SS Niagara

“ The transfer of the second "City of Toronto" and of steamboating investment from the Niagara River to the undeveloped routes of the Upper Lakes leads to a diversion of the narration as bringing the initiation of another era on the Niagara River and explaining how the steamer, which formed its centre, came to be brought to the River service.
The closing 35 years of the century form the era of the Niagara Navigation Co., in which the period of decadence was converted into one of intense activity and splendid success. ”

“ This new steamer Niagara was in reality Capt. Mosier's schooner The Union of Wellington Grove, turned into a steamer. Some error had been committed in the build of the Union, and she suddenly capsized in the river near Prescott. Capt. Mosier then cut her in two, added to her length thirty feet by an insertion, and converted her into the Niagara steam-packet. Her arrival at York is announced in the Loyalist of July 29, and her return thither from Niagara with American tourists on board. ”

“ More than half of the best steamships of the United States are imprisoned above Niagara Falls, and more than half of the tonnage built in the United States in 1896 was launched upon the lakes.” This inland water commerce has built up twelve cities on the southern shores above Niagara, five of which have over 200,000 population, and one of them over a million. ”

“ As the steamer lies at the Queenston Dock, the eye naturally sweeps upward over the cedar clad slopes of the Niagara escarpment toward the striking monument which crowns its heights. The reminiscences are those of martial strife, when on the 13th of October, 1812, contestants met in mortal conflict. In fancy we can see the foemen moving upon the slopes, the American forces gain the Heights, the heroic General Brock leads his men in bold attack to regain possession, and falls at their head mortally wounded. ”

“ As under the then trade conditions she could neither be profitably [Pg 59] run nor be returned to the Lower Lakes, the steamer was of little worth to her owners, and could be readily purchased. It had for some time appeared to me that there was an opening for a good boat upon the Niagara River route. The "City of Toronto" plying to Lewiston and the New York Central was getting insufficient and out of date in equipment. The Canada Southern Railway at Niagara-on-the-Lake was not satisfied with the "Southern Belle." Why not get the "Chicora" and strike out for a career of one's own? ”

“ A steamboat, the Caroline, was cut out of the ice at Buffalo, and sent down the still open river, to ply between the rebel island and the American shore, to carry men, arms, and supplies to the rebels. The position was a remarkable one. Between Navy Island and the Canadian shore flows the main current of the Niagara, a deep and rapid river, which a short distance below turns to foaming rapids; while the roar of the great cataract fills the air, the ground trembles with its shock, and the cloud that rises above it is plainly visible. ”

“ The Rapids are far from being the least interesting feature of Niagara. There is a violence and a power in their foaming career, which is seen in no other phenomenon of the same class. Standing on the bridge which connects Goat Island with the Main, and looking up towards Lake Erie, the leaping crests of the rapids form the horizon, and it seems like a battle-charge of tempestuous waves, animated and infuriated, against the sky. No one who has not seen this spectacle of turbulent grandeur can conceive with what force the swift and overwhelming waters are flung upwards. ”

“ For another fifty years only sailing vessels navigated the lakes to Niagara, and these, and batteaux, pushed along the shores and up the river by poles, made their way to the foot of the rapids at Lewiston with difficulty. These vessels were mainly small schooners with some cabin accommodation.
After the cession of Canada, by the French, the British Government began the establishment of a small navy on Lake Ontario. An official return called for [Pg 13] by Lord Dorchester, Governor-General of Canada, gives the Government vessels as being in 1787, Limnale, 220 tons, 10 guns. ”

“ We have ourselves more than once, in former days, experienced the horrors of the middle passage between Niagara and York, having crossed and re-crossed, in very rough weather, in the Kingston Packet, or Brothers, and having been detained on the Lake for a whole night and a good portion of a day in the process. The schooners for Niagara and elsewhere used to announce the time of their departure from the wharf at York in primitive style, by repeated blasts from a long tin horn, so called, sounded at intervals previous to their casting loose, and at the moment of the start. ”

“ Richardson, made her first trip to Niagara on Monday last, and went out of the harbour in fine style. Her appearance reflects much credit on her builder, Mr. Joseph Dennis; and the machinery, manufactured by Messrs. Wards of Montreal, is a specimen of superior workmanship. The combined excellence of the model and machinery of this boat is such," says the Loyalist, "as will render her what is usually termed 'a fast boat.' The trip to Niagara was performed in four hours and some minutes. Her present route, we observe, is advertised from York to Niagara and the Head of the Lake. ”

“ The Loyalist of the 4th of August says: "We regret to state that the steam-boat Canada, while crossing the Lake from Niagara on Tuesday last, unfortunately broke her main shaft. The accident we hope is not of such a nature as to deprive us any great length of time of the convenience which that excellent Boat has afforded us of daily communication with Niagara." In the paper of August 18th it is announced that the Canada is all right again. "The Canada, we are happy to state, has again commenced making her usual trips to Niagara: she left the Harbour yesterday afternoon." ”

“ The noise of the steam exhaust ceased as abruptly as it began. The ship was riding easily in spite of the heavy sea. Drifting with wind and wave is a simple thing for a big vessel. There is no struggle, no tearing asunder of resisting forces. Thus might a boat caught in the pitiless current of Niagara glide towards the brink of the cataract with cunning smoothness.
And then, while the occupants of the saloon were endeavoring to persuade each other that all was well, the loud wail of the siren thrilled them with increased foreboding. ”

