RCMP Const. Blake Leminsky of Ottawa takes
one last look up as he and the other members
of the Mount Wood expedition return to their
base camp. It took them twelve days to climb
and descend the 4,842-metre-high summit
in the St. Elias Range.
Chapter 10
1 January 1860 to 31 December 1869
Index with links to the other chapters
From the early days of our being a species conscious of its own history, some part of society has had the role of preserving this history: priests, learned scholars, archivists. Information was valued, valued enough to be denied to some members of society, and to possess information was to be part of the ritual of belonging to an elite.
So, I find it particularly puzzling that, as we move into this new "information age," our efforts are focused on the machinery of the information system, while the electronic information itself is being treated like just so much more flotsam and jetsam. This is not a democratization of information, but a devaluation of information.
On the Internet, many electronic information sources that we are declaring worthy of "universal access" are administered by part-time volunteers, graduate students who do eventually graduate, or network hobbyists. Resources come and go without notice, or languish after an initial effort and rapidly become out of date. Few network information resources have specific and reliable funding for the future. As a telecommunications system the Internet is both modern and mature; as an information system the Internet is an amateur operation.
Commercial information resources, of course, are only interested in information that provides revenue. This immediately eliminates the entire cultural heritage of poetry, playwriting, and theological thought, among others.
If we value our intellectual heritage, and if we truly believe that access to information (and that broader concept, knowledge) is a valid social goal, we have to take our information resources seriously...
Growing Our Communications Future: Access, Not Just Wires by Karen Coyle, 1995
Progressive Librarian, issue number 14, Spring 1998
http://www.libr.org/PL/14_Coyle.html
Eighty Years' Progress of British North America... (book) by Henry Youle Hind, published in Toronto by L. Stebbins and in London, England, by Sampson Low, Son & Marston, 1863. Henry Youle Hind (1823-1908) F.R.G.S. (Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society) was Professor of Chemistry and Geology in Trinity College, Toronto. He was the editor of this book and wrote much of the section that dealt with Upper and Lower Canada. The 74-page section on Nova Scotia is credited to Rev. William Murray. The book's publication date is 1863, but it contains little or no information later than 1861 — the remaining time was used in setting type, printing, collating and binding.
Early Canadiana Online (ECO) project|
If you want to convert these distances in miles to kilometres, multiply the number of miles by 1.61 and round off the result to the nearest whole number. |
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The British North American provinces were: Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Lower Canada (Quebec), and Upper Canada (Ontario). |
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Cape Sable should not be confused with Cape Sable Island. The lighthouse is on Cape Sable, a low sandy islet about five kilometres long located a couple of kilometres south from Hawk Point, Cape Sable Island. At latitude 43°23'N, Cape Sable is the most southerly point in Nova Scotia, and the second most southerly point in Canada. Cape Sable was mapped by Portugese cartographers as early as 1554. They named it Beusablom, "a sandy bay". French explorer Samuel Champlain used the French version of that name, Cap de Sable, and when New England settlers occupied the land in 1761, it became known as Cape Sable. With ledges and shoals running seaward for seven kilometres south and west from Cape Sable, the area has been a major hazard for ships for centuries. The S.S. Hungarian from Liverpool, England, ran aground here on 20 November 1860; all 205 passengers and crew perished. This disaster impelled the government of Nova Scotia (then in charge of lighthouses and other navigational aids along our coast) to build a lighthouse on Cape Sable immediately. The new light began operation just 51 weeks after Hungarian was wrecked. |
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London, England 14 December 1861 The latest intelligence from the United States, although not quite so unsatisfactory as that previously received, still leaves strong grounds for apprehension. There is no disguising the fact that most of the leading journals, and public opinion in that country generally, are against yielding to any demands that may be made by her Majesty's Government to restore the citizens of the Confederate States recently taken by force from the deck of a West India mail-packet carrying the English flag. Looking, at the same time, to the opinion and temper of the English people upon this subject, we see such sufficient cause for alarm that our attention is immediately drawn towards the position of the British colonies in North America, and particularly to the boundary line that separates them from the United States. It would be useless now to discuss the question as to how the frontier line of Canada and New Brunswick has become what it is, or whether it might not have been, by more judicious management, better than we now find it; but it is certain that the boundary line of the States of Maine and New York does so cut into the British territory that United States' armies may encamp within exceedingly short distance of our principal cities and yet be on their own soil. Newfoundland being an island, and Nova Scotia nearly one, we may safely calculate on our naval supremacy ensuring them protection from molestation; but with the important province of New Brunswick, the Canadas, and the British North-west Territory, our position is by no means so satisfactory, as in many instances in these latter provinces there is no physical boundary whatever, the British possessions and those of the United States being separated by little more than an imaginary line. The trees have been cut down where it passes through the wilderness, and a few