XXXV. COMMERCIAL HISTORY BEFORE THE UNION…

XXXV. COMMERCIAL HISTORY BEFORE THE UNION

MONTREAL’S EARLY BUSINESS FIRMS--A PROPHECY AT BEGINNING OF NINETEENTH CENTURY--CULTIVATION OF HEMP--ST. PAUL STREET--SLAVES IN MONTREAL--DOCTORS AND DRUGS IN 1815--WHOLESALE FIRMS IN 1816--FIRST MEETING OF COMMITTEE OF TRADE--NOTRE DAME STREET--M’GILL STREET--FRENCH CANADIAN BUSINESSES--SHIP CARGOES--THE SHOP FRONTS IN 1839.

The early struggle of Montreal to assume the mastery of the commercial supremacy has been indicated by its continuance of the great fur trading industry which became amalgamated in the North West Company, and by the establishment of its general merchant class. After the American war of 1775, business began to flourish. One of the earliest of the firms of this period was the tailor business founded by Benaiah Gibb, whose son, also Benaiah, became a benefactor to the Art Association of Montreal. Benaiah Gibb, who came in 1774, at the age of twenty years, succeeded to a Mr. McFarlain. In 1782 there came Mr. John Molson, who started a brewery in the east end, and in 1809 pioneered the steamship lines of Canada. About 1800 was established the retail drug firm of (George) Wadsworth & (Lewis) Lyman. This became a wholesale business, also, in 1829, and today the Lyman Drug Company is the direct lineal descendant. The great Montreal Ogilvie flour milling business was begun in 1801 by Mr. Ogilvie at Jacques Cartier near Quebec. Shortly afterwards, perceiving that Montreal was to rise superior in the commercial world, he erected a mill on the Lachine Rapids. The Glenora Mills on the Lachine Canal were erected in 1852 by his grandsons, A.W., John and W.W. Ogilvie. The Ogilvie mills have since spread over the Dominion.

There were far-seeing men, at the beginning of the nineteenth century. A few years after its opening a visiting traveler had the following prophetic view of Montreal as the emporium of the northern world:

“The City is that subdivision which is enclosed by the ancient fortifications, the ramparts, fosse and glacis of which are suffered to go to decay. Its form is that of a trapezium, or quadrilateral figure whose sides are unequal. It is situated on an incline plane, gently descending towards the eastern branch of the St. Lawrence River, in whose ample bosom the Island itself, with all its villages, gentlemen’s seats, and cultivated farms, reposes. The following was the population about this time:

Houses. Males. Females. City of Montreal 485 1,541 1,642 St. Lawrence suburbs 514 1,292 1,488 St. Antoine do. 144 348 346 Recollet do. 187 552 620 Quebec do. 256 783 784 Grey Nunnery do. 1 38 94

“The return of men able to bear arms give an aggregate of 3,392; but as little or no attention is given to their exercises and discipline, even that number is contemptible in the estimation of a military man, who in war justly considers an undisciplined mob as an encumbrance rather than help. Should Montreal ever be attacked it can only be defended by British troops. Without these the inhabitants would not be likely to irritate a powerful assailant by ineffectual resistance. As a military position, the place would not be worth a contest, as it would remain no longer in the hands of the garrison than they would keep possession of the high level ground that commands the city. But its local advantages for commercial purposes and manufactures are so great and various that it will inevitably become the Emporium of the Northern World.

“At the head of ship navigation, on the waters of the majestic St. Lawrence, like the heart in the human body, it will be the grand reservoir into which all the streams connected with that immense river must pour their contents. The inhabitants bordering on these waters on the lakes in the northern part of Vermont and western part of New York must necessarily make it the depot for whatever articles of export their labours may produce, and take in return whatever merchandise they consume.

“Those countries, particularly New York and Vermont, are populating so fast that the commerce of Montreal must increase rapidly unless the mechants’ inattention to their own interests should neglect to import goods in such quantity and variety as will render it unnecessary for the country traders to have recourse to the markets of New York and Boston. At present the commerce of Montreal is principally confined to the fur trade, and collateral relations, under the direction of a company of wealthy, independent, enterprising merchants, whose immense capital and judicious arrangements have set at defiance every kind of competition. But the other mercantile departments remain unoccupied, and men of industry and property might, with a well grounded prospect of success, establish houses for conducting those branches of commerce which are less expensive, troublesome and hazardous than the fur trade.”

In 1802 an act (George III, 1802, Cap. V) provided for the application of £1,200 currency to enable the inhabitants to “enter on the culture of hemp with facility and advantage.” The hemp was to be used for cordage for the Royal Navy. Committees were formed at Quebec and Montreal. The following advertisement appeared in the official gazette in English and French: “Notice is hereby given to persons inclined to raise hemp that seed will be delivered gratis at Quebec and Montreal to such persons as will engage to sow the same, not exceeding two and one-half bushels to one person, and that nine pence per pound will be paid for clean hemp of the growth of Lower Canada equal to samples of Russian clean hemp to be seen at Quebec and Montreal, and delivered on or before the 30th of September, 1803, and 12 shillings and 6 pence per bushel for good ripe hemp seed delivered on or before the 1st of January, 1803.” Premiums were offered to societies and in 1804 Mr. Isaac Winslow Clarke, chairman of the Montreal committee, received the gold medal from the Society of Arts for hemp grown in Lower Canada. Great interest was sustained for a time, but it was found useless to compete with Russia. Sir Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal Society, in reply to a reference from the Board of Trade, concluded that the exportation of hemp from Russia could not be stopped, that no matter at how low a price the British or colonial producer offered it, Russian hemp would still be lower.

Meanwhile the principal retail businesses, the butchers, the bakers, the candlestick makers, and the rest, were growing in importance in their shops on St. Paul Street over which they and their families lived. The historian, Heriot, says of these in 1805: “The habitations of the principal merchants are neat and commodious and their storehouses are spacious and secured against loss from fire, being covered with sheet iron or tin.” Speaking of the markets he also says: “The markets of Montreal are more abundantly supplied than those of Quebec, and articles are sold at more reasonable prices, especially in winter, when the inhabitants of the United States who reside on the borders of Canada bring for sale a part of the produce of their farms. Quantities of fish are likewise conveyed thither in sleighs from Boston.”

At this time there were 142 slaves in the Montreal district, although their importation had been forbidden in Canada since 1793, and their perpetuation in Lower Canada was disfavoured by the bill of 1799, in which year there was a petition of Montreal citizens to secure master’s rights over them. In the first issue of the Montreal Gazette of June 3, 1778, the following advertisement appeared: “Ran away on the 14th inst., a slave belonging to the widow Dufy Desaulniers, aged about thirty-five years, dressed in striped calico of the ordinary cut, of tolerable stoutness. Whoever will bring her back will receive a reward of $6.00 and will be repaid any costs that may be proved to have been incurred in finding her.”

In 1807 with the growing trade an act was passed for a new market house in Montreal. The year 1808 marks the advent of a second brewery firm, that of Dow & Dunn, with D. & D. on their bottles of beer and whiskey. The first brewery was at La Prairie and the liquor was shipped across the river. The business was started by Mr. Dow who shortly took Mr. J. Dunn into partnership. Its lineage is Dow, Dunn, White, Harris, Scott, Hooper, and it is now merged, about 1911, into the National Breweries Company, into which the Molson firm never entered.

In 1809 Mr. John Frothingham founded the firm now known as Frothingham & Workman. The factory was at Côte St. Paul and was the pioneer business to introduce the ax and tool industry generally into Canada. An interesting relic retained by the firm is an invoice for shelf hardware imported from England in the spring of 1815 and contains this note at the bottom: “The premium on insurance has risen since the reappearance of Bonaparte and the above is the best terms we could obtain.” The reappearance was due to Napoleon’s escape from Elba. In 1850 William Workman was admitted to the firm. He was the well known alderman, mayor, member of parliament--a good citizen. In 1809 the prospects of trade were heightened by Molson’s introduction of steamships in Canada. A third brewery was started in 1811 by Mr. Thomas A. Dawes. It was located at Lachine, probably for two reasons, the water supply and the opportunity to supply the northwestern expeditions into the fur lands directed by Sir George Simpson, the governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, whose headquarters were at Lachine. The Dawes firm also lately became merged in the National Breweries Company.

A faded ledger of 1815, begun by Joseph Beckett & Company on St. Paul Street, marks the foundation of a Montreal drug firm almost a century old which, through Beckett & Company, Carter & McDonald, John Carter & Company, John Birks & Company, John Carter & Company, Carter, Kerry & Company, Kerry Brothers & Company, Weston & Company, leads to the National Drug Company. The ledger above mentioned is historically interesting, as it reveals some of the names of the leaders of social life in the early days of the nineteenth century. A study of it reveals the following facts:

First of all there are the Earl and Countess of Selkirk--regular customers of the firm, buying powders and pomades and perfume, attar of roses, and the like, as becomes extreme delicacy, high position and a super-refinement, not forgotten in a raw community.

We have Colonels and Captains and Lieutenants, who were in abundant evidence in the life of the city at the time; medical men; esquires by the score--all in account with Mr. Beckett for prescriptions and toilet articles, and delicate perfumes and aromatic waters and powders and lip salve and pomades to give the skin a satin appearance, and other mysteries of the feminine toilet--for the account is a family one, in each case.

We have General Proctor, Captain Thomas, Captain Barnes, Captain Despard, Colonel Dechambault, Major Courtenay, Captain Castle, the Hon. Judge Monk, the Hon. William McGillivray, the Hon. Judge Sewell, Major McGregor, Captain Weeks--but, really the military march through the pages, as thick as “autumnal leaves in Vallombrosa.” As for the medical men, their name is legion--Doctors Andrews, Arnoldi, Bender, Badgely, Brown, Dillon, Davis, Cazieu (Chateauguay), Emerson, Ferris, Forsyth, Grassett, Irving, Kennedy, Kimber, Lee, Morris, McLeod, McGale, Osborne, Nelson, Sleigh, Seilby, Stansfield--and many more. Evidently the people did not suffer for lack of medical advice a century ago in Montreal.

The doctors are down, of course, for the ingredients with which they compounded their own prescriptions, which was the general practice of the time.

We see that Mr. William Gray, founder of The Herald, had an account with Mr. Beckett, while John Kyte, Esq., is indebted in the sum of £6 8s for a new green coat, and £1 5s for a new waistcoat. This might seem incongruous, as drugs and dry goods do not mix too well; but in another page we notice that a member of General Proctor’s household has had a tooth extracted in the establishment--thus testifying to the eclectic nature of the business in that early day, when the departmental store had yet to be evolved.

The Hudson’s Bay Company has an account. The Orkney family got their perfumes and toilet articles from the firm. The Orkney family had a large property facing on St. Catherine Street before the latter was homologated--property which extended below Beaver Hall Hill. Many will remember the family mansion, standing in off the street, near Phillips Square--a big, old-fashioned residence in the colonial style, with ample grounds.

These itemized accounts touch life in an intimate and confidential way. That this ledger should have been preserved all these years in such good condition, each page telling its own story of status and pride and mode of living--is remarkable. It is also interesting to note the copies of letters which Mr. Beckett transferred to the pages of the ledger from time to time--letters of business, but showing a perfection of chirography which would be the despair of the slap-dash writer of the present day--delicate, spiderylike copperplate, with delectable involutions, hinting leisure, and the aesthetic sense. By comparison, the horror of the typewriter is intolerable. The ledger is regarded as an heirloom to be carefully preserved by the National Drug Company, whose offices are now on St. Gabriel Street, though the original firm of Dr. Beckett a century ago, was on St. Paul Street.

Business was growing in 1815 and St. Paul Street was flourishing. In November of that year, through the exertions of Mr. Samuel Dawson, part of St. Paul Street was lighted by twenty-two lamps, costing $7.00 each. Business commenced to pick up after this.

In 1816 the principal wholesale firms doing business in Montreal were: McGillivray, Thain & Co., otherwise called the “Northwest Company;” Forsythe, Richardson & Co., who were agents of the East India Company; Maitlands, Garden & Auldjo; Gerrard, Gillespie, Moffatt & Co., then agents of the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company, of London; H. Gates & Co.; Allison, Turner & Co.; Desrivières, Blackwood & Co.; Blackwood, La Rogue & Co.; Robinson, Masson & Co.; Hector Russell & Co., also retailing fancy dress goods--the great retail dry goods house of that time; Miller, Parlane & Co., James Miller left the firm in 1819 and engaged exclusively in shipbuilding, and was one of the founders of the Allan line of steamships; James McDougall & Co., merchants and brokers; Hart, Logan & Co.; George Platt & Co., hardware; J. and J.M. Frothingham, hardware; J.T. Barrett, hardware; Jacob DeWitt, hardware; Lewis Lyman, druggist, founder of the house of Lyman’s Sons & Co.; Day, Gelston & Co., druggists, Mr. Day being the father of the late Judge Day; Wadsworth & Nichols, druggists; Thomas Torrance and John Torrance, both wholesale and retail grocers; Bowman & Smith, grocers; Zabdiel Thayer, crockery; Toussaint Peltier, grain merchant; Felix Souligny, do.; McNider, Aird & White, auctioneers; M.C. Culliver & Co., do.; and Bridge & Penn, ditto.

Most of these firms did what was then considered a very large business and many of the men composing them were reputed to be wealthy. The possession of $25,000 in those days made a rich man, and $100,000 a very wealthy man.

The business needs required a bank and the Montreal Bank was started in 1817 without a charter. This was secured in 1822. Its story is told elsewhere.

In 1820 John D. Ward built the Eagle foundry on Queen Street and with his brothers, Lebbeus and Samuel, provided engines for many steamboats on the St. Lawrence. The successor of the firm was George Brush. In 1821 Sherman & Co. formed a sculptory business. Its successors were Hyatt & Co., James Mavor and Robert Reid.

The first meeting of the committee of trade on April 23, 1822, indicates another link in the chain of progress of mercantile solidarity. This was to become the parent of the present Board of Trade.

The earliest boot and shoe factory was established on St. Paul Street in 1824 by Alexander Bell, the founder of the J.T. Bell Company of today. Among the first important industries of Montreal also must be mentioned the hemp factory, established in 1825 and owned by Mr. J.A. Converse. The Mussen grocery firm opened in the spring of 1827 with a store in Mrs. Ousteroute’s building on the south side of St. Paul Street facing Vaudreuil Lane. In 1837 his third location at the corner of Notre Dame and St. Gabriel streets marks a historic move and one thought daring. Hitherto trade had centered on St. Paul and Commissioners streets, between Custom House Square and Bonsecours Street, while Notre Dame, Little and Great St. James, Craig and intersecting streets were the residential part of the city. His example was successful and Notre Dame Street then became the principal retail street of the time. Birks’ famous chemist’s store was opened by Dr. F. Fraser in 1828, to be succeeded by R.W. Rexford and by Mr. R. Birks in 1846. His famous store was first near the old Albion Hotel from which the stage coaches started, and afterwards at the corner of Recollet and McGill streets, and has only recently been demolished to make room for the McGill building. In 1829 the wholesale dry goods importing firm of J.G. McKenzie & Co. was founded, though a legitimate successor of one of the business ventures of Horatio Gates, a merchant of great renown, and one of the incorporators of the Bank of Montreal. This year also saw the birth of Morton Phillips & Co., a firm of stationers.

With the date of 1829 we may associate a note on the Montreal lines of stages which were conducted as follows: “between Montreal and Prescott, every week day except Saturday, proprietors H. Dickerson & Company, St. Paul Street; between Quebec and Montreal, every week day except Saturday, proprietors H. Dickerson & Company, of St. Paul Street, and John Cody, Quebec; between Montreal and Bytown (Ottawa), twice a week, Tuesday and Friday morning, proprietor E. Cushing, Haymarket, Montreal; between Montreal and Albany, twice a week, proprietor, E. Cushing; between Montreal and Albany, thrice a week, proprietor, John Esinhart & Company (St. John).”

The railway era started in 1831, when the charter for the first railway in Canada between La Prairie and St. John was granted. All this was to mean great extension to Montreal business. To the date of 1833 is to be attributed the original foundation of Kenneth, Campbell & Co., wholesale druggists, through D. Michael McCulloch, Alexander Urquhart, Dr. William McDonald, John Birks (for Carter, Kerry & Co.), and Johnson & Beers, passing to Kenneth Campbell in 1850.

At this time the grocery business of Hudon Hebert, established on St. Paul Street near Jacques Cartier Square since 1839, and that of Chaput, Fils, on Youville Place in 1842, mark early French-Canadian enterprise.

McGill Street before the ’40s was considered in the country, when Samuel Mathewson started his present grocery business there. For a long time the street as it grew up was a frowsy affair, till the Grand Trunk offices set the way to higher ideals. The street has begun its transformation period during the last four years. Mathewson & Co. was established by Samuel Mathewson on May 1, 1834, on St. Paul Street. In 1840 he moved to McGill Street and was thought to be moving into the country.

It has been found difficult to trace the history of the chief French-Canadian firms. The advent of the Banque du Peuple originally established in 1835 as a private bank under the title of Viger, DeWitt & Cie, shows that this portion of the population was becoming financially stronger. In 1843 the Banque du Peuple as such was started. The petitioners for incorporation were Messrs. Louis Viger, Jacob DeWitt, John Donegani, Pierre Beaubien, Augustin Tulloch, Hosea Baillou Smith, Ronald Trudeau and Pierre Jodoin, Esquires, of Montreal; Alexis Sauvageau, Esquire, of La Prairie; Timothée Franchère, Esquire, of St. Mathias; Joseph Frederick Allard, Esquire, of Chambly; and Alexis Montmarquet, Esquire, of Carillon. It will be noted that we have not treated of the banks and insurance businesses which are so closely connected with the commercial growth of the city. These are treated separately in another place.

