal to Saint John's, through Lake 
 Champlain to Whitehall, and thence by the New York & Champ- 
 lain Canal, 67 miles, to Waterford on the Hudson River, distant 
 from New York, 153 miles, thus forming a water navigation be- 
 tween Montreal and Quebec and New York." — Kingsford's "Can- 
 adian Canals." 
 
Canal, River, Lake and Ocean Sailing Craft. 311 
 
 THE ST. LAWRENCE CANAIiS. 
 
 These very important works, the Hnks which connect the 
 western lakes through the Saint Lawrence with the seaboard at 
 Montreal, are as follows : — 
 
 Feet. Miles. 
 
 1. The Lachine Canal, 5 locks, mean rise .; 44| Length 8i 
 
 2. The Beauhamois Canal, 9 locks, mean rise ;'. 82* " Ill 
 
 3. The Cornwall " 6 " " " 48" " lli 
 
 . / Farren's Pt. " 1 " " " 4 " | 
 
 S ti 1 Rapide Plat " 2 " " " Uh " 3| 
 
 4. ;§ § < Iroquois ) 
 
 g-^ i Junction'- " 3 " " " 15| " 7^ 
 
 ^ V Gallops ) 
 
 43f 
 
 Including for comparison the Welland canal, 27 locks*330 " 28 
 
 Fall on portions of the St. Lawrence, not requiring 
 
 locks 15| 
 
 Height of Lake Erie above Montreal harbour 55 1| 
 
 — (Kingsford's "Canadian Canals," 1865.) 
 
 i 
 
 THE FIEST STEAMBOAT. 
 
 Attempts to sail boats by steam power were made soon after 
 James Watt'si* inventions and discoveries, in connection with 
 the steam engine, were made known. Chambers's Information 
 for the People says : " We do not consider it of the least moment 
 to mention how or by whom steam propulsion was first discover- 
 ed ; the merit of this and every other great invention is alone 
 due to the person who brought it into practical use." 
 
 "In 1807 Fulton introduced the use of steam-propelled 
 vessels on the Hudson, between New York and Albany. In 1812 
 Bell introduced a similar mode of steam navigation on the Clyde 
 
 'Another canal between Lakes Erie and Ontario has since been bnilt deeper and 
 with larger locks, admitting vessels of 1,500 tons. 
 
 t James Watt was bom at Greenock, in Scotland, June 19tb, 1736, and died on 
 the 25th of August, 1819. 
 
312 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 at Glasgow ; and two or three years afterwards steamboats were 
 common on British rivers, and on the sea around the coasts." 
 
 Mr. Fulton's steamer, referred to in the above, was the 
 ** Clermont," " which " (quoting from Dr. Fleming's paper) 
 " was launched on the Hudson in 1807. She was built by Mr. 
 Fulton in conjunction with Mr. Livingston. She was 130 feet 
 long with a breadth of 16^ feet. Her engines were made in 
 England. She attained a speed of five miles an hour. She 
 proved a practical success, and carried goods and passengers 
 betweeix New York and Albany for some years. If we have the 
 best grounds for stating that to Canada is due the honour of 
 sending to sea the pioneer ocean steamship, we must acknow- 
 ledge that in the United States was produced the first steamboat 
 in the world, regularly and continuously engaged in the passenger 
 traffic." 
 
 FIEST STEAMBOAT IN CANADA. 
 
 " The first steamboat that ran between Quebec and Montreal 
 appears to have been built in 1809, by Mr. John Molson, well 
 known as the father of steamboat enterprise on the St. Law- 
 rence." " Upper Canada was only a little later in availing itself 
 of the facilities of steamboat navigation. The * Frontenac,' the 
 first Lake Ontario steamer, was not built till 1816. She cost 
 £15,000, which is nearly three times as much as any other boat 
 on that lake cost for the next decade."* 
 
 Upon the same subject. Dr. Fleming says : " Two years 
 after the steamer * Clermont ' made her trial trip on the Hud- 
 son, the first steamboat appeared on the St. Lawrence." Dr. 
 Fleming was indebted to Dr. S. E. Dawson for the following inter- 
 esting details : " On November 3, 1809, the steamer * Accommo- 
 dation,' carrying ten passengers, left Montreal on Wednesday, at 
 two o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived at Quebec on a Satur- 
 
 *J: M, &. E. Trout'8 "Railways of Canada." 
 
Canal, River, Lake and Ocean Sailing Craft. 313 
 
 day, at eight o'clock in the morning. She anchored every night, 
 and that practice was continued for many years on the St. 
 Lawrence." 
 
 " THE JOHN o'gAUNT." 
 
 The progress and spread of steam navigation, in its early 
 days, must have been slow, for, as a small boy, I remember the 
 first steamer which entered the seaport town of Lancaster, 
 England, say nearly seventy years ago. The sensation the event 
 produced was quite sufficient to rivet it upon my memory. It 
 was announced that on a certain day the steamer " John 
 O'Gaunt," from Liverpool would arrive at Lancaster, and fully 
 10,000 people from all parts of the country flocked in to see the 
 wonderful ship. Among the crowd on the wharf stood a woman 
 who kept a " turnpike " (toll gate) on the highway, and near 
 a fat, jolly, humorous man, one Bob Harrison, a bailiff. 
 
 When the steamer sailed up to the wharf the woman cried 
 out, in perfect astonishment, "Why deary me its got wheels." 
 " Yes mam," said Bob, with all the gravity of a judge. " Its made 
 to go by land or water, it'll be coming through your turnpike 
 one of these days — you'll not know what to charge it." " Nooa," 
 said the woman, " we've nout sich as that queer looking thing set 
 down in our toll tables." 
 
 EARLY OCEAN STEAMSHIPS. 
 
 "The ' Savannah,' 350 tons burden, was built in New York in 
 1818. She was rigged as a sailing vessel, steam apparently 
 being used chiefly as an auxiliary, in calms or with light or head 
 wind. Her total cost was about $50,000, including engines and 
 all rigging. She carried 75 tons of coal and 25 cords of wood. 
 
 Moses Eogers was her captain, and Stevens Kogers, the first 
 officer, or sailing master as he was called. The * Savannah " 
 
314 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 sailed from New York on March 28, 1819. The voyage to Liver- 
 pool was made in 22 days, 14 of the 22 under steam. She then 
 visited several of the continental ports of Europe before return- 
 ing to the United States. Pecuniary troubles coming upon her 
 owners the ' Savannah ' was sold. Her engines were removed and 
 she ran between New York and Savannah, as a sailing packet for 
 several years. She ran ashore on Long Island and went to 
 pieces in 1822, a few months after the death of her commander." 
 — {Buffalo Illustrated Express, of Dec. 4, 1892, which gave a 
 sketch of the "Savannah.") 
 
 The " Savannah " would seem to have been the first vessel 
 to have made use of steam, as a propelling power, in crossing 
 the Atlantic, but she was a full-rigged sailing ship and entirely 
 independent of steam, and she only made use of that on a part of 
 the voyage ; still she is entitled to all honour and credit for her 
 bold venture, and to take her place as one of the earliest attempts 
 at ocean steam navigation. 
 
 THE "royal WILLIAM." 
 
 Fourteen years now passed before we hear anything more of 
 ocean steam navigation. Then we turn to Canada and find that a 
 steamship was built at Quebec, the " Eoyal William," which 
 made a complete passage from that port to London, ivholly under 
 steam. For the story of that memorable event I am indebted to 
 Dr. Sanford Fleming, who, on December 17, 1892, read a very 
 interesting paper before the Canadian Institute at Toronto on 
 Ocean Steam Navigation, Early Steamboats, etc., from which I 
 make the following extracts : 
 
 " 1. The first steamship to cross the Atlantic was built by a 
 joint stock company at the yard of Campbell & Black in Quebec 
 in 1830-31. 2. The designer of the ship and superintendent of its 
 construction was Mr. James Goudie, born in Quebec, 1809, and 
 
Canal, River, Lake and Ocean Sailing Craft. 315 
 
 died 1892. 3. The ship was launched in the spring of 1831 with 
 more than ordinary ceremony. 4. The ship was towed to Mont- 
 real to receive her machinery, and on being fitted for sea, her 
 first voyage was to Halifax. Before setting out for England she 
 traded between Quebec, Halifax and Boston. She was the first 
 British steamer to arrive at the latter port. 5. In the list of 
 owners appear the names of the three brothers, Joseph, Henry 
 and Samuel Cunard, of Halifax, Nova Scotia. 6. Her dimen- 
 sions were : length, 176 feet ; hold, 17 feet 9 inches ; breadth, out- 
 side, 44 feet ; breadth between paddle-boxes, 28 feet. She had 
 three masts, schooner-rigged; builder's measurement 1,370 tons, 
 with accommodation for 60 passengers. 7- She left Quebec for 
 London August 5, 1833, called at Pictou, Nova Scotia, to receive 
 coal and overhaul machinery. She restarted from Pictou August 
 18, with seven passengers, 254 chaldrons of coal, and a light 
 cargo. She encountered a teriffic gale on the Banks of New- 
 foundland, which disabled one of her engines. The passage 
 from Pictou to London occupied 25 days. 8. Ten days after her 
 arrival in London she was chartered by the Portuguese Govern- 
 ment to enter the service of Dom Pedro. 9. In 1834 she was 
 sold to the Spanish Government, was converted into a war 
 steamer, and under a new name, the ' Ysabel Segunda,' was 
 employed against Don Carlos." 
 
 Dr. Fleming further says that " To his mind it is incon- 
 testably established that the memorable voyage of the Royal 
 William in 1833 must be held to be the first passage across the 
 Atlantic under steam. She undoubtedly proved to be the pioneer 
 of Atlantic steamships. It cannot be disputed that she was the 
 forerunner of the Cunard line, and as such was equally the fore- 
 runner of the thirty-four other lines which to-day run regularly 
 between America and Europe." 
 
316 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 STEAM SHIP " GREAT WESTERN." 
 
 Messrs. Chambers, in their "Information for the People," 
 when speaking of ocean steam navigation, make no allusion to 
 the "Eoj^al William," from which I infer that they were unaware 
 of her existence. Quoting from their work published in 1842, 
 they say : 
 
 "The first steamer to make the voyage across the Atlantic, 
 and form a means of regular communication between Britain 
 and the United States was the 
 
 " GREAT WESTERN," 
 
 a steamship of 1,340 tons burden, and was the first large 
 vessel which plied regularly on that route. She departed from 
 Bristol, England, on the 7th of April, 1838, and reached New York 
 on the 23rd of the same month." 
 
 THE " SIRIUS." 
 
 At the time (1837) when the " Great Western " was building 
 at Bristol, another steam- vessel, the " Sirius " was being built at 
 London. It was these vessels that made the first race, the 
 " Sirius " making the trip measured from Queenstown, in 18^ 
 days, and the " Great Western" in 14|^ days. The "Sirius" 
 having had nearly four days' start, came into New York a few 
 hours ahead of the winner. 
 
 The " Sirius," the smaller vessel, 700 tons, was four days 
 longer on her trip, all her coal was consumed, and she reached 
 only by burning spare spars and by going at reduced speed. She 
 sailed for home again on May 1, 1838. She made but one 
 voyage ; it not paying, she was placed upon the channel service 
 between Cork and Dublin. 
 
 The foregoing, on First Atlantic Steamships, was Written 
 more than a year ago. I now give, from the Toronto Telegram of 
 
Canal, River, Lake and Ocean Sailing Craft. 317 
 
 June 29, 1894, another interesting statement and ceremony about 
 the Quebec steamer. 
 
 TABLET UNVEILED IN MEMORY OF THE OLD " ROYAL WILLIAM." 
 
 Ottawa, June 29. — At the Intercolonial Conference here 
 
 yesterday, after the address to Her Majesty congratulating her 
 
 on the 57th anniversary of her coronation had been adopted, 
 
 Lord Aberdeen (the Governor- General) read the following letter 
 
 received from the secretary of the Eoyal Society, Dr. J. G. Bourinot, 
 
 C.M.G. :— 
 
 " Ottawa Ont., June 26, 1894. 
 
 " To His Excellency the Governor-General : 
 
 " My Lord, — The two Houses of the Canadian Parliament 
 have orders that a brass tablet should be placed in the wall of 
 the corridor leading to the library of Parliament with a suitable 
 inscription ' commemorating the departure of the Eoyal William 
 from the port of Quebec in 1833 — the first vessel to cross the 
 ocean, wholly by means of steam.' 
 
 " Your Excellency is already familiar with the leading cir- 
 cumstances connected with this interesting historical fact. The 
 brass plate ordered by Parliament is now ready to be put in 
 place, and it is felt that no more fitting time could be chosen 
 than at the close of the opening meeting of the Colonial 
 Conference. On behalf of the Eoyal Society and associated 
 societies, who were first to move in doing honor to the builders 
 and navigators of the * Eoyal William,' I express the hope 
 that yom* Excellency will be pleased to place the commemoration 
 plate in its permanent position. If it be agreeable to your 
 Excellency, I enclose the list of gentlemen who, it is thought 
 desirable, should witness the proceedings : 
 
 " The delegates to the conference, the Speakers of the Senate 
 and Commons, Cabinet Ministers, Mr. Gustavus Wicksteed, who 
 
318 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 saw the * Eoyal William ' launched 63 years ago and took passage 
 in her trial trip ; Mr. Horace Wicksteed, who boarded the * Eoyal 
 William ' on her arrival in England and dined with the captain ; 
 representatives of the Eoyal Society and associated societies. I 
 have the honor to be, 
 
 " Your Excellency's most faithful servant, 
 
 " (Signed) J. G. Boueinot." 
 
 The Conference then rose, after which the Governor-General 
 unveiled the brass tablet in commemoration of the departure of the 
 * Eoyal William,' the j&rst vessel to use steam power wholly in 
 crossing the ocean from Quebec in 1833. His Excellency said 
 Canadians should be proud this vessel was built in Canada. He 
 mentioned the presence of Mr. G. W. Wicksteed, who was on 
 board the ' Eoyal William,' and his brother, Major Wicksteed, who 
 met her on her arrival. 
 
 After a few remarks from Mr. G. W. Wicksteed the company 
 separated, after cheers for Her Majesty. 
 
 The ** Eoyal William " was the pioneer of the grand era of 
 Atlantic steam navigation, and now steamships almost monopo- 
 lize the ocean. As a sequel to the above, I give a record of the 
 remarkable progress made in size, tonnage and speed of Atlantic 
 steamships since the advent of the celebrated " Eoyal William." 
 
 ATLANTIC STEAMSHIPS. 
 
 " The American transatlantic liner and auxiliary cruiser 
 *City of Paris ' arrived in New York harbor at 1.02 o'clock, a.m., 
 July 27, with a new record for the westward voyage and for a 
 day's run. Her time for the run was 5 days, 15 hours and 58 
 minutes. The best previous trip was that of the 'Teutonic,' 
 which ended in New York, Aug. 19, 1891, in 5 days, 16 hours 
 and 31 minutes ; and before that the ' Majestic ' held the 
 
Canal, River, Lake and Oc^an Sailing Craft. 319 
 
 record. The best day's run of the * Teutonic,' and the best 
 
 that had ever been made, was 517 knots. On this last trip the 
 
 * City of Palis ' made one day's run of 519 knots, and one of 
 
 520. The daily records of the three vessels in their record 
 
 breaking trips were : 
 
 City of 
 Majestic. Teutonic. Paris. 
 
 First day 470 460 478 
 
 Second day 501 496 501 
 
 Third day 4^7 505 519 
 
 Fourth day 501 510 504 
 
 Fifth day 491 517 520 
 
 Sixth day 317 290 263 
 
 2,777 2,778 2,785 
 
 "The following table, except the 'City of Paris,' last trip, 
 we printed last August from the New York Sun. It gives the 
 highest records as they were made from year to year : 
 
 Year. Ship Days. Hrs. Min. 
 
 1866— Scotia 8 2 48 
 
 1873— Baltic 7 20 9 
 
 1875— City of Berlin 7 15 48 
 
 1876- Germanic 7 11 37 
 
 1877 -Britannic 7 10 53 
 
 1880— Arizona 7 7 23 
 
 1882— Alaska 6 18 37 
 
 1884— Oregon 6 11 9 
 
 1884— America 6 10 
 
 1885— Etruria 6 5 31 
 
 1887— Umbria 6 4 42 
 
 1888— Etruria 6 1 55 
 
 1889— City of Paris 5 19 18 
 
 1891- Majestic 5 18 8 
 
 1891— Teutonic 5 16 31 
 
 1892— City of Paris 5 15 58 
 
 "A speed of 520 knots a day gives 21'667 knots an hour, 
 which is equal to 24'92 statute miles. To be perfectly candid, 
 "the 'City of Paris' is still flying the British flag." — American 
 EngineeVy August, 1892. 
 
320 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 QuEEN8T0WN,May 12, '93. — The new Cunard steamship "Cam- 
 pania," Capt. Haines, which sailed from New York for Liverpool 
 May 6, arrived at Queenstown at 9.30 o'clock this morning, 
 having made the passage from Sandy Hook to Queenstown in 
 five days, seventeen hours and twenty-seven minutes, the best 
 passage eastward yet made by any steamer. The passengers 
 cheered enthusiastically upon coming into the harbor. 
 
 HER LATEST TRIP. 
 
 Campania left Queenstown 12.51 p.m., 12th August ; passed 
 Sandy Hook Lightship, 5.45 p.m., 17tjti August, 1894. Time : 
 5 days 9 hours and 29 minutes, being 3 hours and 18 minutes 
 less than any previous record. 
 
 A. F. Webster, 
 
 Toronto Agent. 
 
 relative sizes of great steamers. 
 
 The following figures show the relative sizes of some of 
 
 these big ships : 
 
 Great 
 
 Campania, Paris. Teutonic. Eastern.* 
 
 Length 620 527 555 692 
 
 Beam 65 63 57.6 82 
 
 Draught 32 29 26 31 
 
 Horsepower 30,000 20,100 17,000 7,000 
 
 Tonnage 17,000 10,500 9,686 25,000 
 
 ♦ It may be of interest to record some further details of the Great Eastern, 
 which the author had the pleasure of inspecting when she was at New York and also 
 at Quebec. 
 
 She was moved by screw and paddle-wheels, and could spread 6,500 square yards 
 of canvas. She had four decks, ten boilers and five smoke stacks, 112 furnaces, ten 
 anchors and six masts. Her depth was fifty-eight feet ; across paddleboxes 114 feet ; 
 weight of iron used in construction 10,000 tons ; computed speed eighteen miles an 
 hour. Could carry 10,000 troops, or 800 first-class passengers, 2,000 second-class 
 passengers, 1,200 third-class passengers, total 4,000. 
 
 To walk around her decK was a quarter of a mile. She was said to have been 
 5,000 tons larger than Noah's Ark; capital employed was £1,200,000 sterling. 
 Designed by E. K. Brunnel, F.11.S. 
 
Canal, River, Lake and Ocean Sailing. 321 
 
 CANADIAN SHIPS AND THEIR TONNAGE. 
 
 In answer to a question in the Canadian House of Com- 
 mons in 1893 the Secretary of State gave a statement of the 
 number of Canadian ships and their tonnage. It was as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 No, of No. Sailing 
 Steamers. Vessels. Tontia^e. 
 
 New Brunswick 101 946 181,779 
 
 Nova Scotia 123 2,731 425,690 
 
 Quebec 275 1,408 162.628 
 
 Ontario 755 1,347 141,750 
 
 Prince Edward Island 21 196 22,706 
 
 Manitoba 54 81 6,418 
 
 British Columbia 173 298 33,448 
 
 Total 1,502 7,007 974,419 
 
 INCREASE IN THE SIZE OF OCEAN STEAMSHIPS. 
 
 The following outlines will show at a glance the comparative 
 sizes of the first with the latest and most splendid type of trans- 
 Atlantic steamers. 
 
 It needs no comment to emphasize the progress that has 
 
 been made in this line in less than 60 years. 
 
 Length. 
 
 Siriua 178 feet. 
 
 Scotia 400 " 
 
 Britannic and Germanic 470 " 
 
 Umbria and Etruria 520 " 
 
 City of New York and City of Paris 560 " 
 
 Teutonic and Majestic 582 " 
 
 Campania and Lucania 620 " 
 
 (Cincinnati's " World's Progress," July, 1893.) 
 
 Her mishaps were many and her successes were few, bat the latter were great ; 
 one was her celebrated trip with troops from Liverpool to Quebec and another the 
 laying of the Atlantic Cable (a continuous wire-rope of 20,000 tons) in July 1866, and 
 picking up the lost Cable of '65, in mid-ocean ; events which must ever be memorable 
 m history. 
 
 Sad indeed were the hearts of thousands when the news came that the hulk of the 
 Big Ship had been broken up and sold as old iron. 
 
 " Her last sea fight was fought, . 
 Her work of glory done." 
 
 21 
 
322 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 To the above may be added : 
 
 Lengthy 
 
 The Royal William (Quebec Steamship of 1833) 176 feet. 
 
 Great Eastern 692 " 
 
 " They that go down to the sea in ships, 
 That do business in great waters ; 
 These see the works of the Lord, 
 And His wonders in the deep." 
 
 — Psalm cvii, vv. 23, 24. 
 A ship's bill of lading, one hundbed years ago. 
 
 These ancient ship's bills of lading, quaint in style and 
 somewhat old-fashioned in the wording, breathe a lovable spirit, 
 as they offer up a prayer, that He, who " rides on the whirlwind 
 and directs the storm," may guide the good ship in safety to her 
 destined haven. No one can tell of the benefits which have 
 arisen from these pithy little sermons constantly coming before 
 the eyes of mariners in their daily toil, and they must, in 
 numerous cases, have led them to better thoughts, and influenced 
 their future lives. 
 
 Since the flotilla of steamships has almost taken possession of 
 the ocean, the good, old, prayerful bills of lading have ceased to be, 
 and the form, nowadays, omits all words of a sacred character, 
 as if steamships were independent of the Creator's power, and 
 did not require any special care for their safety; still, even 
 steamships are not exempt from 
 
 •' The peril of waters, winds, and rocks," 
 
 as even they sometimes meet with sad calamities. I am indebted 
 to the Station Agent, a monthly journal published at Cleveland, 
 0., for the fac-simile of an original Ship's Bill of Lading issued 
 one hundred years ago, appearing on opposite page. 
 

 g o ^g 
 .t; fed: • 
 
 _p r=} ^ «w 
 
 o <i> c 
 ops 
 
 ^\ o p c -^ 
 
 V . c 
 
 .-a 
 
 u. .- *- o. 
 
 
Canal, River, Lake and Ocean Sailing. 323 
 
 I 
 
 TISSUE COPYING OF WAY BILLS. 
 
 In the freight (goods) offices of the early English Railways, 
 our system of taking tissue copies of way-bills (invoices), was by 
 using a damping brush or damping box in order to prepare the 
 tissue paper, and I remember it was a slow, tedious and unsatis- 
 factory process. In damp, murky weather we did not get very 
 good impressions, as the ink would run, making many blurs. 
 
 On the Grand Trunk Eailway, for many years, the clerks 
 have had a system of copying way bills, abstracts and other 
 documents in a much more expeditious way, and by using ordin- 
 ary care, getting the best possible copies. Their plan is to have 
 a number of square pieces of cotton cloth, cut a little larger than 
 the document to be copied ; these are dumped into a washing 
 tub of water, with a wringer attached to the tub ; when copying 
 is to be done, as many cloths as are wanted are passed through 
 the wringer and the water all squeezed out ; they are then ready 
 for use. 
 
 A sandwich of cloth, tissue paper and way-bill is then 
 formed, and placed pile upon pile to any number up to two 
 hundred. The bale of sandwich matter is then put under the 
 copying press and the whole perfectly copied in a few minutes. 
 When necessary, three or four copies of each document can be 
 taken at the same time. 
 
 Damping box, brush and blotter are not needed. The 
 cloths get well marked with ink in time, but it does not come 
 off. They, of course, require replenishing when they get very 
 inkj'. The author has copied scores of sheets of manuscript in 
 this way without a press, simply by standing upon the letter 
 book a few minutes ; but then it must be understood that he 
 " carries weight," turning the scale at two hundred pounds. 
 
324 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 
 
 " Rise from your dreams of the future — of gaining some hard fought field, 
 Of storming some air fortress, or bidding some giant yield ; 
 Your future has years of glory, of honor, God grant it may. 
 But your arm will never be stronger, or the needs so great as to day." 
 
 THE intimate connection between railways and telegraphy must 
 be my reason for making some remarks and relating some 
 incidents in reference to the latter. The telegraph may be called 
 the pilot of railways, as it has, at all times, had much to do with 
 their safe working. 
 
 One of the first, if not the first, railway in England to 
 adopt the Electric Telegraph was the Preston & Wyre, a single 
 line of 20 miles, opened in the year 1840. I was an agent on 
 that railway, and one of my duties was to learn and operate 
 the telegraph. I remember, we used three wires for the purpose, 
 viz., one to ring the bell, and the other two to transmit messages, 
 the signals being given on an instrument somewhat like a clock's 
 face. It had two handles which worked two dials on the face of 
 the machine. 
 
 One night, a friend, who had paid some attention to elec- 
 tricity, and myself tried some experiments to test the earth as a 
 conductor of the electric fluid. One experiment was as follows : 
 We cut the wires connecting Preston with Fleetwood ; I then held 
 one of the wires in my teeth, the power was put on, but no effect 
 was produced. I then touched an iron turn-table sunken flush 
 with the ground, with one end of the wire, when I instantly 
 received a smart electric shock. This experiment was repeated 
 several times, always with the same result, and proved to our 
 
The Electric Telegraph. 325 
 
 satisfaction that one wire, with the earth as conductor, was all 
 that was necessary to complete the circuit. I merely relate this as 
 an exhibit of our curiosity, without claiming to have dived deep 
 into the mysteries of electricity. 
 
 Our telegraph at that time was in a somewhat crude state. 
 We had much trouble to keep the batteries in good working 
 order, and the signals on the dial plates (Wheatstone's system) 
 were often very faint. Still, for working a single line of railway, 
 we found the telegraph most valuable. 
 
 When the Grand Trunk Eailway of Canada was opened in 
 1853, the telegraph system was an independent department of 
 the Company's, and Geo. W. Purkis was the first superintendent, 
 a gentleman much esteemed by all who knew him. He died at 
 an early period. The agents and operators erected a monument 
 to his memory in the cemetery of a village near Brockville, Ont. 
 A. G. Davis was the next superintendent, who remained in office 
 until the telegraph line merged into the hands of the Montreal 
 Telegraph Company, which for some time had been under the 
 superintendence of 
 
 HARVEY PRENTICE DWIGHT, 
 
 a gentleman who is fairly entitled to be named as the Father 
 of Telegraphy in Canada. I have many pleasant memories of 
 Mr. Dwight in the early Grand Trunk days, and always found 
 him obliging and wishful to attend to our wants in connection 
 with telegraph communication. 
 
 Mr. Dwight, like many remarkable men of genius, has risen 
 from the ranks, with no special outside power at his back to 
 push him forward, other than that of his own steadiness of 
 conduct, and indomitable energy and perseverance. 
 
 Born in a quiet country town, at Belleville, Jefferson County, 
 N. Y. State, in 1826, educated at a small county school, and, at 
 the age of 14, commencing the battle of life in a general store ; 
 in a few years more, still a youth, he starts for Canada, and 
 
326 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 in 1847 he becomes an operator of the Montreal Telegraph 
 Company, in the first year of its existence. After remaining at 
 Montreal some years, he is next found at Toronto as Western 
 Superintendent of the same Company. In about 1875 Mr. 
 Dwight had to grapple with opposition in the shape of the 
 Dominion Telegraph Company. After a severe struggle, inju- 
 rious alike to both Companies, and lasting throughout a decade, 
 the two contending parties shook hands and joined a new 
 organization, viz.. The Great North Western Telegraph Company, 
 in 1881, and Mr. Dwight was chosen as its General Manager. 
 
 When Erastus Wimanresigned the Presidency of the G.N.W., 
 Mr. Dwight was unanimously appointed to succeed that gentle- 
 man as President of the Company, he having reached, as it may 
 be said, step by step, from the foot to the very topmost rung of 
 the ladder, where he now governs a telegraph system of from 
 30,000 to 40,000 miles of wire ; which extends its bands to the 
 Maritime Provinces, to Michigan, Vermont, New York, and 
 away beyond the Red Eiver of the North; with offices numbering 
 2,000, and an immense staff of employees, by whom Mr. Dwight 
 is respected and beloved. 
 
 Among other veterans in Canadian Telegraphy are Mr. 0. 
 S. Wood, of Montreal, and Mr. Geo. Black, of Hamilton. Mr. 
 Wood, who has so long been connected with the Montreal 
 Telegraph Company, has assisted in and seen its rise from mere 
 babyhood to its present large proportions of 15,000 miles, all in 
 the Dominion of Canada. 
 
 The Toronto Monetary Times, in a recent article upon early 
 Telegraphy, said : "So embarrassing did the pressure of public 
 telegraphy become when, some thirty years ago or more, rail- 
 way and public business was done over a single wire line, that 
 Mr. 0. S. Wood, of the Montreal Telegraph Company, set himself 
 to overcome the difficulty by stringing more wires in order 
 that the two services might be separately accommodated." 
 
The Electric Telegraph. 327 
 
 Mr. Geo. Black, like Mr. 0. S. Wood, has also a long record 
 in telegraphy. His love of his occupation has carried him far 
 beyond the ordinary superintendence of the system, viz., to that 
 of an inventor and discoverer in electricity ; and he now 
 takes his stand amongst the noted scientists of the day.* 
 
 GRAND TRUNK OPERATORS. 
 
 Several of the G. T. R. operators, in after years, rose to 
 eminence on railways in the Dominion, as well as the United 
 States. 
 
 When the general freight office of the G. T. R. was in a 
 room of the St. Lawrence Hotel at Montreal, about 36 years ago, 
 I had, as telegraph operator in the office, a youth named James 
 Walsh. On visiting Chicago, many years afterwards, I found 
 that Mr. Walsh was then a man of note in that city, and a 
 superintendent of one of its railways. 
 
 * In the early days of telegraphy the duties of an operator were often combined 
 with other official work. The following from the Toronto Monetary Times may be 
 quoted as an illustration. The story was told by a commercial traveller in a western 
 paper : — 
 
 "On a certain cold, rainy winter night," said the drummer, " I was left at a 
 small station on a western branch road to wait for the train that was to take me 
 somewhere. There was nobody around, and I must have looked lonesome, for the 
 brakeman came up and tendered me his sjnnpathy. 
 
 " ' Hard place, ain't it? ' he said, looking around on the general dismalness. 
 
 " 'Rather,' I responded, 'when a man has to wait in it for four hours.' 
 
 " ' Oh, well, you may have some company,' he said, encouragingly. 
 
 " ' Who ? ' I asked, for I could see no one. 
 
 " 'Well,' he said slowly, as if making a calculation, ' you'll find in the station 
 the tel^r^aph operator, the station agent, the baggage master, the train despatcher. 
 the ticket seller, the storekeeper, the accident insurance agent, the express agent, the 
 postmaster and one or two other officials.' 
 
 "And then he jumped for his train. 
 
 " I went into the dimly lighted station and looked about for my prospective 
 companions. Nobody was visible except a sandy-haired man at the telegraph instru- 
 ment. 
 
 ' ' ' Where are the others ? ' I inquired, much surprised. 
 
 " ' Others what ? ' he answered. 
 
 " ' Why, the others the brakeman told me were here. The telegraph operator, 
 the station agent, the baggage master, the train despatcher, the storekeeper, the ' 
 
 " The man at the instrument began to grin. * That dam brakeman ! ' he said. 
 ' He's a funny fellow.' And I found that all the nine functions he had described were 
 performed by the one sandy -haired man in the station." 
 
328 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXX. 
 
 STORY OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 
 
 " I'll put a girdle round about the 
 Earth in forty minutes. " 
 
 — Pock, in Midsummer Night's Dream. 
 
 ONE summer day, in the year 1858, I. S. Millar and I were 
 strolling up the streets of Portland, Maine, towards the 
 Post 0£&ce. On approaching the building we saw grave lawyers, 
 clergymen, merchants and others in a frantic state of excitement, 
 throwing up their hats, huzzahing and capering about in the 
 middle of the street. We concluded that the usual quiet and 
 sober people of Portland had been suddenly smitten with some 
 strange mania, or had broken loose of the " Maine Liquor Law," 
 and were holding high revel on the occasion. 
 
