News clippings compiled by Art Clowes
Revised To: December 2, 2002
Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 72 (2) – Saturday, January 8, 1859 – ST. ANDREWS COMPLAINS – The Editors of the St. Andrews Standard took objections to an article carried in the Carleton Sentinel about an excursion to St. Andrews:
“But we confess we were vastly amused in reading the Standard of last week – reading it, as we did, on New Year’s evening. For Why?”
“The Standard says (we quote the article entire):”
RAILWAY EXCURSION – In our last week’s impression, we briefly called attention to the Excursion by Rail and Stage to Woodstock, on Saturday next, 1st January. The time appointed for the trip is opportune – affording an excellent opportunity for an interchange of kindly feelings and greetings at this festive season, and for making not only social but business connections. There can be no excuse with respect to time – business at present is quiet, and as to the price, whose would not pay 12s 6d. for a trip of 176 miles are a long way behind the age. The interests of the Town demand that there should be a large turn out from St. Andrews – as some acknowledgement of their appreciation of the benefits which will result to the Town from the opening of the Railway which the New Brunswick & Canada Railway Company have constructed at a large outlay of capital, and pushed this far into large, populous and rich districts – thereby bringing wealth to our very doors. At the same time our people can make arrangements for preventing the tide of business being diverted from its legitimate channel, – our position and advantages will recommend themselves, – the next desideratum is active, energetic business men – men of progress, who have the will and the means also to drive business; and who do not fear risking some capital; – a few such men are among us, and there is a strong probability of the numbers being increased. We are informed that several of the leading business men and inhabitants of St. Stephen, and also of Calais purpose having a Holiday Excursion by Rail and Stage to Woodstock on Tuesday next, and with “an eye to windward,” they will no doubt make the trip a paying one by extending their business relations, and urging the advantages for selling goods cheap. This is all right – those who will push forward in the race of improvement with broad and comprehensive views of trade, and have confidence in their fellow men, will succeed – the old system of calling upon Hercules is exploded – the doctrine of the present day is self-reliance. Nature has done much for St. Andrews, but it requires art or brains to improve our advantages. We trust the weather will be mild and fine on the 1st instant, and that there will be a large number on the Cars. The tickets must all be taken up by Thursday evening.
The Standard next copies an article from the Head Quarters, which was nothing more than an attempt to dodge out of a corner into which he got himself by wholesale assertions, and comments as follows:
The Head Quarters’ statement are correct – the press and people of St. Andrews did not deem the remarks of the Sentinel of sufficient force to call forth a reply. They know what exertions, perseverance, and money was expended in the incipient stages of the Railway from the first meetings in 1835 to the last general meeting in March, 1854 – when the New Brunswick shareholders transferred their shares to the present active and wealthy Company – who have pushed the works with such precision and vigour. Had it not been for the united effort and indomitable perseverance of the people of St. Andrews, Woodstock might have remained shut up from the sea coast, with its fertile fields and rich mineral deposits, and been confined to the only outlet that nature furnished – viz: the River St. John. The ungenerous remarks and invidious comparisons made by two or three journals only affect themselves. St. Andrews has won the battle and can afford to smile at the paper pellets.
Now was it not amusing, in view of all this – holding this Standard in one hand, having just read its contents, – to reflect that, after all this had been read by the people of St. Andrews; after Mr. Manager Thompson had taken the extraordinary precaution he had to prevent too great a rush; in view of the large anticipations of the Woodstockers as to the number of their coming visitors, and their trembling fear lest their houses and their larders would be insufficient to meet the demands upon them, – in view of all these, to have the truth forced upon us that six passengers, actually six, had purchased excursion tickets and come through, three out of the six being Woodstockers – we cave in, and will say no more. Only when the Standard, or nay one else, will show us that the enterprise of those who are dead and gone, and who receive at our hands and at our hearts the most grateful remembrance for their really valuable labours to benefit St. Andrews and Woodstock, reflects any amount of credit upon those who are not now enterprising, or will show us who the people are in St. Andrews now whose money, whose energy, whose perseverance tends, or has tended, within the last five years, to advance the railroad, then we will most gratefully and cheerfully acknowledge the same. Meanwhile, let us hope that we have really done St. Andrews injustice; and that her future will convince the world that of and within herself she has the strong will, the active energy, to make herself what she should be – second to no city in the Province.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 72 (2) – Saturday, January 8, 1859 – THE VICTORIA BRIDGE, MONTREAL – This great work has been pushed forward so energetically that the bridge will probably be opened for traffic in October, 1859, instead of January 1, 1860, in accordance with he contract terms. The past season 3,281 men were employed in its construction, including 450 men employed at the Canada Works, Birkenhead, in making the tubes. Five steamers, 63 barges, 21 scows, and 27 ferry and row-boats, 142 horses, 3 locomotives, 17 pumping, hoisting and stationary engines, 2 rivet-making machines, and 2 rivetting machines, were employed on the work. The total length of the bridge over the St. Lawrence is two miles less 150 feet. It is iron and tubular, and consists of 23 spans of 242 feet each, and one in the centre of 330 feet. The spans are terminated on each side by causeways terminating in abutments of solid masonry, 240 feet long and 90 feet wide. The northern causeway is 1,400 feet long and that on the south 700 feet. The bridge is being built for the use of the Grand Trunk Railway through Canada. When completed, it will be the gigantic work of the continent.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 73 (3) – Saturday, January 8, 1859 – NEW REGULAR LINE OF PACKETS
between
Saint John and St. Andrews
The fast sailing and commodious Packet Schooners
SPARTAN,
- Morrison, Master
HENRY GOLDSMITH, tatton,
Will leave the North Market Wharf, Saint John, and the Railroad Wharf, St. Andrews, every MONDAY and THURSDAY, in each week.
