Captain
Armstrong, who was police magistrate in this city half a century ago, was an
officer in the British navy during the War of 1812, and took part in the
storming of Fort Erie and the taking of Chippewa, where he landed the crew of
his vessel to assist the soldiers in their fight with their American cousins.
At Fort Erie, the gallant captain led the forlorn hope for which he received
the thanks of the governor and a commission as a lieutenant in the royal navy.
In Hamilton and its vicinity, there was a large number of veterans of the War
of 1812, and the old fellows would travel a good many miles in order to have
Capt. Armstrong certify to their pension vouchers. The veteran sailor always
took a day off to swap yarns with his old comrades, and strict orders were
given the police not to interfere with the veterans should they drink once too
often to the health of Victoria the Good. The old boys have long since been
mustered out.
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In the month of January, 1854, a
morning newspaper in this city advertised for four first class compositors, and
none other need apply, to whom the fabulous sum of $8 a week would be paid. The
poor fellows were expected to work from twelve to fourteen hours a day. There
was less than half a column of telegraphic news set each night, the copy being
mainly clipped from exchanges and the foreign papers. In the old paper before
us, there is a column report of the proceedings of the City council, in which
Brown and McDonald offered the city a large quantity of broken stone at a
nominal price, as it was only rubbish and had to be moved from their quarries
on the mountain. The poor old mountain was even then being deprived of its
rugged beauty, for it not only furnished the stone for building purposes, but
also for the lime kilns, of which there were a number along the brow. However,
there was a thick growth of timber on the mountain side, which hid from view
the work of the iconoclasts.
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The greatest event in the city of
Hamilton occurred on Jan. 19, 1854 when it celebrated the opening of the
railway from Niagara Falls to Detroit. The opening of that road was the event
in Canadian history, for it was the longest line of railway built in Canada
down to that time. And here, as a matter of history, we will report the
statement made once or twice before in the Spectator that the first railway
built in Canada – and among the first built in the continent of America – was
from La Prairie, opposite Montreal to the United States border, some twelve or
fifteen miles distant. The Great Western was either the second or third road
built in Canada. No wonder then that Hamilton should feel an interest in it,
for was not Sir Allan Macnab the father of the project, and was it not through
his unceasing efforts that English and United States capitalists were induced
to put capital into the enterprise and push the road to completion. Three years
from the time the first spade of earth was turned to begin the work of
construction, the company had completed 228 miles of first-class road from the
Falls to Detroit at a total cost of $10, 821,056. Niagara Falls celebrated the
opening from the river to Hamilton, and London had its jubilee when the first
passenger train reached that city, and it remained for Hamilton and Detroit to
put on the finishing touches and make the grand through opening a memorable
occasion. It was a three days’ junket, beginning at Detroit, and ending in
Hamilton, and every town, village and hamlet along the entire line added its
part. The council of Hamilton appropriated $30,000 to the entertaining of the
city’s guests at a banquet and to pay the expenses of the council to Detroit.
The fire department asked for $500 to defray the expense of entertaining
visiting firemen from the cities along the Great Western line, and for two or
three companies from Rochester and Buffalo, but the city fathers had to fight
over it, and finally compromised by voting $396. With this amount, the firemen
built a triumphal arch at the corner of King and James streets, hired a band,
gave a banquet to 350 visiting firemen and finished the day with a torchlight
parade. When the bills were audited, each company had to call on its members to
make up the deficit. That is about the spirit in which the City Council of
other days used to treat the old fire fighters. But the celebration was a
success, and Hamilton was proud of the result. There was a grand procession in
the forenoon, led by Capt. Booker’s artillery, followed by the police, the St.
George, the St. Andrew and the St. Patrick societies. The Highlanders were out
in uniform, but as a January day in Canada was a little too cool for bare legs,
they had to wear tartan breaks. The greatest disappointment to the Highlanders
was that they had to march to common, everyday band music, as Mr. Grant, the
only piper in the city was sick in bed. Counting the visiting companies and the
home department over 600 firemen were in the line of march, and they were the
centre of attraction. In the carnival parade, on Aug. 17 next, less than half a
dozen of the old fire-fighters who marched on Jan. 19, 1854 will be in line
with the Veteran Firemen. They are grey-headed old boys now, but they are as
young in spirit as when they manned the drag ropes half a century ago.
