In
the years 1849 and 1850, when the building of the Great Western railroad was
under discussion, Hamilton had to fight for its life to prevent the changing of
the route. Strong effort was made by the Michigan Central railway to have the
road diverge from its present route and reach Buffalo by way of Brantford, and
along the shore of Lake Erie, crossing at Fort Erie. The engineers of the
Michigan Central estimated that the road could be built on the route laid by them
from Detroit to Buffalo for $3,000,000, and over this sum the Central agreed to
take one-third of its stock. It was all important to the Michigan Central to
control the building of the road through Canada, as it would give that company
the exclusive benefit of the freight and passenger traffic to the west. The
Michigan Central at that time was almost bankrupt, and this was used as an
argument by the friends of the Great Western to prevent London, Woodstock,
Ingersoll and other towns along the proposed route from giving it encouragement
and substantial aid. One of the strongest arguments used the friends of the
Great Western was that should the Michigan Central get control, all of the
freight would be shipping from Western Canada to the seaboard instead of
passing through Canadian waterways in Canadian vessels, and be carried to
Buffalo, thence shipped by the Erie canal to New York. Even with this patriotic
line of argument, it was hard work to hold the western country between this
city and Detroit in line for the Great Western, as there was considerable
dissatisfaction with the men managing the proposed route of the Great Western.
And then money was very scarce and the promise of the Michigan Central to finance
the construction of the line it proposed was a great temptation to the inland
towns to get away from stage coaches and wagon freighting and secure an outlet
at some important distributing point. In the end, the advocates of the Great
Western carried the day and Hamilton was destined to become the great railway center
of all the western country. It was many years later before the Michigan Central
succeeded in getting control of a line through Canada from Detroit to Buffalo;
and only a few years ago, by the construction of the T. H. and B. road, it got
connection with Hamilton, and is now one of our important east and west lines.
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When P. T. Barnum, the prince of
showmen, proposed to bring Jenny Lind, the Swedish nightingale, to the United
States to sing in 150 concerts, there was great rejoicing in musical circles
for the fame of the sweet singer has spread in all lands. The contract between
the agent of Jenny Lind and Mr. Barnum was so carefully drawn that no loophole
was left for either to back out. The amount of the salary the singer was to receive
was not made public, but all other details were given. It was specified that
Mr. Barnum should pay for all expenses and for the professional services of Mr.
Benedict and Signor Beletti, the musical director and the vocalist whom Jenny
Lind had particularly selected, and also to pay the expenses of a lady
travelling companion, of a waiting maid, and of a servant to superintend the
baggage of the party. The singer was to have full control as to the number of
concerts to be given in a week and the number of pieces in each concert, and
she was not to be required to sing in opera. It was further a part of the
contract that the lives of Jenny Lind and Mr. Benedict and Signor Beletti be
insured for the full amount of their engagements, and in the case of death,
half the amount to be paid to their heirs, and half to P. T. Barnum. Of course,
everybody was on tiptoe of expectancy for the arrival of the party, which was
to leave for America, the last week in August, 1850. If we remember alright,
only two cities in Canada were honored by a visit of the celebrated singer,
Montreal and Toronto. The price of admission tickets was $5. Hamilton was left
out because at that time, it had no hall, except the town hall over the market
house, and though the tickets were twice $5, the accommodations were so limited
that, even with a crowded house, it would not pay expenses. However, Hamilton
sent a large delegation to Toronto who could afford to pay $5 for a ticket,
besides the steamboat and hotel expenses, for in those days there were no
railroads. Probably, there are not half a dozen Hamiltonians living who had the
pleasure of hearing the celebrated Swedish nightingale.
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The editors half a century ago, like
Silas Wegg, were poetical in their natures, and many a dry editorial on
politics would be brightened up by a quotation from some favorite bard.
Especially was the poetic habit cultivated in writing up social events. The St.
Catherines Constitutional of February 14, 1850, briefly describes a ball given
in that time by the Masonic fraternity to celebrate the opening of the new town
hall in that village. The lady patronesses of the occasion were Mrs. Rykert and
Mrs. Adams, and “a more brilliant assemblage had never before been seen in St.
Catherines.” The number of guests was estimated at between five and six
hundred. “Several parties from Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara attended, and
expressed delight with the whole arrangements.”
“Music arose with its
voluptuous swell,
Soft eyes look’d love to eyes that spake
again,
And all went merry as a marriage bell.
