1904-06-11

It is altogether too absurd, said an old-time Hamilton newspaper reporter, to say that man is not perfect. Who is there who has not met with perfect strangers, some who were perfect rascals, and not a few who were perfect fools. The world has not changed much in this matter of perfection since the writer of the above gave vent to his feelings. The perfection most desired is never attained in this world, for it would be contrary to human nature when a man smites you on one cheek to turn unto him the other that he may swat you a second time; and until we can get up to that condition, perfection is impossible. But of perfect rascals and perfect fools, there is no end, the world is full of them, and each one of us must be mighty careful in our daily life if we are not placed in one of the lists. Charity suffereth long and in kind, but one never gets over the idea that he ought to be placed in the list of angelic beings.

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        There was a suspicion in the long ago that now and then some man of business who was pulling against the tide would dispose of his stock of goods to a fire insurance company, and thus get out of his financial difficulties. In looking over an old Hamilton newspaper, a suggestive item shows up. A merchant engaged in the rag business was about to remove, and as he had $1,000 insurance on his stock, the night before he was to give up possession, the building and stock were consumed by fire. There had been no fire in the premises and the only way to account for the conflagration was to charge it up to some wicked incendiary who wanted to see rags go up in smoke. The rag merchant got his insurance, but the owner of the building, not having it insured, had a total loss. Such things have often happened since insurance companies were first organized, and were likely to continue to the end of the chapter.

1905-12-09

Saturday Musings Spectator December 09, 1905

        The subject matter is rather gruesome, but as a matter of ancient history it may not be out of place to let the present generation into some of the secrets of the doctor’s office in bygone days. The old-time doctors had a harder time of it to get thorough knowledge of their profession than boys do nowadays. They had not the help of well-equipped medical colleges nor the dissecting room, but had to dig out of the text books the material or substance used in the composition of remedies for the cure of disease. Then a doctor had to compound his own prescriptions and every office was a well-stocked drug shop. What a time the unfortunate patients had in swallowing the mixtures of half a century ago! Now the doctor carries a few remedies, compounded and prepared by manufacturing chemists, and the patient and the disease do the rest. Happy doctors. But it was in the study of surgery that the old boys had to get down to business, for they had to find their own subjects on which to take lessons in dissecting. The law now furnishes to medical colleges the unfortunate poor who may happen to die and have no one interested enough in their bodies to give them decent burial. When you and I were boys, my venerable friend, every student had to either rob a graveyard or hire someone to do it for him. The professionals were known by the name of body snatchers; and indeed at an earlier period they did not even take the trouble of robbing a grave but were guilty of the crime of murder by suffocation so as to leave no marks on the bodies they had to sell to the students. This was called burking, after a man of the name of Burke, of Edinburg, who was the first known to have committed the crime in 1819 for the purpose of selling the bodies for dissection.

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        It was not an uncommon thing even as late as half a century ago for families to find that the graves of their dead had been desecrated by the resurrectionist; and it is well within the memory of some, that a well-known physician in Hamilton was riddled with shot while robbing a grave. Undertaker Blachford had charge of the doctor’s funeral. No questions were ever asked as to how the shooting occurred, hence the matter did not appear in the police court records. There was a doctor living in Berlin, Ont., a few years later, who made it a regular business to raise bodies. The doctor had an assistant and the pair robbed the graves, boiled the flesh from the bodies and sold the skeletons. At first, the doctor observed secrecy, but after awhile, he became bolder and carried on the trade in a disgusting manner. A child died and was buried and the parents, noticing that the grave had been tampered with, they opened it and found that the child’s body had been stolen. The doctor being suspected, a search warrant was obtained, and the officer and the father of the child went in upon the doctor and his assistant while they were in the act of preparing the body for the boiling process. The two men were arrested, and on trial by jury, a verdict of guilty was rendered. The doctor and his assistant escaped with the light punishment of only three months in jail.

