Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present Part 22

From the circ.u.mstance, the corporation was induced to continue it beyond the city limits up to the road which leads to Lorette, thereby rendering it the most useful and one of the handsomest streets of St. Roch.

At what period did the most s.p.a.cious highway of the ward ("Crown" street, sixty feet in width), receive its baptismal name? Most a.s.suredly it was previous to 1837, the democratic era of Papineau. "King" street, no doubt, recalls the reign of George III. So also does "Queen" street recall his royal Consort. The locality seems eminently favourable to monarchical belongings, to the House of Hanover in particular, judging from the names of several of its highways: _Crown, King, Queen, Victoria, Albert, Prince of Wales, Alfred, Arthur, Prince Edward,_ &c.

Towards the year 1815, the late Honorable John Richardson, of Montreal, conferred his name on the street which intersects the grounds which Sir James Craig had, on the 15th March, 1811, conceded to him as Curator to the vacant estate of the late Hon. William Grant, [139] whose name is likewise bequeathed to a street adjacent, Grant street, while his lady, La Baronne de Longueuil, is remembered in the adjoining thoroughfare which intersects it. A Mr. Henderson, [140] about the commencement of the present century, possessed grounds in the vicinity of the present Gas Works, hence we have "Henderson" street. The Gas Company's wharf is built on the site of the old jetty of which we have seen mention made, about 1720. This long pier was composed of large boulders heaped one upon the other, and served the purpose of sheltering the landing place at the Palais harbour from the north-east winds. In 1750, Colonel Bouchette says, it served as a public promenade, and was covered by a public platform.

Ramsay street, parallel with Henderson street, leads from St. Paul street to Orleans Place, _Place d'Orleans_, recalling the Bourbon era, prior to 1759, and also the last French Commander of Quebec, Jean Bte. Nicholas Roche deRamezay. The historic Chateau deRamezay, on Notre Dame street, Montreal, now threatened with destruction, attests the sojourn in New France of a scion of the proud old Scotch house of Ramsay.--(_Montreal Gazette, 3rd Feb._, 1881.)

THE HARBOUR DOCKS

One of the most active promoters of this hopeful scheme, in recent times, was the Hon. Mr. Justice C. J. Tessier, when a member of the Corporation about 1850. A plan of the Harbour Works which he suggested was submitted to the Council. Nothing, however, was then done. The Legislature eventually a.s.signed the work to the Harbour Commission Trust. The dredging commenced on May 2nd, 1877.

"The progress made with our Harbour Improvements, year by year, forms part of the history of our times, so far, at least, as the annals of this most ancient city of Quebec are concerned. The first stone of the Graving Dock at Levis was laid on Monday, the 7th June, 1880, by His Excellency the Governor-General, and the tablet stone, with the name of "Louise" graven on it, on Thursday, the 29th of July. Thenceforth the Harbour Works in the River St. Charles became "The Princess Louise Embankment and Docks," and the work in progress on the Levis or south side of the St. Lawrence "The Lorne Graving Dock," thus naming the entrance approaches to our cliff-bound city after our present popular Vice-Regal rulers."

To the address presented to His Excellency the Governor-General on this occasion, the following reply was made:--

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE BOARD OF THE QUEBEC HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS,--It is with a full sympathy for you in the hopes which have guided you to the construction of this great work that the Princess comes to-day to lay this stone, commemorating an important stage in the completion of your labours. She desires that her name, graven on this wall, shall serve to remind your citizens, as well as all who profit by the excellence of the accommodation here given to vessels of great burden, of her interest in your fortunes, and of her a.s.sociation with you in the speeding of an undertaking designed to benefit at once a great port of the new world and many of the communities of Europe.

Access to Quebec is easy now to the largest ocean-going vessels. Tour city has the railways far advanced, which will pierce to the heart of the granary of the world--the great wheat centres of the Canadian North-West. The very might and grandeur of the stream on which Quebec is built is in her favour as compared with other centres of commerce, for her visitors have but little tax to pay when a favouring wind fails them, while steam must be employed against the strong currents of the upper river.