 On reaching the scene we were told, in exulting terms, that 
 " the Atlantic Cable was laid," and that messages had just 
 passed between Queen Victoria and President Buchanan. Millar 
 and I then joined in the throwing up of hats, and gave three 
 British cheers for the two great notabilities. 
 
 Shortly afterwards I mounted the hurricane deck of a ferry 
 steamer bound for Peak's Island, where my family were rusticat- 
 ing. On approaching the Island I waved an impromptu flag 
 and announced the important news to the Islanders. At night 
 bonfires were lit, rockets sent up, guns fired and dances got up 
 on the sandy sea shore. 
 
 The Atlantic Cable, the new child of genius, after conveying 
 a message from the Queen, and a reply from the President, and 
 
Story of the Atlantic Cable. 329 
 
 a few more messages, exhausted itself — ^it flickered, it sank — it 
 died, to rise again in all its majesty and might a few years 
 afterwards. 
 
 From the Montreal GazeUe, of August, 1858, I herewith give 
 a copy of the first two messages by the Atlantic Cable, which will 
 be read and re-read with great interest in distant ages through- 
 out all time. 
 
 queen's message. 
 
 Trinity Bay, Nfld., Aug. 17, 1858. 
 
 The Queen's Message was completed at 5 o'clock this morn- 
 ing. 
 
 It was commenced yesterday. During its reception the 
 operators at Yalentia desisted in sending it, in order to make 
 some slight repair. Through a mistake, the part received was 
 sent as if it constituted the whole message. 
 
 The following is the Queen's Message in full : — 
 To Hon. the President of the United States : 
 
 Her Majesty desires to congratulate the President upon the 
 successful completion of this great international work, in which 
 the Queen has taken the deepest interest. 
 
 The Queen is convinced that the President will join with 
 her in fervently hoping that the Electric Cable, which now 
 connects Great Britain and the United States, will prove an 
 additional link between the nations whose friendship is founded 
 upon their common interest and reciprocal esteem. 
 
 The Queen has much pleasure in thus communicating with 
 the President, and renewing to him her wishes for the prosperity 
 of the United States. 
 
330 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 BEPLY. 
 
 Washington City, August 16, 1858. 
 
 To Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain : 
 
 The President cordially reciprocates the congratulations of 
 Her Majesty the Queen on the success of the great international 
 enterprise accomplished by the science, skill and indomitable 
 energy of the two countries. It is a triumph more glorious 
 because far more useful to mankind than was ever won by con- 
 queror on the field of battle. May the Atlantic telegraph, under 
 the blessing of heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace 
 and friendship between the kindred nations, and an instrument 
 destined by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, civilization, 
 liberty and law throughout the world. In this view will not all 
 nations of Christendom spontaneously unite in the declaration 
 that it shall be forever neutral, and that its communications 
 shall be held sacred in passing to their places of destination, 
 even in the midst of hostilities. 
 
 James Buchanan.* 
 
 cyrus w. field, the father of the atlantic telegraph. 
 (Died at Ardsley, N. Y., on July 12, 1892. Aged 73 years.) 
 
 Few men have passed through such an eventful life as that 
 of Cyrus W. Field. Commencing active business life as a boy at 
 one dollar per week, in A. T. Stewart's store in New York, he 
 gradually pushed his way, and by pluck, ability and industry, 
 rose to eminence and wealth. As the founder of the Atlantic 
 Telegraph Cable system, his name will be commemorated and 
 handed down to the remotest period of time. 
 
 * It would seem from the above that the President sent his reply to the Queen before 
 Her Majesty's message was sent off. This is explained at the head of the Queen's 
 .aessage, which really commenced on the 16th August. 
 
story of the Atlantic Cable. 331 
 
 A BRIEF STORY OF THE CABLE. 
 
 The first cable voyage was made in the summer of 1857, 
 when the steamer "Niagara," with Mr. Field on board, paid 
 out the cable for 200 miles, after which the electrical continuity 
 was lost. Then it was found and all went well again, until sud- 
 denly the cable parted. That ended the first lesson. Undaunted 
 Mr. Field started a second expedition on June 10th, 1858. The 
 cable broke again and was lost to view. Still determined, a 
 third expedition started on July 17th, and August 15th the cable 
 was laid, signals being sent from Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, to 
 Valentia, Ireland, with ease and rapidity. (See messages.) But 
 on September 1st the current suddenly ceased. 
 
 Notwithstanding these repeated failures, the last expedition 
 endued Mr. Field, his friends and the public with faith and hope, 
 and vigorous measures were taken to raise capital. The xinglo- 
 American Telegraph Company was formed. The famous mam- 
 moth "Great Eastern" steamship was chartered. The New York 
 Herald of July 12th, 1892, tells of the grand triumph of Cyrus 
 Field, as under : 
 
 THE END AT LAST CROWNS THE WORK. 
 
 " Finally the new cable and its ponderous machinery were 
 completed and put on board the 'Great Eastern' in June, 1866. 
 The shore end was successfully laid and made fast to the cable 
 on the steamer. Once more the attempt was to be made, and 
 the world waited in suspense. Frequent disasters made every 
 one cautious. Nothing was done in haste. Accompanied by 
 her attendant, the ' Great Eastern ' left Valentia on Friday, the 
 13th of July. Moderate speed was the order. For fourteen days 
 and nights Mr. Field scarcely closed his eyes. It might almost 
 be said he saw every inch of the cable as it was paid out over 
 
332 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 the enormous drums. The weather was fair and the water com- 
 paratively smooth. Of course the good people of Merrie England 
 had a great advantage over their hopeful cousins on this side of 
 the ocean, as they were in daily communication with the opera- 
 tors on the ship. Mr. Field reported every night the progress 
 made, and all the English papers printed his messages. The 
 greatest excitement was indicated in New York, where hope went 
 out to meet the expedition, but hope had no connecting wire. 
 On Friday morning, the 27th of July, 1866, the enormous hull of 
 the leviathan was discerned by watchers on the Newfoundland 
 coast, and with guns firing and bunting floating, with a trail of 
 wire 2,000 miles long behind her, the ' Great Eastern' steamed 
 majestically into the harbor of Heart's Content and dropped her 
 anchor in front of the telegraph house — all safe, all well. On his 
 knees in his cabin Mr. Field gave thanks to God for His goodness 
 and then sent word home. As the Newfoundland Bay cable was 
 not completed, there was a delay of two days in its reception. On 
 Sunday morning, July 29, while the church bells were ringing all 
 over the land, and Trinity's chimes in New York were ringing, 
 ' Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,' the following mes- 
 sage was received and delivered by Herald extras in every part of 
 the city : — 
 
 Heart's Content, July 27, 1866. 
 
 We arrived at nine o'clock this morning. All well. Thank 
 God, the cable is laid and in perfect working order. 
 
 Cyrus W. Field." 
 
 henry m. field, d.d. 
 
 In a letter to the New York Independent the Eev. H. M. Field 
 aid a beautiful tribute to the memory of his deceased brother, 
 from which the following extracts are made : — 
 
 *' Hardly had our Civil War closed before the attempt was 
 renewed to lay a cable across the Atlantic, with the advantage 
 
Story of the Atlantic Cable. 333 
 
 of having the monarch of the seas, the * Great Eastern,' to 
 carry the burden of twenty thousand tons of iron coiled in her 
 mighty bosom safely across the deep. An attempt on such a 
 scale ought to succeed ; and it did almost, for twelve hundred 
 miles were laid when the cord snapped again, and all was over 
 for another year. One more battle was to be fought before God 
 gave them the victory. In 1866 the cable was stretched from 
 shore to shore. But even that was not enough ; for hardly was 
 it landed before the great ship swung her head to the sea to 
 search for the lost cable of the year before. For one month she 
 dragged the bed of the ocean at a depth of two mUes, till the 
 lost treasure was reclaimed, and dragged away like a captive at 
 the chariot wheels. One day that summer a message came to 
 me at my home among the hills, which startled me by its date : 
 * On board the Great Eastern,' for I knew she was still at sea, 
 so that the message must have crossed the ocean twice, back to 
 Ireland on the cable which she bore, and then from Ireland to 
 America. The message ran : * We are now within a hundred 
 miles of Newfoundland, and expect to land the cable to-morrow.' 
 The next day saw it done, and when the gallant English sailors 
 drew it up on the sandy beach of Trinity Bay, there were many 
 who felt somewhat as Columbus must have felt when he had 
 discovered a new world, for next to the discovery of anew hemis- 
 phere was that triumph of science and human skill whereby two 
 hemispheres were united together ; so that there was a degree of 
 truth in the splendid tribute which John Bright soon after paid to 
 ' his friend Cyrus Field,' when he spoke of him as ' the Colum- 
 bus of modern times, who by his cable had moored the New 
 World alongside the Old ! ' 
 
 " Such an achievement is enough for any man, and should not 
 be obscured by the recent sadness and gloom. It seems a strange 
 and inexplicable mystery that the last months of a life so honor- 
 
334 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 ed and useful to mankind should be overcast by domestic sorrow. 
 But so it has been in the lives of many of the greatest benefactors 
 of their race : 
 
 ' Clouds in the evening sky more darkly gather, 
 And shattered wrecks lie thicker on the strand. ' 
 
 But for all this he has had all there was in life of success, honour 
 and fame. We must not complain if he has had also his bitter 
 experience, on which as a dark background all the brightness of 
 such a career stands out in greater relief. 
 
 " And now we have brought him away from the great city 
 where he passed his busy life, back to the quiet valley where he 
 was born, and laid him down in the shadow of the encircling 
 hills. * Bury me there,' he said, ' by the side of my beloved 
 wife, and by my father and mother ! ' The grave has closed 
 over him, and in that place of rest all his sorrows are buried. 
 Only the work that he has done remains. That is enough. The 
 hemispheres that he has ' moored side by side ' will never be 
 separated. Thereby distant nations and races are brought nearer 
 together — a service to commerce and civilization, and to the 
 brotherhood of man, which the world will not willingly let die." 
 
 THE LATE FREDERIC NEWTON GISBORNE. 
 
 The Toronto Empire of August 31, 1892, gave the following 
 sketch of Mr. Gisborne's life and work : — 
 
 ** The late Mr. Frederic Newton Gisborne, whose death was 
 chronicled this morning (Aug 30th, 1892), was born in Lan- 
 cashire, England, May 8th, 1824. Mr. Gisborne, with his younger 
 brother Hartley, sailed for Canada in July, 1845. Mr. Gisborne 
 purchased a farm at St. Eustache, but finding such pursuit 
 uncongenial and noting the successful advent of the electric 
 telegraph in England and the United States, he became one of 
 
Story of the Atlantic Gable. 335 
 
 the first operators of the Montreal Telegraph Company, for which 
 corporation he opened a station at Quebec. Mr. Gisborne after- 
 wards became associated with a number of Quebec capitalists in 
 the formation of the British North American Electric Telegraph 
 Association, for the purpose of connecting the Maritime Provinces 
 with the Canadas. He was appointed general manager of the 
 association, and was deputed to visit New Brunswick and Nova 
 Scotia, where he explained the new science to the Legislatures 
 then in session, and lectured before the public on the practical 
 value of telegraphic communication throughout the continent. 
 From 1849 to 1851, he was superintendent of the Government 
 lines at Halifax, and while in this position was led to take a 
 great interest in experiments for conveying electric signals 
 through submerged uninsulated metallic currents. Having 
 visited New York and obtained assurance of all the capital re- 
 quired, he returned to Halifax and laid before Hon. Joseph Howe 
 the then astounding project of a submarine cable connection 
 between Newfoundland and Ireland. Thus, to Mr. Gisborne is 
 due the credit of the conception and primary practical movement 
 for trans-Atlantic telegraphy. On Nov. 20, 1852, he laid the 
 first ocean cable on this side of the Atlantic, connecting Prince 
 Edward Island with New Brunswick. In the winter of 1853-54 
 he again visited New York, and there for the first time met Cyrus 
 W. Field, who took an active interest in the scheme for an Atlan- 
 tic cable and organized the company of which Mr. Gisborne 
 became chief engineer. The work was completed, after much 
 labom-, in October, 1856. He was also noted for the variety of his 
 inventions, and during his life was the recipient of nine medals 
 from the Royal Society." 
 
 The above statement, while it gives credit to Mr. Gisborne 
 as the suggestor of the Atlantic Telegraph, does not take from 
 Cyrus W. Field any of the honours conferred upon him as the 
 
336 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 genius who successfully carried out the gigantic undertaking, 
 and the words of the Eev. Sidney Smith may aptly be quoted as 
 bearing on this and other important inventions and discoveries. 
 He says : 
 
 " That man is not the discoverer of any art who first says the 
 thing ; but he that says it so long, and so loud and so clearly, 
 that he compels mankind to hear him — the man who is so deeply 
 impressed with the importance of the discovery that he will take 
 no denial, but, at the risk of fortune and fame, pushes through 
 all opposition, and is determined that what he thinks he has 
 discovered shall not perish for want of a fair trial." 
 
 SUBMARINE CABLES IN THE WORLD. 
 
 As a sequel to the story of the Atlantic Gable, the following 
 cutting from the Electrical World of July, 1892, is given to show 
 the immense progress made in the laying of submarine cables 
 during the last forty years : 
 
 " The various governments of the world own together 880 
 cables, having a total length of 14,480 miles, and containing 21,- 
 560 miles of conductors. The French Government, which takes 
 the lead as to length of cables, has 3,460 miles in 54 cables. As 
 to number, the Norwegian Government comes first with 255 
 cables, having a total length of 248 miles. Finally, as to the 
 length of conductors, the English Government comes first with 
 5,468 miles of conductors, divided among 115 cables, having a 
 total length of 1,588 miles. 
 
 ** Private companies to the number of 28 own 288 cables, 
 having a length of 126,864 miles, and containing 127,632 miles 
 of conductors. The French companies, only two in number, the 
 Compagnie Francaise du Telegraphe de Paris k New York, and 
 the Societe Francaise des Telegraphes Sous-Marins, have eigh- 
 teen cables, with a total length of 7,249 nautical miles. The 
 
Story of the Atlantic Cable. 337 
 
 most important of the private companies is the Eastern Telegraph 
 Compan}', which operates 75 cables, with a total length of 25,347 
 miles. 
 
 " The total number of cables in the world is 1,168, with a total 
 length of 140,344 miles, and 149,193 miles of conductors. This 
 is not sufficient to reach to the moon, but would extend more than 
 half way there. 
 
 " This great length of cable has been nearly all made on the 
 banks of the Thames, but Italy now has a cable factory, and 
 France will soon have two. To lay and repair the cables requires 
 the constant service of a specially equipped fleet of thirty-seven 
 vessels of 56,955 tons." 
 
 The New York Telegraph Age has the following item :" On 
 December 3 the President's message was transmitted direct from 
 the New York Bureau of the United Press to San Diego, CaL, via 
 the Postal, Canadian Pacific and Pacific Postal telegraph lines. 
 There were twelve repeaters in the circuit, situated as follows : — 
 Albany, 150 miles; Montreal, 343 miles; Sudbury, Ont., 444 
 miles ; Fort William, Ont., 553 miles ; Winnipeg, Man., 426 miles ; 
 Swift Current, N. W. T., 511 miles ; Donald, B. C, 513 miles ; 
 Portland, Ore., 367 miles ; Ashland, Ore., 316 miles ; San Fran- 
 cisco, CaL, 402 miles ; Los Angeles, Cal., 473 miles. San Diego 
 is about 122 miles south of Los Angeles, which made a total 
 length of the circuit 5,080 miles, which was without doubt the 
 longest circuit ever successfully worked for any length of time. 
 The message consisted of 5,211 words, and the time occupied in 
 transmitting the same was 3 hours and 42 minutes." 
 
 22 
 
338 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THOMAS ALVA EDISON, THE WIZARD OF MENLO PARK. 
 
 " In olden times along the street 
 A glimmering lantern led our feet 
 
 When on a midnight stroll ; 
 But now we snatch, when night comes nigh, 
 A piece of lightning from the sky, 
 
 And stick it on a pole." 
 
 A TRAVELLER passing over the Grand Trunk Railway from 
 Port Huron to Detroit some 33 or 34 years ago would have 
 noticed a newsboy about 14 years of age who sold fruits, candies, 
 newspapers and books to passengers in the cars. I often saw 
 him ; and Superintendent Christie pointed him out to me as a 
 remarkably ingenious and intelligent boy, who printed a little 
 weekly newspaper on board the car. The sheet was about 12 by 
 16 inches, printed on one side only, and called " The Grand 
 Trunk Herald," and contained jokes, incidents and sketches of 
 the employees and others — a sort of "Paul Pry" in its way. 
 The boy had no press, the impressions being taken by the pres- 
 sure of his hands. The paper was of a primitive kind, but quite 
 readable and had a fair circulation at three cents per copy. 
 
 This newsboy, editor and publisher was Thos. Alva Edison, 
 who afterwards became and now is the famous Electrician, 
 Scientist and Inventor ,whose phonograph alone, if he had invented 
 nothing else, would have commemorated his name to all time. 
 Mr. Edison was born in Milan, Erie County, Ohio, ten miles from 
 Lake Erie, on February 11, 1847. Edison's wonderful career 
 may be dated from the following incident. One day he was at 
 
Thomas Alva Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park. 339 
 
 Mt. Clemens, a station on the Grand Trunk Eailway near Port 
 Huron, when a two year old boy, son of J. A. Mackenzie, the 
 station agent, rambled on the track just as a train was rushing 
 up. Young Edison, at the risk of his life, flew to the rescue and 
 saved the child. Out of gratitude for the noble act, Mr. Mackenzie 
 volunteered to teach Edison the telegraph, and in a few months 
 he had fitted himself as an operator and was employed at Port 
 Huron at $25 per month ; subsequently he became night operator 
 at Stratford, Canada West, on the G. T. E. Here he applied his 
 ingenuity in a novel way, which shows, at least, how fertile 
 must have been the young operator's brain. The operators were 
 required to report " six " every half hour to the Circuit Manager. 
 Young Edison, instead of reporting in person, rigged a wheel 
 with Morse's characters cut in the circumference in such a way 
 that when turned by a crank it would write the figure " six " and 
 sign his office call. The watchman turned the wheel while 
 Edison slept. 
 
 P. H. Carter, now of the Grand Trunk Eailway freight depart- 
 ment at Toronto, in 1863 was agent for the Company at Stratford, 
 and he remembers young Edison, a boy of about 16 or 17 years 
 cf age, as a night operator at that station. One night Edison got 
 a message from the despatcher to hold a certain train. Edison 
 repeated back the message without showing it to the conductor, 
 who left supposing all was right. Edison ran out of his office to 
 stop the train, but was too late. Luckily the line between SiMary's 
 and Stratford is a straight one, and the drivers of each approach- 
 ing train saw each other in time to stop and avoid a collision. 
 The case was of course reported and Mr. Carter and the operator 
 were summoned to Toronto for an investigation. Superinten- 
 dent Spicer gave Edison a good talking to, told him the offence 
 was a criminal one, and he was liable to be sent to the peniten- 
 tiary. Just then Mr. Spicer was called out to see some one, and 
 
340 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Carter and Edison were left alone. After a few minutes Edison 
 put on his hat, saying, " I'm not going to wait here," and off he 
 went, making as quick a passage as he could to the home of hi& 
 parents in Port Huron. 
 
 Mr. Edison's career since the days above narrated would be 
 a history of the most remarkable inventions and discoveries of 
 modern times. The patents taken out by him are legion. 
 Edison's biographer, J. B. McClure, M.A., in speaking of Mr. E.'s 
 patents says : " A single invention is sometimes covered by from 
 15 to 20 patents, the patent laws not allowing one patent to 
 cover all the essential points. Edison's stock telegraph instru- 
 ment is covered by 40 patents ; his quadruplex telegraph by 11,. 
 and his automatic system of telegraphy by 46. 
 
 A CHAT BETWEEN EDISON AND A REPORTER. 
 
 The following interview appeared in the London, Ontario, 
 Advertiser, Sept. 1, 1881 : — 
 
 " Well, I should say so," and the way he drawled it out 
 seemed to establish a certain familiarity at once. 
 
 The speaker was Thos. A. Edison, the celebrated electrician^ 
 the "Wizard of Menlo Park," and the remark was made in reply 
 to an Advertiser's representative's query. 
 
 " Mr. Edison, I believe?" 
 
 " I'm kind of stuck here," he continued ; " I intended going 
 on to Port Huron to see some relatives, and the trains failed to 
 connect." 
 
 " If I recollect aright," said the reporter, ** you are no 
 stranger to this part of the country." 
 
 " Stranger ? Why no, I used to be telegraph operator at 
 Stratford, down here. By the way, I ran two trains into each 
 other there." Mr. Edison then went on to repeat the circum- 
 Btance of the affair, and he related the facts with as clear a 
 
Thomas Alva Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park. 341 
 
 comprehension of them as if they had just occurred. "The 
 trouble was," he said, "in leaving such a young fellow in charge. 
 I was only sixteen or seventeen ; but no accident happened. 
 However, I was summoned before Mr. Spicer, the superintendent 
 and so was the agent, P. H. Carter." 
 
 " I know Carter," said the reporter ; " he is a good friend of 
 mine, inasmuch as he is responsible for me being in Canada." 
 
 "Is that so?" said Edison. " Well, if you see him, tell 
 him I recollect him and ask to be remembered. But how is he 
 responsible for you being in Canada ? You are an American ? " 
 
 " Well, what part of the United States do I come from ? " 
 queried the reporter. 
 
 Edison buried his head in his hand and thought a while, 
 *' You are from New Orleans," he said. 
 
 The reporter chuckled as he called to mind that he came 
 here from — well, from a climate that is not by any means the 
 same as New Orleans.* 
 
 " Yes," said Edison, in reply to further queries, " that story 
 you read about the paper I used to get out on the trains is tme 
 enough. You see, Mr. Storey — you know Storey ? " " He's the 
 Chicago Times' man. Well, he owned the Detroit Free Press 
 then, and he had a lot of type to sell. I called on him and asked 
 him about it. The upshot of it was that he gave me 300 pounds 
 of type, I have heard lots of people say they don't like Storey. 
 I don't know about that, but I do know he gave me 300 pounds 
 of type, and I have never forgotten it." 
 
 " I never take anything but lemonade," Edison said, in 
 response to the reporter. 
 
 As they stood together quaffing, the reporter said, " Are 
 you ever called upon by magicians to get up tricks for them '? " 
 
 • The reporter, Mr. A. Bremer, is a native of the Province of Newfonndland, P. 
 H. Carter being a native of the same Island. 
 
342 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 " Very often," said he, " but I do not do much in that line. 
 If they tell me what they want to produce, I tell them how to do 
 it, but I do not originate the tricks." 
 
 " Now you won't mind if I get this a little mixed ; you see 
 I have taken no notes." 
 
 "Why, that's what I'm used to," smilingly replied Edison, 
 as the couple shook hands. 
 
 EDISON — HIS BABY AND THE PHONOGRAPH. 
 
 Three or four years ago the Edison family had a new baby 
 girl,and Mr.Edison started a series of experiments with it and the 
 phonograph, such as testing the strength of its lungs every three 
 months. When the baby crowed, or got mad and yelled, or 
 began to chatter, the phonograph, which stood by, made a note of 
 it, all of which are to be reproduced when baby has long left baby- 
 hood behind and matured into a bright young lady. Then she 
 is to hear herself describe herself when a baby, and what manner 
 of baby she was ; and she will not need to take her mother's or 
 nurse's word for it. 
 
 May baby and its parents live to see that day, and long years 
 afterwards. 
 
 PROFESSOR FARADAY ON ELECTRICITY. 
 
 When asked to give his opinion concerning the nature of 
 electricity, Faraday gave utterance to the', following : ** There 
 was a time when I thought I knew something about the matter ; 
 but the longer I live, and the more carefully I study the subject, 
 the more convinced I am of my total ignorance of the nature of 
 electricity." 
 
The World's Columbian Exposition. 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 
 
 THE latest, largest, most costly and most magnificent of 
 World's Fairs opened May 1, 1893, and closed October 31, 
 1893. 
 
 The exhibition at London in 1851, the first of its kind, was 
 mainly held in one building, the renowned Crystal Palace, 
 erected in Hyde Park. It was 1,851 feet long, by 456 broad and 
 66 feet high ; and the transept 108 feet in height.* 
 
 The World's Fair at Chicago in 1893 was held in Jackson 
 Park and the Midway Plaisance, comprising 630 acres, 200 acres 
 of this was covered by the exposition buildings proper, and 90 
 acres by States buildings and those of foreign countries. The 
 one building devoted to Manufactures and Liberal Arts was 
 about 1,700 feet in length, 800 feet wide, and 237 feet high. 
 
 The following table taken from the Chicago Inter-Ocean will 
 be found interesting. It must not be misunderstood, however, as 
 
 * The transept or crystal arch, which added so much to the beauty of the exhibi- 
 tion building, owed its origin to three or four venerable, wide spreading elm trees, 
 which stood midway on the ground plan of the building and when their destruction 
 was threatened, the whole of the people of London joined in the old song : 
 
 " Woodman spare that tree, 
 Touch not a single bough." 
 
 Sir Joseph Paxton, the architect of the Crystal Palace, came to the rescue of 
 the old trees, by throwing his grand arch of glass over them, and in them, that sum- 
 mer the birds built their nests. But the old trees did not like this kind of protection, 
 for, when I last saw them, at the close of the exhibition, the poor trees looked weary 
 and wilted, as if longing for gentle showers and the pure breath of heaven. Rumour 
 said that the trees died a few months after the Crystal Palace was removed. 
 
344 
 
 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 it is based upon information of an unofficial character, 
 admissions both paid and free are counted. 
 
 In the 
 
 Date. 
 
 1851 
 1876 
 1889 
 1893 
 
 Whebe held. 
 
 London 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 Paris 
 
 Chicago .... 
 
 Number of 
 
 Admission 
 
 Days. 
 
 141 
 159 
 179 
 179 
 
 Total 
 Admissions. 
 
 Largest 
 
 Admissions 
 
 for One Day. 
 
 6,039,195 
 
 9,910,966 
 
 28,149,353 
 
 27,529,401 
 
 109,915 
 
 274,919 
 
 420,139 
 
 *761,942 
 
 The total receipts of Paris exhibition were up to October, 
 3l8t, $9,500,000. 
 
 The total receipts at Chicago for admissions alone were 
 $10,626,330. From concessions, $3,699,581. 
 
 RAILWAYS AND THE WORLD's FAIR. 
 
 From the opening to the close of the World's Fair the twenty- 
 one railroads brought into Chicago 3,335,000 passengers, and as 
 most of this number would attend the Exposition on an average 
 of about six times each, an estimate of what the railways did for 
 the fair may thus be realized. 
 
 The Chicago General Manager for November, 1893, had the 
 following remarks : The chorus of vilification and slander that 
 assailed the railway management in the early months of the fair, 
 turned to praise in the latter weeks and days, when the carrying 
 capacity of the roads was tested to its utmost, and everyone from 
 manager to train boy worked night and day for the comfort and 
 safety of the travelling public. Before the first of October the 
 railroads and fair directors thought they had seen crowds, but 
 during the three days preceding Chicago Day all records were 
 broken and even the best expectations of those who had antici- 
 
 Chicago Day. 
 
The World's Golwnibian Exposition. 345 
 
 pated a great rush were more than realized. On October 8, the 
 day before Chicago Day, the rush was tremendous. No less than 
 200 passenger trains arrived in Chicago on that day. Allowing 
 an average of twelve cars to a train and seventy-five persons to 
 each car, the summary foots up as follows : 
 
 Trains 200. 
 
 Cars or Coaches 2,400. 
 
 Passengers 180,000. 
 
 THE FERRIS WHEEL. 
 
 " The Ferris Wheel was to the World's Fair at Chicago 
 what the Eiffel Tower was to the Paris Exposition." 
 
 The Ferris Wheel, in machinery, was so far beyond any- 
 thing of the kind which had ever been seen before that some- 
 thing about its ponderosity, magnitude and construction is well 
 worth being recorded. 
 
 The following details are condensed from the New York 
 Mechanical News of November 1, 1893. Geo. W. Ferris was 
 born at Galesburg, Illinois, in 1859. When quite a youth he was 
 employed as a civil engineer on railways, and soon became 
 famous as a bridge builder. His most notable achievement in 
 this line was the building of the great Cantilever Bridge across 
 the Ohio at Cincinnati. 
 
 Twenty-five thousand dollars were spent in planning the 
 great wheel before a dollar had been laid out in the wheel itself. 
 
 Mr. Ferris' enthusiasm was contagious and he was able to 
 induce capitalists to invest §300,000 in the scheme. 
 
 The foundations for the structure extended 40 feet under- 
 ground. 
 
 The main axle weighs 70 tons, the largest ever forged, being 
 a steel rod 32 inches thick and 45 feet long. 
 
346 Baihvays and Other Ways. 
 
 The highest point of wheel is 265 feet, diameter, 250 feet, and 
 circumference, 825 feet. 
 
 On the wheel are 36 cars, each seating 40 persons, or 1,440 
 when full. 
 
 Each car weighs 13 tons and is 27 feet long, 13 feet wide 
 and 9 feet high. 
 
 With its passengers the wheel weighs 1,200 tons. It moves 
 noiselessly and there is no jar at starting. 
 
 The motive power is a 1,000 power engine. A charge of 50 
 cents was made for each passenger and they were carried round 
 twice, being nearly one-third of a mile in space. 
 
 During the first four months of the fair the wheel paid for 
 itself, after which the management of the World's Fair began to 
 share in the profits. 
 
 To show her confidence in her husband's workmanship, Mrs. 
 Ferris was the first, along with the engineer, to make the grand 
 ascent. 
 
 The wheel was sold to a syndicate for .$400,000 and is now, 
 probably, one of the attractions of New York. 
 
 THE MAMMOTH CHEESE. 
 
 The cheese trade of the Dominion has become such a large 
 industry, especially in the Province of Ontario, that a short 
 account of it, and its exhibits at the World's Fair, Chicago, may 
 be of interest to all readers. 
 
 About thirty years ago I remember going to see one of the 
 earliest cheese factories in Ontario. Little did I then dream of 
 what the industry would become in a few years, and of its vast 
 importance, alike to the farmer as well as the railways and 
 ocean steamships. 
 
 The first export of cheese to Great Britain was made in 
 1865. 
 
The World's Columbian Exposition. 347 
 
 The total exports of cheese from Canada to Great Britain in 
 1892 was 1,500,000 boxes, or about 48,750 tons. 
 
 By the last trade returns Canada exported more cheese to 
 Great Britain than the United States, thus establishing this 
 country as the greatest cheese exporting country in the world. 
 It was, therefore, highly appropriate that a cheese exhibit should 
 have been made by Canada at the World's Fair. The Dominion 
 dairy commissioner. Prof. Robertson, attended to it. The mam- 
 moth cheese was the chief feature of the exhibit. It weighed 
 eleven tons and required 207,000 pounds of milk. It was made at 
 the Dominion experimental dairy station at Perth, under Prof. 
 Robertson's supervision, by Mr. J. A. Ruddock. The immense 
 cheese was six feet high and nine feet in diameter. 
 
 The pyramid of Canadian products, having the mammoth 
 cheese for the centre piece, was crowned with the smallest cheese 
 ever manufactured. It was about the circumference of a half 
 dollar and three-quarters of an inch thick. 
 
 In some cases Canadian cheese took all the awards, in 
 others from 75 to 90 per cent, of the exhibits. 
 
 The big cheese was in first-class condition at the close of the 
 Exposition, notwithstanding the ordeal it had to pass through, it 
 being under a glass-roofed building all summer, where the tem- 
 perature frequently rose to over 95 degrees. 
 
 It suffered slightly on the top on its ocean trip to 
 England. 
 
 A sample of the mammoth cheese was sent from England to 
 Toronto last May, and was tasted by members of the Board of 
 Trade, and pronounced of excellent quality and flavour. 
 
 BABIES AT THE WORLD's FAIR. 
 
 Mothers who could not leave their babies at home brought 
 them to the exhibition, and deposited them in the Children's 
 
348 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 buildings, where the little tots of humanity were registered — 
 duly checked, and labelled like an ordinary piece of baggage. 
 Every care was taken of the babies by kind and motherly nurses. 
 According to the Iwier- Ocean (Nov. 1st, 1893) although 10,- 
 000 babies had been checked during the last season, not one 
 remained in pawn, as it were, to tell the tale. But on Saturday, 
 Oct. 28th, the record was broken. A boy two months old, registered 
 as the infant son of John Johnson, was checked, and remains to 
 this hour unclaimed. 
 