The state of commerce about this time will appear from the following scale of vessels and their tonnage, which arrived at Montreal:

No. of Date. Vessels. Tonnage. 1832 117 27,713 1833 137 30,864 1834 89 20,105 1835 108 22,729 1836 93 22,133 1837 91 22,668 1838 63 15,750

Of these vessels and their cargoes, by far the greater part were from England and Scotland. A few came every year from Halifax and other British ports in North America and sometimes cargoes of grain, etc., from other ports in Europe.

The state of the store fronts of this period immediately preceding the Union will afford a picture of the commercial streets of the city.

In 1839 Mr. H. Greig wrote in his History of Montreal: “Both in Quebec and Montreal the windows in many of the old stores and shops are small, not larger than those of ordinary dwelling houses, very little calculated for display and not giving indications of the extensive depositories of goods that may be found within.

“A very great number of the recent shops are elegantly, and some of them splendidly, fitted up. Perhaps there is in scarcely any part of the commercial world, either in Europe or America, a more superb or exquisitely finished room, for its size, than the shop of Mr. McDonald, at the corner of Place d’Armes and Notre Dame Street.”

If Mr. Greig were only privileged to take a walk along St. Catherine Street now!

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XXXVI. COMMERCIAL HISTORY SINCE THE UNION

THE RISE OF MODERN MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIES

MONTREAL CENTER OF CANADIAN TRADE--LORD ELGIN’S OPINION OF THE CANADA CORN ACT--TRADE DEPRESSION BEGINNING IN 1847--SUGAR AND FLOUR INDUSTRIES--THE PANIC OF 1860--A PROSPEROUS DECADE--ANOTHER DEPRESSION--THE NATIONAL POLICY--PROSPERITY AGAIN IN THE EIGHTIES--ST. CATHERINE STREET--THE RISE OF FURTHER INDUSTRIES--THE RISE OF THE COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATIONS--THE COMMITTEE OF TRADE--ITS ACTIVITIES--THE BOARD OF TRADE--ITS ACTIVITIES IN CANAL, PORT, RAILWAY, CANADIAN AND EMPIRE EXPANSION--ITS INTEREST IN CIVIC GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL CIVIC BETTERMENT--ITS BUILDING--ITS SOCIAL FUNCTIONS--THE “CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE”--ITS ORIGIN--THE OTHER MERCHANTS’ ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CITY--A TRIBUTE TO THE MERCHANTS OF MONTREAL. NOTES: PRESIDENTS OF THE BOARD OF TRADE--CENSUS (1912) OF MONTREAL MANUFACTURES.

Trade at the time of the Union centered at Montreal. Quebec had been left behind. The Canada corn act brought in by Lord Stanley, the colonial secretary in Robert Peel’s cabinet, while it cheapened corn in England stimulated business in Canada, for the act lowered the duty on Canadian wheat and flour to one shilling in the quarter upon the condition that Canada should impose a duty of three shillings upon United States wheat. Montreal became the center of its distribution. This success was dashed to disappointment by Peel’s bill of 1846, described by Lord Elgin in writing to a friend shortly after, as drawing “the whole of the produce down the New York channels of communication, destroying the revenue which Canada expected to derive from canal duties and ruining at once mill owners, forwarders and merchants. The consequence is that private property is unsalable in Canada; not a shilling can be raised on the credit of the province.” To crown the disasters in 1847 there was the ship fever in the city. In 1848 the depression was continued, followed next year by the riots over the rebellion losses bill, so that many were ready in the same year for the annexation to the United States as a desperate remedy.

The year 1850 was not commercially satisfactory, but remains bright in the annals of trade on account of a most successful fair opened in Bonsecours Hall, October 17th, and attended by from 20,000 to 30,000 people. This fair was held in order to prepare for the great International Exhibition in London in the following year, and resulted in 200 packages being sent forward, by which the attention of Great Britain was called to Canada in a most practical manner. The war between Great Britain and Russia in 1854, while improving the demand for cereals, injuriously affected commerce in Montreal through stringent European money markets, etc., while American tourists, upon whom the retail trader then as now relied for no small portion of his summer trade, were deterred from visiting the city through the prevalence of cholera. This, coupled with the unusually late arrival of the spring importations, resulted in leaving large stocks on hand.

In 1854 the Canada Sugar Refinery business was established by Mr. John Redpath. The late Sir George Drummond was early connected with it as general manager.

An improvement in business characterized the following year, while the city was thronged in March with visitors to a fair held in anticipation of the Paris Exhibition, and which was very successful. In the same year Montreal was visited by Admiral Betveze to arrange for closer trade relations between Canada and France. The reciprocity treaty also of 1855, followed by the American Civil war, led to increased activity of trade in Montreal, her citizens, as well as those of other Canadian cities, supplying many of the needs of the army of 1,000,000 taken from pen and plough in those days of trial.

In 1858 a torchlight procession of about twenty thousand souls (including spectators), a general illumination and a military parade, expressed the jubilation of Montreal over the successful laying of the first Atlantic cable. The procession, composed of tradesmen and handicraftsmen, was a mile long and marched six abreast.

In 1859 the Victoria Tubular bridge was opened, but just before its completion in 1860, commercial panic struck the country, with disastrous effects.

The greatest disasters were those in the United States, where every bank but one suspended payment; but the calamity was sympathetically reflected in the Dominion.

The Bank of Montreal remained firm, thanks to Mr. Davidson, the cashier, who carried the Montreal merchants through that black time. It may be said that Mr. Davidson founded a school of banking.

Manufacturing made great progress in the ’60s, owing to the Civil war in the United States taking millions of men from the ordinary activities of the country to the battlefields, thus stimulating Canadians to manufacture sufficient to supply the resultant demand.

In the decade from 1860 to 1870, the investment in Montreal industries leaped from $800,000 to $11,000,000. Just about then, however, a period of depression set in, due to a variety of causes.

Chief among these were the inevitable slackening in Canadian outputs due to production being resumed in the United States, and the general stress caused by the financial losses incurred through wars both on this continent and in Europe. During this period the manufacturers of Montreal suffered possibly more than any other body; for the great population and easier developed natural resources of the United States, with other contributing factors, enabled nearly all lines of goods to be produced there at a lower cost; and with his goods barred from the States by high tariffs and his home market thrown open to American factories, the Montreal manufacturer suffered from his nearness to the American border, suffered, perhaps, more acutely than other Canadians. With the inauguration of the National Policy in 1879 conditions changed materially, and the beginning of 1880 found business booming again. Meanwhile St. James Street had become the chief business street. Morgan’s Colonial House was at the northeast corner abutting Victoria Square. When the head of the firm took an idea to open on St. Catherine Street, as yet an unimportant business thoroughfare, in the present location, it was a dangerous move according to the wiseacres, but instantly justified, being followed by other great departmental stores, such as Murphy’s, Hamilton’s and the rest. Substantial and steady progress was made in the ensuing twenty years, the products of the various factories doubling in value in each decade. Then came the remarkable development of the city, beginning about 1898, and in the ten years from 1900 to 1910 the production increased from about eighty-five million dollars to two hundred millions.

The origin of some further of our chief industries may now be recorded.

The cotton industry originated in the old Hudon Mill at Hochelaga, which was started in 1874. When founded there were employed at this mill some three hundred hands, and the buildings and plant were quite small. As the mill stands today, the ground covered is about four times that originally built upon and the number of men employed is upwards of eleven hundred.

The four other cotton mills of Montreal, all of which are under the ownership or control of the Dominion Textile Company, provide employment for between five thousand and six thousand persons in this city and must therefore be accounted amongst its very greatest industries. Some idea of the magnitude of the industry may be formed from the fact that the capitalization amounts to $13,500,000, including bonds. It may be noted in passing that the Dominion Textile Company, the chief offices of which are in this city, controls many other mills, some of them at considerable distances from Montreal.

Prior to 1883 there were no metal bridges manufactured in Montreal or vicinity and practically no structural steel work for buildings.

Since 1883, bridge and structural steel manufacture has developed greatly in Montreal. And there are now three large concerns engaged in this line of business: the Dominion Bridge Company, Limited, the National Bridge Company, Limited, and the Phoenix Bridge and Iron Works.

It is estimated that the combined output of these companies for 1912 was between seventy-five thousand and eighty thousand tons of bridge and building work, having a value of about four million and a half dollars.

It is also estimated that the number of hands employed in the shops and offices of these companies is about eighteen hundred, with a pay roll of about a million and a quarter dollars.

NATURAL ADVANTAGES

Of the great variety of natural advantages for manufacturing possessed by Montreal, it would be difficult to say which is the most important. With cheap transportation, it can assemble raw material and ship finished product with far greater facility than any other city on the American continent. Other cities have possibly equally good railway facilities, others have lake transportation; and other manufacturing cities, but not many, are ocean ports. No other city on the continent, however, combines all three advantages.

Coupled with these, Montreal has an important and rapidly expanding tributary territory in the Dominion, for products of its factories find their way all over Canada; it has a large class of skilled labor to draw on; and it commands cheaper power. Every requisite for successful manufacturing is found here. The cheapness with which power can be secured is a very important factor and with the development of important hydro-electric properties in the immediate vicinity industrial power costs are likely to be materially reduced in the near future. With both ocean and lake navigation at its disposal, Montreal taps both the Nova Scotia and the American coalfields and thus has unlimited supplies of fuel to draw on, which can be delivered here at a very low cost. Some of the largest ocean-going bulk cargo carriers in the world are running between the St. Lawrence ports and the Sydneys, freighting coal here at the lowest figures achieved anywhere for ocean transportation.

As far back as 1859 Sir William Dawson, the principal of McGill University, referred to Montreal’s position for commerce in words as apropos today as they were then:

“In its situation at the confluence of the two greatest rivers, the St. Lawrence and Ottawa; opposite the great natural highway of the Hudson and Champlain valley; at the point where the St. Lawrence ceases to be navigable for ocean ships, and where the great river, for the last time in its course to the sea, affords a gigantic water power; at the meeting point of the two races that divide Canada, and in the center of a fertile plain nearly as large as all England: in these we recognize a guarantee for the future greatness of Montreal, not based on the frail tenure of human legislation, but in the unchanging decrees of the Eternal, as stamped on the world he has made. We know from the study of these indications that were Canada to be again a wilderness, and were a second Cartier to explore it he might wander over all the great regions of Canada and the West, and, returning to our mountain ridge, call it again Mount Royal, and say that to this point the wealth and trade of Canada must turn.”

At this time of writing the industries have grown so numerous that the chronological method of relating their rise is impossible. We shall present a brief indicaton of their number and scope besides adding in tabulated form various statistical facts which will sum up the variety of the industries engaging attention in Montreal in 1912. Probably the most important industry of the city is the manufacture of clothing, both custom and factory. Nearly ten per cent of the factory workers of the city are engaged in this trade and they furnish two-thirds of the annual Canadian production.

But apart from this industry, manufacuring in Montreal covers a very wide range, embracing the chief Canadian car and engine manufactories, structural works, cotton factories, sugar refineries, rubber manufactories, rolling mills, cement works, and leather manufactories. In extent and value of output it easily heads the list of Canadian cities, having double the output of its two nearest competitors, Toronto and Hamilton. The extent to which manufacturing is carried on is strikingly shown by the per capita valuation of its product, which is $360 annually.

Tobacco is a principal single industry, while boots and shoes come next in importance. As to textiles, cotton takes the first place. Among food products, slaughtering and meat packing rank with flour, the largest flour mill in the British Empire being situated in Montreal. Of the miscellaneous industries, electric light and power and electrical apparatus and supplies are the chief.

Immediately outside of Montreal is a large business in iron and steel products. Among the largest are the Dominion Bridge Company’s works at Lachine and the Montreal Locomotive Works and the Structural Steel Company’s works at Longue Pointe. Again, in Montreal are to be found the great car and repair shops of the two chief railways: the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Grand Trunk Railway System.

The city is also the center of several industries, which though not actually situated in Montreal, are yet managed from it. The pulp industry is an example, yet there is not actually a single pulp mill in Montreal.

In the president’s address to the Canadian Manufacturers Association in September, 1912, it was pointed out that in the ten-year period Canadian exports showed an increase of $110,000,000, while manufactured articles showed an increase of $683,000,000. Probably no other country in the world can show such a satisfactory record as this. And when it is considered that more than one-sixth of all the manufactures in the Dominion come from Montreal, the part which the city has taken in this great industrial evolution will be appreciated.

Montreal is most favourably situated with regard to obtaining cheap power. Canada is essentially a land of rivers and lakes, and her water-power is undoubtedly her greatest asset. In 1911 the total electrical energy developed from Canada’s water-power was 1,016,521 horse-power, of which the province of Quebec developed 300,153 horse-power. At twenty-two tons of coal per horse-power per annum, this is the equivalent of about six and one-half million tons of coal. Eighty per cent of the power used in the province of Quebec is water-power.

The wood pulp and paper industry have contributed very largely to the development of this kind of industry, but other industries have taken advantage of it, such as lumber mills, textile mills and rubber factories.

The following companies supply power in Montreal:

1. The Montreal Light, Heat and Power Company, Limited, act as distributing agents in the City of Montreal for the Shawinigan Water and Power Company, whose plant is situated at Shawinigan Falls, on the St. Maurice River, eighty-four miles from Montreal. There is a fall of 135 feet, and 107,000 horse-power has been developed. The electricity is transmitted to Montreal and the Eastern Townships; a large portion supplying the asbestos mines with power. Thirty thousand horse-power is used in Shawinigan itself for the production of aluminum and carbide.

The company also obtains power from Chambly on the Richelieu River, and from the Lachine Rapids and the Soulange Canal.

2. The Montreal Public Service Corporation act as distributing agents in the City of Montreal for the Canadian Light and Power Company, which has a plant at St. Timothée, where 30,000 horse-power has been developed. Electrical and other power is also obtained from the Lachine Canal, where there is a total fall of thirty-five feet, to the extent of 4,642 horse-power. This is used for flour mills, rolling mills, and many others.

There are, in addition, one or two other power plants in process of development.

The manufactures carried on in Montreal are very varied, but of these we cannot speak in detail.[1]

OFFICIAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS

Before closing this chapter showing the rise of many of the individual conmercial enterprises of our merchants we must refer to them again in a collective fashion. We have already indicated their combined effort in securing advanced governmental and municipal action. This has been carried on by the great official bodies or associations of commercial men organized during the last few decades of the commercial expansion of the city. The first of such organizations to arise was the Committee of Trade.

COMMITTEE OF TRADE

(1822)

Early in the last century, the merchants of Montreal realized that a country’s trade and progress are to be measured by its transportation facilities, and that until these are secured, there can be little advance. Accordingly, when on July 19, 1821, the first sod of the Lachine Canal was turned by one of their number, the Hon. John Richardson, a vista of a future inland waterway system and consequent commercial progress was unfolded. Individual action had prevailed so far, but now the value of union among the merchants was seized upon. A few months later, on April 11, 1822, the Hon. John Richardson presided at a preliminary meeting held in the Exchange on St. Joseph Street (St. Sulpice) of merchants and others interested in commerce, which gave birth to the “Committee of Trade.”

At this meeting a resolution was adopted stating “that the ruinous consequences now apprehended from the growing embarrassments of Canadian commerce can no longer be averted or even delayed by the solitary exertions of individuals or by the occasional hasty and inadequate deliberations of public meetings, and that the present alarming crisis demands the establishment of a standing committee of merchants to be authorized by their constituents to watch over the general interests of the trade of the country.”

The subscription of the members of this organization was placed at three guineas per annum, and the original subscribers numbered fifty-four, who elected the following thirteen gentlemen as the first committee of trade: Horatio Gates, George Auldjo, George Moffatt, Henry McKenzie, Campbell Sweeney, John Forsyth, Peter McGill, F.A. Larocque, John Fleming, Samuel Gerrard, Thomas Blackwood, Charles L. Ogden, James Leslie. This committee began its operations in a very humble way, for at its second meeting Mr. Auldjo was authorized to finish the proposed agreement with Mr. A.L. Macnider for a room for the accommodation of the committee, including fuel and attendance at the rate of thirty pounds per annum. The population of Montreal at this time was 18,767, increasing to 27,997 by 1831.

From the records we possess of this Committee of Trade, it is clear that Montreal recognized early its vocation as the commercial metropolis of Canada, for its rules “authorized and required the Committee to make to His Majesty and the Legislature of the United Kingdom, and others in authority, such representations on Trade matters as might be deemed advisable in the defence of such suits as involved the General Trade of the country.”

The securing of the construction of the Lachine Canal warranted this assumption of authority by the merchants of Montreal, who were not unopposed in Upper Canada through mistaken motives of jealousy. The Committee of Trade foreseeing that Montreal was to become the commercial port of Canada, set to work at once to encourage large vessels to come to the St. Lawrence. In 1825, it made strong efforts to induce the Government to deepen the channel in Lake St. Peter so that “vessels of nearly 250 tons burthen, might reach Montreal fully laden during the whole season.” It is a far cry from such vessels to the magnificent steamers which now perform the service between Great Britain and Montreal, some of which are nearly fifteen thousand tons.

Steadily the Committee of Trade began to prepare for the future destiny of the port. One of its number, the Hon. James Leslie, presented in Parliament a petition praying for aid to deepen the channel to sixteen feet. In spite of the cholera outbreaks of 1832 and 1834 and the rebellion of 1837 and 1838, the Committee of Trade went on, until 1839, effecting further improvements.