The gigantic quays and the feeding lines of rail stretching inwards unbroken to the prairies must, in all human probability, in the future, ensure to the ancient capital a place among the most flourishing cities of the continent. Even without the aid which science is now bringing to her support look at the strides which have been made in her prosperity within the last century. Old pictures will show you the hillside above us bare of all but the houses necessary for the garrison of a fortress, whose hard fate it had been to be the place of contention of rival armies, while beneath the ramparts or within their walls were to be seen only a few of the buildings now devoted in far greater numbers to the purposes of religion and of charity. The banks of the St. Charles possessed then only a few store- houses such as would not now be thought sufficient for one of our fifth-rate towns. Now the whole of the slope is covered by the homes of a thriving, increasing and industrious population, while, over the extending limits under the rule of the munic.i.p.ality, learning looks down from the stately walls of Laval, and the members elected by your free and n.o.ble province will pa.s.s the laws, whose validity is guaranteed by our federal const.i.tution, in a palace reminding one of the stately fabric which holds the art treasures of France. None can observe the contrast without seeing that your progress, although it has partaken of no magic or mushroom-like growth, has been most marked and promising.

If commerce seeks for her abode the head of navigation, there are many instances to show that she loves also to keep her ships to their native tides. An instance well known to us may be cited in the case of Glasgow and of Greenock, cities which have risen to their present prosperity so quickly that they rival in that respect many in America and in Canada. Greenock has not been killed by the enormous rise in the importance of the commercial capital of Scotland. a.s.suredly we may believe that Quebec, with a far greater country at its back, may be enabled, with the aid of proper communications, to pour forth every summer from her lap much of our wealth, of which Europe is so eager to partake.

These are the aspirations we share with you, and we wish to give effect to them by drawing the attention of those beyond the seas to the practical invitation you extend to them by the facilities afforded by your docks and wharves, and we now join with you in the trust that ample repayment will be yours for the energy and engineering skill you have lavished on the public works, which are comparable to any designed for a similar purpose.

LORNE.

The drapery by which it had been concealed having been removed, the tablet stone was discovered suspended over the place it was intended to occupy in the wall. The attendant masons having performed their part, a silver trowel was handed to the Princess. This was a handsome piece of workmanship, beautifully chased and set in a rosewood handle, and bore the following inscription:--"To H.R.H. Princess Louise, this trowel was presented by the contractors of the Quebec Harbour Works, on the occasion of her laying the tablet stone of the Princess Louise Embankment and Docks, River St. Charles, Quebec July 29, 1880." Her Royal Highness, with this splendid implement, dug right l.u.s.tily into the cement, and having prepared the bed, drew back to allow the ponderous stone to be lowered thereinto. This done, a beautiful mallet of polished oak having been presented, the ma.s.s received two or three blows, and was then declared to be well and truly laid. The Vice-Regal party almost immediately afterwards regained the _Druid_, which swiftly conveyed the members thereof to _terra firma_, the police yacht _Dolphin_ being in attendance. Of the other steamers, the _Clyde_ and _North_, after a short sail round the harbour, landed their pa.s.sengers at the Grand Trunk Railway wharf; the _Brothers_ went down to St. Joseph, and gave to those on board an opportunity of noticing the progress made upon the new Graving Dock there. The troops and privileged guests having been conveyed to and from the scene by the Montreal Harbour Commissioners' boat _John Young_.

_HARBOUR AND DOCK WORKS._

Before describing these vast and important structures, calculated to afford such boundless facilities to ocean shipping frequenting our port, it may not be without interest to note the efforts made at various times for their construction. In his excellent work, "_British Dominions in North America_," Vol. 1., p. 263-264, Col. Bouchette thus deals with the subject in 1832--the far-seeing but misunderstood Mr. James George, however, as early as 1822, had conceived in his teeming brain the whole scheme.

"The construction of a pier across the estuary of the St. Charles is a measure of the greatest practicability, and of p.r.o.nounced importance in every aspect, and a subject that was brought under the notice of the Legislature in 1829, when it received the most serious consideration of the committee, and was very favourably reported upon; but no bill has yet (1832) been introduced tending to encourage so momentous an undertaking.