For Freight and Passage apply to D. J. Seely, No. 70, Water Street, Saint John, or the Captain on board.
This line of Packets runs in connection with the St. Andrews and Woodstock Railroad, and affords the most expeditious and economical route for travellers to the upper sections of the Province, as well as for the transportation of all kinds of Merchandise and Produce.
These schooners possess excellent and comfortable accommodations for Passengers.
JULIUS THOMPSON, Manager.
St. Andrews, November 25, 1858.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 73 (3) – Saturday, January 8, 1859 – NEW BRUNSWICK & CANADA RAILWAY – THE subscriber respectfully announces to any who may have freight going to or from St. Andrews, that he is now ready to attend to receiving, storing, or forwarding any freight intrusted to his care.
Any business intrusted to him will be punctually attended to. GREENLIEF HOULTON
St. Andrews, NB, November 15, 1858.
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Woodstock, The Woodstock Journal, Page 7 – Thursday, January 20, 1859 –
New Brunswick and Canada
Railway & Land Company.
Opening of the Road for
Traffic to the
Howard Settlement.
NOTICE. – THE PUBLIC IS Respectfully informed, that on and after the 1st. December proximo, the trains will run through to Howard Settlement, within 20 miles of Woodstock, regularly every day except Sundays. A stage will run in connection with the trains to and from Woodstock.
Fare from St. Andrews to Howard Sett, 7s 6d
RATES OF FREIGHT.
1st. Class Merchandise, 21 cents per 100 lbs.
2nd. Class Merchandise, 17 cents per 100 lbs.
3rd. Class Merchandise, 13 cents per 100 lbs.
Lumber and Timber – are specially rated at $3 per car for the first 20 miles and 10 cents per car per mile additional, for all greater distances, for sawn lumber, &c. – and at $2.50 per car for the first 20 miles, and 3 cents per car per mile additional, for greater distances, for Cordwood, Bark, Railway Sleepers, &c.
Merchants and others having goods to forward to Woodstock and the Upper Country are invited to select this route, which is by far the cheapest and most expeditious, even including the freight and passage from Saint John to St. Andrews.
For further information applications may be made at the Office in St. Andrews, and to the Company’s Agent in Saint John.
Julius Thompson, Manager.
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Woodstock, The Woodstock Journal, Page 231 (7) – Thursday, January 20, 1859 –
New Brunswick and Canada
Railway & Land Company.
(Limited).
Punctuality, Expedition and Economy
THE Public is respectfully informed that arrangements have been made for running a FOUR HORSE COACH daily between Woodstock and the Station at the Howard Settlement in connection with the trains from St. Andrews.
Through Fare twelve shilling and 6 pence.
The Coach will leave Woodstock every morning at 9:00 A.M. arriving at the Station in sufficient time to allow passengers to dine before taking the Cars; and will return to Woodstock on the arrival of the train from St. Andrews.
– Places by the Stage may be secured at the Coach Office, near the Post Office, and at all the principal Hotels in Woodstock, and passengers taking a through ticket at St. Andrews are guaranteed a conveyance onward from the Howard Settlement to Woodstock, even should the regular coach be full. Parcels and Express Freight will be carefully attended to and delivered with dispatch on the most reasonable terms.
JULIUS THOMPSON
St. Andrews, November 27, 1858.
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Woodstock, NB, The Journal, Page 227 (3) – Thursday, January 20, 1859 – MR. TILLEY AND THE LATE RAILWAY BOARD – Through the Post Office we have received a pamphlet which appears to be an attempted refutation by Mr. W. H. Scovil of a certain charge of mismanagement made against the late Railway Board, of which Mr. Scovil was chairman, by Mr. Tilley.
Mr. Tilley, it appears, in a speech in the House of Assembly on the 29th March, 1858, said:
“The late commissioners had not bought Iron through Messrs. Barings, but through a firm of Naylor & Company, by which they lost £2,000 by mismanagement.”
On the 7th of April Mr. Scovil wrote to Mr. Tilley for an explanation. On the 14th Mr. Tilley replied, and a lengthily correspondence took place between him and Mr. Scovil, which terminated only on the 24th November last.
Mr. Tilley’s explanation, gathered from various letter, is this: The late Railway Board agreed with a firm of Naylor & Company to furnish one thousand tons of iron rails; that these rails were to be examined by an inspector appointed by the Liverpool house of Naylor and Company, which inspection was to be final; that under this arrangement the 1,000 was imported; that Mr. A. L. Light, Chief Engineer to the Board, officially represented to it that the rails were in several respects very inferior, and not worth as much by two pounds a ton as had been paid for them; that, therefore, this loss of £2,000 arose from the conditions which provided that the inspection of the Rails should be made by a person appointed by Naylor & Company, instead of by an agent of the Board.
Mr. Scovil’s reply to this is that only 700 tons were ordered from Naylor & Company by the former Board; that the agreement was that in the absence of an inspector appointed by the Board that firm should appoint one, who might be superseded at any moment by one appointed by the Board; that therefore the present Board could have appointed, and should have appointed, an inspector of their own, when the loss charged would have been prevented.
The whole matter appears to turn upon the question as so the agreement with Naylor & Company concerning inspection. Turning to the order given to this firm by Mr. Scovil on the 7th page, we find the following words.
“The Rails to be made under inspection. In absence of an inspector from this Board, you to appoint one, who may be superseded at any time by one appointed by this Board.”
Mr. Scovil contends that the appointment of an inspector by Naylor & Company was only provisional, and that the present Board should have appointed an inspector of their own. He gives the following explanation why the late Board did not appoint an inspector.
