A N D

D O CK S AT M ONTREAL

A S E R I E S O F L E T T E R S

THE HONORABLE JOHN YOUNG,

IN REPLY TO LETTERS OR A MERCHANT, WRITTEN BY WILLIAMWORKMAN. ES"

M O N T R E A LSALTER 3: Ross, PRINTERS, GREAT ST . JAMES STREET .

RIVAL ROUTES FROM THEWEST TO THE OCEAN. AND DOCKS AT MONTREAL.

LETTER NO . 1 .

‘

To the E ditor of the MO NTRnAL GA"ETTES IR ,—In concluding my le tte r to the HarbourComm iss ioners of the loth December last, in

referen ce to the Report of M r. T rautwine on

Docks at Mon treal and on the comparative merits

of the St. Lawrence with othe r route s from the

We s t,I stated that I did no t regre t th e discus

sion which had already ar isen , and will ye t arise ,on the merits of the proj ects of our harbour im

provements,and I trus t al so that“ some ofth e gen

tlemen of large commercial expe rien ce and habits

ofclose observation ,”who agree with M r. Traut

w in e’s views , would be induced to suppor t the se

views before th e public, and poin t ou t the errors

in the opin ions expre ssed in re lation to Docks at

Poin t St . Charle s , and as to the trade of thisport

, in the many facts and figure s by which

the se opin ion s have been supported . T he hope

thus expre ssed by me has been real ised to some

exten t by a serie s ofe ight le tters which appeared

during the mon ths of March , April and May, in

your j ournal , ove r the s ignature of‘fi M erchant,

’

which are in tended as a reply to my le tte r of

loth December, on Rival Route s to the Oceanfrom the We st and Docks at Mon treal .” The sele tters h ave s in ce been published in pamphle t

form , with a Preface , byWilliamWorkman , E sq . ,

dated 28 th May last, acknowledging himself asthe author .

Mr. Workman state s in his preface that hes imply de sire d to pre sen t th e question on i ts

own me rits, quite fre e from any pe rsonal conside ration s .” However sin cere in this desire

, Mr.

Workman has certain ly been mos t unfortunate incarrying i t out, for the le tters are remarkable fora bitte rness ofspirit , .

and an eviden t and characteristic anxie ty to attack , no t on ly my views onthe que stion s at issue , but my motive s and conduct . They are fille d with the most reckle ssand therefore harmle ss statemen ts , and shew an

ignorance of the argumen ts conne cted with the

que stion s discussed , which is no t a l i ttle sur

prising from such a source . Evidence of thiswill abundantly appear in the extracts which Ishall make in the course of my remarks, andnothing would have been easie r than to havereplied in a s imilar spiri t .

Mr. Workman de serve d i t, and no doubt someof his triends and m ine may have expe cted it ;but i t is no t to my taste to indulge in such a s tyleof discussion , and Mr. Workman’s be s t friends

regrét‘

the most ,“

the tempe r he has shewn . H e

may depen d upon i t, that however much th epublic may rel ish an occasional hard hit givento an Opponen t, i t will not do to make ill temper ,rash assertion s and personal de traction the staple

ofan argumen t , e spe cially on such a subject as

that unde r discussion .

T he le tters , however, have afforded an oppor

tunity, which I am no t unwilling to embrace , ofbringing those importan t subje cts again unde r

publ ic n otice , be ing satisfied tha t the more they

are examined and discussed , the more will they

re comme nd themse lve s to men of information

and candour .

Be twe en Mr. Workman’s view s and m ine on

our ge ographical pos ition , th e natural capabili ty

ofthe St. Lawren ce , and the means ne ce ssary t oattract a large share of that vas t We ste rn trade ,which n ow flows in another dire ction , there is agrea t diffe rence . Mr. Workman is supported bythe sole opin ion ofM r. T rautwine , a GivilE ngi

ne e r from Philade lphia, whose re siden ce in C anada only extended over a pe riod of some two

mon ths , who had neve r been in the We ste rn

State s. and whose opin ion s on the St . Lawren ceroute and of i ts powe r to compe te for the trade

of the We s te rn State s and We ste rn Canada, harmonise so comple tely with the Opin ion s expre ssed

by Mr. Workman , that we are not now left indoubt as to the source of his information , andthat Mr. Workman himse lf is eviden tly one ofthe gen tlemen of “ large comme rcial experien ce“and habits of close observation ,

”alluded to by

Mr. T rautwine . How farMr.Workman de serve s

such praise remain s to be seen . In the mean

time it i s only prope r I think for me to say , for

th e informati on of partie s at a distan ce , that h ehas neve r been engaged in , and has had no experience whatever in the We s tern trade about

which h e write s so authori tative ly—that his on lyexpe rien ce as a me rchan t has been in the im

portation and sale ofhardware .

In my le tter of loth December I s tate d that i t

was impossible , with our presen t mean s of tranwego , that e i the r the bulk of the

4

products of Can ada We st or of the We s te rn

State s could pass below Oswego , for th e reasonthat if' they did the re were n o mean s of tran sport

from Lowe r Canada to compe te in cheapn ess

with what exis ts from Oswego and Buffalo to

Albany . A nd with th e view of changing this

s tate of things , I held it to be imperatively ne ce s

sary for Canada to se cure an en largemen t oftheWe lland Canal , and a Canal from the S t. Law

ren ce in to Lake C hamplain , so that ve sse l s of

750 ton s could proceed from any of th e in te rio r

Lake Ports, w ithout bre aking bulk , e i the r to

Mon treal , or on to L ake Champla in ,—that thiswould give to the route of th e S t . Lawren ce a

superiority ove r all othe r route s from the We st,

which *

neve r could be disturbed, and that the

success of our ra ilroad system depended on the

St. Lawren ce route having this supe rior i ty , and

that wi thout this our railways in Canada would

prove ruinous inve stmen ts . Mr . Workman,in

reply to this , says n o t one s ingle word against

the enlargeme n t of the We llan d Canal . As to

the con struction of th e Caughnawaga Canal h e

is pe rfe ctly furious , p ronouncing that work‘ vis ionary and so obviously absurd

,

”-“ i ts

con struction a spe cie s of commercial suicide ,”

“ unjust,” &c . , &c . ,

and “ that n o single m erchan t be s ide s Mr . Young approve s of i t.

I t may be worth while , therefore , to e nquirewhe ther Mr. Workman i s warran ted by facts in

making such asse rtion s, as an opportun ity will

be thus g iven for bringing unde r publ ic a tten

tion the views en te rtaine d by compe ten t partie s

in re lation to this Canal .

And firs t, as to what has been done by the

Mon treal Board of T rade , whose action on th e

subject has bee n as creditable as i t has be en con

s isten t .

In 1846, i t was suggeste d by me that th e con

s truction of a canal from th e S t . Lawren ce into

Lake Champlain was n e ce ssary for the succe ss

of the St . Lawren ce canals ; and that without

this i t was doubtful whe ther we ste rn trade could

be attracted down the S t . Lawren ce be low Lake

On tar io . M r. Workman will please remember

that th is was two years before the S t. L awrence

canals were op ened for gene ral tratfi c . In the

Spring of 1847,I , in company w ith Mr. Barre tt,

C ivil Enginee r, and a man of great profe ss ional

ability (sin ce de ceased), walked from C aughna

waga to St. John s , and satisfied ourselve s that

there we re n o engine e ring diffi cultie s to e ncoun

ter in construction . T h e public be came in te

rested in the proje ct, and a pe ti tion , numerously

s igned by th e c itizens generally was pre sen tedto the Gove rnmen t, praying for a survey . Thiswas gran ted ; and in October 1847, J . B . Mills ,a gentleman ofmuch practical talen t in his profass ion , was named by the Gove rnme n t to survey th e same . Early in 1848 h e did so ;and in a valuable report, re commende da line from S t . John s to Caughn awaga ,with th e Lake Champlain leve l . In this

Report Mr . Mills state s It seems to me that,

with reference to this en te rprise, the dire ct in

“ tersat of Mon treal to giv e e very facility and“aid to its prose cution upon that route and location that will bes t se rve the promine n t con

“ con side ration s and in te rests which have iaduced its propos ition .

” Mr. Mills again saysC an the G overnmen t expect to g et a revenue

from the existing improvements of the S t . Law“rence

,depending only and alone upon

“ the business of C anada , sufiicient to pay“ the interest of cost of said works

,to

“gether with the annual exp enses of sup ervis io n

“and main tenance .

” Mr. M ill s also g ive s an ex

tract, ia suppor t of this work , from a R e port tothe Provin cial Gove rnmen t in 183 3

,w hich states

It i s in the pow e r of th e Canadian Gove rn

men t to say in what d ire ction th e people (of“ th e n orth we st) shall go to marke t It is ge

n erally known sm sug comme rcial me n in

“ North Ameri ca , that th e portion of th e Un i ted

State s called N ew Englan d is rap idly bs com

ing a manufactur ing coun try ; and I be lieve i t

would be impossible n ow (in 183 3) to e stima te

th e exten t of commer cial in te rcourse which

w ill take place be tw ee n the We s t and N ew

“ E ngland , as all e stimate s of the advan cemen t

and productive pow e r of th e north-w e ste rn“ State s , even re lating to periods and t imes al“ ready past, have proved themse lve s to be ridi

culous failure s .”

T he Board of T rade , in Apri l 1848 , asked the

Governmen t for copie s of the Report and plan s

as made by Mr. Mills , for th e con struction ofa

“ canal from th e S t . Law ren ce in to Lake Cham“ plain

,in the ne ighbourhood ofCaughnawaga .

In July , 1848 , a valuable memorial w as pre sen te dto th e Gove rnmen t, which so fully se t forth th e

great obje cts of the work , and i s so clear in i tss tatemen ts , that, emanating, as it doe s , from a.

gentleman so un ive rsally e steemed in th is ci ty

and throughout Canada , i t cannot fail to be of

in tere s t to the publ ic

5

Th e M emorial of the M ontreal B oard of TradeHumbly S h eweth ,That your memorialis ts have for s ome time

be en de eply impre ssed w ith th e de sirablen e ss ofconne cting th e wate rs of the S t. Lawren ce withLake Champla in by mean s - of a Canal . T h e

comme rc ial advan tage s which would re sult fromsuch an unde rtaking are nume rous and highlyimpor tan t.l s tly. By mean s of such a canal Provisi on s

and Breads tuffs , which are at p rese n t impor tedin to the n on -producing S tate s of Massachuse tts,N ew Hampshire , Vermon t an d Conne cticut fromthe We s t by th e route of th e Erie C anal, w ouldundoubtedly be brough t by th e St . Lawren ce ,the sup erior cheapne ss of such a route be ing suchas to defy compe ti tion ; so tha t thus no t onlya tran s it trade ofcon side rable magn i tude wouldbe

'

se cured , but a new and valuable marke tw ould be Ope ned for the production s of thi s Provrn ce .

2ndly. That such a canal w ould prove of immen se advan tage to th e lumbe r dis tricts on th eOttawa and i ts tributarie s

,inasmuch as i t w ould

Open up a n ew and pe rman en tmarke t for timber ,be s ide s bring ing in to play th e wate r powe r solarge ly available on all th e s treams for themanufacture ofwood s tud s adapte d for a Southern marke t.3 rdly. That i t would be the means ofcomple t

ing th e chain of wate r commun ication from the

Uppe r Lake s by th e St. Lawren ce to N ew York ,and thus mate rially a ssis t, unde r the system of

free navigation con templated , in rende ring thatrive r th e great thoroughfare to the ocean of th e

produce ofWe ste rn Can ada and the We sternState s ofAmerica .

4thly . T he Finan cial re sults which wouldaccrue from such a can al w ould be of th e g rea te s t advan tage to th e Governmen t, if i ts effectswould be , as i t is j us tly an ticipated , to in creasein cal culably the traffi c in th e St . L aw ren ce , bythe p owe r i t would place in our han ds ofcompe ting successfully w i th th e E rie Canal

,th e

tolls arising from th e Provin cial C an als couldn o t fai l to be large ly in creased

,

and the publicreven ue propor tionate ly augmen ted .

5 thly . T he canal in que s tion w ill prove of

great advan tage to t he city of M on treal , noton ly by th e dire ct trade i t would be the mean s ofopen ing up , but by th e growth in wealth by a

population re s iden t in h er rear , which , by naturaln e cessity , would re sor t to h er marke t for suppli es . By the con temporan e ous comple tion oft h e Portland Railroad , Mon treal would alsobe come the cen tre of three grea t route s to theocean , a situation mos t favorable for th e growthand con cen trat ion ofcomme rce .

Lastly . A canal conne cting th e waters ofth eS t. Law ren ce and Lake Champlain w ould havethe effect ofn eutralizing in a great measure th epre sen t contemplate d railroad from Ogden sburgh , which othe rwise w ould draw th e traffic ofth e S t . Law re n ce a t a poin t above all our Publ icWorks , the reby inflicting a serious loss on our

revenue , bu t an incalculable injury on th ein te re sts of the Lower Provin ce .

Your memorial ists are al so aware that repres cutation s o n th e subj ect of such a canal w ere

made last year by a number of the c itizens ofM on treal , and that according to the praye r ofthe ir pe ti tion Your Exce llen cy was pleased todire ct a survey of a line for the proposed canal ,commen cing at the St. Lawren ce s ide , at or nearth e village of Caughnawaga .

I t appears to your memorial ists expedien t ,unde r any circumstan ce s , before de ciding the

l ine of th e proposed canal,that the coun try lying

be tw e en Longue uil and Laprairie should also besurveyed, so tha t th e final preferen ce be given tothat line which, afte r m inute inve stigat ion andcon side rat ion of all th e in tere sts involved , shal lbe deeme d to posse ss a preponde rance ofadvantage s

'

in i ts tevc’

f.

Your memorialis ts cannot help regarding these le ction of the terminus of such a canal , in th econ struction of which a vas t expenditure mus tbe in curre d , and any m istake regarding whichmay be looked upon as irremediable , as a matte rof the ve ry highe st importan ce , and not to bede c ide d on without th e utmos t de l iberation andthe examination of compe ten t and unb iassedau thori tie s .Wherefore your memorialists w ould humbly

pray your Exce llen cy, as a pre liminary s tep,to

dire ct the survey ofthe coun try lying be en L ongueuil and Laprairie , so that a choice of a routefor th e p roposed canal may subsequen tly bemade , after a due balan cing of the variou s c ircums tan ce s pro . and con . affecting ge ach

”

lin ere spe ctive ly.

A nd your fire &c .

(Signed ,)

PETER McGILL ,Pre s t. M. B . ofT .

F . A . WILSON ,Se cre tary .

Mon treal,26 th July, 1848 .

Such a memorial i s worthy of be ing pre se rvedas part of the history ofthe proposed Canal, and

w ill be possesse d ofmuch greate r in tere st, years

hen ce , when th e advan tage s to be de rived from

the work shall have be en demon strated by actualexperie nce .

A word or two as to the action of th e Legisla

ture on this subje ct.In 1849 a b ill was carried through Parl iamen t

authoris ing a Company to cons truct this canal .

In th e same year a me e ting of Am erican gen tle

men in te re sted in the subje ct me t at T roy,who au

th orised a survey by M r. Claxton , C .E .—and th e

same year al so a Conven tion was he ld at Sara

toga Springs,where de legate s from Canada and

differe n t parts of the Un i te d State s were pre sen t ,who heartily approved of the utility and nece s

sity ofth e work . In th e same year the H on . J .

B . Rob inson brought the subje ct before Govern

men t in his Public Works Repor t. In Public

Works Report of 1851. the H on . Mr. Killaly and

myse lf alluded to the work,and re commended

its immedia te con struction . In 1853 a special

6

gene ral me e ting of the Board ofTrade was called

in refere nce to this Canal , a nd the me e ting was

unanimous as to i ts n ece ss ity. T he poin t of

departure from the St . Lawre nce was not dis

cussed : while some of th e membe rs expre ssed a

desire to have i ts location so that the Ocean and

We ste rn ve sse l migh t mee t a t th e same place ,

ye t , all fe l t that the poin t o f departure was a

matter for Eng inee rs to d ecide . O n this poin t

Thomas Ryan , E Sq . , (a gen tleman wh o has un i

formly and from the firs t taken an active part in

promoting this work ,) expre ssed the fe e l ing of

the majori ty in making the follow ing remark s

That th e expre ss ion of ‘ the C anal’ h e had n ot

l iked , but o n a sugge stion this had be en“ change d to ‘

a C anal.’ This had shown h im

th e willingness ofMr. Young to mee t the view s

of the mee ting . H e did n o t doubt that such

a Canal as that proposed , if con tiguous to the

city , would be of great impor tan ce , a t the

same time h e should be sorry to see any such sel

fishness shewn as would aggrandise the city at

“ the exp ense of the country. T he city would“extend itse lf widely

,and in a few ye ars a m ile

or two one way or the other would make n o

great diffe ren ce with the te rm inus . But s till

the Board would do its bes t to preven t a wrong

location . e had heard of w rong locations ,“and while h e would n o t sayjhat th e in te rests

of Mon treal should defeat the clear reports ofapproved E ngine e rs , h e thought that in th e

even t of there be ing two or thre e diffe ren t re

por ts, the in tere s ts of the c ity should come in

and have the ir w e igh t .”

I shall con tinue this subj ect in my n ext le tte r

Your Obdt . S erv t .JO HN YOUNG .

Mon treal , 23 rd Jun e , 1859 .

LETTER N O . 2 .

To the E ditor of the MONTREAL GA"ETTESm,—In con tinuation of my las t le tte r, I beg

to remark that,in 1853 , the H ouse of Assembly

passed a re solution re commen ding th e con struction of a canal in to Lake Champlain by a vote

of 3 7 to 6 .

In th e Annual Report of th e Board of Trade

in 1855 , th e whole subj e ct is discussed a t length ,and i ts bear ing on trade poin ted out . I t is theres tated Wi th such a canal, i t appears to us

“ that th e immen se trade that is new diverted“away from this city

,by Oswego and othe r

“ U n i te d S tate s’lake ports , would be brought“ to our ve ry doors, and deposited w ith us as a

cen tral poin t for re-distribution , e ithe r to the“ Un ited State s , to th e lowe r ports , or to Grea t“ Britain , as c ircumstan ce s m ight require .

”

Aga in , in September, 1855 , at a gene ral and ve ryfull mee ting of the Board of Trade , on the sub

ject of conne cting th e Georgian Bay with theO ttawa by canal, i t is stated in . the Report

That, w i th refe ren ce to the immen se trade“ which mus t always be carried on

,and which

“ i s rapidly in creasing , be twee n the E aste rn“ State s and N ew York , o n the one hand

, and'

the region s o n the We stern Lake s on th e othe r ,your Committe e con ce ive tha t the time is near

“at hand whe n in crease d canal accommodation

“ must be p rovide d . Whe the r this can be most“effe ctually accomplished by th e en largemen tof the pre sen tWe lland Canal , the con structionofa canal to conne ct th e Georg ian Bay w ith

“ Lake On tario via Lake Simcoe,or by conne ct

ing that Bay with Mon treal by th e improvemen t of th e O ttawa Rive r , is a question which

can only be de c ided by an actual survey oftheseve ral route s . But whateve r route may bechosen , your comm ittee be l ieve that an o utlet

to l ake C hamp lain is indisp ensable , by the

proj ecte d canal be tween that lake and the“ Rive r St . Lawren ce , a subje ct wh ich has bee n“ so frequen tly adve rted to by th e Coun c il and

approved ofby th e Board ofTrade .

”

In the Annual Repor t of 1856 , th e Board again

advert to th e great and growing dive rs ion of

trade from the St . Lawren ce , and gave facts to

show the n e cessi ty of a canal in to Lake Cham

plain . In 1857 , the subje ct is again forcibly

alluded t o a t len gth , and the Repo r t con cludes

by stating “ that the mos t urgen t demands“ ought to be made on th e Governmen t in refe r

en ce to conn e cting th e wate rs of Lake Cham

plain,and for e n larging the Welland Canal ,

“as imperatively called for, whateve r outle ts in

“the lake s may hereafte r be formed , and inas

“ much as works of such magn i tude involve“ long de lay in con struction , i t is ofthe firs t importan ce that n o time sh ould be lost.” I havedeemed i t ne ce ssary to give these short extracts

from th e proce edings of t he Board of Trade and

of th e citizen s of Mon treal , by which , and by

othe r facts, the public w ill be able to judge how

far Mr. Workman is corre c t in mak ing i t appear

that th e proje ct of un i t ing the wate rs of Lake

Champlain with the S t .L awren ce is “visionary ,”

and has absurdity on its ve ry face”

a w ild

scheme ,” “ un supported ,

” & c . I shall now procee d

to show that it is necessaryfor the p ublic intere sts

that the work should be con structed at whatever

poin t or p lace whereby the general interest of the

country can be best promoted .

A m inute of the Execu t ive C oun cil , dated

1sth October , 1854, states that in the Repor t of

the ChiefCommission e r ofPubl ic Works , stating

that in consequence of pe titions from various

local itie s in Uppe r and Lowe r‘

Canada for the

constructiOn of a‘

can‘

al to conne ct the S t:

Lawrence With L’

ake Champlain , - that by the

vote on 6 th April , 1859, of th e Leg islative A'

s

sembly, as we ll as by the pe tition of the Mon treal

Board ofTrade requesting that a survey be made

of said canal , —that he had carefully pe rused

said pe tition s and resolution , - that a surveywasmade in 1847 at th e reque s t ofcertain individuals,who con temp late cons tructing a canal as a priva t e

e n terprise ; but that such'

survey was confined toa part icular l in e , w i th its te rminus at Canghuawaga, and that , from th e great importan ce ofth e

subject, a new survey should be mad e,&c .

This survey was e n trus ted to John B . Jarvis ,a c ivil engin ee r of N ew York , w ho reported

strongly in favour ofthe work , and re commendeda line dire ct from Caughnawaga to St . John s ,w i th a navigable feeder from th e Beauharnois

Canal .

Afte r re ce ip t by the Gove rnmen t of Mr . Jar

vis’s Report, an Opportun ity was afforde d ofOh

tain ing the opin ion of Captain N . B . Swift,a

C ivil Engine e r of great eminen ce , and wh o for

some years had been ChiefEngin e e r to th e S tateof Mas sachuse tts . Mr. Swift had before h im

Reports ofJohn B . M ills , John B . Jarvis,E . B .

Tracy , and S . Gamble , but did n o t concur withMr . Jarvis in feeding the Canal a t Caughnawagafrom the St . Lawren ce at th e Beauharnois Canal ,and dwe l t at con siderable length o n th e variousline s proposed , and con cluded by s tat ing thatthe cos t would n o t excee d — an d I

have n o he s itat ion whateve r in expre s s ing th e

opin ion that the prope r line for the propose d“ Canal i s from St . John s to Caughnawaga on

the route known as th e Champlain leve l ; in“ othe r words , that th e Canal should be supplied“ with wate r from Lake Champla in , as re com“ mende d by Mr. Mills .” In 1855 and in 1856 ,

Samue l R . Gamble al so run seve ral lin e s,

which resulted in a strong re commenda tion of

the lin e from Caughnawaga to St . John s . T .

C . C larke,E sq .

, also reported ou'

the subje ct,

giving the same opin ion .

T he Honble . M e ssrs . Lem ieux and H . H . Kil

a ly, in the ir Public Works Repor t of1856 , state

T hat a fter atten tively examin ing in to the res“ ‘

pective mer its ofthe several l‘

ines—t-some s ix or“ seven in number—and the argument s of theEngineers thereon , the unde rsigned are deci

dedly led to the con clusion that the only con

trust or comparison necessary to dwe l l On , is ,“ that be twe en ~ the Beauharn

’ois line’h avingth e

Beauharnois“

Canal as a feede r with its bran ch

to C aughnawaga , as re commended byM r. Jar

vis ; and the Caughnawaga l ine having'

L‘

ake

Champlain for its supply , repre sente d by“ Me ssrs . M ills , Swift and Gamble , as the one to

be prefe rred , are de se rving of the de epe s t cons ideration , con taining, as they do

,a vast

“amoun t ofvaluable s tatistics , and a n umbe r of

“ importan t and ingen ious tables . flfter a pa

tient and mature consideration of the entire , the“undersign ed are of op inion that the lin e follow

ing the C hambly C anal and th en cross ing to L ake

S t. L ouis , is that which would combin e and aford“ in the greatest degree , all the advantag es contem“p lated from this improvement.

” And again,

The absolute n ecessityfor th is connecting link in“ the chain of the immense Inland N avigation

through this Provin ce and the United S tates be

comes more and more apparent every succeeding“year .

” N ow , I was no t wedded to any particu

lar poin t for th e dive rgen ce of this Canal from

the S t . Lawren ce . In 185 1, in a le tter to a

Comm ittee named by the E le ctors of Mon

treal , I s tated that , as regards th e Canal to

conn e ct Lake C hamplain with the Sa in t L aw

ren ce ,“ I shall be p repared to con s ider

impartially the reason s w hich may be ad

“ duced in favor of th e several route s sugge st

ed . Only one route h as ye t b e e n surveyed“(from Lake St . Louis), and u n t il comparat ive

surveys are made o fothe r rou te s, and the meri t s

of e ach duly we ighed , I shall defe r expre ssinga defin ite opin ion as to th e be s t poin t ofdepar

ture from th e St . Lawren ce .

”

With the se facts,I n ow leave i t to th e public

to j udge h ow far M r. Workman 18 jus tified in

writing that“ Y ou should also h e ar in m in d

tha t you may search in vain for a s ingle Mo n

treal me rchan t, be s ide s himse lf, who app rove s“of th e Caughnawaga C anal proj e ct .

” “ Mr .

“ Young , by the influen ce he w ields as a large"produce deale r through certain partie s w h o“are membe rs of th e Board of Trade , h as suc

ne eded , if I mis take no t , in having his O s ugh

n awaga Canal approved of, o r favorably uo ti e“e d .

” In poin t of fact , th e Board of Trade :

while they have laboured to d irec t Gove rnmen t

8

and public atten tion to th e necess ity ofa C anal,have never exp ressed, or have beencalled on to ea:

p ress, an op inion as to site , or on the nume rous

surveys made s ince 1854. So thatMr.Workman

is on ce more mistaken .

His assertion , as to the influen ce brought

to bear upon his fe llow merchan ts, scarce lyd eserves n otice , were i t no t that i t affords

another p roof, amongst many offered in his

le tters, of his readiness to impute the lowest

m otive s . I t m ight have struck Mr. Workmanthat certain members” of th e Board of T rade

might have acted from conviction or a sen se of

duty, and no t from the influence wielded by a

large produce deale r .But here again Mr. Workman is m is take n as

to the facts , for there is not a member of th eBoard of Trade who will s tate that I eve r used

any such influen ce , or even solicited a vo te,a t

the Board ofT rade .

In so far as an expression ofOpin ion,or argu

men ts in favou r of such a canal , are l ike ly to

influence my fe llow me rchan ts or fe llow ci tiz en s,

Mr. Workman will n ot find faul t. H e seems in

one place to be almo st convinced himse lfthat for

the Provin ce at large the Caughnawaga Canal

m ight perhaps be beneficial . ~ e says For“ whatever may be said in favour of con struct“ ing a canal at C aughnawaga, a s a mean s of

adding to.

th e revenue ofour other canals above“ that poin t, ye t i ts construction by any“ sound thinking M ontreal M erchant must be

regarde d as carrying absurdity on i ts very face“as in fact the mos t aggravated spe cie s of com

mercial suicide .

”

Mr. Wo rkman d oe s n o t say in direc t te rms

that th e canal w ould ben efit the Provin ce , bu t h e

evide n tly lean s to the maxim which is qui‘

e pre

vale n t e nough , and wh ich o ne would no t have

expe c ted in such a quar te r, that lo cal an d no t

gen e ral inte re s ts should con trol th e location of

such a w ork .

But h e goes further , and g ive s anothe r reasonagains t the canal - T he St . Law ren ce and Lake“ Champlain are already un i ted by tw o excelle n t“ railways ; that w ith the se mean s of commun i ~

cation , coupled with the more circuitous routeof the Chambly Canal , h e doe s n o t see that

any insuperable obstacle s exis t to th e mos t“exten sive commerce be tween the two poin ts in

que stion .

”

M r.Workman says I t will be eviden t to anyunprejudiced mind , that along w i th the O s ugh

newage Canal must spring up a rival to th e

port ofMon treal—a bleeder, rather than a feeder—at Caughnawaga .

”

“ That the proposed Caughnawaga Canal“ would injure the trade ofMontreal , and divertfrom

,rather than draw p roduce to

, Mr. Young’sdocks .”

“ U n ite these two poin ts”"th e St . Lawren ceand Lake Champlain"“ and a Bri tish bottom in“ the great We ste rn carrying trade would be asrare as a woodcock in summe r, or a swallow in

t‘ win ter .

“ But although a large majority of the merchan ts and inhabi tan ts of M ontreal , from th e

“ very absurdity of Mr. Young’s proje cts , have

“ hitherto regarded t hem more as harmle ss

will o’-the-wisps’than as actual realitie s,therei s danger in carrying this apathy too far.

”

The se are grave assertion s,and require to be

an swered . In my n ext le tte r I shall have occa

s ion to exam ine fully the mer its of Mr, Work

man’s two exce llen t railways , as a mean s ofcom

p eting w ith th e canals and railways of the State

ofN ew York . B ut in proof that we have now

n o means ofsuch compe ti tion be low Lake On ta

r io,le t me dire ct public atten tion to th e re turn s

ofth e trade for 18 58 , when a

‘

large r amoun t of

produce was re ce ived at Mon tre al than in any

previous year . Reducing flour to grain , a t the

rate offive bushels for a barre l , the total exp orts

from th e lake regions in 18 58 we re con side rably

in exce ss of 1856 and 185 7 .

Th e ave rage amoun t in 1856 if; 1857was , in bushels

Amoun t in 1858

T hi s show s an incre ase 111 1858 of 14 per

ce n t . Now , le t us see whe re thi s prope rty wen t,and th e. relative impor tan ce of th e diffe ren t portsre ce iving flour and grain from th e lake region s .

I find,from table s prepare d by th e Buffalo

C ommercial fldvertiser, and which I have care

fully examin ed , that of all th e grain and flour

moving e astward in it ’58 , each poin t as

follows re ceived th e per cen tage se t opposi te i ts

n ame 2

L ocality.

BuffaloOswegoMon tre alWe st . T er . Buf. dz 0 . RRO gde n sburgh

We st T e r. Pa C RRDunkirkSuspen sion BridgeCape Vin cen tRoche ste r .

