The Vice-Regal
Party Almost Immediately Afterwards Regained The Druid, Which
Swiftly Conveyed The Members Thereof To Terra Firma, The Police
Yacht Dolphin Being In Attendance.
Of the other steamers, the
Clyde and North, after a short sail round the harbour, landed
their passengers at the Grand Trunk Railway wharf; the Brothers went
down to St. Joseph, and gave to those on board an opportunity of
noticing the progress made upon the new Graving Dock there.
The troops
and privileged guests having been conveyed to and from the scene by
the Montreal Harbour Commissioners' boat John Young.
HARBOUR AND DOCK WORKS.
Before describing these vast and important structures, calculated to
afford such boundless facilities to ocean shipping frequenting our port,
it may not be without interest to note the efforts made at various times
for their construction. In his excellent work, "British Dominions in
North America," Vol. 1., p. 263-264, Col. Bouchette thus deals with
the subject in 1832 - the far-seeing but misunderstood Mr. James George,
however, as early as 1822, had conceived in his teeming brain the whole
scheme.
"The construction of a pier across the estuary of the St. Charles is a
measure of the greatest practicability, and of pronounced importance in
every aspect, and a subject that was brought under the notice of the
Legislature in 1829, when it received the most serious consideration of
the committee, and was very favourably reported upon; but no bill has yet
(1832) been introduced tending to encourage so momentous an undertaking.
The most judicious position contemplated for the erection of such a pier
is decidedly between the New Exchange and the Beauport Distillery and
Mills, [141] a direct distance of 4,300 yards, which, with the exception
merely of the channels of the St. Charles (that are neither very broad nor
deep nor numerous), is dry at low water, and affords every advantage
calculated to facilitate the construction of a work of that nature. It
appears that, anterior to the conquest, the French Government had
entertained some views in relation to so great an amelioration; but the
subject seems to have never been properly taken up until 1822, when the
project was submitted to the Governor-in-Chief of the Province by James
George, Esq., a Quebec merchant, conspicuous for his zeal and activity, as
well in promoting this particular object as in forwarding the views of the
St. Lawrence Company, an association formed avowedly for the improvement
of the navigation of the St. Lawrence.
Of the benefits to be derived from thus docking the St. Charles no one can
doubt, whether the undertaking be considered in a local, municipal or
commercial point of view. As a means of extending the boundaries of the
Lower Town, and bringing under more immediate improvement the extensive
branches of the St. Charles, it is of the greatest consequence.
Commercially considered, this pier (which would at first form a tide-
dock, that might eventually be converted into a wet-dock) would
be of incalculable advantage from the great facilities it would offer to
the general trade of the place, and especially the timber trade, which has
frequently involved its members in much perplexity, owing to the
deficiency that exists of some secure dock or other similar reservoir
where that staple article of the colony might be safely kept, and where
ships might take in their cargoes without being exposed to the numerous
difficulties and momentous losses often sustained in loading at moorings
in the coves or in harbour.
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