The most judicious position contemplated for the erection of such a pier is decidedly between the New Exchange and the Beauport Distillery and Mills, [141] a direct distance of 4,300 yards, which, with the exception merely of the channels of the St. Charles (that are neither very broad nor deep nor numerous), is dry at low water, and affords every advantage calculated to facilitate the construction of a work of that nature. It appears that, anterior to the conquest, the French Government had entertained some views in relation to so great an amelioration; but the subject seems to have never been properly taken up until 1822, when the project was submitted to the Governor-in-Chief of the Province by James George, Esq., a Quebec merchant, conspicuous for his zeal and activity, as well in promoting this particular object as in forwarding the views of the St. Lawrence Company, an a.s.sociation formed avowedly for the improvement of the navigation of the St. Lawrence.

Of the benefits to be derived from thus docking the St. Charles no one can doubt, whether the undertaking be considered in a local, munic.i.p.al or commercial point of view. As a means of extending the boundaries of the Lower Town, and bringing under more immediate improvement the extensive branches of the St. Charles, it is of the greatest consequence.

Commercially considered, this pier (which would at first form a _tide- dock_, that might eventually be converted into a _wet-dock_) would be of incalculable advantage from the great facilities it would offer to the general trade of the place, and especially the timber trade, which has frequently involved its members in much perplexity, owing to the deficiency that exists of some secure dock or other similar reservoir where that staple article of the colony might be safely kept, and where ships might take in their cargoes without being exposed to the numerous difficulties and momentous losses often sustained in loading at moorings in the coves or in harbour. By building the outward face of the pier in deep water, or projecting wharves from it, an important advantage would also be gained, affording increased conveniences in the unloading and loading of vessels. In fact, it would be impossible, in summarily noticing the beneficial tendency of this great work, to particularize its manifold advantages; they are too weighty to be overlooked, either by the Legislature or the community at large, and will doubtless dictate the expediency of bringing them into effectual operation. The different modes suggested of raising the capital required for the undertaking are: 1st.

From the Provincial revenue by the annual rate of a loan; 2nd. By an Act vesting it in the City of Quebec, by way of loan to the city, to be refunded by the receipts of rents and dock dues arising from the work; 3rd. By an Act of Incorporation, the Province taking a share in the stock, and appointing commissioners; 4th. By an Act of Incorporation only."

The Wet-Dock quay wall was to have been completed by the 1st of October, 1880, but delays have taken place, and the much-desired Tide Harbor of 20 acres, entering from the St. Lawrence, with a depth of 24 feet at low water, together with a Dock of 40 acres, having a permanent depth of 27 feet, will require another year before it is finally completed.

_GRAVING DOCK, LEVIS._

An important portion of our Harbour improvements are located on the opposite sh.o.r.e of the St. Lawrence at Levis, and the sums voted by the Parliament of Canada (38 Vic., chap. 56), or granted by the Imperial Government to construct a graving dock in the Harbour of Quebec, were used in this structure, located by Order-in-Council, dated May, 1877, at St.

Joseph de Levis.

"The dimensions of the dock are: Length............................. 500 feet Extreme width...................... 100 "

Depth.............................. 25.5 "

Width of entrance.................. 62 "

"The designs and specifications were prepared by Messrs. Kinnipple & Morris, Engineers, Westminster and Greenock.

"The Graving Dock of St. Joseph de Levis, Parish of Lauzon, Quebec, was commenced by the Quebec Harbour Commissioners, under the Resident Engineer, Woodford Pilkington, M.I., C.E. in November, 1877, and was carried on previous to tenders being invited for the present contract, to the month of March, 1878, during which time the sum of $6,298.20 was expended in excavation on the site of the Dock, which work was afterwards taken over by Messrs. Larkin, Connolly & Co., as an executed part of their contract, signed August 17th, 1878, and the above sum deducted from the contract amount of their tender for the excavations given in the bills of quant.i.ties under this head; the Harbour Commissioners being afterwards re-credited with this amount of expenditure under the first certificate.

The work of excavating for and building this Graving Dock was taken in hand under contract with the Quebec Harbour Commissioners, by Messrs.