stones have been set up at long distances apart, and that is the only division that marks the territories of two peoples who, though coming of a common stock, speaking the same language, and worshipping God in the same manner, yet are intent only on doing each other the largest possible amount of mischief. There is yet hope that it may not be so, but the threatening aspect of affairs compels us to look narrowly at our position on the frontier. The city of Quebec, our great stronghold in North America, is only sixty miles from the United States' territory; and River de Loup, the eastern terminus of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, and of the Canadian sytem of railways generally, although 120 miles lower down the St. Lawrence, is within thirty miles of the international boundary line. Montreal, the capital of the Canadas, is only forty-four miles by railway from Rouse's Point at the head of Lake Champlain – a point where the States of New York and Vermont meet. Several of the United States' railways focus to this place, and it will become an important position should war break out: it was so in 1814, a great battle being fought in this neighbourhood, the victory being claimed by the Americans. From Rouse's Point for neary 300 miles eastward are what are called the eastern townships of Canada – districts containing many important towns and much cleared and cultivated land; these abut upon the States of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, without any marked physical boundary, the St. Lawrence lying on their northern or western edge. West of Montreal, nearly opposite the Canadian town of Cornwall, the boundary line of the United States hits the St. Lawrence, and the river then separates them from Canada until it receives its waters at the outlet from Lake Ontario, many good towns lying on each side of it. On the Canadian banks the principal are Cornwall, Morrisburg, Prescott, and Kingston; on the United States' side the principle town is Ogdenburg, exactly opposite Prescott. These latter are large and important places, situated pretty much as Gravesend and Tilbury Fort are; both are important railway termini. Prescott is the point of junction of the Grand Trunk Railway with the line to Ottawa, the intended seat of the Government of Canada; while Ogdensburg is connected by railway with Rouse's Point to the eastward and with the New York Central Railway to the southward and westward. Kingston, in Canada, is situated at the point where Lake Ontario pours its waters into the St. Lawrence through a thousand channels formed by a number of beautiful islands. Kingston is a fortified place, and adjoins Fort Henry, a military position second only in importance to Quebec. Fort Henry is built on the site of the old French Fort Frontenac. In a war with the United States this place would become most important as a depot for troops, as well as a naval station, where craft would be built to act upon Lake Ontario and the upper waters of the St. Lawrence. On the north shore of Lake Ontario is situated the large, rich, and flourishing city of Toronto, the capital of Western Canada. It is built close upon the waters edge, is utterly unprotected by art, but nature his done much for it. It is a peculiar characteristic of Lake Ontario to have formed in particular situations long banks of sand and shingle, locally called beaches. At a considerable distance from the shore, in front of the city, is a long narrow bank of this description, upon which batteries could be formed with rapidity, that would effectually protect this important city from all attacks on the lake side, while direct railway communication with Fort Henry would secure it landwards. Toronto , therefore, though apparently so exposed, may be safely expected to take care of itself when the time arrives for its doing so. At the western end of Lake Ontario is situated another large and important city, Hamilton, and protected from all attacks from the lake by a beach similar to that which lies in front of Toronto. A single vessel sunk in the canal which connects the waters of Burlington Bay (on the south shore of which Hamilton is situated) with those of Lake Ontario renders it impossible for any vessel to approach within three or four miles of Hamilton... The international boundary line is up the centre of Lake Erie and through the River St. Clair and Lake St. Clair into Lake Huron. Between Lakes Huron and Erie the United States and British territory is divided only by a fine navigable river, much like the Thames at Erith; the large American city of Detroit is situated on its west bank and the Canadian town of Windsor opposite to it. The latter is the western terminus of the Great Western Railway of Canada; the former the focus of a system of railways. From the upper end of the River St. Clair, the boundary line divides equally the waters of Lake Huron, and enters Lake Superior through the St. Marie. The larger portion of this lake belongs to the Americans. From its northern shore the line follows the direction of the water communications until it reaches the parallel of 49° north latitude, along which it is continued across the Rocky Mountains until it reaches the Pacific Ocean. On the north side of the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, adjoining the State of Minnesota, there exists a very valuable country known as the North-west Territory. Although in the occupation of the Hudson Bay Company, it is a tract of exceedingly fine land, and contains some settlements known as the Red River or Selkirk settlements. This is a far-off, outlying property of the British Crown, exceedingly valuable to us, and much coveted by the United States, it has been sadly neglected by its owners, and we may soon find it the most difficult to protect. — Illustrated London News, 14 December 1861 http://beck.library.emory.edu/iln/browse.php?id=iln39.1121.186 A Joint Project by Sandra J. Still, Emily E. Katt, Collection Management, and the Beck Center of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. |
