By the act constituting the Department of Inland Revenue, it was enacted that the Department should have the control and managementOf the collections of all duties of excise.Of the collections of all stamp duties and the preparation and issue of stamps and stamped paper, except postage stamps.Of Internal taxes.Of Standard weights and measures.Of the administration of the laws affecting the culling and measuring of timber and the collection of slidage and boomage dues.The collection of bridges and ferry tolls and rents.These conditions have at different dates been changed until now.The Inland Revenue consists of Excise, Weights and Measures, Gas and Electric Light, and Food Inspections.Excise is the branch which supervises and collects the duties from distilleries, malthouses, breweries, tobacco factories, cigar factories, bonding warehouses, compounders, bonded factories for the manufacture in bond of vinegar, acetic acid, perfumes, pharmaceutical preparations, soaps, fulminates, malt cereals, etc.The Inland Revenue is divided into two services: the Inside and the Outside.The Inside comprises all officials in the Department at Ottawa.The Outside comprises all the rest of the staff, the officials who actually assess and collect the revenues and duties.The Excise, Montreal, is officered by sixty-two men—forty-six of whom are permanently appointed, the rest, sixteen, are temporary employees.There are licensed, in Montreal: One distillery, four malthouses, sixteen breweries, forty-one cigar factories, one acetic acid factory, five perfumes, six pharmaceutical preparations, fourteen bonded warehouses, twenty-one chemical stills and one wood alcohol manufacturer.The Weights and Measures Inspection are responsible for the verification of all weights and measures used in trade.Gas Inspection has charge of the inspection of all meters used by consumers of gas and the illuminating power and purity of gas.Food Inspection deals with the purity of alimentary substances.As a collecting office, the Inland Revenue, Montreal, is second only to the Customs, and collects nearly one-half of all the excise revenue of Canada.The officers named by the British Government and who remained in office at Confederation were R. Bellemare, Inspector; P. Durnford, Collector, assisted by a staff of fourteen officers.
By the act constituting the Department of Inland Revenue, it was enacted that the Department should have the control and management
These conditions have at different dates been changed until now.
The Inland Revenue consists of Excise, Weights and Measures, Gas and Electric Light, and Food Inspections.
Excise is the branch which supervises and collects the duties from distilleries, malthouses, breweries, tobacco factories, cigar factories, bonding warehouses, compounders, bonded factories for the manufacture in bond of vinegar, acetic acid, perfumes, pharmaceutical preparations, soaps, fulminates, malt cereals, etc.
The Inland Revenue is divided into two services: the Inside and the Outside.
The Inside comprises all officials in the Department at Ottawa.
The Outside comprises all the rest of the staff, the officials who actually assess and collect the revenues and duties.
The Excise, Montreal, is officered by sixty-two men—forty-six of whom are permanently appointed, the rest, sixteen, are temporary employees.
There are licensed, in Montreal: One distillery, four malthouses, sixteen breweries, forty-one cigar factories, one acetic acid factory, five perfumes, six pharmaceutical preparations, fourteen bonded warehouses, twenty-one chemical stills and one wood alcohol manufacturer.
The Weights and Measures Inspection are responsible for the verification of all weights and measures used in trade.
Gas Inspection has charge of the inspection of all meters used by consumers of gas and the illuminating power and purity of gas.
Food Inspection deals with the purity of alimentary substances.
As a collecting office, the Inland Revenue, Montreal, is second only to the Customs, and collects nearly one-half of all the excise revenue of Canada.
The officers named by the British Government and who remained in office at Confederation were R. Bellemare, Inspector; P. Durnford, Collector, assisted by a staff of fourteen officers.
The first excise office was situated on St. James Street, on part of the site now occupied by “La Presse Building”; in 1871, it was moved to the present location, at No. 412 St. Paul Street, (the site of the first public square in Montreal).
The steady increase in collections of the Inland Revenue duties is one of the best indications of the growth of Montreal.
TABLE OF THE TRADE OF THE PORT OF MONTREAL FROM 1882 TO 1912
CUSTOMS DUTIES COLLECTED AT PORT OF MONTREAL SINCE CONFEDERATION
The variations in the amount of duties collected are due (1) to the growth of imports and (2) to changes in tariff rates.
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS
PORT OF MONTREAL
Combined Statement Showing the Number and Tonnage of all Vessels that Arrived in Port During Ten Years—1901 to 1913:
Statement Showing Classification of Vessels that Arrived in Port for Ten Years, from the Lower St. Lawrence and Martime Provinces.
FOOTNOTES:
1“Canadian Antiquarian,” 1873, Vol. II, pp. 16-21.