Larkin, Connolly & Co., on the 17th August, 1878, for the lump sum of $330,953.89. The works to be delivered over to the Quebec Harbour Commissioners, finished complete, on the 1st day of June, 1882. [142]

_THE GATES OF QUEBEC._

It seems superfluous to furnish a detailed description of the fortifications and citadel of Quebec. After the lengthy account given in "Quebec, Past and Present," pages 348-60, the following sketch, which we borrow, written previous to the erection of the new St. Louis and Kent Gates, [143] corrected to date, throws additional light on this part of the subject.

"Of all the historic monuments connecting modern Quebec with its eventful and heroic past, none have deservedly held a higher place in the estimation of the antiquarian, the scholar and the curious stranger than the former gates of the renowned fortress. These relics of a by-gone age, with their ma.s.sive proportions and grim, medieval architecture, no longer exist, however, to carry the mind back to the days which invest the oldest city in North America with its peculiar interest and attraction. Nothing now remains to show where they once raised their formidable barriers to the foe or opened their hospitable portals to friends, but graceful subst.i.tutes of modern construction or yawning apertures in the line of circ.u.mvallation, where until 1871 stood Prescott and Hope Gates which represented the later defences of the place erected under British rule. Of the three gates--St. Louis, St. John and Palace--which originally pierced the fortifications of Quebec under French dominion, the last vestige disappeared many years ago. The structures with which they were replaced, together with the two additional and similarly guarded openings--Hope and Prescott gates--provided for the public convenience or military requirements by the British Government since the Conquest, have experienced the same fate within the last decade to gratify what are known as modern ideas of progress and improvement--vandalism would, perhaps, be the better term. No desecrating hand, however, can rob those hallowed links, in the chain of recollection, of the glorious memories which cl.u.s.ter around them so thickly. Time and obliteration itself have wrought no diminution of regard for their cherished a.s.sociations.

To each one of them an undying history attaches, and even their vacant sites appeal with mute, but surpa.s.sing eloquence to the sympathy, the interest and the veneration of visitors, to whom Quebec will be ever dear, not for what it is, but for what it has been. To the quick comprehension of Lord Dufferin, it remained to note the inestimable value of such heirlooms to the world at large. To his happy tact we owe the revival of even a local concern for their preservation; and to his fertile mind and aesthetic taste, we are indebted for the conception of the n.o.ble scheme of restoration, embellishment and addition in harmony with local requirements and modern notions of progress, which is now being realized to keep their memories intact for succeeding generations and retain for the cradle of New France its unique reputation as the famous walled city of the New World. It has more than once been remarked by tourists that, in their peculiar fondness for a religious nomenclature, the early French settlers of Quebec must have exhausted the saintly calendar in adapting names to their public highways, places and inst.i.tutions. To this pardonable trait in their character, we must unquestionably ascribe the names given to two of the three original gates in their primitive lines of defence--St. Louis and St. John's gates--names which they were allowed to retain when the Gallic lilies drooped before the victorious flag of Britain. The erection of the original St. Louis gate undoubtedly dates back as far as 1694. Authentic records prove this fact beyond question; but it is not quite so clear what part this gate played in subsequent history down to the time of the conquest, thought it may be fairly presumed that it rendered important services in connection especially with the many hara.s.sing attacks of the Iroquois tribes in the constant wars which were waged in the early days of the infant colony with those formidable and savage foes of the French. One thing is certain, however, that it was one of the gates by which a portion of Montcalm's army, after its defeat on the Plains of Abraham, pa.s.sed into the city on its way back, _via_ Palace gate and the bridge of boats over the St. Charles, to the Beauport camp. In 1791, after Quebec had fallen into British hands, St. Louis gate was reported to be in a ruinous condition, and it became necessary to raze it to the ground and rebuild it. Between this date and 1823, it appears to have undergone several changes; but, in the latter year, as part of the plan of defence, including the Citadel, adopted by the Duke of Wellington, and carried out at an enormous cost by England, it was replaced by another structure, retaining the same name. About this time seem to have been also constructed the singularly tortuous outward approaches to this opening in the western wall of the city, which were eventually so inconvenient to traffic in peaceful days, of whatever value they might have been from a military stand-point in trying hours half-a-century ago. These were also removed with the gate itself in 1871. On the vacant site of the latter, in accordance with Lord Dufferin's improvment project, a magnificent memorial gate, which the citizens had unanimously agreed to call "The Dufferin gate," is now (1880) erected.