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London, England 28 December 1861 The attention of the Canadian people at the present juncture (says the Halifax Reporter) is wisely directed to the all-important question of "national defences." There appears to be a prevalent impression, which is rapidly gaining ground among all classes of people, that they must take immediate measures to provide for the security of the province in case of a sudden invasion from across the borders. The unsatisfactory state of relations between England and the United States brings home forcibly to every intelligent man the necessity of preparing for any emergency. According to late Canadian papers, the military authorities are making their preparations slowly and surely; but still it is obvious that, unless the people themselves afford united assistance, Canada, the upper province especially, would in case of war be in a most perilous position. In Quebec, and other parts of Lower Canada, there are fortifications of an impregnable character; but in Western Canada, with the exception of Kingston, we believe there are none of any importance or strength. The cities of Toronto, Hamilton, London, and the towns of Niagara, Windsor (opposite Detroit), and a hundred other places, would be in most imminent danger if a war were to break out suddenly – during the winter or spring, for instance. All the fighting, in fact, in Upper Canada would have to be done in the open field or behind hastily-constructed batteries and earthworks. The importance, then, of forming a volunteer organisation all through the country is becoming a matter which cannot be disputed by any man of foresight who values the safety of the province. Already there is a general movement made to establish volunteer companies and we are told that "there is every reason to believe that much will be done to place the militia forces of the country on a better footing than they are at present, and thus to make this arm of the service perfectly reliable in case of emergency." The militia, we may mention, in Canada, as well as in all the provinces, is almost a nonentity – little else than an undisciplined mob; and, unless steps are taken to drill and discipline it, it would be useless in the field. This fact is being generally recognised on all sides, and the prospect is that there will soon be a change some way for the better. In Montreal a general calling out of the provincial militia for drill during the winter is spoken of. In Toronto the Leader is urging upon the officers of the sedentary militia the propriety of resigning their commissions or else taking immediate steps to become acquainted with their drill, and in many places all over the province it is said there is a desire among the sedentary officers to join with the active volunteers in order to learn their drill. Still, the impression amongst men of good judgment and discernment is that there is little reliance to be pleased on the militia, and that the best and surest mode of providing for the defence of the province is to form a volunteer regiment in every locality. In Halifax (says the Reporter) the old militia law has entirely gone out of practice and given place to the volunteer system. Nowhere in the British provinces, indeed, have the young men responded more heartily to the call to form themselves into corps for defence than in Nova Scotia; and few, if any, of the colonies can present an equal number of well-drilled and organised companies. Still, however, gratifying as has been the success that has attended the laudable efforts of the promoters of the volunteer movement, a great deal more might be done in the way of increasing the number of the forces all over the country. Both the Lieutenant-Governor and General Doyle, on the occasion of the recent volunteer inspection, very properly made some observations on the importance of obtaining additional strength to the volunteer ranks; and it is to be hoped that their advice will have some effect with the large numbers of young men who have as yet, all over the province, kept aloof from the movement. Very lately, in Bridgetown and Pictou, an effort has been made, and successfully too, to form a volunteer company in each of these places; and it would be satisfactory and encouraging to see a similar spirit evinced in every town and village throughout this province. Let this be done, and we would soon, like the mother country, be in a position to present a body of "living walls" that could successfully repel any force that might invade our shores. in 1861, in winter At the present moment perhaps no subject is of so much interest and importance as the facilities for the transport of troops over from Halifax to Quebec. The following statement, derived from a gentleman who has recently travelled through New Brunswick, from Quebec to Halifax, will be found interesting: "On disembarking at Halifax the troops can be conveyed by rail to Windsor, Nova Scotia, about sixty miles, from which point they can take steamers across the Bay of Fundy (which, contrary to popular ideas, is never frozen over) to St. Stephen, a distance of about 170 miles. From St. Stephen, a small town of about 4000 inhabitants, there is a railway open to Canterbury, twelve miles from Woodstock, one of the largest towns in New Brunswick. From Canterbury to Woodstock the distance can either be marched over a good snow road or performed in sleighs. From Woodstock a day's journey will convey the troops to Great Falls, a distance of 72 miles, over excellent roads. From Great Falls the next stage is to Lake Port, a small place on the Temiscouta, and thence by sleigh over a very good new military road (which is kept open by the mail track three times a week, and by the operations of the lumberers), they will arrive at the Riviere du Loup. Forty-two miles of this latter portion of the journey, and during which the only practical inconvenience that will be experienced is through a forest district called the Portage, involving an ascent of upwards of 1000 feet. At all the points named the troops could be supplied with refreshments and lodgings in the houses, barns, and outbuildings. The only scarcity with regard to provisions is in the article of flour, as very little grain is grown in the district over which this route passes. There is, however, abundance of beef and other provisions. From the Riviere du Loup the troops will be conveyed by railway, a distance of 115 miles, to Quebec." Accounts from Kingston, Canada, of the 6th inst., denote much activity in military and