 FUNNY INCIDENTS AT THE WORLD's FAIR. 
 
 An elderly man and his wife entered the grounds at the Mid- 
 way station. As soon as inside they looked around to get their 
 bearings, so as to make a good start. The keen eye of the lady 
 saw " exit " over a turnstile, and she at once suggested that they 
 take this in first and keep the main buildings to the last. The 
 next moment they were standing in the street, and the mistake 
 cost them one dollar for readmittance. 
 
 A family party paused in front of a mixed group of statuary, 
 labelled, "Executed in terracotta." "How dreadful," said a 
 tender- voiced woman, " and executed in Terra Cotta. I wonder 
 where that is ?" 
 
 A woman inquired of a guard : " Please sir, which building 
 are the lagoons kept in ? " " In the marine cafe," was the wag's 
 reply, " and they feed them at 12.30. If you go there now you 
 will be just in time to see the fun." 
 
Trade and GomTnerce. 349 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXIII. 
 
 FORT GARRY -ONTARIO— BIG NUGGET- TRADE AND COMMERCE. 
 
 HON. DB. SCHULTZ. 
 
 IN 1860 the North-West was indeed "the great lone land." 
 There were a few store-keepers at Fort Garry, with whose 
 names I was familiar at that time. I remember the Messrs. 
 Ashdown, who are still largely engaged in business at Win- 
 nipeg. Another was Dr. Schultz, the present Lieut. -Governor 
 of Manitoba. Thirty or more years ago the Doctor visited 
 Montreal and brought a letter of introduction to me from the 
 Messrs. Burbank, of St. Paul, Minn., the Eed Kiver carriers, 
 and I had the pleasure of introducing him to some of the 
 principal merchants of Montreal. 
 
 During the first Louis Eiel rebellion the Doctor passed 
 through a tremendous ordeal. His store was looted, and he 
 had to make his escape and travel hundreds of miles on snow- 
 shoes in mid-winter. If the traitor, Kiel, had caught the Doctor 
 he would most likely have met with the same fate as that of poor 
 Scott. 
 
 It is to be hoped that some day, the Hon. Dr. Schultz 
 will give to the world his autobiography, which must be a 
 most interesting one, particularly as regards the early days in 
 the North-West, a subject which is becoming more valuable 
 from year to year. — May, 1893. 
 
350 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, 1892. 
 
 A magnificent map of the Province of Ontario, prepared 
 by Elliott & Son, of Toronto, under the direction of the 
 Bureau of Mines, has been placed in the Imperial Institute, 
 London, England. It is 22 feet long and 15 feet wide. For 
 the first time the new territory north of Lake Superior is 
 placed on a map on the same scale as the older portion of 
 the Province, showing what an enormous extent of country it 
 really is. 
 
 ** The map proper was accurately drawn by Mr. Fisher. In 
 the left-hand upper corner are some statistics which will prob- 
 ably amaze the Britishers who may see the map. The area of 
 the Province is given at 222,650 square miles, of which 187,000 
 square miles of land remain unsold. The whole area of Great 
 Britain and Ireland is only 121,115 square miles, or over 60,000 
 less than the portion of Ontario still in the hands of the Crown." 
 
 Some facts relating to the 
 
 TRADE AND COMMERCE OF THE DOMINION 
 
 for the year 1892, taken from the returns of Mr. George Johnson, 
 Dominion Statistician, Ottawa, Ontario, February, 1893 : 
 
 Miles of railway . . 15,000 
 
 Tons of shipping employed 43,802,384 
 
 Value exports Canadian cattle. $7,748,949 
 
 Value exports Canadian cheese $11,632,412 
 
 Value exports Canadian sheep $1,38.5,145 
 
 Value exports of products of farms $50,703, 124 
 
 Barrels export appleii, number 690,951 
 
 Value exports apples $1,444,835 
 
 Value products of Canadian fisheries • $18,978,078 
 
 Value exports of products of mines $5,905,471 
 
 Value exports of manufactured wood $19,802,166 
 
 Value exports of home manufactures $25,846,153 
 
 Production of coal, tons • 3,623,076 
 
 Consumption of coal, tons * 5,855,874 
 
 * Items marked thus are for year 1891. 
 
Trade and Commerce. 351 
 
 DOMINION FISHERIES. 
 
 The total value of the fisheries of the Dominion of Canada 
 has already been shown in the statistics of commerce. 
 
 The cod fisheries of the Maritime Provinces, the white-fish, 
 herring, bass, sturgeon, and salmon-trout fisheries of the great 
 lakes, and salmon fisheries of the Fraser Kiver, British Colum- 
 bia, are unequalled by any other fisheries in the world. 
 
 Mr. Todd (a recent visitor from the Pacific Province) gave 
 the Toronto Globe some interesting information as to the salmon 
 fisheries of the Fraser River. 
 
 Mr. Todd said his firm (J. H. Todd & Son), packed 35,000 
 cases of salmon this year (1893), that each case contained four 
 dozen one pound cans. The total packed for the season was 
 425,000 cases— say 10,200 tons. 
 
 They are mainly shipped to the United States, Great 
 Britain, Australia and the Provinces of the Dominion. 
 
 A RAILWAY clerk's LUCK — THE BOLTiDER NUGGET OF GOLD. 
 
 One of the " outcomes " of the London great Exhibition of 
 1851 was the building of Wyld's Great Globe in Leicester Square. 
 This was in size and somewhat in shape of the Cyclorama struc- 
 ture in the City of Toronto. The mapping of the Globe was done 
 on the inner surface of the big dome, upon a certain scale of 
 inches to the hundred miles. The rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans 
 were shown by indentations of the surface, while the islands, 
 continents and mountains stood out in relief according to then- 
 elevation above the sea. Galleries inside the Globe enabled the 
 visitor to walk from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from America to 
 Europe in a few minutes, and get a good idea of the comparative 
 height of mountains and length and breadth of rivers, the size 
 of lakes and seas, and the magnitude of oceans. I visited this 
 
352 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 remarkable Globe in 1853, and I found that in it, among other 
 interesting exhibits, was the 
 
 KING OF ALL NUGGETS OF GOLD, 
 
 and that one of its owners was William Poulton Green, whom I 
 had formerly known as a clerk on the London & North-Western 
 Railway at Wolverhampton, who informed me that he and three 
 other companions found the nugget on Canadian Gully, four 
 miles north-west of Buningyong, and about two miles from Bal- 
 larat, in the Province of Victoria, Australia. 
 
 The strata in which the monster nugget was found was of 
 fine blue clay, resting upon a blue slate rock, sixty-six feet from 
 the surface. In shape it was that of an immense tongue ; the 
 gold spotted here and there with small specks of quartz. The 
 metal was of the finest quality ; purer by several carats than the 
 standard of gold. It was the largest mass of pure gold ever 
 discovered in the world, its weight being one hundred and thirty- 
 four pounds, eleven ounces, and the presumed value jL'10,000 
 sterling (or $48,700.) 
 
 Mr. Green said that when they discovered the nugget at the 
 bottom of the hole, the first thing they did was to cover it up 
 asain and think, and wait until night. In the meantime one of 
 the men was despatched for an armed escort, and in the gloom 
 of night they secured the nugget, placed it on the back of a horse, 
 and marched off for Melbourne, leaving one of the number to sell 
 the hole. Next day the news of the astonishing discovery spread 
 like wildfire, and miners from all quarters came to the spot. The 
 hole was then put up to the highest bidder and fetched seven or 
 eight hundred pounds sterling. The four men then took ship 
 for England, and there I found them, exhibiting the nugget at 
 sixpence per head in Wyld's Great Globe. The nugget was found 
 on January 31st, 1853, and I saw it on July 6th the same year. 
 
NIAGARA FALLS, CANADLVN SIDE. STEAMER 
 MAID OF THE MIST. 
 
Trade and Commerce. 353 
 
 Mr. Green said that a small nugget or two were found in the 
 same hole, but not enough to pay for its cost. 
 
 The nugget was so smooth that it could be made to shine by 
 rubbing it with the hand. What struck everyone at the first 
 sight was its smallness compared with its weight, but when at- 
 tempting to lift it you found that you had got hold of something 
 as regarded weight, that you had never handled before. The 
 nugget was placed on a bench in the best possible position for 
 being lifted and by placing it against my chest I did manage to 
 raise it from the bench. There was on exhibition, at the same 
 time, models of the largest nuggets on record, but they all sunk 
 into insignificance when placed beside the famous nugget of 
 Canadian Gully. 
 
 I left for Canada shortly afterwards and never heard how 
 the big nugget was finally disposed of. 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA AND SIR GEORGE E. CARTIER. 
 (From the Toronto Empire, December 31, 1892.) 
 
 While the late lamented Sir George Etienne Cartier was dis- 
 cussing Canadian affairs with the Queen of England, during the 
 few days the great French-Canadian statesman was a guest of 
 Her Majesty at Windsor Castle, England's Queen said, " Mr. 
 Cartier, I hear that the Victoria Bridge at Montreal is a very 
 fine structure. How many feet is it from shore to shore ? " 
 
 " When we Canadians build a bridge," he answered, " and 
 dedicate it to your Majesty, we measure it not in feet but in miles," 
 and it is said that the Queen was so pleased with Cartier's reply 
 that the conversation turned exclusively upon Grand Trunk 
 affairs for an hour after. 
 
 23 
 
354 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIV. 
 
 FACTS, FIGURES AND INCIDENTS. 
 
 QUEBEC VS. NEW YORK — A COMPARISON. 
 
 IN my boyhood Quebec was often spoken of in the old country 
 as a very remote spot somewhere not far from the North 
 Pole. One schoolmaster used to relate an incident which once 
 took place at Quebec. It appears that an English regiment was 
 wintering there, when the officer, to test the intensity of the cli- 
 mate, filled a bombshell with water and then plugged it up, and 
 exposed it to the weather. After a time the shell burst with a 
 loud report, just as our water pipes do, sometimes, by ice expansion 
 
 Another schoolmaster was wide off the mark in another way. 
 He, somehow, had formed a tropical idea of Canada, for when 
 my boys told him that they were going to that country, " Why," 
 said the schoolmaster, " you'll kick cocoanuts in the streets in 
 Canada." 
 
 Another strange notion may be mentioned. Ex-Mayor 
 
 , of Hamilton, visited the old country, accompanied by 
 
 his daughter. On one occasion they were at a party, when Mr. 
 
 noticed two ladies intently eyeing his daughter. By-and- 
 
 bye he heard one whisper to the other : " Why, I do not see much 
 difference in color ; she is quite as good a color as ourselves." 
 The ladies had evidently formed a Bed Indian idea of Canada. 
 
 With a view to remove some of the wrong impressions as to 
 the geographical position of Quebec, as respects its distance from 
 England, I once had some distances printed in a Grand Trunk 
 tariff, a copy of which I now give. These show that Liverpool 
 via Quebec is nearer to Chicago by three hundred miles than it 
 
Facts, Figures and Incidents. 
 
 355 
 
 is via New York. The ocean distances were furnished to me by 
 the late Sir Hugh Allan, and may be relied on. 
 
 Distance from 
 Liverpool 
 
 via 
 New York. 
 
 Distance from 
 Liverpool 
 
 via 
 Quebec. 
 
 3658 
 3885 
 3924 
 3693 
 
 3307 
 3588 
 3564 
 3567 
 
 Tto 
 
 Detroit, Michigan 
 Chicago, Illinois 
 Milwaokee, Wisconsin 
 Cincinnati, Ohio 
 
 CONSCIENCE MONEY. 
 
 One occasionally reads that the British Chancellor of Ex- 
 chequer has received certain sums of money from unknown 
 parties, who at some time or other had defrauded the Govern- 
 ment in the non-payment of duties, etc., and in course of time 
 the consciences of these individuals asserts its power, and they are 
 led to make restitution. 
 
 Now, as public bodies, and especially railway companies, are 
 supposed " to have no souls," I never heard of a railway cor- 
 poration receiving any conscience money except in the one soli- 
 tary case quoted below, and this, be it observed, occurred at To- 
 ronto, Ont., and I think we may safely challenge the railway world 
 to produce another such document. 
 
 Extract from a railway manager's scrap book : — 
 " N. Weatherston, Esq., " Toronto, May 1st, 1869. 
 
 "Agent G.W.R. 
 
 " Sm, — Please place to the credit of the railway the enclosed 
 $141.78. Please to keep this silent and make no endeavour to 
 find out the donor. Sufl&ce it to say that I am indebted that 
 amount to the railway. '• F. G. M." * 
 
 • Mr. Weatherston said that it was never discovered who the party was and 
 that the money was placed to the credit of profit and loss in the Great Western 
 books. 
 
356 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 FEELING AGAINST BRITISHERS. 
 
 When the road was opened through to Portland, and the 
 Atlantic & St. Lawrence Eailway was leased to the G. T. K., 
 there was a strong feeling amongst the Americans against Brit- 
 ish management and new regulations. A rhymster of Maine 
 wrote some verses in denunciation of the new-comers, which 
 verses were printed and extensively circulated. One regulation 
 of the G. T. E. was that of putting on a broad Scotchman to 
 collect and examine passengers' tickets at the Portland end of 
 the road, which was thus described : — 
 
 " One hops each day to Falmouth, 
 To keep conductors straight, 
 And croaks out " Tackets gentlemen, 
 The cars will have to wait." 
 " These Yankees fire a thieving set, 
 By them we have been fooled — 
 What ansvFer you to such a charge, 
 Hobbs, Watterhouse and Gould ?" * 
 
 The general manager was thus spoken of and his end pre- 
 dicted: — 
 
 " This end the road is aacred ground, 
 
 And Yankees -wish to run it. 
 Wolves, here, have crept in unawares, 
 
 And Bidder has begun it ; 
 Be careful, do not leap too far, 
 
 But cool and candid keep, 
 Or you may leap, as Patch once did,f 
 
 Your everlasting leap." 
 
 This feeling, however, against Britishers soon disappeared, 
 and Mr. Bidder became a great favorite at Portland, and when he 
 retired from the service 166 of the American employees subscrib- 
 ed most liberally towards Mr. Bidder's testimonial. 
 
 * Three conductors. 
 
 t Sam Patch leaped down Genesee Falls and lost his life. 
 
Fa/its, Figures and Incidents. 357 
 
 In 1859, another song came out, no doubt from the same 
 quarter, from which it will be seen that a great change had taken 
 place in the sentiments towards Mr. Bidder, and the denuncia- 
 tion now falls upon Mr. Eeith, owing to his proposed reduction 
 in the wages of the Grand Trunk employees : — 
 
 THE SONG OF THE GRAND TBUNK RAILWAY LABORER. 
 BY PHILIP DOBMKB, FIBKMAN. 
 
 When rose-lipped June, enraptured, bent 
 
 To sip the falling dew, 
 A Reith conceived the foul intent 
 
 To clap on us the screw 
 Of ten per cent. But where's the man, 
 
 Who speeds the rail along. 
 But will take up, with heart in hand, 
 The chorus of my song ? 
 
 May he who dares, with pirate hand, 
 
 Our "little all" assail. 
 Storm-tost, behold no more the land. 
 But perish in the gale. 
 
 When honest bluotness is our theme, 
 
 To Bidder we recur ; 
 For manliness, the very luime 
 
 Of Shanley we revere ; 
 But when we think of every ill 
 
 That pirates can bequeath, 
 Each object serves our minds to fill 
 
 With reverie.s of Reith. 
 
 May he who dares, etc. 
 
 ENGLISH AND AMEEICAN SPEECH. 
 
 As I have been accustomed to the railway terms on both 
 sides of the Atlantic I sometimes use one term and sometimes 
 another. The following are a few of the differences in the vocabu- 
 lary. 
 
 AMERICAN. ENGLISH. 
 
 Telegram. Wire. 
 
 Ticket office. Booking office. 
 
 Buying a ticket. Booking. 
 
 Railroad. Railway. 
 
358 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 AMERICAN. ENGLISH. 
 
 Railroad track Permanent way, or line. 
 
 Rails. Metals. 
 
 Depot. Station. 
 
 Switch. Points. 
 
 Street car. Tram car. 
 
 Freight train. Goods train. 
 
 Cars. Carriages, or coaches. 
 
 Conductor. Guard. 
 
 Engineer. Driver. 
 
 Fireman. Stoker. 
 
 Locomotive. Engine. 
 
 Baggage. Luggage. 
 
 All aboard. Seats, please. 
 
 Trains meeting. Trains crossing. 
 
 Freight car. Goods van, or waggon. 
 
 General freight agent. Goods manager. 
 
 Freight way-bills. Goods invoices. 
 
 Lumber. Timber. 
 
 General superintendent. General manager. 
 
 HOW SOME RAW COTTON VANISHED. 
 
 During the American Civil War, when cotton was at a famine 
 price, a car-load on its way to Portland took fire near that city, 
 and all was consumed except three or four bales. These were 
 only slightly singed. The track-men had no water, but they had 
 plenty of snow, so they carefully buried each bale in a grave of 
 snow. Then congratulating themselves, they said, " There, we 
 have saved them at any rate," and went their way. Next day 
 they brought a truck to remove the cotton, and found the mounds 
 of snow just as they had left them ; the men set to work to 
 remove the snow, but, much to their astonishment, no cotton 
 could be found — true there were square holes, exactly the size 
 of cotton bales, and at the bottom of each hole two or three 
 inches of black ashes. The cotton had slowly been burnt while 
 under the snow. Freight men may learn this lesson from the 
 above — 
 
 Never trust to snow to put out a fire. 
 
Facts, Figures and Incidents. 359 
 
 " EN YO GOT ANY TRUNKS." 
 
 That was what a man said who entered the Ticket and 
 Freight Manager's office in Montreal. J. B. Jones, who was 
 present, saw that there was a wrinkle of fun in the enquiry, and 
 being somewhat of a wag, replied," Yes, we have got one trunk;" 
 then led the man into a back closet and pointed out to him an 
 old dilapidated trunk which had passed through the hands 
 of a hundred baggage smashers, and had not a whole bone in its 
 cracked sides, and was only held together by many strings. The 
 man said he wanted a "bran-new trunk, not an old rip like that." 
 Mr. Jones said," That is all the trunk I have, but I can sell you a 
 ticket to Detroit." A glimmer of enlightenment seemed to creep 
 through the man's muddled brain, and he began to see that he 
 was not in a trunk store, but in a railway ticket office, and got 
 out as quick as possible, scratching his head with great energy. 
 
 HOW THE MAINE LIQUOR LAW WAS CARRIED OUT. 
 
 Soon after the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Eailway was leased 
 to the Grand Trunk Eailway, and when the " Maine Liquor Law " 
 was ;in full force in that State, some barrels of whiskey were 
 stored in the freight shed at Paris (Me.) station. After being 
 there for a few days an order came to ship the whiskey to some 
 other point. When the porters went to remove the barrels they 
 found that all of them were empty. On tracing out the mystery it 
 was found that some one had crept underneath the platform, 
 and with an auger had bored holes through the floor and right 
 into the barrels, and thus let the liquor all run out. As no trace 
 of the whiskey could be found, and as no drunken men were seen 
 about, it was concluded that this was a summary method of 
 most effectually carrying out the principles of the "Maine Liquor 
 Law." 
 
360 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 ACTON COPPER — A BIG POCKET. 
 
 About thirty-five years ago, copper was discovered at Acton, 
 Eastern Townships. The ore cropped out at the top of a small 
 hill near the Grand Trunk station. For sometime its owner 
 offered the mine for sale, but people fought shy of it, and did 
 not care to invest in it, until the Hon. C. Dunkin and his 
 brother-in-law, W. H. A. Davies, chief accountant of the G.T.R., 
 two shrewd gentlemen, went down to Acton to inspect the 
 locality, and finally purchased the land and minerals for a few 
 hundred dollars. " They then let the mine to a Mr. Sleeper, on 
 a royalty, who at once commenced working it ; and he soon 
 found that it was of immense value. It could hardly be called a 
 "mine," as that term is ordinarily understood ; for on removing 
 the surface crust of earth the rich copper ore was at once expos- 
 ed, and the working of it was much like that of blasting a stone 
 quarry for rubble stone, and that in full daylight. 
 
 Mr. Sleeper shipped the copper ore to Boston, and for many 
 months hundreds of tons were so sent, often in train loads on the 
 G.T.R. 
 
 The mine was a matter of much investigation by the geolo- 
 gists, who considered that its formation was unusual, and that if 
 the copper ore extended any great distance it would certainly be a 
 new feature in mineralogy, but this they doubted, and Sir Wil- 
 liam Logan said it would be found to be what is termed " a 
 pocket," and would ultimately work out. The wiseacres of the 
 time had a great laugh at what they considered the geologists at 
 fault, but Sir William was right. The mine did really work out, 
 but the Grand Trunk Railway carried many thousands of tons of 
 the copper ore to Boston before the big pocket was empty. It 
 was a most productive investment for the three gentlemen con- 
 cerned. I have no statistics as to the tons carried and the 
 amount realized, but I know it went into the hundreds of thous- 
 
Facts, Figures and Incidents. 361 
 
 ands of dollars, and that Mr. Davies found himself a rich man 
 and soon retired from the services of the Grand Trunk Go. 
 
 The success of the Acton mine filled the Eastern Townships 
 with " Prospectors," who, for many a day, might have been seen 
 pick and hammer in hand, and satchel on shoulder, looking very 
 mysterious, and very knowing ; penetrating the woods, hills and 
 dales in every direction in search of the much coveted treasure, 
 and though copper was found in small quantities in many 
 different places, no more rich deposits turned up like that of the 
 big " pocket " of Acton. 
 
 AN ENGINE DRIVER'S FEAT. 
 
 In the old country are numerous over-head arched bridges. 
 I remember seeing a feat performed by an engine driver which 
 most people would think was impossible. It was this, when he 
 approached a bridge he picked up a bit of coke and threw it 
 above the bridge and caught it as it fell at the other side ; of 
 course he lost sight of the coke, which went over while he went 
 under the bridge. 
 
 This driver had studied the laws of motion and knew that a 
 body sent from another body, when in motion, retained the mo- 
 tion of the latter until it fell. 
 
 Did the driver throw the coke over the bridge ? No ! Had 
 he done so, no speed of his locomotive would have overtaken it 
 until it reached the ground. He threw the bit of coke upwards, 
 higher than the bridge, and the momentum gained from the 
 train's motion carried the coke over the bridge at the same speed 
 as the engine. Passengers who jump off a railway train when 
 in motion and get maimed or killed are ignorant of this most 
 important law, and are not aware that their bodies, so to speak, 
 are charged with the train's motion, and the tendency when they 
 jump is to throw them forward to the ground. This law of mo- 
 
362 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 tion should be experimentally taught to boys at school and would 
 be the means of saving many lives. 
 
 MOVING BODIES. 
 
 I remember, when a boy, I had a practical experience of 
 moving bodies, as follows : 
 
 I was upon a canal boat sailing at a speed of about three 
 miles an hour, when we met a passenger packet boat going at 
 four miles an hour. When the latter came up it passed the canal 
 boat within two or three inches of it and I stepped from one to 
 the other which was quite easy as there was a railing on the 
 packet to take hold of. The shock I got was very extraordinary. 
 Each part of my body seemed to be trying to separate from its 
 fellow part, the one wanting to go east and the other west at the 
 same time. I felt the effects for some time afterwards. 
 
 The explanation is very simple. My body was charged with 
 the motion of the canal boat, which was suddenly arrested by 
 the contrary motion of the packet boat, and hence the shock pro- 
 duced. 
 
 THE NEW DOMINION OF CANADA. 
 
 The confederation of the British North American Provinces 
 took place in 1867. In February, 1893, a writer in the Montreal 
 Gazette gave the following list of the then surviving 
 
 FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION. 
 
 1. Sir W.P. Howland, born 1811 ; 2. Hon.R. B. Dickey, born 
 1812 ; 3. Sir A. T. Gait,* born 1817 ; 4. Sir Ambrose Shea, born 
 1818 ; 5. Sir. S. L. Tilly, born, 1818 ; 6. Sir F. B. T. Carter, t born 
 
 ^ Sir A. T. Gait died on September 19th, 1893. 
 
 + Mr. P. H. Carter, who has been on the Grand Trunk Railway staff, at differ- 
 ent points, for the last thirty-eight years, is a native of Newfoundland and a brother 
 of S^ Frederick B. T. Carter. 
 
Facts, Figures and Incidents. 363 
 
 1819 ; 7. Sir Oliver Mowat, born 1820 ; 8. Sir Charles Tupper, 
 born 1821 ; 9. Hon. William McDougall, born January 18, 1822 ; 
 10. Hon. T. H. Haviland, born November, 1822 ; 11. Hon. Peter 
 Mitchell, born 1824 ; 12. Sir Hector Langevin, bom 1826 ; and 
 13. the Hon. A. A. McDonald, born 1829. 
 
 Among those who still occupy prominent positions in Can- 
 adian public life may be mentioned Sir Oliver Mowat, Premier of 
 Ontario ; Sir Leonard Tilley, Lieutenant-Governor of New Bruns- 
 wick; the Hon. Peter Mitchell ; Sir Hector Langevin, until recent- 
 ly Minister of Public Works for Canada ; the Hon. William Mc- 
 Dougall, a well known writer on constitutional questions, and 
 Sir Charles Tupper, High Commissioner for Canada in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 GREATNESS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 " It embraces a fifth of the habitable globe, of which the 
 Dominion forms nearly one-fifth of the whole. An empire five 
 times as large as that which was under Darius ; four times the 
 size of that under ancient Eome ; sixteen times greater than 
 France ; forty times greater than United Germany ; three times 
 larger than the United States. Australia alone nearly as big as 
 the States ; India nearly a million and a quarter square miles, 
 Canada 600,000 square miles larger than the United States with- 
 out Alaska, and 18,000 square miles larger with it !" * 
 
 An empire nearly 9,000,000 square miles, with a population 
 of 310,000,000. 
 
 ♦ From a speech by Dr. Beers, of Montreal, delivered at Syracuse, N. Y., Oct. 25th, 
 1888. 
 
364 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXV. 
 
 ANECDOTES-FISH AND OTHER STORIES. 
 THE STURGEON. 
 
 THIRTY-FIVE years ago this fish was considered of little 
 or no value in Ontario. At Point Edward, Sarnia, the 
 fishermen hated to see a sturgeon come up in their nets, as 
 they tore the meshes of the net, and their custom was to 
 knock the fish on the head and then throw it into the lake 
 again. One day Superintendent Martin was at Point Edward 
 when a sturgeon was caught, some 70 lbs. weight, and the 
 fishermen were about to throw it into the lake as usual, 
 when Martin bought it for a quarter, and had it nicely packed 
 and expressed to Engineer Trembicki, of Montreal ; on reach- 
 ing there Mrs. Trembicki would not allow, as she said, " the 
 nasty thing to come into her house." Next morning Mr. 
 Sturgeon was seen looking through the window of Dolly's 
 Chop House, in Great St. James street. 
 
 Since then the sturgeon has become an article of value 
 and in demand for shipment to the United States, and fisher- 
 ies have been established on the north shore of Lake Huron 
 for taking the sturgeon. The fish, it would seem, are very plen- 
 tiful. A Pittsburg gentleman, who recently paid a visit to those 
 fisheries, said: "One night the men made a single haul that brought 
 seventy-five big sturgeon, all weighing above twenty pounds each, 
 three-fourths of them averaging above sixty pounds each, and 
 one of the very biggest of the lot — the boss sturgeon of the 
 season — bringing down the steelyards at 161 pounds. That 
 
ATiecdotes — Fish and Other Stories. 365 
 
 night, with our four hauls, we took 215 sturgeon, at an average 
 weight of above 50 pounds. None weighing less than 20 pounds 
 are slaughtered and dressed for the smoked-fish industry in 
 Detroit, there to be sold fresh in steaks and roasts, or smoked 
 and dried to be disposed of as " halibut " ready for table use. 
 The roe, or eggs, of the sturgeon are regarded as a great delicacy 
 by those who have cultivated a somewhat exclusive and high- 
 toned appetite for it . 
 
 THE STURGEON AND THE FRENCHMAN. 
 
 One day our agent at Sherbrooke wired me for a rate for fresh 
 fish in carloads from there to Boston. Now, Sherbrooke being an 
 inland town, I was somewhat puzzled to know where " fresh fish 
 in carloads " were to come from. True the rivers St. Francis 
 and the Magog joined at Sherbrooke, and a pike or two, or 
 
 ' 'A lusty trout, and here and there a grayling, " 
 
 might now and then be caught, but hardly become much of 
 an article to increase our traffic receipts. Shortly afterwards 
 this was explained by a big burly native of France, walking 
 into the G.T.R. general office at Montreal, who told us that 
 he and some Boston capitalists were about to develop the 
 fisheries of Lake Megantic, and their intention was to lay down 
 a tram road from Sherbrooke to the lake, some forty or fifty 
 miles, to bring down the fish and carry the supplies up. He 
 further said that the lake fairly swarmed with fish, more particu- 
 larly sturgeon, that recently he had "rowed four miles, in a boat 
 on the lake, and that the fish were so thick that the boat could 
 hardly get through them." He said it was " intended to ship the 
 fish in ice by the Allan steamships to Liverpool ; that the stur- 
 geon was a " royal fish " which commanded a very high price, 
 while the roe or spawn of the sturgeon was considered as the 
 
366 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 most dainty of all dishes in England." He told us this tale 
 with all the gravity and plausibility of a judge. 
 
 At Lake Megantic sheds and cottages were put. up, wharves 
 made, fishing boats, nets, etc., supplied, men sent up to catch the 
 fish. The Grand Trunk made something for carrying the fishing 
 outfit and the men, but they did not get a single dollar for car- 
 rying the fish. The scheme soon burst up and the Boston capi- 
 talists found that they had been led into dreamland by the 
 burly Frenchman. 
 
 THE FRENCHMAN AND THE GRAPES. 
 
 The fishing story, above related, would be incomplete with- 
 out giving the addenda to it, in the form of a grape story. 
 
 Some seven or eight years after the events narrated above, I 
 was on the staff of the Great Western Kailway at Hamilton, 
 when one day there waddled into my office the identical 
 burly Frenchman. I knew him at once, and told him so. 
 He was rather taken aback at this, but he soon rallied and 
 said, "Yes, I did once know some of de shentlemen of de 
 Grond Tronc," and went on to say that be and gentlemen of 
 Montreal had formed a company for the cultivation of the grape 
 vine on the European plan ; that they had purchased lands at 
 Cooksville, Ontario, and were building extensive wine vaults, and 
 were going to manufacture brandy. He said the people of Can- 
 ada did not know how to cultivate the grape to make it valuable ; 
 that he was bringing over practical men from the grape districts 
 of Europe, who thoroughly understood the business, and that a 
 great revolution in grape culture in Canada would be the result. 
 
 The Frenchman exhibited the same degree of seriousness and 
 plausibility as he did when he told us the fish story. He was 
 the greatest genius in that line I ever met, and no wonder that 
 
Anecdotes — Fish and Other Stories. 367 
 
 he induced merchants, lawyers, and at least one judge, to join 
 him in the scheme. 
 
 I think out of all this outlay one solitary carload only of 
 wines and liquors were shipped to Windsor, and shortly after- 
 wards a fire took place where the stuff was housed ; the whole 
 went up in smoke and the burly Frenchman disappeared from 
 the scene. The loss to the Grape Company was very large, and 
 its history and wind-up since would make another chapter which 
 I cannot give. 
 
 At the same time we must give the Frenchman some credit. 
 The men he imported were no shams, they gave many useful hints 
 as to grape culture, which have been carried out with great suc- 
 cess, as evidenced by the splendid exhibition of grapes at our 
 annual fairs — approaching in appearance and quality those of 
 Europe. 
 
 A QUEER BED AT FABGO. 
 
 Mr. J. B. Jones tells a story of once staying over night at an 
 hotel in Fargo, North Dakota. When he got into his bed he felt 
 something hard beneath him, and, being of a curious turn of 
 mind, he thought he would investigate the matter in the morning, 
 and to make sure of the hard intruder, whatever it was, he 
 worked it into a corner of the bed and secured it with a knot. 
 
 On rising in the morning Mr. Jones ripped the part of the 
 bed open and the outcome was a big cob of ic ell-seasoned corn. 
 
 When he went down stairs the landlord asked him if he had 
 slept well. " Fairly-fairly," said Mr. Jones, "but Fargo beds are 
 rather queer institutions. I took this (producing the cob of 
 corn) out of mine," to the great astonishment of the landlord 
 and the roaring laughter of the bystanders. 
 