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        Isolated graveyards in country places were the ones most frequently visited by the resurrectionists , and it was no uncommon thing for friends of the deceased to keep guard of the graves for weeks after the internment. When the writer was a boy in Quebec more than 50 years ago, there was a comical ending to a country graveyard robbery. A couple of medical students had to furnish a subject for dissection, and on a cold, wintry night they made a raid on a new-made grave in a country churchyard. It was bright moonlight, and to avoid suspicion should they be met on the road to the city they put a fur coat and cap on the corpse. Coming to a wayside tavern, the students concluded that a little something warm would cheer them up after their toil in digging and their long drive, so they invited the driver of the sleigh to go in with them and warm the cockles of his heart with a whiskey hot. A couple of wags sitting in the barroom, who knew the students and suspected their mission out in that direction on such a cold night, slipped out and saw a man sitting in the sleigh, and going over to speak to him, found that it was a corpse. They lifted the corpse from the sleigh and took it into the barn, and then one of the fellows dressed himself in the fur coat and cap and took the dead man’s place in the sleigh. The students and the driver having imbibed several times of the steaming hot whiskey got into the sleigh and started on their journey cityward. When they were nearing their destination close by St. John’s gate, the corpse asked them how much farther they were going to take him. This was too much for the students and the driver, and out they jumped from the sleigh and made rapid time in getting away. The supposed corpse turned around the horses and drove back to the country tavern by the roadside, and next day sent word to the students where they would find the horse and sleigh. The friends of the deceased were notified, and the corpse returned to the grave.

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        Students do not have to do such things now, as the medical colleges are always supplied with subjects for dissection from the hospitals and from those who have neither friends nor money to secure their burial. Back in the latter part of the ‘50’s, when the writer was setting type on the Cincinnati Enquirer, he made the acquaintance of a young Canadian who was a student in the Ohio Medical college in Cincinnati . Have you ever been away from home and met one from the same part of the country where you once lived? Why, it is like meeting an old friend even though you never set eyes on him before. This student was not a Hamilton boy, but he came very close to it. He was reared on a farm within sight of the blue waters of old Ontario, and having no liking for farm work and some inclination towards medicine, his good old father made many sacrifices to give him an education to that end. Having spent a portion of his time in a country doctor’s office, the young fellow was sent to the medical college in Cincinnati to prepare for his future profession. The young Canadian was charmed with city life and dipped lightly into some of its vices, and as a consequence did not make that progress in his studies necessary to a successful graduation. Having a retentive memory, he was able to follow closely the lectures of the professors and in that time kept up his record, but the time spent in the dissecting room was irksome to him, and his absences were far more frequent than his attendance. His letters to the old folks at home were full of cheer, but they were looking forward to the time when their boy would return a full-fledged doctor. As the time was drawing near for the closing examinations at the college, the young fellow began to feel his deficiency in the science of surgery, and if he was to pass it behooved him to get a move on himself. It cost money to hire a resurrectionist to furnish him a subject, and he was not brave enough to run the risk of going into the country to rob some quiet churchyard. He was in a dilemma. One night he attended a dance in a disreputable house, and while lounging around the rooms he opened the door of one room where one of the inmates was lying dead. Quick as a flash the thought came to him that here was his opportunity. There was a large crowd of men and women in the house, and the sound of revelry rang out as the music, the clinking of glasses and the coarse jest was bandied from one to the other. Locking the door of the room where the dead girl lay, his plans were soon matured. Making a rope of the bed sheets, he lowered the body from the second story window to the side alley. The hour was in his favor as it was just before the dawn of morning. He quietly left the house  and securing his prize, he beat a hasty retreat to his room, which was not too far distant. He had a room-mate, a young southern student, and as the southerner had been a close attendant in the dissecting room, he was sure of his help. Our young Canadian made good use of his time and of his subject, and gave up the bad habits he had formed. By the time when his student days were closing, he became proficient in the use of the surgeon’s knife, and passed a creditable examination. He came to his old home to visit his father and mother, but as the outlook was not encouraging for a young doctor in this part of Canada, he returned to Ohio and began practice in a country town. When the war broke out in 1861, he was one among the first to respond to the call of President Lincoln for 75,000 men, and was commissioned on the medical staff as assistant surgeon of his regiment. As the war progressed, he was advanced till he finally became chief surgeon on the staff of a distinguished general in the army. After the war, he located in Illinois. His early habits have been forgotten, and the doctor is not only a pillar in the Methodist church, but is also prominent in the affairs of the county in which he lives. The last time I saw him we talked over old times in Cincinnati before the war, and his escapade in procuring a subject for dissection.