warlike preparations. General Sir Fenwick Willliams, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Robertson, Royal Engineers, and the members of the Staff, had made a thorough inspection of the facilities for fortifying Toronto. Guns of heavy calibre were to be placed along the margin of the bay in the vicinity of the Nadaud Old Forts. Workmen were immediately to commence repairing the blockhouses. The men of the 30th Regiment were busily employed in the use of heavy guns. A party of Engineers, Sappers and Miners, had gone to Quebec, and a number of them would immediately be dispatched westward. Mr. S. Cunard had gone to Quebec at the request of the Canadian Government. The 62nd and another regiment were to be sent to this province; and it was thought some arrangement was likely to be effected with the Cunard Company to bring up these troops at least as far as Riviere du Loup before the close of the navigation. — Illustrated London News, 28 December 1861 http://beck.library.emory.edu/iln/browse.php?id=iln39.1124.210 A Joint Project by Sandra J. Still, Emily E. Katt, Collection Management, and the Beck Center of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. |
Note: The village of Port Williams, in Kings County, Nova Scotia,
is named after General Sir Fenwick Willliams.
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for ships last such a long time? On comparing the screw steamer of the late 1870s with the best examples of steamers propelled by paddlewheels, the superiority of the former is so marked that it may cause some surprise that the transition from side-wheel steamships to screw-propelled should have progressed no more rapidly. The reason of this slow progress, however, was probably that the introduction of the rapidly-revolving screw, in place of the slow-moving paddle wheel, necessitated a complete revolution in the design of their steam engines; and the unavoidable change from the heavy, long-stroke, low-speed engines previously in use, to the light engines, with small cylinders and high piston speed, called for by the new system of propulsion, was one that necessarily occurred slowly, and was accompanied by its share of those engineering blunders and accidents that invariably take place during such periods of transition. Engineers had first to learn to design such engines as should be reliable under the then novel conditions of screw propulsion, and their experience could only be gained through the occurrence of many mishaps and costly failures. The best proportions of engines and screws, for a given ship, were determined only by long experience... It also became necessary to train up a body of engine-drivers who should be capable of managing these new engines, for they required the exercise of a then unprecedented amount of care and skill. Finally, with the accomplishment of these two requisites to success must simultaneously occur the enlightenment of the public, professional as well as non-professional, in regard to their advantages. Thus it happens that it is only after a considerable time that the screw attained its proper place as an instrument of propulsion, and finally drove the paddle-wheel quite out of use, except in shoal water. Advances in marine steam technology in the 1850s to 1870s Now [1878] our large screw steamers are of higher speed than any paddle steamers on the ocean, and develop their power at far less cost. This increased economy is due not only to the use of a more efficient propelling instrument, and to changes already described, but also, in a great degree, to the economy which has followed as a consequence of other changes in the steam engine driving it. The earliest days of screw propulsion witnessed the use of steam of from 5 to l5 pounds per square inch pressure, in a geared engine using jet condensation, and consuming fuel at a rate of perhaps 7 to 10, or even more, pounds of coal per horsepower per hour. A little later came direct-acting engines with jet condensation and steam at 20 pounds per square inch pressure, with a fuel consumption of about 5 or 6 pounds per horsepower per hour. The steam pressure rose a little higher with the use of greater expansion, and the economy of fuel was further improved. The introduction of the surface condenser, which began to be generally adopted some ten years ago, brought down the fuel consumption to about 3 to 4 pounds in the better class of engines. At about the same time, this change to surface condensation helping greatly to overcome those troubles arising from boiler incrustation which had prevented the rise of steam pressure above about 25 pounds per square inch, and as, at the same time, it was learned by engineers that the deposit of limescale in the marine boiler was determined by temperature rather than by the degree of concentration, and that all the lime entering the boiler was deposited at the pressure just mentioned, a sudden advance took place. Careful design, good workmanship, and skillful management, made the surface condenser an efficient apparatus; and, the dangers of incrustation being thus lessened, the movement toward higher pressures recommenced, and progressed so rapidly that now 75 pounds per square inch is very usual, and more than 125 pounds has since been attained... Excerpted from A History of the Growth of the Steam Engine by Robert H. Thurston, D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1878 Chapter 5, The Modern (1878) Steam Engine Applied to Ship Propulsion |
| CSS — Confederate Steam Ship |
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NWMP — North-West Mounted Police (forerunner of the RCMP) RNWMP — Royal North-West Mounted Police RCMP — Royal Canadian Mounted Police |
In 1866, the men of the General Mining Association's foundry and shops at Sydney Mines were given a special assignment. They were asked to build a locomotive. Chief Engineer John Elliot and his crew of pattern makers, moulders, blacksmiths, machinists and fitters replicated a machine already in service with the company. They named it the C.G. Swann after an official of the Association. A unique achievement, it is thought to be the only steam locomotive ever built on the island. After a trial run, it was floated on a barge across Sydney Harbour to South Bar and used on the Victoria Mines Railroad for many years.
