Nothing, however, was then done. The Legislature
eventually assigned the work to the Harbour Commission Trust. The dredging
commenced on May 2nd, 1877.
"The progress made with our Harbour Improvements, year by year, forms
part of the history of our times, so far, at least, as the annals of
this most ancient city of Quebec are concerned. The first stone of the
Graving Dock at Levis was laid on Monday, the 7th June, 1880, by His
Excellency the Governor-General, and the tablet stone, with the name
of "Louise" graven on it, on Thursday, the 29th of July. Thenceforth
the Harbour Works in the River St. Charles became "The Princess Louise
Embankment and Docks," and the work in progress on the Levis or south
side of the St. Lawrence "The Lorne Graving Dock," thus naming the
entrance approaches to our cliff-bound city after our present popular
Vice-Regal rulers."
To the address presented to His Excellency the Governor-General on this
occasion, the following reply was made: -
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE BOARD OF THE QUEBEC HARBOUR
COMMISSIONERS, - It is with a full sympathy for you in the hopes which
have guided you to the construction of this great work that the
Princess comes to-day to lay this stone, commemorating an important
stage in the completion of your labours. She desires that her name,
graven on this wall, shall serve to remind your citizens, as well as
all who profit by the excellence of the accommodation here given to
vessels of great burden, of her interest in your fortunes, and of her
association with you in the speeding of an undertaking designed to
benefit at once a great port of the new world and many of the
communities of Europe.
Access to Quebec is easy now to the largest ocean-going vessels. Tour
city has the railways far advanced, which will pierce to the heart of
the granary of the world - the great wheat centres of the Canadian
North-West. The very might and grandeur of the stream on which Quebec
is built is in her favour as compared with other centres of commerce,
for her visitors have but little tax to pay when a favouring wind
fails them, while steam must be employed against the strong currents
of the upper river.
The gigantic quays and the feeding lines of rail stretching inwards
unbroken to the prairies must, in all human probability, in the
future, ensure to the ancient capital a place among the most
flourishing cities of the continent. Even without the aid which
science is now bringing to her support look at the strides which have
been made in her prosperity within the last century. Old pictures will
show you the hillside above us bare of all but the houses necessary
for the garrison of a fortress, whose hard fate it had been to be the
place of contention of rival armies, while beneath the ramparts or
within their walls were to be seen only a few of the buildings now
devoted in far greater numbers to the purposes of religion and of
charity.