“I will here explain why the late Board did not appoint an inspector. When the above order was made the Board had under consideration the engagement of Mr. Smith as inspector (who had been recommended by the Chief Engineer). They did not know at the time the order was made if an arrangement could be made with Mr. Smith to proceed immediately to England, therefore they provided that an inspector should be appointed provisionally by Messrs. Naylor in event of an inspector from the Board not being present to take charge at the commencement of the manufacture of the Rails. A few days after this order was sent, and immediately after a meeting of the present Government at Fredericton (about 8th June) a member of the Railway Board was informed by a member of the present Government, that the then Board would be superseded by a new Board. And soon after this hearing also from Messrs. Naylor that but a small portion of those Rails, perhaps none, could be got ready in August, the late Board determined to leave the appointment of an inspector with their successors.”
On the other hand Mr. Tilley contends that the present Board finding a contract for rails made by their predecessors with a highly respectable English firm, and finding arrangements made for an inspection, could not be expected to interfere with such contract and arrangements. The former Board, he thinks, it should have at once appointed a competent inspector of its own.
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Woodstock, The Woodstock Journal, Page 278 (6) – Thursday, March 3, 1859 –
Through to Woodstock
By Stage and Railroad
ON and after this day the Subscribers will run a STAGE TWICE A DAY from Calais and St. Stephen to the Roix Road Station, to connect with the cars to and from
Woodstock & St. Andrews.
Their Stage will leave Deming’s Corner, Calais, every morning (Sunday excepted) at 6 o’clock, which will enable passengers to take the cars at the Roix Road Station in time to arrive in Woodstock the same afternoon. Also leave Deming’s Corner at 2 P.M. for the same station.
Their Stage will leave the Roix Road Station twice a day, on the arrival of the morning and evening train.
– Passengers forwarded to and from St. Andrews by this route.
HARDY & BRIDGES
St. Stephen, December 6th., 1858.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 104 (2) – Saturday, March 5, 1859 – RAILWAY MATTERS IN AUGUSTA – The State of Maine learns from Augusta that the Joint Select Committee on the Aroostook Railway, will modify the plan of last year, so as meet the existing feelings throughout the State. They propose to carry the line from Milford to the boundary at Orient, by the way of Lincoln and Mattawamkeag, at such point as will best suit the Government and people in New Brunswick; and that before any State aid is asked, the Company is to extend the one half the distance, and to give the State a lien on the whole for an advance of its credit on the balance, at the rate of $6,500 per miles.
If the State can secure the European and North American line to Saint John and Halifax, by an advance of its credit for $600,000, and at the same time secure 75 miles on the most direct line to Aroostook, all parties will readily agree to the plan.
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Woodstock, NB, The Carleton Sentinel, Page 108 (2) – Saturday, March 12, 1859 – NEW BRUNSWICK AND CANADA RAILWAY – “Standard” – There appears to be considerable business doing by the Railway. Large lots of square timber are brought down three times a week from Cranberry brook, (Canterbury Brook) in addition to other lumber and produce, and yesterday a loaded train of thirty-nine cars arrived from the upper country with lumber, shingles, cordwood. &c. This gives however, but a faint idea of what the trade will be ere many months elapse. We understand that large quantities of lumber are now yarded near the line for transportation.
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Woodstock, NB, The Carleton Sentinel, Page 108 (2) – Saturday, March 12, 1859 – THE WEALTH OF ALBERT COUNTY – Nine years ago the first lot of coal taken from the mines in Albert County, was dumped out of a wheelbarrow. Since that time the profit on the mineral and oil extracted from it, after paying labour and other expenses, has amounted to a sum of £50,000. Eight thousand tons of Albertine coal, the supposed yield of the mines for the present year, have been contracted for at $15 per ton – making a sum of $120,000. Five thousand tons are contracted for by the New Brunswick Oil Works Company, and the remainder goes to the United States. – News
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Woodstock, NB, The Carleton Sentinel, Page 108 (2) – Saturday, March 12, 1859 – We regret to learn that Mr. J. C. Beckwith, of Smith’s Falls, Canada West, died at Sussex, on the evening of Tuesday last. He was the contractor for sections 10 and 16 of the European and North American Railway. His remains will be carried to Canada.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 115 (1) – Saturday, March 26, 1859 – FLOUR
BY RAILWAY!
THE subscribers beg to inform their customers in Woodstock and the upper country that they are prepared to execute order for Flour deliverable at St. Andrews, and forward the same by Railway. The price at St. Andrews will not exceed the current rates in Saint John.
Parties ordering by this route will be required to take delivery of the goods at the Station at Howard Settlement, and provide for their transportation from that place.
HALL & FAIRWEATHER.
Saint John, December 1, 1858.