Indeed, said the society reporter of the occasion, the company seemed to verify the words of the poet that there should be
Indeed, said the society reporter of the occasion, the company seemed to verify the words of the poet that there should be
“No
sleep till morn when youth and pleasure meet,
To chase the glowing hours with fleeting feet
For the rattling of homeward bound carriages
on the frosted roads continued long after the rays of the rising sun had shown
themselves in the west”
If the society reporter of the present
day were to try that style of description, with what fiendish delight the
managing editor would sharpen up his blue pencil and knock the poetic fancies
into a cocked hat.
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The population of Hamilton has always
been a favorite them with the jealous little penny-whistle country newspapers
published in towns where the advent of a new family, and even the birth of a
child, is made the occasion of half a column of glorification of the town’s
growth. Fifty-three years ago, when Hamilton was making its great effort to
secure the building of the Great Western railway through this city, the
newspapers in the western towns that favored the route projected by the
Michigan Central company, kept up a constant attack on Hamilton and the men
promoting the Great Western. The London papers were particularly hostile to
Hamilton. At that time, the village on the banks of the Thames had a population
of less than 3,000, and the people up there got an idea that their future
growth and prosperity depended solely on having Hamilton sidetracked by the
building of the proposed railroad along the shores of Lake Erie, with Detroit
at one end and Buffalo at the other. The London Free Press was then owned by
William Sutherland and edited by Peter Murtagh, an Irish schoolmaster; and the
Times was managed by a lady who had a husband, but was edited on the quiet by a
man who kept in the background. The times said : “It is useless to attempt such
a silly plan as the building of the road from Hamilton – the directors will only
be laughed at for their pains.” The Free Press not only attacked the Hamilton
route, but also attempted to belittle the town because it had not increased in
population during the years 1848-1849, to which the Spectator replied “The story
is totally destitute of foundation; and the ignorance of the person who penned
it is the only excuse for its publication. We shall take the trouble ere long,
to convince our readers, from irrefutable data, that Hamilton has made equal
progress, in business, population, and substantial prosperity with any place in
Canada. In the meantime, our western contemporaries will perhaps tell us
frankly whether they desire – whether they are so utterly selfish and
unpatriotic to permit – their produce to be carried through the United States,
when they have a cheaper and better route of their own.” Those were the days
when the spirit of annexation was rife, and loyalty to Canada and the mother
country hung by a slender thread. The editorial writer of the Free Press, Peter
Mutagh, was an Irishman who had been educated in the school that any flag was
preferable to the Union Jack.
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As one’s thoughts go back half a
century, when it was considered very funny to speak disparagingly of Hamilton’s
growth and prosperity, we are reminded that even in the twentieth century,
there are wits in the newspaper profession who sharpened their pencils when
they read the assessors’ recent returns of the population of this city. Large
populations in cities are anything but desirable; better have smaller numbers and
work for everybody than to run up into the hundred thousand and half the people
be idle. Hamilton has been particularly fortunate in this respect in the past
fifty years, and while its growth has not been phenomenal, its increase of population
has been steady and in keeping with the growth of its manufactories. This is a
city of workers, not of idlers, and no man or woman, or even child, need be
idle for a day if they have health and strength. There is always a class of
loafers in every village or city, and Hamilton has its share in common with its
neighbors, and these are not taken into account. You can see them in the
streets; there is no danger of mistaking them, for their bloated faces, bleary
eyes and untidy dress are unfailing marks of the gin-mill graduate. Their wives
or their mothers provide a place for them to sleep in and furnish them with
food, and the money they beg is spent for liquor. What a blessing it would be were
there no gin-mills or loafers!
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But speaking of the reports of the
assessors, those officials have given a careful and honest return of the population.
There is no padding in the figures, for if the roll of the inhabitants were
called, there would be a response of “Here” to the names of the 55,000 and over
reported. The best evidence of the growth and prosperity of Hamilton is in the
increase and enlargement of manufacturing industries and the demand for men and
women to fill the places in the workshops. There is work for everybody, and the
cry of employers is for more hands. It is a healthy condition of affairs in any
city when there are more jobs than workers. That is Hamilton’s condition today,
and from present indications, it is likely to continue for a long time to come.
New industries are seeking a location here, and, fortunately, every one of them
requires skilled labor and must pay good wages to procure it. That tariff wall
built along 3,000 miles or more of the frontier of Canada, even as low as it
is, is having its good effects in part making Hamilton a city of manufactories.
So long as the growth in population keeps pace with the demand for labor, what
more is required?
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