A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River Part 9

CHAPTER IX.

FIRST SEASON OF THE NIAGARA NAVIGATION CO.--A HOT COMPEt.i.tION--STEAMBOAT MANOEUVRES.

The work of preparation had been completed and we drifted down to record the opening day of our first season. Our hats were in the ring.

A complimentary excursion to Niagara, leaving at 2.30 p.m., was given by the company on May 10th to a large list of guests, an introduction of the steamer which was much appreciated and approved.

The boat race in Toronto Bay between Hanlan and Ross on 15th May was availed of for an excursion to view the race.

We were still solving the problems on the Niagara River so our first business operation was in another direction, and it is somewhat interesting that this first trip was to Hamilton, being introduced by the following advertis.e.m.e.nt:

QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY

24th May, 1878

GRAND EXCURSION TO HAMILTON

Magnificent Steamer

CHICORA

Will leave Mowart's dock at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. Returning will leave Hamilton at 10.15 a.m. and 6.15 p.m., calling at Ocean House, Burlington Beach, each way.

Splendid Band of the Royal Engineer's Artillery Battalion.

For the convenience of pa.s.sengers the Steamer will call at Queen's Wharf on the outward trip in the morning.

Single Return Tickets 75c. Double Return Tickets $1.00.

Barlow c.u.mberland, Agent, 35 Yonge Street.

G.o.d SAVE THE QUEEN.

The results were highly satisfactory, the public being anxious to see the steamer and interested in its progress. Another charter which was declined may be mentioned as being the establishing of a principle which was not departed from. A new Roman Catholic Church had been erected at Oakville, which was to be consecrated and opened with much eclat on a Sunday. At that time there were no trains run on Sundays on the Hamilton and Toronto Branch of the Great Western Railway, and the only way by which any very large contingent from Toronto could be expected to join in the ceremonies would be by making arrangements for an excursion by water. There would have been no legal objection to this, as the rigidity of Sunday legislation had not then been introduced. The Oakville authorities made application to charter the _Chicora_, and as the President of the company was a Roman Catholic, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto strongly supported the application, they felt a.s.sured of compliance. A goodly offer was made for a trip on the Sunday afternoon from Toronto to Oakville and back. The matter was considered by the Board and it was unanimously resolved that the Chicora would not be run on Sundays. One will not say that this decision was entirely due to religious considerations, although these, no doubt, were not without weight, but it was also settled upon plain business principles.

The steamer was entering a considerable contest and would need every care.

In a compet.i.tion with two steamers we needed to have our men and the boat keyed up to the highest efficiency. This could not be done if we ran the steamer across the lake on every day of the week. The maintenance of the regularity of the steamers and the reputation of the Niagara River Line has without doubt been considerably gained by confining the running to "week days only." The increasing requirements for through connections, particularly from the American Railways on the south sh.o.r.e, where Sunday trains have greatly increased, may some day bring about a change.

On Sat.u.r.day, 1st June, _Chicora_ left Toronto dock at 2.30 p.m. for a first regular afternoon excursion to Niagara, and on Monday, June 3rd, began her regular double trip service leaving at 7.05 a.m. and 2.05 p.m.

As matters on the Niagara River were still in process of organization we did not at first run beyond Niagara except on Wednesday and Sat.u.r.day afternoons, when the full trip up the river to Lewiston was made.

It was very early found that the trip up the river is the main attraction to the route, giving, as it does, scenery unusual and without compare, a respite from the open lake and allowing a stroll on sh.o.r.e, either at Niagara or Lewiston, while awaiting the return journey.

From the very beginning the compet.i.tion was a whirlwind. Mr. Lunt was an adept at steamboat compet.i.tion and it was our business to go him one better, and also to have our steamer and facilities made as widely known as possible to the travelling public.

At Toronto the entrances to the two docks, alongside one another on the Esplanade, were trimmed with "speilers," who finally expanded up Yonge Street to Front, and even to King Street. One thing insisted on, so far as our men were concerned, was that there should be no decrying of the character or condition of the rival boats.

Our tickets were put into the hands of every Ticket Office, Broker, Insurance or Real Estate Agent in Toronto, whether up-town or down-town, who would take them in, provided one thing only, that he had an office opening on the street. Every hotel porter, with his sisters, his cousins, and his aunts, was created a friend, and the itinerant cab was just as welcome as the official bus. We were out to get business from every quarter.

The _City_ in previous years had issued a ticket at $10 to members of one family for ten round trips on any afternoon. We put a general rate on of $1.00 without any restrictions, and by gradual reductions it reached 50 cents on Wednesday and Sat.u.r.day afternoons. This was a round trip rate which had been introduced by the _Southern Belle_ in 1877 for the afternoons of Tuesday, Thursday and Sat.u.r.day on her route from York Street (Tinning's Wharf) to Niagara and return. We now extended it to Lewiston and return, giving a view of the really splendid scenery of the river which had never previously been opened at reduced rates. The public quickly took in the idea and gave us business. In addition to general business, we energetically worked up the Society and Church excursions, becoming an unpleasant thorn in the sides of those who had so summarily thrown us over and whom we were now obliged to attack. It was in this season that the Caledonian Society made their first excursion with us, a connection and comradeship which in all the thirty-four years has never once been interrupted.