1“Canadian Antiquarian,” 1873, Vol. II, pp. 16-21.
2The Dock, one of the largest yet built, is capable of docking the largest existing vessel in the British Navy. It is of the double-sided self-docking type, on the principle known as the “bolted sectional.” It consists of a pontoon or lifting portion of the dock, and two parallel side walls, built on to and forming part of the same, and the whole length is divided into three complete and separate sections, which, when bolted together, form the complete dock. These sections are so arranged that when the dock is separated into its three parts, any two of them can dock the remaining third between them. For this purpose each section is fitted with its own independent pumping machinery, so that it can also act as an independent unit.The general dimensions of the dock are as follows:—Ft.In.Length over platforms6000Length over pontoons5506Width over all1350Depth of pontoon at center170Length of side walls4706Height of side walls above pontoon deck420Width of side walls at base176Width of side walls at top126Clear width between roller fenders1000Draught of vessel276Lifting capacity25,000 tonsThe construction of the dock is such as to make it suitable for lifting a modern British battleship, the pontoon deck being specially stiffened to allow it to support a large portion of the weight of the vessel on side or bilge, as well as central, keels.In the season of 1914, 27 vessels were repaired.In addition a ship building yard has been built in 1914 with five or six miles of railroad connecting with the C.P.R., C.N.R., and G.T.R. lines. At present a gigantic million dollar ice breaker, the second in the world, is being built by this firm for the Dominion government to be launched in 1915. In addition a bucket dredge costing $835,000 has been ordered by the Government for delivery in June, 1916.
2The Dock, one of the largest yet built, is capable of docking the largest existing vessel in the British Navy. It is of the double-sided self-docking type, on the principle known as the “bolted sectional.” It consists of a pontoon or lifting portion of the dock, and two parallel side walls, built on to and forming part of the same, and the whole length is divided into three complete and separate sections, which, when bolted together, form the complete dock. These sections are so arranged that when the dock is separated into its three parts, any two of them can dock the remaining third between them. For this purpose each section is fitted with its own independent pumping machinery, so that it can also act as an independent unit.
The general dimensions of the dock are as follows:—
The construction of the dock is such as to make it suitable for lifting a modern British battleship, the pontoon deck being specially stiffened to allow it to support a large portion of the weight of the vessel on side or bilge, as well as central, keels.
In the season of 1914, 27 vessels were repaired.
In addition a ship building yard has been built in 1914 with five or six miles of railroad connecting with the C.P.R., C.N.R., and G.T.R. lines. At present a gigantic million dollar ice breaker, the second in the world, is being built by this firm for the Dominion government to be launched in 1915. In addition a bucket dredge costing $835,000 has been ordered by the Government for delivery in June, 1916.
TRANSPORTATION BY RAIL
IV
MONTREAL AND THE RAILWAYS OF CANADA
MONTREAL THE CENTRE OF RAILWAY COMMUNICATION—THE FIRST RAILWAY—THE SNAKE RAIL AND THE “KITTEN”—“THE CHAMPLAIN AND THE ST. LAWRENCE”—THE SECOND RAILWAY, THE ATLANTIC AND ST. LAWRENCE—THE AMALGAMATION INTO THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY COMPANY.
1. ITS HISTORY—ITS PRESIDENTS—AN INTERESTING REPORT AT CONFEDERATION—NEW FREIGHT YARDS—CHAS. M. HAYS AND THE GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY—THE BUILDING OF THE VICTORIA BRIDGES BY THE GRAND TRUNK RAILROAD.
2. THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY—ITS FINANCIERS—TWIN TO CONFEDERATION—OPPOSITION TO PROMOTERS—EARLY FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES—NO BIG FORTUNES MADE—ROLLING STOCK—A REAL EMPIRE BUILDER—HELPING NEW INDUSTRIES—HUGE LAND HOLDINGS—IRRIGATION OF BARREN LANDS.
3. OTHER SYSTEMS—THE “INTERCOLONIAL”—THE CANADIAN NORTHERN AND ITS MOUNTAIN TUNNEL.
Night and day from January 1st to December 31st, year in and year out, the heavily loaded passenger and freight trains pass into and out of the railway terminals of Montreal, bearing to their various destinations millions of human beings and thousands of tons of freight.
Altogether eight important railways have entrance to Montreal at the time of writing, while yet another transcontinental line, the Canadian Northern, is planning a new and imposing terminal in connection with the tunnelling of Mount Royal, which is the most important engineering undertaking in Montreal projected since the construction of the Victoria tubular bridge. At the present time the Canadian Pacific, the Grand Trunk, the Intercolonial, the Canadian Northern, the New York Central, the Rutland, the Delaware & Hudson, and the Central Vermont railroads are all running trains directly into Montreal. The railway freight yards are crowded with cars bearing the initials of practically every road of any importance on the continent.