The intention of naming it "The Dufferin gate," however, was abandoned. H.R.H. the Princess Louise, in deference to its traditions and with a graceful appreciation of the feelings of the French element of the population, having recently expressed the desire that it should be allowed to retain its original appellation.

Before their departure from Canada, Lord and Lady Dufferin had the pleasure of a.s.sisting at the ceremony of laying the corner stone of this new gate, as well as of the new terrace, which bears their name, and of fairly starting those important works on the high road to realization.

As an interesting link between the present and the past, St. John's gate holds an equally prominent rank and claims an equal antiquity with St. Louis gate. Its erection as one of the original gates of the French fortress dates from the same year and its history is very much the same. Through it another portion of Montcalm's defeated forces found their way behind the shelter of the defences after the fatal day of the Plains of Abraham. Like St. Louis gate, too, it was pulled down on account of its ruinous condition in 1791 and subsequently rebuilt by the British Government in the form in which it endured until 1865, when it was demolished and replaced, at an expense of some $40,000 to the city, by its present more ornate and convenient subst.i.tute, to meet the increased requirements of traffic over the great artery of the upper levels--St. John street. St. John's gate was one of the objective points included in the American plan of a.s.sault upon Quebec on the memorable 31st December, 1775; Col. Livingston, with a regiment of insurgent Canadians, and Major Brown, with part of a regiment from Boston, having been detailed to make a false attack upon the walls to the south of it and to set fire to the gate itself with combustibles prepared for that purpose--a scheme in which the a.s.sailants were foiled by the depth of snow and other obstacles. This gate, being of quite recent construction and of ma.s.sive, as well as pa.s.sably handsome, appearance, is not included in the general scheme of improvement. The erection of a life-size statue of Samuel Champlain, the founder of Quebec, upon its summit, is, however, talked of.

Palace or the Palais gate is the third and last of the old French portals of the city, and derives its t.i.tle from the fact that the highway which pa.s.sed through it led to the palace or residence of the Intendants of New France, which has also given its name to the present quarter of the city lying beneath the cliff on the northern face of the fortress, where its crumbling ruins are still visible in the immediate neighborhood of the pa.s.senger terminus of the North Sh.o.r.e Railway. Erected under French rule, during which it is believed to have been the most fashionable and the most used, it bade a final farewell to the last of its gallant, but unfortunate French defenders, and to that imperial power which, for more than one hundred and fifty years, had swayed the colonial destinies of the Canadas and contested inch by inch with England, the supremacy of the New World, when a portion of Montcalm's defeated troops pa.s.sed out beneath its darkening shadows on the fatal 13th September, 1759. After the capitulation of Quebec, General Murray devoted himself at once to the work of strengthening the defences of the city, and the attention in this respect paid to Palace gate appears to have stood him in good stead during the following year's campaign, when the British invaders, defeated in the battle of St. Foye, were compelled to take shelter behind the walls of the town and sustain a short siege at the Hands of the victorious French under deLevis. In 1791, the old French structure, now a decayed ruin, was razed by the English, but, in the meanwhile, during 1775, it had gallantly withstood the a.s.saults and siege of the American invaders under Montgomery and Benedict Arnold.

The somewhat ornate subst.i.tute, by which it was replaced is said to have resembled one of the gates of Pompeii, and seems to have been erected as late as the year 1830 or 1831, as, in the course of its demolition, in 1874, an inscription was laid bare, attesting the fact that at least the timbers and planking had been put up by local workmen in 1831. It is not intended to rebuild this gate under the Dufferin plan, on account of the great volume of traffic, more especially since the completion of the North Sh.o.r.e Railway, to whose terminus the roadway which leads over its site is the most direct route. To mark that memorable spot, however, it is intended to flank it on either side with picturesque Norman turrets rising above the line of the fortification wall.

