Both a Supplier and a Competitor

The Second Welland Canal and its Relationship with the Port of Hamilton During the 1850s to the 1870s

Eric Kelusky

Hamilton - 2022

Introduction

The establishment of the Welland Canal, which enabled ships to bypass Niagara Falls, was a key step to increasing shipping and trade to the upper Great Lakes region and was key to the development of Ontario and Hamilton.¹ To study the relationship between the Second Welland Canal and the Port of Hamilton, two areas will be examined. The first is the role of the Second Welland Canal as a supply route for goods shipped between ports on the upper Great Lakes and Hamilton, specifically examining the types of vessels, their cargo, and exploring the trends between 1854 and 1875. The second area of examination is the emergence of the Great Western Railway - Port of Hamilton corridor as a rail-to-ship competitor to the Welland Canal. There are several primary sources available to study shipping patterns through the Second Welland Canal. At Lock 3, which was located in St. Catharines where the current Glenridge Bridge crosses to St Paul Street, the Lockmaster maintained a daily Register.² Recording the movement of ships up and down the canal, this register provides information on all the passing ships and the cargo that they were carrying.³ While contemporary records from the Port of Hamilton have not survived, there is information recorded in The Hamilton Spectator on both ships and rail transportation.

The Welland Canal

The First Welland Canal, which opened in 1829, was constructed of small wooden locks⁴ which limited cargo capacity and in turn, shipping profits.⁵ The Second Welland Canal was more significant with larger, cut-stone locks that allowed larger ships to travel through the canal.⁶ The majority of the twenty-seven locks were 150 feet long, 26.5 feet wide, and 9 feet deep which set the maximum size of ship that could fully traverse the Second Welland Canal. Locks 1 and 2 were built 200 feet long and 45 feet wide which allowed larger ships, built only to sail on Lake Ontario, to reach Port Dalhousie and the part of St. Catharines before Lock 3. Similarly, Lock 27 was also built to the same size as Locks 1 and 2 and allowed larger ships, built only to sail on the upper Great Lakes, to reach Port Colborne. The opening of the Second Welland Canal in 1845 coincided with a rebuild of the Burlington Canal in 1844, which provided a larger and more secure channel from Lake Ontario into Burlington Bay.⁷ With the capacity for larger vessels, shipping from Lake Ontario to the upper Great Lakes became more economic and the Port of Hamilton took on new importance.

During this same period, the Erie Canal was built to connect Buffalo to Albany and the Hudson River using canal barges.⁸ The other significant competitors to the Welland Canal were the railways. Sections of the Great Western Railway were completed in 1853 connecting Hamilton to many cities and towns in southwestern and central Ontario.⁹ By 1875, several railways such as the Great Western, the Grand Trunk, and the Northern and Northwestern railways provided comprehensive connections within Ontario and the United States.

Shipping To and From Hamilton Through the Welland Canal in 1854 and 1875

The Lock 3 Register identified ships travelling from ports on the upper Great Lakes to the Port of Hamilton during 1854 (Table 1). A total of 37 distinct voyages, primarily by schooners, were recorded through the canal bound for Hamilton and several of these ships made multiple voyages. A majority of the ships bound for Hamilton were British (73%) and coal was the predominant cargo (73%) with smaller amounts of corn, oats, beef, cement and grinding stones. The coal came from Cleveland and Erie, the food products from Buffalo and Toledo, and grinding stones from Vermilion, Ohio. Table 2 shows ships that departed Hamilton in 1854 and travelled up the Welland Canal. A total of 63 distinct voyages were recorded which is far more than the number that came down to Hamilton. Of those upbound transits, 84% travelled with no cargo. Figure 1 (right) shows a map of southern Ontario in 1854 highlighting the canals and railroads operating at the time and the ports visited by ships from Hamilton.¹⁰