THE MONTREAL BOARD OF TRADE

(1842)

In April, 1840, when the Union was in the air, at a meeting under the chairmanship of the Hon. Peter McGill, the more active members of this committee took steps to reorganize as a Board of Trade, an act of incorporation being procured in 1841, but as in those days all important bills were “reserved,” it was not till March 2, 1842, that the Royal assent was signed by proclamation and the present Board of Trade came into existence, the number of original members being 106. On April 1st of that year the first meeting of the newly incorporated board was held, at which Mr. J.T. Brondgeest was elected chairman; Mr. Thomas Cringan, vice president; and Mr. J.W. Dunscomb, treasurer.

The board under its new name, pursued the same policy as hitherto. Realizing the value of Montreal’s water position, that all trade had to follow the waterways and that all the waters of the West flowed past Montreal, the merchant members of the board secured the fastest ships to Montreal and early controlled the import trade. The Lachine Canal had been opened in 1825 and in the first decade of the new board they had the satisfaction of seeing the whole magnificent St. Lawrence system of inland water communication fully opened up through the foresight and initial push of Montreal merchants.

In 1853 the first ocean steamer, the Genova, arrived, the new channel having been deepened to fifteen feet two inches and later to sixteen feet six inches. But in 1854 and 1855 this prosperity experienced a check, for during those years no ocean vessel reached Montreal; its rival, New York, with its navigation open all the year, had greater attractions for shipping. Trade became alarmingly bad, but the Montreal merchants were not supine, they rose to the occasion and determined to deepen the channel to twenty feet, and (in 1856) the Allan Brothers came to the rescue, establishing the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company, which commenced a fortnightly service with four steamers. Since then the shipping trade has prospered continuously. The Board of Trade has continuously urged and secured improvements along the St. Lawrence route, the channel depth having been gradually increased to thirty feet and a further increase to thirty-five feet has been promised by the Dominion Government.

A few other activities of the board, which are synonymous with those of the representative merchants of the city, may be here mentioned in connection with the port. The office of port warden was established through the board and its work of overseeing the loading of vessels sailing from this port has entirely prevented the sad loss of life and property which at one time so frequently resulted from the faulty loading of cargo. The question of harbour improvement and development has always received the earnest attention of the board and the council’s representations to the Government in 1906, urging that instead of eleven commissioners there should be three, were instrumental in securing such reduction. The result of the work of the smaller board has exceeded all expectations. The Board of Trade for many years agitated for the relief of the Harbour Commissioners from the cost of the channel through Lake St. Peter on the ground that it was a national work for the national waterway, and this agitation resulted successfully, for in 1888 the Dominion Government assumed the debt, which action relieved the Harbour Commissioners from the burdensome charge for interest on such expense. Similarly the board has succeeded in its efforts to induce the Dominion Government to free the canals from tolls. But while so much improvement has been obtained, there is at present one most urgent need, viz.: the establishment on the St. Lawrence of the dry dock now constructed in which the largest vessels trading on our river can be repaired in case of emergency.

Montreal has yet to become a free port. The Board of Trade hopes that its ceaseless representations to the Government on this matter will ultimately be successful.

It would be interesting similarly to trace the efforts of members of the Board of Trade and other Montreal merchants towards the provision of the great railways emanating from our city as their center. Space limit will only allow us to indicate, that when shortly before the canal system was perfected it began to be seen that the waterways would not be sufficient to accommodate the ever growing trade of Canada, Montreal men faced the railway transportation problem and greatly contributed to its present success. In this they were largely helped by the Grand Trunk Railway which, originally backed by English money, made splendid sacrifices for Canada. The Grand Trunk Railway has not always received its just need of appreciation, but it is now a great national institution stretching its arms across the Dominion and receiving its just reward. The enterprise of Montreal merchants, is, however, mostly to be discerned in that wonderful system of railroads, with its headquarters in Montreal--the Canadian Pacific Railway, which, conceived by Canadian brains, was started by Montreal men and carried out by Canadian executive force and capital. Men of wonderful courage, skill and judgment, prominent members of the Montreal Board of Trade, concluded a contract with the Government in 1880 to complete the whole road by May 1, 1891. On the 28th of June, 1886, the first through train to the Pacific Coast left Montreal for the Pacific terminus, Vancouver. On the first board of directors (1880) of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company we find the names of Mr. George Stephen (now Lord Mount Stephen), president; Mr. Donald A. Smith (Lord Strathcona), vice president; Messrs. R.B. Angus, Duncan McIntyre, and C.B. Rose; leading members of the Board of Trade.

With regard to the water transportation of the Dominion the Georgian Bay Canal prospect has been for some years the object of the Board of Trade and on March 14, 1912, a large deputation of boards of trade and municipal councils urged upon the Dominion Government an immediate commencement of work upon the Georgian Bay Canal.

The Premier promised his earnest consideration of the great question involved but said that the Government must have time for a full investigation.

In the spring of 1914 an immense delegation organized by the Chambre de Commerce of Montréal also approached the Government to the same effect.

All praise to the merchants of the Board of Trade, who by their undaunted push, character and political foresight have written their names in the history of the development of Canada, and have bound the Mother Country, through Montreal, by bands of steel and water to the extreme ends of the Dominion. Their influence extends even further, for it is a matter of record that the congresses of the chambers of commerce of the Empire are the result of a suggestion made by the Council of the Board. The last congress was held in September, 1909, in Sydney, Australia, where the board was represented by Mr. H.B. Ames, M.P., and its secretary, Mr. George Hadrill. Nothing but good for Empire trade can come of such conventions.

Again the Board of Trade looks far and wide. Apart from its present trade working relations between South Africa and Mexico it is looking for a larger and most interesting exchange of business, for a year ago an Imperial Royal Commission sat in the board’s rooms taking evidence regarding the trade between Canada and the West Indies.

By its internal constitution, as we have noticed, the Board of Trade is ever on the alert watching Dominion, Provincial and Civic legislation.

In the municipal life of the city it has urged improvements in the fire service, the water supply, the lighting service and the betterment of streets and interested itself in various other spheres of municipal government reform, among them the securing of the great modern amendment of the city charter which has necessitated the reduction of the number of aldermen to one for each ward, and the creation of a board of five commissioners for the disbursement of money, the awarding of contracts and the purchase of material.

It would be tedious to enumerate further the home activities of the Board of Trade, but this feature should not be omitted, viz.: that its work has made this city a manufacturing center of ever increasing possibilities. Montreal, as a manufacturing center, is hardly sufficiently advertised; Montreal should be made known not only as a gateway for export and import transportation, but also as the busy center of headquarters of numerous and constantly growing industries of its own. It is a distributing source of cheap power, light and heat. All that goes towards the making of a great and successful commercial metropolis has been planned by the merchants of modern Montreal, whose predecessors began humbly in 1822, and ever conscious of the future destiny of their city, were always led by visions of its future greatness as the commercial metropolis of Canada.

It has made representations to the Dominion and Provincial governments on the subject of industrial and technical education for the workers and has taken a lofty and ideal stand in more recent philanthropical and civic betterment schemes.

The Board since 1893 has occupied quarters in its own building, though the first building was destroyed by fire on the 23d of January, 1901. The present building which was entered into in May, 1903, while built on the same site and on a similar plan to the first, is of fireproof construction and, like the former building, faces on four streets. The board occupies the greater portion of the fourth floor, its premises consisting of a handsome exchange hall, branch association room, reading room, secretary’s office, council chamber and committee room. It has a membership of 1,400 and there are daily gatherings of various of its affiliated commercial associations.

In addition to being the center of the commercial life of Montreal, the building has been the locale of several important social functions, the most notable being its inauguration of the evening of 17th August, 1903, by the Rt. Hon. Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, G.C.M.G., which was attended by the members of the board and the delegates to the Fifth Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire (which was held in Montreal that year) and the president of the congress, the Rt. Hon. Lord Brassey, K.C.B.; the reception of Their Excellencies the Rt. Hon. Earl Grey, G.C.M.G., and the Countess Grey on the evening of the 24th of January, 1905, to welcome them on their arrival in this country, which, attended by over twelve hundred guests, was pronounced one of the most brilliant social functions in the history of the city.

CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE

(1887)

The next great commercial association was the “Chambre de Commerce,” of French business men. Up to 1886 the Board of Trade had been alone, though with individual French citizens, as at present, among its members, but in this year Mr. J.X. Perrault, not without opposition even among his compatriots, took the initiative of forming a second board to group together French-speaking citizens. An act of incorporation was applied for from the government at Ottawa and was granted on January 1, 1887. On February 2, 1887, the first reunion of French business representatives took place under the chairmanship of Mr. Jacques Grenier, the mayor of the city, and then president of “La Banque du Peuple,” in the offices of G.W. Parent, at the corner of St. Lambert and St. James streets. Its few hundreds of members have now surpassed a thousand. Its activities are similar to those of the Board of Trade with which there is mutual cooperation in points of common, civic, provincial and federal import. It has taken a great interest in the future commercial education of the merchant by promoting the “Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales” recently erected.

CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE FRANCAISE DE MONTREAL

There is also at present the “Chambre de Commerce Française de Montreal” for the promotion of trade by merchants of France settled here. It was originally proposed at a meeting in Montreal of French traders on May 27, 1886, by M.G. Dubail, the Consul General of France, and on June 26th of that year the projected constitution was received for approval. Since then its purpose of intercommunication and trade relations with France have been sustained under its presidents.

OTHER BODIES

There is also a Federation of the Chambers of Commerce of the Province of Quebec with its offices in this city and among the many mercantile bodies now promoting the trade and industries of Montreal may be mentioned the Montreal branch of the “Canadian Manufacturers’ Association,” the “Montreal Stock Exchange,” the “Montreal Mining Exchange,” the “Canadian Mining Institute,” the “Builders’ Exchange,” the “Corn Exchange Association,” the “Montreal Business Men’s League,” the “Association Immobiliére of Montreal,” the “Milk Shippers’ Association,” the “Wholesale Grocers’ Guild,” the “Wholesale Dry Goods Association,” the “Metal and Hardware Association,” the “Wholesale Hardware League,” the “Montreal Lumber Association,” the “Montreal Produce Merchants’ Association,” the “Retail Merchants’ Association of Canada,” with its office of the Provincial Board for the Province of Quebec at Montreal, the Province of Quebec Association of Architects, the “Licensed Victuallers’ Association,” the “Federation of Licensed Wine and Spirit Dealers of the Province of Quebec,” the “Dominion Association of Chartered Accounts,” the “Canadian Bankers’ Association,” with numerous other trade organizations, all cooperating and making for the commercial growth of Montreal and Canada.[2] To all these may be applied in their degree the words of tribute spoken at the Board of Trade building in 1908 by the Governor General Earl Grey:

“I am glad to be able to stand here as the representative of the King and to signify by my acceptance of your hospitality His Majesty’s appreciation of the benefits you, the Montreal Board of Trade, have conferred by your energy, by your spirited enterprise, and by your imperial aspirations, not only on the Province of Quebec and the Dominion, but upon the population of the United Kingdom of the whole British Empire. * * * Thanks to the brains, energy and public spirit with which your board have met the requirements of a trade which is being borne in ever increasing volume to your doors, over the continuous bands of steel and mighty waterways which you have harnessed to your city, the doors of the great treasure house of the West, containing illimitable riches, have been unlocked for the benefit of impoverished mankind.

“I am aware that the proud consciousness of your past achievements has not made you indifferent to future improvements and that you are still busily engaged in honourable emulation of your predecessors, in promoting plans which will increase the Commercial strength and prosperity of Montreal and further advance the general welfare of the Dominion.”

CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEE OF TRADE, MONTREAL

From Its Inception in 1822 to 1841 When It Was Changed into the Montreal Board of Trade

1822-25 Thomas Blackwood 1825-33 George Auldjo 1833-34 James Miller 1834-35 T.M. Smith 1835-36 George Auldjo 1836-37 J. Quesnel 1837-38 A. Cuvillier 1838-39 Adam Ferrie 1839-41 A. Cuvillier

PRESIDENTS OF MONTREAL BOARD OF TRADE

1842-43 J.T. Brondgeest 1844-45-46 Hon. George Moffatt 1847 Thomas Gringan 1848 Hon. Peter McGill 1849-50 Thomas Ryan 1851-52-53-54 Hugh Allan 1855 Hon. John Young 1856-57-58 E.H. Holton 1859 Thomas Kay 1860 Hon. John Young 1861 Edwin Atwater 1862 Hon. E.H. Holton 1863 Thomas Gramp 1864-65 Peter Redpath 1866 John McLennan 1867-68 Thomas Rimmer 1869 J.H. Winn 1870-71 Hon. John Young 1872-73 Hugh McLennan 1874-75 William Darling 1876-77 Andrew Robertson 1878-79 Henry Lyman 1880-81-82-83 T.W. Henshaw 1884-85 John Kerry 1886-87-88 Hon. Geo. A. Drummond 1889-90 James P. Cleghorn 1891 Robert Archer 1892 G.B. Greenshields 1893-94 W.W. Ogilvie 1895 James A. Cantlie 1896 Robert Bickerdike 1897 John McKergow 1898 James Crathorn 1899 Charles F. Smith 1900 Robert Mackay 1901 Henry Miles 1902 Alexander McFee 1903 Arthur J. Hodgson 1904 George E. Drummond 1905 William I. Gear 1906 F.H. Mathewson 1907 George Caverhill 1908 T.J. Drummond 1909 F. Robertson 1910 George E. Cains 1911 Jeffrey H. Burland 1912 Robert W. Reford 1913 Huntley R. Drummond 1914 Robert J. Dale

SECRETARIES

1842-49 Fred’k A. Wilson 1849-50 Charles Lindsay 1851-54 Alex. Clerk 1854-63 John Dinning 1863-86 Wm. J. Patterson 1886 George Hadrill

NOTE

PRESIDENTS OF LA CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE

1887

D. Parizeau, Ex-M.P.P. l’ex-Maire J. Laporte Joseph Contant Damase Masson L.E. Geoffrion H.A.A. Brault C.H. Catelli Isaie Préfontaine O.S. Perrault Frédéric C. Larivière Armand Chaput le Lieut.-Col. A.E. Labelle A. Fortier

PRESIDENTS OF LA CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE FRANCAISE

1886-90 M. Schwob 1890-92 C.H. Chouillon 1892 A. Girard 1892-95 E. Galibert 1895-97 G. Herdt 1897-1900 E. Galibert 1900-04 H. Jonas 1904 J. Helbronner 1904-08 C.H. Chouillon 1908-09 M. Chevalier 1910-11 A.F. Revol 1912-14 J. Obalski

THE CENSUS RETURNS OF 1912 ON MONTREAL’S MANUFACTURES

The Industries of Montreal City (Not Greater Montreal); the Capital Invested, Output, Hands Employed and Wages and Salaries Paid.

Employees Name or kind Establish- on salaries. No. of industry. ments. Capital. No. Amt.

CITY OF MONTREAL Totals 1,093 $135,044,782 6,863 $7,258,810 1. Aerated and mineral waters 15 1,017,900 73 85,819 2. Axes and tools 6 351,550 19 21,790 3. Awnings, tents and sails 5 57,510 21 15,827 4. Bags, cotton 4 1,106,000 33 35,740 5. Baking powder and flavoring extracts 7 174,585 26 24,224 6. Blacking 5 95,582 14 15,016 7. Blacksmithing 5 94,000 5 6,576 8. Boilers and engines 8 2,909,729 143 131,987 9. Boots and shoes 39 10,386,852 346 380,461 10. Boot and shoe supplies 5 363,536 24 26,762 11. Boxes and bags (paper) 10 963,100 67 77,481 12. Boxes (wooden) 3 376,500 10 10,012 13. Brass castings 6 901,238 30 61,288 14. Bread, biscuit and confentionery 48 2,326,662 161 132,158 15. Brooms and brushes 5 29,200 18 13,114 16. Buttons 3 61,600 5 3,076 17. Car repairs 3 -- 25 20,340 18. Carriages and wagons 33 1,351,078 67 70,096 19. Cars and car works 4 3,867,000 166 142,850 20. Clothing (men’s custom) 64 1,244,917 139 156,131 21. Clothing (men’s factory) 84 4,525,551 447 591,969 22. Clothing (women’s custom) 48 843,548 123 93,254 23. Clothing (women’s factory) 22 737,225 182 178,112 24. Cocoa and chocolate 3 269,000 23 16,515 25. Coffees and spices 6 563,150 34 33,488 26. Cooperage 3 114,346 7 15,840 27. Cottons 6 9,502,973 74 98,219 28. Drugs 7 614,558 48 39,158 29. Dyeing and cleaning 12 479,609 51 45,418 30. Electrical apparatus and supplies 13 4,828,667 157 199,274 31. Electric light and power 3 3,753,392 16 21,356 32. Elevators 3 266,353 31 32,610 33. Flour and grist mill products 3 3,424,500 61 128,900 34. Foundry and machine shop products 43 3,804,137 305 325,776 35. Fruit and vegetable canning 3 75,500 8 11,500 36. Furnishing goods (men’s) 9 1,597,500 162 157,930 37. Furniture and upholstered goods 15 828,700 57 53,079 38. Furs (dressed) 3 134,000 13 15,220 39. Glass (stained, cut and ornamental) 4 109,500 6 6,250 40. Gloves and mittens 3 485,588 40 30,052 41. Hairwork 3 59,500 2 3,380 42. Harness and saddlery 8 1,527,153 104 124,800 43. Hats, caps and furs 59 3,468,671 231 222,406 44. Hosiery and knit goods 5 1,072,093 35 28,096 45. Housebuilding 15 504,070 30 30,398 46. Interior decorations 9 185,768 16 12,585 47. Iron and steel products 8 4,092,900 197 187,929 48. Jewelry and repairs 14 1,644,387 141 105,405 49. Leather goods 9 1,000,287 83 59,508 50. Leather (tanned, curled and finished) 4 770,163 23 41,250 51. Liquors (malt) 7 2,939,223 46 68,552 52. Lime 3 134,100 12 14,980 53. Log products 3 877,000 17 24,906 54. Lumber products 34 3,460,328 137 164,971 55. Mattresses and spring beds 7 159,000 30 33,808 56. Mirrors and plate glass 5 335,000 48 42,201 57. Monuments and tombstones 7 257,800 12 15,991 58. Musical instruments 4 220,500 26 34,750 59. Oils 4 423,200 19 22,194 60. Optical goods 3 34,150 24 20,707 61. Paints and varnishes 7 3,829,538 155 175,576 62. Patent medicines 6 89,803 14 10,903 63. Picture frames 4 101,500 19 12,980 64. Plumbing and tinsmithing 26 3,796,433 209 203,363 65. Printers’ supplies 3 34,207 7 8,640 66. Printing and bookbinding 64 2,414,200 255 252,650 67. Printing and publishing 15 5,323,991 473 419,905 68. Roofing and roofing materials 6 499,500 44 55,254 69. Rubber clothing 8 383,750 30 30,498 70. Signs 5 76,700 21 22,300 71. Silversmithing 4 30,500 6 4,916 72. Slaughtering and meat packing 12 2,414,000 116 115,348 73. Soap 4 360,000 23 31,300 74. Stationary goods 4 166,668 24 25,282 75. Stone (cut) 3 386,074 6 6,864 76. Tobacco (chewing, smoking and snuff) 5 2,874,489 22 41,346 77. Tobacco (cigars and cigarettes) 30 10,068,784 322 425,327 78. All other industries* 105 14,442,976 629 632,579

Employees Cost of Name or on wages. raw Value of No. kind of industry. No. Amt. material. products.