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, April 20, 1859 – THE RAILWAY QUESTION – As we stated last week, the evidence given before the Special Committee on Railways is to be printed, and we wait with impatience for a copy. The Smasher press are in ecstasies at the “triumphant acquittal” of Commissioners, Engineers, and Employees, the Committee having reported that no fraud has been committed by them. What the Committee meant was evidently this: that there was no proof that any of those employed by the Government had pocketed more than they were legally entitled to – that the moneys expended were duly accounted for. But surely there has been fraud, or we do not understand the meaning of the term. When three sections of the line were let for thirty four thousand pounds, and the contractors were paid sixty-seven thousand, what sort of contracts must they have been? Take the case of Brookfield for instance. He bargained to grade a certain distance for seven thousand pounds, and received seventeen thousand! It is no argument to say that the Commissioners and Engineers made such alterations in the route, or in the material, as made up the difference in cost. If they did so (which is very hard to swallow) where was the competition for the ten thousand pounds worth of extra work? It would appear that Mr. Brookfield tendered for the first contract, and got it by fair and honourable competition at seven thousand pounds; but the ten thousand extra was his own price, or the result of a private understanding between him and the Chief Engineer, or the Commissioners. Let us suppose that a section of the line is advertised to be let by tender. A tenders to perform the work for £7,000, B tenders to do it for £8,000, C for £9,000, and D for £10,000. A’s being the lowest tender, he gets the job. Subsequently certain alterations from the original plan are decided on, and A gets £10,000 for extra work; this he gets by private contract, when perhaps, had it been let by tender, B, C, or D would have performed the extra work for half the amount. Is not this a fraud? Every person of common sense will say “yes.” It gives A an unfair advantage over all others who tendered. There have been other transactions in connection with the Railroad that have not been satisfactory explained. We copy the following from the Freeman of Saturday:–
“The Chief Commissioner and Chief Engineer differed materially on at least one point. The report tells us that:–”
“In page 12 of the Report of the Commissioner there will be found: Statement showing the actual cost of construction, grading Roadway, etc., of station grounds, from Mill Street to Gilbert’s Lane, Saint John, to the 30th. April 1857. Labour of grading, masonry pile driving, etc., paid to Walker, Brookfield, and Myers, £4,191 18s 8d. The testimony of the Chief Commissioner before your Committee on the same subject was that there was a direct loss on the grade at Gilbert’s Lane of £4,100, and that the work that was done between Gilbert’s Lane and Mill Street, amounted to £4,000, and the greater portion had to be abandoned, and that for this loss the Government of 1856 and ‘57, of which the Chairman of this Committee was a member, was responsible.”
“The testimony of Mr. Light in reference to the same work is as follows:”
“I do not consider the £4,191 at all extravagant for the work done between Gilbert’s Lane and the Mill Pond. It is a heavy division of the road, and that the expenditure was all necessary to the ultimate completion of the Road – some part temporary and some part final. The whole cost of the work done during the winter of ‘56 and ‘57 between Gilbert’s Lane and the Mill Pond, including £844 of permanent sleepers as per contract exhibited to House of Assembly in 1857 was £2530. The portion of the these works to be permanent, include the pile bridge into the Mill Pond, which is necessary for a freight track is £1,679, leaving for temporary purposes £851, and in my opinion, then and now, that temporary expenditure was justified for the final purposes and object of the work. Had that expenditure not been made – there would have been no dividends.”
“Mr. Jardine in this case surely appears in a most odious light. In order to damage the party he hates, he deliberately stated that a loss of over £4,000 had been incurred to the westward of Gilbert’s Lane. Mr. Light shows that such was not the case, and yet Mr. Tilley thinks Mr. Jardine is the right man to hold the office he fills. Why Mr. Tilley so esteems Mr. Jardine, the public now understand pretty well.”
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 3 – Wednesday, April 20, 1859 – FIRST ARRIVALS OF RIVER STEAMERS – On Thursday morning last the people of Fredericton awoke to find the ice-bridge gone. On Friday the 15th., at twenty to three o’clock, the steamer Bonnie Doon arrived from her quarters. At half-past three the Reindeer arrived, and at a quarter past four the Richmond came in, with the Forest Queen close in her wake. The three last named were from Saint John. On Saturday the Bonnie Doon proceeded to Woodstock, so that the navigation for the season is now open. The weather is rather cold and backward.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 132 (2) – Saturday, April 23, 1859 – STEAM COMMUNICATIONS – The welcome steam whistle of the Bonnie Doon was heard Saturday evening; at an early hour, for the 1st time this season; since that day, she has been making her trips regularly. On Thursday evening the Richmond – Captain Duncan – made her appearance.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 132 (2) – Saturday, April 23, 1859 – AROOSTOOK RAILROAD – The following affords strong encouragement for the belief that the neighbouring County will soon and inevitably be tapped by a railroad. The people are to decide at the polls this summer, and doubtless the response will be favourable:
RAILROADS IN MAINE – Augusta, April 4 – The Legislature has to-day passed bills appropriating one million and a half acres of public lands to aid the Aroostook Railroad and the European and North American Railway. A loan act has been passed, authorizing the city of Bangor to loan its credit thereto to the amount of $400,000.
There is to be trunk line from Bangor to the boundary of New Brunswick, by the way of Mattawamkeag, with a branch line to Aroostook.
These matters have occupied the chief attention of the Legislature for the last four weeks, but finally passed by overwhelming majority.
In the Senate the vote stood 24 to 2; in the House 122 to 5. These measures, it is believed, secure the building of the Railways named.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 132 (2) – Saturday, April 23, 1859 – THE RAILWAY – News – The work along the line is progressing with vigour. With no very extraordinary exertions being used the road can and will be, opened to Hampton Ferry, as repeatedly promised, by the 1st day of June. Then the line will pay handsomely.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 132 (2) – Saturday, April 23, 1859 – VERMONT AND CANADA RAILROAD – A verdict for $700 has been obtained at Burlington, Vermont, against the Vermont and Canada Railroad Company, in a suit brought by the administrators of Eben N. French, who was killed by the explosion of a locomotive on the road, in July 1855. The jury gave the verdict on the ground that the company was guilty of culpable negligence in permitting the locomotive to be run when in an unsafe condition.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 134 (4) – Saturday, April 23, 1859 – AROOSTOOK RAILROAD – Maine Farmer – The Aroostook Railroad which has long been a much talked of ideality, is likely to become soon a tangible reality, and the policy by which it is to be brought into existence a fixed fact. The discussions upon the subject in our Legislature, have elicited many valuable facts, and as light on the subject began to show the importance of the measure, the different projects to bring that about so desirable an object began to change their forms and phases, until at length a pretty feasible one recommended by Colonel Smart, seems to meet the approbation of all. The amendment proposed by Colonel Smart to the original bill, we published last week. It does away with the plan of loaning the credit of the state, which is so objectionable to many, and to bring about which it would be necessary to change our constitution, which the people do not desire, and bases the whole thing on the sale of our public lands. It thus, in fact, makes our public lands a fund for the construction of the road. To this we think no man in the State will have any reasonable objections. We think it desirable and just, that some of those townships already lotted and devoted to by law to settlement at fifty cents per acre, payable in work, should be excepted. The offer of them has been made, and the public have just begun to avail themselves of the advantage, and it would look like instability of purpose, and like boy’s play to shut the gate down now and pursue an entirely different policy. Let some of those remain, say we. There will be land enough left to build the road with. The building of the road will promote the settlement of the land, and the settlement of the land build the road; thus a reciprocal action will take place, and the State, by having the land brought into an improved and taxable condition, reap increased advantage from both. This great question is still under discussion in the Legislature, and before our next issue will probably be put in such definite shape and form as will introduce a new era into our land policy, which shall end in the prosperous consummation of the great Railroad communications across our State, thus making us one of the great thoroughfares of the world.