Tables 3 and 4 show Lock 3 shipping data from June 18^th to December 1875 and Figure 2 (below) shows the map of Ontario updated with new rail lines.¹¹ While there were more ships going to and from Hamilton on a monthly basis in 1875 compared to 1854, the nature of the cargo had not changed. Ships transiting the canal to Hamilton in 1875 were primarily carrying coal (79%) and the majority of ships leaving Hamilton for the upper lakes were making the trip empty (74%). The ships leaving Hamilton empty in the spring of 1854 and 1876 were typically owned in Hamilton and had wintered there before leaving for the upper lakes as soon as the canals were free of ice.¹² While some would sail exclusively between Hamilton and other ports, most would spend the season transporting cargo between ports on the upper lakes and ports on Lake Ontario and Montreal. The Port of Hamilton, being one of the few large, well-protected harbours on Lakes Ontario and Erie, became a logical location for ships to be based and ship owners could safely berth their ships or pull them up on the shore during the winter.¹³

Coal was the major product shipped to Hamilton and the increase in the number of ships carrying coal to Hamilton in 1875, relative to 1854, only partially reflects the increase in the quantity of coal being shipped. Ships carrying coal in 1875 were larger (averaging 234 gross tons) than those in 1854 (averaging 114 gross tons) so each ship was carrying more coal in 1875.¹⁴ In some instances Lock 3 records show the cargo weight and this data can be used to develop a correlation between the actual cargo weight of coal and the official tonnage for any ship.¹⁵ Using this correlation, the estimated weight of coal arriving by schooner in Hamilton in 1875 was approximately 10,700 tons.¹⁶ Using a similar approach for ships arriving in 1854, an estimated 3,200 tons of coal was shipped to Hamilton.¹⁷ This significant increase in coal shipments was a reflection of the growth and industrialization in Hamilton as well as the need for coal to power trains on the expanded rail networks. It also highlights the importance of the Welland Canal as an economical route to bring large volume commodities like coal to Hamilton.

Text ¹⁸

While the coal trade primarily employed schooners sailing through the Second Welland Canal, there was no typical pattern for the ships that worked these routes. The schooner Agnes Hope (Figure 3) was based in Hamilton and travelled a regular route to Ashtabula, Ohio returning with coal to Hamilton (Table 5) and making the round-trip including loading and unloading the coal roughly every 12 days. The schooner Ella Murton made a similar run from Cleveland to Hamilton (Table 6) averaging about 16 days per round trip. The Ella Murton was owned by John Murton and was named after his youngest daughter who tragically drowned just two months after the ship was launched.¹⁹ The ship was launched on June 3, 1875, in Mill Point on the Bay of Quinte²⁰ and by June 22 she was sailing up the Welland Canal on her first voyage for the Murton and Reid Company of Hamilton. Most upbound voyages had no cargo, but the Ella Murton was filled with barley in their November voyage to Erie. While wheat, corn and flour shipments moved eastward, all barley shipments through the canal moved westward to the large US port cities, presumably to supply the beer brewing industry. A total of 34 ships carrying barley travelled up the canal in October and November of 1875- one of the few examples of commodity products shipped upbound through the canal.

While the Agnes Hope and Ella Murton schooners ran on dedicated routes, other vessels were more like ‘tramp steamers’ going from port to port, wherever they could find the next cargo. The schooner Star (Figure 4) spent 1875 bringing coal to different ports in Ontario, including Hamilton (Table 7). On its upbound voyage, it usually entered the Welland Canal empty, often stopping at Port Colborne, perhaps to pick up cargo it could take to another port on Lake Erie before sailing to Cleveland to pick up more coal. Like the Ella Murton, the Star also took a cargo of barley up the canal to Toledo in November.

Most of the propeller driven freighters operated for larger shipping lines on scheduled routes. Twenty-eight propeller driven freighters have been identified as operating out of or visiting Hamilton in 1875 focusing on shipments of packaged goods, grains, and passengers.²¹ The Lake Michigan (Figure 5) was one of three propeller driven ‘package freighters’ built in St. Catharines by Melancthon Simpson in 1872/1873 using engines made in Dundas. In 1875, it was based in Hamilton as part of the Merchants Lake and River Steamship Company, operating on scheduled service between Montreal and Toronto, and between Hamilton and St. Catharines.²² In August, it was reassigned to a route that also took it upbound to US ports on Lake Erie (Table 8).