CITY OF MONTREAL Totals 60,390 $26,779,657 $88,862,420 $164,698,761 1. Aerated and mineral waters 325 165,140 150,260 575,330 2. Axes and tools 118 67,974 155,649 301,059 3. Awnings, tents and sails 67 28,153 85,587 167,553 4. Bags, cotton 250 105,000 1,632,000 2,982,000 5. Baking powder and flavoring extracts 55 27,398 97,248 449,425 6. Blacking 28 8,084 97,472 162,494 7. Blacksmithing 34 16,536 21,500 77,000 8. Boilers and engines 1,184 831,997 1,389,527 3,267,873 9. Boots and shoes 5,291 2,228,701 6,377,823 11,462,566 10. Boot and shoe supplies 253 112,838 134,933 303,177 11. Boxes and bags (paper) 792 250,226 457,934 1,087,119 12. Boxes (wooden) 167 70,654 120,000 250,000 13. Brass castings 245 113,303 822,766 1,329,006 14. Bread, biscuit and confentionery 1,095 457,435 1,808,552 3,270,525 15. Brooms and brushes 40 13,882 25,880 66,500 16. Buttons 76 17,600 13,000 49,000 17. Car repairs 433 217,997 223,464 465,985 18. Carriages and wagons 649 340,286 719,317 1,594,787 19. Cars and car works 3,348 1,649,889 4,064,832 7,710,430 20. Clothing (men’s custom) 1,562 706,087 1,428,123 3,226,234 21. Clothing (men’s factory) 5,378 2,442,810 6,306,479 11,358,192 22. Clothing (women’s custom) 967 425,908 994,836 2,176,924 23. Clothing (women’s factory) 1,976 609,821 1,232,304 1,857,493 24. Cocoa and chocolate 190 53,856 300,000 443,480 25. Coffees and spices 85 45,241 501,826 748,599 26. Cooperage 50 16,907 41,800 84,992 27. Cottons 3,435 1,292,493 4,531,282 6,480,698 28. Drugs 116 51,274 291,130 627,488 29. Dyeing and cleaning 630 268,314 213,750 883,103 30. Electrical apparatus and supplies 1,929 898,951 3,026,228 6,841,124 31. Electric light and power 94 54,558 -- 396,850 32. Elevators 97 52,990 58,797 315,170 33. Flour and grist mill products 255 10,900 4,791,000 5,686,000 34. Foundry and machine shop products 1,919 1,002,673 2,269,868 4,735,357 35. Fruit and vegetable canning 44 13,900 85,000 123,500 36. Furnishing goods (men’s) 1,823 467,144 1,007,831 2,820,816 37. Furniture and upholstered goods 725 383,144 409,671 1,358,310 38. Furs (dressed) 183 73,612 854,700 1,255,000 39. Glass (stained, cut and ornamental) 49 23,184 15,900 386,000 40. Gloves and mittens 327 112,431 358,234 707,449 41. Hairwork 43 28,400 30,200 107,000 42. Harness and saddlery 429 207,340 688,600 1,173,750 43. Hats, caps and furs 1,268 500,155 2,598,029 4,388,918 44. Hosiery and knit goods 586 192,137 553,298 1,016,901 45. Housebuilding 462 251,932 390,566 1,053,583 46. Interior decorations 148 75,720 128,555 294,342 47. Iron and steel products 1,224 794,416 1,908,666 3,880,597 48. Jewelry and repairs 574 312,244 477,348 1,184,351 49. Leather goods 228 101,038 817,710 1,112,035 50. Leather (tanned, curled and finished) 276 126,914 735,795 1,300,141 51. Liquors (malt) 410 238,326 638,615 1,627,311 52. Lime 57 28,000 8,600 149,000 53. Log products 84 41,429 478,000 630,400 54. Lumber products 1,618 877,271 2,272,876 4,904,573 55. Mattresses and spring beds 274 129,327 307,509 572,475 56. Mirrors and plate glass 123 54,022 173,132 342,830 57. Monuments and tombstones 114 65,998 74,182 237,032 58. Musical instruments 159 92,100 112,167 283,400 59. Oils 60 25,019 744,068 864,674 60. Optical goods 55 19,882 45,271 121,771 61. Paints and varnishes 516 299,019 2,822,706 4,722,477 62. Patent medicines 38 17,705 23,074 136,803 63. Picture frames 61 33,106 28,975 104,000 64. Plumbing and tinsmithing 1,952 691,537 1,416,917 2,767,034 65. Printers’ supplies 21 9,328 10,000 23,500 66. Printing and bookbinding 1,484 703,392 740,770 2,367,655 67. Printing and publishing 1,144 631,994 742,956 2,595,180 68. Roofing and roofing materials 307 161,167 526,695 886,450 69. Rubber clothing 291 136,885 384,100 869,744 70. Signs 76 41,000 36,400 140,797 71. Silversmithing 28 17,036 9,200 51,128 72. Slaughtering and meat packing 650 310,638 5,059,000 6,123,125 73. Soap 99 34,660 269,878 495,862 74. Stationary goods 191 56,522 84,159 235,980 75. Stone (cut) 270 100,760 25,060 324,418 76. Tobacco (chewing, smoking and snuff) 787 255,999 2,596,356 3,564,736 77. Tobacco (cigars and cigarettes) 3,108 1,107,464 4,809,173 10,292,144 78. All other industries* 4,812 2,280,479 8,995,320 15,677,928

* All other industries comprises:--2 wire, 1 cutlery and edge tools, 1 oxygen gas, 1 time recorder, 1 window fixtures, 1 coffins and caskets, 2 glass, 2 vinegar and pickles, 1 wall paper, 1 paste flour, 1 pins, 1 washing blue, 1 sausage casings, 1 bells, 1 shoddy, 1 glue, 1 boats and canoes, 1 cement (Portland), 1 fertilizers, 1 paper, 1 batting, 2 brick, tile and pottery, 1 cordage, rope and twine, 1 malt, 1 plaster, 1 foods (prepared), 2 railway supplies, 1 refrigerators, 1 safes and vaults, 1 saw, 1 typewriters, 1 cement blocks and tiles, 1 lasts and pegs, 2 stone (artificial), 1 vaseline, 1 sewing machines, 2 silk and silk goods, 1 spray motors, 2 stamps and stencils, 1 sugar (refined), 2 umbrellas, 2 vacuum cleaners, 2 washing compounds, 1 woodworking and turning, 1 costumier and hairdresser, 1 cotton and wool waste, 1 paper (blue print), 1 stove polish, 1 automobile repairs, 1 bicycles, 2 gas (lighting and heating), 1 inks, 2 photographic materials, 2 stereotyping and electro-typing, 1 artificial limbs, 2 asbestos, 1 babbitt metal, 1 bridges (iron and steel), 1 butter and cheese, 2 corks, 1 fringes, cords and tassels, 1 gas machines, 1 miscellaneous, 2 plumbers’ supplies, 1 typewriter’s supplies, 1 dyes and colors, 1 typefounding, 1 fancy goods, 1 laces and braids, 1 scales, 1 church ornaments, 1 macaroni, 2 prepared flour, 2 statuary, 1 boxes (cigar), 1 corsets and supplies, 2 dies and moulds, 1 jewelry cases, 1 metallic roofing and flooring, 2 patterns, 1 showcases, 1 textile (dyeing and finishing), 1 window blinds and shades, 1 pipe and boiler covering.

THE MANUFACTURES OF GREATER MONTREAL

Capital. Wages. 1910. 1900. 1910. 1900.

Montreal $132,475,802 $57,148,661 $34,270,835 $17,810,356 Laprairie 112,000 -- 31,940 -- Longueuil 75,000 -- 55,300 -- Maisonneuve 7,919,080 4,147,533 4,856,496 912,789 Lachine 7,496,612 3,913,846 1,301,545 565,432 Outremont 187,993 -- 51,780 -- St. Henri -- 4,303,362 -- 1,154,383 St. Lambert 191,638 -- 58,496 -- St. Louis -- 101,053 -- 52,988 Verdun 426,051 -- 102,547 -- Westmount 1,441,288 48,947 374,562 26,394 ---------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Total $150,325,464 $69,663,402 $41,103,501 $20,522,342

Production. 1910. 1900.

Montreal $166,296,972 $71,099,750 Laprairie 17,500 -- Longueuil 145,750 -- Maisonneuve 20,813,774 6,008,780 Lachine 6,295,716 2,909,847 Outremont 190,506 -- St. Henri -- 4,139,391 St. Lambert 185,119 -- St. Louis -- 200,140 Verdun 229,299 -- Westmount 1,541,802 102,500 ------------ ----------- Total $195,716,438 $84,460,408

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See the supplemental chart at the end of this chapter.

[2] It is worthy of record that within the past few years there has been also on the part of these great organizations great interest and active concurrence shown in the civic betterment and good government schemes as well as in general humanitarian movements for the common good.

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XXXVII. FINANCE

MONTREAL BANKING AND INSURANCE BODIES

I. BANKING: HAMILTON’S PLAN FOLLOWED BY THE FIRST BANK OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1791--1792, THE ATTEMPTED CANADA BANKING COMPANY AT MONTREAL--DELAY THROUGH AMERICAN WAR OF 1812--1815, RENEWED AGITATION FOR A BANK CHARTER FOR MONTREAL--1817, THE FIRST BANK OF MONTREAL WITHOUT A CHARTER--ITS FIRST OFFICERS--OTHER BANKS FOLLOW--THE QUEBEC BANK--THE RIVAL “BANK OF CANADA”--THE BANK OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA--MOLSONS BANK--THE MERCHANTS BANK--BANQUE JACQUES CARTIER, PREDECESSOR TO BANQUE PROVINCIALE--THE ROYAL BANK--THE BANQUE D’HOCHELAGA--THE MONTREAL CITY AND DISTRICT BANK--BANKS WITH HEAD OFFICES ELSEWHERE--MONTREAL BANK CLEARINGS WITH CANADIAN AND NORTH AMERICAN CITIES.

II. INSURANCE: THE PIONEER FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF CANADA--THE “PHOENIX”--THE “AETNA”--IN THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES--THE GREAT FIRE OF 1854--LATER COMPANIES. A. LIFE INSURANCE: THE PIONEER COMPANIES--THE SCOTTISH AMICABLE AND SCOTTISH PROVIDENT COMPANIES. B. MISCELLANEOUS INSURANCE.

I. BANKING

THE RISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE BANKS OF MONTREAL[1]

As Montreal has been for many years the financial center of the country, a considerable part of Canada’s banking history is contained in the story of the formation and growth of the city’s representative banks.

It is well known that there was no joint stock bank existent in British North America one hundred years ago.

The first attempt was not made in Canada until 1792 when, after the conclusion of the Revolutionary war, Montreal’s commercial importance was increased through the settlement of the United Empire Loyalists in Upper Canada.

Until the Loyalists came, there were only a few scattered military posts in Upper Canada. The new settlers began to clear the land and grow crops. Then, as now, the greater part of the produce exported by the provinces was sent to England; and the greater part of the imports came from the American colonies. The imports came by the Lake Champlain routes. So Montreal handled the inceased exports and imports caused by the settling of the Western province.

In connection with this trade, and with the other business of the city, banking operations were required. These were transacted by the English merchants. They took money on deposit, made advances, and issued due bills which served as currency.

All the writers dealing with this period of Montreal’s history lay much stress on the troubles caused by the lack of circulating medium. It should be remembered that the habitants in Lower Canada had suffered great losses from the issues of paper money during the French régime. Their experience with this paper money caused them to hoard gold and silver and to distrust paper promises to pay. Their attitude towards the first bank notes is said to have had a considerable influence in making the banks hold strong reserves against issues of notes. The currency of the country then consisted largely of French, Spanish and Portuguese gold coins.

In his “Early History of Canadian Banking,” Professor Shortt has shown that banking in Canada represented the development of ideas emanating from Alexander Hamilton, the great American statesman. In 1791 the first Bank of the United States was formed, on a plan constructed by Hamilton. This bank performed very valuable services for the young Republic; and it contributed most importantly to the development of industry and trade. But it was a private concern; and in its work of caring for the business of the country, it committed the crime of earning satisfactory profits for its proprietors. Even in that early day “the people” exhibited a strong propensity for putting out of business any public corporation which had the temerity to earn good profits in serving them. In the case of the Bank of the United States, its end was probably hastened by the fact that the greater part of its capital stock had been purchased by investors in England. At any rate, in 1811, after twenty years of operation, its affairs were liquidated.

In 1792, the year after the Bank of the United States was formed, an attempt was made to launch the “Canada Banking Company,” which was to receive deposits, issue notes, discount bills and keep cash accounts with customers. Professor Shortt says the idea of the bank is supposed to have been originated and worked up by Montreal merchants. The official notice in the Quebec Gazette is signed by Phyn, Ellice & Inglis, a London firm, and by Todd, McGill & Company, and Forsyth, Richardson & Company--Montreal merchants, who were customers of the London firm. The Canada Banking Company was to have its head office in Montreal and branches at Quebec and other places. The two Montreal firms here referred to had a large share of the trade with the Upper Canada settlers.

This scheme fell through. Mr. James Stevenson says in his work that the promoters succeeded in forming a private bank of deposit; and in Sir Edmund Walker’s book it is stated that the company did issue notes, but they doubtless had a very limited use.

Upon the failure of this project, the Montreal merchants proceeded to develop and extend the business of private banking carried on by them in connection with wholesale trade. They gave credit for supplies, issued due bills, accepted orders drawn by one party on another, etc.

In 1808, while the first Bank of the United States was still in active business, steps were taken to organize the “Canada Bank.” A bill was introduced in the Legislature providing for a capital of £250,000 currency ($1,000,000), the shares being of the denomination of £25 currency ($100). This bank was promoted by a combination of citizens of Montreal and Quebec. It was to have twenty-four directors, twelve from Montreal and twelve from Quebec. Although the Legislature rejected this bill, it was printed at the time of introduction. Professor Shortt states that he had the opportunity of examining it and comparing it with the charter of the Bank of the United States.

“Allowing,” he says, “for the necessary changes required to adapt the American charter to Canadian conditions, the bill reproduces in a very literal manner every essential feature of the American Act.” The bank provided for in the bill was naturally on a smaller scale than that of the United States. Then he gives in parallel columns the full number of articles, sixteen in each case, applying to the Canadian bank and the American bank. On perusing them it is quite easy to see that the idea or plan was taken bodily from the United States and changed only so much as to make it applicable to Canada’s position.

This new banking scheme formed the subject of much discussion, in the Legislature and outside of it, for several years. The big merchants of Montreal and Quebec had not abandoned their plan, and were no doubt working for its accomplishment when in 1812 war broke out between the United States and Great Britain. The war served to put an end for the time to the projects for a new bank. The various writers dealing with this stage of Canada’s history appear to agree in their statements that the maintenance of considerable bodies of British troops in Canada served to make business prosperous for the producers and merchants. The troops consumed large quantities of produce, which was purchased by the Home Government at famine prices. Consequently, exports of produce tended to decline. One authority says that about the only exports passing down the St. Lawrence at this time were bills of exchange.

During the war the currency troubles were largely removed, too, through the issue of the army bills. These bills were issued at first in denominations of $25 and upwards bearing interest and in the denomination of $4 not bearing interest. Afterwards bills of the denominations of one, two, three, five, eight, ten, twelve, sixteen and twenty dollars were added to the non-interest bearing issues. The large interest-bearing bills could be converted into small bills not bearing interest; and the small bills could be converted into large bills subject to interest. The rate of interest was 4 pence per £100 per day. Bills were redeemed at the option of the commander in cash or bills on London at thirty days’ sight at the current rate of exchange.

