A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River Part 1

A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River.

by Barlow c.u.mberland.

FOREWORD.

This narrative is not, nor does it purport to be one of general navigation upon Lake Ontario, but solely of the vessels and steamers which plyed during its century to the ports of the Niagara River, and particularly of the rise of the Niagara Navigation Co., to which it is largely devoted.

Considerable detail has, however been given to the history of the steamers "Frontenac" and "Ontario" because the latter has. .h.i.therto been reported to have been the first to be launched, and the credit of being the first to introduce steam navigation upon Lake Ontario has erroneously been given to the American shipping.

Successive eras of trading on the River tell of strenuous compet.i.tions.

Sail is overpa.s.sed by steam. The new method of propulsion wins for this water route the supremacy of pa.s.senger travel, rising to a splendid climax when the application of steam to transportation on land and the introduction of railways brought such decadence to the River that all its steamers but one had disappeared.

The transfer of the second "City of Toronto" and of steamboating investment from the Niagara River to the undeveloped routes of the Upper Lakes leads to a diversion of the narration as bringing the initiation of another era on the Niagara River and explaining how the steamer, which formed its centre, came to be brought to the River service.

The closing 35 years of the century form the era of the Niagara Navigation Co., in which the period of decadence was converted into one of intense activity and splendid success.

Our steam boating coterie had been promised by Mr. Chas. Gildersleeve, General Manager of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Co., that he would write up the navigation history of the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River sections upon which he and his forbears had been foremost leaders.

Unfortunately he pa.s.sed away somewhat suddenly, before being able to do this, and they pressed upon me to produce the Niagara section which had been alloted to myself.

The narration has been completed during the intervals between serious illness and is sent out in fulfilment of a promise, but yet in hope that it may be found acceptable to transportation men and with its local historical notes interesting to the travelling public.

Thanks are given to Mr. J. Ross Robertson, for the reproduction of some cuts of early steamers, and particularly to Mr. Frederick J. Shepard, of the Buffalo Public Library, who has been invaluable in tracing up and confirming data in the United States.

Dr. A. G. Dougaty, C.M.G., Archivist of Canada, Mr. Frank Severance, of the Buffalo Historical Society, and Mr. Locke, Public Librarian, Toronto, have been good enough to give much a.s.sistance which is warmly acknowledged.

BARLOW c.u.mBERLAND.

Dunain, Port Hope.

CHAPTER I.

THE FIRST ERAS OF CANOE AND SAIL.

Since ever the changes of season have come, when gra.s.ses grow green, and open waters flow, the courses of the Niagara River, above and below the great Falls, have been the central route, for voyaging between the far inland countries on this continent, and the waters of the Atlantic sh.o.r.es.

Here the Indian of prehistoric days, unmolested by the intruding white, roamed at will in migration from one of his hunting-grounds to another, making his portage and pa.s.sing in his canoe between Lake Erie and Lake Oskwego (Ontario). In later days, when the French had established themselves at Quebec and Montreal, access to Lake Huron and the upper lakes was at first sought by their voyageurs along the nearer route of the Ottawa and French Rivers, a route involving many difficulties in surmounting rapids, heavy labour on numberless portages, and exceeding delay.

Information had filtered down gradually through Indian sources of the existence of this Niagara River Route, on which there was but one portage of but fourteen miles to be pa.s.sed from lake to lake, and only nine miles if the canoes entered the water again at the little river (Chippawa) above the Falls.

On learning the fact the French turned their attention to this new waterway, but for many a weary decade were unable to establish themselves upon it. In 1678 Father Hennepin, with an expedition sent out by Sieur La Salle sailed from Cataraqui (Kingston) to the Niagara River, the name "Hennepin Rock" having come down in tradition as a reminiscence of their first landing below what is now Queenston Heights. Pa.s.sing over the "Carrying Place," they reached Lake Erie. Here, at the outlet of the Cayuga Creek, on the south sh.o.r.e, they built a small two-masted vessel rigged with equipment which they brought up for the purpose from Cataraqui, in the following year.

This vessel, launched in 1679, and named the "Griffon" in recognition of the crest on the coat of arms of Count Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, was the first vessel built by Europeans to sail upon the upper waters. In size she so much exceeded that of any of their own craft, with her white sails billowing like an apparition, and of novel and unusual appearance, that intensest excitement was created among the Indian tribes as she pa.s.sed along their sh.o.r.es.