Could any argumen t be s tronge r, than tha t

proved by the fac t he re shown , that at presen t ,

w ith all our me an s in full ope ration (except the

bridge , which I shall show can have n o great in

fluen ce on the re sult), we h ad no t in 18 58 , the

power to a ttract more than n ine and two -ten ths

per cen t ofWe s te rn Canadian andWe ste rn State strade in gra in and flour alon e to M on trea l— in

fact,the re is a de clin e of 2 pe r cen t, while othe r

place s had in creased and i s i t upt trifling w i th a

subje ct of the grave s t possible characte r for O s

nada , to pre tend , as Mr. Workman does , tha t the

Chambly Canal , and th e Champla in and St.

Lawrence Railroads from St. Lamber t and

Caughnawaga , are quite sufli cie n t , and that“ w ith the se , no in supe rable obstacle s exis t for

the most exten s ive comme rce ?”

I stated in my le tte r of loth De cembe r

that, from Ports in We ste rn Canada above

the Sain t Law re n ce Canals , th e exports of

grain and flou r alon e to th e Un ited State s lake

ports w e re more than equal to the total receip ts at

M ontreal,both by railway and canal, ofgrain and

flour, received from all of the Western S tates and

Western C anada . S in ce w r i ting my le tte r o n

loth De cembe r, I have the re turn s for 1858,

which again show th e same te nden cy ofmovemen t , as w ill appe ar from the follow ing table

Expo rts to Un ite d TotalRe ce ipts at MontrealS tates from U pp e r from We st e rn S tates andC anada Ports of W e stern C anada by Ra ilGraiu

,and Flour

,w ay an d C anal of Grain

in bush e ls . an d Flour, in bush els .

18 56

185 7

18 58

I have from time to time laboured to shewth at the re are supe rior w ate r commun ica ~

tion s to Albany , th rough the State ofN ew York ,from Lake On tario , than any posse s sed a t pre‘

sen t by Canada and i t has also repea tedlybe enshown that this super ior i ty would be s t ill further in creased th e momen t that th e en larged anddeepened Erie Canal could be made available .

T he improvemen t in Erie Canal naviga tion isnow afact . F rom Oswego , boa ts draw ing sixfe e tofwate r can proceed to Albany , and can n ow

carry 1200 barre ls instead of 650,and ofcourse

a t a cheape r rate . T h e M on treal and Lowe r

Canada merchan ts have n o mean s of transportby which they can en te r in to compe ti tion w i th

the ir r ivals in th e State of N ew York for thetrade of We ste rn Canada, w i th the Easte rnState s , and far le ss for th e trade o f th e We ste rnState s with the Easte rn State s .

I have s tated tha t this is a matte r of th e grav

9

es t importance to th e pe ople ofCanada . I havebefore poin ted ou t th e fact, that afte r deductingcos t ofmanageme n t

,and of th e usual annual t e

pairs o i the We lland and St . Law ren ce Can al sin 1857

,there was a los s-of and that

with th e in teres t the loss to the pe ople for the se

w orks was T he re sult ofthe accoun t

for the se w ork s in 1858 stands as follow s , as perPublic Accoun ts

Gro ss Revenue We lland Canal .Do do St. Lawren ce Canal .

E xp ense of C ollection and G eneral

R epairs

We lland CanalS t. Lawren ce Canal .

E xpensd of usual and G eneralR ep airs

We l landS t . Lawren ce .

Expenditure ove r in come for 1858 .

To which , if we add th e in te re s t on cos t of

the se works, say 25,w e have a total

outlay, beyon d in come , of or

more than in 1 8 57 . Along with this en ormousannual los s on our Can als

,which has to be me t

by dutie s o n imports, w e have also to pay the

in tere s t on unproduc tive ra ilways . I t i s because of the se annual losses on our Publi c

Works and the in te re s t which has to be paid

on un productive ra ilways , that our dutie s o n

impor ts have t o be s o h igh , and n o t , as Mr .

Workman suppose s , to “our repre sen tative s

“who have advocated th e true in tere s ts of Me n

tre al in obtain ing a wise protection to her home“ industry.

” In consequence of which , an d of the

probabil ity of a fur the r in crease in dutie s , M r.

Workman thinks the advan cemen t of Mon

treal i s like ly to proce e d in an as cen ding

ratio . N ow ,I am o n e of those “

fligh ty, free

trade theor ists wh o be lieve that so high a duty

as now exi s ts in Canada on impor ts is not ad

vantageous , but tha t i t is for the interest of all

tha t the dutie s should be as l ight as pos sible ;and it i s be cause I b el ieve that our r ive rs , canal s

and ra ilways may be made a s ource of revenue ,

in ste ad ofbe ing comparat ive ly de se r ted, and ane normous an n ual outlay n e ce ssary for the ir sup

port, that I have j oin ed w ith those who haveurge d forward th e immediate construction ofth ee n larged We llan d Canal , and of a canal in to

Lake Champlain , w i th docks at M on treal , anda 20-fe e t channel , a t low wate r

,to Quebec .

10

In clos ing this le tte r I again repeat that th e

daily tran saction s and the daily course of tradeal ike shew that the cos t of fre ight from Lake

On tario to Albany , Boston orN ewYork , th roughAme rican channe ls, has been for the las t s ix

years , and is this year, less by from 15 to 25 cen ts

per barre l than by the route ofthe St. Lawren cevia Mon treal to the same poin ts , by any meansof tran sport n ow existing , or that will exis t

when th e Victoria Bridge is comple ted , eve nincluding the Chambly Canal and Mr. Work

man’s two exce llen t ra ilways . I make

this s tatement before this the largest bus ine ss

commun ity in C anada, in orde r that i t may be

con tradicted if It is no t true , an d to allow Mr .

Workman the Opportun ity ofbringing his know

ledge o i‘

We stern trade before the public , for th epubl ic good . If the statemen t I here make betrue , as I a nrm that i t is , the n i t i s a fact ofth e

greate st poss ible con sequen ce , for i t mus t be

eviden t , that so long as that grea t stream of

comme rce from the We ste rn State s and CanadaWe s t finds a cheape r route to the great consuming marke ts of the Eastern States , by an outle tfrom the St. Lawren ce 150 miles above any part

of Lowe r Canada, i t is imposs ible that

the progre ss of h er citie s,cut off from

the advan tages of such in terio r trade , can

be equal to the c itie s in State s of the

Un ion o n the Atlan tic ; and th e Governmen t and Legisla ture of the coun try in cur adeep re spon sibili ty, as they have already done , ifthey longe r negle ct to take action in a matter

which involve s a great reduction , or a con tinuation ofheavy taxation to pay in tere st on canalsand railways which are now unproductive

,but

which may be made remunerative .

I shall con tinue this subje ct in my next le tte rand am n ow ,

Your obedien t Servan t,

JOHN YOUNGMon treal , 3 oth June , 18 59 .

"G O O—E

LETTER N O . 3 .

To the E ditor ofthe MONTREAL GA"ETTESra,—I think i t has been shown by my last

le tte r, that th e connection of the waters ofLakeChamplain with those of th e St. Lawren ce hasbeen con side red, both by th e me rchan ts and

c itizen s of Mon treal,as a work of the greate st

importance n o t me re ly in refe ren ce to P rovin

cial, but to local in tere sts , and that Mr. Work

man in characterisin g it as a wild scheme unsupported by publ ic opin ion

,

”and “

as visionary

in the extreme ,” has con tradicted all the public

action which has been taken on th e subj ect, andofwhich , he as a me rchan t and a membe r of th eBoard of Trade should have been aware beforewriting his le tt e rs . T he publ ic docume n ts

,reports

and pe tition s of the Board of Trade, of the C om

missione rs ofPublic Works , and orders in Council , already given , may be se t against Mr.Work

man’s rash assertion s . Indeed, i t would have bee neasy to accumulate eviden ce proving that therehas been a greate r unan im ity, on the n e ce ssityand impor tan ce of such a work

,than has ex

isted in re spect to any other projected public

improvement, within the last ten years .

Opin ion has varied as to th e be st site for th ework , and the cry of local in tere s t has been industriously raised but the en tire we ight of thescientific and professional authority has approved the eite above the Lachine Rapids .

No one kn ows this be t te r than Mr . Workman , bu t i t suite d his views in endeavour

ng to hold me up “ to th e indignan t scow1of impatien t public sen timen t ” to makethe statemen ts refe rred to , which serve d

to con ceal the great lack of fact in h is le tte rs ,and to dive rt atten tion from th e real poin ts to

be discussed . Deem ing, therefore the Canal in to

Lake Champlain to be the basis of that greatin crease to th e trade of Mon treal and of our

public Canals and Railways , I shall proceed to

examine how far Mr.Workman i s corre ct in sup

pos ing that the con struction of that work would

prove de trimen tal to publ ic in tere sts .

I have a lready stated that wi th all our rail

ways and canals , in both se ction s of the Pro

vin ce , in full operation , and even with the

Victoria Bridge comple ted , prope rty of

all k inds destin ed for the great con suming

marke ts of the Eastern State s and N ew

York can be moved to Albany or Troy at

leas t 15 cen ts per barre l less from Lake

On tario, through American channels , than th e

same property can be moved down the St . L aw

ren ce to the same poin ts via Mon treal ; and that

this is the case at pre sen t, is proved by the fact,that ou t of the whole exports from th e lake

region in 1858 , Mon treal on ly re ce ived 1m mAND

rwo -rs s rn s PER C ENT .

This fact was dwe l t on in my le tte r of loth

De cembe r , and i s so impor tan t to the whole

argumen t that i t should have be en fairly me t by

M r. Workman . I t l ie s at th e foundation of the

whole que stion ofrival route s . How could Mr .

Workman,the refore , epare time for dwe lling on

the “ van i ty”ofMr. Young,

“ the bolosse an in te l

le ct ofMr. Young ,”and the numberle ss pe rsonal

allusion s which are scatte red throughou t his

le tters , and negle ct to conside r the main fact,which in i tse lf is of more inte re s t to the publ ic

than Mr. Workman’s Opin ion of my pe rsonal

characte r or conduct ? Mr. Workman make s

l ittle allusion to this leading fact ; h e n ever at

temps to refute it . But he proceeds to urge ,with the s tatistics before him, that this canal

into Lake Champlain is not required , and that th e

existing mean s of transport to the Easte rn State s

from L ower C anada are suflicient. This view is

placed before the public by Mr. Workman as

follow s , bringing in as usual some ofhis pe rsonal

allusions , to give force to his argumen t

Who , in perusing this extatic burs t, w ouldeve r dream tha t the two poin ts—th e S t . Lawren ce and Lake Champla in—are already un i tedby two exce llen t ra ilways , the distan ce alongone of which , from river to lake , is l i ttle morethan 20 m ile s, with its te rm inus opposite the

c ity ; and the te rminus of the other at the E lDorado ofM r. Young’s imagination—Canghuawaga . Wi th the se mean s of communication ,coupled wi th the more circuitous route of th e

Chambly Canal , i t can scarce ly be con ceded ,and e spe cially when the Victoria Bridge i s opened, which it w il l be this ye ar, that any in supe rable obstacle s exist to the mos t exten s ive commerce be tw e e n the two poin ts in que s tion . Butgreat stre ss is laid by Mr. Young o n the greate rcost of tran sport by railway than of canal . Toremove this d ispar i ty, which Mr. Young allege sto be sufficien t to dr ive the carrying trade fromCanadian waters , he in sists on th e constructionof the Caughnawaga Can al . L e t this poin t h en ow exam ined , o n the data furn i she d by Mr.

Young himse lf. In page 15 h e se t down th e actual cost of moving heavy fre ight at 15 ce n tsp er ton p er mile say for wheat , about 1 cen t perbushe l, and for flour 3 § cen ts per barre l . Nowfor the shortne ss ofth e lin e of rail , an d for han dlin g at both e nds , allow 50 per cen t ove r Mr .

Young’s own con tract price , this will bring thetransport of wheat from the St. Lawrence toLake Champlain at some thing unde r l l ce n tsper bushe l , and of flour t o about 4} ce nts perbarre l . How much unde r the se rate s could th eCaughnawaga Canal , includin g lockage andeverything, carry such produce

Mr. Workman would have accomplished some

thing ii h e had, from my own figures, de stroyed

my views or e stabl ished his own , but h e h asfailed to do this , and made use of the data give nin my le tter to establish a con clusion altoge the rat varian ce with facts probably within his ownkn owledge , and certainly w ithin the knowledgeofall pe rson s engage d in the trade .

Mr.,Workman ought to know tha t wheat

has never be en carried by the Champlain and St .Lawren ce Railroad C ompany

, from Mon treal or

from Caughnawaga, at less , .ou the ave rage,than

pe r ton of lbs ., or say 3 % cents per

bushe l for wheat and 9 cen ts for flour . Takethe pub lished tariff for grain in car loads fromS t. L ambert to S t . John s , which

‘

does n ot includethe fe rry rate s or cartage , the rate is per

ton and to Rouse’s Poin t . Now , supposethis ra te to be reduced to 75 cen ts per 2 ,00015s .

to St . John s , which i s 2 1 m iles , th e co st is 2tc en ts from S t . L ambert, and M r . Workman

knows tha t at this rate partie s have to load and

discharge th e o ars, which canno t be pu t down atless than ll cen ts per bush . , or in all 3 % cen ts . T o

carry grain cheaply , e levators at e ach e nd of a

road are ne ce ssary . Now , suppose one to be inope ra tion on the St. Lambert wharf, (which is

impossible) and anothe r at St . John s, th e cost ofso han dling grain might be reduced to 1 cen t perbushe l . Ifwe add to this the 2 % cen ts for rail

way tran spor t, w e have still a charge of cts .

per bushel, equivalen t to 9 cen ts on flour . That

is by the road of twen ty-one m ile s from St .

Lambe rt, and of course i t w ould be greate r by

the roads from Caughnawaga to the Lake

and to Rouse’s Poin t of nearly double that

distan ce . Y e t Mr. Workman wishe s i t to be infe rre d t hat th e transpor t of wheat from th e S t .

Lawren ce to Lake Champlain can now be done

at some thing under 1; cen ts pe r bushe l and flour

at 42, ce n ts per barre l , when h e knows o r ough t

to have known , that wheat has n eve r be enmove d for le ss than S i cen ts (including fe rry

rate s and cos t ofhandling) per bushel , and flour

at le ss than 9 cen ts to Lake Champlain by theshorte st of th e railroads he refers to .

Without any ve ry profound or practical know

ledge of We stern trade , Mr. Workman might

at least have obta in ed the ne ce ssary information

on this poin t, before straining the data furn ished

by me to sup por t con clusions so con trary to

facts .

Before proceeding to answe r Mr. Workman’s

que stion ,“how much un der the se rates could th e

“ Caughnawaga Canal , in cluding lockage and“eve rything, carry such produce ,

” le t me state

that, from the un ited te stimony of all th e eng i

n eers w h o have exam ine d th e seve ral route s for

this Canal , as we ll as from the de cis ion of the

highe st ofiicers of th e G ove rnmen t , and

from my own j udgmen t , I am free to confe ss that

to place the Canal at any othe r poin t than above

th e Lachin e Rapids , would be to subj ect the

trade of th e O ttawa Valley and that flowing in to

th e S t . Lawren ce , destined for th e Eastern

12

State s,to a pe rman en t ex tra cos t of transport,

for increased lockage , and would go far to impede ,ifnot to defea t, th e obj ect ofthe Canal , and le ssen

thereby our ability to compe te with the

route s through th e State ofN ew York . That such

a re sult shou ld be probable , may be a matter of

regre t, but the ques tion is on e to be de cided upon

facts, upon which we cann ot shut our eye s ,the fa ct of th e exis ten ce of th e Lachine Rapids

,

and th e equally certain fac t that in creased lock

age and in crease d dis tan ce s cause an in crease inthe cost of transpor t . Takin g the se and the

various other facts and circum s tan ce s of cost ,and the course of trade in to con side ration

,the

q ue stion in my m ind to be resolved is, to se ttlewhat is th e best p oint ofdep arture for the C anal,in regard to the general and p erman ent interests ofthe trade ofthe Province If there is a choice of

p oints, then what is th e be s t poin t for th e gen eral

and perman en t in tere st ofth e Provin ce . Be l ieving

this pr in ciple to be corre ct,I acte d upon it when I

had th e hon or to be on e ofthe repre sen tative s of

th e city , in conj un ction wi th my colleague s .When w e we re taun ted by ce rta in Uppe r Can a

da members W 1th expenditure s of pub l ic mon eyfor th e Victor ia Bridge and L ight-houses in th e

Lowe r St. Lawren ce , &c . ; w e took th e broad

ground that w e did n o t ask, and n eve r had asked ,for th e expenditure of public money at Mon treal

or in Lowe r Canada, for any w ork which was no t

for the general good , and con ten de d that , in

building light-house s on the Lower S t . Law ren ce ,thereby le ssen ing in suran ce , We ste rn Canada

was more ben efitted , if h er imports and exports

w ere g reate r , than Lowe r Canada was— that if

th e fe rry rate s for tran sport across th e St . L aw

ren ce at Mon treal could be reduce d on e-half by

th e con struction of th e Victoria Bridge ,th e pe o

ple of We s te rn Canada w e re as much in te re sted

in that work , al though con structed at Mon treal ,as th e pe ople of Lowe r Canada . I t was

upon t his pr inciple a lso that th e Board ofTrade ,c i ti zen s and Harbor Commission ers u rge d th e

public character of th e works in Lake St . Pe te r,and that the expense thereof should be borne bythe Province .

If therefore i t is shewn that Canghua

waga is th e bes t poin t for a can al in to Lake

Champla in for general in teres ts, the inhabi

tan ts of M on treal mu s t be con ten t to extract

from its location the re all th e advan tage s and

benefi ts which i t is in the ir power to do . To

oppose i ts location there , without be ing able to

show that the de c is ion is e rroneous , would

n o t be succe ssful in Parl iamen t , and would be

0 0 0

2 8 2

1418 m ile s

S econd—F rom Chicago to N ew York by th eway of th e Lake s andWe llan d Canal to Oswego ,and then ce by th e O swego and E ric Canals andth e Hudson R iver to N ew York .

B y sa iling B y steam

vessels.

From C hi cago to O swego, 1057mile s Lakegn avigation , 2 and 3 1mills

Addit ion al expen se on th e W el

lan d Canal , 28 mile s , 3 m ills “rom Oswego to We s t Troy, 202mile s Canal n avigation, 8 mill s .rom We s t Troy to N ew York , 15 1mile s R iver n avigation , 3 and 5m ills .Tran sfe rring cargo a t Oswego ”

1410 m iles 46

vessels .

$6 . 3 6

Third .—F rom Chicago to N ew York by the

way of the Lake s , the We lland , St . Lawrence ,

in oppos i tion to prin ciple s already re cognizedand acted on . No Legislature ought to expendpublic money a t a sacrifice of general public

in terests, for the supposed temporary advan tage

of a particular local i ty . If Mr. Workman , instead ofappeal ing to th e passions and supposed

pe cun iary in te re sts ofa par t of th e city population , and trying to rouse the ir indignationagain st me for advocating these views , had dis

cussed th e pr in ciple in question , and shewn i ts

fallacy or i ts inapplicability to the case in d ispute

,he w ould have be e n more creditably and

usefully employed

L et me beg the a tten tion of Mr. Workman ,and of th e public generally , to th e statemen t of

M r. McA lpine , formerly E ng ine er ofthe State of

N ew York, than whom the re is no highe r auth o

ri ty on such a subj ect, who de clare s that with

the We llan d and Caughnawaga C anals built,even with th e whole E rie Canal en larged , the

cos t of tran spor t from Chicago to N ew York ,via Buffalo , O swego, Mon treal and Canghua

waga . w ould be in favor of the Mon treal route .

H i s figure s are as follows

First . - From Chicago to N ew York by the

way ofth e Lake to Buffalo , th e E rie Canal , an dth e Hudson R iver to N ew York .

B y sailing B y steamvessels . vessels .

From Chicago to Buffalo , 9 14 mile sLake n avigation , a t 2 an d 3 %mills

F rom Buffalo to We st Troy , 3 53mile s C anal n avigation , at 8

m illsFrom We st Troy to N ew York , 15 1mile s River navigat ion at 3 and 5

millsTran sfe rring cargo a t Buffalo

C aughnawaga and Champlain Canal s and the

Hudson Rive r to N ew York .

B y sail B y steamvessels . vessels .

From Chicago to N ew York , 163 2m ile s , a t 2 and Bi mills

A ddit ion al expen se s o n the W el

land , S t . Law re n ce , Canghuawaga and C hamplain Canals ,16 7 m ile s , 3 mills

163 2 mile s as. 76

Fourth — From Chicago to Mon treal by w ayof the Lake s and Rive r St. Law ren ce and th e

We llan d and St . Lawre n ce C anals .B y sail

vessels .

From Chicago to Mon treal , 12 78mile s, at 2 and 3 ; mills $2 . 56

Additional expe n se in the St L awren ce and We llan d Canals

, 75miles , at 3 mills

1 278 mile s

He re w e have a diffe re n ce in favour of M on

treal, including the L achin e C anal, of and

per ton bv sail and s team ve sse l s ove rBufi

‘

alo to N ew York by Chicago,and

and per t on over O swego . Again , th e

th e fact is e s tablished by those figure s that th e

route by th e S t . Law ren ce , Caughnawaga ,and Champlain Canals to N ew York fromChicago, has a supe rior ity ove r Buffalo ofand $0 . 79 per ton by sailing and s te am ve ssel

,

and ove r O swego of and Now. a

ve ry gene ral fear is expre ssed , that un le ss theState of N ew York e n large s h e r Champlain

Canal of 72 m ile s , i t w ould be use le ss for Canada to build th e Caughnawaga Canal L e t me

poin t out the e rror of this . I shal l he re after

shew that it is no t N ew York which i s th e great

poin t ofdis tribu tion for the N ew Englan d State s .That poin t a t p re sen t is the terminus of the Erie

Canal at We s t Troy and Albany . I t is at th e sepoin t s where the various railways dive rge to Boston and throughout N ew England , and i t is atthe se points also , where th e large flee t ofsail craftload for var ious local i tie s . S uppos ing

,there

fore , th e Champlain Canal , from Wh i tehall tothe Hudson

,remain s ofthe same s ize as now

, the

co st oftak ing the prope rty on to the Hudson at

Troy , would be as follows

Chicago to Whitehall—1415 mile s at 2m ills $2 83

Addition al expen se s on We lland , St . L awren ce and Caughnawaga Canals—96m ile s at S mills

Tran sfe rring cargo a t WhitehallCost of tran spor t o n pre sen t ChamplainCana l to We s t Troy—72 mile s at 8 mills

So that. the actual cos t of e ach route as far as

Troy would stan d as follows , w i thou t the Whitehall Canal en larged

Via Via Via

Buffalo . Osw ego . C aughnawaga .

This gre ate r cheapn e ss by th e Caughnawaga

route w culd be still more ew de n t , did w e take

in to con s ideration the g rea te r rapidity se cure dby the St . Lawren ce route

,and th e fact that

Whitehall and Burlington are bo th n eare r to

Bos ton than - Albany. N ow i t w ill be wel l to

po in t ou t here an othe r fac t in conj un ction with

th e above,and which I shall allude to more

fully by and bye , when I come to dw e ll upon th en e ce ssi ty of docks at Mon t re al .Mr. Workman dwe lls a t con s iderable length

upon some remarks of m in e a s to the exce llen t

position in wh i ch M on tre al would be place d by

h e r bridge , docks , canal s , an d ra ilways , and

seem s to r idicule the idea of any p rope rty

being s tore d at Mon treal , in con sequen ce ofth egreat cost which would be in curred in com ing

through th e Lachine‘

Canal and going back

again to Caughnawaga , if the me rchan t herefound i t to be his in tere st to se ll th e same inth e N ew York o r Eas te rn State s’marke ts .

In refe ren ce to this obj ection , I admi t th e cost

would be some thing , but Mr. Workman exagge

rate s the cos t , and , he should re colle ct , that the

greate r the cos t of locking down and locking up

prope r ty , the s tronge r is the argumen t again st a

canal w i th its poin t of departure opposite th eci ty , for the p rope rty must be raised to the leve l

ofCaughnawaga, before i t can reach Lake Cham

plain . Bu t taking i t for gran ted , that when all

of the proposed Canals are comple ted,that the

Gove rnmen t will (as should be done now) trea t

th e same as be ing only three canals that the

We lland will be one se ction , the St . Lawren ce

canals (or any of them) a se cond , and the C augh

nawaga Canal a third se ction , and that the rate

oftoll w ill be chargeable when e ithe r section , o r

any portion of the same , shall be used . The L a

chine Canal will thus be made free for all vesse ls and property having p reviously passed thro’

a par t of the St. Lawrence canals , so that th e

actual charge upon the tran sport of property

in ten ded to be he ld in Mon treal (from Canghua

waga and back or a distan ce of18 m iles) , would

be 5 mills per ton per mile , the ascertained cost

of transpor t at the rate at which Mr. McA l

pine’s calculation s have been made . T he actual

cost, then , ofthe various route s from th e in te riorto T roy or Albany on the Hudson

,would be as

follows

1 41

Via ViaBy Lachine Canal

to Mon treal and backBuffalo . Oswegovia 0 anghuawaga.

But I shall have again to refe r to this subje ct .

I have thus shewn,that with the en larged Wel

land Canal,property can be placed at Montreal

by sail ing vesse l cheape r by per ton thanthe same property can be placed in N ew Yorkfrom Bufialo , and at pe r ton cheape r at

M ontreal than if shippe d from Oswego to N ewYork . I have also shewn that if th e Canghua

waga Canal is buil t, a n ew route W ill thereby be

opened , which will compe te succe ssfully with

e i the r Oswego or Buffalo, for We stern Canadian

orWeste rn‘

S tate s trade , eve n if the canal from

Whitehall is n o t e n larged . Now, I shall defe r

for a l ittle , tak ing up the ques tion ofhow Mon

treal is t o be benefi ted by the canal at C augh

n ewage , t o an swe r an obje c tion made to it by Mr.

Workman . e says :"That if the C aughnawaga Cana

‘

. was con structed, the tran sport of“ produce for N ew York would fall in to the

h ahds of Un ite d State s forwarde rs exclu“sively .

” Does Mr. Workman know that in

1856 the n umbe r ofWe ste rn Canad ian ves se ls

which arrived at Oswego alone was

the aggregate tonnage of which was

manned by men—and that in 18 58 the

arrival s were 123 1 ; number ofmen 9859 , and

ton nage Now, I ask Mr. Workman , as

“a such a flee t of ve sse ls

passing through the S t . Lawre nce Canals , on to

Whitehall , (Where h e admits the Canadian ve sse l

across Lake On tario to Oswego . O n the othe r

hand, are not th e intere sts of American for

warders now“ more exclus ive ly promote d”

than would be th e case if a route was open ed by

which imports from ,and exports to th e Uni te d

State s could be made to pass through our own

C anals and rivers by a route cheape r and quicker

and with 140 miles le ss of Amer ican canal navi

gation ?

M r. Workman’s next objection against the

Caughnawaga Canal is, that our fore ign trade

would thereby be ruined , bu t the con s ideration

of this I must defer till my nex t le tter. Mean time

I am , Sir,

Your obedien t servan t,

JOHN YOUNG.

Mon treal, 2ud July, 1859 .

LETTER N O . 4 .

M r. Young propose s to con s truct the Os ughnewage Canal wi th th e avowed purpose of

To the E ditor of the MONTREAL Gaznrrn

Srn,—It is from a be lief that there can be no

subjec t of greate r inte re st to your readers , thanthe d iscuss ion of que stion s which have for the ir

obje ct the in crease ofthe trade ofthe city and ofth e Province , that I have dwe lt at so muchleng th on th e objections made by Mr. Workmanagainst the con struction ofa Canal from th e St .Lawren ce in to Lake Champlain , and to i ts location at Caughnawaga. I have explained that i ts

location there , is the re sult of the mos t p atien texamination by various Engine ers and ofii cers

of th e Gove rnmen t, and that while I am will ing

to bow to the ir. d e cision , and to ackn owledgei ts corre ctne ss , I de e rfijt amy duty, as a re siden tofMon treal , to do what I can to shew th e advantages t hat may re sult to the c ity, by the locationof th e canal at Caughnawaga, if w e avail ourse lve s of the grea t natural pos ition of Mon trealas a S ea and Inland Por t . I have shewn that

when the Victoria Bridge is comple ted ourmean sofcompe ting w ith the route s through N ew Yorkfrom Lake O n tario

'

will be exhaus ted , and that

wi th these me an s , including the Bridge,

property can be carr ied from Lake O otario tothe Hudson , at leas t 15 cen ts per barre l le ss thanit can be carried to the same poin t via Mon treal .To s tand s till and do n othing in such a s tate of

things , an d acknow ledge ourse lve s beaten by the

State of N ew York , in the r ivalry for the trade

of our own coun try , and of th e We s te rn State s

w i th th e Eas tern Un i ted States , i s . I think , n o tthe part of w isdom ,

e spe cially w hen we are told

by men the mos t compe ten t to j udge , that w eare in possess ion of a route to those Eas te rn

State s , through th e St. Law rence , which may be

made superior than it is p ossible to make any

othe r route through th e State of N ew York .

Action , the refore , in the se works , calculated to

develO pe the local advan tage s of Mon treal for

compe tition w i th othe r ci tie s , is as impe rative ,as i t is that the Governmen t of th e coun tryshould wake up , and con s truct wi thout furthe r

lo ss of time , tho se public works, by which alone ;o ur unproductive railways and canals can be

male to pay. If I have dwe l t so long on the

ne cessity of the Caughnawaga Canal , i t is be :

cause I be l ieve that work to be the basis , upon

which any success, can be built, and therefore i t

15

facilitating trade be twe en the We s t and LakeC hamplain and the Hudson Rive r . Mr. Youngor any other We ste rn produce deale r may thinkthis advan tag e cheaply gaine d by th e ruin ofourfore ign trade . But bad as i t would be to sacrifice our foreign for an in land trade , this worldn o t be the w orst of the case . T he Ame ricannavigation law s are such as to exclude Br itishbottoms from trading in the ir wate rs . Who,the refore , w ould forego th e advan tage of thischoice a t C aughnawaga by placing his producein a Bri tish bottom , when he would be obligedto tran ship at Caughnawaga in the e ven t of hisde clin ing to use Mr. Young’s Canal . ”

N ow ,the facts upon the se po in ts are simply

these By the Navigation Laws ofboth coun tri es

ve s se ls of e ithe r coun try are prohib ited from

coas ting . A n Ameri can vesse l cannot load a t aCanadian por t and de live r h er cargo a t a Cana

dian port, n e ithe r can a Canadian ve sse l load at

an Ame rican por t and de live r h er cargo at an

Ame rican port . Ame ri can Navigation Law s don ot exclude British bottom s from trading inthe ir waters .

” Ame rican ve sse ls load a t Toron to

alongside ofBritish ships for O swego,and if the

Caughnawaga C anal was made to-morrow, the

1400 Canadian ve ssels w hich n ow arrive in

Oswego , w ould have th e right, unde r th e Ame ri

can Navigation Law s,to procee d down the St .