 It is many years since this occurred, but Mr. Jones still 
 treasures up that corn cob as a souvenir of the city of Fargo 
 and its queer beds. 
 
368 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 JACK MAQUIEE, THE BAGGAGE-MAN. 
 
 " When in Chicago recently," said N. Weatherston yester- 
 day, " I met Crane, who was playing ' The Senator ' to crowded 
 houses." I had not seen him to speak to since he was with the 
 Holmans. I knew him well in those days and all the Holman 
 family. 
 
 " During a very pleasant chat he burst out with, ' What 
 was the name of that baggage-man when you were the Great 
 
 Western agent ? Jack , Jack , the man icith only one 
 
 arm?' 'Jack Maguire ? ' I suggested. 'Yes, Jack Maguire.' 
 Then he went on : * I will never forget what I am going to tell 
 you so long as I live. You remember that in those days the 
 Holmans put on a new piece every night, and great was their 
 anxiety after the first act as to how it would please the audience. 
 One night after the first act they gathered round me and said, 
 ' Billy, do you think it is going to take ? ' 'It will take all right,' 
 I said, ' for I saw Jack Maguire clapping his hands.'" 
 
 OUR FIRST TRIP TO PORTLAND — A WARM BED. 
 
 My first visit to Portland was made in company of Mr. 
 Eoberts in the fall of 1853. On reaching Island Pond at night 
 we had to stay there until morning to take the train on to Port- 
 land. Island Pond was then just emerging from the wilderness, 
 and things generally had not settled down. A long wooden shed 
 had been hurriedly built, divided into stalls for sleeping accom- 
 modation forjpassengers and workmen ; the beds generally con- 
 tained three individuals, but Roberts and I, as a great privilege, 
 w^re allowed one bed between us. Roberts got into bed first, and 
 exclaimed," Why, it's warm." "Yes," said I, " I have been making 
 some enquiries about the ways and means of this place and find 
 that the beds are always occupied, something after the ' Box and 
 
Anecdotes — Fish arid Other Stories. 369 
 
 Cox ' style, you know ; one was a day sleeper and the other a night 
 sleeper, and their landlady made her beds do double duty." 
 
 Each stall was separated by a thin board partition from its 
 fellow, and the uncouth sounds that came from the two or three 
 dozen snorers made night hideous. 
 
 In a short time a fine hotel sprang up at Island Fond, and 
 it became a nice place to spend a day or two, fishing and boating 
 on the little lake, or scouring the wild woods, gun in hand in 
 search of game. 
 
 TO MEET HIM AT MIDNIGHT. 
 
 One day I got a telegram from a man, en route from Cincin- 
 nati, to meet him at midnight at Point St. Charles, Montreal, to 
 make a contract for many thousands of barrels of pork to Liver- 
 pool. Now, as the train arriving from the west at midnight did 
 not go any further, I did not see any necessity, nor did I care 
 to go two miles at that untimely hour to meet my nocturnal 
 visitor, but next morning I went round to all the hotels to hunt 
 the porkman up, but no such gentleman could be found. I then 
 wrote to our agent at Cincinnati, who replied that all the western 
 cities in the Union could not supply one-half the barrels of pork 
 named, and further that the man was a " crank," who by the 
 time he reached Kingston was wild and crazy and the police had 
 to take charge of him. I considered that I had had rather a for- 
 tunate escape, for if the man had come on to Point St. Charles, 
 And I had met him, he might have demanded a low rate at the 
 point of a revolver, and said " a cheap rate or your life." 
 
 THE " TOSSICATED " (tOSSED ABOUT) EXCURSIONIST. 
 
 One rainy night I entered the compartment of an English 
 first-class carriage at Fleetwood to go to Preston. The compart- 
 ment was made to seat six passengers, but a dozen men and 
 
 Avomen crowded in. How we all sat I cannot now call to mind, 
 24 
 
 IVERSITV. 
 
 OF 
 
370 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 but we were a pleasant company and many funny stories were 
 told. One of the women related her experience of her first rail- 
 way journey. She spoke in the broadest Lancashire dialect, as 
 nearly as I can remember, as follows : 
 
 "Ah live at Blegburn (Blackburn), and ah gete (got) up at 
 fower (four) o'clock this morning, and tuk shanks gal (walked) 
 to Prayston (Preston), (10 miles) ; when ah gete theer ah bout 
 (bought) a ticket fo Fleetwood. Be that taam (time) ole (all) 
 kerridges wor cramed wy folks (passengers) and theer wure nout 
 left fo me and a thasen (1,000) skirmists (excursionists) bod 
 (but) oh lot goods waggins, so ah gete into one we a hundred 
 moor folks, and then th' train started, bod we hedent (had not) 
 gooen (gone) two hundred yards, when ah seed (saw) annuder 
 train coming up rete tords (towards) us and we o set up a yell as 
 mote hev bin heered (heard) a maale (mile) off. The engine 
 pitched int hawer waggin and tornd it rete ower and we o 
 went flying and gete sich a tossicating abaut as a nare felt afoor 
 (before). Bonnets wure creshed as flat as pancakes and close 
 (clothes) wur wrageld (rumpled) and ripd up, theer wur lots q 
 bloody noses bod non ot folks wur much hort, 'cept a big lad et 
 bed his leg put aut a joint, and he somehaw gete into anuder 
 waggin and goedto Fleetwood, weer heed to stay undert doctor's 
 hands. Well, ah wurent gooing to be dun ante a my trip, soa ah 
 scrambled to anuder waggin and away th train started, and when 
 it crossd th sote (salt) watter on a brig (bridge) or piles as they 
 cawed it, two maales long, ah wur rete feared et we mote (might) 
 be tossicated intath watter. When ah gete to Fleetwood ah 
 staarted rete away fort goo and see t'ships and hev a drink o sote 
 (salt) watter. By-em-by ah wur guiled (persuaded) et hev a sail 
 in a smo (small) booet (boat) and ah wur tossicated abaut an 
 thout (thought) naw aam gooing et be drawnd sure. When ah 
 gete to th land et started to rain lak cats and dogs, and ah med 
 
Anecdotes — Fish and Other Stories. 371 
 
 rete (right) away fort station. On reaching theer ah found it 
 jamd up wy folks and a pushed 'mong em and wur tornd (turned) 
 rawnd and rawnd and tossicated here and tossicated theer til 
 nearly ote breath wur drove haut o ma stummick (body). Et 
 last He th good luck et scrambled int this kerridge." She then 
 in the most emphatic language said : " Ah nare (never) went fro 
 whom (home) afoor (before) and aal (I'll) nare goo agen." 
 
 HOW CLAIMS WERE SETTLED IN THE EARLY DAYS. 
 
 The accident referred to in the foregoing account of the ex- 
 cursionist's travels, occurred at Preston, on the Fleetwood Rail- 
 way, where that line is crossed by the Lancaster Railway. A 
 Fleetwood excursion train crowded with passengers, mostly in 
 cattle waggons, was passing the crossing when a Lancaster train 
 came up, and, though nearly brought to a stand, the engine over- 
 turned one of the waggons and tumbled ninety or one hundred 
 passengers out without doing much damage, except to that of 
 clothing. I remember that all next day I sat in my office holding 
 a sort of levee, settling claims for loss and damage arising from 
 this railway accident. Bonnets and hats of all manner of 
 crushed forms and indentations, torn shawls, dilapidated dresses, 
 fragmentary umbrellas and other things, were brought for my 
 inspection by the unfortunate excursionists, and the different de- 
 grees of damage pointed out by them, and claims handed in, all 
 of which were settled promptly and upon fairly reasonable terms. 
 
 In those early railway days passengers had not made the 
 discovery that a railway accident was a mine of wealth to many 
 of those who happened to be in it, and that a railway company 
 might be mulct in fabulous amounts for damages without its 
 claimants having the slightest consideration or sympathy for the 
 unfortunate shareholders who formed the railway company. 
 
372 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Mr. Williams relates a passenger's adventures as follows : 
 " An old lady was going from Brookfield to Stamford and took a 
 seat in a train for the first and last time in her life. During the 
 ride the train was thrown down an embankment. Crawling from 
 beneath the debris unhurt, she spied a man sitting down, but 
 with his legs held by some heavy timber, ' Is this Stamford ? ' she 
 anxiously enquired. ' No, madam,' was the reply, ' this is a 
 catastrophe.' 'Oh!' she cried, 'then I hadn't oughter got off 
 here.' " 
 
 HOW FRIENDSHIPS WERE QUICKLY MADE. 
 
 "I have never," says another traveller, "got so well 
 acquainted with the passengers on the train as I did the other 
 day on the Milwaukee & St. Paul Eailroad. We were going at 
 the rate of about thirty miles an hour, and another train from 
 the other direction telescoped us. We were all thrown into each 
 other's society, and brought into immediate social contact, so to 
 speak. I went over and sat in the lap of a corpulent lady from 
 Manitoba, and a girl from Chicago jumped over nine seats and 
 sat down on the plug hat of a preacher from La Crosse, with so 
 much timid, girlish enthusiasm that it shoved his hat clear down 
 over his shoulders. Everybody seemed to lay aside the usual 
 cool reserve of strangers, and we made ourselves entirely at 
 home. One young man left his own seat and went over and sat 
 down in a lunch basket, where a bridal couple seemed to be 
 wrestling with their first picnic. Do you think if he had been at 
 a celebration at home that he would have risen impetuously and 
 gone where those people were eating by themselves, and sat 
 down in the cranberry jelly if a total stranger ? I shall 
 rather think not. Why, one old man, who probably at home led 
 the class -meeting, and who was as dignified as Roscoe Conk- 
 ling's father, was eating a piece of custard pie when we met the 
 other train, and he left his own seat, went to the other end of the 
 
Anecdotes — Fish and Other Stories. 878 
 
 car and shot that piece of custard pie into the ear of a beautiful 
 widow from Iowa. People travelling somehow forget the aus- 
 terity of their home lives, and form acquaintances that sometimes 
 last through life." 
 
 HOW A SMALL PIG WAS CHANGED TO TWO DOGS AND THEN INTO A 
 
 HORSE. 
 
 " I have been a rector for many years," says a traveller, 
 " and have often heard and read of tithe pigs, though I have never 
 met with a specimen of them. But I had once a little pig given 
 to me which was of a choice breed, and only just able to leave his 
 mother. I had to convey him by carriage to the X station ; from 
 thence 23 miles to Y station, and from thence 82 miles to Z 
 station, and from there, 8 miles by carriage. I had a comfort- 
 able rabbit-hutch of a box made for him, with a supply of fresh 
 cabbages for his dinner on the road. I started off with my wife, 
 children and nurse ; and of these impediments piggy proved to 
 be the most formidable. First council of war was held over him 
 at X station by the railway ofl&cials, who finally decided that this 
 small porker must travel as " two dogs." Two dog tickets were 
 therefore procured for him, and so we journeyed to Y station. 
 There a second council of war was held, and the officials of the 
 Y said that the officials of X (another line) might be prosecuted 
 for charging my piggy as two dogs, but that he must travel to 
 Z as a horse, and that he must have a huge horse-box entirely 
 to himself for the next 82 miles. I declined to pay for a horse- 
 box. They refused to let me have my pig. Officials swarmed 
 around me ; the station master advised me to pay for the horse- 
 box and probably the company would return the extra charge. I 
 scorned the probability, having no faith in the company. The 
 train (it was a London express) was already detained ten minutes 
 by this wrangle, and finally I was whirled away bereft of my pig. 
 
874 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 I felt sure that he would be forwarded by the next train, but as 
 that would not reach Z till a late hour in the evening, and it was 
 Saturday, I had to tell my pig tale to the officials, and not only 
 so, but to go to the adjacent hotel, and hire a pig-stye till the 
 Monday, and fee a porter for seeing to the pig until I could send 
 a cart for him on that day. Of course the pig was sent after me 
 by the next train, and as the charge for him was less than a half- 
 penny a mile, I presume he was not considered to be a horse. 
 Yet this fact remains — and it is worth the attention of the 
 Zoological Society, if not of railway officials — that this small 
 porker was never recognized as a pig, but began his railway 
 journey as two dogs and was then changed into ahorse." 
 
 A SMALL DOG IN A LADY's MUFF. 
 
 Early railway officials had very peremptory orders given to 
 them (by the directors) which were liable to be carried out to the 
 letter, rather than the spirit of the law. I knew a station agent 
 who took great pleasure in ferreting out dogs, which sometimes 
 were smuggled on board trains. One day he spied the nose of a 
 little pup peeping from out a lady's muff, when he said, 
 " madam, you have got a dog, it must have a dog's ticket, be paid 
 for, and go in the carriage ' boot ; ' dogs are not allowed to 
 travel in the same compartment as passengers," and poor little 
 pup (about the size of a two months kitten) was put in the "boot," 
 to the great grief of the lady. 
 
 THE MONKEY PASSENGER. 
 
 A railway porter going through a passenger train in England 
 to examine the tickets, spied a baby of a monkey peeping with 
 great gravity from under a passenger's arm, when he said to the 
 latter, " You'll hevto pay for that hanimal, we'll charge it as one 
 dog." " But it isn't a dog," said the passenger. " Well then," 
 said the porter, " we'll co it an hinsect." 
 
Anecdotes — Fish and Other Stories. 375 
 
 KEEP OUT OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 
 
 Mr. Thompson, formerly Collector of Customs at Coaticook, 
 once told me that when he was stationed at a custom house on 
 the boundary line, he offended an American in some way by carry- 
 ing out the law in connection with the department. 
 
 It must be remembered that there was no visible line at the 
 point in question to indicate where Queen Victoria's territory 
 ended and where " Uncle Sam's" began, except certain posts at 
 considerable distances from each other. 
 
 One day Mr. Thompson was taking a quiet stroll into the coun- 
 try and paying no attention as to whether he was walking in 
 Canada or the United States, and not dreaming that the lynx eye 
 of an U. S. detective was watching his (Thompson's) movements, 
 when all of a sudden he was pounced upon and taken prisoner. 
 Mr. T. protested against such an unwarrantable thing as that of 
 capturing one of Her Majesty's Officers of Customs. " Ah — ah, 
 my fine fellow, I have you," said the detective, " Queen Vic. 
 has no power here, you are in the United States." After 
 being detained some time, and undergoing an examination 
 Mr. Thompson was allowed to return to Canada. He then re. 
 ported the circumstances to the Minister of Customs at Quebec, 
 from whom he received the following very curt reply: — "You 
 should keep out of foreign countries." 
 
 " BOWLED OUT." 
 
 At the early half-yearly meetings of the North Staffordshire 
 Eailway Mr. Haywood and other shareholders were in the habit 
 of making strong remarks about the expensive station buildings 
 at Stoke-on-Trent. The structures were of the Elizabethan 
 style of architecture, and very fine. The arcades were paved 
 with Minton's encaustic tiles, beautiful in design and execution. 
 
376 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 It was of them that the shareholders complained most. John 
 Lewis Eicardo, the president, did not answer these complaints 
 for a time, but at last got up and said that much had been 
 said about those ornamental tiles and their expense, and he 
 thought it was just as well to tell them that for those richly de- 
 corated floors they (the company) were indebted to the Messrs. 
 Minton's, who had presented the whole of them to the company. 
 This remark produced roars of laughter and Mr. Haywood ex- 
 claimed : " I am bowled out." 
 
 A COAL STORY. 
 
 Geologists had declared that there was no coal in Upper or 
 Lower Canada, that the age of the surface strata was far older 
 than that of the coal formation, notwithstanding this about 34 
 years ago there came to Montreal, on the wings of the telegraph, 
 the astounding fact that coal had been discovered at Bowman- 
 ville. We, of the Grand Trunk, were in great glee and threw up 
 our hats ; we saw, in imagination, trains of the black and valued 
 mineral moving in every direction. The excitement in all the 
 towns and cities between Quebec and Windsor was immense. 
 The geologist survey gentlemen were at a discount. 
 
 A specimen of the newly discovered coal was sent to a learn- 
 ed professor at Toronto, and he gravely asserted that it was "a 
 pure specimen of indurated bitumen." Few people understood what 
 that meant, but all the same thought it must be something good 
 and hurrahed again. 
 
 Another specimen reached Sir William Logan, and he at 
 once said that it was " undoubtedly good coal," but (confound 
 those huts) quietly said he " thought it had come from Newcastle- 
 on-Tyne." Then the people were " as mad as hatters," and said 
 Sir William knew nothing. 
 
 The coal was reported to have been discovered by a farmer 
 when digging a well, and crowds of people rushed to the spot and 
 
Anecdotes— Fish and Other Stories. 377 
 
 large sums were offered for the mine, when some shrewd fellow 
 made a fatal suggestion, " that the mine should be examined." 
 " Just so," said the speculators and others about the well, and at 
 once a derrick was rigged up and men sent down who began to 
 send up coal, say to the extent of 300 or 400 lbs., when a voice 
 from the bowels of the earth said, " There is no more coal." 
 It vias Newcastle-on-Tyne coal and had been *' planted" by the 
 farmer. 
 
 There was then a general cry to tar-and-feather the man, 
 but they finally hooted him from the place, and I heard after- 
 wards that he sold his farm and quitted the country. 
 
 OPENING OF AN ENGLISH RAILWAY IN THE EARLY DAYS. 
 
 Braithwaite Poole used to have a fund of railway anecdotes 
 which he was wont to relate at the Goods Manager's dinners. 
 One, I remember, was in reference to an opening of an early 
 English road, but it cannot be well told in words, as it requires 
 a consummate actor to do full justice to it, but Poole did it to 
 perfection. He said that the directors of the line, before its 
 final opening, made a tour of inspection, to see that station 
 agents and men were all at their posts, and that all was ship- 
 shape and in tidy order. The public on the line of route were 
 so delighted at the opening of the railway that they determined 
 to give the directors a right rojaX reception, and among other 
 things, refreshments, with champagne, in no meagre quantity, 
 were provided at every station. At the first station the station- 
 master was called up. " Now," said the president, " we shall expect 
 you to keep perfectly sober, attend promptly to your duties, keep 
 the station clean and tidy, be civil and obliging to passengers, 
 and above all to remember that any act of intoxication, insubor- 
 dination, or incivility will meet with instant dismissal," The 
 directors then joined the public in health-drinking, amid a 
 battery of cork-artillery; then on to next station, where the 
 
378 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 same flourish of trumpets, and the same advice to the station- 
 master were repeated, and at the next and the next station ; but 
 now the eifects of the champagne began to tell, president and 
 directors began to talk all at once in rather a thick voice, as " be 
 you the shation-master, keep per-(hic)-fectly shober — acts of in- 
 (hic) -civil- (hie) -ity meet with in-shanly dish-(hic)-miss-aL" By 
 the time they neared the end of the line, they began to see a 
 station-master in every man, and each of the directors 
 seized hold of one of the public, and addressed him as the 
 station-master, telling him " to keep sho-(hic)-ber, or he'ed be 
 dish-(hic)-mish-(hic)-ed." The directors came back at the bottom 
 of the railway coach in various attitudes of prostration, looking 
 as though they had passed through a pulp mill. 
 
 SHUNTED AND STUCK. 
 
 Another about Crewe Station : — Poole said that a lady com- 
 plained to the directors of the London and North Western Kail- 
 way that she had been grossly insulted by one of the porters at 
 Crewe station. An enquiry was made into the matter, and the 
 superintendent called upon the porter to explain his conduct. 
 The man spoke in the broad Lancashire dialect, and said, he 
 " never 'suited a lady," he said, " ah wor gooing past a lot o' 
 kerridges and ah seed a woman i'one o'em and ah hoppendth 
 door, and ah said, yo mun ger a'at or yole be shunted and 
 stuck." 
 
 Meaning that the lady must get out as the coach would be 
 shunted into a siding, and she would be left behind. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS ON A CLOCK. 
 
 • In a railway station in Iowa is the following placard over the 
 clock :— " This is a clock ; it is running ; it is Chicago time ; it 
 is right; it is set every day at 10 o'clock. Now keep your 
 mouth shut." 
 
Anniversary — My Valedictory. 379 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 ANNIVERSARY MAMMOTH CAVE — PRINTING PRESS MY VALEDICTORY. 
 
 CELEBRATING THE 40tH ANNIVERSARY OF LANDING IN CANADA. 
 
 MR J. B. JONES, of Toronto, agent of the Dominion line of 
 steamships, and Mr. Myles Pennington, of the Grand 
 Trunk Railway, on Friday evening last, celebrated in the way of 
 a private banquet at the residence of Mr. Jones, Simcoe street, 
 the 40th anniversary of their landing in Canada. Messrs. Jones 
 and Pennington came out from England on the SS."Sarah Sands," 
 one of the ocean pioneers of the St. Lawrence route. 
 
 On the festive board, round which the celebrationists and a 
 small company of friends gathered, there stood a miniature 
 model of the " Sarah Sands," her hull represented by an oblong 
 crystal, and her decks, smokestack and top works artistically 
 constructed of flowers. Close to the ship ran a miniature rail- 
 way, with a tiny G. T. R. locomotive upon the rails, both roadway 
 and engine partially hidden by the choicest specimens from 
 the floral kingdom. These pretty decorations, so appropriate 
 to the occasion, were designed and arranged by the Misses Jones. 
 
 AN INTERESTING JOURNAL. 
 
 During all the years of his residence in Canada, Mr. Penn- 
 ington has preserved intact a journal of the events of the passage 
 out from the old sod. The document, which the writer has 
 named " Outward Bound," is rather interesting as a description 
 of an Atlantic voyage at a time when steam navigation had not 
 as yet emerged from its primitive stage. Dinner concluded, Mr. 
 
880 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Pennington read for the entertainment of his friends a number 
 of extracts from this journal. A few of these extracts are given 
 below : — 
 
 July 22nd, 1853.— On board the " Sarah Sands," the Isle 
 of Man in sight. The vessel is a full-rigged sailing ship, with 
 an auxiliary screw. She is a sure and a safe ship, but a slow one. 
 Cannot make much progress against a head wind, and may be 
 twenty days in reaching Quebec. 
 
 Note : — Her actual time from Liverpool to Quebec was 
 twenty-three days. 
 
 A STORM AT SEA. 
 
 July 23rd. — A storm at sea. Mrs. P. awoke me this 
 morning at two o'clock, with the pleasing intelligence that the 
 ship was about to turn over. Now there was hurrying to and 
 fro ; in hot haste the stewards ran from berth to berth, uncom- 
 fortable sounds were heard on every hand, and the passengers 
 groaned and moaned, and bitterly lamented that they had come 
 to sea. At breakfast this morning only one solitary individual 
 made his appearance in the first cabin, and he contented him- 
 self with a basin of gruel. 
 
 July 25th. — Incidents of the storm : Capt Ilsley has been 
 tumbled out of his berth for the first time in his life ; the bar- 
 ometer has gone down to 28 2-10, lower than he ever saw it 
 before. A child died during the night. A sea struck the ship 
 and almost drowned some of us in six feet of brine on deck. 
 
 July 26th. — A funeral at sea. The body of the child that 
 died yesterday was this morning launched into the deep, amid 
 the solemn silence of the passengers and crew. The doctor 
 read the funeral service. 
 
 We now begin to look upon the ship as a kind of home, 
 and walk the deck with a sailor's swing. 
 
Anniversary — My Valedictory. 381 
 
 August 1st. — Barometer, 30 2-10, being two inches of 
 mercury higher than it was on the twenty-fifth. The sea smooth 
 and lake-Uke. 
 
 August 3rd. — I make the acquaintance of a priest onboard, 
 one L'Abbe Chappi, superior of the Brothers of St. Joseph of 
 Mars, in France. He gives me lessons in French and I give 
 him lessons in English. He says pronouncing the English words 
 will break his teeth. 
 
 August 5th. — We see lots of stormy petrels ( " Mother 
 Carey's chickens,") which the sailors say contain the souls of 
 drowned sailors. South Belle Isle in sight. " Land ho ! " 
 
 North Belle Isle — Aurora borealis — a glorious sight. 
 
 August 9th. — Gulf of St. Lawrence — A butterfly flies over 
 the ship, though we are out of sight of land. 
 
 August 12th. — The St. Lawrence river. The Island of 
 Orleans. Get a glimpse of Montmorency Falls. Arrive at 
 Quebec, the Gibraltar of Canada . 
 
 August 13th. — Mr. Jones tells me now, that a few days ago 
 the coal in the " Sarah Sands " took fire, and that it was with some 
 difficulty that it was put out. We were saved from a terrible 
 calamity. This circumstance was only known to two or three 
 of the passengers at the time. Thus was prevented a panic. 
 
 TORONTO AND MONTREAL IN 1853. 
 
 When Mr. Pennington had finished reading the journal, a 
 general conversation ensued, regarding the great strides 
 that have been made in the matter of ocean navigation, and 
 regarding the development of Canada and her commerce since 
 the time of the " Sarah Sands." In 1853 it took the old 
 *' Sarah " twenty-three days to cross the Atlantic, whereas re- 
 cently the " Campania" made the run from Sandy Hook to Queens- 
 
382 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 town, in five days, fourteen hours and twenty-seven minutes.* 
 Forty years ago one solitary ocean steamship made Montreal 
 her port, and not long since as many as twenty-three Atlantic 
 steamers were counted at one time in the harbor of the eastern 
 metropolis. When Messrs. Pennington and Jones arrived on 
 this side, the G. T. E. was just putting on its swaddling clothes, 
 as it were. There were then only two hundred and fifty miles 
 of railway in the two Canadas. To-day the total railway mileage 
 of the Dominion is 15,000. 
 
 The year he landed, Mr. Pennington's son gathered mush- 
 rooms in a field near the present site of the Windsor Hotel in 
 Montreal, and at that time green fields and orchards stretched 
 away just north of Queen street in this city (Toronto). 
 
 {Toronto Empire, August 18th, 1893.) 
 A VISIT TO THE MAMMOTH CAVE, KENTUCKY, JUNE, 1861. 
 
 Railway officers, in their travels through the country, have 
 opportunities of seeing some of nature's wonders. On one 
 occasion I was on a business trip in Kentucky, and being near 
 the celebrated Mammoth Cave, I paid a visit to it and wrote a 
 description which appeared in some Canadian, United States 
 and English papers. As the narrative may be of interest to my 
 readers, I repeat it here : — 
 
 This gigantic freak of nature is situated 95 miles from 
 Louisville, Kentucky, and is reached by a ride of 84 miles on the 
 Louisville & Nashville Railroad to Cave City station, and a stage 
 drive of nine miles beyond. There is an hotel near the mouth 
 
 * The steamship " Labrador " of the Dominion Line, sailed from Liverpool on 
 the 6th July, 1893, and left Moville, Ireland, on the 7th at 3.07 p.m., arriving at 
 Quebec on the 14th at 4.05 p.m., deducting 45 minutes' detention at Rimouski landing 
 mails, thus making her net time 7 days and 13 minutes between Moville and 
 Quebec. The " Labrador " reached her wharf at Montreal on the 15th July at half - 
 past one p.m. 
 
Anniversary — My VaXedictcry. 383 
 
 of the cave, with accommodation for 200 guests, and there, in 
 ordinary seasons, assemble people from all countries, attracted 
 by the fame of this king of caves ; but this season will (unfor- 
 tunately for the proprietors) be an exception to the general rule. 
 Men's minds are too much occupied with the din of war to care 
 much about natural curiosities ; although the State of Kentucky 
 is still quiet, it is surrounded by the burning lava of war, which 
 may at any moment burst its bounds and overspread this beau- 
 tiful country.* 
 
 The Mammoth Cave was discovered, some 60 years ago, by 
 a hunter, who chased a wolf into the entrance, then thickly over- 
 grown with wood. It was a hot morning last June, that the 
 writer, with a friend, and " Nick," a negro guide, started to explore 
 the cave, having first secured a basket of provisions, four lamps, 
 and some Bengal lights. The thermometer stood at 85° in the 
 shade, but on approaching the entrance to the cave its near 
 presence was felt by the sensible and agreeable change of 
 temperature, until coming opposite the mouth, when the cool air 
 came out with a rush, like a current of air passing through an 
 ice-house. The temperature inside the cave is said to remain at 
 59" all the year round. The entrance presented a large, dark, 
 irregular, gloomy-looking vault ; but after descending an incline 
 for a short distance, we entered the main avenue, five miles in 
 length, from forty to sixty feet in height, and from 50 to 100 feet 
 
 * March, 1862. — The vicinity of the cave, since my visit has been the scene of 
 bloodshed and strife. Bowling Green, Green, Cumberland Rivers, and "Fort 
 Donnelson," all places of note during the fratricidal war, are at no great distance. As 
 an incident of the present war, and in connection with my visit to the Mammoth Cave, 
 I may relate that my companion explorer referred to above, when travelling through 
 Michigan some three months afterwards, was pounced upon by the United States 
 police as a spy, or one giving aid to the Confederate States, and without a trial was 
 hurried off to Fort Lafaj-ette, from thence to Fort Warren, where he was confined for 
 about three months ; but finally liberated at the instance of Lord Lyons. A heavy 
 claim has been made upon the American Government for his unwarrantable imprison- 
 ment. My friend is a British subject and holds a commission in the Canadian 
 Militia. I never heard that he recovered anything (1894). 
 
384 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 in width. In one part are the remains of three or four huts, 
 where, many years ago, a kind of hospital was established, on 
 the supposition that the dry state of the air and even tempera- 
 ture might be beneficial to some of the "ills that flesh is heir 
 to " ; but the experiment failed, the parties, no doubt, finding 
 that the light of the sun was absolutely necessary to the preser- 
 Tation of health. 
 
 During the war of 1812, these peaceful haunts resounded 
 with the busy hum of men, and the lowing of oxen, for the 
 purpose of manufacturing saltpetre. The vats and wooden pipes 
 are still in a good state of preservation ; even the hoofs of the 
 oxen and the ruts of the cart wheels are visible in the clay, now 
 hard and dry as stone, and in one spot we picked up some frag- 
 ments of Indian corn cob, where the oxen had been fed. 
 
 The top of the cave was in some places perfectly smooth 
 and white, as if plastered ; in others, coloured with various dark 
 shades, presenting grotesque figures of an Indian and his squaw, 
 a spread eagle, an ant-eater, etc. In another, the roof, which 
 was 100 feet in height, was fretted with small glittering spots, 
 resembling the starry heavens on a bright clear night, which, by a 
 little artistic skill of the guide, became overcast by a dark cloud, 
 and the moon appeared to rise in a far distant part of the cave. 
 This scenic display of " Nick's " was perfection. 
 
 The sides of the cave presented an endless variety of fantas- 
 tic forms, cut and shaped with all the lines of oddity as well as 
 beauty, and bore evident proof of being formed by the action of 
 water, at some remote period, when a great river must have 
 rolled through these caves. 
 
 Another avenue of two miles in length, and about the same 
 as the other in height and width, contained some immense 
 stalactites, forming a venerable Gothic chapel, with pulpit 
 •complete ; when illuminated by a Bengal light, the interior of 
 
Anniversary. 385- 
 
 York Cathedral and Westminster Abbey sink into insignificance 
 when compared with this gorgeous spectacle. Enormous columns, 
 formed by the dripping of water, support the massive roof, 
 covered with an endless variety of apparently carved work of the 
 most complicated description. " Nick " said that a marriage was 
 solemnized here some years ago by a romantic couple, who 
 persuaded a clergyman to officiate on the occasion. The lady 
 had, it appears, promised her mother that she would never 
 marry a man on the face of the earth, so (as Nick said with a 
 chuckle) she went into the earth, and thereby got a husband and 
 kept her vow at the same time. 
 