Hope Gate, also on the northern face of the ramparts, was the first of the two purely British gates of Quebec, and was erected in 1786 by Colonel Henry Hope, Commandant of the Forces and Administrator of the Province, from whom it takes its name. It was demolished in 1874 for no especial reason, this gate being no obstacle whatever to the growing requirements of traffic, as will be readily understood from its situation. Like Palace Gate, too, it is not to be rebuilt--its approaches being easily commanded and its position on the rugged, lofty cliff being naturally very strong.

Its site, however, will be marked in the carrying out of the Dufferin Improvements by flanking Norman turrets.

The last of the city gates proper, wholly of British origin, but the first that grimly confronted in by-gone days the visitor approaching the city from the water-side and entering the fortress, is, or rather was, Prescott Gate, which commanded the steep approach known as Mountain Hill. This gate, which was more commonly known as the Lower Town gate, because it led to that part--the oldest--of the city known by that name, was erected in 1797, (to replace a rough structure of pickets which existed at this point from the time of the siege by the Americans in 1775) by General Robert Prescott, who served in America during the revolutionary war, and, after further service in the West Indies, succeeded Lord Dorchester as the British Governor-General in Lower Canada in 1796, dying in 1815, at the age of 89 years, and giving his name to this memento of his administration, as well as to Prescott, Ontario. Old Prescott Gate was unquestionably a great public nuisance in times of peace, its demolition, in 1871, consequently provoked the least regret of all in connection with the obliteration of those curious relics of Quebec's historic past. For reasons, which are obvious, it would be impossible to replace Prescott Gate with any structure of a like character, without impeding seriously the flow of traffic by way of such a leading artery as Mountain Hill. It will, however, be replaced by a light and handsome iron bridge of a single span over the roadway with flanking Norman turrets.

_KENT GATE._

For the information of our visitors and strangers generally, we may explain that, a few years since, the western fortification wall between St. John's gate and the military exercising ground in past years, known as the Esplanade, was cut through to form a roadway communicating between the higher levels of the Upper Town and the St.

Louis suburbs, now styled Montcalm Ward.

It consequently became necessary, in keeping with the aesthetic spirit of the whole Dufferin scheme, to fill up in some way this unsightly gap without interfering with the traffic. It was finally decided to erect here one of the proposed memorial gates, which is altogether therefore an addition to the number of the existing gates or their intended subst.i.tutes. This edifice, has been designed to do homage to the memory of Edward, Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria. This gate will be the most imposing of all in the entire circuit of the fortifications, while it has had the signal honour of further being reserved for a handsome subscription towards its cost from Her Majesty's privy purse and dedication at the hands of H. R. H. the Princess, who laid its corner stone with appropriate ceremonial during the month of June, 1879.

_THE CITADEL GATES._

Besides the foregoing, however, the fortress possesses in reality two other gates of much interest to the stranger. When the famous Citadel, commanding the entire harbour and surrounding country, was constructed on Cape Diamond, the number of existing gates was increased from five to seven by the erection of the Chain and Dalhousie, or Citadel gates, leading to that great fortalice of British power, which may be aptly styled the _summum opus_ of the magnificent but costly system of strategic works that has earned for Quebec its t.i.tle of the Gibraltar of America. But, as these belong to the Citadel, which is an independent stronghold of itself, rather than to the defensive works of the city proper, it suffices to mention that they were erected under the administration of the Earl of Dalhousie, in 1827, and that they are well worthy of a visit of inspection--the one being a handsome and formidable barrier of its cla.s.s and the other of very ma.s.sive construction and considerable depth.

The proposed Chateau St. Louis or Castle of St. Louis, must be regarded as the crowning feature of the Dufferin scheme of embellishment and was designed by the late Governor General to serve as a vice-regal residence during the sojourn of the representative of the Crown in Quebec, as well as to revive the historic splendors of the ancient pile of that name, which formed the abode of the early Governors of New France. Of course, this n.o.ble structure only exists as yet on paper; but, should it ever be erected, it will be a striking object from any point whence the Citadel is visible as it will rise to a considerable height above its highest battlements, standing out in bold relief to the east of the building known as the Officers'