Law ren ce and de live r the ir cargoes at Whitehall . As to our canal navigation , w e admi t

N ew York boat s to a scen d the O ttawa,through

th e Grenville Canal ; w e admi t them also

through the Chambly Canal . The re is n othingin our laws , howeve r , to make o ur doing so

compulsory,— but i t i s foun d to be a matte r ofin tere st, to have as many ve sse ls passin g throughour canal s as possible . Ne i the r w ould w e becompelled to allow Ame rican ve sse l s to pass

through th e Caughnawaga Canal , except o n the

s ame ground ; nor do I be lieve that th e S ta te of

N ew York would refuse the fre e naviga tion of

the ir canal s to our ve sse l s , for th e same right

gran ted to N ew York craft , fo r through fr e ight ;n or th at the Ge neral Gove rnmen t of th e Un i ted

S tate s would refuse us the righ t to navigate theHudson , if, in doing so , the ve sse l w e re bounddire ct from a Canadian

, to an Ame rican port .Now , as to the ruin ofour fore ign trade .

” Mr.

Workman throughout his le tte rs se ems to beimpre ssed w ith the idea , that our fore ign trade , isthat trade on ly , which consists of imports and

exp orts by sea . I differ from M r . W orkmanen tirely on this poin t, and believe that toincrease our imports at M on treal from the

Weste rn S tate s , and to in crease our exports,

e ithe r of those imports from the We ste rn

State s or from Canada We st, to the N ew Englan d State s , w ould be to in crease our fore igntrade a t Mon treal , above what it is , or may befrom sea , as effe ctually, as if the imports we refrom Britain , France , Spain , or China . And

this is exactly what I de sire to accomplish bythe Poin t St . Charle s Docks

, the Caughnawaga

and We lland C anals .L e t i t be gran te d for a momen t that the grea t

bulk of th e trade which m ight be a ttracte d downth e S t : -Lawre n ce , through our canal s , would go

d ire ct through to Lake Champlain and the Hud

so n . It w ill n o t be de n ied , I suppose , that , if i t

re sulted in b e ing colle cte d from our

canals, ove r and above w hat w e n ow colle ct ,that i t w ould be a grea t ben efit to th e coun try .

Again , suppose th e rou te by Caughnawaga s etablished as the b es t , and that it divide d"th etrade wi th t h e E r ie Canal— colle cting those tolls

from our own ve sse l s n ow pa id to the State of

N ew York , and als o colle cting tolls from American ve sse ls on the ir way to Lake Champlain ,in what way, may I ask, would this state of

things injure M ontreal,more than she i s now

injured , by that same trade pass ing from h er, at

O swego and Buffalo, and at othe r poin ts on Lake

On tario,200 mile s above us . It mus t be eviden t

to any one,tha t the trade of Mon treal could no t

be inj ured by th e route through Lake Champla invia Caughn awaga be ing made supe rior to all

others above i t . S uppose the re i s no e n largeme n t of th e harbour

,by docks o r o the rw i se , our

pre sen t mean s of a ttra c ting trade w ould n o t in

any w ay be lessened by th e great stream ofWe st

e rn traffi c pass ing by the w ay ofCaughnawaga ,instead of by the way of O sweg o and Buffalo .

This , sure ly, must be admi tte d . N ow ,my pos i

tion in refe re n ce to this s tate of things i s s implythis — I have shown i t tobe impossible with our

pre se n t mean s of tran sport , t o a ttract any con

side rable p art of the trade of We s te rn Canada

and the We stern S tate s for the Eastern State s

be low Lake On tario . I have n ext shown that,to do so, th e We llan d Canal mus t be enlarged ,and the Caughnawaga Canal built , to e nable

ve sse ls of 750 ton s to navigate the St. Lawren ce

tha t, w i th the se works , i t has bee n d emon strated

that trade w ill find i ts cheape s t outle t v ia C augh

h awaga to Lake Champlain ; and no one has ye t

a ttempted to deny that this will be the re sult of

those w ork s . Then come s th e que stion—How

much of this trade can M on treal se cure —or

can she se cure any of i t ?‘At pre sen t, the port

of M on treal doe s no t begin to compare with

O swego , Buffalo , or Albany, as to facilities for

16

s toring and handling gra in , flour , provision s ,"t o . Wi thou t machine ry for do ing so , and s tore

house s clo se to th e wate r , this i s impos sible ;and in these resp ects, Mon tre al , as an in lan d

por t,is ve ry infe rior to those place s . By th e

great wate r pow e r w i thin o ur con trol, and bythe con s truction of docks , w e have i t in O ur

powe r to make Mon treal superior in facili tie s for

rece iving,de l ive ring , s tor ing , and hold ing We st

e rn p roduce to any in land port o n the Con tin en t .Again , w e have seen that if this can be d me

(and i t has n o t ye t been doubted) , prope r ty can

be brought he re , he ld he re , and se n t on to th e

Eas te rn S tate s,or to N ew York , as ch eap ly as if

it had originally been shipped v ia Oswego ur

Buffalo to Albany or Troy .

But M r. Workman may ask , why should su ch

prope rty come he re at all? I r reply that M on

treal is no t only an inland por t equal to O swego

or Buffalo for storing, bu t is supe rior to

the se lake ports in having an un limi ted

supply o f wa te r fo r m ill ing and manufacturingpurpose s . I t i s also a sea port, acces sible a t

lowe s t wate r for ships draw ing 20 fe e t, and i s 3 00

mile s n eare r L iverpool than N ew York . Aga in ,N ew York 18 3 50 mile s more distan t from Chicago

,than Mon treal—by the route of Lake

Champlain , and eve n by the shorte s t rou te

via Oswego the d iffe re n ce in dis tan ce i s 140

m ile s in favour of Mon tre al . Produce then ,shipped he re would n o t on ly b e in a position

to be se n t to Lake C hampla in and Bos ton,the

Hudson or N ew York , but would also be at a

poin t whe re th e S tate ofMaine , and N ew Brun s

w ick , could be suppl ied , e i ther during the p e riod

ofnavigation ,or in win ter , by mean s of the Vic

tor ia Bridge , and where shipment s to GreatBri tain or o ther coun tr ie s could be made as ad

van tageously as from N ew York . As a porn t of

distribution , then , Mon treal may be made supe

rior to any oth e r .

T he con sumption of the S tate 0 f Ma ine a lon

of gra in , flour,provis ion s, &c is ove r o ne mil

l ion ofbarre ls . Th e trade of that State i s n ow

almos t exclus ive ly carried on through N ew

York . T he comple tion of the canals alluded to ,and of th e Victor ia Bridge , would so che ape n

in land t ran spor t a s to enable our railway to

Portland and othe r place s in Ma in e as we ll as Mr .

Workman’s two exce llen t railways to compe te

succe ssfully w i th any othe r route , but which

cannot be done n ow w i th profi t to the railways .

M r. Workman , who se ems to unde rstand so

little of the ma tte r in que stion , must adm i t,

tha t i t would e nable th e me rchan ts of Mon

treal to make our por t a great comm e rcial depot for We s te rn produce a t all seasonsof the year , for on the te rmination ofn avigationproduce of all kinds could be shipped in w in te rby ra i lroad , as produce i s n ow carried from

O swego and Buffal o in th e same season,and by

a much le ss d istance . This s tate of things , howeve r , cann ot be eve n hoped for, un le ss docks becon s tructed . N ow this matte r ofdocks at Montreal , i s on e abou twh ich the re has bee n so muchd iscussion , that i t may be we ll for m e br iefly to

s ta te what action has be en taken by the Harbor

Commiss ion e rs , - th e Board ofTrade and citizen son th e subje ct .

Whe n the remarkable succ e ss which a ttende dth e ope ration s for de epe n ing Lake S t. Pe te r

be came eviden t, i t was pe rce ive d that the inc '

eased'

size of the ships com ing to the por tw ould soon rende r n e cessary greate r s; a ce in theharbor for the ir accommodation . Impre ssed

with this conviction,I brought the subj ect before

the C omm ission e rs in a lette r dated 7th Jan . , 1852,

when Me ssrs . Ke efe r and G zowski we re autho ~

rise d to examin e in to the‘

bes t mean s of providing ample accommoda tion for ship s d raw ing 1 7fe e t wate r ; and these gen tlem en we re also

in s tructe d to examine “p articularly the groun d

“ ly ing be tween th e foo t of th e C urren t

S t . Maryand the Lachin e Canal a t o r

near the S t . Gabrie l L o ck , w ith th e

v iew o f asce rta in ing the possibili ty of

con struct ing a ship-canal to conne ct these“ poin ts , and thus afford the mean s of bui lding“o n both s ide s .” The se in s tru ction s w ere w ri t

te n byme , and shew , tha t long before M r. Workman had be come in te re sted in t he Craig-stree t

scheme , I had brought it up for con side ration .

Me ssrs . Gzowski and Ke efer reported on 23rd

January , 18 53 , in favor of docks a t Poin t St .Charles . U p to that time this location had no tbee n n oticed , so that M r . Workman honors metoo highly in mak ing me the “proj e ctor ” of thaten terprise . O n the 23 rd of Sep tembe r, by re solution of th e C ommissione rs

,I laid before them

a Repor t o n th e n e ce ss i ty of in creased harbor accommodation

,

“and no t to de laymak ing such pro

vis ion un til a p ressure for it should arise ,”and

“ that this was the more ne ce ssary , from the fe e“ that there is n ow abundan t eviden ce to shew‘that i t i s p ract icable to make a ship- channe

“ be twee n o ur harbor and the sea , twen ty fee

de ep at low w ate r,

’an d that such ve sse ls as th e

S arah’and Water L ily,’of 900 and 1000 ton s

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

18

the foo t of the foot of the Canal and th e VictoriaBr idge .

That it be an in struction to th e C oun cil ofthis Board to reque s t a con fe re n ce w i th th e

Harbour C ommiss ion e rs , t o con side r an d d e cideupon the be s t course to pu rsue in bring in g th e

subje ct bfRive r an d Harb ou r Improveme n ts bebefore th e Gove rnm e n t .”

T h is . I be l ieve , was th e large s t m e e ting of th e

me rchan ts of Mon tre al eve r he ld . Mr . Work

man was pr e se n t , bu t took n o par t in th e d is

cussion . Y e t he says th at“ the e nt ire public

voice is again st” th e p roj e c t

,of th e Po rnt S t .

Charle s Docks . Before howeve r , alluding to

Mr. T rautwine’s appoin tme n t and repor ts , i t

may be we ll to n o ti ce se ve ral remark s and in

sinuation s made by Mr. Workman , w hich would

lead th e publi c to be l ieve , that as Chairman of

the Harbour Trust,an d in th e con duct of its

busine ss—I h ave ac ted'

independen tly ofmy c ol

league s in the Comm iss ion , and w ithout the ir

authori ty.

Mr. Workman says

This br ochure appears in th e form of a le tte rby th e Ho n . John Young to th e Harbor C ommissio n e rs of Mon t real , of wh ich body he i s Chairman , and

‘

more than th e d ire cting ge n ius , s in ceit is n otoriou s that h e n o t on ly rule s ove r , bu tove r-rule s

,th e maj or ity of his confre re s

, o n

eve ry bran ch ofth e subj e ct w hich h e n ow tre ats

A nd aga in“ They sh ould rem emb er that , al though Mr .

Young is unsupported by his co -Harbor C omm i ssion e rs , h e invar iably w r i te s an d a c ts w i th referen ce t o his bold s cheme s as if h is in d ividualaction was e n dorse d by h is confre re s in offi ce .

”

N ow, I have a cte d a s Chairman o f th e Harbor

Trus t fo r abou t te n years . In th e whole o f tha t

time I do n o t be lieve the re eve r w as any busi

n e ss tran sacte d w i thout i ts be i ng brough t before

th e Board . Nor do I remembe r of any act ion on

any subject , or any busin e ss don e , w h ich had n o t

th e unan imous co ncurre n ce of th e Commiss ion

e rs , exce pt in o ne in s tan ce . T h e gen tian e n n ow

acting w i th m e and who have a cted w i th me as

Commission e rs , w ill bea r me o ut in th is s ta te

men t . Th is i s anothe r i ns tan ce o f Mr . Work

man’s re ckle ss and unfounded asse r t ion . Again ,

in refe re n ce to the appoin tm e n t of Eng in e e rs

Mr. Workman says“ Mr . Young i s so demen ted o n this on e idea

of ‘rivalry’wi th N ew York and the ce rta in ty o f

Mon tre a l d ive r ting from tha t ci ty th e gre a t a rter ial pro duce trade of the We s t , tha t

’

he can n o tpa t ie n tly lis ten to any O pin ion d iffe ring from h isow n . H ad Me ssrs . Ch ilde , Kirkw ood a nd Mc

Alpine done any t hing e lse than placed th e rou tet

of th e S t . Law re n ce a s supe rior to any o the r. o r I am your obe d ie n t 99 1 7 3 0

d e eme d it the ir du ty to re por t s trongly in favour JOHN YOUNG.

of making t he improvemen ts a t Po in t S t . Mon treal , July 7 th , 13 59 ,

Charles , the ir opin ion s w ould have be encarded . T he gre a t m ajority

‘of t he ci tizen s fe ltconvin ce d of th is w h e n M r . Young selected these

gen tlemen and brough t them h ere a;make the survey.

”

It se ems imposs ible tha t a ge n tleman in

Mr. Workman’s posi tion e i uld s it down an d

coolly w rite t he above,w he n

,a t th e time

,

he must have kn own tha t h e w as makings ta teme n ts for which h e h ad n o t a shadow

pf foun dat ion . O f course,t he implie d in sinua-v

tion of Mr. Workman is,tha t in cbns eque n ce of

my s election o fMe ssrs . McAlpin e , C h i'

de Kirk

wood , the se g en tlemen repor te d, n o t as the irown mind s d icta te d

,but as I w ished th em to do .

T h e facts are thes e z- T ne Commiss io ne rs , afte r

much de libera tion , though t i t be s t t o s e n d the i r

Se cre tary, M r . C le rk , to th e Un i ted S ta te s toform a Board . W i th him he h ad a l is t of then ame s ofn in e emin en t e n g in ee rs, among w homw e re—La trobe , o fBal t imore Jarvis , Kirkw ood ,an d Laur ie , of N ew York ; Sw ift, Ch ilde a nd

B ige low ,of M assachuse t ts ; Mcalpin e , o f I lli

n o i s,and C lark

,of Pe nn sylvan ia T he S e cre

tary h ad in s truc t ion s to form a Board of any

thre e of th e above gen tleme n wh o could a tte n dto the busin e ss , an d i t w as n o t t ill th e

re turn -

of th e S e cre tary to Mon t real that

e i th e r I o r t he o ther Comm iss ion e rs k ne w who

we re to compose th e Board. I w as slightly ac

quain ted w i th th e late Captain Childe , but h ad

n eve r se e n e i the r Mr. M cA lpine o r M r . Kirkw oodprevious to th e ir arri val in Mon tre al . By th is

s ta tem e n t,th e p ablic can judge o f Mr. Work

m an’s re ckle ssne ss in s ta t i ng tha t Mr. Young

se le cted th ese ge n tleme n .

” H ow far I c an be

charged w i th forcing my view s o n th e publ ic ,may be judged by th e fa c t , t hat th is D ock q ue s

,

tion h as n ow be e n before th e public fo r s even

years— that o n se ve ral o ccas ion s I have s ta te d

tha t n eith er I n or the C ommissione rs h ad any

de sire to proce ed w i th i t w i thou t i t comme nde d

i tse lf to th e me r chan t s of the city, a t whose sug

ge s tion the Commission e rs are n ow a c ting, and

as to th e charge of n o t lis te n ing to any O p in ion ,"

the aban donme n t of the Craig S tre e t s chem e fo r

the Po in t S t . Charle s p roj e c t— sugge s te d by

Me ssrs Gzow ski and Keefe r, ought to sa tisfy Mr.

Workman that in th is a lso he i s mis taken .

As th e pa t ie n ce of your‘re ade rs mus t be w e l l

n igh exhaus te d ,I shal l re sume t h e conside rat ion

of th e Dock que stion in an e arly number ofyour

pape r .

19

Ls 'r 'rna N O . 5 .

To the E ditor of the MONTRE AL GA"ETT ESm ,

- In closingmy las t le tte r on t he facts and

circumstan ce s con n e c te d w i th th e appo in tmen t

of Me ssrs . Childe , Kirkwood an d McAlpin e , to

survey an d report on the que s tion ofD o cks an d

the capabil ity of the S t Law re n ce to compe te

w i th o th er route s from t he We s t , i t w as my n u

ple asan t du ty to con trad ic t , in th e m os t posi tive

t erms , the asse rtion made by Mr. Workman , tha t

the se gen tleme n w e re se le cte d by m e and the

implied infe ren ce t ha t the ir Re por t w as made to

conform w i th my view s on B o oks , h e .

ad Mr . Workman carefully con side re d the ir

Report, he could n o t but have n o t i ced that i t is

based upon a se rie s of s ta tis tical fe e 8,n one of

which have be e n a s ye t con trad icted th e con

clus io n s th ey arrive a t , seem - to me to be th e

n e ce ssary d educ tion s from th e fa c ts an d table s

brough t forward . N ow ,i t i s e asy e n ough to ih

s inuate that th e Re port w as n o t th e re sul t ofthe ir own inve s tigation ,— tha t i t w as an e ndor

cation o fmy view s , and simply a sham,a n d tha t

the se emin e n t ind ividual s we re m e re puppe ts .

Mr. Workman should have a t tached himse lf to

the fac ts , s ta tis tics and a rgume n ts con ta ined in

the Re port, an d have shewn them if he could,

to be e rron e ous . B ut h e fa ils to do this ; fo r to

have given an in te llige n t Opin ion up on the s ta

tistics w ould have d emand ed a kn ow ledge of

the subje ct and facts , which are n o t shew n inMr. Workman’s le tte rs , bu t which , i t i s to be

h ope d , h e may exhib it at some future t ime .

Meanwhile , Mr. Workman can scarce ly exp ect that

his simple Opinion should be con side re d w or th s omuch , a s th e mass of un con t rad ic te d s ta tis tics

which are brought forward in the Re por t, to sus

tain th e con clusion s arrive d a t,by the emine n t

E ngin e e rs me n tion ed .

_ As the con side ra t ion of in te rior improveme n tsand docks at Mon tre al must

,e re long , comman d

th e atten tion of th e public , I trus t it,

may be

deemed a matte r of in te re s t to kn ow all the fac ts

conn e cted therewith . In my last le tte r I po in te do ut

, tha t i t was a t th e ins t an ce and by the sugge stion of th e Mon tre al Board of Trade

,tha t the

subj ect of in creased harbour accommoda t ionwas submi tted to a B oard of Enginee rs, and i twas also in con seque n ce ofa confe re n ce be twe e nthe HarbourC ommis sione rs and that C orpora t ionthat a Bill

,giving th e C ommission e rs

,th e n e c t s

sary,au thority to con struct docks a t whateve r

place migh t be deemed best by t he G overnmen t,

was prepared and in troduced in to Parl iamen t .I t w as , how eve r , too la te in the se ssion to pro

ce e d w i th the Bill , be sid e s , it w as Oppo sed bype ti tion from the r e side n ts in th e Eas te rn s e c

tion O f'

th e city . A publ i c me e t ing w a s a lso

called to d is cuss Harbour Im proveme n ts , bu t incon seque n ce ofconfusi on no Opin ion was e lic ited .

T h e me e ting , howe ve r , re sul ted in th e Harbour

C imm is sio n e rs invi ting a numbe r O f ge n tlemenin te re s ted in th e que s t ion to a confere n ce w i th

them ,and parti cularly t o conside r t h e p roprie ty

of surv eying and repor ting o n a n ew s i te fo rdo cks ,w h ich was sugge s te d a t the public me e tingname ly, tha t pass ing through th e groun d be longing to th e ladie s of th e Grey Nun n e ry, t hen cea cross McG illS tre e t ,and through th e C ollege pro

pe rty, to th e C an rl. Th"Harbour C ommission e rsa t on ce a sse n te d to th i s be ing don e , an d n o t on lythis , bu t agree d to Ope n up th e whole subj e ct of

proposed si te s , and invi te d th e C ommi t te e to

s ele ct an E n gin ee r to take th e n e ce ssary leve ls ,and also to n ame a C hiefE ngineer , to be approvedby th e Commiss ione rs . O n th e 28 th Jun e

,

18 58,th e C ommi tte e named John C . T rautw in e

,

Esq of Ph iladelph ia , a nd o n th e 3 0 th the C om

mission e rs approve d th e nom ina t ion . A j oin tle tte r of in struc tion s w as draw n up and sign edOn th e part O f th e Commissione rs and t h e C omm it te e . Mr . T rau twine re ported in O c tobe r

,

agains t th e p roj e ct sugge s ted by th e C ommi ttee ,also agains t th e Vig o r S quare and Hoche laga

proj ec ts and,al though in some re S pe c ts h e

thought highly ofthe S t Charle s proj e ct ofMe ssrsG zow ski and Ke efe r

,an d approve d p f by Me ssrs .

Kirkw ood,Mc A lp in e and Child e , ye t , h e rej e cte d

that,for a s i te h e re commende d as prefe rable

,run

n ing from the fron t of McG ill S tre e t, pas t andbeyond th e We ll ington Br idge o n th e Lachin eC anal . M r . T rautw in e n o t on ly d iffe red w ithM e ssrs . G zow ski, Ke efe r, McAlpine , K irkwo dand Childe

,as to t he be s t s i te for Docks

,but

:e n ied th e powe r O f t he S t. Lawre n ce t o com

pe te w i th the rou te s through th e Sta te of N ew

York,an d advised th e ci tizen s to give up all

idea of cons truc ting Docks fo r years to come .

In my le tte r to th e Harbour Commiss ione rs ,afte r s ta ' ing Mr . T rau tw ine

’s Opin ion s as to the ,

supe riori ty of the N e w Yu l‘k route ove r th e route

through Low e r Canada . t hat th e m erchan ts ofMon treal we re no t fit j udg e s of wha tw as requi

s ite t o Obtain a share in t ha t . trade,an d tha t i t

was u se le s s to make fur the r efforts at pre se n t fo r

uch an Obje c t . I adde d -e“

. In such a poli cy ,I,as a C an adian , and e spe cially as a Low e r

C anadianm encha ntr c an no t coincide .

"

20

M r . Workman m isquo tes the se w ords as be inga rebuke in tended to be crushing” to Mr. Trau t

w ine,because h is adv ice w a s detr imen tal to

the success of extravagant dock sch emes” The

t ru th is,th e. w o rds w ere n o tjused in referen ce to

d ocks a t all,an d M r . Wo rkman kn ew this , but

he cou ld n o t res is t, e ven a t the sacr ific e of candou r

,hav i ng a fling

“a t the i ndividua l I

,

” “a

C anad ian a n d Low er Ca nada merchan t who se

abso lu tism in su ch matters wa s tren ched upon .

”

N ow a w ord or two in referen ce to Mr. Trau tw in e .M r. Workman s tates that Mr T rautw in e was

chosen mu tual ly by Mr. Young and a Comm it

tee of c i tizen s This is n o t i n acco rdan ce

w'

th fac ts n ei ther the Harbour C omm iss i oners

n or mys elf h ad anyth ing to d o w i th the choosin ; 0 ; M r. T rau tw ine . Mr . Workm an know s

,

that by the resolut i on of 24th May, the C h ief

Eng ineer was t o be named by the C ommitt k e,

and t he C ha i rman , in h is let te r of 28 th June,

18 58,says The gen tleman uhose name I have

to submit as the choice of‘

th e C ommittee,tic

The Harbou r C omm is s i oners wer e d e s i rous to

m ee t the v iew s of the Comm i ttee i n t he ir se lec

t ion ofan Eng inee r, and From the grea t impor t

an ce of the subj ec t , they had n o d oubt but that

the C cmmitte e w ou l d name some gen tleman o f

grea t em inen ce in h is p rofess ion . T he C omm is

sioners fel t that th is w as the fa c t , when Mr .

T rau tw in e was s ta ted to be a gen t'

em an w h o

h ad j us t re tu rn ed from t he su rvey ofa ra il road

for the B rit esh G overnmen t an d aga in , tha t

as th e comple t ion of the wo rk in w hich he hasbeen e ngaged for th e B r itish G overnmen t w i l l

probab ly obl ige h im to v is i t Eu rope ,A l though Mr . T rautwiue’s name an d fame w erewholly unknow n to me

,ye t I fe lt

,and I p resume

th e feel ing w as sha re d by my colleagues , that

Mr. T rau tw in e mus t be very em inen t , ind ee d , in

11’

s p rofess i on , when he an Amer ican

chosen by the Bri ti sh Governmen t The select i on

thus m ad e by the C omm i ttee w as a t o n ce ap

proved of. N ow , I presume , Mr. Wo rkman (to

w hom , I bel ieve, th e C omm i ttee were i nd ebted fo r

Mr.T rau tw in e’s n ame) knows tha t Mr. T rau tw ine

w as never employed by the B ritish Governmen t

p rofess i onal ly o r o therw ise"Mr. Wo rkman,

t oo , tel ls us r epeatedly of Mr. T rau twine being

one of th e m os t emiuen t E ngineers of the day.

”

Will Mr. Workman point out the w o rks of con

s truct ion which ‘

has made Mr. T rau twine thus

em inen t , and thereby enable the publ ic to judg e ,how far ‘he is supe rior to Messrs . Gzowski,

K eefer, C hilde , McAlpinepun Kirkwood .

Again Mr. Workman saysN ow this whole ques ti on ofPo in t S t . Charles

Docks narrow s i tselfd own to a mere ques ti on ofconfi dence Does any o n e bel ieve t ha t Mr .

Young’s an teceden ts o n this ques t ion

,h e is the

prO pe r pa rty to make choi ce of an eng ineer fo rano ther su rvey, and tha t any eng in e er a c t in gunde r su b c i rcums tan ces w ould in ep ire publ i cco nfi i en ce in h is d ec i s i on

,le t tha t de c is i on be

w h a t it may. If in a cco rdan ce w i th M r . Youn g’s

view s wou l d the publ i c n o t laugh ? Al l thepa r t ies w ho have h i therto a c ted fo r M r. Youngw hen se le cted by him se lf, have a lw ays repor tedall r igh t on h is s id e , bu t w hen the publ ic o r a

secon d pa r ty gets edging in a w o rd the d ecis ionshave not been so agreeab le to Mr. Young .

”

The fo regoing IS ano ther of the character is t icargumen ts o fMr. Wo rkman . But , to pass by th ecom pl imen tary an d p ersona l p ar t of i t

,I woul d

ask w ha t is the mean ing of th e a ssertion thatthe ques tion of docks a t Poin t S t . C har le s narrow s i tselfd own i n to a mere ques ti on of confidence ? Is i t a ques ti on ofconfidence , o r r el ian cein the p i ofe ssion al reputa t i on of Mess rs . C hi lde

,

McA lpin e , an d K irkwood on the one hand , and

of M r . T rautwin e on th e o ther ? or confiden ce i nMr. Workman’s Opin i ons and h i s personal charac

ter o n the o n e hand , and i n m in e o n the o ther ?Do es Mr. Wo rkman mea n that th e publ i c is to

sel ec t a s i te for d ocks from its confiden ce in c"r

tai n men , and to fol low thei r leader w i thou t h es itat io n ,

“ be tha t dec is i on wha t i t may .

” Even

in such a v iew,the d o cks a t Poin t S t . C harles

m ight , perhaps , n o t compare unfavou rably w i thM r. T rau tw ine

’s s cheme . Fo r the fo rmer , w e

have the ex pressed and publ ished opin ion s of th efol low ing compe ten t au tho r i t ies at leas t—Mess rsKeefer , G z owski, Chi lde , McAlpin e , an d K irk

w ood,En gineers ; al so of C ommander O rlebar,

R . N . (n ow surveyin g the St . Law ren ce) for th e

other,w e have M r. T rau tw ine and M r . Wo rk

man .

But th e ques t i on as to the dock s is n ot one of

confidence . I t is suscep tible of the tes t ofa rgu

men t an d d is cus s i on ; for wh e ther they shou ld

be bu il t at Po in t S t . Charles depends on th e

ques ti on w he ther Point S t . C har les is the bestlocation o r n o t . T o se ttle th is ques t ion involvesmany cons idera t i on s , among which m ay be m en

tioned the cos t ofcons tructi on , the access ib i l i ty ,ex ten t

,and conv en ien ce of the docks , taken in

'

connec tion w i th the ex is ti ng faci l i ties fo r trans

po r t of proper ty , and the n ew faciltie s ofware

houses , e leva tors , &c . Ind irec tly , this is theques tion , as to the k ind and amoun t of trade tobe a t trac ted to the docks . These ques ti ons all

adm i t ofdiscuss i on , and ofdifference ofopin ion ,i n which even Mr . Workman ge ts edg ing in a

2 1

w ord and the more d iscuss ion the less of con

fiden c e w i l l be necessary , fo r the pub l ic w i l l

come to unders tan d the ques ti on u pon its merits ,and w i l l judge ofa scheme , not by the men w h o

advo cate i t. so much as by the argum en ts and

acts they bring forward . So tha t Mr . Wo rkman

m ight d o wel l to t ry another s tyle , an d to l ook

l ess a t“an teced ent s” an d mo re a t facts . He

m ay res t assured , how eve r , if his d ec is i ons

have not been s o agreeable to Mr Youn g,” th e

pub l i c w i l l th ank him if he c an br in g any new

facts or argumen ts to bea r upon the subjec t .

Mr.Workman pa tron i ses M r . Shan ly

,an d

s ays—“ He is a gen tleman o f high profess ional‘acqu i remen ts , u n ive rsa l ly es teemed , and the

won der is tha t he has con s en ted to in te rfere in“such a vex ed and wa rped que s tion .

” Why,

then, shou ld M r. S han ly refu se t o take up a

quest ion p rec ise ly belong ing to h is p rofes s i on ,a nd to a gen t leman o f such high profe s smnal a t

tainm e n ts Surely,i t canno t be because o ther

a ct ive and large-minded gen tlemen of large

c ommercial exper ien ce an d c lo s e obse rva t ion,

”

have looked in to it an d s e t tled it,and

,be cause

Mr. Workman says the Mon trea l pub l i c w on’t

h ave it there .