 Continuing our journey, we arrived at what appeared to be 
 the end of the cave in that direction, but the guide entered a 
 narrow slit in the rock called " Fat Man's Misery." Now the 
 writer has a certain rotundity of form ; hence he thought this 
 was the termination of his travels, but by going sideways he 
 managed to squeeze through, and came out into the Fat Man's 
 Misery, only three feet high, from which we passed into the 
 Happy Relief, a large roomy hall. "We then began to descend, 
 and the tinkling of water was heard in the distance. A short 
 walk brought us to the river Styx, a dark and gloomy-looking 
 water, which we crossed by a wooden bridge. Near this was the 
 " Bottomless Pit," down which we threw a blazing piece of paper 
 and we watched it fly from one side to the other until it reached 
 the bottom, 100 feet below. A little further and we came to a 
 small lake, over which we crossed in a boat, continuing on for 
 about a mile through a variety of immense vaults, and among 
 huge rocks hanging over the roof and spreading over the floor of 
 the cave in wild disorder, as if shaken by an earthquake ; while 
 at other places the rock was smooth and worked as if with a 
 chisel, presenting in one case a beautiful arch, which having no 
 particular name, we called " Victoria Bridge," and Nick promised 
 
 25 
 
386 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 to jot that down for the benefit of future explorers. Echo river 
 was then reached ; it takes its name from the remarkable echoes 
 that may be heard. A shout or pistol shot is repeated 20 or 30 
 times, until the sound dies away in the distance. In winter, or 
 during great floods in the rivers without the cave, this one rises 
 and fills the cave for many miles, high as the roof, rendering 
 that portion impassable. Entering a flat-bottomed boat, we 
 pushed ourselves along a distg^nce of three-quarters of a mile 
 through the most intricate passages under shelving rocks, where 
 we had to lie down in the bottom of the boat ; then out into a 
 large high tunnel, or into an immense dome, which when illumi- 
 nated by a Bengal light, shone as if sparkling with a canopy of 
 diamonds. The river is four hundred feet below the surface of 
 the earth, and is in many places forty feet deep ; it is celebrated 
 as containing the eyeless fish, one of which our guide caught, 
 along with two small cray-fish. We examined them closely 
 when alive, but no vestige of an eye could be seen. The writer 
 brought them away as trophies, and now has them preserved in 
 spirits.* 
 
 We travelled on until we reached a point six miles from the 
 mouth of the cave, when the writer's lamp showed signs of extinc- 
 tion, and on asking the guide for oil he said he had none, and 
 the deposit was three miles beyond. This was rather startling 
 news, for we had crossed the river, the boat was consequently on 
 our side, no one therefore could reach us without a boat, and 
 should all the lamps go out, to return was impossible. " Nick " 
 " guessed " that the lamps would hold out, but we had no faith, 
 and commenced a retreat at a good pace ; but upon approaching 
 Echo river, " Nick " was observed to kick the sand near a shelv- 
 ing rock, and out came a bottle of oil, which he had deposited 
 
 * October 1894. The fish still retain their shape at the bottom of the closely sealed 
 vial, but the apple-whiskey, put in to preserve them, has nearly all made its escape. 
 
Anniversary. 387 
 
 there a year before ; it was white and thick, but after softening 
 it. we were able to trim all the lamps, and go on our way with much 
 satisfaction. After re-crossing the river, we turned down a branch 
 of the cave where we had to crawl upon our hands and knees for 
 several hundred feet, until we came to " Mammoth Dome," 100 
 feetin height, the sides quite perpendicular, with immense grooved 
 pillars, formed by running water, which was still dripping down 
 the sides. Another avenue brought us to " Gorham's Dome," and 
 the guide told us to place ourselves before an opening in the 
 rock, much like a small window. He then disappeared with all 
 the lamps, and shortly after an immense hall was gradually 
 brought into view, 200 feet in height, and of great extent. The 
 sides, by the action of water, have been worked into immense 
 •columns with fretted cornices of the most complicated kind, 
 as if touched by the chisel of an accomplished sculptor. 
 The roof was hung with stalactites, and as the water oozed down 
 the side, which glistened and reflected back the Bengal light 
 thousands of times, it presented a picture of dazzling splendour, 
 of which no words can give even a faint idea. 
 
 Another part of the cave was called the " Hall of Monu- 
 ments." These consisted of pyramids of stones piled up by 
 visitors. Canada, England, and other countries had its pile, also 
 most of the States of the Union. Here was Maine in close prox- 
 imity to South Carolina, Alabama with Massachusetts, and so on. 
 Little did the builders think that in a few years they or their 
 children would be at deadly strife with each other, and that the 
 " Glorious Union " would be tarnished by the blood of its citizens. 
 " Washington Hall," another famous dome of lofty dimensions, 
 was next visited, the roof of which was covered with fine pointed 
 spar resembling frost work, which, when illuminated, shed forth 
 myriads of brilliant scintillations. 
 
 We did not go as far as ^he ** Maelstrom," which is nine 
 
888 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 miles from the entrance of the cave. It is described as a terrible 
 looking pit of unknown depth. It is said to have been explored by 
 a young man some years ago, but the guide doubted the truth of 
 his statement. We were told that to visit the Mammoth Cave, 
 with all its branches, a person must walk a distance of 90 miles ; 
 as there is only one entrance, the ground must be gone twice 
 over, making the extent of the cave 45 miles in length. We, of 
 course, only got a cursory glance at some of its principal points 
 of attraction, and came out after a six hours' visit, having walked 
 about 14 miles. On emerging from the mouth we found the heat 
 overpowering ; the sudden change from 59° to 90° was much like 
 going into an oven. 
 
 This spring another large cave was discovered, about seven 
 miles from the Mammoth Cave. It has been explored for many 
 miles, and is full of immense stalactites, yet free from the hands 
 of destroyers, who in the Mammoth Cave have broken and car- 
 ried off hundreds of rare curiosities. 
 
 THE PRINTING PKESS. 
 
 The following article on " The Press,'' by the author, ap- 
 peared in the Fleetwood (Eng.) Chronicle, March 9th, 1844 : — 
 
 " The Press ! " all lands shall sing ; 
 The Press, the Press we bring ; 
 
 All lands to bless : 
 Oh, pallid want ! oh, labour stark ! 
 Behold we bring the second ark ! 
 
 The Press, the Press, the Press. 
 
 — Ebenezer Elliot. 
 
 There are many inventions which tend (when properly 
 directed) to the welfare of mankind, among which stands pre- 
 eminently above all others, the noble art of printing. What a 
 great change has this art produced in the world ; all other in- 
 ventions sink into insignificance when compared with it; it 
 
The Printing Press. 389 
 
 indeed may be looked upon as the forerunner of other inventions 
 and discoveries, for it has acted as a stimulus to the minds of 
 men, inasmuch as it has given them the means to leave a record 
 of their thoughts, inventions, and discoveries behind them, for 
 the benefit of future generations. 
 
 The Press has done more towards the spread of civilization 
 than all the other inventions and discoveries ever made. By 
 the Press, knowledge of the best kind has been printed in all 
 languages and extensively circulated in all climes, thereby bene- 
 fiting commerce, uniting nation with nation, humanizing and 
 improving all, and inculcating the principles of Christianity in 
 bXI parts of the known globe. 
 
 The Press may be made a powerful engine either for the 
 spread of virtue or of vice, but it is cheering to reflect that it 
 preponderates on the side of virtue, and that a marked improve- 
 ment is continually going on. Even the penny papers which 
 deluge the whole country, are fast undergoing a change for the 
 better; of course, many have been unexceptionable since their 
 commencement ; such as the Penny and Saturday Magazines, 
 Chambers's Journal, etc., but what I wish to be understood, is, 
 that those publications which have been denominated the Penny 
 Trash are improving ; some are leaving out the outrageous cari- 
 catures and disgusting advertisements which have disgraced 
 their columns, while others, such as the Family Herald have 
 sprung up, giving an amount of interesting, amusing and valuable 
 intelligence, which must not only reform the penny papers, but 
 have a very beneficial effect among the great bulk of the people 
 who are in the habit of reading these publications. 
 
 The Press has done much towards our comfort and hap- 
 piness ; the broad sheet is continually issuing forth, placing the 
 passing events of the day constantly before us ; in it we behold 
 not only what is going on in our own town, our own country 
 
390 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 but we have the latest intelligence of events which have taken 
 place in all parts of the world. 
 
 The Press has given to all classes the means to acquire 
 knowledge; the most humble individual can now wend his way 
 through the flowery beds of poesy ; can ramble through the- 
 mazy fields of fiction ; can climb the rugged steep of Mount 
 Vesuvius, and look into its burning crater with Sir William 
 Hamilton ; can visit the ice-bound shores of the North Pole with 
 Captain Eoss ; can sail in thought over the great Pacific and 
 Atlantic oceans, and round the world, with Capt. Cook ; can 
 explore the catacombs, pyramids, and ancient relics of Egypt 
 with Belzoni ; can examine the geological structure of the globe 
 with Professor Sedgwick ; can analyze the minerals and subtle 
 fluids of the earth with Sir Humphrey Davy ; can penetrate 
 space itself with the telescope of Sir John Herschel; can in. 
 fact bring back the past, look on the present, and speculate on 
 the future, with the great and the good men of all nations. 
 
 He who invented the art of printing, and they who have- 
 brought it to its present state of perfection, cannot be sufficiently 
 eulogized ; they deserve a world's thanks, for they have made 
 
 " Dead letters thus with living nations fraught 
 Prove to the soul the telescope of thought ; 
 To mortal life a deathless witness give, 
 And bid all deeds and titles last and live : 
 In scanty life eternity we taste. 
 View the first ages, and inform the last : 
 Arts, Hist'ry, Laws, we purchase with a look. 
 And keep, like Fate, all nature in a book. " 
 
Petroleum. 391 
 
 • ' Many a row 
 
 Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed 
 With naptha and asphaltus, yielded light 
 As from a sky." — Paradise Lost. 
 
 PETROLEUM. 
 
 In process of time we get so accustomed to the use of an 
 article that we quite forget its value. He who can go back, in 
 memory, to the days of the rush-light, the farthing candle, the 
 " short eights," the expensive parafine candle and wax taper, 
 can fully appreciate the discovery and use of petroleum as an 
 article for illuminative purposes, and which is now much cheaper 
 than the old rush candle, a score of which would not give as 
 much light as an ordinary common coal oil lamp. 
 
 It may seem somewhat out of place to introduce such a sub- 
 ject here, but the Author has thought that some little reference 
 to this wonderful product might be interesting to his readers : — 
 
 The origin of petroleum or, as it is termed, coal oil, is a sub- 
 ject which has been much discussed by geologists, and many 
 different opinions have, from time to time, been given as to how 
 it was produced in such large quantities. I remember hearing, 
 more than thirty years ago, a lecture on the subject by the late 
 Dr. T. Sterry Hunt. His theory seemed the most probable. I 
 cannot give it in the Doctor's exact words, but give it as nearly 
 as I can recollect. He said that in some very remote period of 
 the earth's history the ocean in certain localities was, by more 
 than a tropical sun, kept in a tepid state, and that there grew 
 upon its surface extensive beds of rich and luscious sea weeds 
 and plants, intermixed with soft gelatinous animals in enormous 
 quantities, that these drifted into bays and creeks many feet in 
 thickness, and by some great convulsion of nature they were 
 buried in the bowels of the earth and subjected to immense pres- 
 sure, which converted them, after many centuries, into the black 
 
392 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 oil or petroleum we now see flowing on the earth's surface, or 
 pumped from great depths. 
 
 Petroleum is not a " new gift of nature." It has been known 
 by the Eed Indians for centuries, and was used by the *' Six 
 Nations " as a medicine under the name of " Seneca Oil." The 
 " gum beds " or congealed oil, which covered some acres of land 
 on lot 16, second concession of Enniskillen, Ontario, had long 
 been known ; and it was here in 1858 that the late J. M. Williams, 
 ex-M.P.R, and Eegistrar of Hamilton, Ontario, first discovered 
 flowing petroleum and applied it to practical use. 
 
 The freightage of coal oil from Petrolia has been a source of 
 large revenue to the railways, especially to the Grand Trunk. 
 The following statement by C. M. Sinclair appeared in the Illus- 
 trated Buffalo Express of October 13, 1892: 
 
 PETROLIA OIL WELLS. 
 
 There are 3,535 wells. During 1891 there was shipped 
 from Petrolia a total of 892,271 barrels of petroleum, and during 
 the ten years ending on December 31, 1891, a grand total of 
 6,770,354 barrels, or about 1,354,070 tons. 
 
 TESTIMONIALS TO THE AUTHOR. 
 
 On January 1st, 1848, testimonials, consisting of a litho- 
 graphic view of the departure of the Queen and Prince Albert 
 from Fleetwood, and a very elegant eight days' time-piece, were 
 presented to Myles Pennington on his leaving the town of Fleet- 
 wood for Stoke-on-Trent to fulfil an engagement as Goods Mana- 
 ger of the North Staffordshire Eailway. The first, by the Society 
 of Kechabites, of which Mr. Pennington was a member, and the 
 latter by the officers and workmen in the employ of the Preston 
 & Wyre Railway. Mr. Pennington in returning thanks, and bid- 
 ding adieu to his friends and associates of eight years, said, 
 speaking of the capabilities of Fleetwood as a port, that he 
 believed it was destined to become one of the most important on 
 the Lancashire coast. (Abridged from the Fleetwood Chronicle). 
 
The Authoi-'s Valedictory at Eighty Years of Age. 393 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYII. 
 
 THE AUTHOR'S VALEDICTORY AT EIGHTY YEARS OF AGE. 
 
 " Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty ; 
 For in my youth I never did apply 
 Hot and rebellious liquors to my blood ; 
 Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo 
 The means of weakness and debility ; 
 Therefore, my age is as a lusty winter — 
 Frosty but kindly." 
 
 — Old Adam, in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." 
 
 IN bringing this work to a close, the author, now probably the 
 oldest railway man living in the world, takes the liberty of 
 making a few general remarks, by way of a valedictory, to rail- 
 way employees, who now form such a large and important body 
 of men in all parts of the civilized globe. 
 
 It will be admitted by all that no undertaking requires such 
 a steadiness of character and clear-headedness as that of the 
 workers of a railway. They have at all times in their charge an 
 immense amount of property, and what is more important, the 
 very lives of their passengers. It is safe to say that the great 
 body of railway men, as to their general character for intelli- 
 gence, probity, and sobriety, are equal, if not superior to any 
 other class of men, and that a constant improvement is 
 going on. 
 
 The author remembers that on the early English railways 
 much trouble arose from old habits of drinking amongst the 
 ■employees, which in many cases caused loss of life and property. 
 
394 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 It is satisfactory to know that this evil is much reduced ; but it 
 still exists. The author has seen so many good men and brother 
 officers come to grief, ruin and an early death by an indulgence 
 in alcoholic liquors, that he has long since come to the conclusion 
 that the only safety valve is that of total abstinence from the 
 article in whatever shape or guise it may be offered. 
 
 If there is one thing more than another in the author's 
 past life to which he looks back to with pleasure, it is that, when 
 a very young man, he was led to take an active part with others 
 in the organization of the first strictly temperance or teetotal 
 society, and if spared long enough may, from a personal stand- 
 point, give a correct history of those remarkable and beneficent 
 institutions which, during the last sixty years, have done so 
 much to soberise a world. The use of alcoholic liquor, as an 
 article of diet, is unnecessary and always more or less injurious to 
 men in health. This is borne out by the evidence of thousands, 
 especially working men, who have abstained for thirty or forty 
 years. 
 
 Lord Brassey (a higher authority could not be produced), in 
 his book on " Work and Wages," says : " The taste for drink- 
 ing among a large number of working people in this country 
 (England) has been excused on the ground that hard work 
 renders a considerable consumption of beer almost a necessity. 
 But some of the most powerful among the navvies are teetotal- 
 ers. On the Great Northern Eailway there was a celebrated 
 gang of navvies who did more work in a day than any other 
 gang on the line, and always left off an hour earlier than any 
 other men. Every navvy in this powerful gang was a teetotaler^ 
 
 Some years ago the author visited a county gaol to see its 
 governor (a former railway officer), and in a talk with him the 
 author was pained and astonished to find that two men, once his 
 associates, who had held high positions on railways in England 
 
The Author's Valedictory at Eighty Years of Age. 395 
 
 and Canada, had on more than one occasion been brought to the 
 gaol on a charge of drunkenness and confined in prison cells. 
 
 Another case which came under the author's observation 
 was that of three railway men who came to Canada and held 
 good situations on Canadian railways ; but in a few years two 
 out of the three fell victims to strong drink, lost their situations, 
 and have long since passed away. 
 
 Any one of mature years will, on looking back, call to mind 
 cases as disastrous as the above, of friends and connections who 
 have been led to ruin by this same terrible evil, and such things 
 call upon us in the strongest language to speak out and spare 
 not, and to say with the Queen's physician, Sir Andrew Clarke,* 
 "It is when I myself think of all these evils of intemperance 
 that I am disposed, as I have said elsewhere, to rush to the 
 opposite extreme — to give up my profession ; to give up every- 
 thing and to go forth upon a holy crusade, preaching to all men, 
 * Beware of this enemy of the human race.' " 
 
 Solomon, The Wise, says : — 
 
 " Look not thou upon the wine when it is red ; 
 When it giveth his colour in the cup ; 
 When it moveth itself aright : 
 At the last it biteth like a serpent. 
 And stingeth like an adder," 
 
 — Prov. xxiii. 31, 32. 
 
 HENKY ANDERTON. 
 
 The following beautiful lines, by Henry Anderton, are here- 
 with given in grateful remembrance of a dear old friend and 
 brother railway-colleague of the author. The poet was born in 
 
 * Sir Andrew Clarke died November 6th, 1893. He was Gladstone's adviser, and 
 was also consulted by the late Sir John A. Macdonald and the late Sir John Abbott. 
 
^96 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 1808 at Walton-le-Dale, Preston, England, and died at Bury, 
 June 21st, 1855 :— 
 
 NATURE. 
 " How beautiful is all this visible world ! " — Byron. 
 
 There's something bright and glorious 
 
 In the Sun's first earthward glance 
 When from his bed he riseth 
 
 Like a giant from a trance ! 
 Or when the eye o'erpowering 
 
 With his full meridian ray, 
 O'er Heaven's cerulean pavement, 
 
 He hurries on his way ! 
 
 There's something vast and glorious 
 
 In the Sea, the deep profound, 
 Who claspeth like a lover 
 
 The Earth, his mistress, round ! 
 As an infant's sleep unruffled. 
 
 Or tossing the glittering brine. 
 Dark, dread, and pathless Ocean, 
 
 What majesty is thine ! 
 
 There's something fair and glorious 
 
 In this little speck of ours. 
 In the plumes of her wing'd warblers. 
 
 And the painting of her flowers ! 
 In her fresh and vernal carpet, 
 
 In her pebble-troubled rills, 
 In her wild, untrodden forests, 
 
 And her everlasting hills ! 
 
 There's something far more glorious 
 
 In the faith that says " I know, 
 From the void and formless chaos. 
 
 Who bade these wonders grow ! " 
 Bend ! reverently, my spirit ! 
 
 Before that Being fall. 
 Whose wisdom first created, 
 
 Whose power sustaineth all. 
 
 As Tiny Tim said : " God bless us all." 
 
SIR HUGH ALLAN. 
 
Addenda. 397 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 THE publishing of this work has been unavoidably delayed for 
 some time, but this, to some extent, has been an advantage, 
 it having enabled the Author to much enlarge the scope of the 
 work by adding, at least, twenty-five per cent, to its contents, 
 and giving many more illustrations than were first intended when 
 the circular, announcing the book, was issued. The Author has 
 added several more sketches of railway men — has said something 
 about the Columbian Exposition; the trade and commerce of 
 Canada; much more about ocean steamships — has made some 
 remarks on competition, freight rates, wheat carrying, emigra- 
 tion, etc., all of which are burning questions of the day. He 
 has also given some original articles, written by the Author long 
 ago, including a visit to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, the 
 Author's Fortieth Anniversary in Canada,, etc., etc. 
 
 The subjects dealt with have been numerous, and as the 
 Author had mainly to depend upon his memory for the details^ 
 he has doubtless omitted many things which he would like to 
 have said. Some subjects have come up after the last chapter 
 was in print and are now given here. 
 
 SIR HUGH ALLAN. 
 
 In the early years of the Grand Trunk Railway, the Author 
 saw much of, and had often to consult, the late Sir Hugh Allan, 
 particularly as regards the through bill of lading system between 
 railway and steamship, explained in another part of this book,. 
 
398 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 and the work would be incomplete without specially referring to 
 Sir Hugh Allan, as he was undoubtedly the father of ocean 
 steamship navigation between Great Britain and Canada. 
 
 Sir Hugh was a man of wonderful energy and will power. 
 He and his brothers fought through difficulties which would have 
 deterred most men, and made them to despair and give up the fight 
 as one perfectly hopeless ; but Sir Hugh's motto was " Onward," 
 and he and his brothers finally triumphed. 
 
 Considering Sir Hugh's many duties, it was amazing how 
 he got through his work. 
 
 In the early history of the line, during winter when the 
 steamer sailed from Portland on a Saturday, Sir Hugh might 
 have been seen the night previous taking his seat at Longueuil 
 (Montreal) in a Grand Trunk ordinary car bound for Portland, 
 Me. ; there sitting bolt upright for ten or twelve hours trying to 
 dose as best he could. There were no cosy Pulman sleeping cars 
 at that time where a man might rest his weary head. 
 
 After attending to the business in connection with the 
 steamship, and seeing her off from Portland, he would return, 
 having another dreary night ride to Montreal. 
 
 I remember hearing Sir Hugh state that sometimes, when he 
 had visitors at his home, and they might remain until near mid- 
 night, when they had gone home he would go into his home 
 office and there work a couple of hours before going to rest, and, 
 notwithstanding this, he would be the first at the breakfast table 
 next morning. 
 
 The following interesting sketch is taken from that valuable 
 work, " Dent's Portrait Gallery " : 
 
 ** Mr. Hugh Allan was born at Saltcoats, on the Firth of 
 Clyde, in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 29th September, 1810. His 
 father, late Captain Alexander Allan, was a shipmaster, who had 
 all his life been employed on vessels trading between the Clyde 
 
Addenda- 399 
 
 and the St. La'wrence. Hugh was the second son of his parents. 
 At the age of thirteen he entered into the counting-house of 
 Allan, Kerr & Co., at Greenock, in the shipping trade, where he 
 remained about a year, when his father advised him to emigrate 
 to Canada. He sailed from Greenock in the ship Favourite 
 on the 12th April, 1826. His father was the captain of the 
 vessel, and his elder brother was the second officer. 
 
 Hugh soon obtained a situation in the commercial estab- 
 lishment of Wm. Kerr & Co., Montreal. The business was dry 
 goods, etc. He was thus engaged three years. The business, 
 as a whole, did not suit his taste. He returned with his father 
 to Greenock, where he remained the winter. He again sailed 
 from Greenock for Montreal on the 5th xipril following, in a new 
 vessel belonging to his father, the Canada. He then entered the 
 services of the late Mr. James Miller, who then carried on an 
 extensive shipping business in Montreal. After spending five 
 years in the employ of Miller & Co., Mr. Allan was admitted as 
 a junior partner. In 1838, Mr. Miller, the senior partner in 
 the firm, died. The style of the firm thenceforward became 
 Edmonston & Allan, which subsequently became Edmonston, 
 Allan & Co. Under various changes of style, the firm has 
 steadily increased in prosperity, and its business has grown to 
 momentous proportions. Its present style is Hugh and Andrew 
 Allan, Andrew being a younger brother of Sir Hugh. In 1851 
 the firm first began to build iron screw steamships. 
 
 The Canadian, the first vessel of that description, made her 
 first trip in 1853, and in the following summer the service of 
 mails was commenced which continues to this day. The his- 
 tory of the firm from that time down to the present is the history 
 of Canadian maritime commerce. During the visit of Prince 
 Arthur to this country in 1869, he was the guest of Mr. Allan at 
 his princely residence of Eavenscraig, in Montreal, and at his 
 
400 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 summer villa on the shores of Lake Memphremagog. For his- 
 courtesies to His Eoyal Highness, and in recognition of his great, 
 services to Canadian and British commerce, Mr. Allan was, in 
 1871, knighted by Her Majesty as Sir Hugh Allan of Eavenscraig. 
 
 Sir Hugh is a Director in many important commercial,, 
 banking and other enterprises, of some of which he was the- 
 original promoter. Principally among these may be mentioned 
 the Merchant's Bank, the Montreal Telegraph Co., etc." (1880.) 
 
 Sir Hugh Allan, while on a visit to England, died very sud- 
 denly in London, in December, 1882. 
 
 The Allan Line, as stated above, commenced with the- 
 Canadian in 1853. Her consort, the Indian, was built the same- 
 year, followed by the North American and Anglo-Saxon in 1854. 
 
 The total fleet now consists of thirty-three fine steamships,. 
 the value of which, in round numbers, may be estimated at front 
 seven and a-half to eight million dollars. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aberdeen, Lord, 317, 318. 
 
 Accountant's Error, 166. 
 
 Act of Parliament, 51. 
 
 Accidents, Coach, 302, 371. 
 
 Acton Mine, 360. 
 
 Agents, Station, 222-227. 
 
 AUport, Sir James, 57, 61, 217. 
 
 Allan Line, 141. 
 
 Allan, H. SL, 289. 
 
 Allan, Sir Hugh, 142, 355, 397, 400. 
 
 Allan, Andrew, 399. 
 
 Allan Montague, 289. 
 
 Alison, Francis, 226. 
 
 Anderton, Henry, 42, 43, 199, 392. 
 
 "Angels of Mercy," 167. 
 
 Anniversary, 40th, 379. 
 
 Apprentice, 23 
 
 Applicant, 199. 
 
 Apple Shipments, 143. 
 
 Arnold, Bicbard, 161. 
 
 Arkwright, Sir R., 23. 
 
 Ashdown's, 349. 
 
 Atlantic Cable, 328, 336. 
 
 Audit Office, 134. 
 
 Aylwin, Judge, 261. 
 
 Babies (World's Fair), 247. 
 Baby (Edison's), 342. 
 Bates, Billy, 33. 
 Bailey, Henry, 112, 151. 
 Baker, Brackstone, 203. 
 Barlow, Peter, 178 
 Bath (Queer One), " 258. 
 "Barley King," 213. 
 Beaty, James, 84. 
 Beck, Myles, 33, 34. 
 Betts, Contractor, 81. 
 Beecher, Dr. and Edward, 261. 
 Bear Story, 89. 
 Bell, G. F., 203. 
 Bell, Robert, 146, 261. 
 Bell, John, 147. 
 Bell, Thomas, 167-203. 
 Bell's Steam Boats, 311. 
 
 Beers, Dr., 363. 
 
 Belleau, Hon. N. F., 261. 
 
 Bidder, S. P., 39, 46, 49, 77, 81, 85, 88, 
 
 119, 122, 231, 356 
 Bidder, Geo., 85. 
 Bigelow, Hon. Jno. P., 261, 267. 
 Billings, L., 136. 
 Bills of Lading, 142, 144, 322. 
 Black well, T. E., 98, 111, 172. 
 Black, Geo.,. 327. 
 Blockstand, Pres., 305. 
 Bond, Richard, 282. 
 Boatmen (Canal), 27. 
 Boulders of the Sea, 45. 
 Boots (Burning), 81. 
 Bourlier, H. C, 93. 
 Bowes, Hon. J. G., 261. 
 " Bowled Out," 375. 
 Bourret, Hon. Jos., 260. 
 Boutwell, Governor, 261. 
 Bourinot, Dr. J. G., 317. 
 Bradshaw, Geo., 53. 
 Broughton, Fred., 64, 168, 187. 
 Brassey, Thos., 81. 
 Brassey, Lord, 81, 392. 
 Brassey, Lady, 81. 
 Brown, Adam, 107, 108. 
 Brydges, C. J., 112, 120, 153, 167, 169, 
 
 181, 184, 186, 189, 213, 216. 233. 
 Brooks, Joseph, 136. 
 Bride, Thos. Mc, 108. 
 Brunnel, E. K., 320. 
 Brown, Hon. Geo., 261.' 
 Bridgewater, Duke of, 213, 276. 
 Brougham, Lord, 279. 
 Browning, Robert, 201. 
 Bright, Hon. John, 240, 333. 
 British Empire, 363. 
 Bremner, A., 341. 
 British Management, 356. 
 Buckland, Dr., 302. 
 Burns, R., 294. 
 Burton, John, 189. 
 Burbank & Co., 349. 
 Buchanan, President, 328, 330. 
 
402 
 
 Index. 
 
 Cartage Agency, 109. 
 
 Campbell & Black, 314. 
 
 Cave, Mammoth, 382. 
 
 Cawkwell, Wm., 62. 
 
 Carter, Sir F. B. T., 362. 
 
 Carter, P. H., 91, 339, 341, 362. 
 
 Cassell, John, 240. 
 
 Cars (Three Nights in), 128. 
 
 Cartier, Sir George E., 98, 148, 353. 
 
 " Castle " (Locomotive), 37. 
 
 "Campania," Steamship, 320. 
 
 Canadian Pacific Railway, 286. 
 
 Callaway, S. R., 182. 
 
 Callaway, W. R., 286. 
 
 Canals, 50, 310. 
 
 Capreol, F. C, 281. 
 
 *' Catastrophe," Station, 372. 
 
 Cable, Atlantic. 328, 336. 
 
 Cables of the World. 336. 
 
 Centenary, Geo. Stephenson's, 272. 
 
 Celebrations, Railway, 260, 273. 
 
 Chappi, L'Abbe, 381. 
 
 Church and Speculation, 240. 
 
 Cheerible, Bros., 136. 
 
 Christie, C. R., 138. 
 
 Charlton, James, 200. 
 
 Chicago, General Manager, 344. 
 
 Champ, W. S., 203. 
 
 Cheese, Exhibits, 347. 
 
 Cheese, Shipments, 143, 251. 
 
 Cheese, Mammoth, 346. 
 
 Chambers, Information, 316. 
 
 Chaplin & Home, 169. 
 
 Cincinnati " Enquirer," 144. 
 
 "City of Paris," Steamship, 31K. 
 
 Circuit (Telegraphic), 337. 
 
 Clearing House, 66, 69, 166. 
 
 Classification, 40, 168, 
 
 Clergyman's Scheme, 73. 
 
 Cleveland " Plain Dealer," 198. 
 
 Claims, Freight, 101, 103. 
 
 Clark, President, 305. 
 
 " Claremont," Steamer, 312. 
 
 Clark, Sir Andrew, 392. 
 
 Clark, A. M., 267. 
 
 Columbian Exposition, 343. 
 
 " Cornwall," Locomotive, 301. 
 
 Coach, Stage, 34, 36, 302, 371. 
 
 Collision, Sea, 137. 
 
 Coyle, Capt., 136. 
 
 Corser, S. T., 137. 
 
 Coleridge, Poet, 89. 
 
 Conductor, 227, 232. 
 
 Cook, Thomas, 240, 243. 
 
 Cook, John M., 241. 
 
 Cook, C. J, Bowman, 300. 
 
 Conscience Money, 355. 
 Confederation, 362. 
 Cotton, V. Snow, 358. 
 Coal, Bowmanville, 376. 
 Commerce, Dominion, 350. 
 Conrad, Hon. C. M., 263. 
 Collector (Customs), 375. 
 Crystal Palace, 343. 
 Crookall, Chas. 168. 
 Crampton, John, 190, 198. 
 Crewe Station, 378. 
 Crampton, Hon. Jno. F.,260. 
 Cumberland, Col. F., 120. 
 Cunard Line, 315, 381. 
 
 Dartnell, George, 69. 
 
 Dawson, Mr., 66. 
 
 Davidson, C, 269,272. 
 
 Dargen, Contractor, 84. 
 
 Davies, W. H. A., 360. 
 
 Dawson, S. E., 312. 
 
 Davis, A. G., 325. 
 
 Decimal Currency, 114. 
 
 " Deead Mon., 32. 
 
 Derby, Earl of, 23, 163. 
 
 Desjardins Bridge, 126, 185. 
 
 Detective's Story, 102. 
 
 Dickens, Chas., 162. 
 
 Dickey, Hon. R. B., 362. 
 
 Dickson, M. C, 194. 
 
 "Divi-Divi,"247. 
 
 Distance Limit, 251. 
 
 Dow, Thomas, 211. 
 
 Dow, Andrew, 154. 
 
 Dominion Government Railways, 21 
 
 Dominion Railways, 293. 
 
 Don Carlos, 315. 
 
 Dominion Steamer Line, 383. 
 
 Drummer's Story, 327. 
 
 Drewry, Thomas, 39, 53. 
 
 Dundas Railway, 234. 
 
 Duke of Wellington, 277. 
 
 Dunkin, Hon. C, 360. 
 
 Dwight, H. P., 325. 
 
 Earls, John, 190. 
 Eborall, Sam., 62. 
 Eborall, Colin, 62. 
 Edmondson, George, 52, 167. 
 Edgar, William, 176, 202. 
 Edison, T. A., 338-342. 
 Elliott, Mr , 124. 
 Electric Telegraph, 324-327. 
 Electric Railway, 308. 
 Elliott & Son, 350. 
 Elgin, Lord, 148, 260, 265. 
 
Index. 
 