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In 1854, the City Council revised the
schedule of official salaries, and gave each one a small advance. Prior to that
time, some of the officers were paid by fees, but it was decided to put all on a
regular salary basis. It may be interesting to compare the salaries then paid
with what are paid now. The salary of police magistrate was fixed at $1,000 a
year; chamberlain, $900; clerk, $900; high bailiff, $400 and a house, light and
fuel; chief constable, $420; street inspector, $500; superintendent of
cemeteries, $400; superintendent of hospital, $300; city messenger, $320; clerk
of wood market, $400; policeman, $360. Poor salaries were paid, but some
official made up the shortage in his pay by re-selling city debentures that had
been redeemed but not cancelled. There was quite a breeze in the council when
the stealing was made public; but the city had to lose the amount as the
officer had never given an official bond. The only consolation one of the
aldermen could offer was that the official did not steal more, having had large
amounts of redeemed checks and certificates in his hands, which he failed to
cancel. Life tenure of office is not always the safest. Occasional changes tend
to a closer auditing of accounts.
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The firm of Lawson Brothers, the
principal clothing manufacturers in Hamilton in the early ‘50’s gave employment
to fifty or more tailors. When sewing machines first came into use in the
tailoring trade, the Lawsons introduced them in Hamilton. The tailors would
have none of them, and after repeated demands made to the firm to throw out the
obnoxious machines, which were refused, they went out on strike. In those days,
labor saving machinery was looked upon with suspicion by all classes of wage
earners, the argument against them being that every machine would take the
place of at least half a dozen men, and ruin and starvation be the result. The
Lawsons advertised for “fifty tailors who are not afraid of machinery,” and one
evening the required number came from the States by the Great western railway.
The striking tailors were at the station to meet them, and when it was
explained that a strike was on, the Yankee disciples of the goose and needle
turned their faces toward the Stars and Stripes and left the Hamiltonians to
fight it out with the Lawsons. The introduction of Sewing machines was fought
to a finish, leaving the machine triumphant. If the clothing of the present day
were all made by hand, it would be impossible to supply the demand. As it is,
the manufacturers find it a difficult matter at times to fill orders. The
journeymen tailors earn better wages now than they did half a century ago, and
men dress better on less money.
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The first Printers’ union was
organized in Hamilton on the 6th of March, 1854. Thomas Rolston was
elected president; John Christian, vice-president; R. L. Gay, treasurer; James
Nixon, D. G. Mitchell and W. F. Campbell, vigilance committee. Gay lives in
Toronto and Cliff in Hamilton; the others are dead. This organization of
printers was to secure a price for work, the rate of wages varying from $4 to
$6 a week.
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The first cotton mill in Upper Canada
was built at Newmarket in 1854. From a description given of the mill, it was
150 feet long, 50 feet wide, four stories high, with a capacity of 120 looms
and 5,000 spindles. The estimated cost of the mill, machinery, repair shop, and
twelve houses for the workingmen was $50,000, and the working capital $35,000.
The output of the mill was estimated at 200,000 yards of 36 inch cloth, which
was then selling at ten cents a yard. Even in that faraway day, Canada afforded
a protection of 12 ½ per cent on cotton manufacturers, which was counted a
great profit in those days.
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In the good old days of ’53, when
corporations had not yet learned to dilute their stock, the fare from Niagara
Falls to New York City was $7 first class, and if money was more an object than
style, one could make the trip in a second class coach for $5. To Boston from
Niagara Falls was $11, taking the Fall River line of boats at New York. It took
about 32 hours to make the trip from the Falls to new York. There were no
palace or sleeping cars, and when night came, if the cars were not crowded, the
passenger curled upon the seat and spent long hours wishing for daylight. While
passenger rates were low, the company made up the shortage by high rates on
freight. For first class 86 cents a hundred was charged, second class 64 cents,
and for third class 48 cents.