”

In referen ce to th is gen tleman,i t is on ly p ro

pe r for me to say tha t , befo re Mess rs . McA lpin e ,

K irkwood , and C hilde w e re n amed a s a B oard ,th e Harbour Comm iss i on ers w ere unan imou s in

de sir ing M r . Shan ly to ac t , bu t a t tha t time he

coul d not do so . The C omm iss i on ers , therefore ,deemed themse lves fortunate i n having the

O ppo r tun i ty of placing th e whole subjec t of

d ocks before M r . Shanly , and fo r the firs t t ime

reques t ing an Opin ion as to that s i te fo r docksby which the great rai l road i n teres ts o fthe c o unt ry and of the c i ty , can be bes t p romo ted , in conn e c tion w i th the in te rests of the Harbour .In relat ion t o the Harbour Comm iss ion ers

,Mr

Workman does no t hes i ta te to make dispa raging ,

remarks and hin ts,as if they h ad a l l owed them

s elves to be d rawn away by the V is i onary v iew sofMr. Young . He mo re than ins inua tes he hasno confidence in them

,and i t is w orth while to

refer to this subject , iffo r no o ther purpose , thanto shew tha t Mr. Wo rkman’s views are no t part ic ipa ted by the w hole pub lic , i n w hose beha lfMr. Wo rkman so often speaks . I t is impo r tan t ,too , inasmuch a s the po w e r of the Harbour Trus tto p roceed w i th the extens ive w o rks u nder thei rcharge , dep ends much on the confiden ce the

publ ic m ay have i n thei r general manageme n t .

O n this subjec t I re commend to M r . Wo rkman’sa t tention the Pe ti t ion of h is fel low-merchants ,

th rough the Board of Trade , addre ssed to theth ree bran ches of the Leg isla ture in Jun e , 18 58 ,where the ques tion of the Harbour Imp rovemen tsis ably t reated . A few ex trac ts can o n ly becopied

The rapid p rogress of imp rovemen ts i n thedeep en ing of Lake St . Pe ter

,so su ccessfu l ly

con duc ted by th e Harbou r C omm is s i on e rs ,w hereby vesse ls of tons are n ow ab l e to

a s cen d th e S t. Law ren ce to th is poin t w i thou ttran shipment of cargo

,ren d ers i t absolu te ly

nec essa ry t o prpv ide add i ti on a l Ha rbour- room,

whi l e the con s tan t in c rease of R iver S teamersand smal l craft w i l l , ere lo n g , abso rb all the

p res en t ava i lab le spa ce ; an d as n s w br n o t eso f t rad e , n ow s eekin g this poin t , req uire p rot ie lou o f a pecul ia r charac ter

,t h e m o s t urgen t

ne c es s i ty ex is ts fo r a t on c e p roc e ed ing w i thw o rks invo lving l ong d e lay i n c ons tru ct io n .

“ You r p e t i t io ne rs a re n o t unaw a re tha t s trenu o us effo r ts a re n ow be in g made by pa r t1es inthis c i ty in oppos i t ion to t h e pa s s ing o f th e B i l lin ques t io n . They (you r pe t l tio ue rs) have g ivenfu l l con s idera t i on t o all t h e a rgumen ts a d duced

,

an d the pe t i t i o n p resen ted , a nd fa i l to perce ivea ny reason fo r chang ing the i r ow n long -es tablish e i v iew s an d opin ion s , as n e w again expressedupon this subj ect , o r w i thhold ing from th e C omm iss ioners th e requ i red p ow e r to a c t .

“The p e t i t i on referred to,cha rges th e C omm is

s io n e rs w i th n eg lec ting the imp rovemen t of t hep res en t Harbour .

“ You r pe t i t i oners , o n th e con t ra ry , are awa retha t con t inuous effo r ts in this d ire c t i on havebeen m ad e hy th e C omm iss ioners , and w i th th emos t s a tisfacto ry re su l ts . I t is

,how ever

,m an i

fes t to tho s e p ra c t ical ly a cqua in ted w i th the subje c t , t

‘1a t whatever ex t en s ion o r improvemen t

m ay be effe c te d ln the s i te ofth e prt s e n t Ha rbour,theFo re ign an d tran si t trade w e des ire to a t t rac t,can n ever be the re a ccommoda ted . Compet ition w i th the grea t depots of Amer ican tr adenecess i ta te s the cons truc ti on of in land Do cks

,

w i th permanen t w a rehouses , e leva to rs , an d all

the modern applian ces fo r e conom ic ha nd l ing ofp roperty . No s uch faci l i t ies can be secu red inthe p re sen t Harbou r s i te , subjec t to per i od icaldes truction by ice, no r shou ld the ava i lable s pac ein fron t of th e C i ty be p repared to a ny g rea tex ten t fo r la rge ves sels , a t en o rmous expen se .when Docks mus t be cons truc ted i n add i t i on ;and the c on s tan t ly in crea s ing number of vesselsof l igh t d raught frequen t ing the Po r t , w i l l muchmo re p rofitab ly occupy the p resen t w harve s w i tho u t any ser i ou s ou tlay be in g requlre d fo r thei raccommodation .

“ A s rega rds the q ues ti on of s i te fo r n ew

Docks,upon w hich some d ifferen ce of op in i on

e x is ts , your pe ti tion ers be l ieve tha t the Ha rbou rC ommi ss i on ers have , l ike ou rse lves , s impl y thedes ir e to s elec t wha teve r loc a l i ty be , by com peten t au tho r i ties , p ronounced the bes t, irre spe ct ive of any o ther con s idera tion ; a n d a s on

q uirie s , inves tiga t ion s , an d co nfe re n de s a re n ow

going o n upon the subjec t , you r pe ti tioners c o ns ide r the p rov is i on of the B 111, leavin g the u l t imate decis i on to H is Excellency the Governor

G eneral in Coun c il , shou ld be en t i rely sat isfac e

to ry to all parties .

In con c lus io n , you r pe ti ti one rs des ire to bearw i tness to t he energy , i n te l l ige n ce , an d en t i resuc cess w hich have a lw ays charac te r

‘

zed the

p roceedings o f the Ha rbou r C rmmiss io n e rs 1n

t h e exe cu t ion of th e i r impo r tan t trust , i nvolv ingg rea t l abou r w i tho u t emo lume n t o t a ny k i nd ;t hey believe t h a t th e C ommis s i on ers posse ssthe en t i re confid en ce of th e g rea t body of th e

Mercan t i le c ommun i ty , a nd th ey,therefo re ,

ea rn es tly p ray tha t this Bill embod t i ng th e i rrecommen da ti ons , m y re ce ive the san c i on of

your Hono rab l e Hous e .

“ And you r pe ti ti one rs w ill ever p ray .

(S igned) THOM AS 0 11 tCha irman .

M r. Wo rkman , i n page 14 of h is pamphle t ,a rg ues as if I overl ooked o r d en ied the fac ttha t N e w Yo rk and the o ther po r ts o n the sea

b oard , a t all season s ofth e year , can hold d irect

intercourse by sea w ith foreign na tion s .

"Thisd ispar i ty every candid an d imp ar tia l m ind w i l l

a ckn ow ledge , w i th Mr. T rau tw in e , renders the

supremacy ofMon t real over N e w Yo rk as a g rea t

sh ipp ing em po r ium impos s ible . N ow, such

sup remacy m ay mean a supe r i o ri ty in num b e r of

shi ps , & c o r in many o ther th in gs . It depend s

no t a lone o n hav in g ope n se a c ommun icat i on s

all th e y ea r ro und , but on many an d most com

plex c - n side rat io n s . B ut such a sup remacy w as

n o t the ques t ion ; th e ques t ion w as a ques t ion of

rou tes of t ranspor t from the Wes t , w hether the

imp roved S t . L awr ence rou te h as n o t the sup re

ma cy over th e Amer ican , bu t could compete

w i th it,— w he ther i t cou l d no t get a large share

of the Wes tern t rad e ,— more tha n o ur p res en t 9

o r 10 p e r cen t . Tha t w as t he ques ti on w hi ch

M r. W orkman shou l d have a rgued . B u t he fai l st o do this , an d shifts the ques t ion o n t h e genera l

an d very d ifferen t o n e , a s t o the sup remacy of

the Po r t ofN ew York .

I have n o t t ime to d i s cu s s the ques t-ion of this

sup remacy jus t n ow , but I a ck now ledg e , i n the

mos t unequivo ca l manner , (i n o rder tha t M r .

Workman m ay n o t again rep resen t me as deny

i ng) tha t N ew Yo rk has open se a commun icati on

all the yea r round , w hi ch M on trea l has no t .

A s bea r in g o n the compara tive advan tages of

the S t . L aw ren ce rou te to Europe , I sh ou‘

d say

that i t shou ld be bo rn e in m ind that i t is on ly

t en years s in ce th e res tric tive law s of Grea tB ri tain a l low ed fo re ign ships to enter the St .

L aw ren ce tha t the en ti re abs en ce of l igh ts

in some part s of the L ower S t . Law rence on lytende d t o increase the bad name of the naviga

t ion tha t o ur ra i lway commun i ca t ion w i th the

i n terio r has on ly been Open three years ; that our

C anad ian cana ls have n ever been completed ,a nd canno t be sa id to be comple te , un t i l

“

a canalis open ed in to L ake

'

C hamplain .

'

Nor are there

any means of rece iv ing an d del iver ing pro

d uce , a t o ur i nl an d an d shipping por ts , capa

b le of the leas t comparison w i th w ha t ex is ts

in Amer ican ports , an d un l ess w e as C anad ians

are p repa red to p rov ide thes e m ean s , w e can not

expect to ob tain a shar e of that trade,whi ch i t is

ln bur p ow er to command .

Befo re con s ider ing Mr. Workman’s remarks on

t h e cos t of Docks , I sha l l a l lud e t o some o the r

s ta temen ts in my le tte r , w h ich it w ere w e l l had

been al luded to by h im , e i ther to be app roved ,or to mee t w i th h is “ crushing rebuke .

”

I t w as s ta ted in my le t ter , (ls t . Tha t ac cord

cording to M r . T rau tw in e’s s cheme of d ocks “

a

vesse l w ou ld requ ire t o com e o u t of the docks“s tern fi rs t

,the b *'

e ad th no t be ing sufi cie n t for“ them to tu rn round .

”

(2r

i‘hat for the ex ten

s ive m i ll s i tes an d eleva to rs , la id ou t on th e

plan (Mr. T rau tw in e’s) th ere is no water .

3 . Tha t all the w a ter tha t can be S pared from

the Cana l is leased ou t a l ready . (4 ) Tha t w hen

the Cana ls w ere en la rged , “ the p res en t water

s pace in the C ana l w ou ld be t o ta l ly insufi cie n t

to a ccommoda te two - thi rds of the p resent

number of vessels of double capac i ty

Tha t i t was thi s land s o n eces sary for

Canal p urposes , that Mr . T rautw in e p roposed

to take,

” in w hich t o "con s tru c t h is do ck foro cean ves se l s .

”

These s tatem en ts , o n e w ould have though t:

m igh t have been favoured w i th some rem arks If

they are wellfounded , then i t is Mr . T rau tw in e’s

s cheme to w h 1ch lV1r.Wo rkm an’s choi ce and

‘

poli te

epi thets of v is iona ry” a nd"obv ious ly absu rd ,”

“ unj us t and in c onven ien t” “w i l l 0 ’th e w isp

”and

fol ly” shou l d be a ppl ied . A d ock in w hich a

vesse l cou l d no t turn ; m il ls w i thou t wa ter ;

docks to be bu i l t o n la nd impera t ively requ i red

fo r o ur in land naviga t ion . Surely w hen Mr .

Workman en te re d u pon w ha t he cal ls “ th is

mos t d isagreeabl e task , th ese w ere the s ta temen ts

which , to'

quo te h is own w ords,

“ in j us tice to“ M r . T rautw ine an d the commerc ia l in te re s ts“ofth e c i ty dem i nded a reply

” f om s ome qua r ter ,mo re especia l ly w hen , as h e says in h is p reface ,he was s o des i rous to p resen t the c ues tio n o n

“ its ow n meri ts , quite free from any p ersona l

con sidera tion s .

”

Bu t Mr . Wo rkman pruden tly remains s i l ent

o n these po in ts .

I t is n o t alone to Docks , how eve r , or the O s ughn ewage Canal , that Mr. Workman has so great

23

a n an tipat hy . His t objections extend to the

locati on of the St . Lawren ce i tself, and he ev i

d e n tly t hinks'

th a t a grea t m is take h as been made

in l oca ting it w here i t is . Mr . Workman s ta tes

that “ in add i tion t o the undeniable obj ec tion s“a l ready referred to as inseparab le from our

c l imate , our geograph ical and p olitical re la

t ion s . there s t il l rema in unnoti ced many other“s ti l l mo re conv inc in g argumen ts aga ins t the

8 ‘ possibil i ty of chang in g , to the exten t imagined

by Mr . Young, the cu rren t of the Grea t Wes t

ern carrying trade , in its p rogress tow ards the“ bes t marke ts fo r consumptio n . O f these w e4 ‘ w i l l briefly n otice o ne n o t p rev i ous ly men

tioned, an d w hi ch arises out of our ve ru exist

en ce as a C olony .

”

In this op in ion Mr . Workman is qui te con

s is ten t for in 1 849 he w ro te , that“

.

T he k i l l ing defe c t , p roduced from it s ext reme no r thern course , w hich the grea t S t . L aw

ren ce a ssumes jus t as it d isem bpgue s i n to th r

o ce an , on ly add s to tho se o the r in surmoun tabl ed iffi culties , and clearly poin ts ou t to t h e e y e of

c omm on se nse the ine v rtable d es tiny of thec oun try . I cebou nd as th is g rea t ou t le t is , fo r alarge po r ti o n of the yea r, the commerc e of thec oun t ry is fo rced to find a highw ay th rough a“

fo reign terri to ry t o the o cean , und er many disa dvan tag es w hich n oth ing bu t an nexation to theUn i ted S ta tes can rem ove .

”

N ow i t seems to me t hat , w he ther the people

o f Canad a should remain subjects of H e r Ma

j es ty the"ueen , o r ci tiz ens of the Un i ted States ,i t w oul d be equal ly thei r duty

,whe ther a s Cana

d ran Bri tish o r Canad ian Yankees,to de ve lops

and make availabl e to the g rea tes t poss ib le ex

t ent— th e var i ous advan tages— of the i r pos i t i on

n or do I bel ieve that th e cl imate of Canadaw ould be any less rig i rous under Amer ican thanu nder B ri tish ru le .

I shal l resume the co c

s ide ration of Mr . Wo rkman’s object ions to th e Dock s i n my nex t letter .

Your obed ien t servan t ,JO HN YOUNG .

Montreal , 12 th July , 18 59 .

nam e s s o . 6 .

T o the E ditor of the MO N TRE AL GA"E T T ES rn

,-lt w il l no t

,i th ink , n ow be a ma tte r of

w onder to your readers , w hy M r. T rau tw in e

shou ld have w ri tten so adversely o n th e S t . L aw

ren ce ever being a su ccessful comp et i tor w i th

t he Sta te of N ew Yo rk for Wes tern t rade,

when a gen tleman of such l arg e commerc ial ex

p e rie nce as Mr. Workman p oin ted out t o him the

k i ll ing d efec ts” of its n orthern course ; theh adne ss of th e “ c l imate

,

”o ur being a colony,

”

8 m. T hese were serious obj ect ions, which“ nothing bu t annexa tion to the Un i ted Statescoul d remove .” But i t is a mat ter of l i ttle con

sequen ce to enqu i re in to the orig in of these

de spond ing v iews of the S t . Law re n ce route .

The ques t ion is ra ther as to the truth and sound

ness of the v iew s themselves . Mr . Workman ,i t w i l l be seen from numerous ex tracts al ready

quoted, seems t o have a imed more at cal lin g

names , h O pin g to damage the m o t ives and con

duc t ~ of h is n pp‘

o n e n t,th an i n mee t in g h is

argumen ts and suppor ting h is own v iew s .

Had he been add res s in g the leas t informedof t he el ec to rs of t he eas tern pa r t of the

ci ty , an d h is avow ed obj e c t been t o exc i te

the i r pass ions by any mean s,fa i r or un

fa i r, as hos ti le to th eir in teres ts , h e cou l d n othave used a more a pp ropria te s tyle of address .

Hen ce,in the rema rks I have t o make , I am

obl iged to brin g fo rward , over and over , thepi tiab le persona li ties , because th e l i t t le of argu

men t there is in h is le tters is m ixe d up and con

ce aled in a mass ofw o rds,i n tend ed doubtless t o

be seve re and an n oy ing to myself, bu t which I

shou ld have a l low ed to pass,w ere they n ot so

blended as to ren d e r i t d iffi cult to cons ider themapar t .

I n ow refe r to ano the r in s tan ce of th is k ind ,where Mr . Wo rkman seeks to con trad ic t a s tate

men t made by Mess rs . M cal p ine , K irkwood and

Child e,and confirmed by me , tha t in the aver

age of th e las t t en yea rs , from 1848 to 1858 ,the Wel lan d Cana l w as opened fo r naviga

ti on tw en ty day s ea rl ie r , an d five days la ter,than the E r ie Cana l

,and tha t the St . Law ren ce

was Open t o s ea five days e a rl ier , an d was closed

one d ay la ter , than the na viga t ion o n the Erie

C anaL

The tables from w h ich this data w as ob tained

were g iven in d e ta i l from offi cia l s ources , and if

e r:o n e o us cou ld have be en refuted . But th is

was too mu ch labou r for Mr . Wo rkman , and he

p refers t o th row a doub t on the w hole s ta tement

by saying

There is,ind eed , an amoun t of i l lus i on in the

en tire s ta temen ts of M r . Young on this headri ally as to n ish i . g in su ch a t re a tise . I t may,indeed

,be true tha t t h e Po r t o f"uebec i s o cca

s io n ally open as ea rly as the en d o f March or

begi nn ing of Ap r i l , bu t i t is e qual ly t rue tha tcarr iages h -

.v e t raversed the S t . Law ren ce oppos i te"uebe c o n so l i d i ce o n th e lo th of May .

G ood c an no t en sue from su ch d is to r tion s a s MP .’

Youn g’s pam phle t abound s in o n th is he ad , d is ~

tor t ious whi ch the recol lec tion or experien ce of

any o n e e ngaged in commerce o r navig ationamply refute s .

"

The‘

dates i n the tables , referred to th e fi rs tarriva ls from se a, in the ten y ears a l luded to ,and w ere taken from th e Exchan ge Regis ter a t"uebec . Think ing , how ever , tha t th e ice br idgemay have p reven ted a rr ival s from Mon trea l

,an d

that Mr. Workm an migh t be co r re c t , I procu reda copy of t he d at e of the arr iva l s o f s teamersfrom M on trea l a t"uebe c . dur ing the ten y earsbeginn in g w i th 1848 , and in clud ing 18 58

,an d

find tha t th e earl ies t a rriva l was on th e 6 th Ap r i l,

and t he la tes t o n the 6 th May, an d tha t , therefo re ,my s ta temen t is in every respe c t co r rec t . Mr .

Wo rkman in a t temptin g to th row doubt o n itby s ta tin g tha t some t ime o r o the r carriagestraversed th e i ce o n the loth of M ay, is , to useh is own wo rds ,

“ really as ton ishing ,”and “good

cann ot ensue from su ch d is to r t ion s .

I sha ll n ow p ro ceed t o examine su nd ry oh

jection s ra ised again s t the Dock p roj ec t . Thesehow ever , are so numerous

,— and my remarks

commen t ing on Mr T rautw ine’s op inion s are so

unfa irly rep resented , that I find i t d iffi cu l t to

con tras t Mr. Wo rkman’s op in i on s w i th my o wn ,w i thou t en ter ing upon the d iscu ss i on of thes e at

too grea t a leng th I shal l , how ever , be as brief

as poss ible . Mr. Wo rkman says“ I t is w el l

,therefo re

,tha t M r Y oun g has

shew n th e cl oven foo t , and p roposed the twop roj ects as an en t ire ty s ince

,by tha t means h e

has,as he w i l l d is cover, the en t i re pub l i c voi ce

ra ised aga ins t h im . The inhab i ta n ts en ter ta inh igher hop es of o ur future, than t o bel ieve i t iscon t ingen t or d ep en d en t upon the con s tru c tionof some 3 3 m i les of Can al n ine m i les above o ur

p ort , and across a pen insula a l ready t raversedby tw o ra i lways .

”

Why Mr. Wo rkm an shou l d se e the cl oven

foot” i n my s tatemen t , that i t is by an d

through th e C ana l in to Lake C hamp la in

alone , that I expec t tha t in crease in the t rad e

of Montreal , which w i l l render Docks for

the accommodat i on of the t rade n ecessaryi t wou ld be d iffi cu l t to say, for to s o fai r

and cand id a m ind as tha t of M r. Wo rkman’s ,

such an avowa l m igh t have commended i tse lf,es pe cial ly as i t gave h im an O p po r tunity to re

fute the s tatemen t . It is s tated i n Mr. Work

man’s th i rd le t te r, tha t if the Canal a t Canghua

waga was comp leted , p roper ty wou ld be s tored

there rather than at Mon t real , and he asks :

wou ld a ny man i n h is sen ses , hav in g befo re

h im the above choice ofma rke ts (Bos ton , N ew“ Yo rk

,in cur th e risk an d the cos t ofde s ~

ce nding , w i th h is produce , rapids or cana l to“ Mon treal ?” Wou ld he n o t say from th is poin t ,Caughnawaga , I have Bos ton , N ew Yo rk,

“and from these , L iverpool and all E urope . ”

Again , ifI s t re my produce h ere , I escape the“ con t ingen cy of e igh te e e n m iles t ravel— d ouble“cana l dues , an d all o ther expenses ofmov ing

“up an d dow n . Th is is the reason i g an d th e

“ course o f a c ti on w hich unques ti onably an y

sane p rodu ce merchan t w ou ld fol l ow .

’

Therefore Mr. Workman con cludes tha t in s teadof g iving 3 any p roper g rounds fo r

Y oung’s s tron g op i n i on s tha t i t is by

and th rough this projec t a lone,tha t

“ he exp e cts the tra de of Mon trea l to in c reas e ,or that he s t ill u rges the n ece s sity of d o cks. ”

“ T he very revers e w ou ld be the issue an d that“the p roposed cana l w ou ld injure th e t rade of

“ Mon trea l and de ter from ra the r than draw pro“ duce to Mr . Young

’s d ocks .

” I n reply to thi sI w ou l d observe t hat n o tw iths tand ing th e

Chambly Canal and th e tw o ex ce l len t ra i lw ays ”

w hich travers e the penin su la. be tween L akeC hampla in and th e S t . Law ren ce

,n in ety per cen t

of all Un i ted S t a tes an d Wes tern C anad ian t rad epasses by rou t es 200 m i les above Gan gh naw aga .

How then is i t po ss ible for the p roduc e merchan to f Low e r Canada , san e o r i nsan e , ever t o be inthe pos i tion of s tand ing at Caughnawaga or any

othe r place in Low er Canada t o “ reason upon

th e advantage s offered by th e markets of Mon

trea l,Bos ton , o r N ew Yo rk , w i thout o ther means

of tran sport bei ng p rovided , than n ow ex ist .

O n e of the mai n poin ts in my lette r , was to shewtha t w i thout wa ter commun icat i o n from the S t.

Law ren ce by a ship cana l , the t rade of the Wes tcoul d no t come be l ow Osw ego . The fa c t is un

doub ted,tha t but a mere frac t ion does come d own

the na tural ou tle t bel ow tha t p oin t . Even Mr.Wo rkman can n o t d eny tha t fac t . I t s tares us

all in the fa ce , an d it seems t o me t o ind icat e

bu t to o c l ea rly , t hat as th e trade h as go ne for

7 yea rs pas t i t w i l l con t inue to go i n fu tur e , un

less s ome such s cheme as t hat I have been u rg

ing be adop ted for securin g a cheaper rou te to

the Amer ican sea-board . It rema ined for Mr.

Wo rkman t o p rove that the Chamb ly Can al and

the two excel len t ra i l way s” are suffi cien t an d

do compete successful ly w i th O sw ego , Buffal o ,& c .

,fo r Wes ter n t rad e , o r to poin t out th e s r

rors ofM ess rs . M cA lpin e , K irkw ood an d Chi lde’s

cal culation s , as t o th e pow er o f the C aughn a

waga Cana l t o chang e this s ta te of things in

fa c t to enable M r. Workman’s “san e p roduce

merchan t” to s tand at Caughnawaga , to reason

upon and d e c ide , whe ther he w i l l take h is p ro

duce to M on treal , o r to Bos ton , Albany or N e w

Yo rk .

But Mr Wo rkman mus t know that p rac tically,

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

as

N ew Y ork , for th e expor t trade by sea . If the

St . Law rence rou te for expo r t of produce wasabou t equal to the rou te v ia N ew Yo rk , w i th

oc ean fre ights 100 p er cen t higher than a t N ew

York , up to 1854, (but s in ce de creasi ng ) i t is to o

pl a in fo r a rgumen t , tha t our pow er of compet i

t i on fo r tha t expor t trade'

would be increased by

any cana l or work,wh ich reduces inland freight,

a nd wh ch would lessen charges at this p ort .

W hat Mr. Wo rkman says abou t our b i ng sub

jec ted to a close and keen competi tion w i th N ewYork i n ou r own fo re ign t rade , and abou t ourbeing ann ih i la ted

,cann o t be w el l founded

,un

less cheaper i nlan d fre ights w ou ld tend to ann i

b lla t e o ur fo reign trade .

I real ly think ut fimus t be “ clear” to you r

readers tha t Mr . Wo rkman does n o t und e rs tan dw ha t he is w ri ting abou t . To prove h is v iew st o be co r rec t , a nd to be w e l l found ed , Mr. Wo rk

m an mus t be prepared to'

shew tha t ‘ th e en largem en t of the Wel land Cana l

,w ou ld no t ch eap en

bu t increa e co s t of t ran spo r t to M on trea l

o therwise the re can'

be n o gro undffdr supp ~

s ingt ha t our trad e w oul d be a n n ih ilated by any

s cheme wh i ch h ad for its obj ect the increase of

th e “super i or c heapness” ofour in lan d tran spor t .

M r . Wo rkman th inks the Caughnawaga Cana l

a n absurd i ty , a fol ly , a w i l l 0 ’the w isp s cheme ,ru inous to Mon treal , an d pre t ty pla in p roof of

t h e in san i ty of those wh o suppo r t i t . O n th issubjec t M r. Wo rkman and my selfmus t agree tod iffe r. Bu t pu t th e Caughnawaga C ana l out of

th e ques t ion fo r a momen t , an d le t us 1-.ok on ly

a t one of the “ schemes ,” the en largemen t of the

We l land C ana l . Is i t no t ev id en t tha t our

pow e r to compe te fi

r the expor t trad e by sea ,w ou ld be increased by the g rea te r cheapness of

fre ight from the i n ter i or to Mon trea l,by the

in c reased s iz e of the ves se l nav iga t ing the in te

ri o r w a te rs . Wou ld not the Cana l a lso d imin ish

the co s t offre igh t , d es tined for the Fore ign M ar

lce l in th e U nited S tate s ? Wou ld the benefi t of

such increased cheapness be lessened by a l low

ing the same la rge vessel to p ro ceed to Burl ing

to n o r Whi tehall ? .Would C anadian vessels be

ru ined by a voyage some 400 m i les longer than to

O sw ego Wou ld Mon t rea l be turned in to fi e ld s ,by br ing ing even were i t on ly an othe r n in e per

cen t of the Wes te rn Trade w i th in n ine m iles of

i t ? Mr . Wo rkman ev id en tly thinks s o , and he

h as a r ight to enfo r c e h is v iew s as energe t ically

a s he p l eases,bu t it was s ca rcely w o r th h is

while t o a t temp t to conv in ce the publ ic tha t any

produce merchan t that enter tained d ifferen t

views cou l d no t be of sane mind , but deserv ingof“ crush ing rebuke .

”

Mr . Wo rkman n ext tel ls us that h e has beencareful ly p erus ing “ Hun t’s Merchan ts Magaz ine

”

to find out the exports from New Yo rk,and th e

result'

of h is labour is th e impo r tan t s tatemen t,

that a li ttl e more than one -fifth of tha t largea ccumula tion of “ produce

,which Mr Young

des cribes’as col lec ted at the various ports on

Lakes Erie and On tar i o is expo r ted ,” that “ th e“ o ther four-fifths are of course e i ther taken fo r

con sumpt ion,o r shi pped to o ther fore ign mar

ke ts .

” I t w ould have been a much more i n teres ting

labour for Mr. Wo rkman to find out the amoun ta rr iv in g at t ide w a ter o n the Hudson

,and asoer

tain ing the amoun t shipped from all the Ameri

can po r ts o n the A t lan t i c,eas t of N ew York .

Ifh e had do n e‘

s o, h e w oul d have found that on ly

abou t three - e ighths of the cerea ls arriv ing at t ide

wa te r are expor ted , w hile five -eigh ths are con

sumed . Th is s ta temen t w as made by me i n

1855 , in a le t te r addressed to the Hon . F. Lem i

eux, so tha t M r. Wo rkman is agai n m istaken

when he says Th a t Mr Young loses s ight of

th e circum stance , tha t of th e en ti re quan ti ty ofbre ads tufi

’

s received a t N ew Yo rk , b u t a smal lfrac tion is shipped from N ew York .

”

Aga in Mr . Wo rkman s ta tes“ I t w i l l

,th erefo re , be seen that a l ike in error

is Mr . You ng in g roupin g toge th e r the fifty- two

m i l lio ns o f bushe l s,w hich he g ives as th e tota l

recei p ts a t t h e po r ts of D unki rk,Buffa lo

,S us

pen s i on B rid ge , Roche s te r , Osw ego , C ape Vincen t and O gde n sburgh , w i th a v iew of sh ow ingtha t Mon t rea l in o bta in in g on ly 10 per cen t o fth is grand agg rega te , is a grea t suffe re r , or, tha tany sys tem 0 1 d ocks or canals cou ld ma teriallychan ge this .

”

My remark s al ready mad e w il l show that M on

t rea l and the coun try are g reat suffe rers i n n ot

rece iv in g mo re than 10 per cen t ; and that theproposed “

sys tem ofdocks and canals” w i l l com

ple te ly change this . M r. Workman seems tothink he is supp o r ted in h is op in ion s by a Wes t

ern m i l ler, w h o s tate s tha t“ There is o n e con trol l ing p r in ci ple , he says ,w hi ch i t se ems to me M r. Young , and , in deedall you Mon trea l people over look

,w hi ch is

,

tha t al on g all this E ri e Canal rou te there are“ mu l ti tudes of very importan t s treams w hi ch“ Wes tern p rodu ce h as th e chan ce of flow ingin to a t good consum pt ive p r ic e s , befo re i t n e e dsto take t he las t chan ce o fN e w York . T his o n e

“ thing g ives our route a g rea t advan tage overo thers , even Osw ego . Buffalo is und oub te dlyfrom its pos i t io n the very bes t g ra in marke t in

“ th e coun t ry , tha t is , i t w i l l stand a large r ar

ri va l of g ra i n a t one t ime w i thou t break in gdown than any o ther place .