This huge business in carrying, of such vital importance to the city of Montreal, yet so little appreciated, because of our familiarity with it, is less than a century old, for the success of the locomotive was not admitted until the opening of theLiverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830. On the news of this the first railway in Canada, the Champlain & St. Lawrence, was chartered in 1831 to run from La Prairie to St. Johns, P.Q., and opened for traffic with horses in 1836 and first worked by the locomotives in 1837. Its length was only sixteen miles.
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 locomotive used on the line was sent from Europe, accompanied by an engineer, who for some unexplained reason had it caged up and secreted from the public eye.
The trial trip was made by moonlight in the presence of a few interested parties and it is 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. Johns, but in vain: the engine proved refractory and horses were substituted for it.
It is related that a practical engineer being called in from “the States,” the engine which was thought to be hopelessly 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. It was a “strap” rail until 1847 when the heavy T-iron was laid.
The Champlain & St. Lawrence Railway, thus inaugurated the railway era of Canada in the year 1832, and the line continued to be operated as a separate and distinct organization for just forty years. In 1872 it was made a part of the Grand Trunk Railway, and it is operated as a part of the Grand Trunk organization at the present time.
The Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad followed the Champlain & St. Lawrence. Although not a Canadian railroad, this line had a tremendous influence on the development of the country, since it gave the Canadian people access for the first time to an all-the-year-round port. Halifax and St. John were yet mere villages without any rail communication with the industrial heart of the country, separated from it by that vast stretch of then undeveloped and almost unexplored country which we now recognize as lower Quebec and upper New Brunswick. The Atlantic & St. Lawrence line gave access to the port of Portland, running from that city through a thriving agricultural country to Norton Mills, Vermont, just on the Canadian border. Norton Mills and La Prairie, now merely villages without any special importance, were at this period in Canada’s growth railway terminals of consequence.
The Atlantic & St. Lawrence road was built with a purpose. It was chartered in 1845, and long before it was completed, in 1852, to be exact, the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was granted a charter by the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, which, with subsequent additions, provided for the construction of the present Grand Trunk line between Riviere du Loup, Quebec, and Sarnia, Ontario.
The Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad was completed about 1860, and was at once leased for a period of 999 years to the Grand Trunk Railway. This gave the Canadian people unbroken stretches of railroad from Portland, Maine, and from Riviere du Loup to Montreal, and on this foundation the present huge transportation business of this city has been erected. The people of Canada recognizedthe importance of this development by grants of cash and mail subsidies to the line.
In point of age, therefore, the Grand Trunk Railway claims priority over all the Canadian railways now existing, and the road may be said to be the pioneer railway of Canada.
THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY
The first meeting of the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada was held in the City of Quebec on Monday, July 11, 1853. The Hon. John Ross was appointed president of the road; Benjamin Holmes was made vice president, while Sir C.P. Roney became managing director and secretary-treasurer.
The following is a list of the presidents and general managers of the road, with their dates of service:
(Since January 1, 1910, Mr. Alfred W. Smithers has been Chairman of the Board of Directors in London, England—a new departure in the organization.)
(Since January 1, 1910, Mr. Alfred W. Smithers has been Chairman of the Board of Directors in London, England—a new departure in the organization.)
In order to gain insight into the conditions under which the railway was operating, Sir Henry Tyler, who later became president of the road, paid an official visit to the Dominion in 1867 under instructions from the Board of Directors. Sir Henry’s report gives some interesting information about the road as it then existed.
He found that the Grand Trunk at that time comprised a total length of 1,377 miles. In addition to the water routes hereinbefore mentioned, the chief competitor in Canada of the company was the Great Western Railway Company, extending from Niagara Falls to Sarnia, Ontario, and to Detroit, Michigan. As a result of this competition Sir Henry reported (1867) that the rates for freight service averaged 0.92 of a cent per ton per mile—flour being carried between Montrealand Toronto as low as a cent per ton per mile. The average rate on the Grand Trunk System for the year 1910 was 0.69 of a cent per ton per mile.
The average number of freight cars to a train was then reported as 15.5; the average net load of each train as 150 tons.
The records for 1910 show an average of 26.6 freight cars per train and the average weight of “revenue” freight carried, per train, was 299 net tons.