Her life was brief, and the history of her movements scanty; the report being that after sailing through Lake St. Clair she reached Michilimakinac and Green Bay, on Lake Michigan, but pa.s.sed out of sight on Lake Huron on the return journey, and was never heard of afterwards.

Tiny though this vessel was and sailing slow upon the Upper Lakes, yet a great epoch had been opened up, for she was the progenitor of all the myriad ships which ply upon these waters at the present day. It was the entrance of the white man, with his consuming trade energy, into the red man's realm, the death knell of the Indian race.

With greatly increased frequency of travelling and the more bulky requirements of freightage this "one portage" route was more increasingly sought, and as the result of their voyagings these early French pioneers have marked their names along the waterways as ever remaining records of their prowess--such as Presquile (almost an island); Detroit (the narrow place); Lac Sainte Clair; Sault Ste Marie (Rapids of St. Mary River); Cap Iroquois; Isle Royale; Rainy River (after Rene de Varennes); Duluth (after Sieur du Luth, of Montreal); Fond du Lac (Head of Lake Superior).

From here mounting up the St. Croix River, seeking the expansion of that New France to whose glory they so ungrudgingly devoted their lives, these intrepid adventurers reached over to the Mississippi, and sweeping down its waters still further marked their way at St. Louis (after their King) and New Orleans (after his capital), annexing all the adjacent territories to their Sovereign's domains.

The Niagara River Route then became the motive centre of a mighty circ.u.m-vallation by which the early French encompa.s.sed within its circle the English Colonies then skirting along the Atlantic.

What a magnificent conception it was of these intrepid French to envelope the British settlements and strengthened by alliances with the Indian tribes and fortified by a line of outposts established along the routes of the Ohio and the Mississippi, to hem their compet.i.tors in from expansion to the great interior country of the centre and the west. Standing astride the continent with one foot on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at Quebec, and the other at New Orleans, on the Gulf of Mexico, the interior lines of commerce and of trade were in their hands. They hoped that Canada, their New France, on this side of the ocean, was to absorb all the continent excepting the colonies along the sh.o.r.es of the sea. So matters remained for a century.

Meanwhile the English colonies had expanded to the south sh.o.r.es of the Lakes Oswego and Frontenac, and in 1758 we read of an English Navy of eight schooners and three brigs sailing on Lake Ontario under the red cross of St. George and manned by sailors of the colonies.

In 1759, came the great struggle for the possession of the St. Lawrence and connecting lines of the waterways. Fort Niagara, whose large central stone "castle," built in 1726, still remains, pa.s.sed from the French under Pouchot, to the British under Sir William Johnson; a great flotilla of canoes conveying the Indian warriors under Ligneris to the aid of the Fort, had come down from the Upper Lakes, to the Niagara River, but upon it being proved to them that they were too late, for the Fort had fallen, they re-entered their canoes and re-traced their way up the rivers back to their Western homes.

Next followed the fall of Quebec, and with the cession of Montreal in 1760 the "New France" of old from the St. Lawrence to the Mexican Gulf became merged in the "New England" of British Canada.

The control of the great central waterway, of which this Niagara River was the gateway, had pa.s.sed into other hands.

For another fifty years only sailing vessels navigated the lakes to Niagara, and these, and batteaux, pushed along the sh.o.r.es and up the river by poles, made their way to the foot of the rapids at Lewiston with difficulty. These vessels were mainly small schooners with some cabin accommodation.

After the cession of Canada, by the French, the British Government began the establishment of a small navy on Lake Ontario. An official return called for by Lord Dorchester, Governor-General of Canada, gives the Government vessels as being in 1787, _Limnale_, 220 tons, 10 guns.

_Seneca_, 130 tons, 18 guns. _Caldwell_, 37 tons, 2 guns, and two schooners of 100 tons each being built. As there was at that time but one merchant vessel, the schooner _Lady Dorchester_, 80 tons, sailing on the lake, and a few smaller craft the property of settlers, transport for pa.s.sengers between the princ.i.p.al ports was mainly afforded by the Government vessels.

As an instance of their voyaging may be given that of _H.M.S. Caldwell_, which in 1793, carrying Lady Dorchester, the wife of the Governor-General, is reported to have made "an agreeable pa.s.sage of thirty-six hours from Kingston to Niagara."

In this same year H.R.H. the Duke of Kent [afterwards father of Her Majesty Queen Victoria] is reported as having proceeded from Kingston up Lake Ontario to Navy Hall on the Niagara River in the King's ship _Mohawk_ commanded by Commodore Bouchette.