While these army bills were in circulation there was plenty of currency available for carrying on the country’s business. The total outstanding on March 27th, 1815, was £1,249,996. After the close of the war, the issues were rapidly redeemed. A year later, in April, the outstandings had been reduced to £197,974. At the end of 1820, all bills had been retired. Their cancellation brought back the currency troubles in an aggravated form; and the merchants and citizens redoubled their efforts to secure authorization of a bank which would transact, deposit exchange, and discount business, and issue notes to serve as circulating medium.

Even before the army bills were withdrawn and cancelled, the agitation for a bank was renewed. Early in 1815 a motion was introduced in the Lower Canada Legislature to resolve the House into a committee of the whole to consider the establishment of a bank. This came to nothing. At the next session sundry Montreal merchants petitioned for incorporation as a bank. The dissolution of the House on 28th February, 1816, put an end to the bill which was framed to give effect to this plan. It was put in again when the new House assembled; but before it could be passed the House was prorogued. Then, to quote Professor Shortt, “The merchants of Montreal, who had been chiefly interested in the attempts to get a bank charter, feeling, no doubt, that the sympathy of the business community was with them, and that it would be a pity to lose another year with no more certainty of success, * * * decided to start the bank without a charter. Accordingly, on May 19, 1817, the articles of association of the Montreal Bank were adopted, and the corporation proceeded to organize.”

The founders of the bank had their articles of association published in The Montreal Herald, May 22, 1817. Our authority states that he was not able to discover any copy of The Herald for that date. But he found that the Quebec Gazette, exactly one week later, on May 29th, copied from The Herald an editorial item commenting on the new enterprise thus:

“In the first page of this paper the articles of the Montreal Bank Association are laid before the public. Such an establishment has always been a favorite with this journal, and we cannot but congratulate the community on the prospect of a wonderful change for the better in the agricultural and mercantile pursuits of this province. The articles of this most laudable association, so far as we are enabled to judge from practical experience in our younger years, and from much reading, are drawn up with great judgment and wisdom, and seem extremely well calculated for our local position. We forbear making any remarks on the subject for the present, further than that we wish the establishment the utmost success in all its bearings.”

These original articles of the Montreal Bank, according to evidence collected by Professor Shortt, were without doubt adapted from the proposed charter for the Canada Bank, drawn up in 1808; and as we have already seen, the articles of the Canada Bank were almost literally copied from the charter of the first Bank of the United States. Just a few months before the Montreal Bank articles were signed--in January, 1817--the second Bank of the United States was organized. If more evidence is required to demonstrate that our banking system was originally founded on the United States model as then existing, it is supplied in the statement that one of the officers of the newly created Montreal Bank was sent to New York to study the methods of the American institution, and that one of the first officers of the Montreal Bank was an American experienced in United States banking.

The names of the first officers are given as follows: President, John Gray; cashier, Robert Griffin; accountant, H. Dupuy; first teller, Mr. Stone.

The directors, appointed the first year after organization, were: John Gray, George Garden, John Forsyth, Horatio Gates, James Leslie, George Moffat, F. W. Ermatinger, David David, Austin Cuvillier, John McTavish, George Platt, Hiram Nichols, and Charles Bancroft.

The Montreal bank directors and officials continued to press for incorporation. They did not, however, finally secure it until May 18, 1822, when the Royal assent was given to the bill passed by the Legislature for the purpose.

The following resumé of its history may be given:

The Bank of Montreal opened for business on Monday, 3rd November, 1817, in premises in a building belonging to the Armour estate, situated on St. Paul Street, between St. Nicholas and St. Francois Xavier streets, with a paid-up capital of $350,000.

In the year 1819 the capital was increased to $650,000, and in the following year to $750,000. In 1829 the capital was $850,000; in 1841, $2,000,000; in 1845, $3,000,000; in 1855, $4,000,000; in 1860, $6,000,000; in 1873, $12,000,000; in 1903, $14,000,000; in 1905, $14,400,000; in 1912, $16,000,000.

In the first full year (1819) of the bank’s operation, a dividend was paid at the rate of 8 per cent per annum, and since then (with the exception of the years 1827 and 1828, when the bank did not pay any dividend), the annual dividends have ranged from six per cent to sixteen per cent (or say, a dividend of 12 per cent, with a bonus of 4 per cent), according to the earnings. But of late years 10 per cent per annum has been the rate paid, with a bonus of 1 per cent in April, 1912.

After 8 per cent had been paid as dividend in 1819, a balance of $4,168 remained on hand, and was laid aside as a rest. From that date of small beginnings the rest has steadily grown. In 1825 it was $30,780, going down to $12,064 in the following year, and then up again to $107,084 two years later; in 1830 it stood at $31,360. Five years later it stood at $80,660, reaching $197,828 in 1837; in 1840 it showed $89,480; in 1850, $120,192; in 1860, $740,000; in 1870, $3,000,000; in 1880, $5,000,000; in 1883, $5,750,000; in 1884, $6,000,000; in 1900, $7,000,000; in 1908 $12,000,000; and now it stands at $16,000,000, and there are additional undivided profits amounting to $696,463.27.

In 1903 the Bank of Montreal purchased the assets and business of the Exchange Bank of Yarmouth. In 1905 it acquired the People’s Bank of Halifax, in the same way, and in 1907 the People’s Bank of New Brunswick at Fredericton was also acquired in this way by the Bank of Montreal.

In 1906 the Ontario Bank having intimated that it was in difficulties and would have to suspend, the Bank of Montreal assumed all its liabilities, and it was subsequently liquidated without loss.

In 1863 the Bank of Montreal was appointed Banker in Canada for the Canadian Government, and on 1st January, 1893, Mr. E.S. Clouston being general manager at the time, the bank became their financial agent in Great Britain, also.

On 4th December, 1911, Sir Edward Clouston resigned the position of general manager and was succeeded by Mr. H.V. Meredith.

Other banks followed the establishment of the Montreal Bank.

Next year, 1818, a company of Quebec merchants organized the Quebec Bank. On March 17th the articles were ratified and on the 18th the books were opened for subscriptions to the stock. On September 16, 1822, the Royal assent was given to the bill incorporating this second bank. Less than two months after the Quebec Bank’s articles were signed a company of “speculative Americans attracted to Canada by the prosperity of the war period,” entered into articles of association under the name of Bank of Canada. This bank was formed in Montreal to compete with the Montreal Bank. It started with a capital of £300,000 as against the Montreal Bank’s capital of £250,000 and the Quebec Bank’s capital of £150,000. Royal assent was given to its bill of incorporation on September 16, 1822, the same day as the Quebec Bank’s bill was signed.

The charters of these two banks followed the lines of the charter of the Montreal Bank. The Bank of Canada passed out of existence in a few years.

These were the first three chartered banks to be started in British North America. Upper Canada was not far behind in the matter of organizing a bank. The Bank of Upper Canada got its charter in 1821. In 1820, the Bank of New Brunswick was incorporated; in 1825 the Halifax Banking Company started as a private bank; in 1832 the Bank of Nova Scotia was chartered. Soon several other banks were started in Upper and Lower Canada and in the Maritime Provinces.[2]

In 1837 the banks experienced very stormy weather. There was a great panic in the United States followed by general suspension of specie payments. Also business in Canada was completely disorganized by the rebellion. In May, 1837, the Lower Canada banks suspended specie payments. In the Upper Province the banks continued to meet their liabilities in specie until March of the next year. Specie payments were resumed in the United States and in Lower Canada in June, 1838; but in November another outbreak in the Lower Province necessitated a second suspension. Finally, payments were resumed in Lower Canada in June, 1839, and in Upper Canada four months later. That represents the last occasion on which the Canadian banks have suspended specie payments. For seventy-three years they have stood up, in fair weather and foul, meeting all demands in specie or its equivalent. The American banks have suspended generally on four or five occasions since 1837.

Of the banks now having head offices in Montreal the Bank of British North America is the next to appear on the scene. This institution was formed in 1836 by “British capitalists interested in the prosperity and commerce of the North American colonies,” to quote from “The Canadian Banking System,” by R.M. Breckenridge. The nominal capital was £1,000,000 sterling; and £690,000 of the capital paid up and utilized in the business of the bank in America. The connections of the British Bank were in both Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. The bank was obliged to procure legislation from each province or colony. This legislation or authorization was secured in 1837 and 1838.

Doctor Breckenridge mentions that the Nova Scotia Act recites that the bank had introduced into that province the system of cash credits and of allowing interest on deposits, usually known as the Scotch system of banking. As it was difficult to operate the bank under authority of so many different provincial statutes, the directors secured a Royal Charter in 1840. In granting it, the British Government stipulated that the capital of £1,000,000 should be fully paid up and that no notes under one pound currency should be issued. This charter also limited the liability of the stockholders to the amount of their subscriptions. The Bank of British North America thus had a wider territorial scope than any of the other banks in Canada. It gradually increased its power and influence; and in 1867, when the Commercial Bank was about to fail, we find that the Bank of Montreal and the British were regarded as the two big, strong banks of the metropolis, able to bolster up the crippled institution if they found it advisable to put forth their strength.

The next bank appearing on the list with head office in Montreal is the Molsons. This charter was granted in 1855. The original capital was £250,000, authorized, of which £50,000 were to be paid in before the bank should begin business; and the whole amount was to be paid up in five years. The author of “The Canadian Banking System” says the Molsons, the Zimmerman Bank, the Niagara District, and the Eastern Townships came into the field “when the tide of sudden and remarkable prosperity which followed the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 was beginning.”

The Molsons was one of the few banks to take advantage of the famous “Act to establish Freedom of Banking,” passed in 1850 by the Legislature of the Province of Canada. Banks taking advantage of this act were required to deposit with the receiver general provincial securities for not less than £25,000 currency, par value, as security for the redemption of their notes. The receiver general would then deliver to the bank an amount of registered notes equal to the amount of debenture lodged. The notes were marked “Secured by provincial securities deposited with the Receiver General.” This represented an attempt to introduce to this country the system of bond secured currency which had then been taken up in the United States. The Canadian Government’s action in this matter was prompted in part by the desire to improve the market for its issues of debentures. At that time the Government resorted to various devices for converting the resources of the banks to its own uses.

The Bank of British North America also took advantage of the provisions of the Free Banking Act as regards note issue. It is understood that the British did so in order to obtain the right to issue small notes.

The charter of the Merchants Bank of Canada was obtained in 1861; and it began on 9th May, 1864, with a capital of $100,000, Hugh Allan being the founder and first president. This bank operated as a local Montreal institution for the first four years, and in 1868 it expanded into an important branch bank through acquiring the estate of the Commercial Bank, which failed in 1867, the failure following closely after the closing of the Bank of Upper Canada. The bank thereby acquired a valuable connection in Ontario and placed itself in position to develop with the growth of that great province.

It is interesting to note that between 1867 and 1873 there was strong competition in the matter of increasing paid-up capital among the larger banks. The Bank of Montreal, the Canadian Bank of Commerce (which had recently been organized in Toronto) and the Merchants were particularly active in calling up new stock.

The bank return for 30th June, 1867, at Confederation, showed twenty-eight banks in existence with total assets of $80,772,834. And at the end of June, 1873, there were thirty-three banks, with assets of $168,519,746.

Among the existing at present Montreal institutions the Banque Provinciale ranks next to the Merchants in point of age, taking into account the fact that it is the successor to Banque Jacques Cartier. The Jacques Cartier was chartered in 1861, the same year as the Merchants.

Then comes the Royal Bank--its head office in Montreal--qualifying it for recognition as a Montreal institution. The great business now controlled by the Royal Bank of Canada had its beginning in Halifax in 1864. According to the “Historical Sketch” of this bank, by J. Castell Hopkins, a co-partnership institution called the Merchants Bank was established that year with J.W. Merkel as president and George Maclean as cashier. In 1869 it was transformed into a joint stock institution, and received a charter under the name Merchants Bank of Halifax. The capital was $300,000, the reserve fund $20,000, and total assets $729,163. In 1887 the bank opened a branch in Montreal, Mr. Edson L. Pease as manager. Since then the bank’s business in this city has rapidly increased. In 1901 the bank’s name was changed to Royal Bank of Canada, as the business had assumed nation-wide proportions. And on March 2, 1907, the head office was transferred from Halifax to Montreal. Mr. Pease had assumed the general management in 1900, and the establishment of the general manager’s office in Montreal dates from that year.

La Banque d’Hochelaga was organized by French-Canadian capitalists, and received its charter in 1873.

The story of Montreal’s banking institutions would be incomplete without a reference to the Montreal City and District Savings Bank. Although it does not belong to the list of chartered banks, the City and District, in the sixty-eight years of its existence, has taken a prominent and very useful part in the financial life of the metropolitan city. It now has fourteen branches in Greater Montreal; and its total resources are well above the thirty million dollar mark.

Also it should be remembered that various other banks, having head offices in other cities, have taken a very important part in the work of developing Montreal on the financial side. This is shown by the record of branch offices operated in the city. According to Houston’s Bank Directory for December, 1914, the banks with head offices in Montreal, and other banks, had branch offices in the city as follows:

BANKS WITH HEAD OFFICES IN MONTREAL

Offices. Banque d’Hochelaga (1874) 28 Bank of Montreal (1817) 17 Royal Bank of Canada (1869) 21 Molsons Bank (1855) 10 Montreal City and District (1846) 15 La Banque Provinciale (1900) 12 Merchants Bank of Canada (1864) 8 Bank of British North America (1836) 3 --- Total 114

BANKS WITH HEAD OFFICES ELSEWHERE

Offices. Standard (1873) 1 Bank of Toronto (1855) 8 Canadian Bank of Commerce 7 Dominion Bank 4 Quebec Bank (1818) 5 Bank of Ottawa 2 Imperial Bank of Canada 2 Union Bank of Canada (1865) 5 Banque Nationale (1860) 1 Bank of Nova Scotia 3 Sterling Bank of Canada 1 Home Bank 6 --- Total 45

The Bank of New Brunswick, established in 1820, the oldest of the list, existed until 1913 when it was merged with the Bank of Nova Scotia. The Canadian Bank of Commerce is the most important, the total of its resources having risen to an equality with the resources of the Bank of Montreal, and the number of its branches being considerably greater than the number of Bank of Montreal branches. The Commerce was incorporated originally as the Bank of Canada in 1858. From the beginning of Canadian banking, until a comparatively recent period, the Bank of Montreal occupied a dominating position in regard to the other banks. At Confederation the Bank of Montreal had roundly one-fourth of the total capital of the banks, and more than one-fourth of the total assets.

GROWTH THROUGH ABSORPTION

Largely by means of amalgamations, the Commerce and the Royal have improved their positions relative to the Bank of Montreal. The growth of these two banks has been phenomenal. Thus, taking the Commerce, the total assets in 1870 were $7,844,681; in 1880 they were $21,435,711; in 1890, $22,596,520; in 1900, $42,822,799; and in 1912 (September 30th), $242,172,114. Since the beginning of the twentieth century the resources have increased nearly six fold. In that period it has absorbed the Bank of British Columbia, the Halifax Banking Company, the Merchants Bank of Prince Edward Island, and the Eastern Townships Bank.

The Royal Bank’s phenomenal growth also dates from the end of the nineteenth century. As late as 1898 its total assets were but $12,681,664; in 1910 they were $92,510,346; and in 1912 (September 30th), they amount to $172,908,661. In the list of banks absorbed by the Royal are Banco de Oriente, Santiago, Cuba; Banco del Comercio, Havana, Union Bank of Halifax, and Traders Bank of Canada.

The Bank of Montreal, too, has absorbed several other banks; but it can be said that it has not augmented its resources in that manner to such an extent as its rivals have. In recent years its absorptions began with the taking over of the Exchange Bank of Yarmouth in 1903. Afterwards the People’s Bank of Halifax and the People’s Bank of New Brunswick were absorbed on successive occasions. And, of course, the Bank of Montreal acquired a considerable portion of the Ontario Bank’s business through its action in assuming the liabilities of that institution.

In order to show the recent progress of the Canadian banking institutions now in existence, the following table is given, comparing them in respect of total assets as at September 30, 1912,[3] and December 31, 1890. The banks are given in order according to amount of paid-up capital as at the end of 1890:

Bank. December 31, 1890. September 30, 1912. Montreal $ 47,978,000 $ 240,503,000 Commerce 23,061,000 242,172,000 Merchants 21,664,000 83,805,000 British 14,285,000 67,528,000 Quebec 9,030,000 21,343,000 Toronto 12,188,000 57,643,000 Molsons 12,186,000 52,958,000 Imperial 10,055,000 78,110,000 Dominion 12,407,000 73,607,000 Nova Scotia 8,911,000 66,982,000 Ottawa 5,534,000 50,310,000 Hamilton 6,719,000 47,695,000 Nationale 3,997,000 24,158,000 Union 6,419,000 66,985,000 [A]Merchants (Halifax) 5,849,000 172,908,000 Standard 6,052,000 39,758,000 Hochelaga 2,975,000 29,475,000 New Brunswick 3,070,000 12,676,000 [B]Jacques Cartier 2,841,000 12,115,000 ------------ -------------- $215,221,000 $1,440,731,000

[A] Now Royal Bank of Canada. [B] Now Banque of Provinciale.

This table shows at a glance the wonderful progress made by the banking institutions of the country. Although Montreal can claim only about one-third of these institutions as her own, in the sense that they have head office in Montreal, yet it is the case that the financial development of the city has been promoted by the growth of practically all of the banks.

Probably there is no other country in the world able to show such a record of advancement. In the case of eighteen banks with resources in 1890 of $215,221,000, the increase has amounted to $1,225,000,000, or nearly six hundred per cent, in less than twenty-two years. Counting in the new banks it can be said that the resources at present are seven times the resources possessed in 1890 by the eighteen banks appearing in the first list.