 403 
 
 Engine (Dead), 123. 
 
 Engine Drivers, The Eight, 27& 
 
 English Railways, Early, 190. 
 
 Episode, 27. 
 
 Everett, Hon. E., 261, 263,304. 
 
 Eyre, Gen. Sir W., 269. 
 
 "Fast Life," 199. 
 
 Faraday, Prof., 342. 
 
 Fargo's Queer Bed, 367. 
 
 Fell, A., 120, 168. 
 
 Ferrier, Hon. James, 84, 148, 150. 
 
 Fenian Invasion, 169, 208. 
 
 Feat, Engine Driver's, 361. 
 
 Ferris, G. W., 345. 
 
 Ferris Wheel, 345. 
 
 Fillmore, President, 260, 263. 
 
 Field, Cyrus W., 330-336. 
 
 Field, Eev. H. M., 332. 
 
 Fish Stories, 304-366. 
 
 Fisheries, Dominion, 351. 
 
 Fisher, Mr., .350. 
 
 Fleetwood, 39-41. 
 
 "Fly Boat," 28. 
 
 " Flying Ferry," 111, 172. 
 
 Fleming, Dr. S., 312-315. 
 
 Fox, Sir Charles. 158, 159. 
 
 Forbes, John, 193. 
 
 Forgery (M. B. case), 34. 
 
 Frenclunan (Fish and Grapes), 365, 366. 
 
 Froude, William, 171. 
 
 Eraser, Alex., 203, 206. 
 
 Friendships, quickly made, 377. 
 
 " Frontenac," Steamer, 312. 
 
 Freight Agents, General, 54, 247. 
 
 Freight Rates, 249. 
 
 Freight Car's Life, 275. 
 
 Fulton's First Steamer, 311. 
 
 Gait, Sir A. T., 84, 148, 362. 
 
 Gaunt, John O., 162. 
 
 General Managers, 246. 
 
 Gisborne, F. N., 334. 
 
 Giant Fishing, 217. 
 
 Glynn, C. C, 66. 
 
 Globe Letters, 82. 
 
 Goods Managers, 54. 
 
 Goudie, James, 314. 
 
 Gordon, General, 242. 
 
 Governor General, 317. 
 
 Gold, Big Nugget, 352. 
 
 Green, W. P., 352. 
 
 Grape Culture, 367. 
 
 Graham, Mr., 186. 
 
 Grant, John Miller, 237, 238. 
 
 " Great Western" Steamship, 316. 
 
 " Grand Trunk Herald," 3;^. 
 Grand Trunk System. 284, 286. 
 Grand Trunk Pay Roll, 286. 
 "Great Eastern," Steamer, 320, 330. 
 Graham, Sir James, 299. 
 Gnage, Railway, 83. 
 Gzowski, Sir C, 119, 138, 143. 
 
 Hargreaves, John. 21, 23, 25, 29. 
 
 Harrison, Bob., 313. 
 
 Harper, Bros. 199. 
 
 Hardman, James, 91, 144. 
 
 Hallam, Alderman, 163, 225. 
 
 Hannaford, E. P., 170, 176. 
 
 Harconrt, Hon. R., 208. 
 
 Habit, Force of, 212. 
 
 Haggart, Hon. John, 215. 
 
 Haines, Capt., 320. 
 
 Haviland, Hon. T. H., 363. 
 
 Haywood, Mr., 376. 
 
 Henderson, W. K., 203. 
 
 Hendrie, William, 105, 109, 234. 
 
 Hendrie, George, 108. 
 
 Henshaw, Mr., 238. 
 
 Hecker, F. J., 273. 
 
 Hill, W.R., 228. 
 
 Hickson, Sir Joseph, 112, 121, 152, 154, 
 
 156, 173, 178, 182, 186, 207, 253. 
 Hincks, Sir Francis, 148, 260, 263. 
 Home, Sir W. Van, 305. 
 Hodges, James, 97, 98. 
 
 Howe, Hon. Jos., 260, 263, 266, 335. 
 
 Holmes, Ben., 84, 110, 261. 
 
 Holmes, Geo., 172. 
 
 Hobson, Jcs., 173-178. 
 
 Holden, Moses, 23. 
 
 Hornby, Joe., 29. 
 
 Hood, Tom., 244. 
 
 House of Commons, 248. 
 
 Howland, Sir W. P., 362. 
 
 Hughitt, Marvin, 305. 
 
 Hudson, Geo., " King," 77, 79. 
 
 Hudson Bay Co., 141. 
 
 Hubbard, Director, 156, 161. 
 
 Hunt, Thomas, 255, 256. 
 
 Huskisson, Mr., M.P.,277, 278. 
 
 Huntington & Brooks, 143. 
 
 Humane Society, 253. 
 
 Hyndman, H., 193. 
 
 Ilsley, Capt., 380. 
 
 " Indurated Bitumen," 376. 
 
 Intercolonial Railway, 215, 220. 
 
 "John O'Gaunt," Steamer, 313. 
 
 Irving, JE., 189. 
 
 Island Pond, 368. 
 
40 i 
 
 Index. 
 
 JafiEa, Sea Port, 243. 
 JackBon Park, 343. 
 Jerusalem Railway, 243-245. 
 Jenkins, Rev. J., 261. 
 Jeffrey, President, 305. 
 Jones, J. B., 92, 209, 367, 379. 
 Johnson, George, 350. 
 Judge, C, 93. 
 Judge, E., 208. 
 Jubilee, Boston, 262. 
 
 Kay, Thomas, 63. 
 Kennedy, W., 177. 
 Keefer, T. C, 148. 
 King, John, 43. 
 King, T. D., 99. 
 "Kitten," Engine. 281, 
 Kingsford, Dr. W., 140, 310- 
 Kimballs, Sec, 136. 
 Killaly, Hon. H. H., 261. 
 "Knotty Line," 49. 
 Knight, H. C, 278. 
 
 Lanning, J. J., 176, 181. 
 
 Lancaster, Town of, 21. 
 
 Lawson, E. 206. 
 
 Ladies', Agents, 226. 
 
 Lakes, Great, 310. 
 
 Lake Traffic, 309. 
 
 Langevin, Sir H., 363. 
 
 Lecompt, T,, 86. 
 
 Leamington, Town, 168. 
 
 Livesey, Joseph, 23, 43. 
 
 Liverpool and Manchester R. , 277. 
 
 Locomotive, 37, 278, 280, 295, 298, 300. 
 
 Locomotive, Long Life of one, 301. 
 
 Locomotive, Speed, 300. 
 
 London, Visits, 69, 76. 
 
 Longest Railway, 297. 
 
 Loud, John W., 209. 
 
 London and North Western R., 295. 
 
 Logan, Sir W., 360, 376. 
 
 Lottery, v. Railway, 282. 
 
 Maine, Law, 137. 
 Mackay, Dr. Chas., 21. 
 Mary Queen of Scots, 50. 
 Mania, Railway, 71-73. 
 Managers, Railway, 116-121. 
 Manvill. Allen, 305. 
 Martin, J. S., 89, 189, 237. 
 Maximilian, 140. 
 Macdonald, G., 143, 144. 
 Mackay, Alex., 193. 
 Mackenzie, J. A., 339. 
 Mackenzie, C, 109. 
 
 Madman's Telegram 369. 
 
 Manitoba, 289, 290. 
 
 Maguire, Jack, 368. 
 
 Manning, Alex., 267. 
 
 Mammoth Cheese, 346. 
 
 Mammoth Cave, 382. 
 
 Mackenzie, Hon. Alex., 213. 
 
 Macdonald, Hon. J. S., 261. 
 
 Magill, Alderman, 261. 
 
 Medal. Prince of Wales, 98, 99. 
 
 Meddaugh, E. W., 173. 
 
 Meredith, H. H., 181. 
 
 Merry, W. A., 150. 
 
 Merit, Order of, 253. 
 
 Memorial, 187, 189. 
 
 Merrill, Selah, 243. 
 
 Merritt, W. H., 261. 
 
 Millar, J. S., 138, 207, 328. 
 
 Midnight Meeting, 369, 
 
 Miramichi Fire, 218. 
 
 Mitchell, Hon. Peter, 363. 
 
 Morrison, Kenneth, 64. 
 
 Morrison, Johnny, 32. 
 
 Moose Deer, 100-101. 
 
 Monument, 99, 126, 160. 
 
 Monkey Passenger, 374. 
 
 Mortgage— Big One, 173. 
 
 Mottos, 261. 
 
 Mose, Conductor, 231. 
 
 Mowat, Sir Oliver, 368. 
 
 Molson, Hon. Jno., 261, 312. 
 
 Mosely, General Manager, 224. 
 
 Morris, Hon. W., 261. 
 
 Moving Bodies, 362. 
 
 Muir, W. K., 125, 151, 182, 199, 219. 
 
 Murphy, James, 236. 
 
 Murphy, Engineer, 178. 
 
 McNab, Sir Allan, 113, 260. 
 McNamee, 177. 
 McGee, D'Arcy, 88. 
 McMillan, James, 166, 199, 274. 
 McDougall, Hon. W.,363. 
 McDonald, Hon. A. A,, 363. 
 
 Napoleon, 85, 
 Narrow Escape, 204. 
 Nature— A Poem, 393. 
 Newcombe, W. L, 65. 
 Nelles, R. L., 105, 208, 210. 
 Newcastle, Duke of, 98. 
 New England Railways, 268. 
 Newell, President, 30.5. 
 New York vs. Quebec, 355. 
 Nights (Three in Cars), 128. 
 " Nile," Steamer, 41. 
 
Index. 
 
 405 
 
 ^'Nickel Plate" RaUway, 143. 
 
 North Staffordshire Railway, 85, 225, 256. 
 
 Nugget, Gold, 351. 
 
 Ocean Steamships, 313 to 320. 
 Officers, G. T. R., 1856, 273. 
 "OldProbs," 111,137. 
 "On the Line," 293. 
 Ontario's First Railway, 281. 
 Ontario's Big Map, 350. 
 Operators' Duties, 327. 
 Ormandv, F.,65. 
 O'Brien,' Brontere, 88. 
 Orr, WiUiam, 214. 
 Owen, Sir Richard, 162. 
 "Outram Roads," 275. 
 
 Paton, Hugh, 107. 
 
 Packet Boat, 31. 
 
 Painting, Historic, 101. 
 
 Paving Stones, 45. 
 
 Parliament — Old Act, 51. 
 
 Pants and Mail Bag, 211. 
 
 Payette, Louis, 238. 
 
 Pasley, Sir Charles, 17.5. 
 
 Pay Roll, G. T. R., 280. 
 
 Paxton, Miss, 262. 
 
 Percy, Charles, 180. 
 
 Peto, Sir M., 81, 140. 
 
 Pease Edward, 51-52. 
 
 Petroleum, 391. 
 
 Perkins, Fred, 267. 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert. 277. 
 
 Phonograph and Baby, 342. 
 
 Pickford & Co., 23, 104. 
 
 Pig— A Tale, 378. 
 
 "Plain Dealer," 198. 
 
 Poachers, Game, 28. 
 
 Potteries, 49. 
 
 Pool, Braithwaite, 55, 199, 377. 
 
 Porteous, John, 177, 185. 
 
 Port Hiuron, " Daily Times," 19, 152. 
 
 Pocket-A Big One, 360. 
 
 Power, N., 202. 
 
 Portland, Me., 83, 328. 
 
 Pottinger, David, 215, 217. 
 
 " Pooder In," 258. 
 
 Preston, Town of, 23. 
 
 Preston & Wyre Railway, 40. 
 
 Prince of Wales, 98-99, 242. 
 
 Printing Press, 388. 
 
 Price, Jos., 127, 189, 203. 
 
 Pro. Rata, 248. 
 
 Price, Hon. J, H., 26L 
 
 Pullman, G., 113-114. 
 
 Pup— A Lady's Muff, 374. 
 Purkis, G. W., 325. 
 
 Quakers. The Three, 51, 54. 
 Quincy, Hon. J., 261, 263. 
 Queen Victoria, 328, 330, 353. 
 Queen Mary, 50. 
 Quirk, John, 193. 
 Quebec's First Railway, 280. 
 Quebec vs. New York, 355. 
 
 Railways, 26, 36, 39, 44, 293, .304. 
 
 Railway Management, 116, 121. 
 
 Railways of the World, 297. 
 
 Railways, U. S. and Canada, 280. 
 
 Railways, Early English, 116, 118. 
 
 Rates of Freight, 29. 145. 
 
 Reith, George, 142, 150, 152, 291. 
 
 Reeves, Mr., 177. 
 
 Reynold, Thos., 203. 
 
 Red River— Incident, 29L 
 
 Reid, Geo. Lowe, 236. 
 
 Relative Size of Steamships, 320. 
 
 Ritchie, H. K., 205. 
 
 Risen from the Ranks, 304. 
 
 Riel, Louis, 349. 
 
 Ross, Hon. John, 84, 148, 161. 
 
 Ross, A.M., 96, 98. 
 
 Ross, Hon. A. M., 176. 
 
 Ross, John, 97. 
 
 Ross, Colin, 204. 
 
 Rose, Sir John, 273. 
 
 Roberts, John, 31-32. 
 
 Roney, Sir Cusack, 84, 98, 237. 
 
 Robertson, Professor, 347. 
 
 "Rocket" Engine, 278, 298. 
 
 "Royal WiUiam," Steamer, 314, 317. 
 
 Robbers, Canal, 27. 
 
 Rogers, M. & S., 313. 
 
 Runaway Engines, 35. 
 
 Ruddack, J. A., 347. 
 
 Ryerson, Pvev. E.,261. 
 
 Sampling Liquor, 35. 
 Salt, Sam, 63, 199. 
 "Sarah Sands," Steamer, 81, 380. 
 "Savannah'' Steamer, 313. 
 Sailing Craft, Dominion, 321. 
 Sanderson, Mr., 86. 
 School Days, 22. 
 Schultz, Hon. Dr., 349. 
 Schreiber, C, 215. 
 Secret — How Discovered, 75. 
 Seargeant, L. J., 154, 156, 173, 176. 
 Shanly, Walter, 87, 92, 119, 122, 142 
 148, 151, 178. 
 
406 
 
 Index. 
 
 Shedden, John, 105, 108. 
 
 Shares, Railway, 79. 
 
 Shipping Notes, 105. 
 
 *' Shunted and Stuck," 378. 
 
 Shea, Sir Ambrose, 362. 
 
 Shea, R, A., 193. 
 
 "Sirius," Steamer, 316. 
 
 Sleeping Car, 113, 129. 
 
 Sleeper, Mr., 360. 
 
 Smiles, Dr. S., 75. 
 
 Smith, President, 305. 
 
 Smith, Sir Frank, 176. 
 
 Smith, Jno., " Barley King," 213. 
 
 Smith, Rev. Sydney, 336. 
 
 Snider, Conductor, 232. 
 
 Snow vs. Cotton, 858. 
 
 Song — Agents, '223. 
 
 Song— G. T. R. Labourer, 357. 
 
 Spicer, W. J., 169, 176, 339, 341. 
 
 Spriggs, G. B., 187, 195, 198, 211. 
 
 Spence, G. S., 209. 
 
 Sportsman's Paradise, 216. 
 
 Staffordshire Knott, 49. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 163. 
 
 " Stand Ups," 59. 
 
 Stephenson, Geo., 39, 180, 233, 235, 272, 
 
 276, 278, 299, 302. 
 Stephenson, Robt., 85, 96, 98. 
 Stephenson, Jas., 92, 160, 176. 
 Stephenson, G. R., 97. 
 Stevenson, P. S., 168, 185. 
 Stephens, W. C, 203. 
 Stark, David, 140. 
 Stratton, F., 184. 
 
 Stockton & Darlington Railway, 277. 
 Steamships, 92, 311, 321, 400. 
 Station Agents, 222, 224, 227. 
 Storey, Mr., 341. 
 Sturgeon, Tales of, 364. 
 Submarine Cables, 336. 
 Sun vs. Locomotive, 302. 
 Swinyard, Thos., 120, 167, 184, 189, 196, 
 
 198 199. 
 Swords, Patrick, 291. 
 
 Tablet Unveiled, 317. 
 Taylor & Bro., 143. 
 Tandy, Thos., 187, 190. 
 Taylor, Jos., 199, 275. 
 Table Cloth— A Big One, 269. 
 Tache. Hon. E. P.,260. 
 Teetotaler, 43, 392. 
 Temperance, 42, 170, 393. 
 .Telegraph, 324, 327, 337. 
 ' Teutonic," Steamship, 318. 
 
 Testimonials, 47, 86, 92, 122, 127, 152, 193,. 
 
 220, 235, 236, 392. 
 Telegram, A Madman's, 369. 
 Thermometer, Victoria Bridge, 99. 
 Thames Tunnel, 178. 
 Tillinghast, Jas., 120. 
 Tiffin, W. R., 192. 
 Tibbits, Cap., 207. 
 Tilley, Sir S. L., 362. 
 Toronto G. & B. R., 209. 
 Toronto's Address, 267. 
 "Tossicated" (tossed about) Passenger^ 
 
 369. 
 Todd, J. H., 351. 
 Tollgate Man, 25. 
 Towej, Jno. M., 305. 
 Town, Vice. P., 305. 
 Tram Roads, 26. 
 Trunk, Mysterious, 31. 
 Trent & Mersey Canal, 51. 85. 
 Trevithick, Richard, 88-89. 
 Trevithick, F. H., 89, 301. 
 Train- No Driver, 254. 
 Tutbury Castle, 50. 
 Tunnel, St. Clair, 172, 178, 300. 
 Tupper, Sir Chas., 362. 
 Tyler, Sir Henry, 173, 178, 286. 
 
 United States Railways, 296. 
 United Kingdom Railways, 293, 295. 
 
 Victoria Bridge, 86, 95, 98. 
 Vivian, Andrew, 89. 
 Vidal, Hon. Mr., 176. 
 Vocabulary, U. S., 357. 
 Valedictory, 393. 
 
 Way Bills, 25, 323. 
 Watkin, Sir E., 153. 
 Walklate, Goods Manager, 65. 
 Wainwright, W., 157. 
 Walker, W., 109. 
 Walker, J. Fred, 165. 
 Wallace, W., 182. 
 Walsh, James, 327. 
 Wallingford, A., 194. 
 Wagner Cars, 113. 
 Wallis, Herbert, 161, 176. 
 Watt, James, 311. 
 Webster, Hon. Dan., 260, 263. 
 Webster, S. T., 101, 143. 
 Welland Railway, 87. 
 Weatherston, Jno., 233, 236. , 
 Weatherston, N., 219, 355. 
 Wellington, Duke, 277. 
 Webster, A. F.,320. 
 
Index. 
 
 407 
 
 Whiskey vs. Wool, 30. 
 Whiskey Line, 89. 
 Whiskey and Maine Law, 359. 
 White, Arthur, 187, 192. 
 Whyte, William, 210. 
 Wheat Rates, 251. 
 Wiman. Erastus. 138, 326. 
 Witnesses in London, 69. 
 WiUiams, F. S., 66. 
 Wilkie, W., 109. 
 Wilson, Hon. Chas., 261. 
 Wily, Walter, 207. 
 Wily, Arthur, 208. 
 Witton, Mr., 201, 
 
 Winnipeg Special, 289. 
 Winans, Governor, 177. 
 Winthrop, Hon. C. W.. 261. 
 Wicksteed, G. &. H., 317. 
 Wordsworth's Sonnet, 303. 
 Wood, O. S., 326. 
 World's Bailways, 297. 
 Wragge, Edmund, 158-159. 
 Wright, Robert, 179. 
 Wylds Great Globe, 351. 
 Wyre Rjulway, 39, 41, 48, 85. 
 
 Young, Hon. Jno., 96, 98, 148. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 TO 
 
 Railways and Other Ways 
 
 BY 
 
 MYLES PENNINGTON. 
 WITH PORTRAITS AND SKETCHES 
 
 OF 
 
 The Pi-esident, Vice-President, General Manager, 
 and Other Officers of the Ke^v G. T. R. 
 System; also Some looted American 
 Railway Pioneers, incliiding Com- 
 modore Vanderbilt and Others 
 
 "lamneitker a prophet mar the mm of a prophet, yet J will rentvre to prtdiet that man]) in thit room 
 wttl lire to hear the tcAictle ef the loeowtotire i<t the paesea of the Roetn Mountain*, and make the joHmey 
 from Haltfax to the Pacific in five or *ix dayi.'—From a speech by thp Hon. Joseph Howe, in Halifax, 
 N.S., in 1851. 
 
 TORONTO : 
 
 WILLIAMSON & COMPANY. 
 
 1896. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 TO 
 
 RAILWAYS AND OTHER WAYS. 
 
 CONTENTS : 
 
 PAOB3. 
 
 Sir Charles Rivers- Wilson, G.C.M.G., C.B., President of the Grand Trunk 
 
 Railway of Canada— Sketch and Portrait 5 
 
 Mr. Joseph Price, Vice-President G.T.R.— Sketch and Portrait 8 
 
 Speeches of the President and Vice-President in London 8-11 
 
 Banquet to General Manager L. J. Seargeant on his Retirement from that 
 
 Position 11 
 
 The Governor-General's Telegram 13 
 
 Chief Justice Sir Alexandre Lacoste's (Chairman) Speech 13 
 
 Mr. L. J. Seargeant's Reply 14-16 
 
 Sir Mackenzie BoweU — The Premier's Address 17 
 
 Sir Adolphe Caron's Speech 18 
 
 Hon. J. A. Ouimet's Speech 19 
 
 Mr. Charles M. Hays, General Manager of the G.T.R. System— Sketch and 
 
 Portrait 20 
 
 Wabash Officials' Testimonial to their Ex-G«neral Manager, Mr. Charles M. 
 
 Havs - 22 
 
 Mr. W. J. Spicer's Retirement from the Chicago and Grand Trunk 
 
 Managership 24 
 
 Mr. Geo. Bell Reeve, General Traffic Manager of the G.T.R. System- 
 Sketch and Portrait 24 
 
 Mr. James Stephenson's Retirement as Superintendent of the G.T.R 26 
 
 Testimonial to Mr. Jas . Stephenson 27 
 
 Mr. F. H. McGuigan, General Superintendent of the G.T.R. System- 
 Sketch 27 
 
 Mr. Jno. W. Loud, General Freight Agent of the G.T.R. System— Sketch . . 29 
 Mr. W. E. Davis, Greneral Passenger and Ticket Agent of the G.T.R. System 
 
 -Sketch 30 
 
 Mr. G. H. Bell, Assistant General Passenger and Ticket Agent of the 
 
 G.T.R. System— Sketch 30 
 
 Mr. John Earls Retires from District Freight Agency — Another Position. . . 31 
 
 Mr. Robert Quinn, Division Freight Agent of the G.T.R. — Sketch 31 
 
 Mr. H. W. Walker, (ieneral Auditor of the G.T.R.— Sketch and Portrait. . . 32 
 
 The Old G.W.R. and G.T.R. Good Railway Schools 32 
 
 Mr. E. P. Hannaford, C.E., Engineer of the G.T.R., Retires from the 
 
 Service 32 
 
 Mr. Joseph Hobson, C.E,, Appointed Engineer of the Whole of the Grand 
 
 TrunkSystem 32 
 
ii. Contents. 
 
 Mr. Herbert Wallis, Ex-Mechanical Superintendent of the G.T.R.— Sketch 
 
 and Portrait 33 
 
 Magnitude of the Grand Trunk Rolling Stock 34 
 
 A Train 172 Miles in Length 34 
 
 The " Circular System " West of Toronto 34 
 
 New Departments — Mr. F. W. Morse, Supt. of Motive Power— Mr, W. 
 
 McWood, Supt. of Car Department— Other Old G.T.R. Officers 35 
 
 Early Directors of the G.T.R 36 
 
 Present Directors of the G.T.R 36 
 
 Photographic Group of 1860 —An Explanation 37 
 
 Mr. W. L. Malcolm, of New York— Sketch and Portrait 38 
 
 Mr. A. D. Penfold, General Auditor of the Merchants Despatch, New York 
 — His Essay on Noted Railway Men of the Past — C. J. Brydges— 
 
 Commodore Vanderbilt, etc.— Sketch and Portrait 39-41 
 
 The Great Snow Blockade of March, 1896 — Worst Storm for Years— 
 " Shunted and Stuck "—The Superintendent's Story— The "Globe's" 
 Staff Among the Drifts— The Sierras Beaten— 500 Excavators— A Snow- 
 Shovel Army— The Lost Freight Train— Union Station (Toronto) Goes 
 to Sleep for a Season — Battle with the Elements— All Previous Records 
 
 Beaten 42-47 
 
 The Electric Railway Craze — Another Railway Mania Brewing — A Road on 
 
 " Stilts " Projected -A Prediction— A Warning from 1845 47-48 
 
RAILWAYS AND OTHER WAYS. 
 
 PREFACE TO THE APPENDIX. 
 
 IT is deemed necessary to offer some explanation as a reason 
 for the addition of this appendix. Since the publishing of 
 this work important changes have taken place in the directorate 
 and management of the Grand Trunk Eailway, and it was 
 thought advisable, with a view to the completeness of the work, 
 to give a short account of these changes up to date, with por- 
 traits and sketches of the gentlemen now having charge of the 
 great pioneer Canadian railway. 
 
 Some remarks have been made of the want of system or 
 continuity in arrangement of the subjects treated of in the book. 
 To this the Author would state that much of the earlier part of 
 the work was actually in print before the latter part of it was 
 written or even thought of. 
 
 The book being one mainly of reminiscences of events and 
 circumstances occurring during a long life, these were apt to 
 crop up in the Author's mind at different times and without any 
 order in their coming ; but it may be observed that each subject 
 is independent of the one which follows, and to facilitate the 
 finding of any particular article, sketch, or incident, without 
 
iv. Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 much loss of time, a very copious index, in alphabetical order, 
 will be found at the end of the book. 
 
 The title of the work may, to some extent, have been looked 
 upon as one on Railways only, but a glance at the list of contents 
 will show that this is not the case. 
 
 The indefinite term " Other Ways " left a wide opening to 
 treat almost upon any subject under the sun, and the words 
 were introduced for that purpose, and matters other than that of 
 Railways have been given. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the work may be found useful as one 
 of reference on the commencement and progress of some of the 
 great public undertakings which, during the near closing century, 
 have made such remarkable revolutions in the movement of 
 people and merchandise, by land and water, to and from all parts 
 of the world ; also, that it may correct some errors which have 
 crept in as to early railway, river, and ocean steam navigation, 
 the electric telegraph, etc. 
 
 It may also be of interest as a reference to the names of 
 those who have figured in the construction, supervision, and 
 management of the means of transit which have sprung up in 
 little more than the last half century. 
 
 In addition to his own reminiscences, the Author has gath- 
 ered other information from all available sources, more particu- 
 larly from the newspaper, which may be classed as the real his- 
 torian of every day in the year. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Toronto, 1896. 
 
SIR CHARLES RIVERS-WILSON. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 SIR CHARLES RIVERS-WILSON, Q.C.n.Q., C.B. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY OF CANADA. 
 
 SIR CHARLES RIVERS-WILSON was born in London, 
 England, February 19, 1831, and was educated at Eton 
 and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. 
 in 1853 ; passed a competitive examination, and was ap- 
 pointed a Clerk in the Treasury February, 1856 ; was Private 
 Secretary to the Financial Secretary from 1856 till 1858 ; 
 to the Permanent Secretary from 1858 till Decem- 
 ber, 1868, and Acting Private Secretary to Mr. Disraeli (late 
 Earl of Beaconsfield) from August, 1867, till February, 1868. 
 Was appointed (conjointly with the late Professor Graham) Brit- 
 ish Representative at the International Coinage Commission in 
 Paris in 1867, and Secretary to the Royal Commission on Inter- 
 national Coinage in 1868 ; was Private Secretary to the Right 
 Hon. R Lowe, Chancellor of the Exchequer from December, 1868, 
 till April 1873, when he was appointed Comptroller- General of 
 the National Debt Office. Was recommended by Her Majesty's 
 Government, at the request of the Khedive, for a financial post 
 under the Egyptian Government, and proceeded to Egypt in 
 March, 1876, but returned to England in the following June, 
 and resumed his duties at the National Debt Office. Was ap- 
 pointed one of the Representatives of Great Britain on the Coun- 
 cil of the Suez Canal Company, July 29, 1876. Was appointed 
 
6 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 a Koyal Commissioner for the Paris Exhibition of 1878, January 
 22, 1877. Returned to Egypt in 1878, and was, successively, 
 Vice-President of the Commission of Inquiry, Minister of Fi- 
 nance, and President of the International Commission of Liqui- 
 dation for the settlement of the Egyptian finances. Returned to 
 his duties at the National Debt Office in 1880. Was one of the 
 British Representatives at the International Monetary Congress 
 at Brussels in 1892. 
 
 Retired from the Comptroller Generalship of the National 
 Debt in 1894. Elected President of the Grand Trunk Railway of 
 Canada in 1895. 
 
 Was made C.C.B. 1876. 
 
 K.C.M.G. 1880. ^^ 
 
 G.C.M.G. 1895. 
 
 Has received Her Majesty's permission to wear the Turkish 
 Order of the Ist class of the Medjidieh, granted to him for ser- 
 vices in Egypt. 
 
 MR. JOSEPH PRICE, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE G. T. R. 
 
 At page 127 of this work will be found a portrait of Mr. 
 Price of twenty-one years ago, with a few remarks of my own 
 recollections of him when he was Treasurer of the old Great 
 Western Railway of Canada. I now give a more complete bio- 
 graphy of Mr. Price's career, more particularly as a railway 
 financier, as well as an authority on railway questions on both 
 sides of the Atlantic ; also a portrait of Mr. Price at the pre- 
 sent time, 1896. 
 
 Mr. Price first entered railway service in July, 1855, in the 
 audit office of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway 
 
Appendix. 7 
 
 at Manchester. Subsequently he was appointed to the Chief 
 Accountant's office as Chief-Bookkeeper of the general accounts 
 of the Company, While in that position he prepared a compre- 
 hensive comparative statement of the Capital and Revenue 
 accounts of the principal English and Scotch Railways. This 
 statement attracted the attention of some Capitalists who had 
 large holdings in American Railway Bonds, and by them Mr. 
 Price was sent to the United States to prepare for them similar 
 statements of American Railways ; and he left England for the 
 United States on the Ist October, 1859. Soon after his arrival 
 there, he was offered the position of Treasurer with charge of 
 the accounts of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railway (now the 
 Chicago & Alton, but then in the hands of a Receiver). He 
 remained at Chicago through the Receivership, and afterwards 
 with the reorganized Company, until December 1st, 1864, when 
 he accepted a similar position on the Great Western Railway of 
 Canada (now amalgamated with the Grand Trunk Company), and 
 remained there eleven years, the last year of which he occupied 
 the position of General Manager. His health had broken down 
 in the meanwhile ; and, on his return to England in 1875, he 
 underwent a serious operation, from the effects of which he was 
 an invalid for several years. On his recovery he established in 
 London the well-known institution called the EngUsh Association 
 of American Bond and Shareholders, of which he became the 
 Managing Director, and has remained in the same position since 
 its establishment in 1884. During that period he has been con- 
 nected with nearly every reorganization of American Railways. 
 In October, 1894, he was requested by some of the large 
 holders of the securities of the Grand Trunk Railway Company 
 
8 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 to join an independent Committee of Shareholders then forming, 
 and which led to a reorganization of the Board of the Grand 
 Trunk Company, of which he was appointed Vice-President, with 
 Sir C. Eivers-Wilson, G.C.M.G., C.B., as President. 
 
 THE O. T. R. HALF-YEARLY MEETING OF 8HAEEH0LDERS IN THE COM- 
 PANY, HELD AT LONDON, ENGLAND, OCT. 30, 1895. 
 
 {Extracts from the Speeches of the President and Vice-President, 
 taken from the ^'Railway News.") 
 
 Sir Charles Rivers-Wilson said : "I must now mention a 
 matter of peculiar interest and extreme importance to the 
 shareholders. Mr. Seargeant will, on January 1st next, conclude 
 his long and honourable career in your service, and will 
 be succeeded in his post as General Manager by Mr. Charles 
 M. Hays, at present the Vice-President and General Manager of 
 the Wabash Railway Company. Nothing has caused the Board 
 greater anxiety than the selection of the officer who is to fill this 
 high, responsible, and most arduous position. The qualifications 
 for the post of General Manager of these great trans-Atlantic 
 railroads are extremely varied, and are most difficult to find 
 united in the same person. We believe that in Mr. Hays we 
 have secured a man of exceptional ability, of thorough integrity 
 and of complete knowledge, as well as of what I may call rail- 
 way politics as of the technical handling of a railroad in all its 
 details. We shall ask you to elect Mr. Seargeant, who is return- 
 ing to England, to fill the existing vacancy on the Board, and in 
 doing so we feel that we are proposing a measure which will be 
 extremely useful to the Company, and will lend strength to the 
 Board to whom Mr. Seargeant's intimate acquaintance with 
 
JOSEPH PRICE. 
 