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        Once or twice before, we have referred in these Musings to the fact that Robert Young was the first manufacturer in Canada of burners for coal oil lamps. The old lathe that was used in making the first burners is stowed away in the storehouse of James Stewart, on John street, in the same building in which it was first used in 1858. A reporter of the Spectator visited Mr. Young’s workshop in 1859, and it may be interesting to now read what he briefly said of one of the infant industries that Hamilton’s enterprising workmen were nursing into life. That was in the old free trade days, when Canada had to compete with the United States for its own market : “There would seem to be no further necessity for importing coal oil lamps, now that R. Young, of this city, has entered extensively into the manufacture of them. We visited his establishment yesterday, and were shown the various processes the lamps undergo in their manufacture. They are manufactured and sold here by Messrs. Hilton, by wholesale at about 10 per cent less than the actual cost price of those imported from the United States. The article is not only cheaper, but better than that of American manufacture; and, besides, Mr. Young makes a greater variety of lamps, any of which are more endurable than those imported. We understand that there is just now a large demand for these manufactured lamps, and there is not the least doubt that they will soon force the imported ones out of the market.” Robert Young came to Hamilton in 1854, and during the next forty years was a prominent factor in the manufacturing enterprises in this city. A few years ago, he retired from active business, but, even now, when he has passed his four score years, he keeps himself in touch with his trade in a limited way.

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        The Great Western railway was nurtured into life by the citizens of Hamilton, and its slightest request to the city council was promptly acceded to; but the officers of the company never granted a favor to Hamilton if it were possible to avoid it. At the time of the great cricket match in this city in 1859, when the All-England eleven played against a picked Canadian club of twenty-two, Hamilton had put up a large bonus to secure the game, and it was natural for the contributors to the purse to expect that the number of people that would be attracted here would spend money enough in part to reimburse the subscribers. It was a big thing for the Great Western, as hundreds of people came from every direction over its road to see the game, and reduced fares were promised by the officers of the company. That all did not receive this favor is evident by the following card that appeared in the Spectator of Oct. 17, 1859 : “Several gentlemen who came up from Oakville by the midday train today, for the purpose of seeing the cricket match, beg leave to express their thanks to the responsible officer of the Great Western railway company for the discrimination used in refusing them return tickets, while the other passengers from Toronto, on the same train, had return tickets.” Perhaps there are some of the old residents of Oakville now living who were in the party that was treated so shabbily by the railway company.

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        In the year 1859, the Canadian synod of the Church of England recommended that an improvement be made in congregational singing, and to carry out the plan, each congregation in Hamilton subscribed a portion of the expense of opening a singing school in the Temperance hall, with Mr. Clarke as the appointed teacher. The admission to the class was free to members of the subscribing congregations. It was deplored by the movers that sacred music was cultivated by so few, and that the congregations had little more to do than turn around and stare at the small choir that assumed part of the devotions. There were no paid choirs in Hamilton then.

1904-10-08

Saturday Musings Spectator October 08, 1904

        The second annual provincial fair in Upper Canada was held in Hamilton on Thursday, Oct. 7, 1847, just 57 years ago yesterday. As usual, the weather was in an unsettled condition, being cool, rainy and stormy, and the officials of the society were in anything but a happy mood. Visitors were in attendance from all parts of the province, and as the hotel accommodation was meager, private citizens had to open their houses to entertain the strangers. In those days, the fair was only of short duration, lasting not more than two days, so the visitors came the day before. On Wednesday afternoon, the steamer City of Toronto arrived at the wharf at the foot of James street, and as it entered the bay, the people uptown were notified by the ringing of bells, and many went to the bay to meet his Excellency the Governor-General and the distinguished retinue with him. Col. Gourlay was marshal of the day, and on arrival of the steamer at the wharf, a procession was formed to escort the governor-general and his party to the fair grounds. And what a procession it was! Nowadays it would take something greater than a provincial to get such a turnout. It may be interesting to present the list of societies and the eminent bodies represented, and we give the order of procession as we find it in an ancient copy of the Spectator:

        Constables of the Gore District

        High Constable

        Band

        Deputy Marshals

        St. Andrew’s Society

        St. Patrick’s Society

        St. George’s Society

        Bagpipes

        Highland Society

        His honor he mayor, with His excellency The Governor-General and Lady Elgin.

        His Excellency’s suite in carriages.

        The honourable, the Speaker of the house of Assembly

        The chief justice.

        The president, vice-president and members of the Agricultural society

        Members of the executive council

        Members of the legislative council

        Members of the house of assembly

        The district judge and members of the bar

        The high sheriff

        The warden of the district

        District council

        City council

        Magistrates

        Grand marshal on horseback

        Citizens

        Band

        The Abolition society

        The police.