”

And Mr. Workman adds that}“The fifty- tw o m ill ions of bushels then , whi ch

“Mr. Youn o g ives as en tering the po r ts of D un“k irk

,Buffalo , S uspens ion Br idge , Roche s te r , 0 s

“w ego , C ape Vin cen t , an d Og densbu rg o n thei r

“w ay to the i r var ious des tina t i ons (d es t ina ti on s

“whi ch w an t them a nd mus t have them for l ocal

“c onsumption) , cou ld n o t be a t tra cte d from the

“ na tura l groove ofsupply an d deman d by any sys“ tem of d o cks a t Mon treal , N ew York , o r e lse“where . The average shipmen ts at N ew Yo rk to"G rea t Br i ta in an d Ireland , an d the C on tinen t of“ Europ e

,for the las t y ear , after add ing all tha t

“ rea che s tha t po r t from eve ry o ther rou te , is , as“w i l l be seen by the above ex trac t, on lyabout one

“fifth of this quantity.

”

The above quo ta tions from the Wes tern

M i ller,

”an d M r . Wo rkman , are in d i rec t con tra

d ic t ion to what I sta ted in my le t ter of loth

Decembe r . I then poin te d o u t t he erro r in towhich Mr. T rau twine h ad fa l len , of tak in g the

r ece i p ts a t Osw e go , Buffalo , as any crite

r ion by w hich a compar ison cou ld be made of

the p robab le receip ts a t Mon trea l . In my

l e t ter of the loth Decem ber i t is s tated“ I t is true th a t th e es t ima te of the recei p ts of

gra in an d flour a t the lake po r ts in 1856 wasbarrels , but I n ever s ta ted t hat

grain and flour w ere the only articles re ce ived“a t Lake po r ts ; no r d i d I s tate th a t the0 00 bar re ls w ere re ceived at t ide w ater in tha t

year . I kn ew that a va st amount was distributed“a long th e line of the C anal, before rt rea ch ed tide

“ water .

” Y e t Mr . Wo rkman , w i th this s ta tem en t befo re him , d rags in h is friend , the Wes t

ern Mi l ler , to make it a p pear tha t I w as ob l i

v icus to all such con tingen c ies and that mye s t ima te of the p robable recei p ts a t Mon trea l

being equal to five m i l l i o ns of ba rrels w as rid iculo us , inasmuch as th a t amoun t w as

“a supp ly

mo re than double that ship p ed from N ew Yorkto th e B ri tish Is les , and all E urop e , out of all

‘

the'

p rod uce t ha t reached N ew Yo rk fromh

the

sa id 52 above named,and from every

o ther quar ter , during the same y ea r .

” In myle t ter of loth December

,I s ta ted repea ted ly

,in

reference to Mr . Trau tw in e’s de du ct ions of p ro

bable rece i pts a t Mon treal , tha t the e Xpo rts fromN eW Y orkwe re n o cri terion bywh ich tojudge ofthe

recei p ts a t Mo n treal ; and tha t i t was no t cerealsa l on e to w hich he should have co nfined h is es tima tes , bu t tha t i t was “ for a share o r p ropo r tiono t the amoun t arr iv ing a t t id e wa te r in the

Hud son ,” fo r w hic h Mon treal m ight be a com

p e ti to r ; a nd that ,“as the rece i p ts a rr iving at

t id e wa te r on the Hudson cou l d b e convey ed t o“ the same p o in t , via the St . Lawren ce , qu icker

“and cheaper than they are now taken there ,even when the E rie Cana l is en larged , I claim

“ ed tha t,w he ther for expor t o r d is tribu tio n

“ through the Eas tern Sta tes , Mon t rea l w ouldbe a be t ter poin t than Albany .

” 8 0 tha t i t

is no t alon e fo r w ha t m ay be expo r ted by seafrom N ew Yo rk

,but fo r

'

a p ropo r t ion of th e

amoun t rece ived a t t ide wa ter a t A lbany o r

Wes t Troy , tha t M on trea l m ay become a

comp e ti to r . Mr . Workman overl ooks all theses ta teme n ts , wh ich are before h im in my let ter o fthe 10 th D e cember , fo r th e pu rp os e of showin g“ tha t Mr. T rautwine

’s very l ibera l es t ima te of

barre ls , o r two - th irds of the quan t ity

ofwhea t and flour exp or ted from our n orth

eas tern po r ts,

” is all that can ever be e xpec te d

a t Mon trea l , w i th all our imp rovemen ts com ~

ple ted as pro po sed .

If Mr. Workman h ad fa i rly met t he a r gumen t

as pu t by me, it wou ld have be t t e r become h is

pos i tion and s tand ing bu t h e does n o t do so .

Mr. T rau tw ine fel l i n to the error , and i t W a s

p o in te d ou t pla in ly ; Mr. Wo rkman repeats th e

e rro r w i thou t n o t ici -

g the explanation . A s to

th e amoun t of i ncreas e t o the t rad e to be der ive d

from t he c omp let ion of the grea t works referred

to,I do n o t pre tend to speak pos i t iv ly. Indeed

n o o n e can s peak defin i te ly as to p robable ro

ce ipt s a t Mon treal,

’

w i th docks and o ther proposed fac i l i ties ih operati o n . I on ly aga in is

pea t,

‘

what ha s al ready been s ta ted,

rhat it

is no t for wha t a rr ives a t the Lake Po r ts , butfo r a share ofwha t a rr i ves a t Albany o r Troy onthe a udsonfafter th e w hole of th e in ter io r of theSta te of N ew Yo rk is suppl ied

,the Po r t of

Mon treal may become a compe titor .The magni tude of the p r ize a imed at is im ~

mens e . I n 18 58 , the to ta l re cei p ts a t t ide wa te r

w ere to n

—

s From th is , if w e d educ t

tons,the g ros s amoun t of th e p roduc ts

of t he fo re s t,agri cu l ture

,manufa ctu res , and

o th er a r ticles of the Sta te ofN ew York , w e have

tons a rr iving at the Hudson from the

Wes tern S ta tes and Wes tern C anad i ,'

o r equa lto s even teen million barrels

,aga in s t some th ing

over on e million and a halfa t Mon trea l .

If Mr. M cA lpin e an d other Eng ineers are cor

re c t in s ta ting that , w i th d ocks and th e We l lan d

an d Lake Champla in cana l s comple te d, Mon

trea l can compe te w i th a ll o ther'

rou tes for thistrad e

,in cheapness and rap id i ty of movemen t

,

no t on ly fo r hold ing here and d is tribu ting to th eEas tern Sta tes , bu t a lso for expo r t by sea , it

becomes a mere ma t ter of op in i on not res ting

on a c tua l exper ien ce , how much of this amount

can be attracted here . Mr. Workman,may be

l ieve w i th Mr. T rau twin e , w h o is equal ly w el l

info rmed on the subj ec t , from an e r ron eous view

of the data furn ished , th a t w e coul d never h 0 p e

for more than equal to bbls . My own

v iew s w ou ld lead me to go far beyond thei r

l im i t . Bu t w he ther the quan t i ty b e , o r be n o t ,

g reater than the l im i t men t ioned , and n o on e

can p re ten d to absolu t e certain ty on such'

a sub

je ct , the argumen ts I have advan ced fo r th e

e xecut ion of the w o rks in ques ti on w i l l s t il l

h old g ood . The amoun t of the benefi t is un ce r

tain th e fact ofa large in crease to our trad e is ,to my m ind , clea r ly to be expec ted . Ind eed , so

far as careful ly con s ide red s tat is ti cs , d rawn

from the exper ien ce of the ac tua l t rade of th e

Wes t fo r many yea rs , and calcula t ion s as to

reduc t ion i n cos t of tran spor t , based o n expe ri

e n ce an d known fa cts can prove the matter , the

necess i ty of the w o rk s has been shew n .

ow ever much merchan ts m ay d iffe r as t o the

poin t jus t men t ioned , one thing is qui te ev id en t

our p resen t share in the vas t an d eve r in cre as

ing trade of the Wes t is mos t un sa t isfac t o ry

I am more and mo re conv in ced of th is

every yea r . W i th ou t th e canals an d d ocks

w e have no reasonable p rospec t of a ttrac t

ing any cons id e rable par t of tha t grea t

t rad e w hich n ow a rr ives a t t i de w a ter

o n the Hudso n . Even our C hamb ly Canal and

Mr. Wo rkma n’s “ two excel len t ra i lw ays” an d

Vic to r ia B ridge w i l l fa i l to hel p us . The reason

is pla in , w e shal l then have n o means of carryi ngp roduce v ia Mon treal from Lake O n tari o to theHudson so cheap by 15 to 25 cen ts per bbl . , as i t

is n ow carr ied through the State of N ew Yo rk .

Mr . Wo rkman may lay the b lame o n Prov i

d ence , on the lo ca t io n of the St . Law ren ce be ing

too far nor th , on our cl imate , o ur geographica l

pos i tion , o ur pol i tical ins ti tu t ions , an d

-

i t m ay be“absurd i ty,

” “ fol ly,

” “ commerc ial su ic id e ,”

“ van i ty” or “ insan i ty” t o d iffer from h im,bu t

“as hard wo rds butter no pa rsnips” s o they d o

11 t conv ince me tha t my v iew s really des erve

the epi thets referred to .

In my le t ter of the loth D ecember I w en t a t

cons id erable length in to the finan cial ques t ion

of the docks,and gave figures to show ,

tha t w i th

th e Lake St . Pe te r d eb t assumed by the G overn

men t , i t w as qu i te pos s ib le for the Harbour C om

m iss ioners to g o o n w i th the w o rk w i thou t in

c reas ing harbour dues beyon d pas t ra tes . I a l so

then s tated that i t wa s of the greates t im po r t

an ce to make the charges on ship ping and good s

coming to the port, as l ight as poss ibl e . And

th at the mos t effectua l mod e of do ing th is wasto provi d e convenien cies for re duc in g the p resen t h igh ra tes of charges , an d by in creas ing th e

t rade of th e p or t . Mo reover,I s ta ted tha t I

would be adverse to p ro ceed ing w i th the docks ,w i thou t i t was firs t d is t i n c tly unders tood that

the Governmen t wou l d p roceed w i th the Wel

land and Champlain Canals , an d the improvemen t of the rapids of the S t . Law ren ce . A l l

th is seems t o me t o ind ica te a con s i derab le d e

gree of cau t i on , y e t Mr. Wo rkman says tha t “ inthe en ti re advo cacy o f th is dock ques t ion

, a t

publ ic mee tings , as Harbou r C omm is s i oner in“ conferen ce w i th the Comm i ttee of c i tizens

,and

as member ofthe Board o fTrad e, a t the var i ous“ meetings of tha t body , Mr. Young has everev in ced the same impatience an d re ck l ess de

“ term ina t ion t o laun ch unconditionally in to the

e normous expend i ture w hich the immedia tecon s truction ofh is s cheme ofd o cks wou ld e n

ta i l u po n ou r trade .

”

Hard w o rds aga in , Mr . Workman , B U T ARE

TH EY TRU EAgai n

,I s ta ted tha t th e charges a t M on tr ea l

o n p rope r ty rece ived here from the in ter i or , w ereequal to 6 cen ts p er bushe l , ove r and above all

w harfages , w hich s ix cen ts m igh t be saved if facilitie s w ere crea ted in docks by machin e ry

,and

o therw ise for rece iving and del ivering p roperty .

I'

gave severa l tables , by wh ich th is was d emon

s tra te d . Mr . Workman does n o t a t temp t to refute any of these tab le s , bu t con ten ts himselfw i th a far mor e easy mode of a rgumen t by s ta t

i ng t ha tIt is in va i n you endeavour t o reaso n w i th

him , an d to shew tha t a n increased servitudeupon the reve nue of o ur por t

,equa l to t h e bur

then of the Po i n t S t C harles D ocks,mus t inev i

tab ly in creas e , to a damag in g ex ten t , t h e cos t ofs h ipp ing bo th flour a nd whea t in p lace of low ering i t .

”

Aga in , Mr. Wo rkman says i n referen ce to our

faci l i ta ting t rade be tween C hi cago and Montreal

by bran ch houses,& c .

“ And w hat w ou ld be sa i d of any o ther c i tyadop t ing su ch a cou rs e— say of the c i ty of NewYo rk— s hou ld sh e , fo r the mere pu rpose o fg ivingar ifi cia l sup po r t , o r brin aing t ra d e to some pe td o ck s cheme . o r to the Hud son Rive r , o r t h e E r ieCa nal

,sen d the youn g blood an d ca : i ta l of her

commerce to some d is tan t c i ty . w he the r C hicago , M i lwaukie , o r elsewh ere . Truly , th isw o uid be a n ove l mod e ofbe n e fi t t ing N e w York ,a nd ye t i t IS p recisely M r. Youn g’s p lan fo r i nc reasxng the t rad e of Mon trea l .

”

M r . Wo rkman is unfo r tuna te again . This wasp rec isely w ha t N e w Yo rk d id do . I t wa s t o

bring the trad e to the Hudson R iver tha t the

merchan ts and c i tizen s of N ew Yo rk st ra inedevery n erve

,and a t las t su c

'

ceeded in mak ingw ha t is cal led the me r e d i tch ,

’whi ch brough t

t o the Hud son R iver so e n ormous a t rade a s tha t

t o which I have referred . The E rie Canal d id

n ot come w i th in 145 m i l es of the ci ty of N e w

York - C hicag o and M i lwauk ie and all the w e s

ern c i ties have all bu i l t up N ew Y o rk . Eve ry

cen t saved in tran s por t b uild s i t up , as w el l as

benefi ts the p roducer . Mr . Wo rkman’s two ex

ce lle n t rai lways p reven t hi s looking at th e vas t

t rad e w hich I s eek t o a ttra c t in pa 3 ) I n

t rea l , n o t , as Mr Workman , w i th l i t t le candour ,says , to d isp rove the

“supremacy

”ofN ew Yo rk

over Mon trea l,but to take advan tage of the n a

tura l and , as I bel ieve , the qu ickes t , cheapes t ,and bes t rou te t o N ew Yo rk c i ty

,t ) the Eastern

Sta tes , o r to the ocean .

L e t the merchants ofEMon tre al lock to the

mat te r,an d d o so as bust ne ss men , w i thou t the

“ ex tat i c burs ts ” tha t Mr. Wo rkman chargesme w i th . T he p riz e is a par t of th e grea t traderefe rred to . My a rgumen t is

,tha t Mon trea l

ough"to secure

,and ca n secure , a large share

o f i t I gave l on g l is ts of figures and d eta i ls,

whi ch Mr . Wo rkman sneers a t,bu t can no t con

fute, an d scar cely ven tu res t o con trad i c t ; an dthe s e figures shew tha t w e can ge t a la rge p artof the t rade . Scan these figures

,therefo re : se e

if they are erroneous . Remember tha t if theyare co rrec t, and if t hey es tablish the v iew s I amu rg ing , t hen the s oon er that energe t ic ac ti on 18pu t fo r th to carry them i n to effec t the be t ter . I tmay be usefu l here t o di rec t y our a t ten ti on to

the effe cts aris in g from “ that d i tch ' referredto .

The E r ie Canal w as Opened to comm e rce in18 26

,and the resul t of t ha t work

, o n th e p ros

perity' of N ew Yo rk , m ay be j udge d of by an

exam inati on of the fol low ing Tab‘ e

Va lue Re a lPopulation . and Pe rsonal

Es tate .

1 816 . 81826 . .1 6b , 0 86 .inc . fm ’16 to 25 p c t .

1 83 6 .. i nc . fm to ’3 6 . . 1 90 p c t .

Independen t of the vas t increase in the p0 pulat ion ofN ew York in the ten years fo l low n g theO penin g up of the E r ie Canal

, w e se e tha t theincr ease in rea l and p ersonal es tate , as g iven infor taxes from 18 26 to 183 6

, w as 190 p er cen t .aga ins t 25 per cent . , the ra te of i n creas e fo r the

prev i ous ten years . Again,take Bos ton

,and

th ere is ano the r remarkable ins tan ce ofthe effectof cheapen ing transport from the inter i or . I nS eptember, 183 9 , th ere were only 167 m i les of

ra ilway in Masrachuse t ts . In August, 1850,there w e re upwa rds of 1000 m iles comple ted .

In 18 3 0 the value of Rea l and Persona l E s tatew as 38

In 1840 do d o d o 9 4

In 18 50 d o d o d o

shew i ng tha t be tw een 1840 an d 18 50 there w as

an increas e of90 per cen t . , while in the ten p re

fa d ing years th e ra te of increase was on ly 5 8 percen t .

I give these s tatemen ts to shew the in t ima teconn ec t ion betw een the g row th of sea p o rts on

th e Atlan t i c an d such w orks as tend to fac i l i tatetrad e w i th the in ter i or . Simi lar resu l ts are

likely , in my opin'

ou,to take p lace in the popu

la t i on and w ea l th of Mon treal, w henever her

advan tages as a sea and i n land por t can be

fully deve loped , the grea t water power a t her

comman d mad e ava i lable , and the rou te of theS t . Law ren ce to the in ter i o r perfected .

Bu t to re turn to Mr. Wo rkman’s v iew s . H e

agrees w i th Mr . How lan d i n bel iev in g that:

so long as the American Governmen t per

31s t in charg ing ad valo rem dut ies o n impo rts atth e i r va lue w h en ce they are brought in the last

place , Wes tern S ta tes people c an never buy at

Mon treal , and tha t consequen t lywe can not compe te w i th N ew York .

“ Mr . How land said a grea t d eal of t ru th i n avery sma l l S pa ce here . Indeed

,i t is too ev ide n t

that this on e d ifficul ty a lon e,w ere there no o ther

,

re n ders i t impo s srble , s o lon g as the two countr ies rema in un d er d iffe ren t Governmen ts

,to

attrac t the car ry ing trade of th e G rea t Wes t t oour Canadian w a ters in p referen ce t o th e NewYo rk rou te— and here again Mr. Young

’s a rgu

men ts c rum t le to the ground .

”

Mr . Wo rkman’s view s as to the effe c t ofthe twocou n tr ies be ing und er d ifferen t governmen ts , Ishal l n o t s to p n ow to d iscuss , as a poli t ical quest ion , bu t w ou l d s ta te tha t in fo rmer le t te rs

,I

poin ted ou t tha t so far as respe cts the Nav igat ion

Law s ofthe two coun tr ies there was n o d iffi culty .

In rega rd to cus toms’ duties,bo th coun tr i e s

at present col lec t thes e on the ad valo rem p r incip le

,— tha t is on the va lue a t t he place w here

good s w e re las t p urchased . A s a merchant l have

t he righ t to s end good s to Chi cago from Cuba ,Fr i n e s , Po rtugal , o r any o ther coun try , through

th e St Law ren c e d i rec t, o r by transhipping here ,and such good s

,w i th Ame ri can C onsu l’s ce rt ifi

cate of va lue , are en tered a t Chi cago o n such

va lue , in the same way as if t he goods h ad

been landed a t New Yo rk . In Canada we haveexactly the same right ofbringing goods throughthe Un i ted S ta tes in bond. I am aware that in .

e i ther case th e goods must go dire ct and that

they canno t leave firs t hands ; bu t in th is there

is n o th in g to p reven t the grea tes t s cope fo r d i

rect im po rts in to the Western States i n the samew ay tha t Uppe r Canada merchan ts fo rmerly im

po r ted,

an d n ow im p or t largely from G rea t

B r i ta in th rough the U n i ted States . Ifit is found

that th e St . Law re n ce is a cheaper ro ute t han

via N e w Yo rk , no thing c an preven t th is be ing

don e . Aga in,the Montreal merchan t can im ~

por t and p lace h is good s i n bond,and sel l

to Wes tern dealers,j us t as the N ew York

m erchan t m us t n ow do , to Canadian dea le rs .

Even in such a case , is i t no t c lea r afte r all, that

the ex tra du ty to be p aid hy th e Wes te rn or C a

nadian d ealers buyin g in bo n d,is merely the

Ta r iff rate,on the cos t of fre igh t an d the mer

chan t s p rofi t . I w ou l d have though t tha t all

this mus t have been eviden t to Mr. Workm an

and to Mr. How land , but it seems to have be en

ov erl ooked ,I mus t defe r fur ther remarks o n Mr. Work

m an’s obj ections t i l l my nex t le t te r , an d am

You r o bed ien t servan t ,JO HN YOUNG .

Mon trea l , July 20 th , 18 59 .

L ETTER N O 7 .

To th e E ditor of the MON TREAL G A"ETTES la , —In con tinuat ion of my las t le t te r o n Mr.

Workman’s obj ec tions to docks at Poin t S t .

C ha rles,i t m ay be w el l to al lude to a f‘ c t wh i ch

I daresay is n o t genera l ly know n , and e special ly

among the res idents of th e eas tern part o f theci ty

,tha t the s cheme of docks t o w hich Mr .

Workman and the Comm i ttee have g ive n the i r

cons -o,ex tends abou t fe e t fur the r w es t

,

than"

~ the Po i n t St . Charles s cheme . I i d e e d

abou t the halfof the whole a rea of M r . T rau tl

w in e’s plan is l ocated beyon d the Wel l ing ton

Stree t bridge over the Lachine C a nal . Ye t M r.

Wo rkman say s Thre e men"the comm i ttee"“ des erve every encouragemen t ; they are ba t

“ tl ing agains t an a t temp t to d o w hat ? To

p lan t the bus iness of our c i ty remote from itspresen t cen tre , from t he s pot w hi ch na ture

“poin ted ou t t o its p r imeva l founders

,an d

“ whi ch hi ther to has be en found to an swer every“ purpose

,to turn fields and pas tu re ground s

into ci ty l o ts , and c i ty proper ty in to fi e ld s .

”

Aga in , Mr.Wo rkman says To the p opula t i on

of the eas tern part ofthe ci ty , the cons truct i on

ofdocks at Poin t St . Charles wou ld be a s fa ta l

to the i r in teres ts as wou l d be the bui ld ing o f

the Caughnawaga Canal to the gen eralmterests

of the Here , we have M r . Workmansta ting that he and .the C omm i t tee deserve everyen couragemen t from the res id en ts of the easte rnpart of t he c i ty

,fo r

uba ttlin g aga ins t docks a t

Poin t S t . Cha rles , when he g ives h is asse n t to ascheme, which is s ti l l furth er “ from the spo t

which Na ture p oin ted ou t to i ts p r imeva lf‘ found ers” as the grea t centre . B es ides, M r .

Workman is n o doub t aw are , tha t by the Po in tSt . C harles p roj ec t , a space i n the river is p ro

posed to be en c losed , which is publ i c p rop er ty ,an d tha t the ‘fie lds and pas ture grounds

,

’whi ch

are t o be turned in to c i ty lots and c i ty p rope r ty ,

are on ly embra ce d i n Mr . T rau tw ine’s s cheme . I t

is to be presum ed Mr. Wo rkman was qu i te awareof th is , bu t th e op po rtun i ty ofle aving i t to b e ihferred tha t pe cun ia ry in teres t wa s a t the bo ttomof my advocacy of d ocks a t Po in t S t . Cha rles

,

was to o a t trac t ive t o be los t . I am,how ever

,

confid en t tha t M r . Wo rkman,ln h is effor ts t o

promote eas tern in tere s ts , having a lready g iven

h is assen t to a s cheme of docks so mu ch fa r ther

wes t than any scheme p rev iou s ly rep o r ted o n,

w i l l ye t , w he n he become s tho roughly conver

san t w i th the W hole subj e ct , agree to th e l o ca

tion a t Po in t S t . C harles , shou ld tha t be foun d ,after the fina l survey s , to be bes t adap ted fo r th e

trad e o f the po r t,e spe c ial ly , as h e says tha t

“ The C omm i t te e , how eve r , n o t b l indly w ed d ed

to any s cheme , bu t anx'

o us to have the que

t ion s e t tled o n am icab le ground s,saw much

m er i t 1n Mr. T rau tw ine’s plan of d o cks

,and

“ exp ress ed th em s e lves w i l l ing to a cce p t i t . ”

I ndeed,the read in ess w i th w hi ch the C ommi t tee

yi elded the i r Opin i on s as to the s i te th rough the

prop er ty of t h e lad ies o f the G rey Nun n ery,

show s they w ere n o t w edded to a ny s cheme .

Mr . Workman say s At the fi rs t p roj e ct i on of“ th is n o table s cheme fo r removing o ur t ra d e

from its p re s en t cen tre , and fo r ren der in g un

p roductive the eno rm ous sums ex p en ded for“ d o ck s , bu i lding s, an d o ther a ppl ian ces i n and

o ppos i te to o ur p resen t harbour,an d fo r n o

o th e r purpos e than to increase the V a lue of

p roper ty in another l oca l i ty , i t s eeme d to o

r id i cu l ous to a ttrac t notice .

”

Mr Wo rkman m ay th ink th e scheme rid i col ous ; bu t tha t c ircums tan ce w i l l n o t make i ' so ,fo r Mr. Workman m ay be m is taken , an d h is z ea l

to d e cry my e fforts , m ay have car ried him t oo

fa r I t w ould serve l i ttle purpose t o re to r t upon‘J r Wo rkman , the charge ofvan i ty , dogm a t ism

,

Arc . B ut surc'

y he ough t to be w i l l ing to adm i t

tha t o n e may differ from h is v iew s , a n d no t

mer i t the appel la t ion s and ins inuat ions sca t tered

3 1 ,

all throe gh h is le tters .

Mr.Wo rkman’ss pecia l aim was to ex c ite theres id en ts ofthe ea s tern porti on ofthe c i ty aga in st

t he v '

e w s ins is ted on by me . Itw ou ld no t be d iffi

cul t to shew tha t n o o n e h as don e more than myselfin advoca ting th e se measures upon w hich the

grow th of th e eas tern pa r t o f the c i ty dep ends .

I t w i ll no t be denied tha t the ex tens i o n of the

general t rade of the c i ty mus t benefi t all pa r ts of

i t,a nd my a c ti on in h av nng th e ha rbour l im i ts

ex tended to H o ch ele ga Bay, and the va r ious

works s in ce com pleted w rthin that l im i t an d

s ti ll go ing forwa rd , and w hich could n o t havebeen comple ted

, o r ac ted upon bu t fo r my sug

ges t ion an d a c tion in re c omme nd tng the B arbour C omm iss ioners to ex tend th e Harbou r

lim i ts , ought to sat isfyeven Mr Workm an that I

have never sough t to ac t in my capaci ty a s H ar

bour C omm iss i oner, from any se c t1o n al predile c

le ctions . I am no t afra i d but t ha t my fel l ow

c itizens i n the eas ter n par t of the c i ty w i l l ye t

d o me fu l l j us t ice i n this respec t .

I bel ieve that the c i ty W l tl ex tend i tself in the

d irect ion of Hoche laga Bay, espec ia lly if tha t

localilyis made a de po t for the shipmen t and hold

ing ofall k inds of t imber, a‘

w o rk e as ilv car iad

o ut , and for whi ch th e p l ace is adm i rab lyadapted . Mr . Workman again says

“ No one,it is p resumed , d oub ts that w i th

money e nough docks cou’d be cons tru c ted a t

Po in t St . Charles . I t n eeds no t e n g 1ne e ringtalen t to tel l us tha t . B u t t he M on trealpubli c

(tha t is to say M r . Workman ) w on’t have them

there . They won’t con sen t to a p roj e c t tha t w i l ls ink our p or t i rre trievab ly ln d eb t , bu r then o urt rade , and remove from our p re sen t it rbour o ur

A t lan t i c and se a-

going c mm e rce,l eav ing th e

hay an d w ood c raft 1n und is turbe d possess i on o t

our p resen t harbour . ”

Mr . Workman w ro te this w hen he had befo re

h im the fol low ing p r in ted memo ra ndum g iven

by the Comm is s ion ers to Mr. T rau tw in e

The C ommiss i oners , therefore , have foundit n e ces s

a ry s ince 18 43 t o e x tend the i r w harfageac commodati on , and to make ex ten s ive excavat i on s in the ha rbou r, by r emoving shoal s , w idening and ex ten d ing t h e en t rance to the harbour

,

& c , & c . Since that time , w ha rves in Bons ecourB as in , Mon arque S tree t, an d Ho che laga Bay , alsoVi cto r ia P ie r , have been con s truc ted and su chis t he rapid i ncreas e in s teamers trad ing w i thva r i ous pla ces adjac hu t to Mon treal

,a n d i n th e

loca l trade genera l ly , that t he C omm iss i on ersare n ow cons truct ing a n ew wha rf 3 00 fee t l ong(whi ch can h e re at te r be ex tended) , and 100 fee tin b read th , tn the Bonsecours Bas in , and are a lsocon s truc t ing a wharf 160 0 fee t long below theV ictoria Pier, as far down as the M i l i tary H os

p ita

This wil l enable them to remove the wood:tr de from th e Bonsecou rs a nd Bas in s above

,to

the w harves b e low t h e Vic toria Pier , an d to imp rove and adapt tha t sp ac e betw een the G randT runk wha rf fo r vesse l s d raw ing no t over 16fee t a t l ow w a te r The S p ac e ly ing between theIs land Wha rfan d Vi c tor ia P ie r w i l l then in n o

p lace have a less dep th a t low w a ter than 12 fee tw hi le abou t ha lfof the whole s pace can be fi tted:up fo r ves sel s of 16 fee t

,w i thou t a ny ex cess ive

ex pe nd i tu re , thu s affo rd ing accommodat i on fo rth e IL c al t rade , fo r which , from its prox im i ty tot h e p r inc i pal ma rke t of the ci ty

,this par t of the

harbour has hi therto been,an d can mos t ad

van tage ous ly and conven i en tly con tinue t o beused . A nd for vessels ofmodera te bu r then

,t rad

1ng w i th th e Low e r Por ts an d t h e We s t Ind ies,

t o p rov ide 20 fee t of w a ter w ou l d,in th e Op i n

ion of the Comm is s i on ers en ta i l a useless ex

pe n d iture ofa la rg e sum .

”

From t he above i t w i l l be seen w i th whattru th Mr. Wo rkman charges the Harbour C omm iss i oners w i th seek i ng to remove the t rade fromour p resen t harbour .

Then , again,observe the fo l low ing , A nd

ye t so far as se tt l ing the ques t i on of Mr .

Young’s d ete rm ina t ion , to conver t Pom t St .

C har les’fie lds i n t o c i ty lo ts,the whole h as

been labou r in vain .

” Where a man’s treasure is there h is heart w i l l be a

‘s o ;

”and

,

“ w hethe r pas ture g round s , o r prej ud ice in“ Mr . Young

’s case , i t is sy nonymous .