Appendix. 9 
 
 every portion of the system and every detail of the administra- 
 tion will be of signal advantage. (Applause.) In Canada and 
 America it is probable that a reorganization of certain portions 
 of the staff may be effected, which, as pointed out in the report, 
 would be attended with economy and increased efl&ciency : but 
 we have thought it best to defer taking any conclusive steps 
 with this object until after the new Manager has taken office, and 
 is able to confer with the Board as to the measures to be adopted. 
 Before leaving this subject I desire to place on record our appre- 
 ciation of the zeal and intelligence of the officers with whom 
 my colleagues of the deputation and I came into contact while 
 in Canada. We were also excessively struck with the excellence 
 and the high character of the large body of workmen in the 
 shops which we visited. "We were happy to find that they 
 appeared well satisfied with the conditions of their employment, 
 were interested in their work, and proud of their connection with 
 the Grand Trunk Company. I must add, on behalf of the 
 entire Board, that they desire to bring to the notice of the 
 shareholders the able and loyal services of the London staff, and 
 to express their particular obligation to Mr. Walter Lindley, their 
 Secretary, for the ready and able assistance he renders to them 
 at all times." 
 
 Mr. Joseph Price, Vice-President, said : " Referring to the 
 statement in the Report showing the increase of the mileage of 
 the Railway and in the fixed charges, I do not want to go into 
 full details and show where the mistakes have been made. I 
 will only take one instance ; that is the case of the Great 
 Western, which I was connected with for fifteen years, long 
 before the fusion. The Grand Trunk Railway at the time of the 
 
10 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 fusion had 1,480 miles of railway, and its fixed charges came to 
 ^6425,000. They took in the Great Western Kailway, 808 miles, 
 and added, virtually, to the charges in front of the Grand Trunk 
 first preference stock as much as the entire fixed charges of the 
 Grand Trunk Kailway— that is to say, they valued the Great 
 Western at the same price as they valued the Grand Trunk- 
 That was where the mistake was made. There was too much 
 paid for it, and too much paid for the other lines. One of the 
 effects of the fusion of the Great Western with the Grand Trunk 
 was that, whereas the former, when worked as an independent line, 
 did a very large business from Chicago via Detroit to the East- 
 ern States ; that business was, shortly after the union, almost 
 entirely lost. The Michigan Central was controlled by the New 
 York Central, and the whole of our business is now done by 
 means of the Sarnia Tunnel and the Suspension Bridge of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway. There is no use crying over spilt milk 
 unless you can get some of it back again, and I think we can get 
 a great deal of this lost traffic back again ; and in appointing 
 Mr. Hays as the General Manager of the Grand Trunk, we have 
 the very man to do it. He is the General Manager of the Wabash 
 Eailway, which has not only a connection with the Grand Trunk, 
 but he has also a connection with our great competitor, the Can- 
 adian Pacific. The Canadian Pacific can only reach Chicago 
 over the Wabash Railway, and, therefore, Mr. Hays comes to us 
 with full knowledge of all the circumstances in connection with 
 this business. He is quite a young man, only forty years of age, 
 and a man full of energy, a strict disciplinarian, and very much 
 liked by his people. I feel sure in appointing Mr. Hays we have 
 done right." 
 
Appendix. 11 
 
 Mr. Price further said : "I am one of the four 
 Directors who proceeded to Canada and returned about three 
 weeks ago. It is not altogether a very pleasant duty that of the 
 inspection of a very large system of railway like the Grand 
 Trunk. We travelled over 4,000 miles of railway, and during 
 the whole of that time I do not think that on more than one day 
 was the thermometer below 90 degrees. Now, travelling over a 
 very dusty country through clouds of sand and dust, as we did 
 through Michigan, was not a very pleasant occupation, but it was 
 one which we had to do. We had not to travel as ordinary pas- 
 sengers, but in the rear of the train, in the observation car, with 
 eyes strained on the track from morning till night for three 
 weeks, and that is very hard work. With regard to the condi- 
 tion of the roadway, I would say that, although of course there 
 have been forced economies on the Grand Trunk, the line has not 
 been starved, and is in good order. Some financial periodicals 
 published a statement six months ago from a writer in Canada, 
 who said that as he travelled over the line he saw the rear end of 
 the rails going up as the cars struck the first part. How that 
 could be possible it would be difficult to tell, inasmuch as the 
 Grand Trunk is fish-jointed from one rail to another, just like 
 our English railways, as you will understand if you travel as I 
 did from Quebec to Chicago, at fifty miles an hour, with perfect 
 comfort and safety." 
 
 BANQUET TO MR. L. J. SEARGEANT 
 
 On his Retirement from the Position of General Manager of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway. 
 
 The above famous banquet was held at the Windsor Hotel, 
 Montreal, on the 17th December, 1895. It was attended by 
 
12 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 about 300 gentlemen. " It was," says the Montreal Gazette, 
 " not merely the largeness of the assembly, it was its represen- 
 tative character that was impressive. Several members of the 
 Government were present and every phase of life in the Domin- 
 ion had its representatives — the Bench, the Bar, the Army, Art, 
 Science, Letters, and Commerce in all its departments. There 
 were enough eminent American railway magnates to make the 
 gathering remarkable. All that is most powerful in Montreal 
 was largely represented, and from all the other great centres of 
 the Dominion gentlemen had come on purpose to be present." 
 Chief Justice Sir Alexandre Lacoste occupied the chair, and on 
 his right sat the guest of the evening, Mr. L. J. Seargeant. On 
 the left of the chair was the Premier, Sir Mackenzie Bowell. 
 On the Premier's left were Sir Joseph Hickson and Sir William 
 Whiteway, Premier of Newfoundland. On Mr. Seargeant's right 
 were Sir Adolphe Caron and Mr. J. P. Green, second Vice-Presi- 
 dent Pennsylvania Railway, of Philadelphia. Among the other 
 gentlemen present were : Sir William Van Home, T. G. Shaugh- 
 nessy and C. Drinkwater, of the C.P.R ; Mr. H. Montagu Allan 
 and A. A. Allan, of the Allan Steamship Line; Messrs. E. 
 Wragge, W. J. Spicer, William Wainwright, James Stephenson, 
 E. P. Hannaford, Jos. Hobson, John Burton, J. W. Loud, 
 Arthur White, John Earls, G. B. Eeeve, Charles Percy, N. J. 
 Powers, Walter Herbert Wallis, J. J. Lanning, C. K. Domville, 
 of the G.T.R ; Mr. John Torrance and John Torrance, jr., of the 
 Dominion Steamship Line ; Mr. John Bell, Q.C. ; His Worship 
 Mayor Villeneuve, etc., etc. 
 
 During the banquet the following telegram was received by 
 Mr. Seargeant from the Governor- General at Ottawa : — 
 
Appendix. 13 
 
 " At to-night's banquet I am sure there will be a cordial and 
 appropriate demonstration of widespread esteem and of heai'ty 
 good wishes on the occasion of your departure for England. 
 Permit me to offer assm-ance of thorough participation in those 
 sentiments. " (Signed) Aberdeen." 
 
 The Chairman, Chief Justice Sir Alexandre Lacoste, spoke 
 in eulogistic terms of Mr. Seargeant, but want of space will only 
 admit of a few extracts from the address being given. Sir 
 Alexandre said : *' One thing, however, speaks more eloquently 
 than my words, and that is this demonstration itself. This 
 gathering of prominent citizens bears most striking testimony 
 to the esteem and respect we all entertain for our honored 
 friend. 
 
 " Indeed, I do believe that our guest, with his characteristic 
 modesty, hardly realized before this eveuing how much confidence 
 his fellow-citizens placed in him, how they admired his talents 
 and appreciated his personal and social qualities. 
 
 " The Grand Trunk has been so closely connected with the 
 progress of om* country for the last forty or fifty years, and 
 especially with the prosperity of Montreal, that we must neces- 
 sarily consider as our benefactors those who built and worked 
 that great enterprize. 
 
 " The Presidents and General Managers of the Railways of 
 the Trunk Line and Central Traffic Association, a powerful 
 organization representing $1,500,000,000, at their meeting in 
 November last, adopted a resolution expressing their profound 
 regret that Mr. Seargeant had to sever his connection with the 
 Association, acknowledging his great usefulness and ability, and 
 on that occasion Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, the distinguished 
 President of the New York Central Railroad, paid him the com- 
 
14 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 pliment that never before his time had the harraony between 
 the Canadian and American railways been so great and sincere." 
 
 The toast of " Our Guest " was honored with three times 
 three, a tiger, one for Mrs. Seargeant, and musical honors, amid 
 a scene of extraordinary enthusiasm. 
 
 Mr. Seargeant made a lengthy and very interesting reply, 
 which was fully reported in the Montreal Gazette, covering many 
 columns of that paper, from which a few extracts only can be 
 given. 
 
 Speaking of the guests from all parts of the Dominion, and 
 especially from Montreal, Mr. Seargeant said : " It is a special 
 matter of congratulation to have enlisted the sympathy of 
 representatives of the greatest interest ever presented in one 
 country in the history of the world, the great railway system 
 of the United States, consisting, as it does, of 180,000 miles and 
 $12,000,000,000 of railway capital. 
 
 " The present generation can scarcely appreciate the condi- 
 tions attendant on locomotion during the pre-railway period of 
 Canada, and there must have been present to travellers, at that 
 era, the truth of Macaulay's statement, that 'of all inventions, 
 the alphabet and printing press alone excepted, those inven- 
 tions which abridge distance, have done most for civilization.' 
 
 " A personal friend told me yesterday that it took him, on 
 one occasion, six days to reach Toronto from Montreal. 
 
 " Let me endeavor to show you how the progress of the 
 railway system has been coincident with the prosperity of this 
 country. Speaking in round figures, the Grand Trunk in 1860 
 consisted of 1,000 miles ; in 1895, with its affiliations, of 4,200 
 miles. The Company paid out in wages, last year, upon its main 
 
A ppendix. 15 
 
 line, §8,000,000. It employs upon that part of the system 
 16,000 men, upon the whole system 20,000 men. 
 
 " We expended in Canada during the last twelve months, in 
 purchase of stores and materials, nearly $2,000,000. The capi- 
 tal accounts of the companies comprised in the Grand Trunk 
 system are equivalent in round figures to £75,000,000. In 1874 
 two million passengers were carried ; in 1894, nearly six mil- 
 lions, or more than the entire population of Canada. In 1874, 
 2,000,000 tons, and in 1894 8,000,000 tons of freight were carried. 
 The gioss receipts of the lines comprised in the Grand Trunk 
 system for the year 1894 were $21,500,000. 
 
 " The earnings of all railways in 1842 were 854,000 ; in 
 1894 nearly §50,000,000. The population in 1851 was about 
 1,800,000; in 1891 nearly 5,000,000, and now is presumably 
 between 5,000,000 and 6,000,000, which was the population of 
 England in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and a population that 
 constitutes a nation. The population of Montreal in 1851 was 
 60,000, and at present probably 250,000 ; of Toronto at the same 
 dates, 30,000 and probably 185,000. The foreign trade of Can- 
 ada's exports and imports together, in 1850, were about 830,000- 
 000 ; in 1894, 8241,000,000. 
 
 " I beheve in the future of Canada, in the development of 
 its industries, of its shipping, and of its commercial interests. 
 Canada is a young country ; its progress during the past half 
 century has been phenomenal ; its coal and mineral resources 
 are inexhaustible ; its forests, in large districts still virgin, con- 
 tain untold wealth ; its manufactures are constantly increasing 
 in importance ; it has an admirable railway system in the Can- 
 adian Pacific, which must, in the ordinary course, people and 
 
16 Mailways and Other Ways. 
 
 develop the Northwest, and that fertile and, until the last few 
 years, almost unknown part of Canada, will become the granary 
 of the world. 
 
 " You are aware that my President and three of his col- 
 leagues visited Canada in the autumn (1895) and made an ex- 
 haustive examination of the Grand Trunk system. These gentle- 
 men came perfectly unbiased to judge for themselves of the 
 property, its condition and its management, and the result was 
 entirely satisfactory to the Executive. The Board have earnestly 
 in view the expediency, in the common interest, of placing them- 
 selves in touch with the wants and commercial interests of the 
 Dominion, and they thought that after twenty-two years of such 
 close intimacy as has existed between us, that my future services 
 might be of some value to you and to themselves were my assist- 
 ance transferred from Montreal to London. The Directors have 
 paid me the compliment of ojBficially designating my career 
 among you as laborious and honorable, and the proprietors have 
 endorsed that verdict by electing me a member of the Board of 
 Directors on and after January 1st. My successor, Mr. Hays, 
 will then come into office as General Manager, and I beg of my 
 friends to extend their confidence to him as they have to me. 
 He will, I feel assured, be in every way worthy of it. I leave 
 you, gentlemen, with the knowledge that to your care and loyalty 
 and courage and patriotism is committed, in area, more than one- 
 third of the British Empire. 
 
 "I ask our distinguished Chairman's permission to borrow 
 two words of his beautiful language, and wish you all a cheery 
 * au revoir ' rather than a mournful * good-bye.' " 
 
 Interesting speeches were made by Mr. Macmaster, Q.C., 
 
Appendix. 17 
 
 the Premier, Sir A. Caron, Sir Wm. Hingston, M.D., Mr. J. D. 
 La3'ng, General Manager of the West Shore Eail\<'ay ; Hon. J. 
 A. Ouimet, Minister of Public Works ; Mr. Lucius Tuttle, Presi- 
 dent of the Boston and Maine Railway ; Sir W. Van Home, 
 President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and several others. 
 Want of space will only admit of a few extracts being given. 
 
 Sir Mackenzie Bowell, the Premier, said: "He had seen 
 the sixteen miles to which Mr. Seargeant had alluded, which 
 were commenced in 1832 and were ready for operation in 1836, 
 increased to 15,767 miles in 1894. This mileage, in actual oper- 
 ation, represented a capital of $887,975,020, to which the Parlia- 
 ment of Canada had contributed the handsome sum of S149,- 
 192,089, and had given pledges of assistance to other lines under 
 way. This, however, was not all, for the Provinces had given 
 aid to the extent of 829,368,698 ; and as an evidence of the fact 
 that the people approved of this policy, he might point out 
 that the municipalities had also rendered assistance to the ex- 
 tent of 814,178,611. These facts he regarded as satisfactory 
 evidence of the disposition of the Canadian people to keep pace 
 with their neighbors to the south in railway enterprise and in 
 the general development of the country. 
 
 " He remembered that when his father and family came to 
 Canada in 1833, it took them eight weeks and two days to cross 
 the ocean, and two or three weeks longer to make the journey 
 from Quebec to Belleville (400 miles). 
 
 " He remembered also that Archbishop Tach^ once told him 
 
 that when he first went to the Northwest Territories it took 
 
 him six months to reach Edmonton from St. Paul, Min. — a 
 
 journey which could now be accomplished in as many days." 
 2 
 
18 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Sir Mackenzie heartily wished Mr. Seargeant " God-speed " 
 on his return to his native land. 
 
 Sir Adolphe Caron said : " I had the pleasure of knowing the 
 lamented Mr. Brydges. Since then I had the pleasure of being 
 intimate with Sir Joseph Hickson, who preceded Mr. Seargeant, 
 and in Mr. Seargeant I found a friend. I am glad to see that 
 the line of distinguished managers is not going to be interrupted 
 by the appointment of Mr. Hays. A gentleman appointed by 
 such men as Sir Charles Eivers-Wilson, Mr. Price, and the 
 Directors of the Grand Trunk Eailway Company in England, 
 must be eminently fitted for the position which he is going to 
 occupy. They had, no doubt, selected him after having studied 
 his record as Manager of the great Wabash system, and con- 
 sidered that such would insure success in his new charge ; and 
 we hope he will get on as well in Canada as his predecessors 
 have done. 
 
 " In 1851, our population was a little over two millions ; it 
 is now over five millions. Our exports were then about 21 
 millions ; they are now over 117 millions. Our imports have 
 increased from 33 to 123 millions, nearly 400 per cent. We 
 had then only 159 miles of railway ; we have now 16,091. Our 
 banks have tripled in number, have gone from 13 to 38, exclusive 
 of branches. Their capital stock has increased from 16 to 62 
 millions. Our deposits have increased from about 9 to over 
 174 millions. Our bank assets have increased from 35 to 307 
 million dollars. The tonnage entered and cleared by our ship- 
 ping has increased from 2 to 20 million tons. Our railway 
 earnings have jumped from $100,000 to $35,000,000. We have 
 1,562 post offices to 601 in that year. Our lighthouses have 
 
Appendix. 19 
 
 gone from 89 to 1,440, Our mails now travel 30 millions of 
 miles per year as compared with two millions but 44 years 
 ago." 
 
 Hon. J. A. Ouimet, Minister of Public Works, said : '* Two 
 roads that preceded the Grand Trunk, namely, the Montreal 
 and Champlain connecting your city with the American fron- 
 tiers from Eouse's Point and the St. Lawrence and Atlantic 
 going towards Portland, would, in time, have been undertaken 
 by local capital. It is in this way that some of my friends 
 would have believed it to be their duty to yield to the patriotic 
 movement at the time by investing considerable sums in these 
 undertakings. When the Grand Trunk Company was organized, 
 it was found to absorb these incipient roads by indemnifying the 
 original investors by means of its own debentures. It is thus 
 that I shall have to transmit to my children the twelve or fifteen 
 thousand dollars which are now under my control, and which 
 many people would have been inclined to treat as waste paper. 
 I do not so consider them. I have, on the contrary, the firm 
 conviction that in these debentures I shall leave to my heirs a 
 fortune worth having. I have faith in the future of my country. 
 Every day I see its riches increasing and its population covering 
 more and more of our vast domains. The cities are growing 
 larger, and the farms are extending their fertile boundaries. 
 
 " One of these days the immense accumulation of Grand 
 Trunk capital will bring a return. The property will double in 
 value, and the holders of Grand Trunk shares or debentures will 
 be numbered among the fortunate of the earth. I am ready to 
 wait, and I wait with confidence." 
 
 In closing his very interesting address, the Hon. J. A. 
 
20 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Ouimet said : " I cannot help thinking that there is something 
 of egotism on our part in the demonstration of this evening. 
 We not only honor a great railroad manager this evening, but 
 we congratulate ourselves on possessing such a representative 
 and on seeing so sure a protector depart to defend us in London, 
 the soul of the commercial world, the hub of all the continents. 
 And so we wish Mr. Seargeant and his family happiness. We 
 shall be ever watching him, and his days of joy and success shall 
 be ours as well." 
 
 Sir William Van Home, in a few well chosen words, spoke of 
 the pleasure it gave him to be able to help in the honor being 
 done Mr. Seargeant. 
 
 MR. CHARLES M. HAYS, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE G. T. R. 
 
 By referring to the extracts from the addresses of Sir Charles 
 Rivers-Wilson and Mr. Joseph Price, at the half-yearly meeting 
 held in London in October last, the reader will find the particu- 
 lars of Mr. Seargeant' s retirement from the General Manager- 
 ship of the Grand Trunk Railway, and the appointment of Mr. 
 C. M. Hays to succeed him in that position. 
 
 I now add a sketch of his very unique railway career, from 
 that of a clerk on the Atlantic & Pacific Railway in '73, to the 
 top of railway position twenty-three years afterwards. 
 
 Mr. Charles M. Hays was born at Rock Island, 111., May 16th, 
 1856. He entered the railway service November 10th, 1873, as 
 a clerk in the office of the Passenger Department of the Atlan- 
 tic & Pacific Railway at St. Louis. From January to March of 
 the next year he held a more lucrative position, in charge of 
 freight accounts in the Auditor's office, and from then until Jan- 
 
CHARLES M. HAYS. 
 
/ 
 
AppeTidix. 21 
 
 uary 1st, 1877, he was a clerk in the office of the General Super- 
 intendent of the same Company. He then entered the service of 
 the Missouri Pacific, and was Secretary and Assistant to the 
 General Manager until April 1st, 1884, during which period that 
 system grew from a mileage of but little over five hundred miles 
 to ten thousand miles, the largest system in the country at that 
 time. While acting in this capacity, Mr. Hays also filled the 
 various positions of Vice-President, or Secretary and Treasurer, 
 of many of the subsidiary or branch lines of the Company. 
 
 He then accepted the position of Secretary to the Vice- 
 President and General Manager of the Wabash, St. Louis & 
 Pacific Eailway. On October Ist, 1886, he was promoted to 
 Assistant General Manager of the same road, and on July 1st, 
 1887, was made General Manager of the Wabash Western Rail- 
 way, which position he held until July Ist, 1889, when he was 
 appointed to the position of General Manager of the reorganized 
 Wabash Railroad System. On February 1st, 1894, he was also 
 elected to the office of Vice-President, filling the dual position of 
 Vice-President and General Manager. As the active executive 
 officer of this Company in the West, Mr. Hays represented the 
 Wabash Railroad as Director in the large terminal companies at 
 Chicago, Detroit, Hannibal, Des Moines, Kansas City, and St. 
 Louis. At the latter place he was Chairman of the Executive 
 Committee in charge of the erection of the great Union Station. 
 Mr. Hays entered on his duties, as General Manager of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, on January 1st, 1896. 
 
 He has always taken a prominent part in the controlling 
 Traffic Associations in the East and West, and was one of the 
 Committee of Five who drafted the Agreement for the latest- 
 
22 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 formed Association, called the Joint Traffic Association, and 
 which embraces in its membership some thirty-three of the lead- 
 ing railroads of the United States and Canada. 
 
 A TESTIMONIAL : 
 
 Wdbdsh Officials Take Leave of their Ex-General Manager, Mr. 
 Charles M. Hays. 
 
 In a quiet and unostentatious manner the officials of the 
 Wabash Kailway Company gave warm and sincere expression 
 yesterday afternoon at the Mercantile Club to their esteem and 
 regard for the ex-General Manager, Mr. Charles M. Hays, who, 
 on the first of the coming year, becomes General Manager of the 
 Grand Trunk Eailway of Canada. It was exclusively a Wabash 
 family gathering, including the heads of all departments in the 
 service, 150 fine looking men, of brains, vigor and energy, in the 
 30s and 40s of life's journey, while not a few have grown gray in 
 the service, and gone beyond the half-century mark. 
 
 A hearty round of applause greeted the ex-General Manager 
 as he entered the reception room with President Ashley, Director 
 Lawrence and General Manager Ramsey, and escorted by the 
 committee for the occasion, composed of the following gentlemen: 
 Henry A. Lloyd, Chairman ; Wells H. Blodgett, Henry L. Magee, 
 Henry H. Wellman, Milton Knight, Charles S. Crane, Edward 
 B. Pryor, Secretary. Mr. Lloyd, in a few well-chosen remarks 
 addressed to Mr. Hays, stated the object of the gathering, to wish 
 him Godspeed, and called upon Col. Blodgett to voice the senti- 
 ments of the officials. It is scarcely necessary to add that it 
 was admirably done. Col. Blodgett said in the course of his 
 remarks : — 
 
Appmid'Wi. 23 
 
 " I see here those with whom I have been associated on the 
 road for more than twenty-three years. In that time we have 
 seen many Managers come and go, but none ever came to us as 
 did Mr. Hays, and none have ever left us amid such universal 
 expressions of regret. Of all our Managers, he is the only one 
 who grew up, as it were, among us. The Wabash, as a property, 
 has experienced many vicissitudes of fortune. If it has not 
 always made money, it has always been making men. To-day 
 the traffic on more than 38,000 miles of railroad— which is more 
 than 20 per cent, of all the railroad mileage of the United States 
 — is controlled by men who have grown up and largely learned 
 their business on the Wabash." Col. Blodgett then enumerated 
 the names of those who had thus risen to high railroad positions, 
 among whom was Sir William Van Home, President of the 
 Canadian Pacific. Continuing his remarks the Colonel said : — 
 
 " Looking back over this list of names, it can be said with 
 truth that not one of them, either in his relations to the 
 company or the public, has ever betrayed his trust ; and in my 
 opinion, there is not one among them with a clearer head or 
 kindlier heart than Charles M. Hays " (Applause). 
 
 In behalf of the assembled officials, Col. Blodgett presented 
 Mr. Hays with a handsome Jergensen gold watch and chain. 
 The ex-Manager, who is only just recovering from an attack of 
 "the grip," responded with some emotion, and, reviewing the 
 Wabash history, gracefully acknowledged the loyalty and ability 
 of all the officials during his eight years of administration. He 
 was followed by President Ashley, who said many kind words for 
 the retiring Manager, with whom in his official relations he 
 had never had a single point of difference. — Abridged from the 
 St. Louis Daily Glohe-Democrat, December 22nd, 1895. 
 
24 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 O.T.R. LINES WEST OF ST. CLAIR RIVER. 
 
 Mr. W. J. Spicer, General Manager of the Chicago & Grand 
 Trunk, retired from that service in March, 1896. His connec- 
 tion with the old Great Western and Grand Trunk Railways, in 
 different positions, extended over forty-two years. (See page 
 169.) 
 
 The General Managership of the C. and G.T.R. was assumed 
 by its President, Mr. Charles M. Hays, now General Manager 
 of the whole of the Grand Trunk system. 
 
 MR. GEORGE BELL REEVE. 
 
 Mr. Reeve was appointed General Traffic Manager of the 
 Grand Trunk Railway system on the Ist February, 1896. 
 
 He was born October 23, 1840, in the county of Surrey, 
 England. 
 
 Like most of the railway officers, whose short memoirs are 
 given in this work, Mr. Reeve has risen to his present high posi- 
 tion by tact, steadiness and perseverance, always keeping in the 
 advance guard, and ever bearing the banner "Excelsior," as the 
 following characteristic sketches of the rise and progress of his 
 career will show. 
 
 In May, 1860, he entered the service of the Grand Trunk 
 Railway as a Freight Clerk ; 1862 to '63, Telegraph Operator ; 
 1863 to '65, Train Despatcher ; 1865 to '66 Relieving Agent ; 
 1866 to '73, Agent ; and 1873 to '81, Assistant General Agent of 
 the same road. 
 
 In 1881, he received the appointment of Traffic Manager of 
 the Chicago and Grand Trunk, also Traffic Manager of the 
 
GEORGE B. REEVE. 
 
AppeTidix. 25 
 
 Cincinnati, Saginaw and Mackinaw Eailway; these positions 
 he held up to February 1st, 1896, when he was fui'ther pro- 
 moted as named above. 
 
 The following extracts taken from the Railway Review, the 
 Railway Age, and the Biographical Directory, published in the 
 U.S., speak for themselves : — 
 
 " Mr. George B. Reeve, traffic manager of the Chicago and 
 Grand Trunk Railway, with headquarters at Chicago, since 1881, 
 has left that position to become general traffic manager of the 
 entire Grand Trunk system, with headquarters at Montreal. Mr. 
 Reeve was bom in England in 1840, but first entered railway 
 work in this country and with the same road he now serves. 
 Although a man of strong convictions and indomitable will, he 
 is also fair minded and willing to concede much for the sake of 
 harmony, qualities which have contributed much to the strong 
 position achieved and maintained by the Grand Trunk. His 
 fight against the so-called uniform bill of lading was a good 
 illustration of the readiness to protect the rights of shippers and 
 won from them high regard. Mr. Reeve will carry to his new 
 position the good wishes of his friends and associates alike." 
 
 " Mr. George B. Reeve, for fifteen years past traffic manager 
 of the Chicago and Grand Trunk, has been appointed general 
 traffic manager of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, with 
 headquarters at J^fontreal, Que. The traffic affairs of the 
 Chicago and Grand Trunk will be conducted by Mr. David 
 Brown, general freight agent, and Mr. W. E. Davis, general 
 passenger agent. Mr. Reeve has been in the service of the 
 Grand Trunk since May 1, 1860." 
 
26 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 " In the selection of Mr, George B. Reeve to j&ll the new and 
 highly important office of general traffic manager of the Grand 
 Trunk Railway system with its 4 or 5,000 miles of line in Canada 
 and the United States, General Manager Hays has made no mis- 
 take. Mr. Reeve has been in the service of the Company thirty- 
 six years, and for the last fifteen years has been traffic manager 
 for the Chicago Grand Trunk. He is well known from Maine to 
 Illinois and his official ability as a railway traffic officer with his 
 intimate knowledge of traffic requirements in the United States 
 and Canada and of the sources from which business can be ob- 
 tained made him the natural occupant of this important position. 
 Mr. Reeve has remained faithful to the service in which he 
 started life, refusing tempting offers from other roads, and after 
 serving the Grand Trunk under five successive managements he 
 has the reward of being selected to fill the position upon the wise 
 conduct of which the earnings of the road largely depend. His 
 intimate acquaintance with trunk line and traffic associations 
 and with the handling of through business, will be specially 
 valuable to the Grand Trunk in the very trying position of com- 
 petition in which it is placed." 
 
 MR. JAMES STEPHENSON. 
 
 Mr. Stephenson, Superintendent of the G.T.R., who, in 
 different positions, was with the Company forty years, sent in his 
 resignation in January last, on account of failing health. His 
 retirement from the service is much regretted by the vast 
 number of employees who were under him, whose love and 
 esteem he had won by his uniform kind attention to their 
 interests and welfare. 
 
Appendix. 27 
 
 Forty years of service with one company or one interest is 
 rarely met with. (See page 160.) 
 
 Mr. Stephenson retires, followed by the good wishes and 
 respect of his brother officers and the community in general. It 
 is to be hoped that by a rest from his long period of arduous and 
 continuous labors, he may once more regain perfect health. 
 
 MB. Stephenson's testimonial. 
 
 From the Employees. 
 
 Montreal, Que., April 16th, 1896. — Mr. James Stephenson, 
 ex- Superintendent of the Grand Trunk Railway, was last evening 
 presented with a small carved cabinet, containing cheque for 
 $2,000, representing the proceeds of subscriptions by Grand 
 Trunk employees of all grades to a testimonial of esteem. An 
 illuminated address accompanied the gift. — Toronto Telegram. 
 
 MR. F. H. M GUIGAN. 
 
 Mr. McGuigan succeeded Mr. Stephenson as General Super- 
 intendent of the G.T.E. It will be seen from the interesting 
 sketch of Mr. McG.'s railway career, taken from the Montreal 
 Star of February last, that he, like nearly all the railway officers 
 recorded in my book, has also risen from the ranks, and has 
 reached his present high position on much the same lines as 
 those of his predecessors, Sir Joseph Hickson, Mr. S. R Callo- 
 way, Sir "William Van Home, and many others. 
 
 " Mr. F. H. McGuigan, the new General Superintendent of 
 the Grand Trunk Railway system, is of Scotch-Irish parents, and 
 was born at Cleveland, Ohio, forty-six years ago, while his father 
 was engaged in building the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railway. He 
 
28 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 commenced his railway career, at the age of thirteen, as a water 
 boy on the Erie and Pittsburg division of the Pennsylvania Eail- 
 way, gradually working his way up until, in 1874, he had reached 
 the position of roadmaster. After seventeen years' service with 
 the Pennsylvania Eailway he left that Company, becoming, on 
 April 19th, 1880, conductor of a construction train on the St. 
 Louis and Omaha division of the Wabash Railway. He only re- 
 mained in this position for a little more than two months, being 
 appointed roadmaster on July Ist of the same year. His juris- 
 diction was extended from time to time until, on January 1st, 
 1885, he was made General Roadmaster of all the lines west of 
 the Mississippi river. Three years later he was appointed Super- 
 intendent of the same division, remaining in charge until Dec. 
 Slst, 1895, when he resigned to accept his present position on 
 the Grand Trunk Railway. 
 
 " I represent the third generation of railway men," he said, 
 laughingly, " both my grandfather and father having assisted in 
 building railways in Scotland. I should also feel some interest 
 in the Grand Trunk, for my father had the contract for building 
 a piece of the road between Toronto and Hamilton. I was not 
 very old at that time, and I had forgotten the name of the place 
 where we lived until passing over the road between the points 
 which I have mentioned, when it all came back to me." 
 