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Woodstock, NB, The Journal, Page 339 (3) – Thursday, April 28, 1859 – ST. ANDREWS RAILROAD – Aroostook Pioneer – We are informed by a prominent citizen of Houlton, that during the past winter, which has been one of unusual dullness, the St. Andrews road has very neatly paid its running expenses, and that about four fifths of its business has been from this side of the Boundary Line. The rates of freight too, on the sixty-five miles of that road, are only sixty cents per ton more than the Oldtown & Milford Railroad, only twelve miles. With the opening of the spring, business on this road will be largely increased. One of the merchants of Houlton informed us that he alone should have fifty tons of freight come over that road within the next month. If the St. Andrews road can now be made to pay with the business of Aroostook, who shall say that the Aroostook Railroad will not pay when built.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 138 (2) – Saturday, April 30, 1859 – ON NEW BRUNSWICK & CANADA RAILWAY – We learn that one of the labourers on the railway near Canterbury Station, received injuries while excavating on Monday last of which he died in half an hour. His remains were carried to St. Andrews. His name we have not learned.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 148 (2) – Saturday, May 21, 1859 – ST. ANDREWS AND QUEBEC RAILROAD – For the Carleton Sentinel
Woodstock, May 18, 1859
Is the St. Andrews Railway coming here? This is a question which during the last six months has been asked by nearly every person in Woodstock, and as much shrouded in doubt and anxiety, as whether an entrée should have been made by the Green Mountain Boys, during the last Aroostook War. It has been stated publicly by the Manager, that the object of the Company is to make money, and some trouble has been taken to show that the road built to touch the River St. John at Woodstock, would prove quite as profitable – present and prospective – as any other meditated route. Yet it appears to be a nicely balanced question. It may be the St. Andrews and Richmond Road, or the St. Andrews and Houlton Road, and its aliases are really perplexing. In determining this matter, that which will yield the most profitable return is the line sought. The parties then, in whom this power is vested, take upon themselves a serious responsibility, and should weight all the chances before deciding. Apart from its being less profitable, a desire to violate any treaty now existing between the Company and the Government of the Province, is most decidedly un-English. I predicate this upon rumour, – and it is sincerely to be hoped that it is rumour only, – as many persons of wide experience in the affairs of this Province, fear that a step may be taken in connection with the building of this road, most disastrous in its effects upon the shareholders of the Company. Every new country has its own peculiarities, and for no purpose is the study of those more necessary, than in the erection of Railroads. What may appear to-day as the most flourishing district of country, is to-morrow eclipsed by a town or city rising suddenly in the wilderness, and its location, erection, and sustenance by trade, the fruits of a few master-minds. This we can understand; but viewed in this light, the prospect of any such result arising from a departure from the original line, with reference to this Railway, a few persons in this province have been able to discover. To avoid Woodstock, and the River St. John, and run the road as near to Houlton and the boundary line as possible, is said to be a favourite scheme. Should this be the course adopted, a very few years will prove it to be a short-sighted policy, as the Americans will have a road of their own from Bangor to Aroostook. By a recent Act of the Maine Legislature, the appropriation of its public lands in the erection of this said road will be determined by a vote of the people in June next, and if favourably, the St. Andrews and Houlton project must of course be abandoned. But should it not at this time be carried, the probability of a rival line presenting itself at no distant day, must be a matter of grave consideration for the Company. But apart from all this, is it good policy to build up a country and a trade which presents no greater advantage – all things considered – than is presented by another route through this Province? Is it good policy to be in opposition to the Government of New Brunswick, and which must be the position of the Company, if the contract to build the road to Woodstock is violated? Is it good policy not to occupy a central route through the Province, now open above Woodstock, and which must become the great highway to Canada? If the parties interested in this Railway have given, in their own minds, an affirmative answer to these questions, so be it! The result will be proved by Time.
But there is yet another party interested in this matter. The people of New Brunswick have something to say about the appropriation of the public lands of this Province for the building of Railways, as well as our friends over the border. There is this difference, however, that the Government in our case assume the prerogative, in the disposition of lands, and when called upon by the people, are expected to show an equivalent, which they cannot in this case do, if the St. Andrews road is built for the convenience of the people of another country. That all the land at present occupied by the Company will be forfeited to the Government, in the event of the contract not being carried out, there cannot be a doubt. It is a matter of deep regret that any question of this kind should have arisen; and could the balance of trade between the two proposed routes, be shown as against the Province, it might be offered as a palliation. The town of Woodstock and country surrounding, has a larger trade, a greater population, and more natural facilities for increase, than the town of Houlton and country surrounding it. Houlton being also 12 miles inland from the St. John, now hauls her freight to and from Woodstock, which she would continue to do until the American line from Bangor is erected, but which would not be the case with Woodstock, if the road is built to Houlton.