Further additions to the merchant schooners were the _York_, built on the Niagara River in 1792, and the _Governor Simcoe_, in 1797, for the North-West Company's use in their trading services on Lake Ontario. Another reported in 1797--the _Washington_--built at Erie, Pa., was bought by Canadians, portaged around the Falls and run on the British register from Queenston to Kingston as the _Lady Washington_.

The forests of those days existed in all their primeval condition, so that the choicest woods were used in the construction of the vessels. We read in 1798 of the _Prince Edward_, built of red cedar, under Captain Murney of Belleville, and capable of carrying seven hundred barrels of flour, and of another "good sloop" upon the stocks at Long Point Bay, near Kingston, being built of black walnut. A schooner, "The Toronto," built in 1799, a little way up the Humber, by Mr. Joseph Dennis, is described as "one of the handsomest vessels, and bids fair to be the swiftest sailing vessel on the lake, and is admirably calculated for the reception of pa.s.sengers."

This vessel, often mentioned as "The Toronto Yacht," was evidently a great favorite, being patronized by the Lieutenant-Governor and the Archbishop, and after a successful and appreciated career, finished her course abruptly by going ash.o.r.e on Gibraltar Point in 1811. The loss of the Government schooner _Speedy_ was one of the tragic events of the times. The Judge of the District Court, the Solicitor General and several lawyers who were proceeding from York to hold the a.s.sizes in the Newcastle District, together with the High Constable of York, and an Indian prisoner whom they were to try for murder, were all lost when the vessel foundered off Presquile in an exceptional gale on 7th October, 1804.

Two sailing vessels, the schooners _Dove_ and the _Reindeer_, (Capt. Myers) are reported in 1809 as plying between York and Niagara. A third, commanded by Capt. Conn, is mentioned by Caniff, but no name has come down of this vessel, but only her nickname of "_Captain Conn's Coffin_." This _j'eu d'esprit_ may have been due to some peculiarity in her shape, but as no disaster is reported as having occurred to her she may have been more seaworthy than the nickname would have indicated.

Of other events of sailing vessels was the memorable trip from Queenston to York in October, 1812, of the sloop _Simcoe_, owned and commended by Capt.

James Richardson.

After the battle of Queenston Heights, on October 13th, she had been laden with American prisoners, among them General Winfield Scott, afterwards the conqueror in Mexico, to be forwarded at once to Kingston. The _Moira_ of the royal navy was then lying off the port of York and on her Mr.

Richardson, a son of the Captain, was serving as sailing master.

As the _Simcoe_ approached she was recognized by young Richardson, who, putting off in a small boat, met her out in the lake and was much surprised at seeing the crowded state of her decks and at the equipment of his father, who, somewhat unusually for him, was wearing a sword.

The first words from the ship brought great joy--a great battle had been fought on Queenston Heights--the enemy had been beaten. The _Simcoe_ was full of prisoners of war to be transported at once to the _Moira_ for conveyance to Kingston. Then came the mournful statement, "General Brock has been killed." The rapture of victory was overwhelmed by the sense of irreparable loss. In such way was the sad news carried in those sailing days to York.

The _Minerva_, "Packet," owner and built by Henry Gildersleeve, at Finkle's Point in 1817, held high repute. Richard Gildersleeve emigrated from Hertfordshire, England, in 1635, and settled in Connecticut. His great-great-grandson, Obadiah, established a successful shipbuilding yard at "Gildersleeve," Conn. Henry Gildersleeve, his grandson, here learned his business and coming to Finkle's Point in 1816 a.s.sisted on the _Frontenac_, and continuing in shipbuilding, married Mrs. Finkle. When _Minerva_ arrived at Kingston she was declared by Capt. Murray, R.N., to be in her construction and lines the best yet turned out, as she proved when plying as a "Packet" between Toronto and Niagara.

Many sailing vessels meeting with varying success, were plying between all the ports on the lake. The voyages were not always of the speediest. "The Caledonia," schooner, is reported to have taken six days from Prescott to York. Mr. M. F. Whitehead, of Port Hope, crossed from Niagara to York in 1818, the pa.s.sage occupying two and a half days. In a letter of his describing the trip he enters:--"Fortunately, Dr. Baldwin had thoughtfully provided a leg of lamb, a loaf of bread, and a bottle of porter; all our fare for the two days and a half."