” O f

cours e , the publ ic are aware tha t n o land wha t

eve r is requ is i te 1n t he Poin t S t . C harles s ch eme ,bu t the impl ied i ns inua t ion here

,is,th at I am a

p rop r ietor ofland adjace n t to the p roposed docks,and hen ce my advocacy of the s ch eme . I have

been l on g awa re tha t there w e re p a r t ie ; i nMon treal , l ike Mr . Wo rkman

, w h o be l i eved tha tmyadvo cacy ofthis proje c t ,w as d i c ta ted by s elfin te res t

,a n d to

,

the.

advan cem en t i n value of

proper ty , wh ichfiI wa s supposed to hold there , Ion ce co n tradi ted thi s s tatemen t in publ i c

,and

abou t the same time I pers onally exp lazned to M r.

Workman , tha t i n ever owned any land u h a term r

a t P o in t S t . C harles,n or do I now own one

cen t’s worth on the S outh bank of the canal

,

with in th e limits of the city, so t hat w hen hesought to de trac t from the va lue of my exe r

t i on s and labours , by th e above quo ta t i on,

M r . Wo rkman knew , wh i l e he w ro te,

th a t h e was mak in g ins inua t ions con trary t ofa cts . I f self- inte res t

,gu ided me i n my a ct i on

respe ct ing docks , I m igh t wel l advoca te: Mr .

T rau twin e’s p lans , whi ch would add immensely

to the value of my proper ty , whereas wha t lan d

I have on the nor th bank of t he canal,wou ld

ra ther be lessened in value , by afford ing do ckaccommoda t ion a t Po in t S t . Charle s .

32

I a l lud i to th is matter, because i t is time tha t

persons i n Mr. Wo rkman’s po si t ion , shou ld ceaset o hin t a t , and to try to ge t less info rmed pers ons to be l ieve , th at pecun ia ry and selfish personal in teres ts , are conne c ted wi th my advo cacy oft he pub l i c w ork s i n ques t ion .

Mr . Workman knew be tter ; bu t h e knew also

that ifhe could make th e res idents in the eas tern

par t of the c i ty bel ieve th ’lt I w as ac ting from

persona l and selfish ends,to add va l ue t o my

o wn p roper ty , he w oul d inj ure the effec t of my

exer t ion s in favor ofPoin t S t . C har les .

The t ru th is , tha t the a rgumen ts in favour'

of

Poin t S t . Charles w ould n o t be in the leas t

W eaker ifI owned of r eal es ta te i n tha tvicin i ty , ins tead of n or owning a far thing’sw or th . B ut to an swer a rgumen ts is on e thingan d to impu te se lfish v iew s an o ther . Mr . Wo rk

m an chos e the e a s ier if no t the more hono rab le

course . Mr . Wo rkman oc cup ies half ofon e of

h is le t ters by a cri tique o n the number of Draw

br idges propose d to be placed over Mr . Trau t

w ine’s Dock , the mer i ts of whi ch c an be j udged

ofby th e fol low ing

Now w i thout d is turb ing Mr . Y oung’s calculat io n s le t us s imply ask,

- if a p rojec t hav ingfour teen g r ea t tho roughfare s

‘ to and from i tw ould obs truc t in C ommon S tree t 10 foo t pas

“s e ngers an d 90 veh icles in halfe an -hou r

,h ow

“ many w ou ld be obs truc ted a t Windm ill p oi n twhere th ere is bu t on e thoroughfa re .

”

Aga inI n this comparison w e are giving Mr. Young

the advan tage of his con cealing as he does theposs ib i l i ty of the sa id foo t passengers an d vehic les find ing the i r way ove r s ome of the o therfou rteen grea t

If Mr. Workman w il l exam in e Mr. T rautwine’s

p lan , h e w i l l fi n d tha t ten of th e“fourteen tho

roug hfares”are stopped up by the D ocks and n ot

p rovided w ith bridges ; tha t there a re on ly four

drawbridg es—tha t th e

‘

dis tance be tween ea ch o f

these four teen tho roughfares is on ly 180 fee t ,and tha t d rawbridges coul d n o t be e rected for

these “ four teen tho roughfares” for the reason

that 180 feet w0 uld n o t a l low s uffi c ien t space fo r

a vesse l t o l ie, and i ns tead of there being on ly

o ne bridge across th e'

C anal a t W indm i l l Po in t,

th ere is ano the r a t Wel l ing to n Bridge , and there

should also be twomore constructéd at the foot of

M e G ill S treet , and on the same level, acro ss the

C anal there , to communicate W i th th e Do cks , by

filling up the w a te r S pace ar’

bund W indm i ll

Po in t . I t is a m is take , however, to‘

suppose tha t

th e Dock s wou ld in crease cartage across the

Canal. Proper ty,whether merchandise or p ro

as now on the c i ty s ide of the Canal and in theH arbour. Th e D ocks woul d s e rve

, and are

in tend ed to serve a p urpose s im i lar to tha t of th eA t lan t ic Docks a t N ew Yo rk

, for re ce iv ing andde l iverin g p roduce , prov is i on s , mer chand ise ,&c . , in te nde ded fo r expor t , by sea , or in land

'

to

th e Easter n o r Wes tern Sta tes . M r. Workman"nex t t ikes exception to my s tatemen t

,that ifMr.

T rautwin e’s Do ck s cheme w as carried ou t , the

wate r wou l d have t o be “ d rawn off the Canal

i n win ter , an d for such w i thd rawal of water

:every fac to ry o n the Canal w ou l d have a cla imfo r damages .

” Equally unfo r tuna te w i th the“ fourteen tho roughfares .

” Look a t t he leaseaga in , Mr Workman , and you w i l l find that thew i thdrawal ofw ater “ for repairs , imp rovemen tsor a l tera tion s” refers to C anal improvements , andtha t the less ees have no righ t to deman d damagefor any w i thd rawal ofwa ter fo r such repa i rs orimp rovemen ts of the C anal ; bu t the w i thdrawa lof water to con struct a D ock

,is n o t a w i th

draw al of water for C anal rep airs or improve

men ts,and tha t therefo re my s ta temen t that the

lessees w ou ld hav e a cla im for damages is co rrec ti n every par t i cu la r. Aga in , ifMr. Wo rkman w i l llook he w illfind tha t I am a l so correct i n s ta tin gtha t the w a ter level o t Mr. T rautw in e’s schemeof D ocks i s five fee t higher than McG ill S tree t

,

“ o r a ny of the s treets in G ridi n town, and tha t

“ the Dock w harves w i l l be fi re fee t highe r tha n“ the water

,hen ce no poin t of the w ha rves cou ld

be rea ched from We l l ing ton o r McG illh_S tre e

'

t,

except by an ascen t of 10 fee t .”

An amus in g ins tan ce of Mr . Wo rkmansacu teness W i l l be found in h is refe ren ce to thevalue of the land rrq

t i red fo r docks accord ingto the var ious s chemes . He says —“ I nex tcome to Mr. Young

’s obje ct ion to th e valuat ion s

of the land requi red fo r M r. T rau tw ine’s scheme

of do cks . In page 4 7 Mr. Young says But

again , a cco rd ing to M r . T rau twin e’s schein e , Ifind tha t a g ross e rro r h as been comm i tted i n

es tima ting th e value ofth e land-

propos’

ed to betaken for the dock

The error referred to was s imply th is : Mr.

Trautw in e’s s cheme was compared with the

"

Po in t S t . C harles s cheme, as to its ces'

t ; , onee lemen t i n the cos t is t he ex tent and value

'

o f

the land . Mr . T rautwine’s docks required an“

area of 120 a cres , and the es t imate of the va lueof the land only covered eigh teen acres . T h e

lan d at Point S t. C har le s fo rmed par t of the

harbor, and woul d no t requ i re to be paid for.

duce, in tended for city usé , would then be landed 1,h e land for Mr. Trautwine

’s scheme to a g reat

'

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

t‘

)a

th an those to wh ich they were in tended t o ap

ply

“ It is to b e hop ed tha t the c i tiz en s w i l l be awakeon this poin t L e t them remember tha t a t p resen t they sufi

'

e r heav i ly in harbour taxat ion fromth e unjus t bur then of the deepen ing o fLake S tPe ter

,which

,ins tead ofbeing a Provin c ia l w o rk ,

j us t as clearly as any canal , lo ok o r l igh thousefrom Burl ing ton B ay to B elle isle St ra its . h as

bee n throw n , by the a c t ion of Mr . Young,s in ce

th e yea r 1845, on th e t rade of t he c i ty of M o n

t rea l solely .

Abou t t h e per i od m e ntioned,the Governmen t

h ad made cons iderable p rogres s in maki ng a

s traight chann el , a t the p ublic cost , th rough LakeS t . Pe te r . A s t rong op posi t i on t o this c hanne l ,aris ing a pparen tly ou t of l ocal and pers ona lj eal ous ies as t o the app oin tmen t ofa S uperin te nd en t , w a s go t u p by Mr . Young and o thers . T he

w o rks h ad been i n Opera t ion n ea rly two yea rs ,and h ad p rogressed t i l l w i thin yardsof com ple t i on . For a channe l 15 0 fee t w id e an d14 fee t deep i t requi red o n ly abou t 152 daysad d i tional work t o comp le te the chan nel , bu tt h e oppos i t ion was so a n n oy ing to a w e ~ k G o v

e rnmen t , w ho were n o t re lu ctan t t o ava i l thems e lves of any ex cuse t o s top the expend itu re ,that the w orks w ere suspended . A C omm iss i onw as then appom ted t o enqu ir e i n to the subj ec tand re port as t o bes t channe l . This C omm iss i onw as com posed of Me ss rs . John Red pa th , Hon .

F. A ."uesne l and M . J . Hays,and after m inu t e

in spe c t i on , pers ona l exam ina t i on and takinge v iden ce on bo th s ides , they mad e an elabo ra teRepo r t ap prov ing of the a c t io n of the Boa rdofWo rks i n selecting th e s tra igh t chan nel , as

may be s ee n from the follow ing ex tra c t fromthe i r Repor t

The C omm iss ion ers , after mature cons iderat i on o fthe information derived from t he var ioussources , have come to the fol low in g con clus ion“ Tha t the n ew and s traight line adop ted bythe Boa rd o f W o rks an d now i n p rog res s , isp referable t o the o ld and c ir cui tou s channe l ;

“and tha t the Cha i rman o f t h e Boa rd is ful ly

“ bo rne ou t in the adop tio n of th is l in e by t h e

va luabl e tes t imony of C a p ta in Bayfie ld and

o ther s c ien tific me n in E ng land .

”

N o tw i ths tandin g th is de c ided Repo r t of th e

C omm is sioners in tavo r of th e s tra ight chan ze l,Mr. Y oung and h is party kep t u p t h e oppos i tiont o i t , and , ra ther than i t shou l d be c om p le te d .

t hey con sen ted to a n a c t p lacing the en t ire cas t

of th e deep en ing of L ake S t . P e te r up on th e I'

m de

ofour Port in stead of con t inuing it a s a P rovincm lwork a t th e p ublic cost , as i t had been by th e pre

vious flat wh i ch M r . Young destroyed . The en t i reexpend i ture i n con s truc t ing t h e s tra igh t cha nne lso n ea r to i ts comp le tion

,thus became a dead

loss t o the coun try , an d t he fu ture cos t o f thew o rk w as th rown upo n the C i ty of M on tre a l .W ho , upon perus i ng these fa cts and turn ing toM r. Young

’s s e lf- lauda t ion o n t h e “ deepen ing

of Lake S t . Peter” an d th e frcque n t allu~ io n he

makes to i t,in co nnec t ion w i t h t h e bene fi ts C? )

be has bes towed on Mon treal , can rep re ss a

smile ? In the pamphle t before us Mr . Youngsays

En ’erta in in g these v iew s , i t is n o t to be w onde re d a t it I have pe rs is ted in ke e pin g them be

“ fore t h e publ ic , a l though they should be s tampe das 1Vis ionary , a t d as vague d re ams of the imagin ation . I t should also be remembe re d thato the r proj e c ts advoca te d by m e , which a t firs t

“ w e re con side re d as unfavorable as th e Dock“a t Po in t S t . C harle s , have be e n ca rrie d ou t .“ I allude to th e d e e pe n ing of Lake S t . Pe te rin the o ld chan ne l

,w h i ch w as re comme n de d

by m e in 1846 , an d w a s a t firs t cove re d w ith“ rid icule

,bu t whic h w a s finally adop te d , and

“t h e Gove rnme n t w orks abandone d afte r an

“e xp en d iture of abou tS e ve n ty-five thou sand” pounds"D on Quixote

again"T h e en tire expe nd i ture , as may be se e nby the Report of t he C ommiss ione rs , w as £59 ,9 94 l s . 0d .

,-but of th is the re we re 9s .

5 1 e xpe nd ed upon s team e rs and dredging boats ,s cow s an d ou tfi t . w hich appa ra tus be ing ava ilable fo r the w orks o n th e crooked chann e l , leave st h e a c tual expe nd iture fo r de e pen ing the s tra ightchan n e l only 1 18 . 7d .

C ove re d W i th rid icule ”— what rid icule ? T hee n ti re d is cus sion w as confine d t o th e que s tionof fi ling up by d rifting sand banks , and the timei t w ould require to make th e s traigh t chan n e l .T h e C omm ission e rs re por t

“ Tha t they had“ s carce ly e n te red upon the ir du tie s whe n the ir“a t te n tion w as d ire c te d to th e w orks in qu e s

“ tion,by person s p ref ering

' the ir testimony toprove tha t t h e s tra ight l in e adop te d by the"Board o t Works for th e n ew chann e l would

“n eve r an sw e r th e purpose in ten de d , tha t i t

“ w ould require fifte e n o r twe n ty ye ars for i ts“ comple tion , a t a grea t outlay of mon ey, and“ that it would fill up n early as fas t as it was‘ made .

”

T he impar tial i ty of this evide n ce may be ap

pre ciate d , by allus ion t o th e two poin ts i t aimsat . T he fi lling up and the t tma n e e ded to comple te th e s t ra igh t line .

T he C ommiss ion e rs shew , as before obse rved ,tha t a n e xcava tion o f yards , requiring152 days time , w ould comple te t he chan ne l ; an d ,if the Gove rnme n t had be e n allow ed t o proce ed.we w ould have h ad th e chan n e l in 1846, ins teadof 15 o r 20 ye ars la te r, a nd for a compara t ivelysmall ou t lay ove r a n d abov e what the n had be e ne xpe n de d ; an d , to use t he w o rd s ofthe Commiss io n e rs

,t he trade w ould thus h e in p ossess ion

of t w o chann e ls . o fw h ic h o n e migh t be made tose rv e fo r ve s se ls fo r wh o se d raft of w a te r i tm ight be su itable— th e e th e r t o se rve for v e sse ls of a large r d raft . T he risk of colli sionw ould thus b e ve ry much reduce d .

” A s to the

que s tion s of filling up , t h e Commissione rs tookgre a t pain s to ob tain re liable informa tion on tha tpo in t , by causing sound in g s t o be taken in t h e

fall and spring , w i t h a v ie w of asce rtain i ng ift h e spring flood s h ad any rift-C t upon th e n ew

cu t . T h e re sult w as,t ha t they found tha t n o

“ pe rcep tible filling u p h ad taken pla ce , bu t that“th e cu t remain e d in th e same s ta te as when thedredge s left i t

The re i s n o que st ion but th e s traight chann e lwould have an swe red eve ry purpos e , and could

85

have been e asily dee pe ned or w iden ed as circumstan ce s w ould require . T he Town of Be lfas t

,

some ye ars ago , a t tempted to improve , a t an imme n se cos t , the crooked n a tural chan ne l le ad in gin to the ir por t, bu t i t w as found d ifi cult to ke e p i tOpen , and a s traigh t n ew chan n e l was fi nally cu t ,which sui ts much be tte r . When the me rchan t s ,ship-owne rs and s te amboa t p roprie tors o f Montreal

,an d the poor babitan s w ho cross w i th the i

loaded vehicle s o n t he se fe rry-boa ts , con s ide r th eexorbi tan t w harfage they are compelle d to pay,a larg e portion of w hich goe s to m e e t th e cos t ofM r. Young’s Lake S t . Pe te r folly, and to e n ableU ppe r C anada me rchan ts t o bring the ir goodsby o ce an craft 18 0 m ile s n e are r the ir o wn door ,at our expe nse , in place o f a t th e public co s t , asi t w ould have be en

,had M r. Youn g s tood back

,

they can appre cia te th e boon conveyed by t he

deepen ing ofLake S t . Pe te r in t h e o ld chann e l ,which was re commended by m e (Mr. Young)in

So much for Mr. Workman’s v iew s as to the

deepen ing of Lake Now for the

fa cts .

F rom 183 2 to 18 40 , th e m e rchan ts and ci tizen sofMon treal at var ious time s brough t before thea tte n tion of the Gove rnme n t

,by pe t ition s , th e

great injury which re sul te d t o the trade of the

P rovin ce from th e shallow ne s s of Lake St .Pe ter,

‘

and th e impe ra tive n e ce ss i ty w hich

existed for de e pe n ing it . T he se repre se n

te tic h e induced th e Gove rnme n t of t he Pro

vin ce , in 183 6, to refe r th e w hole subje c t to a

Committee of the House of Assembly , w hi ch

Commi tte e reported,in favour of the w ork be ing

unde rtaken as a Provin cial w ork . Cap t . fayfie ld , R .N . , was called before thi s Committee ,and was aske d From you r kn ow ledge i f“ that part of th e St Law re n ce (Lake S t Pe te r) ,do you think i t w ould be practicable to de epenthe channe l, so as to allow ve s se l s ofa greate r

burthen to p roce e d to Mon treal than i ts dep that p re se n t. admi ts Capt . Bayfield sa id tha t—“ I t may be done by excava ting th e pre sen t“ channe l through the S t. F ran c is shoa l for a.

d is tance of two m ile s,by which

,howeve r

,on ly

six in che s, or a t mos t o ne foo t,in crease of

“ d epth would be gain e d . To obta in a greate r“ d epth , 3 . chann e l must be excava te d through“th e flats ofLake St . Pe te r fou r and a halfnautical m ile s in len g th , a w ork w hich would re

“quire so much time and labour that

, w ith th emean s con templa ted , i t is n o t impossible thatth e e nd first e xcavated , might be filled up by

“ sand washing in , by th e time th e o the r wasreache d . T he magn i tude of such a w ork willbe be s t unders tood by the s tateme nt that , if i t

“ we re con templated only to obta in an addi“ tional increase of two fe e t in

,depth , and to

l imi t the excavation to 200 fee t-a-and it could“n o t w e l l be le ss , to allow ve sse l s to turn in

“an d to pas s each oth e r without r isk- n o le ss

“ than e leven m i llion of cubi c fe e t of soil would“ have to be removed to effe c t i t. ” No thing

,

howeve r,w as do n e til l 1840 , when authori ty

was obtain e d from Parl iame n t to begin th e

work . In 1841 an d 1842 , Cha s . Ather ton , E sq .,

w ho had then great expe rie n ce in th e Clyde

works , an d i s n ow a distinguishe d C ivil E ngin e er

in H . M . S . a t Woolw ich, w as employe d by the

Board ofWorks'

in Canada to survey and report:upon th e be s t mean s of de epen in g Lake St .Pe te r . Thia h e d id , in a Repor t dated August1843 . This docume n t is too long fo r inse r tionin the se le tters , I shall, the refore , quote on ly theprin cipal poin ts of i t Mr. A the r ton says

T he Board is in posse ss ion of othe r surveys,

but i t i s n e ce ssary to fix upon some o n e surveyas th e M a p of Refe re n ce , and i t is my du ty tore comme nd tha t Bayfie ld

’s be taken for tha t pur

pose , w hich I think admirably correct . O n the

ge n e ral subj ect my previous corre sponde n cehas already appris ed t he Board that , in my opinion

,th e only mean s ofattain ing th e object in view

— a passage for deep -draft vessels—is by selectingth e ex isting chann el as the line of operatzons , l imi ting o ur w o rks to th e d re dgin g ou t a narrow cut—1 m ay call it a sunk canal—whe reby th e improve d chan ne l may be ind i cated day and n igh t.But

,o n t he pre sen t occasion of final de cis ion

,

the Board may be de s irous ofhav ing before themthe various view s which have been prom ulgated ,and I may briefly adduce the rea son s w hich haveled m e to re commend a strict adheren ce to theimproveme n t of th e old chan n e l , in prefe ren ce toadop ting other plan s w hich have been broughtbefore t he public n o ti ce1s t . I t has be en propos ed to form a straight

chann e l through the Lake , tak ing advan tageofth e s tre tch ofa pool of 13 fe e t ofwate r wh i chextends from cd

‘

the mou th of the R ive r S t .Fran ci s in to de e p wate r a t Poin te da L ac . Icann o t con cur in this proje ct be cause i t involve st he n e ce s sity of cutt ing through the main body,(no t clipping off the extremi ty) of th e S t . Franc is bank , w h ich bank exte nds out in to the m iddle of the Lake opposite B ivie re du Loup . The

w id th of the bank to be cut through w ould beabou t two and a halfmile s , an d afte r all the channe l thus p roposed to be a t ta ine d by cu tt ingthrough the S t . Fran cis bank g ive s on ly 12 to13 fe e t wa te r , and w ould therefore requiredredgi ng ove r a furthe r exte n t of about 8 } milesbefore it mee ts th e 14 fee t wa te r opposi te Machiche .

zud . I t has be e n also proposed to close seve ralof the min or chann e l s be tw e en the island s a t th ehead of the Lake . I cannot con cur in this view

,

fo r al though it be gran ted that the main bodyof the S t. Lawre nce m ight be confined to o ne ofth e main chann e ls , still the securing efi

‘

e ct thusproduce d w ould be los t as soon as the wate rwould have libe rty to spread , and a shoal would

undoubtedly be formed where th e se curing efi’

e ct

ceases3 rd . An othe r plan has be en th e con s tru ction

of a D am a cross th e ou tle t o f th e Lake n earPo in te du L a c

,w he re by t h e surfa ce o f t h e Lake

may be raised t o such h e igh t as may h e n e ce s

sary fo r th e purp ose of t h e'

n avigat io n . E ve n

admi t ting all this we re effe cte d , t h e L ake w ouldbe co nve rte d in to a sor t of ce sspool , havi ng a

gradua l te n den cy t o e qualisa t ion throughou t .”

In O ctobe r , 18 43 , th e Se cre tary of the Board of

Works w ro te to Mr . A the rton “ tha t th e Board

pre pos e , during th e i nte rva l be twe e n th e pre

se n t and ope n ing of th e w orking se ason n ext

spring , to colle c t from all quar te rs , w he re“ kn ow le dge o f the Lake a nd o the r requisites

may appea r to them t o exi s t , th e full e s t advice“an d informa tion

,by the ge n e ral re sult nfw i i ch

they w ill be guided in the ir de cision a s t o t he

chann e l to be adopted .

” In January, 18 44,th e Board ofWorks dispatch ed Cap t . Vau ghan ,w i th a le tterfrom M r. K illaly, to Cap tain Bayfi eld , the n in Prince Edwa rds -Is lan d

,bu t w i thout

se n d ing to t ha t office r th e Reports ofMr . A the rton .

Mr. Killaly asks for C apta in Hayfie ld’s

opin ion,s ta ting tha t his “ ide a w ould be firs t to

“ obtain a d ire c t chann e l of mod era te bre ad th

and 12 fe e t de e p throughout,a nd subseque n tly

to b e gove rn ed in adding to i ts d ep th a nd

bre ad th by c ircum s tan ce s . T h e facility thatexists for d ire c ting a column ofwa te r from tw o

or thre e of the pre se n t chann e ls i n to the n ewone , i s , I think , much in favo r of adop ting th e

straight chann e l .” In th e repre se n ta t ion s m ade

t o C apt .‘

Baytield , through Cap ta in Vaughan a n d

others , i t w ill afte rwards be se e n that this ableoffice r fe l t himse lfde ce ived , in g ivin g th e follow

ing opin io n unde r‘

date of 12 th February , 1858

My opinion has n eve r be e n de cide dly adve rseto the a ttemp t to de epen Lake S t Pe te r, as youhave bee n informed ; but I have always view e di t , and still do view it as a work of too greatmagnitude , :z

’

mp orlane e and difilculiy to be ligh t lyu nde rtake n , o r p roce eded o n wi thou t all tha tcautious regard to the effe ct of th e w ork as i tproceeds . .I qui te agre e w i th you tha t th e oldchannel, shown by the blue lin e o n t h e tra ce ,should be abandoned , a nd the attempt made int he d ire c tion indi ca te d by the red lin e , be cause i tw ould require on ly abou t two nau tical mile s ofexcavation t o g ive a dep th of l 2 to 13 fe e t atlow w a ter , if th e

‘

de pth has no t d imin ished s inceo ur la s t survey, and if eve n the advan tagegaine d should be limi t ed t o the a tta inme n t of ade p th of 12 o r 13 fe e t , in a d ire ct in s tead of a

c ircuitbn s c hanne l , the b enefi t to the n aviga tionw ould , I c on c eiv e , be ve ry gre at . B ut it soun drequ ire no less than five miles culling by th e old

route, and nine m iles by the p urp osed n ew and

direct channe l, to obtain a depth of 14 feet, whichI confess appears to me a herculean task .

"T h is importan t work of de e pe n ing Lake S t .

Pe te r w as the refore be gun in the S prlng of 1844,wi th the v iew of makin g a s traight channe l of150 fe e t wide and 14 fe e t dee p at low wa te r ,agains t the ve ry strong opin ions of Mr. At herton , who h ad spen t two s easons in the examine d

tion of th e whole ma tte r , and whose opinions

n eve r we re submitted to Capta in B ayfield .

‘

T he

work at trac ted the at ten tion of the la te A dmiral

Boxe r, then C aptain of the Port of"uebe c, also

of Colonel H alloway , who were e ngaged in

th e survey of th e S t . Lawrence by the d ire c tionof the H om e Gove rnme n t . The se g e nt

'eme n

we re ass is te d by L ie ut . Moody , M r .

‘

Taylor,and foun d so great a d iffe re n ce be tween

)

the ac tua l sound ings in Lake S t Pe te r , by th eproposed channe ls , and those furn ish ed by the

Board ofWorks , tha t they fe l t compe l led to ad

dress the Gove rnor Gene ra l o u the subjec t (June

They say,“ Tha t o n our survey down the rive r , from

M on treal to th e Pillars , w e exam i .e l Lake S t .Pe te r , and w e we re ve ry particular in doing so , aswe had good reason to be lie ve tha t Mr Killaly hadbe e n de ceive d by th e Re ports which

‘

h ad be e n

made to h im,and which was proved , by sound

ing , whe re w e on ly found 12 fe e t whe re 17 waslaid down

,and on ly s ix inche s be twe e n the tw o

chann e ls , whe re as t he survey w e h ad re ce ive dfrom the Board ofWorks sh ewed a d rfi

'

erence oftwo fe et .

”

H r. A therton fi nd ing h is v iews could n o t be’

carried out,left the employ of th e Gove rn -3

men t and w en t to E ngland in 1844 . From

the comme ncemen t of th e work , and up

to 1846 , the de e pen ing of Lake S t . Pe te r

was much d iscussed , and was disap

proved of by the Pilots , and by Charle s A rm

strong , E sq .,pres e n t S upe rin te nden t of Lake

Improvemen ts , and J . D . Armstron g , Es q .,

Harbour Maste r of"uebe c . The se ge n tlemen

we re the n commande rs of th e Tug S teame rs

on the S t . Lawren ce , and really had a

more p ractical know ledge of th e subject

than almos t any othe r partie s . In 1846 I w as

e le cted as one of th e Coun cil of the Board

ofTrade . U p to tha t t ime I had take n no part

in the d iscussion as to the channel wh ich sh uld‘

be de e pe ned , but I was then strongly impresse dthat the future of Montreal, a s a grea t seat of

commerce , depended on the capacity of the channel

being able to allow vessels ofthe largest tonnage to

ascend to M ontrealwithout breaking bulk. U nd e r

this impress ion I took an e arly opportun ity of

s h ee ting the attention ofmy colle agues t o the

great importance of the subje ct , w h ich resulted

in a‘

Re solution be ing unanimously passed , re

que sting me to a ccompany Me ssrs ."uesn e l ,Re dpath and Haye s to Lake S t . Pe te r . These

‘

gen tlemen had been n ame d by Gove rnmen t as

C ommis sione rs to examine in to the d isputed

advan ta ge s of the s traight chann el. U p to this

t ime I had no t take n any par t i n the d ispu te ,

no r ind e e d did I unde rs tan d i t . M e ss rs . R ed

pat h and H aye s alone we n t -to Lake S t . Pe te r ,

and we re n o t accompan ie d by Mr."uesne l ,as s ta ted by M r. W orkman . T he late

Admiral Boxe r, Ca p t . C . L . Arms trong , and

two Bran ch Pilots , Me s srs . Coté and Hame

lin,w e re also the re , —an d v as pre se n t while

th e sound ings we re take n in both chan n e ls .

Me ssrs . Redpath and H aye s re ported , as Mr .

Workman s ta te s , in favo r of t he s traight c han

nel. T he c alculation of t h e amoun t of soil to

be removed from e ithe r channe l , was a ve ry

s imple one , a nd in this re spec t I d id n o t d iffe r

w ith Me ssrs . Redpath and Haye s bu t I h e ld that

even then the old channe l was the bes t, in eve ry

re spec t , and that i t would cos t much le ss mon ey

to deepe n i t , and , more ove r, tha t i t was c lea r to

my mind tha t a grea t blunde r had be e n com

mit te d -by n o t having chos en the old

chann el for improveme n t , an d that the

at tempt t o dee pen the stra igh t channel

should be at once abandoned . It was to

this effe ct I reported to the Council of the

Board ofTrade in I mus t , howe ver, defe r

fur ther cons ide ration of this subject till my nextle tter, and am ,

Your o bedien t servant ,

JO HN‘

YO UNG .

M on treal , 27 th July, 18 59 .

Lu't 'rnn N O

To the E ditor of the MO N TREAL G s zn 'rtrn

‘

Sm,—In con c luding my last le tte r , in refe r

ene e t o Lake S t . Pe te r improvements , I s tated

that whi le M e ssrs . Re dpath and Haye s re ported

to the Governme nt that “ t he n ew and s traight“ line adapted by th e Board .oi Works , and now

in process , is preferable to the old and c ircuit“o ns channel, and that the C hai rman of the

Board is fully borue out in the a doption pf

“ this l ine by the valuable testimony .o f Captain

Hayfie ld, and other s cie n tific men in England .

”

I be lie ve d that I saw en ough to s atisfy me , that

the ope ration s of the Board of Works , w ere a

g reat blunde r, and that the dredging sh ould

M e t as ta se s on inshe etsat natural sees

nel.‘

Unde r this impression I made my Re .

po rt to the Counc il of th e Boa rd of Trade in1846 , and afte r re port ing to t he Board the quan

ti ty ,of mate rial to be removed to g ive a de pth of14 fe e t a t low wa te r , I s ta te d that in my O pin“ ion

,afte r ve ry careful enquiry from expe rien ced

“ me n, the proposed b read th of 150 fe e t is not

“sufiicient to re nde r the naviga tion safe , and

that i t would require a much gre ate r bread th .