A good feeling has also thus far subsisted between the people of this town and the officers engaged in the erection of the road; and a title to a right-of-way over most valuable land in the vicinity of this place, has been unreservedly granted for the benefit of the Company.
Whatever else should be expected from the people of this place, in the erection of the road hitherward, that it is reasonable to ask, they have expressed their willingness to grant. The suspense as to the route, will be removed on the return of Julius R. Thompson, Esquire, who we believe is daily expected from England.
Lex
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 152 (2) – Saturday, May 28, 1859 – QUICK – The steamer Reindeer made the trip from Grand Falls to Woodstock, on Monday last, including stoppages, in about five hours. We have now the Reindeer – Huestis, Bonnie Doon – Smith, and Richmond – Duncan, an excellent fleet of steamers, whose trips are made with exceeding regularity, – more so, we think, than in any former season. We are only doing an act of common justice, in recording the fact – which is generally admitted – that the respective captains of the boats, and the agent here, Mr. J. T. Allan, are all gentlemen calculated by their obliging address to render the line very popular.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 152 (2) – Saturday, May 28, 1859 – RAILWAY COMMISSIONER – News – We understand that Robert Jardine, Esquire, has tendered his resignation as Chief Commissioner of Railways in this Province.
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, June 1, 1859 – The Woodstock Journal ridicules the penchant for altering names of places in Carleton and Victoria. Thus Hardscrabble has become Upper Woodstock, Butternut Creek has been changed to Florenceville, Little Falls to Edmundston, and it is now proposed to change McKenzie Corner into Havelock. The Editor then expresses his horror at the bare possibility of the name of Grand Falls being changed, in the following language:–
“By and bye we shall have some soft-headed and kid-gloved degenerate burlesque upon humanity, – who would probably faint if you unadvised and rashly used in his presence the words men and women, instead of gentlemen and ladies, – proposing to change the apt and appropriate name of `Grand Falls’ into some rose-coloured, lavender-scented, romantic, sentimentally-struck, lackadaisical, die-away designation. Should such a horror ever occur, – which the Lord in his goodness forbid! – we do hope and trust and pray that the Fall itself will, in utter disgust, refuse to fall a moment longer, and that it may disappear from the face of creation, and refuse longer to exhibit its spectacle of beauty and sublimity to the eyes of a degenerate people.”
Now the Editor of the Journal ought to have known that what he deprecates so much was perpetrated several years ago, when the village at the Falls was named Colebrooke. If he will take the trouble to call at the Crown Land Office he will find no modern plan of the Grand Falls, but he will find a plan of the town-plate of Colebrooke.
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, June 1, 1859 – RAILWAY OPENING – This is the day – the “glorious first of June,” the anniversary of Lord Howe’s great naval victory – the Smasher papers have been promising all along that the Railway shall be opened from the Nine Mile station to Hampton Ferry. Whether the promise will be kept or not is more than we can say. The Freeman says:–
“Every expedient is resorted to in order that the Government may be able to say that the Railroad was opened to Hampton on June 1st.. We are to have a temporary bridge over Hammond River; a temporary track in scores of places; a ballasted finished track scarcely anywhere; and the extra expenses entailed by such crazy proceedings is of no account whatever.”
Surely if temporary works have been erected – to be immediately destroyed – merely that the cars may travel along the line on a certain day, it is worse than child’s play. The Government have no right to tax the people for any paltry object of the kind.
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 156 (2) – Saturday, June 4, 1859 – ST. ANDREWS AND QUEBEC RAILROAD – As is well known, the Manager of the above road has returned from England, and the present intentions are, so we learn, to push on the works with vigour. The route of the Railroad to the Woodstock and Houlton road is, we learn, fixed; it is to strike about a mile west of Richmond Corner, or three miles from the Boundary line. To us personally it is of but little moment where the road goes, so that it penetrates this County. And while we have said, and still believe, that the present decision of the Company is not wise or politic, – while we believe that following the route determined upon is not going to benefit either the Company or the County to that extent it would, had a different route been followed, – still we leave the proof to time, meanwhile hoping that our ideas may be incorrect, and that the Company are following out a line of policy safest and surest for their own interest. Our traders and farmers who have been looking forward so long for the accomplishment of their desires – a speedy and convenient mode of access to the seaboard – will suffer disappointment, but be no worse off than before, still having the river by which to carry on their business. Woodstock must still remain for many years the shipping depot of all the manufactures and produce of Carleton above Woodstock, Victoria, and most of the Aroostook region, while new facilities will be afforded to the traders and farmers of Richmond, and of the town of Houlton.
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Fredericton, NB, The Reporter, Page 2 – Friday, June 10, 1859 – RAILWAY OPENING – The Saint John railroad was opened on Wednesday last to Hampton. The Globe gives a glowing description of the delights of the first excursion – the numbers who availed themselves of it, and the rejoicing of the whole party with the speeches and festivities of the occasion. Not the slightest accident occurred and yet we see the desperate Freeman reports to the misrepresentation of stating that a defect in the road had stopped the whole proceedings – that some of the party desperately determined to walk to Hampton – that others sought and obtained seats in mile cars and other conveyances coming to the city this morning. This is at least equal to the Sunday labour of the Post Office; and the question must naturally suggest to every thinking mind – are the fibbings of the opposition worth the trouble of contradiction?
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Woodstock, NB – The Carleton Sentinel, Page 160 (2) – Saturday, June 11, 1859 – ST. ANDREWS AND QUEBEC RAILROAD – We little anticipated, when penning a few hopeful remarks last week relating to the above railway, that we would so soon have to record another story thereon. It is a matter of sincere regret to us to learn that not only have the cars ceased running to the Canterbury Station – cutting us off thereby from our close connection with our neighbours on the St. Croix, – but likewise the works on the line have been suspended. For a long time the suspension has taken place we know not; but we trust that there is no foundation for the rumour that the stability of the Company and of the Charlotte County Bank, is in peril. So we trust that some very temporary matter is the cause of the present position of affairs, and that we may soon be able to record the resumption of work on the line.