BANK CLEARINGS

The statistics of bank clearings at the principal centers also serve to illustrate the financial growth of Montreal and of Canada. In 1892 there were clearing houses in operation at four cities--Montreal, Toronto, Halifax and Hamilton. The total of exchanges for each city in the year ending August, 1893, was: Montreal, $602,180,723; Toronto (exclusive of the Bank of Toronto), $326,009,971; Halifax, $59,835,278; and Hamilton, $38,871,401. The grand total was therefore $1,026,897,373. Montreal thus had about sixty per cent of the total.

The following table shows how the clearing system of the city and of the country has developed:

Year Ending Clearings. May, 1902. December, 1911. Montreal $ 982,455,000 $2,370,487,000 Toronto 710,860,000 1,852,397,000 Winnipeg 155,506,000 1,170,763,000 Vancouver 49,675,000 543,484,000 Calgary 218,681,000 Ottawa 213,932,000 Victoria 29,071,000 134,929,000 Quebec 133,319,000 Hamilton 43,388,000 125,251,000 Edmonton 121,447,000 Halifax 91,545,000 88,194,000 St. John 40,734,000 77,328,000 Regina 73,032,000 London 71,534,000 Saskatoon 56,757,000 Brandon 29,430,000 Lethbridge 28,818,000 Brantford 27,806,000 -------------- -------------- $2,103,234,000 $7,337,615,000

In 1902 Montreal’s average daily clearing was about $3,270,000; and in 1911 it was $7,900,000.

The outstanding feature of this exhibit is the progress of the great cities of the West. In ratio of increase the Western cities far surpass the Eastern cities. Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton are rushing to the front. Of course, the growth of the clearings of these secondary centers serves to swell the clearings at Montreal and Toronto. Ultimate settlement of differences or balances at the smaller places is made by putting through drafts on the greater centers.

Montreal stands well up in the list of North American cities in the matter of bank clearings, her position being from seventh to ninth. But, when the clearings of a Canadian city are compared with the clearings of a United States city, it should be remembered that the existence of the branch system in Canada has a tendency, in some respects, to make our figures appear less. For example, the cheques and items drawn on or payable at the Bank of Montreal, Montreal, which the other branches of the Bank of Montreal receive each day, do not figure in the daily clearings. Each institution clears within itself every day a very large aggregate of transactions.

The banks of Canada originating from Montreal now have an international reputation. The greatest financial institutions and the most famous financiers of Europe and America regard our leading banks as worthy of their respect. Our banks have established their branches in the United States, Mexico, the West Indies, Newfoundland, and in England and France; and they do useful work in all those countries.

II. INSURANCE

A. FIRE

The Phœnix Fire Company, established in Montreal in 1804, was not only the first insurance company in Canada, but it was the first insurance corporation to leave England in search of business. It was founded by a company of merchants to insure their sugar warehouses, and being an innovation, most business houses in England up till then having been composed of partnerships, it was severely frowned upon by the “experts.” Seeing that many British firms were desirous of insuring their Canadian property it decided to establish its office here the better to be able to handle such policies. It soon found that there was a good field for its activities outside of English owned buildings and its Canadian office was a flourishing adjunct by the time 1811 was reached. It was destined to have the field all to itself until 1818, either because it had firmly entrenched itself during this time or because Montreal and Canada in those days offered a very unattractive sphere from an insurance point of view. The Phœnix in those early days won for itself a splendid reputation and grew to be recognized in the light of a bounteous institution by the people of Eastern Canada, and today it successfully holds its own against its younger rivals in the city, while in the country districts, where tradition probably counts for more, it is a household word and people insure with it for the not inadequate reason that their fathers and grandfathers did. The Phœnix Company not only introduced fire insurance to the rank and file among our Canadian people, but it encouraged the formation of fire fighting forces, itself donating engines, the city of Montreal being a recipient of one of these machines, which put it in possession of probably the first piece of fire fighting apparatus it ever owned.

In 1818 the Phœnix monopoly in Canada was challenged at Quebec by the Quebec Fire Insurance Company, which was established in that year in the Ancient Capital, its formation being the first practical effort on the part of Canadians to get a share of the lucrative business which must have been obtainable at that time for a corporation operating “on the ground floor” as it were. The second insurance office to be established in Montreal itself was the result of the enterprise of the Ætna Fire Insurance Company, a concern which had been constituted in Hartford, Connecticut, that birthplace of so many great fire and life institutions, in 1819.

These three companies seem to have practically parcelled up the business of Eastern Canada among themselves until the ’50s, their only rivals being several local mutual associations, brought into existence probably by Montrealers anxious to secure some of the wealth that was pouring into the coffers of the Phœnix, Quebec, and Ætna, but which were doomed shortly to meet a disastrous fate. In Upper Canada the British America, a Canadian enterprise, and a branch of the Hartford, had begun operations, the former in 1833 and the latter in 1836.

The epochal decades of the ’50s and ’60s saw a tremendous impetus given to the fire insurance business in Montreal, seven great companies commencing careers which have continued with uninterrupted success till the present day. In 1851 the Royal, the famous English Company, established itself here, as did the Liverpool and London and Globe, another great British corporation, while the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of the City of Montreal was inaugurated in 1859. This last-named concern changed its title to the Montreal Canada Insurance Company in 1904 and took out a Dominion license, having operated under its Lower Canada charter until that date.

In 1854 came a tremendous test for all the companies doing business here--the big fire which practically wiped out the whole of the east end of the city. The mutual fire associations, which had been eking out a more or less haphazard existence, were unable to meet the claims made upon them as a result of this fire and consequently died ingloriously, much to the advantage of the Phœnix and the Ætna, which settled every claim promptly, and liberally. The Royal, and the Liverpool and London and Globe were also called upon to pay a share of the losses of this great conflagration, which they did at once, though of course, their liability was very small compared to that of the older established companies.

The growth of Montreal’s trade and the increase of her population during the next decade are reflected in the eagerness with which British houses, which had hitherto done their Canadian business from home, decided to operate from this end. In 1862 the North British and Mercantile Company and the London Assurance opened head offices for Canada here, to be followed in 1863 by the Commercial Union, in 1867 by the Northern Assurance, and in 1868 by the Guardian.

The coterie of fire insurance companies then in existence seems to have been capable of absorbing all the new business that could be written quite easily because for fourteen years no other concern thought it advisable to enter the Canadian field. It was in 1882 that the next office was to be inaugurated, that of the Scottish Union and National, the Caledonian opening up here in 1883, while in 1886 another Canadian enterprise, the Manitoba Assurance, was founded here, its policies being guaranteed by the Liverpool and London and Globe.

After this the colony of insurance headquarters here was swollen at regular and short intervals as will be seen from the following list of newcomers between 1886 and 1911 (the nationality of the companies being given in parentheses):

Atlas (British), 1887; Insurance Company of America (United States), 1889; Phœnix of Hartford (United States), 1890; Queen (United States), 1891; Alliance (British), 1892; Law Union and Rock (British), 1899; Ottawa Assurance (Canadian), 1899; Home (United States), 1902; German American (United States), 1904; St. Paul Fire and Marine (United States), 1907; Yorkshire (British), 1907; Provincial (British), 1910; Royal Exchange (British), 1910; Continental Life (United States), 1910; Underwriters at American Lloyds (United States), 1910; and Union of Paris (French), 1911. Since 1912 three or four small fire companies have retired, but to offset this, others, to the number of six or eight, have entered the field.

A statistical table prepared in 1912 to show Montreal’s predominant position in fire insurance underwriting in the Dominion and its long lead on Toronto, which is the second city in Canada in this connection, follows:

Gross Premiums. Losses. Income. Expenses. Montreal Companies $14,335,000 $6,000,000 $14,657,000 $11,594,000 All Canada 26,867,000 3,912,000 9,333,000 6,596,000 Toronto Companies 7,767,000 10,936,000 26,699,000 21,833,000

Ins. in force. Assets. Cap. paid-up. Montreal Companies $1,360,720,000 $20,213,000 $53,363,000 Toronto Companies 717,000,000 5,985,000 15,140,000 All Canada 2,279,688,000 38,000,000 72,427,000

B. LIFE

The development of the life insurance business of Canada began in 1846 by the establishment in Montreal of offices by the Scottish Amicable and Scottish Provident Companies. After doing a fine business these two corporations relinquished their right to do new business in the year 1878. In the meantime, in 1847, the Standard Life Assurance Company, a Scottish institution, had entered the Canadian field, operating from a head office in this city, the Royal and Liverpool and London and Globe inaugurating life departments at the same time as they began to write fire insurance from their Montreal office in 1851. In 1857 the ranks of life companies here were augmented by the appearance on the scene of the Life Association of Scotland, though this concern has written no new business since 1878.

The period between 1860 and 1911 is punctuated at intervals with the advent of new life corporations in Canada, Montreal being selected as headquarters for most of them. In 1862 came the North British and Mercantile, and a year later the Commercial Union and London and Lancashire Life.

Eighteen sixty-five may be considered as a banner year for purely Canadian life insurance underwriting, for the Sun Life, that splendid monument to the genius of a number of Montreal men, was founded in this year. The same year witnessed the arrival of the Hartford Company of Connecticut in this city, this concern being followed the next year by the Ætna and Phœnix Mutual Life companies, and in 1868 by the Connecticut, these three last-named corporations also having their headquarters in Hartford. The Phœnix Mutual and Connecticut relinquished their licenses as far as new business was concerned in 1878.

The Equitable, having its head office in New York City, and the Union Mutual of Portland, Maine, also broke ice here in 1868, the North Western Mutual of Milwaukee coming in 1871 and deciding to do more new business in 1878. In 1887 the Germania of New York State, and the New York Life were attracted to Canada and to Montreal.

After this there was a lull in the formation of new businesses until 1907, when the Prudential Life Insurance Company of Canada was constituted, this company afterwards changing its title and selecting that of the Security Life. In 1908 the Prudential Life of the United States began to cater for Canadian business from headquarters here and in branches elsewhere.

The Phœnix, the doyen of fire insurance companies in Canada, decided to branch out into life, and launched a department to deal with this phase of underwriting in 1910. In this year the Travellers, a strong Canadian enterprise, was formed. Several others not mentioned also intervened.

Since the above there has been no retirements in life insurance, but four or five new companies have been added.

The following table indicates that Montreal holds the lead in life insurance activity in the Dominion in the same way that it does in the sister sphere of fire:

Gross Paid Total Premiums. Losses. Income. Expenses.

Montreal Companies $15,858,000 $6,793,000 $21,789,000 $13,240,000 Toronto Companies 14,435,000 4,900,000 18,414,000 7,791,000 All Canada 40,608,000 19,194,128 53,911,619 40,607,303

Ins. in force. Assets. Cap. paid-up.

Montreal Companies $344,573,798 $116,027,692 $18,551,510 Toronto Companies 292,366,595 76,829,479 4,308,024 All Canada 950,220,771 265,214,984 26,540,323

MISCELLANEOUS INSURANCE

To the Guarantee Company of North America, a Montreal concern, founded by local men and backed by Montreal capital, goes the palm for being the pioneer among guarantee institution in Canada. This company, whose standing is second to none in the world, was brought into being in 1851.

In 1911 the contribution of Montreal to the insurance activity of the Dominion was as follows:

Fire, 30 companies. Life, 26 companies. Miscellaneous, 16 companies.

For the sake of comparison, the figures for the same divisions of insurance activity in Toronto, which comes second to Montreal in Canadian business, are given. They follow:

Fire, 17 companies. Life, 17 companies. Miscellaneous, 21 companies.

In the whole of the Dominion the totals for these sections in 1911 were as follows:

Fire, 62 companies. Life, 49 companies. Miscellaneous, 51 companies.

Six Montreal and three Toronto life companies no longer take new business.

As against the one small branch office of the Phœnix in 1804, in 1911 Montreal could boast of possessing 141 offices devoted exclusively to the handling of insurance in one form or another, and eighty-three agents. No reliable and exact estimate of the actual number of people who are employed here by insurance firms and companies is obtainable, but it is safe to put it up in the thousands.

In fire insurance Montreal has been made the headquarters of many of those great British corporations who occupy an impregnable position in the world in fire underwriting, a number of American companies also handling their Canadian connection from this point. Several enterprises with a Canadian backing also operate from here, while every fire insurance concern in the Dominion of any importance is represented in Montreal by agents of influence or by special managers and staffs.

Canada has very largely assumed control of its own life insurance business, and Montreal financiers have always been to the front in developing this phase of underwriting. Those British and American corporations which have selected this city as a starting point for their Canadian ventures are among the most powerful in the world, and have materially assisted in placing Montreal in the first place among Canadian cities in the business done in life insurance.

Montreal can also show that it has always lead in that section of insurance enterprise covered by the term “miscellaneous” and which includes the writing of policies on automobiles, accidents, employer’s liability, plate glass, steam boilers, burglary, sickness, inland transit, sprinkler leakage, titles, live stock, hail, weather and tornado, etc.

To-day the bulked insurance business of Montreal institutions is probably the greatest of any one city in the world by reason of the fact that most of those influential enterprises which are split up and divided among a number of cities in Great Britain and the United States have concentrated their head offices for Canada in this city.

It is safe to say that next to the great banking and railway business done by local institutions more money is handled by the insurance companies than by any other group of enterprises.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] An article by H.M.P. Eckhardt has been mainly used in this chapter.--Ed.

[2] One of these, the Banque du Peuple, established on July 11, 1835, has since lapsed.

[3] The statistics in the accompanying pages do not go, for the most part beyond 1912. They will suffice for comparative purposes. The rates of losses or gains will be found to be comparatively the same till 1914.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXXVIII. TRANSPORTATION

I

SHIPPING--EARLY AND MODERN

BY RIVER AND STREAM

MONTREAL HEAD OF NAVIGATION--LAKE ST. PETER--JACQUES CARTIER’S DIFFICULTIES--THE GRADUAL DEEPENING OF THE CHANNEL--THE LACHINE CANAL IN 1700--ITS FURTHER HISTORY--MONTREAL THE HEAD OF THE CANAL SYSTEM OF CANADA.

From a very early age of improvement in the art of navigation it must have become evident that water carriage was that which presented the cheapest and most easy mode of transporting merchandise from place to place. Accordingly, with some exceptions, such as occur to all rules, we find that great cities have always arisen either upon convenient ports of the sea, or upon large navigable rivers and inland waters.

Such being the case, it is no wonder that the spot on which Montreal now stands was early chosen for the foundation of a commercial city.

It is true that the commerce of Canada in the early days was not such as to employ many hands.

Peltry was for a long period the only traffic to which importance was attached, and the cargoes of a few canoes, rich though they were in value, required little labour for their transfer to the hold of the European merchantman, and the market was managed by a very few agents of the great houses in France.

While furs were the only exports, the bateau was suited to the trade in both directions; but when agricultural exports commenced, grain was first sent down before 1800 on the rafts and in scows or “arks” which were broken up and sold as lumber in Montreal. Merchandise was at that time carted to Lachine, whence the bateaux and Durham boats took their departure (in “brigades” of five or more boats that their united crews might help one another at the rapids) and sailed through Lake St. Louis.

Still, such as the trade was, Montreal presented a most favorable site for carrying it on. Never was a place for shipment and transhipment more plainly indicated by natural laws.

For hence, more or less, navigable water courses spread out like a fan over hundreds of thousands of miles in the interior, and permitted the canoe of the Indian trader to penetrate in all directions, while on the other hand, a broad and safe river led to the great ocean.

When the labours of the voyageur and native hunter gave way before the steady toil of the agricultural settler, the advantages which had first prompted the selection of Montreal were by no means diminished. The articles of export had changed, but those by which they were followed could only reach Europe by water and could be sent only thence by the same means.

The St. Lawrence, however, with all its acknowledged capacity, was not without its drawbacks. Foremost was the long winter which sealed its waters during six months of the year, and next were the dangers of navigation of nearly nine hundred miles to the sea. The first could not be overcome, but the enterprise of the people has, to a great extent, done away with the other.

In years gone by, when, for instance, Jacques Cartier visited the town then upon the site of Montreal, he was compelled by the shallowness of the river to abandon his larger vessel and approach the town by means of his pinnace.

In the year 1805 the Trinity House was established by act of Parliament, with important powers relative to the navigation of the St. Lawrence.

The principal difficulty met with was at Lake St. Peter, over which (prior to 1851) only vessels of 250 tons could pass and come up to the wharves of Montreal. As early as 1831, the attention of the Legislature was directed to the matter. For ten years it was discussed and in 1841 the Board of Works was authorized by act to commence operations. At that time there were only eleven feet at low water on the lake.

Up to 1846, some $400,000 had been expended without important results. In June, 1851, the Harbour Commissioners, under the impulse of Hon. John Young, began dredging, and in November of the same year it was deemed a wonderful advance when the City of Manchester passed down the river, drawing fourteen feet. In 1853 the depth was increased to sixteen feet two inches, and the breadth of the channel to 150 feet. Every year saw improvements made and by 1869 vessels drawing twenty feet could make the passage in safety, while today the channel will permit navigation by vessels drawing thirty feet.

This deepening of the channel accompanied and caused a vast expansion of the shipping of the city, made more important by the establishment of steam navigation. The commerce of Montreal in the future will always be in direct proportion to the future depth of the channel.

LACHINE CANAL

Before the construction of canals the great inland waters were of but little value to commerce, the only means of reaching them being by the bark canoe or bateau of the voyageur.

Many still living recollect how Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, made his annual canoe journeys from Montreal to the Red River country. Having “sung at St. Ann’s their parting hymn,” the flotilla of canoes ascended the Ottawa, breasted the rapids, and after many weary days, by river, lake and portage, reached Lake Huron and the Sault Ste. Marie, thence along the north shore of Lake Superior to Fort William and the Grand Portage and by Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods to Fort Garry.