“ T he on ly objection to t h e natura l chan n e l is

the‘

fact of~

1ts ~

no t be ing s t raight, but this hasn o t he re tofore bee n found of any con sequence .

T he grea t bread th and nece ssary de p th of

wate r for a large part of the d is tan ce in th e“ old channe l , M id pa rallel to th e new cha n n e l“n ow be ing de e pe n ed , are to my mind to bep re fe rre d to any advan tage s which t he n ew

chan n e l o ffe rs , and I have no hes itation in t e

comme nd ing that future labour should be

expe nde d in de e pen ing th e n a tura l chan ne l

and that the new chann el should be abandoned .

”

T his re por t was no t adopte d by th e Councilof the Board of Trade , - inde e d

,i t was rather

laughed at . S hortly afte r this in th e s ame y ear,

a sele c t Committe e was n amed by th e H ouse ofAssembly to examine and re port o n this vexed

que stion ofthe Lake S t . Pe te r imp roveme n t . T h eC ommittee was compose d of s e ve ra l naval andsc ien tific m en , and a lthough I w as n o t pre sen tw i th them or kn ew them pe rsona l ly , they d id meth e hon our ofallud ing to my Repor t to th e Boardof Trade , and afte r s ome compl im en tary re

ma ' ks , say tha t Mr . Y oung then e s timate s

f‘ tha t the excava tion require d in th e n atural“channe l to make it n avigable the e n tire length

“ for vesse ls drawing 14 fe e t ofwa ter,and 150 fe e tw ide , would b e cubic yards , making it

“ only one -sixte en th part less than your Com

mit tee .

”

T he Commit tee unan imously re commended

that the works in the n ew channe l shou ld be

abandone d , and say tha t your Committe e have“ fa iled to dis cove r any ration al motive s for the“adop tion of the new cut in prefe ren ce to the

improvem en t of the old chann e l,and can on ly

imagine that such de cis ion may have be e n made ,and th e work p ro ce ede d w i th , without any e s ti

“ mate of the r e lat ive expen se of the re spe ctivechanne ls.

” Afte r this Re port was p re se n ted tothe House ofAssembly, the Gove rnme n t , in the

same year by an orde r in Coun c il , made

application to the Impe ria l gove rnme n t , reque s t

ing that Capt . Bayfie ld be se n t from E nglan d t o

Canada, to examine and re port on th e d isputed

channels, andtomakee suchfurther observations

3 8

as would tend to guide the governmen t in the

course which should be pursue d . Captain Bayfi eld came to Canada

,and in S e p tembe r , 1846 ,

repor ted a t gre at le ngth o n the whole subj e ct .Tha t able offi cer was obl ige d to confe ss tha t ,afte r three se ason s’w ork in th e n ew chan ne l ,

the expen se of deep en ing the old chann el to 14

feet a t low water w ould be 1 18 3 d le ss

than t o de epen th e stra ight channe l , eve n improve d as i t then w as . Cap tain Bayfield , i n

alluding to t he advan tage s a nd disadvan tage s

of th e two chan n e ls,says

B efo re I a ttemp t , in con clusion , th e somew ha t d ifli cult task ofbalan cing the se conflic tingadvan tage s and disadvan tage s , I beg to obse rvethat th e que s ti on i s n o longe r t he same as beforet he comme n ceme n t of th e w ork

,s in ce a large

sum has be e n expe nded . If, in the fi rst in stance ,when I was consulted before th e comm encement ofthe works , it had be en repr es en ted to m e th at th e

amoun t of excavation requir ed to d eep en th e n ew

channel,and consequen tly th e exp en se would be

n early double tha t r equ ired in th e old chann el,in tead of i ts hav ng be en incon s id e rately sta ted to

me by an au thority, the compe ten cy ofwh ich I couldnot doubt

,that o n a comp arison of th e two ch i n

n ets i t was found that the quantity to remove fromth e s tra ight chann el was bu t little m ore than wha twou ld be n ecess ary in the crooked on e ,

’I w ould

have doubled wh ethe r any advan tages posse ssed bythe n ew chan nel could h ave afi b rded a sufi cient

compen sa tion for so great a def erence of exp en se ,and been comp elled to de ride i nfavour of the lin eof the old chan ne l .

L et M r . Workman bear i n mind that th is report

of C ap ta in B ayfleld’s bears ou t th e correctness

,in

everyp articular , of my statement to the B oard ofTrade . Cap ta in B ayfi 1d howeve r , in con se ~

que n co of th e mon ey already expended and unde r

the be l ief that a 14 foo t chan ne l on ly was re

quire d , advise d the Gove rnme n t to proce ed w i th

th e s traigh t chann e l . Up to this time the re wasn o proposal to make a chan ne l deeper than 14

fe e t .

Aga in Captain B ayfie ld says

W e have in the o ld chann e l th esol e bu t importan t advan tage of i ts w id th dow n

a s far as the lowe r l ight house an advan tage sog re a t , tha t if t he in te n t ion w e r e t o make a chan

n elfor allp urposes , it could only be compen satedby cu tting through th e bank of S t . Franc is , a

chann el at least 600 feet w ider than h as been intended (or 9 00 fe e t in all)T he Re port of Captain Bayfield was refe rred

to a S e le c t Commi ttee of th e House ofAssembly,in July, 1847 , w ho re ported tha t T h e C om

m it te e have in e vide n ce , that the cut through“ th e S t . Fran c is Bank to make the artificial“ chann e l through Lake St . Pe te r , w as unde r

take n o n e rron eous da ta of th e con templatedexpenditure , and seriously at variance with

w hatmight have reasonably been antrcrpatedfi

That the sum of w ould be i nsufficie n tto se cure i ts ul tima te comple t ion , if comp le te d

“ to th e bread th of 900 fe e t and 14 fe e t de e p,as

re commended by Captain Bayfi eld , and that

portion of th e o ld natural channe l whi ch hasa breadth of 1500 fe e t

,and a de p th of 18 to 20

“ fee t for a distan ce of 41 mile s down t o the“ lowe r ligh t-house , w ould a t all t ime s be moreadvan tage ous to ve sse ls of all classe s , both by

“n ight an d d ay ; and th e Commit te e recomme ndthat n othing more should be expende d beyon dthe amount of th e appropr iation of las t se ss ion .

”

T he work was thus abandon ed by th e G ove rnmen t , a s, inde e d , all th e othe r publicworks w e re , at th e same tim e stopped by thewan t of funds to pro cee d w i th them . M r .

Workman , n o doubt r e colle c ts th e i ssue by th eGove rnme n t of th e no te s whi ch w e re then called“ shin-plasters ,” and tha t i t w as impossible a t

tha t time to proce e d w ith any publ ic w ork . So ,that , even supposing that my Re port in favour

of the abandonme n t of th e w ork h ad bee n disre

garded , th e w orks in Lake S t . Pe te r would

h ave been s tappe d n eve rthe le ss , as all o the r

road s and w ork s were then s te pped , from wan t

offun ds to carry them o n .

B eyond my examination in 18 46 , and my Re

por t advising tha t the w ork should be d iscon ti

nued , I h ad n o thing to do w i th th e matte r un t i l

the S pring of 18 50 , when I w as appoin ted a

Harbour Commis s ione r . In 1847 , 1848 , and

1849,the Board of Trade o n var ious o ccasion s

brough t the s ubje ct of the improvemen t ofLakeS t . P e te r before the Gove rnmen t , and urged

w i th vigour i ts great importan ce to the trade

of th e coun try, an d poin te d ou t th e vas t ex

pen se of lighterage be twe en Quebe c and Mon

treal .

In th e Publ ic Works Report of 1848 , s igned

by the Hon . Malcolm Came ron and Sir E . P .

Tache , the se gen tlemen s tate“ that they had

“examine d the two chan n e l s , an d tha t but

few pe rson s n ow refuse to ackn ow ledge that if“th e money which has be e n employe d in exon

yating the n ew chann e l (s till in comple te) had“ be en expe nded in improving the old and n atu“ral channe l , the comme rce of the coun try

would have bee n in posse ssion ofa n aviga tion

through Lake St . Pe te r , equal at all se a son s

of the year to the depth which can be obta ined“at other poin ts ofth e rive r .

”

In April , 1850 , I brough t the subj e ct of deep

ening Lake S t. Pe te r before my colleagues iin

3 9

the Harbour Commiss ion , (Me ssrs .'

John T ry

and Louis Marchand ,) an d my plan s for carry

ingout the w ork w e re submi tted to th e Provin

cial S e cre tary , the H o n Jas . Le slie . T h e mode

ofd o ing so was e n t ire ly d iffe re n t from any th ingwhich h ad be en previously sugge s ted , and maybe s tate d as follow sThat th e Harbour C ommissione rs of Mon treal

should be au thorised to unde rtake th e work and

to borrow a ce rtain sum of mon ey for t he pur

pose , th e in te re s ts or th e sums borrowed as w e ll

as a sink ing fun d of two per ce n t . per ann um

to be provide d for as follow s : Firs t, by a ton

nage du ty of no t exce eding one shilling per

Reg iste r ton , on all ve sse l s draw in g ten fe e t of

wa te r and upwards , such duty to be levied for

ea ch t ime of passmg th e Lake se condly, by th e

surplus reve nue s of th e Harbou r of Mon treal in

c ase such tonnage du ty should prove in suffi cien t

tor the purpose ; an d thirdly, that th e Gove rnor

Gene ral should have au thority to empowe r the

Harbou r C ommissione rs to levy such addi tional

per cen tage o n all the ir Harbour and Lake due s

as would in his Opin ion afford them a eu"cien t

revenue to mee t e ve ry lega l charge upon i t.This plan w as adop te d by the G overnmen t ,and an Act of Parl iame n t procure d in a ccord

an ce w i th i t . T h e first s te p take n was,a t my

sugge stion ,to appoin t a Board of E ngine e rs to

examine Lake St. Pe te r and report upon th e be s t

cour se to be pu rsued for the purp ose of obtain

ing the re in , a ship chann e l of 16 fee t in depth at

low w a te r, be ing two fe e t de e pe r than th e cha n

n el con template d by th e Commiss ion e rs ofPub

l ic Work s or by any o the r partie s . T h e ge n tle

men se le c te d for th i s imp or tan t duty, w e re

Me ssrs . McN e il an d Ch ild , emin e n t C ivi l Engi

ne e rs of th e Un i ted State s , and Mr. G zowski, a

we ll known C iv il E ng ine e r ofCanada , and the se

ge n tleme n , accompan ie d by Sir W . S . Logan ,Provin cial Geologis t , who kindly len t h is se rvice s

to de te rmin e th e n a ture and th e origin of th e

mate rials con s ti tuting the obs ta cle s to be re

m oved, made a minute survey of th e o ld and

n ew ch ann e ls,and afte r ma ture de libe ration

there on , re comme nde d th e Harbour C ommiss ion

are n o t to re sume ope ra t ion s in the s traight out

a ttemp te d by th e Commissione rs of the PublicWorks

,bu t o n th e con trary, t o follow the chan

n e l a lre ady forme d by natural cause s , which theyre po rted , pre se n ted n o obs truc tion s bu t sand

and clay which could e as ily be removed by

dredg ing . Tha t course w as adop te d by the

Harbour C omm iss ione rs , and the , mos t comple te

succe ss h as be e n the re sul t.

l t may be we ll here to refe r to a charge of ia

accuracy made again st me , w i th his usual

succe ss , of giving i t to be und erstood that thew ork s in Lake S t . Pe te r , aban don e d by th e Gove rnme n t , c os t th e coun try Mr. Workman s ta te s t ha t afte r deduc ting dredge s and

s cow s hande d ove r to th e Harbour C ommissione rs

,that th e a ctual loss w as on ly 119 .

7d . If Mr . Workman w ill examine th e public

accoun ts,h e w ill . find tha t “ L ake S t . Pe te r'

s tands deb itedwith 159 . 5d . w ithou t any

in terest. T h e two dredge s hande d ove r to th e

Harbour Commission e rs , had be en in use fourseason s and w e re e ight ye ars o ld , and took so

much to pu t them in re pa ir, tha t th e e n gine son ly we re wor th anything . T h e same m ay be

said of the two old scow s—ao that‘

my remark

is str ictly corre ct . T he progre ss of the w orkmay be again brought before the public in the

follow ing s tatemen t

T he Harbour Commissione rs commence d

ope ra t ion s o n the 12 th June,18 51 , W i th one

d redge and the arrow , and o n the 3 rd of N o

y ambor in th e same ye ar a chan ne l 75 fe e t w ide ,two fee t de ep , and four mile s in le ngth was cut

through the highe s t part of the flats . O n the

8 th ofNovembe r th e ship ‘ C i ty of M an che ste r’

was loade d down to four tee n fe e t , the depth on

the flats then be ing twe lve fe e t,and take n

through the Lake w i thou t slacke n ing Spe ed .

Thus in le ss than fi ve mon ths two fe e t we re

added to the draught of se a-going ve sse l s trad

ing w ith Mon tre al . In the Sprin g of 18 52 th e

Harrow was employe d dur in g high wa te r , inMay and June

,upon the uppe r bar, the de pth

upon which w as the reby in cre ased about thre efee t, leaving a chann e l one hundred and fifty fe e t

w ide and fifte e n fe e t de ep , a t lo w wate r, or four

fe e t de e pe r than the flats . T w o dredge s w orked

on th e flat s from th e la t te r par t ofMay un til the

l6 th ofNov . ,by w hich time they had w ide n e d

th e channe l (from seve n ty-five ) t o o n e hundre d

an d fi fty fe e t, and de e pe n ed i t (from two ) to four

fe e t . T he leng th of th e chan n e l of18 5 1 was also

in creased (from four mile s) t o five and a half

mile s,

- this addi tional le ng th ofd re dg ing be ingrequire d in consequen ce of the in cre ased d e p th .

T hn s at the close of the se con d season , o r in

le ss than e le ven mon th s of a c tual w ork,a

chann e l o ne hundre d a nd fifty fe e t in w id th,

and four fe e t ofadd itional d e p th w as cu t th rough

the flats’and th e uppe r bar a t a cos t o f£47 , 250

for ope ra tion s and ou tfi t , o r in o the r words , achann e l of the same w id th and o n e foot gre ate r

depth , than that which the G ove rnme n t had failed

40

to secure in th e n ew rou te w i th a far greater‘

ex

pe nditure o f time and money . T he HarbourC ommission e rs w e re n o tifie d in Novembe r , 18 52 ,by th e S upe rin te nde n t tha t h e was the n pre

pare d to take a ve sse l thro ug h th e Lake draw

ing four fe e t mo re wa ter than any whic h had

hithe rto left Mon t re al at that seas on of the year .

Throughout th e season of ’5 2 th e sea-go in g ves

se l s made u se of the n ew channe l and many o f

them w e re loaded down two fe e t dee pe r than thew a te r o n the flats .

A ve s se l of suffi cien t capacity could no t be

ibtain e d a t tha t la te se ason of th e year,to te s t

t he capaci ty of the chan n e l , in Novemb e r , 185 2 ,but t h i s w as don e on th e 24th of August, 18 53 ,by the barque Cal iforn ia ,

’w h ich was loade d

down to sixte e n fee t tw o i nches , wh en the re waso n ly twe lve fe e t on the flats , an d taken from

Mon tre al through the Lake , w i thout de lay or

diffi cul ty .

A t t he close of the sea son of 18 53 th e chan

n e l of 185 3 was de epe ne d through ou t,on e foot

six in che s, g iving sixte e n and a half fee t at low

wa te r , an d a par t of it w as w ide ne d ‘

(from o ne

hundre d and fifty fe e t) to two hundre d and fifty

and thre e hun d red fe e t . ”

Having an ti cipa te d th e remarkable succe ss already s ta ted , the Harbou r C ommission e rs , in

18 53 , though t i t des irable to as ce r tain whe the r

auv an d w hat obs tacle s exis te d in th e Rive r St .

Lawren ce to de e pe n ing the chan ne l to 20 fee ta t low w a' e r

,be ing satisfied tha t carrying the ir

ope ration s in L ake St . Pe te r to t ha t de pth wasmere ly a ques t ion of time and money that could

e as i ly be de te rmin ed . They accordingly d i

re c ted the ir Engine e r, Mr. T . C . Ke efe r , to make

such a survey of the R ive r and L ake be twee n

Mon treal and Quebe c as w ould enable him to re

por t what impedime n ts d id exis t the re to,and

w hat the probable cos t of removing ‘ them would

be . By the en d of Octobe r , 18 53 , Mr . Ke efe r

(assisted by Cap ta in Be ll , unde r whose supe rinte nde n ce th e ope ra tion s h ad hi the r to be en con

ducted) had made such progre ss that h e was

able to re port th e e n tire practicabil i ty of dee ps uing t h e chan ne l to 20 fe e t a t low wa te r betw e e n Mon treal and Quebe c , provide d that a

chann e l on the sou th shore of the Rive r S t

Law re n ce be tw e e n Vare n ne s and Lava ltrie (tow h i ch Capta in B ell had previously drawn the

a tte n tion of th e Harbour C ommission e rs) wasadapted for improvemen t inste ad of th e o ld

chan ne l hithe rto use d by pilo ts o n the n orth sideof th e rive r . T he Harbour C ommission e rs re

solved that i t was expedien t to ade pt the course

re commended by Mr. Ke efe r, and to carry on thed e e pe n in g to 20 fe e t a t low wate r

, prov ided the

Board of T rade of Mon treal approved of the ir

doing so . A re solu tion to this effe ct was accord in gly subm i tte d to th e Board ofTrade , w hichw as unan imously approved of. T he c i ti zen s als o ,a t a publ ic me e ting spe cially called to con side rthe subj e ct , sanctione d i t w i thou t a dissen tingve ic e .

M r. Keefe r says that al though the s traight

chann e l woul d have shor te ne d th e route“ through th e lake , ye t , as i t was wholly an ar

t ificial on e,the re was a gre ater amoun t ofw ork

“ to be done in i t . Cap ta in Bayfield in 1846 ,(afte r 3 years dredg ing in th e s tra ight chan n e l ,)

“e st imate d th e dredg ing then to be don e in the

“ s traight channe l for a depth ofonly 14 fe et -at“ low. wate r, at cub i c yards more than“ that required to produce th e same re sul t in theold chann e l . In exte n d ing the w ork , howeve r ,to a dep th of 20 fe e t

,th e e con omy of the old

chann e l is much more apparen t . In orde r to give“ three hundre d fe e t in w id th

,w ith 20 te e t of

“ wate r in th e ‘ s tra igh t’chan n e l would now re

“

quise no less than one million eight hundred“and ten thousand and eight cubic yards to be

be removed more than is requis ite to p roduce

“ the same result in the old channe l.”

T his , to o , let i t be born e in mind , tha t w he n sode epe ne d

,th e o ld chann e l fo r n early halfth e dis

tan ce Would be 1500 fee t wide , w hile th e s tra ight

channe l for the same dis tan ce would have been

on ly 3 00 fe e t w ide .

My fe llow-ci tizen s,and th e publ i c gen e rally,

can now judge h ow far I am j us tified in tak ing

to myse lf cred it for the se gre a t re sults . It is

true tha t my Report in 1846 , re comme n d ing tha t

future labour should be don e in the o ld , and n o t

in th e n ew chan ne l,con tribu ted large ly to the

abandonmen t ofthe w ork in th e lat te r bu t , w i ththe fac ts , and Opin ion s of profe s s iona l m en of

the h ighe s t s tanding , and by others , w ill any one

pre tend to say tha t bu t for the s topping of

the n ew cu t w e could have h ad to-day a

c hanne l 18 fee t de e p at the lowe st wa te r, and

3 00 fe e t W ide , w i th th e prospe ct o f a 20

foo t chan ne l in two ye ars . I have shewn

that th e valuable o pin io na

of Mr. A the r ton , in

favour ofde e pe n ing th e natural chann e l , afte r a

careful and e labora te survey of two season s ,was disre garde d—e u Opin ion too , w hich w as

suppor te d by eve ry scien t ific man w ho afte r

w ards examine d th e subje ct—and tha t this all

importan t w ork w as proce e ded w i th in the

s traight channe l , by the Depar tmen t of Publ ic

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

42

men t for th e Lake St . Pe ter Ope ration s of this

year.But Mr . Workman , a w e althy and leading

ci tizen,se e s n o me rit in my having be e n th e

mean s of pu tting a s top to th e,p rogre ss Of th e

blun de r O f th e Board of_Work s in Lake S t .

Pe te r, n or in my labours dur ing th e la st te n

years , to make M on treal a por t a cce ss ible fo r

ve sse ls and s te ame rs of ton s burthe n . T h e

slightes t inve s tiga t ion Of th e subj e ct w i ll satisfy

any on e , that h ad n o t th e straigh t chann e l be en

dis con tinued , i t would have be en impossible to

Obtain a greate r depth than 14 fe e t O f wa te r,

be cause to have made th e chann e l equal to the

n atural on e,and ofon ly 14 fe e t de e p th e expen se

would have been upwards O f M r.

Workman finds pleasure in d e trac tin g from those

publ ic se rvices , and would do his be s t, even by

asse rtion s which he cann o t sus tain , t o hold meu p to publ ic Opprobrium n or doe s h e he sita te to

de s cribe a w ork,un equalled in t he w orld

,an d

which he , as a citiz en of M on treal , should be

p roud of, as M r . Young'

s L ake S t . P e te r folly.

”

A gain s t Mr. Workman’s op in ion s , how eve r, I

have th e gre at satisfa ction of kn ow ing,that th e

g re a t maj ori ty ofmyfe l low me rchan ts have a fullappre cia tion ofmy exe r tion s in carrying fo rward

to its pre sen t posi tion th e impor tan t work of

pe rfe c ting th e chann e l of n aviga tion be tw ee nthe O cean and Mon tre al . Be lie ving tha t I am so

supporte d , I shall be ve ry slow to be lieve tha t anycon s ide rable n umbe r of my fe llow ci tiz e n s

,in

any se ction ofthe city,do san ction Mr.W o rkman’s

v iew s in refe ren ce to my exert ion s for improv

ing the n avigation be twe en Mon tre al an d"uebe c, n or have I any doub t, that some time or

o the r, th e importan ce of the se exe r tion s , on th e

g row th and prosper i ty of M on tre al as a se a and

in lan d port , wil l be duly re cogn ised and ac

kn ow ledge d .

I t should be borne in m ind that th e expendi

ture on th e C lyde , in Sco tland , to th e p re se n t

t ime , to se cure a chann e l from sea to Glasgow

of tw e lve at low and e ighteen fe e t at high wa te r,has cos t upwards of s te rl ing . To

effe ct this about six m illion cubic yards of soil

h ave be en removed , while a twen ty fe e t chann e l

at low w a te r w il l be se cure d to Mon tre al , by

the remova l ofabout five million cubic yards , at

a cos t no t exceeding 1

Mr. Workman , w ith his usual inaccuracy,taun ts me w ith having by my action thrown th e

burthen of this w ork on the trade O f Mon treal

s ince 1845 . N ow ,in the firs t place

,the work

was not begun til l 18 50 , and tonnage due s werefirs t colle cte d in 18 52 ; an d se condly i t i s a m is

take to suppose tha t harbour o r lake due s arepaid by th e city ofMon trea l alon e . T h e pe opleof We s te rn Canada , who export flour

,w hea t‘

&c . , o r import merchandise fo r con sump t ion , paythe ir proportion of harbour and lake due s asmuch as th e pe ople ofMon tre al

,an d are equally

in te res ted in eve ry improvemen t, th e tenden cyofwhich is to le sse n the se , and o the r charge s inour port . Mr. Workman is qui te right in sayingthat the improvemen t of th e n aviga t ion be lowM on t real i s as much a Provin cial work as any

canal, lo ok or l igh thouse , from Burlington Bayto Be lle Isle S tra its . This view of th e matterhas for seve ral ye ars be e n re pre sen te d to Governm en t by th e Ha rbou r Commission e rs, and theprin ciple h as been con cede d

, as I have befores ta ted , by an advan ce from th e Gove rnme n t onthe plan t O f the arbou r Trus t of for

th e Ope ration s O f this year , which i s ra the r incon tradic tion to Mr. Workman’s asse rtion thatthe “ cos t of the w ork

,

” by th e a c tion of Mr.

Young, was thrown o n th e city ofMon treal . ”

Mr . Workman may n o t be able “ to repre ss asm ile” a t my w eakness in supposing that a gre a t“ ben efi t” h as been confe rre d on th e c i ty and

trade of Mon treal, by so- improving t h e naviga

tion,as to e n able th e larg e s t ve sse ls to as cen d

from sea in s te ad o f s te pping a t Quebe c . This

i s Mr. Workman’s affa ir . ~

e may smile if he

please s , bu t h e should n o t try to solace h imse lf

w i th t h e be lief that e ve ry “ san e ” me rchan t

co in cide s in h is Opin ion . Mr. Workman as sume s

to speak fo r th e body of me rchan ts—he d oe s

speak as if he w e re the ir a ccre dited Organ bu t

give s n o k ind of proof tha t h e i s so . Fo r my

own par t I should be l ieve that M r . Workman

has exhibite d some of th e “ van i ty,

” “absur

dity”and “ folly

”w hi ch h e so l iberally a l tri

bu te s to m e,ra the r than be lieve tha t th e in telli

gen t me rchan t s of Mon tre al w ould look upon

th e Lake S t . Pe te r improveme n t as a "folly,”

o r approve of M r. Workman’s view s in re spe ct

of it .

Mr. Workman , on a cool revi ew O f th e w hole

subj e c t , irre spe ctive ofpe rson al itie s , w ill chang e

his O pin io ns on this poin t . When h e doe s , h e

w ill be be tte r able to appre ciate the anxie ty and

labour which , as Chairman of th e a rbour C om

mission e rs , th e accomplishm en t of this grea t

re sul t h as cos t me , n o t on ly in th e arran gemen ts

w i th Gove rnmen t , but in carrying o n so large

and exten s ive a work , for so long a time without

43

Gove rnmen t aid o r se curi ty, and in placing the

c re dit of th e Harbo ur Trust in a posi tion on lyinfe rior to tha t of the Gove rnmen t Se curi tie sthemse lve s .

I will now allude to Mr . Workman’s cri ti cism

Ofa paragraph in my forme r le tte r, in whi ch I

ve n ture d to take some cre di t to myse lf fo r hav

ing , in 1846 , sugg e ste d th e prac t i cabili ty an d

n e ce ssity of a bridge a cross th e S t . L awrence ,

a little below N un s Island . Mr . Workman i s

amaz ed a t my pre sumption . H e says“ that

“ the re i s abundan t evide n ce to p rove tha t long“ before I dre amt of such a s tructure

,or was

even much kn own amongst us , i t h ad be en pub“ licly urg ed in th e pre s s an d th e sui tab il i ty of

“ various poin ts e n larged and dwe l t upon .

O n e corre spon den t of a Mon tre al j ourn al“ sugge s te d a tunn e l from C ra ig S tre e t t o S t .

Lambe r t,while o the rs urge d th e me ri ts of an

iron‘ suspen s ion br idge , from the hig h ban k

be low th e barracks to th e Island ofS t . He le n s ,ofsuffi cie n t a l t i tude to allow ve sse ls t o pass un

de r,w hils t othe rs sugge s te d plan s of a supe r

struc ture ofw ood , w i th s ton e pie rs - varioussite s be twee n Lachin e and Bouche rville w e re

po in te d ou t as sui table te rmin i on th e south“ side of the S t . Law re n ce . This was in th e

“ in te rva l be tw e e n 18 3 0 and

The p o in t to be de te rmin ed , i s n o t whe the r

corre sponden ts had made men t ion , through th e

pre ss , of a bridge ove r o r un de r th e S t . L aw

ren ce , previous to 18 46 . Mr. Workman says

the re was such corre sponde n ce—bu t tha t i s n o t

the que s tion . T h e que stion i s , was th e pre se n t

s ite for th e br idge e ve r po in te d out p revious to

th e ar ti cle o fJune 1846 . publ ishe d in the E cono

mist . If i t was , the n I am wrong in suppos ing

tha t I w as th e firs t to sugge s t tha t s i te and if

Mr. Workman w ill poin t o u t th e corre sponde n ce,

I shall adm it my e rror frankly,and n o t trouble

th e public more about i t . In the me an t ime,I

take th e libe rty of repr in ting a par t of th e art iclefrom th e E conomist

“ W hy should w e go to th e expe n se ofbuildingware house s o n th e o the r sid e of th e r ive r if thisc an be avo ide d ? Bu t h ow i s th e d iffi cul ty to beove rcom e ? W e reply, by build ing a bridgea cro ss t h e S t . Law re n ce . This i s n o vision arys ch eme ; w e spe ak advise dly w h e n w e say i t ispe rfe c tly pra c ti cable . S u ch a bridge can be

e re c te d from th i s s ide , a li ttle be low Nun’s Is lan d ,a t w h ich par t of th e r ive r the w a te r i s comparat ive ly shallow,

and th e shoving of the ice n o

th in g l ike s o viole n t as lowe r dow n t h e r ive r .By mean s O f this bridge , w e should have a cons tan t a cce ss to t he Opposi te sh a re , to t he gre a tconven ie nc e of trade . T he fre igh t and passen

ge r cars could by this mean s run to a basin inthe Canal fo r th e spe cial use of ve sse l s loade dfo r t he railroad . S uch a bridge , it migh t besaid , w ould obs truc t navigat ion , bu t mastedve sse l s w i th cargo w ould prefe r the Can al , andfo r s te ame rs , a h inge o n th e fun n e l could bemade , as o n th e Rh ine , and S e ine in Fran ce , byw h ich mean s th e passage could be e as ily made .

S uch a s cheme w ould at on ce do away w i th thene ce ssi ty o f build ing wharve s and fe rry boats ,an d of taking ove r prope rty in win te r o n theice

,

” & c .