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, June 15, 1859 – We regret exceedingly to learn that the works on St. Andrews and Quebec Railway have been suspended, the manager, Mr. Thompson, having failed to procure the necessary means on his late visit to Europe. We sincerely hope that the suspension will be but temporary.
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, June 15, 1859 – The section of Railway from Nine Mile House to Hampton (14 miles) was thrown open to the public on Wednesday last, at which the Smasher papers are jubilant. It appears that much of the road is not yet ballasted – that some of the bridge work was temporary, and that the grading in some places was hastily and imperfectly done. Why put the Province to this expense merely for the purpose of making a display on a certain day, is a matter we do not understand. Early in the morning a select party started, with a freight engine, to prove the road before carrying passengers; and they did prove it, for when about two miles from the Hampton station the rails spread and left the wheels of the locomotive sticking in the mud. The snail’s pace at which they were crawling along prevented what might have been a very serious accident. Later in the day lighter engines were employed, and the good folks of Saint John had the satisfaction of travelling by rail 23 miles in two and half hours, although the first nine miles, where the road is good, was probably passed in about twenty minutes! We congratulate the Commissioners on their wonderful success.
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, June 15, 1859 – MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT – New Brunswicker – On Saturday afternoon last, Mr. Thomas S. Underhill, bookkeeper for Mr. Walker, the Railway Contractor, was found dead in the office at Hampton, caused by the accidental discharge of a pistol in his possession. Mr. Underhill was in the habit of carrying a revolver about his person, which he usually placed in his left breast pocket. One of the men in the employ had been in the office, and left on some business, being absent about fifteen minutes. Very soon after Dr. Earle looked in, and left Mr. Underhill working at his desk, but on the return of the workman, he found the deceased lying on his back on the floor, insensible. One of the barrels of the pistol was discharged, the ball having passed through the lungs and heart. A rule was also found in the same pocket with the pistol. There is no doubt that some sudden movement caused the pistol to go off, which in a moment of time deprived a worth young man of his life, and the community of a faithful and intelligent member. Mr. Underhill was about 25 years of age, and leaves a wife and two children to mourn their loss.
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, June 22, 1859 – BANGOR AND ARESTOOK RAILWAY – At the late legislative session in Maine, a Bill was passed appropriating a large quantity of public lands in aid of the Bangor and Arestook Railway; but a clause was introduced by which the Bill could not become law until approved of by a direct vote of the people. The 13th. instant was the day of voting, and we perceive by American papers that the Bill was rejected. The principal reason urged against it was that the State lands would get into the hands of speculators, &c. Our great St. Stephen Editor, who appears to have taken the United States under his special care and protection,, says:–
“It is a matter of surprise to us that there could be found in the city of Calais twenty-eight persons to go fro a measure so suicidal in its character as this, and so directly detrimental to the interests of the eastern section of the State.”
Perhaps these twenty-eight were influenced by the desire to benefit the State at large, rather than be governed by hole and corner interests.
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Fredericton, NB, The Reporter, Page 2 – Friday, June 24, 1859 – RAILWAYS – Church Witness – The traffic on the Railway between this City and Hampton, is said to be very great – much greater, indeed, than was anticipated. We are glad to hear this, and we are also glad to that the road will be open as far as Sussex Vale (45 miles) on the 1st November next.
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Fredericton, NB, The Reporter, Page 2 – Friday, June 24, 1859 – RAILWAYS – Church Witness – The Aroostook Railway bill has just been submitted to the vote of the people of the State of Maine, and the Portland Argus says that it has undoubtedly been defeated. It as regarded as a land jobbing measure. The St. Andrews and Quebec Railway company should now make a strenuous effort to proceed with their line.
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Woodstock, NB, The Carleton Sentinel, Page 180 – Saturday, July 16, 1859 – The steamer Bonnie Doon left here on Monday morning to make her last trip for the season. The water is exceedingly low, and it was just rub and go – a good deal of rub – that the Doon got down on Monday. Captain Smith tells us that for a sum of £800 the river could, by the reconstruction of the dame at Bear Island Bar, and some work in the Falls, be made navigable for his boat all summer.
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, August 3, 1859 – THE NEW BRUNSWICK AND CANADA RAILWAY – The directors of this railway and land company state in their report that the expenditure during the half-year amounted to £20,012 for works, material, plant and so forth. They estimate the liabilities up to the present time at £28,636. The only mode open to the company for raising the capital still required is by the issue of debentures, which were in the first instance offered to the shareholders, and only very recently to the public. The directors are prepared to take a portion of those debentures, and they trust that, if the shareholders will take up a due proportion of them, the amount will be speedily subscribed. They state that, unless funds are provided without delay, it will be impossible to complete the railway within the period prescribed by the provincial Legislature, – a failure which must necessarily entail serious loss upon the company. The capital accounts shows that £180,939 had been received, and £195,572 expended; leaving a balance of £14,636 against the company.
We copy the above from a late English paper. We have here one reason given for the stoppage of works on the above railway – want of funds – but what is the reason that the shareholders, who count amongst their number some of the richest men in England, should now show so much backwardness in raising the necessary funds? Can it be true, as we have heard it whispered, that our Smasher Government, in order to gratify the selfish views of some of its supporters, attempted to coerce the manger in the location of the line near Woodstock, and this disgusted the company with the whole undertaking!
Will any of the Government papers tell us how New Brunswick debenture are now selling at London?