The original gauge of the Grand Trunk was five feet six inches, except that portion between Port Huron and Detroit, where the “narrow gauge” of four feet eight and one-half inches was used. Sir Henry’s report recommended the adoption of the wider gauge for the whole of the road, bringing it into conformity with the other lines on the continent.
The year of Sir Henry’s visit was also the year of Confederation, and this change, which had so tremendous an effect upon Canada’s history, had also an important bearing upon the history of the Grand Trunk Railway. The new Dominion Government, being desirous of opening up the country purchased on the 17th of July, 1879, that portion of the Grand Trunk road which lies between Riviere du Loup and Point Levis, with the object of making it a portion of the new Government road, which subsequently became the Intercolonial Railway.
With the proceeds of this sale the Grand Trunk agreed to construct a line between Port Huron, Michigan, and Chicago. The International Bridge Company undertook another great engineering feat in 1857, in the building of the Niagara River Bridge, between Fort Erie and Buffalo. This bridge was completed in 1873, and entirely rebuilt to accommodate the heavier traffic in 1900. The two systems of railways, the Grand Trunk and Great Western, were amalgamated into the present system under agreement dated August 12, 1882.
The directors started out in 1889 to make the Grand Trunk the longest double tracked system on this continent, and the line is now double tracked from St. Rosalie, a point thirty-eight miles east of Montreal and St. Johns, twenty-seven miles south, to Chicago, an unbroken double tracked run of 907 miles. With other double tracked lines connecting principal cities the Grand Trunk is now in possession of 1,037 miles of duplicate tracks.
The Grand Trunk owns and controls ten grain elevators in various parts of the Dominion and the United States, having a total capacity of 20,000,000 bushels of grain. The latest of these, an elevator with a capacity of 5,500,000 bushels, is located at Fort William, and was built in connection with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.
The four principal bridges owned by the Company, the Victoria Bridge, the Coteau Landing Bridge, the steel arch bridge across Niagara Gorge, and the International Bridge across the Niagara River, have a total length of 16,653 feet, and the railway owns other bridges in different parts of the continent, which have a total of 18.43 miles.
Recent improvements and developments of the line in the city and district of Montreal include the erection of the magnificent new offices on McGill Street and the promotion, in connection with the Jacques Cartier Union Railway, of a belt line around the city. Also, in 1892, the company secured control of the Canadian Express Company, which now operates over all the Grand Trunk and connecting lines from Montreal.
INITIALS OF SIR GEORGE SIMPSON AND HIS INDIAN GUIDE FOUND NEAR BANFF IN 1913INITIALS OF SIR GEORGE SIMPSON AND HIS INDIAN GUIDE FOUND NEAR BANFF IN 1913The date, 1841, indicates that the initials were evidently carved at the time Sir George was making the original survey of the Canadian Pacific Railroad through the mountains.
INITIALS OF SIR GEORGE SIMPSON AND HIS INDIAN GUIDE FOUND NEAR BANFF IN 1913
The date, 1841, indicates that the initials were evidently carved at the time Sir George was making the original survey of the Canadian Pacific Railroad through the mountains.
FIRST TRAIN IN CANADAFIRST TRAIN IN CANADALaprairie, P.Q.—St. Johns, P.Q. 1836
FIRST TRAIN IN CANADA
Laprairie, P.Q.—St. Johns, P.Q. 1836
GRAND TRUNK LOCOMOTIVE BUILT IN G.T.R. SHOPS IN 1859GRAND TRUNK LOCOMOTIVE BUILT IN G.T.R. SHOPS IN 1859Hauled royal train with Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) through Canada in 1860.
GRAND TRUNK LOCOMOTIVE BUILT IN G.T.R. SHOPS IN 1859
Hauled royal train with Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) through Canada in 1860.
LORD STRATHCONA DRIVING THE GOLDEN SPIKE COMPLETING THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD AT CRAIGENACHEE, NOVEMBER 7, 1885.LORD STRATHCONA DRIVING THE GOLDEN SPIKE COMPLETING THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD AT CRAIGENACHEE, NOVEMBER 7, 1885.
LORD STRATHCONA DRIVING THE GOLDEN SPIKE COMPLETING THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD AT CRAIGENACHEE, NOVEMBER 7, 1885.
In order to better the existing conditions of handling its train service, and to relieve as much as possible the already heavily worked yards and general freight terminals, both at Point St. Charles and on the Mountain Street to Chaboillez Square freight sidings, the company has constructed two extensive systems of freight yard tracks. One of these is located at Southwalk, about two miles east of the passenger station at St. Lambert, and the other is at Turcot, in Notre Dame de Grace Ward of the City of Montreal. At St. Lambert there is an aggregate of about twenty-seven miles of new sidings, and at Turcot, twenty-two miles of new tracks have been laid down.