  Lord Elgin, being a Scotchman of the Highland society, was accorded the honor of a personal escort to his Excellency. By the time the procession was formed, the rain poured down in torrents, and continued until Young’s property was reached. On the corner of King and James streets was a triumphal arch, erected with evergreens, reading “Welcome to the Earl and Duchess of Elgin” On Thursday, welcoming addresses from the city council and the Mechanics’ Institute were presented to the governor-general in the council chamber by the mayor, Sir Allan Macnab and Dr. Billings. The afternoon was spent at the fair grounds, and at five o’clock supper was served by the late George Inch in a temporary pavilion on the court house square at which more than a thousand persons were guests. As the governor-general entered the pavilion, he was heartily cheered. Later, when Lady Elgin arrived, she received even a more loyal welcome. After the feast came the toasts and speeches. Lord Elgin made a rattling good speech, in which he was complimentary to this blessed city and made every Hamiltonian his sworn friend from that moment. The Hon. Robert Baldwin, who was one of the most reviled men in public life in those days, heaped coals of fire upon his enemies by proposing the health of the Press, in which he said very nice things about the fourth estate. He exhibited a copy of the Canada Gazette, published in 1796, being the first newspaper printed in Upper Canada. It was about the size of a sheet of foolscap. George Brown, of the Toronto Globe, and Robert Smiley of the Spectator, were called upon to respond, but by the time that part of the toast list had been reached a number of the guests had partaken of more than their share of the drinkables and they became so noisy that the distinguished editors could not be heard. Friday closed the festivities and the fair, and His Excellency held a levee in the city hall, where the notables of the town and others were presented to him.

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          It may be of interest to give the names of a few of the ancient Hamiltonians who took part in the second Provincial Fair held in Upper Canada: Capt. Stewart, M. O’Reilly, Col. Gourlay, W. A. Harvey, Rev. J. G. Geddes, George W. Baker, Mr. McKinstry, Daniel M. Gilkinson, Archibald Gilkinson, Capt. McDougall, George S. Tiffany, Edmund Ritchie, J. T. Gilkinson, D. C. Gunn, D. Nelligan, Rev. Dr. Ryerson, E. Stinson, Dr. Duggan, Dr. Craigie, W. E. Murray, Col. Robert Land, Dr. G. O’Reilly, David Thompson, Hugh B. Wilson, Hugh C. Baker, G. Duggan, J. Larkin, D. C. VanNorman, Capt. Armstrong, William Gage, Thomas Lottridge, Mr. McKeand, E. Batersby, Phillip Sphn, Jacob Bastedo, C. H. Stokol, John Applegarth.

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          There was not much money given away in prizes, for all of the awards filled less than four columns of the Spectator, set in large type. Among the successful competitors, Hamilton had a few. John Smith took two second prizes in Durhams, and Mr. Peleg third in brood mares, a Hamilton firm was awarded the first premium on a horse-power thresher and separatory; Gurney & Carpenter had the best corn and cob crusher; William Davidson and Edward McGiverin, the old-time harness makers, took all the prizes in that class of goods, and Clement & Moore made the best sides of upper and sole leather and tanned calfskins; Joseph Mills topped them all in fur hats; J. B. Dayfoot was awarded all the prizes in shoemaking, and James Reid had the finest display of cabinet ware. In garden products Hamilton’s amateur agriculturists made a fine display, and got their share of the prizes. Robert Bleazard was evidently one of Hamilton’s pioneer manufacturers in woodenware, for he is credited with quite a number of awards. Gurney & Co. made the best cooking stoves. Juson & Co. took all the prizes in cut nails. In the ladies’ department, Mrs. J. Martyn and Miss Ryerson had the best raised worsted work; Mrs. S. Whipple, woolen socks and mittens, and Mrs. D. C. VanNorman embroidery and wax flowers. In fine arts, Mrs. VanNorman  and Miss Thornton excelled, and our old friend, Joseph Faulkner, made perfect bricks. In the extra department, Robert Ecclestone took the cake in confectionery, and Mrs. Galbraith had the finest handmade lace veil and worked lace bag. Hamilton’s old-timers were proud of their handiwork, and its mothers and daughters were not only skilful in the management of domestic duties, but also in fine arts and in the useful and ornamental.