“ The ultimate destiny of that great power may be safely predicted. Niagara will turn machinery.
After mid-day Lord Stafford, Mr. Wright, and myself drove from the hotel to do the sights. It is an aggravating function. There never was such a nest of harpies as is nurtured here. Talk of a Swiss valley, or Savoy, or the Lakes, or Killarney, of any place infested by the creatures who live on travellers' blood—roll them into one gigantic fee-devouring giant, with the hands and heads of Briareus, it would not be "a circumstance" to Niagara. Every step is marked by demands for dollars and cents. ”

“ The Falls increased the historic importance of Niagara because it limited navigation and made a portage necessary; the purposes of trade and missionary enterprise, as well as those of conquest, demanded that this point be occupied, and occupation necessarily meant defence. Here, from Lewiston and Queenston to Chippewa and Port Day (to use modern names) ran the two most famous portage paths of the continent. Here were to be seen at one time or another the footprints of as famous explorers, noble missionaries, and brave soldiers as ever went to conquest in history. ”

“ But the Niagara had run out a hundred and eleven miles, and knowing that the Agamemnon had done about the same, she expected the latter would keep on her course eastward, not stopping till she reached Queenstown. The Niagara, therefore, reluctantly bore away for the same port.
Of course, the return voyage was "any thing but gay." When soldiers come home from the war, they march with a proud step, if they have had a victorious campaign. But it is otherwise when they come with a sad tale of disaster and defeat. Seldom had an expedition begun with higher hopes, or ended in more complete failure. ”

“ As soon as he jumped on deck, Perry took command of the Niagara, sending Elliott off to bring up the rearmost schooners. There was no lagging or hesitation now. With topgallant sails sheeted home, the Niagara bore down upon the Detroit, driven by a freshening breeze. Barclay's crippled flagship tried to avoid being raked and so fouled her consort, the Queen Charlotte. The two British ships lay locked together while the American guns pounded them with terrific fire. Presently they got clear of each other and pluckily attempted to carry on the fight. But the odds were hopeless. ”

“ Above the cataract the river becomes very rapid and tumultuous in several places, particularly at the Ferry of Black Rock, where it rushes past at the rate of seven miles an hour; within the last mile there is a tremendous indraught to the Falls. The shores on both sides of the Niagara River are of unsurpassed natural fertility, but there is little scenic beauty around to divert attention from the one object. The simplicity of this wonder adds to the force of its impression: no other sight over the wide world so fills the mind with awe and admiration. ”

“ The Americans made great efforts to obtain a more fortunate result on the Niagara frontier. Though the New England States, disapproving of the war, withheld their militia, yet early in September more than 6,000 men were brought to the banks of the river, with the view of crossing it, and penetrating into Canada. They were encouraged by the exploit of two row-boats, which captured the same number of British gun-brigs, with valuable cargoes, as they were passing Fort Erie. ”

“ The short, cross, chopping seas affect most people. The only persons in the saloon who were not discomposed by them were two tall school-girls, who seemed to have innumerable whispered confidences and secrets to confide to each other.
We touched the wharf at Niagara, a town on the British side of the Niagara river—"cars for Buffalo, all aboard,"—and just crossing a platform, we entered the Canada cars, and on the top of some frightful precipices, and round some terrific curves, we were whirled to the Clifton House at Niagara. ”

“ More than two hundred men, women, and children were slain in cold blood, or borne away to fates a hundred times more terrible to meet than swift death. The day already breaking upon the terror-stricken colonists was the darkest Canada ever knew.
The result of the expedition, so far as result appears, was effected when the ships bearing his men turned toward the Niagara River and were anchored off the point of land where now stands historic Fort Niagara. ”

“ I had likened Niagara to a vast mill-dam, because I could find no peer to set beside it; so now, in my weakness, the sublime pageant of the "Flying Cloud" could search out nothing higher in my recollection with which to compare it than a wild, ride of my youth in a canoe, for a half mile or so, down the rapids of a river.
But morning was at hand. The rich golden glow of night, to which the dwellers on the earth's surface are accustomed, as we passed to higher altitudes, had given place to a thin inky blue. ”

“ Beginning with one steamer, the "Mother of the Fleet," the Line from one trip a day has, in its 35 years of endeavour, grown to be nothing short of "The Niagara Ferry," served by swift steamers, of increasing size, making six trips from each side, leaving every two hours during the day, and by persistent advertising and increasingly reputable service, the Company has made the "Niagara River Line" known throughout the travelling world, and created a business and carrying capacity which has risen on heavy excursion days to no less than 20,000 to 26,000 passengers moved on one day. ”

“ Bradstreet's Army, it is recorded that over 5,000 barrels of provisions alone lay at Fort Schlosser, the upper terminus of Niagara's portage, awaiting shipment to the West. By Niagara also went—had to go, for besides being the only feasible route, it was the only safe way, for it had military protection,—all the traders, with their boat loads of cheap merchandize; men who spent months at a time in journeying among the tribes in the Northwest, trading their wares for valuable furs ”

“ Since ever the changes of season have come, when grasses grow green, and open waters flow, the courses of the Niagara River, above and below the great Falls, have been the central route, for voyaging between the far inland countries on this continent, and the waters of the Atlantic shores.
Here the Indian of prehistoric days, unmolested by the intruding white, roamed at will in migration from one of his hunting-grounds to another, making his portage and passing in his canoe between Lake Erie and Lake Oskwego (Ontario) . ”

“ Full subsistence for the troops in Upper Canada could not be procured among the scanty population, and they were largely dependent for rations on pork and biscuit from England. So long as the waterway was open, the defence of the Niagara frontier was possible. As the supremacy of the U.S. navy on Lake Erie made it impossible for the British to continue the war on the Detroit frontier, so a decisive defeat on Lake Ontario would have lost the Niagara frontier also. But, till the end of the war, the U.S. navy never succeeded in establishing more than a temporary supremacy on Ontario. ”