Matters on the other side of the lake were somewhat different. We had no railway connections to issue tickets over us or direct pa.s.sengers to our boat. We had to provide for this entirely of ourselves, having thus to promote business on both sides of the route. Printer's ink was extensively used by newspaper advertis.e.m.e.nts, descriptive folders, dodgers and timetables. A large and excellent framed colored lithograph of the Steamer was issued with the lettering:

THE NIAGARA NAVIGATION COMPANY'S STEAMER

CHICORA

PLYING BETWEEN

TORONTO--NIAGARA--LEWISTON.

HON. FRANK SMITH, BARLOW c.u.mBERLAND, President. Manager.

These being largely distributed to the hotels and ticket offices introduced the steamer in her new conditions. There was no use running the boat unless we fully advised the public of herself and movements, but all this advertising, and introduction, cost much expense in money and energy.

The ticketing arrangements on the south sh.o.r.e were somewhat difficult.

Pa.s.senger business thirty years ago was conducted under very different conditions from such as exist at present. There were no official regulations, no State or Inter-State, Authorized Tariffs, no Railway Commissioners. Each railway and each pa.s.senger department was a law unto itself to be guided and regulated by whatever conditions or rates might at the time be considered most desirable for the promotion of its own business by the officers in charge.

Ticket "scalping" abounded, being looked upon by the public as a protection against the uncontrolled ratings by the railways, and a promoter of compet.i.tion where combination might otherwise be effectual. There were several a.s.sociations of "Ticket Scalpers," some of much power and reliability, but all were equally denounced by the railways. Yet there were in fact not a few instances where the regular issues of some of the (for the time-favoured) railway companies might be found in an under drawer of some of these unauthorized servants of the public. These energetic workers were our opportunity. All the princ.i.p.al Scalping Offices between Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, Albany, Rochester, and Lewiston, were stocked with books of tickets reading over our steamer, or to Toronto and return. The rates were, of course, such that they could obtain both profit and business. There was no use mincing matters, we were in the fight to win out. Through these sources we managed to get quite a business, being represented in each town by from two to four scalp offices, in large cities even more, and, tell it not in Gath, with very friendly arrangements in some of the regular offices as well.

The amount of personal travelling and introduction was laborious, but was pleasant, in renewing acquaintanceships and connections formed as General Pa.s.senger Agent of the Northern Railway when working up the new Couchiching and Muskoka tourist business introduced in the several preceding years.

It was in this season of 1878 that the converging railways in the districts spreading from the south and southwest towards Buffalo, began a system of huge excursions for three days to Niagara Falls and return, on special trains both ways, and at rates for the round trip not far from, and often less, than single fare. Most of these separate railways have since been merged into some one or other of the main Trunk Lines, but then they were independent and each sending in its quota on its own account to make up a "Through Special." The most successful excursions of these were the series which came every week from the then Wabash District, from Indiana and the southwest, and were known as the "Friendly Hand" excursions. The name arose from a special trade mark which appeared in all the Wabash folders and announcements, of an outstretched hand with the thumb and fingers spread, on each of which was shown the line and princ.i.p.al stations of each one of the contributing railways that fed their excursions into the main stem. The excursionists were energetic, and although the "Falls" was the focus of their route, we induced large numbers of them to cross over to Toronto. A prevailing slogan was:

"One day to Falls, One day to stay, Next day Toronto And then 'get away.'"

When the long special excursion train slowly came down the curve from the town station at Niagara to the dock to join the steamers, it was gall and wormwood to the _City_ or the _Rothesay_, lying in waiting, to see the crowd of linen duster tourists as they poured out of the train make straight for the _Chicora_, "The boat with the two red funnels." We got them all, for we had many and right good friends.

In those early days, before the "Park Commissioners" on both sides of the river had taken public possession of the surroundings, there were few places at the Falls from which either the river or the rapids could be seen without paying a fee. The proprietors of these places issued tickets in little books, containing coupons for admittance to all, or to a selection, of these "points of interest," and put them all in the hands of the managers of the excursions. The advertis.e.m.e.nt "dodgers" announced:

Special Inducement for this Excursion to the Falls

{ Suspension Bridge and Return 25c.

The regular prices { Prospect Park 25c.

for Admission are to { Art Gallery 25c.

{ Museum and Operators 50c.

{ Garden of Living Animals 25c.

One ticket purchased on the train for $1.00 Admits the Holder to all these regular prices.

A good round commission on these sales was a helpful "find" or "side cut"

to the energetic young railway men who personally accompanied these excursions, through their trains, on the way to the Falls, carrying large satchels with their selections of "Points of Interest" and other tickets, and answering the mult.i.tude of enquiries made by their tourist patrons. An extension ticket to "Toronto and Return" was a pleasant addition to their wares, and a satisfactory introduction to us. Some of these travelling pa.s.senger men, by their energy and successful handling of these excursions, brought themselves into notice, and afterwards rose to be heads of Pa.s.senger Departments, and even into Presidents of Railways! As a reminder of their trip each tourist was given by us a souvenir of Toronto, and even if excursionists struck a rough day and rendered up their tributes to Lake Ontario, it was of novel interest to many who had never before seen a lake wide enough to have been "out of sight of land," and sailing over waves big enough to make a large steamer rock.

In this way began what has since been so greatly developed, the Reduced Rate Excursions to Toronto, via the Niagara River, and the making known of the features of the City as a Summer Resort by this advocacy, and the thousands of dollars which the Niagara Navigation Company has devoted to its advertising in all parts of the United States.

At Lewiston we took everyone on board that wanted to come; in fact, our "runners" strenuously invited them. The moment the dusty two-horse "stages"