 " Can you say anything concerning your plans for the 
 future, Mr. McGuigan ? " 
 
 " Well, I should like to say that we do not intend to import 
 a whole lot of people to help us run the road ; we intend to get 
 along 80 far as possible with the very efficient and able Canadian 
 employees the road already has. In this connection I may say 
 
Appendix. 29 
 
 that in making my tour of inspection over the lines of the Grand 
 Trunk system, I have been most agreeably surprised — I say sur- 
 prised, because you know as well as I do the unkind things which 
 have been said of the old Grand Trank and its employees. I had 
 heard all sorts of stories about it, but I tell you they are not true. 
 The Grand Trunk has a most excellent force of men, and I have 
 been highly pleased with what I have seen on all sides. Some of 
 the employees are getting grey, I admit, but that is no reason why 
 they should be referred to as * fossils ; ' many of these men 
 were working for the Grand Trunk, perhaps, at the time I started 
 in to learn railroading. It is said that corporations have no 
 souls ; that is untrue, and so long as these old hands can do the 
 work assigned to them, we cannot turn them out just because 
 they may not be so lively as younger men." 
 
 MR. JOHN W. LOUD, GENERAL FREIGHT AGENT OF THE GRAND TRUNK 
 
 RAILWAY. 
 
 Mr. John Burton, General Freight Agent of the G. T. R., re- 
 tired from that service in February, 1896, to accept an impor- 
 tant railway position in the City of New York. He was succeeded 
 by Mr. John W. Loud, who was appointed General Freight Agent 
 of the whole of the Grand Trunk system, embracing about 4,500 
 miles, in Canada and the United States. 
 
 Mr. Loud's long connection with the Grand Trunk Railway 
 at different points and in various positions has given him rare 
 opportunity for learning the " ins and outs " of the freight traffic 
 on both sides of the line. 
 
 Going back about twenty-five years, Mr. Loud, then a young 
 man, is found at Montreal in the office of P. S. Stevenson, the 
 
30 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 General Freight Agent of the Grand Trunk Railway at that time. 
 Subsequently he was with Mr. John Porteous, who succeeded Mr. 
 Stevenson, in 1882, and after that he was appointed freight agent 
 at the large and fast-increasing Grand Trunk Railway freight 
 depot of Toronto. During Mr. Loud's agency here, the amalgama- 
 tion of the Great Western and Midland Railways with the Grand 
 Trunk Railway took place, and he had the entire re-organization of 
 the working of the freight department at Toronto. This, though 
 one of no little magnitude, was successfully carried out. 
 
 In 1886 Mr. Loud was promoted to the position of Commer- 
 cial Agent of the Grand Trunk Railway, with charge of the 
 through traffic at Detroit, Mich., representing the Company at 
 that large and thriving city, which has long been a great centre 
 of United States and Dominion railways. Mr. Loud here remained 
 until the further promotion named above. It will thus be seen 
 ^hat he has returned to the scene of his former labours, 25 
 years ago, then an assistant, now a principal. 
 
 MR. W. E. DAVIS, GENERAL PASSENGER AND TICKET AGENT, G.T.R. 
 
 Mr. N. J. Power, to whom reference is made at page 202, 
 retired from the position of General Passenger Agent in March 
 last, to take a position in a new department of the G.T.R., viz., 
 that of Auditor of Disbursments. Mr. Power was succeeded by 
 Mr. W. E. Davis who, for some years, has been the popular and 
 efficient General Passenger and Ticket Agent of the Chicago and 
 Grand Trunk, and in that capacity he has now charge of the 
 whole of the Grand Trunk system. 
 
 Mr. G. H. Bell, an old experienced officer, is Assistant 
 General Passenger and Ticket Agent, with headquarters at 
 Montreal. 
 
Appendix. 31 
 
 MR. JOHN EARLS. 
 
 Mr. Earls severed his connection with the Grand Trunk in 
 March, 1896, after a steady and faithful service of thirty-four 
 years. For the last twelve years he has been Western District 
 Freight Agent. (See page 191.) 
 
 Mr. Earls was mainly instrumental in forming The Freight 
 Agents' Association of Canada, and as a fitting award and 
 compliment to him, its members, at their meeting in April last, 
 appointed him Secretary-Treasurer to the Association, and 
 permanent Chairman of the different committees, at a salary, it 
 is said, of $1,700 a year. 
 
 Mr. Earls receives an income from the G.T.R. Superannua- 
 tion Fund. 
 
 MR. ROBERT QUINN. 
 
 Mr. Quinn's railway career is quite as remarkable as many 
 others described in this work. He first started on the Northern 
 Railway (now a part of the Grand Trunk), some twenty-five or 
 thirty years ago, as a clerk, but rose steadily to higher positions, 
 as agent, and Local Freight Agent in 1876, and, finally, General 
 Freight Agent of that line. 
 
 On the fusion of the Northern with the Grand Trunk in 
 1888, Mr. Quinn was transferred to Hamilton as Western Freight 
 Agent, and some time afterwards he was appointed European 
 Agent for the G.T.R., with headquarters at the great shipping 
 port of Liverpool, England. 
 
 In March, 1896, Mr. Quinn returned to Canada, once more 
 to accept his old position as Division Freight Agent of the 
 G.T.R., with office at Hamilton, Ontario. 
 
 MB. H. W. WALKER, GENERAL AUDITOR OF G.T.R. 
 
 The old Great Western Railway of Canada, as well as 
 the G.T.R. (as remarked in another part of this work), were 
 
32 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 famous initiatory railway schools, and in past times supplied 
 United States and Canadian railways with many noted officers, 
 as S. E. Calloway, James Charlton, G. B. Spriggs, John Porteous, 
 W. L. Malcolm, John Burton, A. Mackay, Abraham Fell, the late 
 Thos. Tandy and Jno. Crampton, and many others, not for- 
 getting William Whyte, E. Tiffin, and J. N. Sutherland, of the 
 C.P.R., also N. Weatherston, of the Intercolonial, and I have 
 pleasure in adding another to the list, viz., Mr. H. W. Walker, 
 whose record of advancement is as follows : 
 
 Mr. Walker was born in Brantford, Ontario, on February 
 12th, 1839. He entered the service of the Great Western Eail- 
 way, as a boy clerk, in audit offices at Hamilton, Ont., in May, 
 1854. From 1858 to 1862, was in the general office of the 
 Detroit and Milwaukee Eailway at Detroit. From February, 
 1862, to 1878, was Chief Bookkeeper in the general offices of 
 the Grand Trunk Eailway at Montreal. Accountant and Chief 
 Accountant, in succession to Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Hickson, from 
 1878 to 1896. Was appointed General Auditor of the Grand 
 Trunk Eailway, April Ist, 1896. 
 
 MR. JOSEPH HOBSON, C.E. 
 
 Mr. E. P. Hannaford, C.E., Engineer of the Grand Trunk 
 lines east of Toronto, retired from that service in January, '96. 
 His connection with the Company dates as far back as 1857. 
 (See page 176.) 
 
 Mr. Joseph Hobson was appointed, at the same time ('96), to 
 the position of Chief Engineer of the whole of the Grand Trunk 
 system, which includes all the G.T.E. lines in the United States 
 as well as those in Canada. (See page 177.) 
 
H. W. WALKER. 
 
Appendix. 3^ 
 
 MK. HERBERT WALLIS. 
 
 Herbert Wallis, Mechanical Superintendent of the Grand 
 Trunk Railway of Canada, was born at Derby, England, on March 
 10th, 1844, and comes of a family long resident in Derby, whose 
 head was for several generations engaged in the business of 
 stage-coaching. His father, Wm. Wallace Wallis, abandoned the 
 business on the advent of railways and became one of the carriers 
 or cartage agents of the Midland Railway, from which he retired 
 in favour of one of his sons some years prior to his death. Her- 
 bert Wallis was educated at the Commercial College, near Hali- 
 fax, England, and here he was specially trained in that branch of 
 the engineering profession which he now follows. On the com- 
 pletion of his education, he entered the service of the Midland 
 Railway Company as a pupil of Matthew Kirtley, then locomo- 
 tive superintendent, and was engaged in the drawing office and 
 workshops of that railway at Derby till August, 1866, at which 
 date he was appointed foreman of the locomotive and carriage 
 departments at Bradford, Yorkshire. In March, 1871, he 
 accepted a position offered to him by Mr. Richard Potter (then 
 President of the G.T.R.), of assistant mechanical superintendent 
 of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, and sailed for Montreal, 
 May 4th of that year ; and in January, 1873, he was appointed 
 chief mechanical superintendent. Mr. Wallis is a member of 
 the Institution of Civil Engineers and of the Institution of Mech- 
 anical Engineers of England, of several engineering associations 
 of the United States, and President (1896) of the Canadian Society 
 of Civil Engineers. — From Rose's Aational Biographical Series II., 
 1888, corrected up to date. 
 
 Mr. Wallis married a daughter of the late Thomas Walklate 
 3 
 
34 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 a prominent goods manager of the Midland Eailway of England 
 for twenty-five or thirty years. The author was well acquainted 
 with Mr. Walklate in the early railway days. 
 
 The following shows the increase in the Grand Trunk rolling 
 stock, and what has been done at the workshops of the Mechan- 
 ical Department. 
 
 During Mr. Wallis's connection with the Company, the 
 rolling stock has increased in number, upon the lines under his 
 jurisdiction, east of the St. Clair Kiver, as follows : from 353 
 locomotives to 808 ; 352 passenger cars to 916 ; 6,078 freight 
 cars to 22,383. 
 
 (The present rolling stock, named above, if placed in one con- 
 tinuous line, would form a train reaching from Montreal to 
 Kingston, 172 miles.) 
 
 During the same period the Company has built no less 
 than 250 locomotives and some thousands of cars at the ^Mont- 
 real works. The Company also manufacture, at its Montreal 
 works, large quantities of bar-iron and castings, effecting large 
 savings. 
 
 The gross miles run for locomotives have increased, in the 
 past quarter of a century, from about 9,250,000 to 21,500,000, 
 and the car mileage from 87,500,000 to 254,000,000, exclusive 
 of that run on the Chicago and Grand Trunk and lines west of 
 the St. Clair River. 
 
 It was due to the suggestion of Mr. Wallis that the present 
 arrangement of working the freight trains west of Toronto under 
 what is known as the " circular system " was inaugurated upon 
 the amalgamation of the Grand Trunk and Great Western Rail- 
 ways. 
 
 All east-bound through freight trains from the Chicago and 
 
HERBERT WALLIS. 
 
Appendix. 35 
 
 Grand Trunk Railway reach Toronto and the Niagara frontier by 
 way of the Great Western lines, which have the easier grades, and 
 the empty cars and west-bound freight are returned over the 
 Grand Trunk main line and the old Buflfalo and Lake Huron 
 Eailway. By this means, what is almost equal to a doiLble track 
 is secured at a minimum cost of working. 
 
 The process of working the " circular system " will at once 
 be seen by a glance at a G.T.E. map. 
 
 NEW DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 Mr. Wallis resigned his position of Mechanical Superin- 
 tendent of the G.T.E. in March last, after which the office was 
 abolished and two new departments created. 
 
 MR. F. W. MORSE, 
 
 formerly of Fort Wayne, Ohio, where, for a number of years, 
 he was Superintendent of Motive Power on the Wabash Eail- 
 road, was appointed Superintendent of Motive Power on the 
 whole of the Grand Trunk system, and 
 
 MB. WM. m'wOOD, 
 
 of Montreal, now appointed Superintendent of the Car Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 " Mr. McWood has been associated for a number of years 
 past with Mr. Wallis in the capacity of Assistant Mechanical 
 Superintendent, and his promotion, therefore, to the higher 
 position of Superintendent of the Gar Department, is a tribute 
 to his ability and business tact on the part of the General 
 Manager, Mr. Hays." 
 
 OTHER OLD G. T. R. OFFICERS. 
 
 There are several other old and worthy officers of the G. T. 
 E., whom I should like to have included in these sketches, but 
 
36 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 the work has so far outgrown my original intention that I am 
 obliged to bring it to a close. However, 1 have pleasure in naming 
 Mr. A. H. Harris, Division Freight Agent, office at Montreal; 
 Mr. Wm. Clark, Auditor of Freight Accounts, and Mr. John Payne, 
 Auditor of Passenger Accounts, who have been recently ap- 
 pointed to these responsible positions. 
 
 EARLY DIRECTORS OF THE G. T. R. 
 
 The Act to Incorporate the Grand Trunk Eailway of Canada 
 was passed in 1852. 
 
 The first Directorate was formed mainly from Directors of 
 different projected lines, among whom were the late Sir Francis 
 Hincks and the late Sir A. T. Gait. 
 
 On page 273 will be found a list of Grand Trunk Directors 
 forty years ago. At that time there were four English and ten 
 Canadian Directors. 
 
 BELOW IS A LIST OF G. T. R. DIRECTORS AT THE PRESENT TIME 
 
 (1896). 
 
 Sir Charles Eivers-Wilson, G.C.M.G., C.B., 16 Wilton 
 Street, S.W., President. 
 
 Joseph Price, Esq., Hamilton House, Upper Tooting, Vice- 
 President. 
 
 George Allen, Esq., 17 Carlisle Street, Soho Square, W. 
 
 George Von Chauvin, Esq., 24 Old Broad Street, E. C. 
 
 John Alan Clutton-Brock, Esq., Bickley, Kent. 
 
 Colonel Frederick Firebrace, R.E., 28 Old Queen Street^ 
 Westminster, S.W. 
 
 Alexander Hubbard, Esq., Derwentwater House, Acton, W. 
 
 Sir Henry M. Mather-Jackson, Bart., 12 Burwood Place, W. 
 
Appendix. 37 
 
 Lewis J. Seargeant, Esq., Dashwood House, 9 New Broad 
 Street, London, E.G. 
 
 A-lfred W. Smitbers, Esq., Homefield Knockholt, Sevenoaks. 
 
 Eight Honourable Lord Welby of Allington, G.C.B., 95 
 Jermyn Street, S.W. 
 
 Sir William L. Young, Bart, 16 South Eaton Place, S.W. 
 
 Walter Lindley, Secretary. 
 
 Auditors. 
 
 G. Bolland Newton, Esq., 27 Porchester Terrace, W. 
 Frederick Whinney, Esq., 8 Old Jewry, E.G. 
 William M. Ramsay, Esq., Montreal. 
 Thomas Davidson, Esq., Montreal. 
 
 THE PHOTO OF 1860. 
 
 Along with the old photographic group of 1860, a reminis- 
 cence of its origin should have been given, as follows : — 
 
 Mr. T. E. Blackwell, who at the time was Vice-President of 
 the Grand Tnmk Railway, wished to give the Directors in Eng- 
 land an idea of the personal appearance of the staff of officers 
 in Canada, and, as they could not appear at " Home " in proper 
 person, he adopted the next best thing, in sending their photo- 
 graphs. 
 
 These were taken in groups by Notman. I remember there 
 was one of the managing officers, another of the engineering 
 staff, one of the superintendents, the mechanical department, 
 etc. 
 
 The ancient group, at page 81, contains the managing 
 G. T. R. officers at that time (1860), viz.:— 
 
38 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 Walter Shanly, General Manager. 
 
 Henry Bailey, Assistant General Manager. 
 
 James Hardman, Auditor and Passenger Agent. 
 
 Myles Pennington (the author), Goods Manager. (G. T. R.) 
 
 MR. W. L. MALCOLM. 
 
 I well remember Mr. Malcolm, who was for many years an 
 active and efficient officer of the Great Western Railway of Can- 
 ada. The following brief sketch of his very interesting railway 
 career was not received in time to appear in the first edition 
 of this work. 
 
 Mr. M., it will be seen, has had a very successful railway 
 career, and has for some time retired from active railway service 
 to that of a more restful occupation. 
 
 " Mr. W. L. Malcolm was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland ; 
 entered railway service 1857 as clerk in charge of parcels de- 
 partment Great Western Railway of Canada, May, 1858, to Aug., 
 1864 ] clerk to superintendent Western Division Great Western 
 Railway, London, and afterward in charge of London district ; 
 August, 1864, transferred to Buffalo as agent Great Western 
 and Detroit and Milwaukee Railways, and subsequently of the 
 Blue Line to May, 1870, when appointed general passenger 
 agent Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway; 1874 to 1877, 
 general passenger and ticket agent same road; August, 1878, 
 appointed general eastern agent of the Atchison, Topeka, and 
 Santa F^ system. 
 
 " Mr. Malcolm remained as the New York representative of 
 the Atchison system for ten years, when he resigned to take a 
 long contemplated and well-earned vacation. His resignation, 
 however, not being accepted, President Strong granted him 
 
W. L. MALCOLM. 
 
A pfendix. 39 
 
 instead an extended leave of absence, and the next few years 
 were spent abroad in European travel. Eeturning to this 
 country he resumed his residence in New York, where he now 
 has his office with the well-known banking-house of E. J. Kim- 
 ball & Co., 16 and 18 Broad Street.' — From the Biographical 
 Directory of the Railway Officials of America. 
 
 MR. A. D. PENTOLD, GENERAL AUDITOR OF THE MERCHANTS DESPATCH, 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 I have pleasant recollections of Mr. Penfold when I repre- 
 sented the Merchants Despatch in Canada, many years ago. 
 
 Mr. Penfold may fairly be claimed as a Grand Trunk man, 
 having started railway life on the Buffalo & Lake Huron line 
 (now a part of the G. T. R.). 
 
 In a letter from Mr. Malcolm, recently, he wrote : " Mr. 
 Penfold is an old Grand Trunk, or rather Buffalo & Lake Huron, 
 official. He is still in active life, and high in the confidence of 
 the Vanderbilts ; and, although his connection with the B. & 
 L. H. road dates back to General Manager Carter's time (about 
 thirty years), he still looks like a young man." 
 
 Mr. Penfold is of a literary turn of mind. Some time ago 
 he gave, in the " New York Eailroad Men's " magazine, under 
 the title of " Flash Lights and Shadows," some very interesting 
 reminiscences of noted railway men of the past, as Dean Eich- 
 mond, Erastus Corning, Commodore Vanderbilt, Benjamin W. 
 Blanchard, Addison Hills, including the late Charles J. Brydges, 
 the Canadian General Manager. An extract or two from the 
 account of the latter will doubtless be read with interest as 
 another addition to Grand Trunk history. 
 
 " Mr. Brydges," says Mr. Penfold, "would plan and exe- 
 
40 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 cute undertakings in connection with the needs of the road 
 which few men could conceive, and fewer had the courage to 
 practically carry out. After Mr. Brydges had added a few more 
 years to his age, his face is said to have strikingly resembled 
 that of Napoleon the First. Certainly, Napoleon could not 
 observe the same number of things more thoroughly in the 
 same space of time than could this man, whom he was said so 
 closely to resemble. 
 
 " As a despatcher of correspondence, Mr. Brydges probably 
 had few equals in this or any other country. His capacity for 
 work was marvellous ; his memory was another remarkable gift. 
 He would meet and talk with hundreds of people daily ; yet, if a 
 stranger who had casually met him, and exchanged a few words 
 only, called upon him a year subsequently, he would address him 
 by name, and if necessary repeat word for word what was said 
 at the previous interview. The imprint of Mr. Brydges master 
 hand is still visible, not only upon the old Great Western Rail- 
 way, but also upon that of the main line of the Grand Trunk, 
 the management of which he afterwards assumed." (See Por- 
 trait at page 119.) 
 
 Writing of Commodore Vanderbilt, Mr. Penfold says : " He 
 and his far-seeing and untiring son and grandsons conceived, 
 and have practically executed, the gigantic scheme of owning, 
 controlling, and managing an unbroken system of rails from 
 New York to San Francisco, thus coupling with the iron-ribbon 
 the far-off Golden Gate and our own Manhattan Island in one 
 interest. That the vast plans of Commodore Vanderbilt were 
 father to the child of nearly all subsequent railroad combinations 
 in the country, there cannot exist much doubt ; but it must be 
 
A. D. PENFOLD. 
 
AppeTidix. 41 
 
 admitted that had his immediate family descendants not inher- 
 ited from him his advanced conceptions and hopes could never 
 have been realized. The impetus which this great man gave to 
 railroad interests throughout the country is felt to-day even 
 more perceptibly than when he was living, as the benefits which 
 he conferred on the people were more national than local. Yet 
 stupendous as his work in the business world was, his name is 
 fast fading from the memory of the city in which he lived so 
 long, and for which he accomplished so much, although the 
 mausoleum at New Dorp has held his remains less than twenty 
 years. He left behind him, however, a legacy which few really 
 great men ever bequeath — a lineage that promises to add to, 
 rather than detract /ra7?i, either the business qualities of the man 
 or the honor and lustre of the family name." 
 
 A gentleman of New York, who in the early days was well 
 acquainted with Commodore Vanderbilt, told the Author that he 
 had, on one or more occasions, seen the Commodore at Albany 
 as early as six o'clock in the morning, with satchel in hand, 
 bound for east or west, and that he would take the first vacant 
 seat in an ordinary car, among the other passengers. There 
 were no grand Pulman drawing-room cars in those days. 
 
 Mr. Penfold, speaking of "men of rare genius and power, 
 who wrote their names upon the quicksands of business life," 
 says : " To-day their force of character and superior wisdom is 
 everywhere recognized and referred to ; to-morrow their hand is 
 taken from the lever of the world's work, and they are forgotten. 
 In no sphere of life is this more noticeable than in that of the 
 railroad man ; and the object of this paper is to cite a few dis- 
 tinguished examples." 
 
42 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 RAILWAY SNOW BLOCKADES OF MARCH, 1896. 
 
 When I recorded and described, under the head of " Three 
 Nights in the Cars," the snow blockade of March, '69 (see page 
 128), I thought that that storm, considering the lateness of the 
 season, was about as bad a one as had ever occurred in Ontario 
 since railways were introduced into the country. But all records 
 were beaten by the great snow storm which set in on March 19th, 
 1896, and which extended over a great portion of Ontario, as 
 well as into the State of New York, and was also 10 days later in 
 the season than the storm of '69. 
 
 The hundreds of passengers stuck at different points on the 
 Grand Trunk Eailway and Canadian Pacific Eailway for three or 
 four days will long be remembered by the unfortunate parties, 
 but who spoke in glowing terms of the good treatment they met 
 with from the conductors and other officers of the two big railway 
 companies. The Toronto newspapers, at the time, gave lengthy 
 and interesting accounts of the storm, with its incidents. The 
 Globe told the story in eight or ten columns, a few extracts from 
 which I give below : 
 
 " THE WORST STORM FOR YEARS. 
 
 " ' The most complete snow blockade ever experienced.' 
 These were the universal terms heard among the officials of the 
 two great railway companies yesterday in speaking of their diffi- 
 cult problem of renewing communication with the outside world, 
 which with one exception had been completely stopped owing to 
 the mountains of snow piled on the tracks by the hurricane which 
 had raged in all parts of the Province during the previous 24 
 hours. The only line on which a train could be run to its des- 
 
Appendix. 43 
 
 tination was a single track between here and Hamilton. This 
 track, for some reason or other, escaped the heavy drifts, and 
 the trains made something like schedule time. On every other 
 line running into the city the traffic was completely paralyzed. 
 On the Grand Trunk system thirteen trains were caught in the 
 storm between here and Belleville, but fortunately nearly every 
 train was able to get to a railway station, which secured a greater 
 degree of comfort to the passengers." 
 
 " SHUNTED AND STUCK " PASSENGERS. 
 
 " Somewhere in Durham, Sunday (Special). — There are in 
 the string of ten cars that lie here between two walls of snow 
 three classes of passengers — the * Thursday comes,' the ' Friday 
 comes,' and the Saturday comes.' All were started out from Ot- 
 tawa by the courteous, if not too accurate gentlemen of the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway, with the assurance that the line would 
 soon be cleared. There was little block so far as Peterboro', and 
 as * Friday comes,' when we reached that town on Saturday 
 morning, and were there informed that the line was not yet quite 
 clear and we had better go up town and take breakfast at the 
 company's expense, the situation seemed extremely simple. On 
 a little yellow slip of paper were the words, ' Good for passenger's 
 meals while in Peterboro.' " 
 
 RAILWAY DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT'S STORY. 
 
 " Mr. Morrice, District Superintendent of the Grand Trunk 
 Railway, was interviewed this morning by a Globe reporter. He 
 stated that they had miles and miles of track where the snow is 
 ten feet deep and that every foot of this will have to be shovelled 
 
44 Railways and Other Ways, 
 
 out before the trains will be able to run ; but, with the hun- 
 dreds of hands employed, he expects the task will soon be com- 
 pleted. The Canadian roads he said, were not alone in their 
 trouble, for in New York State a terrible storm had been experi- 
 enced, and the railways there are just about in the same condi- 
 tion as in Ontario. He was able to state, however, that he had 
 just received word from Weston to the effect that the passengers 
 on the train which is stalled at Highfield had been supplied 
 with food, and that the men engaged shovelling the snow off the 
 tracks were making good progress. About fifteen passengers for 
 North Bay, who had been waiting in the station nearly the whole 
 of yesterday for the train to start, spent last night in the cars^ 
 which had been placed on a side track at the western entrance 
 to the station. Others were making themselves as comfortable 
 as possible in the waiting-rooms, but all were ardently wishing 
 for a speedy release from the situation." 
 
 THE "globe's" staff BIG DRIFTS. 
 
 *' All through the country the merchants have been severe 
 sufferers. As an illustration of what must have happened in 
 numerous instances, the case of the Ohhe may be cited. Five 
 of the regular writing staff of the paper were out of the city at 
 the time the storm broke over the Province. Two were in at- 
 tendance on the Young Liberal Convention at Ottawa, one was 
 at Wingham investigating the mob outrage to J. G. Fields, one 
 at Lindsay in connection with the murder of Mr. James Agnew, 
 and one at Whitby reporting the Alger case, heard at the As- 
 sizes there. The Glohe man at Whitby succeeded in reaching 
 the city at 4 o'clock yesterday morning on a forty-four-hour- 
 
AppeTidix. 45 
 
 delayed train ; the Ottawa deputation turned up at a quarter after 
 1 this morning, after a three days' blockade ; the others are yet 
 to hear from." 
 
 SNOW DRIFTS OF THE SIERRAS BEATEN. 
 
 " Leaving Pontypool, we were soon upon the scene of action, 
 Empty Armour's beef cans were strewed along the line, showing 
 where the shovel brigade had stopped for a meal. An engine 
 looked out at us at another point from under a huge drift. 
 Here and there, chiefly on the west front of rising ground, we 
 ran through enormous cuttings in the snow, such as put Julian 
 Ealph's stories of snow in the Sierras to shame. In one place,, 
 by actual measurement, the snow bank was 21 feet deep, and 
 completely shut out the sky. The cars brushed against its face 
 in passing, with a sharp ' swish.' " 
 
 500 SNOW EXCAVATORS AT WORK. 
 
 " All available employees, even to freight conductors and 
 brakemen, were called out, and these, supplemented by able- 
 bodied recruits, were pressed into service wherever obtainable. 
 Not only had the snow drifted into every cutting and there packed 
 at all depths from a few inches to fifteen and even twenty feet> 
 but the weather moderated somewhat at sunrise, allowing the 
 snow to settle and cake hard, then freeze again, until a plough 
 would make as little impression upon it as it would against a 
 solid bank of earth or even rock. These untoward conditions 
 made the work of excavating the track one of almost unparal- 
 leled difficulty, and necessitated the employment of the pick and 
 shovel gangs. Fully 500 men were started out and distributed 
 as rapidly as possible at points along the line." 
 
46 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 FIRST TRAIN SINCE THURSDAY. 
 
 *' The first train from Montreal since Thursday arrived yes- 
 terday (Sunday) morning. It was the regular train on the Grand 
 Trunk, which should have reached Toronto on Friday morning. 
 Its progress was blocked at Cobourg, and there it remained until 
 early yesterday (Sunday) morning, when it again started for this 
 city. The corresponding Canadian Pacific Eailway express from 
 Montreal reached Toronto on Sunday night about midnight. It 
 was storm-stayed at Peterboro' and had to await there the 
 clearance of the road. The lines on both systems east of the 
 points at which the trains were stopped were kept clear, and the 
 regular trains run from Montreal west that far, and then back, 
 after having delivered their passengers at Cobourg or Peterboro', 
 as the case might be." 
 
 peterboro' — THE LOST FREIGHT TRAIN. 
 
 ** There we found the advance guard of the Young Liberals, 
 who had left Ottawa for the west on Thursday night, and the 
 members of the Toronto Aldermanic deputation, a big crowd of 
 drummers and miscellaneous passengers. When the * Friday 
 comes ' said that they were just going to breakfast, and that the 
 line would be clear by 9 o'clock, the old hands winked at each 
 other and looked pityingly at us. 
 
 " ' I'll tell you,' said one more magnanimous than the rest, 
 * don't you take that yarn around town. There are eight miles of 
 cuttiag between us and Toronto filled with snow, there is a freight 
 train lost in it somewhere, the big rotary plough in which the 
 company trusted is gone lame, and there are a thousand men 
 out with shovels trying to dig out the drifts. The train that 
 left Toronto on Thursday is gone back there, and we are shut in 
 
Appendix. 47 
 
 as tight as the biggest snow blockade in the history of the road 
 can shut us.' " 
 
 FOUND THE FREIGHT TRAIN. 
 
 " The news from the front early on Sunday morning was 
 cheering. They had found the freight train. After that it was 
 only a question of time. The west-bound train, with its comple- 
 ment of passengers assembled on the instalment plan, pulled 
 out of Peterboro' shortly after 9 o'clock." 
 
 UNION STATION, TORONTO. 
 
 Upwards of 80 passenger trains arrive at and depart from 
 the Union Station, Toronto, on each working day, but on Satur- 
 day, March 21 st, 1896, with the exception of three or four Ham- 
 ilton trains, no train came in or went out. It is safe to say 
 that such a circumstance never happened before. 
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE ELEMENTS. 
 
 The great storm called forth the energies, skill and judg- 
 ment of the officers and men of the railway companies, and it 
 may be added that the new staff of the Grand Trunk have had 
 their first reception of a real Canadian snow storm, the like of 
 which, considering the time of the year, beats all previous records 
 since railways were inaugurated in the Province of Ontario. 
 
 ANOTHER RAILWAY MANIA. 
 
 At page 71 I gave some reminiscences of the railway mania 
 of '45, and at page 308 I drew attention to the threatened inva- 
 sion of the Electric Railway into the territories of the locomo- 
 tive. At that time (1894) the " Trolley " system was mainly 
 confining itself to cities and their suburbs, where it was wel- 
 comed by the citizens. 
 
* 48 Railways and Other Ways. 
 
 The Electric Eailway movement is now going far beyond its 
 original starting point, proj cts being on foot in all countries to 
 grid-iron the lands with Electric Railways, mainly side by side 
 with existing steam railways, and this without ever considering 
 the question how such roads are fto pay. 
 
 One gigantic scheme is to' build an electric railway on 
 " stilts " (elevated) from New York to Chicago, and the trains 
 upon this serial structure are to Jly at a speed of one hundred 
 miles an hour. Another big one is to make an electric road 
 through the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, although there 
 are already two well-equipped ^team railways with hundreds of 
 miles of branch lines, as well as one of the finest inland water 
 navigations in the world, all capable of conveying an almost 
 unlimited amount of freight and passengers to and from all 
 parts of the two Provinces. 
 
 It will be seen that there is every appearance of a grand 
 battle in prospect between the " Trolley" and the locomotive. 
 
 Having watched the railway mania of '45 from its begin- 
 ning to its final crash, I can speak with some degree of certainty 
 as to the utter ruin of many which is likely to follow in all 
 countries as the result of this wild electric craze ; and, without 
 pretending to be a prophet, I would venture to predict another 
 railway mania akin to its fellow of 1845, or that of the South Sea 
 Bubble. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that the Electric Power will, 
 in time, supersede that of steam, for even heavy freight trains. 
 When that time comes, the railways now in existence are fully 
 prepared for it without the necessity of building other competing 
 roads. 
 
^\. \ ux-^i^.^ 
 
^HIS BOOK IS PtTE ON THB LAST PATE 
 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 ^N INITIAL iy'^lOTJ\C^^J^l 
 
 W.Ul. INCREASE TO 50 CENT ^^^^^^ ^^^ 
 
 DAY AND TO $t.OO ON 
 
 LD21-100m-7.'33 
 
/ 
 
 t 89767 
 
 s / rs ^ ^^ ^ 
 
 U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CDSiiieib 
 
 / iJLrvvvvAnrv^fc^r'.