With the self-possession of an emperor he was borne through the wilderness, and is said to have made the canoe journey to the Red River forty times.

For his distinguished management of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s affairs and for his services to the trade of Canada, Governor Simpson was knighted. He died in 1860, a man who would have been of mark anywhere.

The Lachine Canal, therefore, is to be closely connected with the history of transportation, seeing that it was the initial stage of the journey from Montreal, northward.

The credit of being the pioneer of the first Lachine Canal is to be given to the Sulpician Dollier de Casson who, in 1700, undertook to deepen the Little St. Pierre River and to make it navigable for canoes through Lake St. Pierre between Montreal and Lachine and thence to open a cut from the lake to a point on the St. Lawrence above the worst part of the rapids.

The engineer was Gédéon de Catalogne between whom and Dollier de Casson a notorial contract was made for the excavation of canal twenty-four arpents (about one mile) in length, twelve feet wide at the surface of the ground and of varying width at the bottom, according to the depth of the cutting.

The water flowing through the canal was to be at least eighteen inches deep at the lowest water in the St. Lawrence.

The work was begun in 1700. It was apparently never fully completed, though it is very likely that the imperfect channel could be used by canoes, for Upper Canada, during the period of high water.

About the year 1780 certain short cuttings with locks available for canoes and bateaux were made at few points on the St. Lawrence where the rapids were wholly impassable.

As early as the 1795-6 session of the Provincial Parliament, a bill was introduced for the construction of a canal and a turnpike to Lachine by the Hon. John Richardson.

In 1804 was completed a channel three feet in depth along the shore line of the Lachine Rapids, connecting with short canals at the Cascades, Split Rock, and Coteau du Lac, which were provided with locks eighty-eight feet long and sixteen feet wide, admitting of the passage of “Durham boats.”

In 1805 the first attempt was made to improve the Lachine rapids. The sum of $4,000 was voted to be expended in removing any obstacles to navigation.

It is scarcely necessary to add that the attempt proved futile. It had, however, the advantage of making perfectly plain that the only means of overcoming these rapids was by the construction of the Lachine canal.

The necessity of such a work, owing to increased intercourse with Upper Canada, was obtaining more general recognition; but some few years were to elapse before definite steps were taken to carry the project into effect.

The proceedings of 1805 are worthy of record, as the first practical attempt at any improvement of the navigation at this spot.

The history of the modern Lachine Canal begins in 1815 when an appropriation of £25,000 was voted for its construction, but no steps were taken until 1819 when a joint stock company was formed with a capital of $600,000. Surveys were made and the design perfected by 1821 when the government took it up as a provincial undertaking.

The work was commenced July 17, 1821, and was completed in 1825 at a cost of $438,404. The first sod was turned by the Hon. John Richardson.

It had seven locks, each 100 feet long, 20 feet wide and with 4½ feet of water on the sills, but it was inadequate for the wants of the trade as may be gathered from the following notice from the Quebec Gazette of the 3d November, 1831:

“Public notice is hereby given that the undersigned, and others, will apply to the Legislature of this Province as its ensuing session for the privilege to form a Joint Stock Company for the purpose of making a Canal, Locks, and Basins, in such places as they may find necessary for a useful navigation from the Lake of the Two Mountains to the waters of Lachine, and from thence to the foot of the current St. Mary, with a branch to the port of Montreal should they think fit, of dimensions not less than will admit the passage of such vessels as can pass through the locks of the Rideau Canal, and to acquire lands for basins and water privileges as may be wanted by the said Company for the Navigation and the use of the waters thereof.

Horatio Gates Dr. Arnoldi Thomas Phillips Andrew White Peter McGill Joseph Masson Jules Quesnel J. Bouthillier Frs. Ant. La Rocque Jos. Logan Montreal, 1 October, 1831.”

The enlargement was not, however, undertaken until 1843.

In 1843-49 it became a “Ship Canal” with five locks, each 200 feet long, 45 feet wide, and nine feet of water, costing $2,149,128.

The enlargement, commenced in 1875, cost $6,500,000 and by this the locks were increased to 270 feet in length and 14 feet depth of water throughout the canal.

The Lachine Canal movement also included that for overcoming the rapids of the Cedars, the Cascades and the Coteau. These were completed in 1871. Since Montreal gave the impulse a canal system has been instituted, so that from Belle Isle at the mouth of the St. Lawrence via Montreal there is a water communication by navigable rivers and great lakes to Port Arthur at the head of Lake Superior, a distance of 2,200 miles, Duluth 2,343, and Chicago 2,272. The number of locks passed from Montreal to Port Arthur is forty-nine.

II

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MONTREAL SHIPPING

A--SAILING VESSELS

BIRCH BARK CANOE--BATEAU--DURHAM BOAT--SHIPBUILDING IN MONTREAL.

B--STEAM VESSELS

JOHN MOLSON’S ACCOMMODATION, 1809--PASSENGER FARES BETWEEN MONTREAL AND QUEBEC--PASSAGE DESCRIBED--THE TORRANCES--INLAND NAVIGATION--THE RICHELIEU AND ONTARIO COMPANY--THE FIRST UPPER DECK STEAMER TO SHOOT THE LACHINE RAPIDS.

C--ATLANTIC LINERS

THE ROYAL WILLIAM FIRST OCEAN STEAMER AND PIONEER OF THE OCEAN LINERS--ITS CONNECTION WITH MONTREAL--MAIL SERVICE TO MONTREAL--THE GENOVA--ARRIVAL IN MONTREAL IN 1853--DINNER TO CAPTAIN PATON--THE CRIMEAN WAR--THE MONTREAL OCEAN STEAMSHIP COMPANY--THE FIRST CANADIAN ATLANTIC SHIP COMPANY--THE ALLAN LINE--EARLY BOATS--MAIL CARRIERS--1861 DISASTERS--SUBSEQUENT SUCCESS--THE PRESENT MONTREAL ALLAN SERVICE--THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY STEAMSHIP LINES--OTHER LINES--THE SHIPPING AND THE WAR OF 1914--THE GREAT ARMADA.

The early navigation apart from the few small sailing vessels that would come up from Quebec was confined in great part to the birch bark canoe, than which nothing yet has been found more successful for primitive transportation. These were supplanted later by the bateau. In 1679 La Salle, whom Montreal may claim as one of its earliest citizens, launched the Griffin above Niagara Falls in which he sailed to Lake Michigan, but previous to 1790 little else but the bateau or open boat was constructed. The bateau which supplemented the birch bark canoe was a large, flat-bottomed skiff, sharp at both ends, about forty feet long and six to eight feet wide in the middle, and capable of carrying about five tons. It was provided with masts and lug sails, with about fifteen feet hoist, an anchor, four oars and six setting-poles shod with iron and a crew of four men and a pilot. With forty barrels of flour on board it drew only twenty inches of water. This was a very safe and adaptable vessel.

The Durham boat, an improvement on the bateau, was introduced by the Americans after the War of 1812. They were flat-bottomed barges with keel and center board and with rounded bows, eighty to ninety feet long and nine to ten feet beam, with a capacity of about ten times that of a bateau down stream, but in consequence of the rapids and want of back freight they brought up on an average only about eight tons.

A--SAILING VESSELS

The first ships built in Montreal were those constructed by Mr. David Munn, who commenced his operations about the year 1806.

Two or three years later he entered into partnership with Mr. Robert Hunter; the vessels they built were generally from 200 to 350 tons burthen; one, the Earl of Buckinghamshire, was 600 tons.

J. Storrow & Co. built two vessels in 1808 and 1809.

James Dunlop, in the three following years, built several of 330 to 350 tons burthen each.

James E. Campbell, M’Kenzie and Bethune, and James Millar & Co. also built a number of vessels generally of about this same tonnage.

There were built in the Province in 1825, 61 vessels; in 1826, 59 vessels; in 1827, 35 vessels; in 1828, 30 vessels, and in 1831, only 9 vessels.

The Canada Ship Building Company from London began to build in 1828, but finished only two vessels.

In 1829 Shay and Merritt took possession of the yard and that year built the steamboat British America, 170 feet long, 30-foot beam, for John Torrance & Co. as a trader between Montreal and Quebec; in 1830 the steamer John Bull, 182 feet long, 32-foot beam, for John Molson & Co. as a trader between Montreal and Quebec; the same year the steamboat St. George, 160 feet long, 26-foot beam, for John Torrance & Co.; in 1831 the steamboat Canada, 175 feet long, 26-foot beam; also the steamboat Eagle for Mr. James Greenfield, 140 feet long, 24-foot beam, and the steamer Canadian Patriot, 130 feet long, 24-foot beam, for a joint stock company.

In 1833 they built the steamboat Britannia, 130 feet long, 24-foot beam, for John Torrance & Co.; in the same year the Varennes, 140 feet long, 23-foot beam, for Rasco & Co.; also the steamer Montreal, 96 feet long, 18-foot beam, for James Wait.

In 1834 was built the ship Toronto of 345 tons for Captain Collinson, running between this port and London; also the Brilliant and Thalia, each 472 tons, for James Millar & Co., sent home for the Baltic trade.

In 1835 the ship Dougles, 348 tons, was built for Captain Douglas and in 1836 the bark Glasgow, 347 tons, and the bark Thistle, 260 tons, were built for Millar, Edmonstone & Co., and sent home for West India trade.

In 1837, the bark John Knox, 347 tons, and in 1838, the ship Gypsey, 572 tons, for the same company.

The same year--1838--the bark Colburne, 340 tons, and the brig Wetherall, 252 tons, were built for Captain Collinson.

The situation of these shipbuilding yards was very favourable, as the timber was hauled in at once from the St. Lawrence. The length of the yard was 200 feet and all conveniences then known were at hand for facilitating and completing the work in the most perfect manner.

B--STEAM VESSELS

To a citizen of Montreal belongs the honour of launching the second steam vessel which navigated the waters of America, and the first on the river St. Lawrence.

In 1809 Hon. John Molson launched the Accommodation, a steam vessel of eighty-five feet length.

When eighteen years of age he had come to Montreal in 1782 and there he built the brewery. It was from the river bank at the back of his brewery that he launched his first vessel broadside into the river. The early history of steam navigation should always remember Molson’s name.

The inventor of the application of steam to a marine engine was William Symington who first constructed, in 1788, a vessel on Lake Delawater, Dumfrieshire. In 1801-2 he completed a tow-boat on the Forth and Clyde canal called the Lady Charlotte of Dundas.

Robert Fulton obtained drawings of the machinery and constructed his Clermont, the machinery being made by Boulton & Watts of Birmingham, England. The Clermont navigated the Hudson River in 1807.

John Molson now began to equip his Accommodation, fitting it with engines, also by Boulton & Watts, and launching it in November, 1809. Though it caused him a loss of £3,000 he persevered and his venture was followed by the Swiftsure in 1811; Lady Sherbrooke, the Car of Commerce, and other vessels. These steamboats were a powerful factor during the War of 1812 in forwarding troops and supplies up the St. Lawrence to Montreal. Mr. Molson died in 1836 in his seventy-third year.

The first trip, November 3, 1809, of the Accommodation was thus described by a contemporary writer:

“The Accommodation shot out into the current and after a voyage of some sixty-six hours, of which some thirty hours were spent at anchor in Lake St. Peter, reached Quebec. As might have been expected, this vessel created a great deal of excitement, and the Quebec Mercury chronicles its arrival thus: ‘On Saturday morning at 8 o’clock, arrived here from Montreal the steamboat Accommodation with ten passengers. This is the first vessel of the kind that ever appeared in this harbour.

“‘She is continually crowded with visitants. She left Montreal Wednesday at 2 o’clock, so that her passage was sixty-six hours, thirty of which she was at anchor.

“‘She arrived at Three Rivers in twenty-four hours.

“‘She has at present berths for twenty passengers, which next year will be considerably augmented.

“‘No wind or tide can stop her.

“‘She has seventy-five feet keel and eighty-five feet deck. The price for a passage up is nine dollars and eight down, the vessel supplying provisions.

“‘The real advantage attending a vessel so constructed is that a passage may be calculated on to a degree of certainty in point of time, which cannot be the case with any vessel propelled by sail only.

“‘The steamboat receives her impulse from an open double spoked, perpendicular wheel on each side, without any circular band or rim.

“‘To the end of each double spoke is fixed a square board that enters the water, and a rotary motion of the wheel acts like a paddle.

“‘The wheels are kept in motion by steam operating within the vessel.

“‘A mast is to be fixed on her for the purpose of using a sail when the wind is favourable, which will occasionally accelerate her headway.’”

The first steamboat advertisement we quote from the Canadian Courant:

“THE STEAM BOAT

will leave Montreal tomorrow at 9 o’clock precisely for Quebec. Those wanting to take a passage will make choice of their Birth (sic) and pay their Passage money before 8 o’clock tomorrow morning, that a proper supply of fresh Provision may be provided.

FARES TO QUEBEC

For Passenger £2--10s--0d Child under 11 £1--5s-- 0d Servant with birth £1--13s--4d Servant without birth £1--5s-- 0d

N.B.--60 lbs. weight will be allowed for each full Passenger, and so in proportion. Way Passengers are to pay 1s per league and if a meal occurs in the going, not less fifteen leagues, will be gratis, if less will be charged Two Shillings and Six-pence each meal.

Montreal, 4th June, 1810.”

* * * * *

The Accommodation was the first steamer on the river between Montreal and Quebec. She made her first trip from Montreal November 3, 1809. The Swiftsure followed in 1811, the Car of Commerce, the Caledonia and others came later, but these early steamers landed their passengers and freight at Molson’s wharf at the foot of the current, and these which first ascended the current did so with the aid of oxen or horses.

The Hercules (a tow-boat) was the first vessel with steam power and without other aid to ascend St. Mary’s current, with the ship Margaret in ballast in tow, during the season of navigation in 1824.

The well known writer M. de Gaspé, says of traveling between Montreal and Quebec at this period, 1818:

“This reminds me of a first voyage from Quebec to Montreal by steamer. It was in October of 1818, at 11 o’clock in the evening, when the Caledonia, in which I had taken passage, left the Queen’s wharf.

“Between 7 and 8 o’clock on the following morning my companion, the late Robert Christie, opened the windows of his stateroom and called out, ‘We are going famously.’

“We were really progressing well, for we were opposite Pointe Aux-Trembles: aided by a strong wind we had made seven leagues in nine hours.

“We arrived at the foot of the current below Montreal on the third day, congratulating ourselves on the rapidity of steamer trips, nor did we feel humiliated in the absence of favourable winds, which did not last more than twenty-four hours, to have recourse to the united strength of forty-two oxen to assist us in ascending the current.

“I acknowledge that the Caledonia deserved to be ranked as a first class steamer of that time, and it was with regret that we bade adieu to it, after the pleasant time we had on board.”

Among the names of those who were chiefly connected with the introduction and development of steam navigation in the Province of Quebec may be mentioned, besides the Hon. John Molson, the father of the steamboat enterprise in Canada, those of Messrs. John and David Torrance, who, in 1826, placed the steamboat Hercules on the Montreal-Quebec route, and who were also the first in Canada to branch out into direct trade with the East Indies and China; and George Bush, in 1834 manager of the Ottawa and Rideau Forwarding Company, and after 1840 the sole proprietor of the Eagle Foundry in Montreal.

INLAND NAVIGATION

The Canada Steam Ship Lines, Ltd., succeeding the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company, had its inception in 1845 when the Richelieu, a small boat of 125 tons, commanded by M. Sincennes who formed the Company, was put on its route between Montreal and Chambly for the transportation of freight and passengers.

As this venture proved a success, the Jacques Cartier was built three years later and ran between Montreal and Berthier.

In 1855 the Company added two greatly improved boats, the Victoria and Napoleon, 350 tons each, to ply between Montreal and Quebec. As a result of the keen competition thus produced the Torrance Company, which had, prior to this, controlled the entire traffic of the route, in 1858 sold their boat, the Quebec, for $30,000 to the Richelieu Company, which by this time had a capital of upwards of $125,000. During 1860-61 two additional boats, the Columbia and the Europa, were added and the capital of the Company considerably added to.

During 1862 the Company was increased by the fusion of Terrebonne, and l’Assomption and Lake St. Peter Lines with the Richelieu Company.

In 1861 the Montreal, costing $12,000, was placed on the line; in 1863 the Francois Yamaska was added, and in 1864 the Quebec was constructed at a cost of $172,000.

In 1875 the company line was further enlarged by the taking over of the line of boats running from Montreal to Toronto and Hamilton.

This amalgamation took the name of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company and had a capital of $1,500,000 and eight steamboats. Four more were soon added, the Athenian and Abyssinian in 1876, the Cultivateur in 1880, and the St. Francis in 1883.

From 1876 to 1882 the late Sir Hugh Allan was president of the company, succeeded by L.A. Senecal, who died in 1887.

In 1895 Louis J. Forget became president of the company.

June 21, 1898, the company launched at Toronto, The Toronto, a handsome new steel steamer, costing about $250,000. In 1913 the Richelieu and Ontario became the Canada Steamship Lines Company, which amalgamation controls most of the freight and passenger boats operating in Canadian waters between the Gulf and the Great Lakes, except the Sincennes, McNaughton Line, which controls the towing in the district of Montreal, the Montreal Transportation Company, the Hall Forwarding Company and several smaller inland lines.

The Steamer Ontario, Captain Hilliard, was the first upper-deck steamer to descend Lachine Rapids, August 19, 1840. Her name was afterward changed to the Lord Sydenham.