T he sugge s tion in thi s arti cle h as be come a

fixed fac t- s the absurd tunn e ls and iron suspen

sion bridge s , w hich Mr . Workman re fe rs to are

m e re “ folly”

an d un subs tan tial “ Will 0’th ewisps ,

”w hich i t sui ted Mr . Workman to bring

up , le avin g e n tire ly o ut of vie w t h e re al poin tfo r which I cla imed cre d it . Aga in

,eve n if I am

n o t en ti tled to cre dit o n that head,as having pro

po sed th e s ite , M r. Workman kn ow s w e ll,cer

ta in fa c ts w hich migh t have in duced him to

spare his sne e rs , a t my effo r ts in b ehalf of thebr idge ; tha t the survey of the br idge was car

r ied on bymy mo tion , as o ne of the D ire ctors O fth e S t . Lawren ce an d Atlan ti c Railroad in 1846

,

that th e surveys w e re made w i th funds O ht e rne d on my pe rsonal re spon s ibili ty , and on

fund s advan ced to a la rge exten t by m e,and

o nly re ce n tly repaid unde r the A c t fo r Bridging

th e S t . Law ren ce—that the re sult of the public

me e tin g in 1846 and th e surveys by Mr. Mortonin 1846

,ofMr. G ay in 1847 , and ofMr. G zowski

in 18 49 , w e re large ly in s trumen tal in ke eping

the ma t te r before t h e publi c, and all this beforet h e survey made by M r . Keefe r in 18 5 1 . Mr .

Workman i s as usua l in e rror in s ta ting tha tth e practi cabili ty ofe re c tin g th e bridge a t a poin t

a l i t tle be low Nun s Island , had n o t been shewn

previou s to Mr. Ke efe r’s survey and report . Mr.

Ke e le r’s survey , a nd ve ry able re por t , _

put th esubje ct of th e bridge firs t fairly before th e pub

lic in Can ada , an d con tribu te d large ly t o i t s

be ing ca rrie d ou t . T h e imme dia te reason which

led to th e conveyan ce of t he r igh ts of the Mon t

re al and King s ton Ra ilway to t he Grand Trunk

C ompany o n th e cond i tion of the ir unde rtakin g

the bridg e , has alre ady be e n la id b efore th e publi c. T h e con dition was sugge s te d by m e when"w as a cting as Chief Commissione r O f Publ i cWorks , and was a cce p ted by th e Hon . L . H . H ol

ton , w h o was t he n Pre siden t O fthe Mon treal and

Kings ton Ra ilroad Company . Wh e the r any,

and if any, w ha t de gre e of credit , I was en

t i tled to , fo r w ha t I did in con ne c tion w i th thebr idge , I n ow leave i t to th e public to judge .

Mr.Workman chooses to leave the real topics

44

of discuss ion , which we re as to the be s t s ite for

docks,— the best route for We stern produce

from the We s t—th e n e ce ss i ty or n o t of a canal

to conne c t the S t . Lawren ce w i th Lake Cham

plain,and to a tta ch himse lf to pe rsonal itie s as

ofth e greate r importan ce . I have shewn so manyexample s of this , that the re can be no d iffi cul tyin see ing how ve ry far Mr . Workman has bee n

drawn in this dire ction . Anothe r example I w ill

furn ish before leaving the mat te r . T owards the

conclusion of his le tte rs h e says , h e h as n o

public funds to spe nd in surveys, plan s , and

printing in support of my view s, n o eviden ce“ to quote from par tie s w hose te nure of offi ce

may be at my b idding .

” Mr. Workm an ex

ce ls in calling n ame s,but h e i s n o le s s able at

throwing out in sinuation s . H e,Mr . Workman ,

has n o publ ic funds to misappropria te , h e h as n o

iacrew s to pu t upon unw ill ing officials , to sque eze

out falsehood in support o f his opin ion s ; but i t

se ems I have . M r . Workman doe s n o t say so,bu t w i she s the in fe ren ce to be drawn . Now ,

if

Mr . Workman is aware of any facts in support

of his in sinua tion , i t was his duty to publish

them ,and then to have den oun ced openly the

mis‘

applica tion of public funds . o r th e in tim ida

t ion of offi cials for pr ivate or pe rsona l purpose s

o r in te re sts . If h e has n o fac ts , it would have

been but simple jus t i ce to myse lf to have spare d

so wre tche d an in s inuation .

In the expecta t ion of be ing able to clo se this

corre spon de n ce in my n ext le t te r, I am ,

Your obedien t servan t,JO HN YOUNG .

Mon treal , Aug . 8 th , 1859 .

LETTER N O . 1 1 .

To the E ditor of the MONTREAL GA"ETTEI have n o t here tofore n o r do I in te n d to make

an exce p t ion to th e rule , of no t an sw e ring an o

nymous corre sponde n ts , un le ss by a brief n o tice

of some remarks made by your corre sponde n t“A Cons tan t Reade r in your j ournal of th e 23 d

ult .,whe re in I am ac cused of an a t tempt to

hoodw ink your reade rs and of m isrepre

se n t ing” M r. Workman as to th e effe ct of th e

Navigation Law s of the Un i ted State s , and as to

the effe c t of cheape r inland fre igh t on our fore ign

trade .

In refe re n ce to this matte r I m ay s tate tha t

my remarks o n th e ac tual working of th e Navi

gat i o n Law s of th e Un i te d S ta te s in Can ada ,w e re th e re sult of a ctual t ran sac tion s freque n tlyrepeated in my own busine ss . Mr. Wilson , the

Vice -President of the Board ofT rade,referre d t o

by“A C on stan t Reade r” in th e extract publ ish

e d from a d eba te in the cues ofC ommon s,says

that he did n o t con ten d that th e Un ite d State s

we re no t te chn ically right in the ir in te rpre tation be cause by the law of 18 1 7 th e coasting

“ trade was de clare d to be the trade from o ne

port in the Un ite d State s to another .

” This

corre sponds exactly with wha t I s tated , and wha t

eve ry busine ss man knows to be the w orking ofth e law in Canada . Y e t ,

“A Con stan t Reade r”

se ems to e ndorse Mr. Workman’s opin ion that“ the Navigation Law s of th e Un ite d S ta te s“ would alone be su

"1 eien t to preven t our ever

ge tt ing any port ion of t h e We s te rn trade .

” I

simply poin ted out the fact tha t a Bri ti sh ve sse l

could load at any British port and sail dire ct toWhi tehall or any other American por t— and tha t

a British ship could also le ad. at Chicago and

dis charge at Mon trea l or an y other Canadianpor t .

I w ill go furthe r and s tate , that i t wou l d be

quite in a ccordan ce w ith th e Navigation Law s

of th e Un ite d State s for a British ve ssel n o t on lyto load Ame rican produce a t C h icago and dis

charge a t Mon tre al , but i t w ould also be legalfor th e same o r a ny o the r ve sse l to re load th e same

produce ,and cle ar fromMon treal to anyport in th eUn ite d S tate s . The re is n o re laxat ion of the Na

viga t ion Laws of th e Un ite d State s n e ce s sary tose cure this—n or did I e ve r say the re was . I

on ly said in refe ren ce to th e n aviga tion of th e

Hud son Rive r and of th e N ew York Canal s,tha t

I d id n o t be l ieve tha t th e S tate of N ew York

w ould re fuse the fre e n avigation of the se can als

to o ur ve ssels for th e same right gran ted to N ewYork craft for through fre i ght , n or tha t the

Gen e ral Gove rnmen t of th e Un i te d S ta te s would

refuse us the righ t to n aviga te th e Hudson , if in

doing so th e ve sse l w e re boun d d i re ct from a

Canadian to an Ame rican port .” In p roof that

this w ould probably be the case , I may s tate ,that o n th e Ope n ing of th e S t . Law ren ce Can al s

in 1843 , I loaded t h e prope lle r Ire land ,” w i th

a gen e ral cargo d ire ct for Chicago . Th i s w as th e

firs t ve sse l w hich had loade d a t Mon treal dire c t

fo r C h i cago , an d was also th e firs t ve sse l w hich

loaded a t Ch i cago an d sailed d ire c t for Mon trea l

w ith cargo . Bri ti sh ve ss e ls , howeve r, had the n

n o right t o n avigate Lake M ichigan any more

than they have n ow the right to naviga te th e

Hudson . Tha t lake be ing wholly w ithin th e t ef

ritory of th e Un ite d S ta te s , Brit ish ve s se ls could

have be en excluded ; ye t , i t was n o t done , and

such are the advan tage s of re cip roca l trade to

45

both coun trie s that th ere can be l ittle doubt,that

the fre e dom of th e O ttawa n avigation w ill bedeeme d a fair equivale n t for that of t he Hudson ,n or w i ll th e Navigation Law s of e ithe r coun tryhe the re by in te rfe red w ith for th e through voyage .

‘A C on s tan t Reade r ’says tha t i t i s n o t

ch eape n i ng in lan d fre igh t to Mon treal tha t Mr

Workman obj e cts to , but t o N ew York , its

gre a t compe t i tor . I t i s th e che apen ing of

fre ights to and from th e Un i ted S tate s A tlan

ti c por ts at t h e expen se O f the St . Law ren ce h e“ de ems like ly to be disas trous to o ur ow n

“ trade .

” Thi s i s exac tly w ha t I de sired to pre

v e n t by th e con s truction of the Caughn aw aga

C anal . I t is be cause of th e supe riori ty an d

che apn e ss now O f fre igh ts“ to and from t h e

Un ited S tate s Atlan ti c ports ,” through Ame ri

can rou te s , tha t the Can al’

in to Lake C hampla in

h as b e come so impe ra t ive ly n e ce s sary, and al so

be cause th e exp erience of t he pre se n t sys tem O f

things has prove d to be disas trous to our o wn

trade .

” Mr .Wo rkman an d “A Con s tan t Reade r’

do n o t Obj e ct to th e con s truc tion of th e We llan d

Canal . Bu t , is i t n o t a ma t te r too appare n t for

a rgume n t that , if the We llan d Can al alon e w e re

con struc ted,an d no o the r outle t provide d below

L ake O ntario than w ha t n ow exis ts,

“th e che ap

en ing offre ight s to an d from th e Un i ted S ta te s .

A t lan tic por ts ,” so much dreaded by “ A C on

s tan t Reade r” and Mr . Workman , would the rebybe S t illmore cheape n e d ; and i s i t n o t cle ar, tha t

if we are unable to compe te succe ssfully n ow

for th e We ste rn trade w i th th e Eas te rn S tate s,

it is e viden t w e w ould be still le s s able to do

so when fre ights w e re fur the r che ape n ed , through

th e Osw ego an d othe r rou te s , by th e e n largemen t

of the We lland Can al, and w i thou t any in cre aseto our pow e r of comp e ti tion beyon d “

our tw o

exce lle n t railways .” I t is thi s ve ry cheape n

ing of fre ights to N ew York,o ur gre a t com

pe t itor, at th e expe n se O f th e S t . Law re n ce,

”

which so loudly cal ls fo r th e con struction of a

w ork by which Mon tre al and the St . L awren ce may ge t a share of th e trade whichnow passe s by h er, and whi ch w ould be m oree ffe ctual ly se cured to Ame ri can rou te s thana t pre se n t , if t he We llan d Can al alon e w as

e n large d wi thout an ou tle t o n the Lowe r S t .Law re n ce be ing also provide d .

I t i s al so to place Mon tre al in a posi tion to com

pe te w i th N ew Yerk , for the fore ign trade (byw h i ch M r. Workman mean s o ur expor ts by sea)and th e trade O fth e Ea s te rn S tate s

,tha t I advo

ca te the con s truc tion ofa canal in to Lake Cham

plain , and no t as “A Con s tan t Re ade r” says , to

put N ew York on th e sam e foo ting as ourse lve sand to “ de s troy our advan tage and ruin our

fore ign trade .

”

N ow,o n e w ould suppose , from th e frequen t

allusion by M r . Workman and “ A C on s tan t

Re ade r ,” to the destruction of our export o r fo

re ign trade by s ea, tha t th i s trade was in a

highly flouri shin g condit ion , an d tha t our ad

van tage s w e re so gre a t that it would be impoli ti c in th e extreme to d is turb su ch a de lightful

s tate of things . It is because our export trade

by sea is n ot a t all satisfa ctory, tha t I have urge dupon my fe llow- ci tiz e

n s and t he publi c th e ad op

t ion ofm ea sure s cal culated t o produce a change .

M r. Workman and A C on s tan t Re ade r mayno t be aware of th e fac t

,that , w hile the expe rts

of the We s te rn S tate s an d of We ste rn Canadahave e n ormously in cre ase d during th e las t te n

yea rs , the exports by se a from M on treal have de

creased . The re i s no disguis ing th is fac t , whichth e follow ing table on ly make s to o apparen t

EXPO RTS FROM M ONTREAL B Y S EA .

Flour, O atm e al,Pe as e

, Wh eat,

T otal inbb ls . b b ls . b ush . bush e ls .

1845

1 846 2 16 3 99

1 847 .

Average 3 502 492

1 856

1 857 292 1 86,a18

1858

Ave rage of last 3 years

L e t i t be born e in mind tha t th e expe r ts in

1845,1846

,and 1947 w e re gre ate r than in any

p re vious years , an d also that they pre cede d 1848—W he n fo r th e first t ime the Un i te d S tate s

,by

the Bon ding , o r Warehousing , B ill , admitte dthe p roducts ofWe s te rn Canada

,to pass through

th e Unite d State s in bond . Previous to 1849 , n oexport s from We s te rn Can ada could be

made to th e Un i te d S tate s . In tha t

ye ar , shipm e n t s from We s te rn Canada through

th e Un i te d S tate s to Gre at Brita in w e re com

men c e d,and from that time to t h e pre se n t

, th e

que stion of route s h as me re ly be e n on e of costof tran sport . T h e sup e riori ty O f t he route via

Oswe go,m ay be e s timated by th e fa ct tha t the

ave rage expor ts of flou r and grain from Ca na

da We s t to th e Un ite d S ta te s fo r 18 56,18 5 7

,

and 18 58 , was equ al to bushe ls,be ing

n e arly thre e tim e s g re ate r than th e w hole

expor ts by sea from M on tre al , again s t n o

exports i n 19 48 , an d on ly bushe ls in18 49 . The se figure s con clus ive ly shew ,

tha t what

Mr . Workman and the Con s tan t Reader” call a

46

fore ign export trade from Mon tre al , h as in te n

ye ars decreased fortyp er cen t ,—while in th e same

pe riod th e S tate of N ew York has gained

a trade from Canada We s t , in flou r and

grain alon e,

ave rag ing for t he thre e years

e n di n g w ith 18 58 ,of bushe ls . Y e t .

“a C on s tan t Re ade r” j oin s w i th Mr. Work

man ih w hin ing abou t destroying our advan

tage s . an d ruin ing our fore ign trade,

”w he n

the se gen tlemen ough t t o be aware tha t o ur ex

por t trade from Mon tre al by se a,i s n o t on ly n o t

ke eping pace w i th the p rogre s s ofWe s te rn O s

n ada an d the We s te rn S tate s,o r of th e A tlan ti c

U . S ta te s ports , bu t is a c tually le ss by for ty pe r

ce n t . than th e ave rage of th e thre e ye a rs e nding

w ith 18 47 . The se are , n o doubt , d i sagre e able

facts , ou t it Mr. Workman o r“a C on s tan t

Reade r” cann ot con t radict them,then I con te nd

tha t the ir cry as to ou r fore ign trade be ing ru

ine d,i s on ly applicable to th e p re se n t system of

things , unde r w h ich We s te rn trade fin d s a

che ape r ou tle t through Ame ri can ports on Lake s

E r ie and On tario , and can h ave n o refe re n ce to

those proj e cts advo cate d bym e,w hich th e high

e s t a ntho ritie s a sse r t w ill secure for t h e low e r S t

Law re n ce a share of tha t eve r in cre asin g in ter ior trade

,bu t w h ich , as I have shewn , n ow

pa sse s from us through Ame ri can rou te s from

Lake On tario .

I have n o t thought i t w orth w hile t o allude to“ A Con s tan t Re ade r’s” charge aga in st m e , for

incon sis ten cy in refe re n ce to my e s timate of th e

t ran spor t of he avy fre igh t by ra ilroad be ing l lcen ts pe r to n pe r mile . If A C on stan t Reade r

w ill aga in exam in e my remarks o n th is subj e ct ,h e w ill find tha t I s ta te d tha t this rate a t least ,w as n e ce s sary to provide aga in s t actual loss .

I assume d th is ra te as a m e a ns of compar ison ,with t he rate s o f t ran sport by w a te r

,kn ow in g

tha t n o o n e w ould a t temp t t o contradict i t,an d

in orde r to give the railw ay t he greate s t poss ible

advan tage i n th e comparison ; bu t wh ile I d id

this, 1 w as at th e same t ime aware , tha t th e offi cial

re turn s ofth e S ta te ofN ew York she wed tha t t he

ave rage cos t of mo ving fre igh t by th e “ N ew

York C e n tral” and th e N ew York and Er ie Ra tl

road s , in 1 8 56 , 185 7 and 18 58,was 2 66-10 0

ce n ts pe r t o n pe r m i le .

In clos ing th i s corre spon de nce , on t he compa

rat ive meri ts of th e S t . Lawre n ce wi th o the r

route s from the We s t,a n d o n D o cks a t Mo n

treal , I m ay say,w i th Mr. Workman ,

“ tha tJ O HN YOUNG“

“ the re are s till a numbe r of ma t te rs un n o ticed Mon treal , August 22nd , 18 59“ w h i ch a t some future pe riod may cla im my

a tte n t ion .

” I n my pre vious le t te rs I have

avoide d , as far as possible , giving my own

O pin ions of th e probable future ofour trade , an dhave suppor ted th e V iew s expre ssed in my le tte rof loth D e cembe r , by fa cts an d figure s takenfrom official source s , as w e ll as publ ic docume n tsemanating from th e me rchan ts of this

,th e large s t

commerc ial ci ty in Bri tish Ame r ica , from Engin eers the mos t emin e n t in the ir profe ssion

, and

from the h ighe st Offi cers in th e Gove rnmen t ofthe coun try . I t remain s fo r Mr. Workman , or

othe r ge n t lemen , to impe ach th e corre ctne ss ofthe Opin ion s exp re sse d in the se various docu

men ts , as to th e n e ce ss ity of th e en largeme n t ofthe We l land and th e con struction of th e C augh

nawaga Can al , and of D ocks a t Mon treal , and

also of the opin ion s so‘

confide n tly expre ssed ofa

vast in crease to t he trade o n C an ad ian can al s

an d ra ilways , an d o f our ci ty,w hich w ould

follow the con s truc t ion O f those w orks . T h e

d iscussion of subje cts of su ch g en e ra l publ ic

i n te re s t cann o t fa i l , ifprope rly con ducted , to beadvan tage ous and useful .

H ow far Mr. Workman h as succe ede d in h isle tte rs in p la cing “ in the ir true a spe ct t he w ild

proj e cts advo cate d by Mr . Young ,”th e publ ic

w ill n ow b e be tte r able to j udge . I t must bee vide n t to Mr . Workman hims e lf, that these w ild

proj e c ts,both as to canals an d ra ilways , Lake

St . Pe te r and Do ck improveme n ts , have be enmain ly supported by a grea t maj ority O f M r .

Workman’s fe llow me rchan ts , and , I think are

al so supported by a g re at majori ty O f th e citizen s

ofMon treal at all e ve n ts they are supported by

th e freque n tly repe ated Op in ions of eve ry offi ce rand eng ine e r in th e Gove rnme n t s e rvice , as w ellas by eve ry o the r e ng ine e r wh o has ye t beenca lle d upon for an expre ss ion ofOpin ion alwaysexcep t ing Mr. T rau twine .

Leaving n ow th e d i s cussion ofMr. Wo rkman’s

le t te rs , I am temp te d to tran sgre s s a l i ttle fur the r

o n your space , and o n th e pa t ie n ce of your rea

de rs by bringin g t oge the r a fe w of th e importan t

view s to w hi ch I have h ad o ccasion t o adve rt

durin g th e seve ral d is cus sion s O f th e Publ ic

Works refe rred to bu t as your column s W ill besuifi cie n t

'

y occup ie d by w hat I have a lready

w ri t te n , I shall con clude my furthe r remarks inanothe r le tte r . and am n ow ,

Your obedien t se rvan t

LETTER N O . 12 .

To the E ditor of the MONTREAL GA"ETTESm ,—T he re sults and Opin ion s to w hi ch I have

be en le d in my previous le tte rs , o n th e subj e ct

of th e advan tage s w h i ch th e S t . Law re n ce route

from th e We st to th e Ocean and to th e Eas te rn

S tate s posse sse s in compar ison w ith o the r routes

through th e Un ited S tate s, an d in refe ren ce to

th e facilitie s for trade an d manufacture s w hich

may be create d at the Por t O f Mon tre al , may be

summed up as follow s

l st . Tha t no adequate me an s of tran sport at

p re se n t e xi s t or w ill exis t in Lowe r Can ada ,

even whe n the Victoria Br idge i s comple ted , t o

compe te in cheapne ss w ith the rou te s through

t h e State of N ew York , from Lake s On tario an d

E rie , for th e trade of the We ste rn State s and

We stern Canada .

2nd . Tha t w ithout an e n largeme n t ofth e Wel

land Canal, and th e con struction of a Canal

in to Lake Champla in , that t rade mus t con t inue

to flow as n ow through Ame ri can chann e l s , leav

ing our Can adian canals an d ra ilways compa

ra tively de se r te d and con seque n tly unre r’

nune r

a t ive,and an an nua l tax on the pe ople of this

coun try .

3 rd . Tha t th e amoun t ofin te re stwh ich has now

to be pa id annually, and w hich has to be ra ised

by dut ie s o n imports , on th e mon ey borrowe d

to build those canals and t o a id th e con s truct ion

of ra ilways , exceeds two million , four hundred

thousand dollars,ove r and above all re ce ipts from

the se w orks .4 th . That th e in te re sts O f the canal s and rail

ways are almos t ide n ti cal , an d th e prospe ri ty of

e a ch must add to the busine s s of th e o the r .

s th . That th e comple tion Of th e We lland

Canal and th e con struc tion of th e Lake

Champlain Can al from the St . Law re n ce , of a

si ze commen surate w i th th e magn itude of th e

capabilitie s ofth e S t . Law ren ce navigatio n ,w ould

g ive a de cided supe riori ty to the rou te of th e

St . Law re nce ove r eve ry or any route w hich i t is

possible to have through th e S ta te of N ew York

be twe e n the We ste rn S tate s , We ste rn Canada ,and th e E aste rn State s , and re nder highly remu

nera tive those can al s and rai lways which a t pre

sen t are unproductive , and an annual loss to

the Provin ce .

6 th . That w ith th e navigation so improved

and pe rfe cted , as to make th e S t . Law ren ceroute , through Lake Champlain , th e che ape st ,

quicke s t an d be s t for th e great and eve r- increas

ing trade of the Eas te rn State s from th e We st,

47

the Port ofM on treal from the vas t wate r pow e r

at comman d fo r milling , and from th e fa cili tie sfor re ce iving and holding prope r ty, wh ich could

so easily be created , and from th e fac t tha t suchprope rty could be he ld he re , e i the r for shipme n t

dire ct by oce an ve sse l or for di s tribu tion to th e

various Eas te rn S tate s,can be made th e greate s t

and most conve n ien t in te r ior d epo t for We ste rn

trade on this C on tine n t,w hile i t w ould rapidly

rise in importan ce as a re ce iving and shipping

port be tw e en E nglan d an d o the r coun trie s .7 ih . Tha t w hile the in te re s ts of th e C ity of

M on tre al w ould be vas tly promoted by t he

adop tion of such a policy,a reve nue w ould be

Obtain e d from the se grea t publ ic can als and

rai lways , which , combin ed , do n o t a t p re se n t

a t tra ct more than n in e t o te n pe r cen t . o f tha t

trade,— to se cure w hich was th e avowe d obje ct

of the ir con stru c tion .

8 th . That the re i s n o thin g in th e Navigationor Trade Law s of th e Un i te d S ta te s and Canada

which can p reven t the large s t commerce be twe en

both coun trie s , an d as tha t route which Offe rs the

gre ate s t facilitie s as to cos t and rapid ity mus t,in th e n ature of thin g s , ul timate ly comman d th e

large s t share of that comme rce , the re i s eve ry

inducemen t to proce ed as rapidly as poss ible

w ith those w ork s , by w h i ch alon e su ch a re sult

can be atta in e d .

The se poin ts might be in cre ased in n umbe r,but too much spa ce h as alre ady be en o s supied in

the dis cussion . I m ay add , howeve r , that o ne

of the main obj e cts I have h ad in view has bee n

to g ive prominen ce to th e facts and argumen ts

upon which my Op in ion s are based , so as to in

vi te publ ic a tten tion to the subj e ct . If the se

Opin ion s are dis cussed and cri ti cised , I can have

n o reason to complain , for the more that theyare dis cussed the

‘ more likely it i s that tru t h w i ll

he arrived a t in th e e n d . T he pe rson al turn

given by Mr . Workman to th e dis cussion has

rende red n e c e ssary allus ion to po in ts whollyun conn e c te d w ith the real matte rs a t issue . This

is a matte r O f regre t , fo r there is suffi cien t ground

for diffe ren ce in th e subje cts ofd is cussion them

se lve s . I would fa in hope that Mr . Workman’s

example may n o t be followe d in future d iscus

s ion s on t he se poin ts . I refra in from g iving a

nume rical l is t O f th e many s tatemen ts w h i ch Mr.

Workman , in his le tte rs , h as so re ckl e ssly made

w i thou t proof o r foundation ,and w hich it has

be en my unple asan t du ty t o con tradict . Mr .

Workman’s expe rie n ce as a m e rchan t,

and

e spe cially his kn ow le dge of We s te rn trade i s

fully un de rs tood and appre ciated here , but , i t

48

was because par tie s at a distan ce would n o t have

th e same mean s of j udging , tha t I have at so

much le ng th dwe l t o n his le t te rs of A Mer

chan t .” I am quite aware O f Mr. Workman’s

abili ty as a man O f busin e s s an d as a banke r ,st ill

, w he n I find him in his le arned Bank Repor ts

advocating fre e trade in mon ey an d in his le tte rs

O f “ A Me rchan t ” prote s ting agains t fre e trade

in me rchandise , i t can n o t be expe c te d tha t I can

re spe ct his kn ow le dge ofPol it ical E con omy anymore than his Opin ion s on a bran ch O f trade in

which h e has n eve r be en e ngage d .

Mr. Workman te lls us,and I re ce ive the

information I mus t confe s s w i th some surpris",

that of late ye ars Europe has h ad“a succe s

s ion of d eficien t harve s ts ,” which has affordeda m arke t for o ur surplus ce reals , and tha tve ry mode rate supplie s w ill be n e ede d from

us fo r some t ime to come,in con sequen ce of pur

chase s havin g be e n made in Europe for this

coun try . N ow our shor t supply o f ce real s from

th e crop of 18 58 w as on ly temporary, and th e

probab il ity is , that th e exports from this con

t i n e n t in th e ye ar 18 60 w ill be greate r than

e ve r before , in con t rad iction to what M r .

Workman w ould w i sh to be believed , tha t

my expe cta tion of a gre a t in cre ase in o ur

future trade i s fa lla cious . Mr . Workman should

remembe r tha t only a small par t O f th e land in

C anada o r th e We s te rn S ta te s is ye t unde r cul

t ivat ion , and that th e North We s te rn reg ion of

B ritish Ame rica has an area lyi ng we s t of th e

9 8 th me ridian an d above the 43 d paralle l which

is n o t infe rior in size to th e w hole Un i te d S ta te s

e as t of the M issis sippi , an d is perfe c tly adap te d

to th e fulle s t occupa t ion by cul t iva te d n a t ion s .

If thi s is born e in m ind,and also th e fac t

that a gre at trade m us t in evitably flow from

th e g reat valley O f th e O ttawa , i t seems to

m e to show a wan t O f fore sight to doubt th e

future vast in crease of our trade and th e pol icyw hich should adap t its elf to that future . T h e

in cre ase of trade in th e la st 25 years will

fa il in my O pinn ion as a comparison with

th e probable in crease of We ste rn trade in

the n ex t 25 years, and , the refore , I think

an examination O f th e subj e ct will afford

good grounds , e ve n to th e most cau t ious , for

e n t er ing upon th e con s tru c tion of the se w orks

calculate d to a ttrac t to Low e r Canada a share

of tha t vale t t rade which eve n n ow exists,bu t

w hich flow s past u s and must con t inue to flow

p ast u s except th e w orks re commended in

the se le tters are cons tructed .

To the Governmen t ofthis coun try, and indeed

to all who earne s tly de s ire to see British in s titut ion s perpe tuated on this con tin en t

, it i s of th e

greate s t momen t, to preve n t th e p os sibil i ty of

any unfavorable compar ison s be ing justly madebe twee n Bri tish Ame rica and th e Un i te d State s .If i t is se e n that our canals , ra ilways and

mate rial advan cemen t do n o t ke ep pacew ith those in te re s ts in the Ame rican R e

public , d issat isfaction and disafi‘

ection will

gradually but sure ly grow , and the in

feriority of our progre ss an d pos i tion w ill beascribed to polit i cal cause s , in stead of to our

o wn wan t ofen e rgy and fore sigh t in deve loping

our gre at natural advan tage s . In this greatcon te s t of r ivalry w i th th e S tate of N ew Yorkfor the in te rior trade , i t w ill n o t for on e mome n t,I think , be admi tte d that the pe ople of Canadaare infe r ior in e n e rgy and e n te rpr i se to ourne ighbors o n th e othe r s ide of th e l in e . But atpre sen t , from th e absen ce of those works towhich I have so freque n tly aliud ed

,w e , as Cana

dian s , can have no oppor tun ity fo r compe ti tion inthe We ste rn trade . Inde e d

,th e prospe ct of our

be ing able to a t tract any large share of that

trade ove r our railroads or through o ur canals ,eve n whe n the Victoria B ridge i s comple ted , i s

mos t un satisfactory ; and th e re spon sibil ity of

the Gove rnme n t of th lB coun try, conside r ing th evas t in te re s ts n ow invo lve d and t he disastrous

re sults which mus t in evi tably flow from a long e r

inac tion as to the se w orks , cal culate d to pro

duce a change , is a ve ry grave o n e . Believing

as I do that th e view s 1 have e ndeavore d to

poin t out are sound , I have , as a Canadian , on lydone my duty in urging them o n publ i c a t te ntion .

I repea t tha t it depends en tire ly on the

e n e rgy and e n te rprise of the me rchan ts and

re siden ts in Low e r Can ada gene rally, an d

e spe cially of Quebe c and Mon tre al, to say,

how much of that vas t i n te rior trade can

be a ttrac ted to the St . Law re n ce route ,e i the r fo r expor t to the Easte rn S tate s , o r for

shipmen t to E urO pe . Familiar as I am w i th all

the various route s from th e We s t to the ocean ,by a long and active expe rien ce in th e trade

,and

knowing all the advan tages’

and capabili tie s of

the differe n t re ce iving poin ts o n the lake s and

th e Atlan tic , I have n o he s i tation in s tating that

I know of n one w hich posse sse s th e extrao rdi

n ary advan tage s wh tch may be made availablea t Mon treal

,as a g re a t entr ep o t for t rade .

Wi th an un limite d wa te r pow e r a t our comman d ,with docks comple ted , and every facility there in

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