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In her book History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, published in October 1936, Marguerite Woodworth gives the date of official opening of the Halifax City Railroad as May 11, 1866, but this is an error. Original documents included in Murille Schofield's collection, now (1997) in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, definitively establish the correct date as June 11, 1866. |
| On 1 July 1867, these four previously independent British colonies were joined together into a single country named Canada. The close timing of these two events — Canadian Confederation coming into effect only 364 days after the introduction of this Bill into the U.S. Congress — is more than mere coincidence. The fact that this Bill was being given serious consideration by the United States Government brought home forcefully to all Canadians that they meant business, that there was a real danger that British North America could be nibbled away by the powerful forces south of the border. This brought a sense of urgency into the Confederation negotiations, and was an important factor in bringing them to a speedy completion. |
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For several months in the summer and early fall of 1866, the intercontinental telecommunications system between Europe and North America was working across the North Atlantic Ocean to Newfoundland, but was not working between Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland. The underwater telegraph cable across Cabot Strait was inoperable. To get messages across this telegraph gap, fast steamships were operated by the telegraph company, across the Cabot Strait between Newfoundland and Cape Breton, "conveying batches of messages at frequent intervals." "Towards the autumn, however, this short section was repaired by A.M. Mackay, the General Superintendent in Newfoundland" of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company. |
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circulate their own money, and by 1944 Canadian banks were no longer allowed to issue their own currency.
The Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick...
This Act, commonly referred to as the British North America Act, 1867, created the Dominion of Canada.
Reference:
The Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick... page 13 of 39
"J.B. King" was the pseudonym of Mr. H.B. Jefferson (1893-1970), who began his career as a journalist for the Moncton Times & Transcript, and then moved to Halifax in 1917. He was news editor of the Sydney Record during the Cape Breton labour wars of the 1920s. After the Post-Record merger as the Cape Breton Post, he ran two weeklies in western Nova Scotia for three years, then worked in Halifax as editorial writer and columnist for the Halifax Daily Star. In 1939, he was appointed the wartime Atlantic Regional Censor of Publications (press and radio). In 1954 he was appointed editor of Hansard, the printed record of debates in the Nova Scotia Legislature. Mr. Jefferson was a well-known writer on the history of railways in the Maritimes; he wrote a series of 191 articles on railway history that ran in the Chronicle-Herald from 1957 to 1961.
Source: Mostly from Mr. Jefferson's obituary
in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 21 May 1970
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Wayback Machine http://web.archive.org/index.html "Use the Wayback Machine to view web sites from the past." History of Nova Scotia, Chapter 10 The Wayback Machine has copies of this webpage from the early days: Archived: 2000 August 15 http://web.archive.org/web/20000815195300/http://www.alts.net/ns1625/nshist10.html Archived: 2000 December 19 http://web.archive.org/web/20001219172800/http://www.alts.net/ns1625/nshist10.html Archived: 2001 February 8 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208124855/http://www.alts.net/ns1625/nshist10.html Archived: 2001 April 19 http://web.archive.org/web/20010419134304/http://www.alts.net/ns1625/nshist10.html Archived: 2001 August 16 http://web.archive.org/web/20010816212822/http://alts.net/ns1625/nshist10.html Archived: 2001 November 16 http://web.archive.org/web/20011116052305/http://www.alts.net/ns1625/nshist10.html Archived: 2002 January 27 http://web.archive.org/web/20020127174003/http://www.alts.net/ns1625/nshist10.html |
Index with links to the other chapters
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