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, August 24, 1859 – RAILWAY ACCIDENT – St. Croix Herald – An old man named Reed, formerly of Fredericton, was run over by an engine near the depot of the Calais and Baring Railroad, on Wednesday. His right arm was badly mangled, and it has since been amputated. There was no further injury. He was standing on the track at the time {the penalty for which is $5.} but being deaf he did not the whistle of the locomotive.
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Fredericton, NB, The Reporter, Page 2 – Friday, August 26, 1859 – ST. ANDREWS & QUEBEC – The Calais Advertiser says:- We understand means are on the way from England to pay off the liabilities on the St. Andrews and Quebec railroad, and carry it on to completion, under new Directors. Operations to commence in about a month. We understand also a survey is to be immediately made of a Railroad to connect Houlton with St. Andrews.
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Fredericton, NB, The Reporter, Page 2 – Friday, August 26, 1859 – EUROPEAN & NORTH AMERICAN – Halifax paper – The Saint John Railway appears to be well patronized compared with ours, probably because it is in the hands of its friends, and therefore more skilfully managed. On Wednesday last 1,800 passengers are said to have passed over the road between the city and nine mile station – most of them on a pic-nic excursion; and on the day following, an almost equal number. The earnings of the road between Saint John and Hampton, a distance of 23 miles, realized £228 for the week ending July 30th.
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Fredericton, NB, The Reporter, Page 2 – Friday, August 26, 1859 – PACIFIC RAILWAY – Halifax paper – Public attention has, it is said, been again strongly turned to the subject of an Atlantic and Pacific Railway, in consequence of the Duke of Newcastle and Earl Carnarvon in the House of Lords. The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette suggest that the Government should enter upon a broad scheme of colonizing the Saskatchewan county and building the Inter-colonial Railway in connection with it, by grants of land. Sooner or later, this great work must be undertaken, and it is only a question of time when the two oceans will be connected by rail.
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Fredericton, NB, The Reporter, Page 2 – Friday, August 26, 1859 – STAGE STABLES – Nova Scotian – The extensive stables and dwelling house, owned by the Eastern Stage Company at Salmon River (between Truro and Pictou), were totally consumed by fire on Friday last. Of the twelve horses in the stables at the time the fire occurred, only two were saved. The loss is estimated at £700, none of which, we fear is covered by insurance.
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, November 2, 1859 – THE VICTORIA BRIDGE AT MONTREAL. – This structure will in a few days be ready for the passage of the “iron horse.” Already has the contractor, accompanied by several other gentlemen, passed over it, by the aid of a few plank thrown over gap not closed up. It is singular that the two greatest engineers in England – or we might say in the world – should have died just as their grandest designs were successfully carried out. Brunel was dying on the day when the Great Eastern cast off her leading-strings, and proceeded to sea self-propelled; and now Stephenson has succumbed to the grim monster, Death, just as the gigantic bridge across the St. Lawrence is being completed. The following is the best description of the Victoria Bridge we have yet seen:–
“The Victoria Bridge, across the St. Lawrence at Montreal, was commenced in 1854, and it is expected that it will be completed in the course of next month. The cost will be between seven and eight millions of dollars. The number of men employed upon it now is 3,000, with 6 steamboats, 72 barges, and also several smaller crafts, and 142 horses, and 4 locomotives. The amount of wages daily is $5,000. The bridge is 9,084 feet, or nearly one mile and three quarters in length. There are three million cubic feet of masonry, ten thousand tons of iron in the tubes, two million rivets, and one hundred and sixty-eight acres of painting. There are twenty-five spaces of 242 feet, except the centre one, which is 330 feet. There is a rise of forty feet to the mile to the centre of the bridge. The centre pier is 24 feet in width, and the others 16 feet. Each of the piers and abutments is furnished with a cut-water, which will act as an ice-breaker when it breaks up in the spring. The centre pier is 60 feet high, and the abutment 36 feet. Some of the blocks of stone weigh seventeen tons, but the average weight is about eleven tons. Each iron tube covers two opening, and at each alternate openings, or at every 484 feet, a space of eight inches is left between the tubes for expansion by heat, the ends resting on expansion rollers, which move on plated beds. Each tube weighs about 332 tons. This stupendous structure will make the Grand Trunk Railway an unbroken line from Portland to Sarnia.”
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Fredericton, Head Quarters, Page 2 – Wednesday, December 7, 1859 – THE FIRST TRAIN THROUGH VICTORIA BRIDGE. – Montreal Gazette, November 25 – Yesterday afternoon at 2:25, the contractor’s engine, now employed in carrying iron plates and rails into the tube, and a platform-car, carrying over 60 persons, mostly connected with the Grand Trunk Company, passed through the bridge to the south of the river. It was originally intended to run the Directors splendid car through with the party; but owing to some immaterial accident it was not used, and seats were placed on a platform car. The party consisted of Mr. Blackwell, the Vice-President; Honourable G. E. Cartier, Attorney-General; Mr. Shanly; Mr. Hodges; Mr. A. M. Ross; Mr. Grant; Major Campbell; Messrs. Ridout, Gzowski, McPherson, Webster, J. B. Forsyth; and Captain Rhodes and Mr. Bowen of Quebec; and a number of gentlemen whose names our informant could not learn. In all, the party consisted of 60. On arriving at the centre tube, the train stopped, and the party gave three cheers for the Queen; they then proceeded, and on emerging from the tube at the south side of the river, Mr. Cartier made a few pertinent remarks about having had the pleasure of passing over the longest bridge in the world; he also mentioned the engineers and contractors in a few happy phases, and concluded by calling for three cheers for the Queen; these were given, and God Save the Queen was then sung, the Attorney-General leading. The company then dispersed, a train awaiting Mr. Blackwell and the Attorney-General, who respectively proceeded to Portland and Quebec, and the other gentlemen returning through the bridge to Point St. Charles. The time occupied in passing through was 12½ minutes.
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A. Clowes
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