1905 - 12 - 16 Saturday Musings (Partial)

 Saturday Musings (Partial Column Transcribed)
December 16, 1905
An amusing incident occurred in the court room in this city nearly a half century ago, during the Wentworth fall assizes. While S. B. Freeman was addressing the jury, in one of the most eloquent portions of his speech – and there was no man at the Canadian bar in those days who could hold a candle to him for eloquence – he saw a broad grin on the faces of the jury; then the twelve good men and true burst out in hearty laughter. The learned counsel seemed for the moment to be nonplussed, not understanding the cause of such unseemly merriment. On turning to the bench, the reason was self-evident. The chief justice had retired to his room for a moment, and there in the official chair, in all his majesty, sat Bob Innes, a simple-minded fellow, who was a well-known harmless character in Hamilton. Bob looked down on Mr. Freeman and said  : “Go on, Sam, it’s alright; I’ll see that justice is done.” The members of the bar, the jury and the auditors were convulsed with laughter, in which the good-natured attorney joined, even though it was at his own expense. When the judge returned, Bob Innes did not feel inclined to vacate his position on the bench, and it required a number of constables to remove him. It was some minutes ere the court settled down to its customary solemnity and the eloquent pleader was to continue his speech.

1905-11-25 Saturday Musings

Looking back at the newspapers published in Hamilton seventy years ago, with their twenty short columns of reading matter and advertisements, and compare them with last Saturday’s Spectator of 160 columns of up-to-date matter and advertisements, one must conclude that the world has moved onward at a rapid pace. Take the Hamilton Free Press, published in 1836, price per single copy five pence, as a sample of the old way, and the Spectator at one cent. The principal advertising in the Free Press was the sale of clergy reserve lands, which filled about three short columns. Thos. Brown, merchant tailor, advertised that he had removed from his old stand to the shop adjoining W. McDonald’s, on King street, where he kept a very extensive assortment of cloths, cassimeres, vestings and trimmings, which would be made into garments of the most modern and fashionable style at the shortest notice. He laid special stress on the fact that he would sell low for cash. In those days, money was a scarce article, and tailors, and every other class of tradesmen, had to sell on long credit; and they were fortunate if they got their money before the clothes were worn out. R. Witmer was another fashionable tailor who advertised for his share of the Hamilton trade. His shop was in a building lately erected by Alexander Carpenter, one door north of King street. If there were any more tailors in Hamilton, they failed to let the fact be known through the columns of the Free Press. There were two other papers printed in the city at the time – the Gazette and the Express. They may have been more fortunate in getting the patronage of the tailors.

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        Alexander Carpenter informed his friends and the public that he had commenced business in the new shop on King street, next door to Mr. Jackson’s tin factory, where he would keep on hand a general assortment of the most approved patent cook and box stoves, door and open Franklin ditto, brass and tinware, stovepipes, wagon boxes and all kinds of hollow ware. Also, that he had just received an assortment of patent pails, tubs and joiners’ bench screws, which would be sold cheap for cash. Ten years later Alexander Carpenter became a partner with the Gurneys in the foundry business. In the meantime, he erected the building on John street, now occupied by W. G. Marshall, the horse shoer.

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        The splendid steamboat Hamilton, Capt. Mills advertised that during the season of 1836 (Sunday excepted) it would ply between Toronto and Hamilton, leaving Hamilton at two o’clock in the afternoon and Toronto at seven o’clock in the morning, touching at Port Credit, Oakville and Burlington bay anal on the way up and down. All baggage and small parcels at the risk of the owner, unless booked and paid for Cabin passage 10 shillings, deck passage, 5 shillings. Passengers requested to be on board in due time, as the boat would leave H. Vallance’s wharf at Hamilton and A. Macdonald’s at Toronto precisely at the hours above stated. This was signed by the agent, Nathaniel Hughson Jr. It took the Hamilton more than four hours to make the trip from Hamilton to Toronto, and passengers going down on business had to spend the night in Toronto as there was no return boat. However, the old-timers were never in a hurry, and they probably did not make the trip more than once or twice a year, it was always an event in their lives. Nowadays it requires seven round trips a day on the railways for those who are in a hurry, and these boats and cars are crowded.

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        Smith & Mills, proprietors of the Hamilton rifle factory, respectfully announced to the public that they had established themselves in Hamilton, on Main street, a few doors below Chatfield’s tavern, where they would manufacture to order, and keep on hand for sale, every variety of rifles, shotguns and other articles belonging to their business. They were determined to sell for ready pay as low as the Buffalo prices, and much lower than the same articles had ever been offered in this section of the province.

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        G. Huffman announced that he had taken over the Hamilton Exchange, Main street, lately occupied by Benjamin Johnson, and fitted it up in a style of neatness and convenience not surpassed by any similar house in the province; and he assured those who might favor him with their custom that every exertion would be made to render them comfortable. His house would always be supplied with the best the markets afforded, and the charges moderate. An elegant could and four would leave the Hamilton Exchange on the arrival and departure of the steamboats for the accommodation of passengers. Travellers booked for the various stages and were taken up at the Hamilton exchange.