It is an interesting feature of these yards that no shunting or switching movements is done on the main lines.
So far this chapter has dealt exclusively with the Grand Trunk Railway System proper, and no mention has been made of that momentous period of the railway history of the Dominion in which we now live and which followed the agreement entered into between the Grand Trunk Railway and the Dominion Government. This agreement provided for the construction of a railroad clear across Canada, from Moncton, New Brunswick to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, wholly within Canadian territory. The project was conceived by the late President Chas. M. Hays, of Montreal, who was one of the victims of the Steamship Titanic disaster.
The new line, known as the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, is now practically complete and is already operating over the major portion of its road, there being a fine passenger and freight service between Ft. William, Ontario, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Its construction marks the most important development of the Grand Trunk, since the amalgamation with the Great Western Railway of Canada, and it is expected to make the Pioneer Railway of Canada one of the greatest forces in the development of the country, the uniting of East with West into one huge harmonious whole.
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was incorporated October 24, 1903, following the contract entered into between the G.T.R. and the Dominion Government, on July 29th of the same year, providing for the construction of the line as a joint government and Grand Trunk enterprise.
Roughly the terms under which this huge work is being carried out are as follows: The railway is divided into two sections, Eastern and Western. The Western Division, extending from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, is subdivided into the Prairie and Mountain sections, and the entire line has been constructed by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company.
The Eastern Division, 1,804 miles in length, is being constructed by the Canadian Government, under supervision of the Commissioners of the Transcontinental Railway. It links Moncton with Winnipeg, and thus gives the company a clear coast to coast line. Upon the completion of the work, the Government leases the Eastern Section to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway for a period of fifty years, on the following terms:
For the first seven years of the said term, the Company shall operate the same subject only to payment of “Working Expenditures;” for the next succeeding forty-three years the company shall pay annually to the government, by way of rental, a sum equal to 3 per cent per annum upon the cost of construction of the said division, provided that if, in any one or more of the first three years of thesaid period of forty-three years the net earnings of the said division, over and above “Working Expenditure” shall not amount to 3 per cent of the cost of construction, the difference between the net earnings and the rental shall not be payable by the company, but shall be capitalized and form part of the cost of construction, upon the whole amount of which cost a rental is required to be paid at the rate aforesaid after the first ten years of the said lease, and during the remainder of the said term.
All the branch lines of the Eastern Division will be constructed by and at the cost of the company.
The company is responsible for the construction of all lines west of Winnipeg, the Government guaranteeing the principal and interest of three-quarters of the cost of the main line from Winnipeg to the Pacific Coast terminus at Prince Rupert, B.C., for fifty years, but with the limitation that such three-quarters of the cost shall not exceed thirteen thousand dollars per mile on the Prairie Section—with no limitation, however, in regard to the cost of the Mountain Section. The Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada has guaranteed the principal and interest for fifty years of the balance required to complete the main line of the Western Division.
The line has created a new seaport on the Pacific, which will give a further impetus to our already immense trade with Japan and the other commercial countries of the Orient, as well as opening a fresh route to Australasia which cannot but help bind in closer union the British Dominions of Australia and New Zealand, already closely related to us by the splendid sentiment of Empire. It opens up splendid new wheat fields in the Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and taps also immensely valuable coal and agricultural areas in British Columbia. Through its branches it reaches the already created industrial and commercial centres of the great West, while its fleet of steamships links Prince Rupert with the other Pacific Coast ports, both on the Canadian and the United States shores. With the example of the growth of the Western United States since adequate rail facilities were provided for their cities and towns before us, it is difficult indeed to see how the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway can fail to establish itself as a dominant factor in the growth of Western Canada, a growth which at this view it is impossible to estimate and which only time can show.
Before passing from the history of the Grand Trunk Railway, a place must be given to the record of the great engineering feat in transportation effected by them. Previous to the building of the first tubular Victoria bridge erected by this company over the St. Lawrence at Montreal, the only communication with the Grand Trunk lines hitherto, was by ferry to Longueuil, then the terminus. Passengers and freight were carried on barges across the St. Lawrence. In winter sleighs were used across the ice. In a period of one to three weeks in the spring this crossing was either abandoned or very dangerous in the break up of the ice.
THE VICTORIA BRIDGES
As early as 1847 the Hon. John Young had desired to erect a bridge. In 1851 he used the opinion and report of Mr. Thomas C. Keefer, a Canadian, on thepracticability of building a bridge over the St. Lawrence in the position eventually chosen and based on the findings of his report.1