It is not recorded that more than one steamer ever succeeded in ascending the rapids of the St. Lawrence River. In November, 1838, the little Dolphin, after four weeks of incessant toil, was towed up the Long Sault rapids with the aid of twenty oxen, besides horses, capstans and men, added to the working of her engine--the first and probably the last steamer that will ever accomplish the feat.

C--ATLANTIC LINERS

Montreal can claim some share in the success of the first ship that ever crossed the Atlantic under steam. The Royal William was built in the yards of Campbell and Black in Quebec in 1830-1, the designer being Mr. John Gondie.

The ship was launched in the spring of 1831 and towed to Montreal to receive her machinery, and on being fitted out for sea her first voyage was to Halifax, thence to Boston, being the first British steamer to arrive at that port.

Her dimensions were: Length, 176 feet; hold, 17 feet, 9 inches; breadth outside, 44 feet; breadth between paddle boxes, 28 feet. She had three masts, schooner rigged; builders’ measurement, 1,370 tons; with accommodations for sixty passengers. She left Quebec for London on August 5, 1833, via Picton, Nova Scotia. Thence her voyage was twenty-five days.

Ten days after her arrival she was chartered by the Portuguese Government to enter the service of Dom Pedro. In 1834 she was sold to the Spanish Government and was converted into a war steamer under the name of the Ysabel Segunda and was employed against Don Carlos.

She was undoubtedly the pioneer of the great Atlantic liners.

The connection of Montreal and the Atlantic Service is now to be told.

The origin of the Montreal steamboat mail service is indicated from an article by Thomas C. Keeffer, civil engineer, 1863. “On the 13th of August, 1852, a contract was entered into between the Commissions of Works of Canada and Messrs. McKean, McLarty & Company, a Liverpool firm, for a term of seven years, by which a line of screw steamers of not less than 1,200 tons, carpenter’s measurements, 300 horsepower and capable of carrying 1,000 tons of cargo, besides coal, for twenty-two days, were to commence running between Liverpool, Quebec and Montreal in the spring of 1853, one every fortnight during the season of navigation, and to Portland once a month; the outward passage not to exceed fourteen days and the homeward passage thirteen days. The maximum rate of freight to be charged was 60 shillings per ton. Fourteen trips were to be made from Liverpool to the St. Lawrence and back, for which at least five steamers were to be provided; and five trips to Portland and back, for which three steamers were required. The vessels were all to be ready and to commence their fortnightly service on or before the 1st of May, 1854, and a sufficient number to be ready and to commence the monthly trips in the spring of 1853. The price to be paid by the province was for fourteen fortnightly trips to the St. Lawrence, £1,238--1--11 sterling. The Grand Trunk Railway was to pay £388--6--8 sterling for each monthly trip to Portland. In October, 1852, Messrs. McKean, McLarty & Company formed a provisional company under the title of the Liverpool & North American Screw Steamship Company, and petitioned the Board of Trade for a Royal Charter with limited liabilities. In this they were vigorously and successfully opposed by the Cunard Steamship Company (already magnificently subsidized by the British government) and generally by ship owners not protected by a limited liability, and were compelled to attempt the formation of their company under a Canadian charter.

“Under this contract the Genova, a small steamer of 700 tons and 160 horsepower, was sent out in 1853, the first trans-Atlantic steamer which entered the St. Lawrence proper.”

It reached Montreal carrying the royal mail on Friday, May 13, 1853, amidst great rejoicing. She was an iron boat from Liverpool, commanded by Captain Paton.

On the evening of her arrival a dinner was given in the Donegani Hotel, the following being the text of the address presented to Capt. Walter Paton, who with Mayor Wilson and the others sat at the banquet:

* * * * *

“Captain Paton, Sir.--Your arrival in the Port of Montreal in charge of the Genova, the pioneer steamer of the Ocean Line, is an event of too much importance to Canada to be allowed to pass without notice.

“To mark the sense which the City Council entertains of this very gratifying token of our Country’s advance, I have been instructed to welcome you with heartfelt congratulations, and to offer you the hospitalities of the City.

“It is now happily beginning to be understood that the highways which nature has provided for access to the interior Countries, are usually the shortest and most practicable, and a single glance at the Map of North America, should convince the most skeptical that the St. Lawrence, with its chain of lakes, is the true channel for the commerce of the Great West. To divert into other outlets the products of the vast granaries which skirt our waters for thousands of miles, has employed the talents, energies and resources of our great rival and neighbour, and not without success.

“The time, however, is fast approaching when the tide of trade and travel will take its proper and destined course. Canada begins to feel its strength and to value its advantages. Its pupillage has not been altogether misspent. Arrived at the maturity which demands self-reliance it is ready to take its place, as a full grown worker, and little doubt need be entertained of the vigour which it is prepared to bring to the task. What the future of Canada will be, the largest minds have not adequately conceived. A knowledge of its unbounded resources, the tithe of which has not been developed--an appreciation of its salubrious climate, and the essentially liberal character of its institutions offer guarantees to the emigrant for the successful pursuit of competency and happiness which no other country can exceed.

“The disturbance of our waters by your gallant vessel is one of those strong pulsations which indicate the high health of Canada. And the time cannot be very distant when this pulse will beat--not once in the month, but with greatly increased power and frequency. Nevertheless, Dear Sir, The Genova and Captain Paton will ever be associated in the history of a note-worthy era; and when the first Steamer of the ocean line is referred to, these names will stir up the most pleasurable reminiscences. Again, then, we hail your advent among us; and we may express the hope that your connexion with this enterprize will be sufficiently prolonged to place you in competition with other rivalries in the same honourable strife.”

The Genova was followed by the Lady Eglinton, 600 tons and 160 horsepower, and the Sarah Sands, 1,200 tons and 150 horsepower. But these boats only made five trips in 1853. The average voyage was fourteen to twenty-two days, home twelve to eighteen days; and 80 shillings freight instead of 60 shillings was charged. In consequence of this total failure on the part of the contractors the government of Canada annulled the contract.

The Crimean war of 1854 now broke out and no doubt the vessels were needed for military transport purposes, so that no new contract was made with the firm. This was the great opportunity which was seized upon by the Allan Company, so that on September 28, 1855, a new contract was entered into with Hugh Allan, of Montreal, to commence in April, 1856, and to give the same time and number of trips as before, but with vessels not less than 350 horsepower. The subsidy was £24,000 sterling per annum, and a penalty of £1,000 for every trip lost was provided for, the deduction of a pro rata amount of the subsidy. The contract was terminable by the contractors at the end of any year by giving six months previous notice. Although the line was not remunerative in its first season, 1856, the contract was fulfilled in the most satisfactory manner, the outward passage being under thirteen days and the home work a little over eleven days. The Montreal Ocean Steamship Company was, therefore, the first “Canadian Atlantic steamship company.”

But it must not be imagined that this was a brand new firm. It had been long connected with the Montreal shipping ventures. The Allan line dates back to 1822. In that year Capt. Alexander Allan sailed to the St. Lawrence from Glasgow in the brig Jean--not one-fiftieth of the tonnage of the liners of today, but the first of the fleet, withal. Captain Alexander was succeeded by his five sons, Captain Bryce commanding some of the earlier ships.

Hugh Allan arrived as a boy in Montreal, sailing from Greenock in Scotland with his father on the brig Favorite. We can imagine the scene of landing from the state of the development of the port at that time. Hugh went into business as a bookkeeper to William Kent & Company, but in 1831 he entered the office of Messrs. William Edmonstone & Company, ship agents and ship builders. Andrew, his brother, joined him later and they both married sisters, daughters of R. John Smith, a wealthy importer. These two brothers represented the Allan line in Montreal, while Glasgow and Liverpool were served by the three other sons. Meanwhile the Allan fleet, especially since 1834, had been growing with such ships as the clippers Glennifer, Abeona, the Corinthian, and their first steamship Sardinian, of which Captain Dutton, a religious-minded but capable seaman, known as “Holy Joe,” was the commander, afterwards becoming the commodore of the fleet.

THE ALLAN LINE ROYAL MAIL STEAMERS

The firm now owned a fleet of fast sailing vessels of about three hundred and fifty tons register--full-rigged ships which, with ice-blocks round their bows, pushed their way through the ice, so that sometimes they would arrive in port on the 15th of April. In 1853 Mr. Hugh Allan, who was a man of great tenacity of purpose, and at the same time of remarkable foresight, saw that the time had come for the building of iron ships for the St. Lawrence trade. Besides, there was the consideration that they would run to Portland in the winter time, and connect with Montreal by rail. He enlisted the support of several wealthy men, including Mr. William Dow and Mr. Robert Anderson, of Montreal, and formed the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company. The Canadian and Indian were the first two boats built by the company.

The boats cost about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars each and had a speed of eleven knots.

They were wonders at the time and made a great impression, as the people had not been accustomed to see iron ships. Thus it happened that when about this time the Crimean war broke out, and the government was at its wit’s end to provide transports, the Allans went into the business, and while the war lasted made large profits.

The Canadian Government now made a contract with Mr. Hugh Allan for carrying the mails, paying an annual subsidy of $120,000 per annum. The Anglo-Saxon, a new boat, ran from Quebec to Liverpool in nine days on one occasion. This was thought to be wonderful, as the people had been accustomed to a voyage of forty days on the old sailing vessels. At that time the ships got 30 cents per bushel for carrying grain. Contrast this with the 2 cents of today, or the carrying of grain for nothing, as is done by New York shipping at certain periods of the year, in order to get ballast on an outgoing trip.

The requirements of the service in 1858 demanded more accommodation, and the Allan brothers determined on a weekly service.

Larger and faster boats were introduced. The government paid subsidies to the new service totalling $416,000 per annum. Year by year the Allans launched new boats, always bigger and faster, though speed was never the chief consideration with the company.

In 1861 they had a fleet of over twenty vessels; but a sinister fortune befell the company in the first ten years of its existence. Eight ships were lost in as many years.

In 1857 the Canadian, in 1859 the Indian, in 1860 the Hungarian and the second Canadian, and the North Briton in 1861, and later the Anglo-Saxon, the Norwegian and the Bohemian--all became total wrecks. The river was badly lighted. The tides did not run true. The pilots were incompetent. The compass deviated, owing to some strange local attraction due, it was said, to mineral deposits in the gulf. Anyway, disaster followed disaster, and, as was said at the time, any other man than Mr. Allan would have given up in despair. But that gentleman had something of the firmness of his native granite in his composition, and he never wavered. Difficulties in time were overcome; the Allans began to prosper and from this on their boats were singularly free from accidents.

To show, however, how little even the most perspicacious can see in advance of their time, it may be stated that at the banquet which the citizens tendered Mr. Hugh Allan in 1850, he said that ships of 1,700 tons were the most suitable for the Montreal trade. He lived to see his boats grow to 5,500 tons.

The line prospered; the number of boats was constantly increased to meet the need; the Northwest was opened up; and the Allan boats brought in many thousands of immigrants. In addition the company branched out to South America.

The building of the Parisian in 1881 was supposed to be about the last word in shipbuilding. She was far in advance of anything to be seen on the route. Today she is, by comparison with the leviathans of the route, almost as antique as the old Favorite was when steamships came in.

In 1887, the Canadian Government decided to subsidize a line of fast steamships. They asked for twenty knots an hour and that the vessels should call at a French port. The Allans held that the first demand was impracticable, owing to the fact that high speed would be dangerous because of the fogs in the gulf; while, as to the second, it was deemed to be out of the question. The Government played with a tender from another firm, Anderson, Anderson & Co., of London, which, however, did not make good; and the fast Atlantic service, in spite of much discussion and tentative efforts on the part of the Government and the shipping people, has never come to anything to this day. The C.P.R. offered to build a fast service; but the terms were deemed by the government to be too onerous.

The line increased, however, in ships, in business done, in reputation, both from our own and the American ports.

Mr. Hugh Allan was knighted in 1870. In 1877 he determined to associate his name with the C.P.R. enterprise. He, in fact, formed the first syndicate to build it. The fall of the Macdonald Government defeated his plan.

He succumbed to an attack of gout in 1882, at the age of seventy-two years. His remains were brought out to Canada in one of his own ships, and laid to rest in Mount Royal Cemetery.

Alexander Allan died at Glasgow in 1892, leaving a fortune of three million dollars. Andrew, so well remembered by Montrealers for his public spirit, his identification with good works, his “canny” Scotch caution, compatible, at the same time, with an enterprise and boldness in the conduct of his business, died in Montreal in the ’90s.

The business today is carried on by Mr. Hugh A. Allan, chairman, resident in London, and Mr. Andrew A. Allan, vice chairman, resident in Montreal.

The firm has broadened out in many important ways. It was the first to introduce turbines on the St. Lawrence, and it is still augmenting the fleet.

Of the Allan fleet, the steamers on the Montreal-Quebec-Liverpool service making the port of Montreal are: Tunisian, 10,576.38 tons; Victorian, 10,629.09 tons; and Virginian, 10,569.62 tons.

The steamers on the Montreal and Glasgow line are: Corsican, 11,436 tons; Grampian, 10,900 tons; Scandinavian and Hesperian, 12,100 and 10,900 tons, respectively.

Those in the Montreal and London service are: Ionian, 8,267.61 tons; Sicilian, 6,229.49 tons; Scotian, 10,490 tons; Corinthian, 6,229.49 tons; and Tunisian, 10,576.38 tons.

Those in the Montreal and Havre service are: Ionian, 8,267.61 tons; Scotian, Corinthian, Sicilian, 6,229.49 tons; and Tunisian, 10,576.38 tons.

The year 1914 also saw the introduction to the Liverpool service of the Allan Line the new steamers Alsatian and Calgarian, quadruple screw turbine steamers, ships of 18,000 tons, 21 knots speed, the largest, fastest and most luxuriously equipped steamers on the St. Lawrence route.

Among the great mercantile fleets of the world no house flag is better known than the red pennant and tri-color of the Allan Line and none represents to the ocean voyager a greater degree of safety and comfort.

To the Allan Liner Corsican, Capt. John Hall, belongs the honour of being the first ocean liner to make the port of Montreal in 1914, arriving here at 12:30 p. m., Wednesday, April 29th.

Following the time honoured custom Captain Hall was presented by the Harbour Commissioners with a gold headed cane and a silk hat.

OTHER FLEETS

Another great fleet connected closely with Montreal is that of the Canadian Pacific Railway steamship service. The history of the inception and development of the railway is told elsewhere.

The history of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, as steamship owners, dates back for more than a quarter of a century, for it was early in 1883 that the company contracted on the Clyde for the construction of three steel screw steamships for service on the Great Lakes. In 1887 a trans-Pacific service was established, and in 1889 a car ferry service was put into commission between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. In 1896 the C.P.R. bought the Kootenay Navigation Company, and in 1903 was established the British Columbia Coast service. In 1903 also the Atlantic service was established, and all these services have been extended until as it may be said it is possible to take a trip completely around the world on a C.P.R. ticket and never leave a C.P.R. boat or train.

It has also a trans-Pacific and a Mediterranean fleet. The Canadian Pacific railway steamship service also operates three freight boats between Montreal and Avonmouth Dock in summer and from Halifax in winter. In 1906 the Empress of Ireland, which met disaster in May, 1914, and the Empress of Britain were put on the Quebec route.

The Elder Dempster line established the South African line in 1902 and in 1905 established the service to Cuba and Mexico.

The White Star Dominion established a weekly service in 1909 between Liverpool, Quebec and Montreal and the great liners, the Laurentic and Megantic, appeared at Montreal in the early summer of that year.

Meanwhile the Thomson & Donaldson lines had long been connected with the port under the agency of the Reford Company, so long connected with commercial and shipping interests of the port. The Furness Withy Company, which has its agency here, also have been trading for some time between Montreal and Manchester, and the east coast of England.

Another fleet closely connected with Montreal is the Royal Line, owned and operated by the Canadian Northern Railway Company since 1912, between Montreal and Bristol.

For various reasons the Royal Line did not wish to run to Liverpool, which was already overcrowded with Canadian shipping. So they ran to Avonmouth dock instead, and opened up an entirely new artery of traffic to the Canadian ports. Before the inauguration of the Royal Line, no passenger ships of importance ran to Bristol, and naturally the securing of the Royal Line service was made an occasion of much rejoicing.

The Royal George and the Royal Edward began their trips in 1912. These are the only Canadian registered ocean liners. The other fleets entering the Port are connected with agencies elsewhere and only enter into the history of the Port inasmuch as they contribute largely to its success as a mercantile center.

These include the White Star-Dominion, Canada, the Cunard, the Monson and Donaldson lines, which the Reford Company so long connected with the commercial circles of the city, the Furness-Withby lines to Manchester, the Elder-Dempster Dominion lines.

Today ten big ocean steamship lines now run passenger vessels to the port of Montreal, and many smaller lines of coastwise and tramp traffic swarm the port during the shipping season which opens in May and closes in November.

During the season of 1912 the Allan Line alone carried 87,159 passengers into and out of Montreal, while the C.P.R., White Star, Donaldson, Thompson, Cunard, Royal, Elder-Dempster, Canada, Canadian Northern Railway and Dominion Line boats carried passengers in proportion.

During the same season the Custom House in the port collected $15,508,124.53 in duties on foreign made goods imported here. These figures take no account of exported goods, goods made in Canada, or the tremendous grain business which is done each fall, and to a lesser degree throughout the season. In 1912 125,000 tons of coal were brought into the port of Montreal from the mines at Glace Bay alone, and 736 ocean-going vessels entered the port during the season, showing a total tonnage of 2,403,924 tons, and in wharfage dues, $461,396.43.

During the last two years the Port of Montreal has seen the advent of the Cunard Line, originally founded by Mr. S. Cunard of Halifax, who had the first contract with the British government for a fortnightly mail service in 1850 from Halifax to Liverpool and Boston.

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