       

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        The old stagers of half a century and more ago will remember when the leading hotels owned their own omnibuses and carried passengers to and from the steamboat wharves for a York shilling, and if guests for the hotel, for free. It did not take many buses or hacks to carry the passengers who came by boat; and the majority walked as York shillings were not as plentiful as now in these days of prosperity when wages are good and every man gets cash for his week’s work.

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        Wm. Burge had a most substantial and well built framed dwelling house, calculated for a tavern or a store. It was located at Indiana, on the Grand river, on the main road from Dunnville to York. One of the inducements  was that the property commanded a fine view of the Grand river lock and canal and the air was salubrious. Thomas Pearson, proprietor of the Mansion House hotel at Brantford, informed the traveling public that his table was always provided with the best the town could supply and that he had laid in a stock of superior wines and liquors.

        The above covers all the local advertising that appeared in the columns of the Free Press.

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        The first effort made by Hamilton to fight fires was in 1836 when Alexander Carpenter was appointed captain of the Hamilton Police Hook and Ladder company. The citizens evidently were not kindly disposed to rolling out of their warm beds on a cold winter night to pass buckets of icy water along a line to quench a fire, and Capt. Carpenter was much discouraged. In his appeal he said : “I have been endeavoring for some time past to induce persons who have to put down their names as members to come forward and equip according to rules and regulations, but hitherto have failed to arouse you to a sense of duty. The greatest indifference prevails particularly among certain of you who are most deeply in rendering our company efficient – persons who are owners of valuable town property and who should be the first to step forward and by their influence and example do all I their power to accomplish a successful organization of the company. I feel anxious that those who have been engaged in it should come forward spiritedly and unite in making the company what it should be, a credit to the town, or else say they take no interest in its success, withdraw their names, let the company be disbanded, and the members no longer claim exemptions from doing military duty, sitting as jurors, etc.

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        Hamilton had aspirations evening its youth to become a great city. Being located at the headwaters of Lake Ontario, it had a canal cut through the sandy beach that divided the bay from the lake, and the commerce of eastern Canada was handled through its port. It was the first town in Canada and it was then but little more than a hamlet then – to talk of building a railway across the country from here to Detroit. It was about the year 1833 that a few enterprising citizens began to discuss the question, and it finally culminated in a board of directors being organized, with Sir Allan Macnab at the head. In 1836 another company was organized, having in its view the building of what was called the London and Gore railway, the object being to build a line from Hamilton through Paris, Woodstock, Ingersoll, and on to London. The following advertisement, which we copy from the Hamilton Free Press, dated August, 1836, will better explain the pretext.

                LONDON AND GORE RAILROAD

        Pursuant to a resolution passed by the directors on the 11^th inst., notice is hereby given that five per cent upon the stock subscribed is required to be paid – two and one half per cent on or before the 21^st of August next, and two and one half per cent on or before the 21^st of September next – to the following gentlemen :

                        D. Moore, London

                        Peter Carroll, Ingersoll

                        Edmund Deeds, Esq., Oxford

                        Robert Riddle, Esq., Zorra

                        Mr. Samuel Mills, Hamilton

Dated this 12^th day of June, 1836.

                                        SAMUEL MILLS, Secretary.

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        It was not until the end of the ‘40’s that things began to take shape and the dream of twenty years before was about to be realized. Hamilton had a few men in business sixty years ago who were always looking forward to the millennium period when the city of their birth or adoption would become the trade centre of Western Canada. They were not figuring on increased population, nor did they give to the future of manufacturing industries: their dream was to make it a great commercial city of large wholesale warehouses for every line of mercantile business. With lake navigation for cheap transportation from the seaboard to the head of the inland sea, some other means of carrying freight than by wagons was necessary for an outlet to the great west. They gave their time and their money and in the end, through much tribulation, saw their final triumph when the Great Western road was opened in 1854 from Niagara to the Detroit river. The final results did not turn out as was hoped for in the long ago, for from the time the Great Western road was opened down to the present the wholesale trade of Hamilton dwindled away. The first city in Canada that the means of building a great iron highway across a stretch of 200 miles was the first to be discriminated against by the railroad companies it had fostered and built up. In the matter of freight rates, Hamilton has always had the worst of it.