What is absent in the Lock 3 data in 1854 and 1875 is any significant cargo shipping between Hamilton and cities along the Welland Canal beyond Lock 3.²³ In 1854, one ship goes from Hamilton to Port Robinson carrying iron and two ships go to St. Catharines carrying wheat. These two wheat shipments occurred in November suggesting an end of season effort to get the last cargos of wheat converted to flour at mills in St. Catharines. In 1854, only one ship goes down the canal to Hamilton carrying a load of cement from Thorold and in 1875 there are no shipments between Hamilton and Welland Canal ports. The Great Western Railway from Hamilton to Niagara Falls commenced operation in 1853²⁴ so it is likely that any significant trade of goods that existed between Welland Canal cities and Hamilton moved to rail before the 1854 sailing season.²⁵

The Impact of the Railway on Shipping Patterns to and from Hamilton

By 1854, the first rail lines in southwestern Ontario were operating (Figure 1) and by 1875, there was a comprehensive rail network (Figure 2).²⁶ The establishment of these rail networks meant that businesses had a variety of transportation options available, each with logistical and economic advantages and disadvantages depending upon the route and the type of material being transported. The Great Western Railway network developed from Hamilton and funneled products to the Port of Hamilton for shipment east. Some of the product went directly to Montreal on one of several shipping lines, including one owned by the Great Western Railway.²⁷ Hamilton also had direct trade with American ports on Lake Ontario and 1856 custom records show 30 ships travelled between Hamilton and Oswego, with Oswego connected to the Erie Canal and New York.²⁸ Shipping lines also connected Hamilton to Cape Vincent at the eastern end of Lake Ontario that had a rail connection to New York, enabling fast transportation from southwestern Ontario through to New York.²⁹

The economic impact of the railroads on ships was significant. Railroads were significantly over-built in many countries during 1850-1870 and the resultant economic problems for the railroads were one of the causes of an economic depression that started in 1873.³⁰ The railroads reacted to excess capacity by lowering prices for rail shipments in order to gain market share from both their rail competitors and from ships operating through the canals. The Hamilton Spectator wrote about the pending 1875 shipping season:

The prospects in the shipping business are brighter this season….. The freights from the west will be plentiful, but rates are likely to remain low, at least during the early part of the season. The competing trunk lines of railroads during the “war” of the last two months have reduced rate(s) to an absurdly low figure (with) wheat being carried from Chicago to New York for 18 cents per bushel….. So long as this state of affairs exists, vessels will have to carry at low rates to compete with their railroad rivals. ³¹

Other factors favouring rail transportation to Hamilton was the shorter distances and the reduced transit times by rail. Rail travel from port cities like Port Stanley, Sarnia, or Kincardine to Hamilton was accomplished in under a day while ships might have spent 5 to 10 days covering the route.³² Ships also suffered from the disadvantage that in most cases they traveled up the canal with no cargo to offset operating costs.

The lower cost of rail, coupled with faster deliveries, meant that railroads were able to displace ships for many of the grain cargoes coming from communities in southern Ontario. Hamilton, at the center of the Great Western Railway network, acted as a collection point for many of those rail shipments and a gateway for subsequent shipping east by water. The Hamilton Spectator documented the construction of grain elevators in Hamilton from 1853 to 1861.³³ The Great Western Railway also constructed a grain elevator in Sarnia to gather grain shipped from as far away as Chicago and then send it by rail to Hamilton.³⁴ The scope of grain shipments east from Hamilton can be seen in reports published in The Hamilton Spectator. Nine schooners left Hamilton on the 7^th of October 1861 loaded with grain or flour.³⁵ On October 18^th, the newspaper reported another eight ships leaving with grain and flour.³⁶ By contrast, between October 7^th and 18^th, a total of 50 ships went down through the Welland Canal carrying wheat, corn, or flour, but only 8 of those ships were carrying grain from a Canadian port. These numbers demonstrate that rail had become a major route for grain shipments from Southwestern Ontario to the Port of Hamilton, and from there, by ship to the east. The rail-to-ship transportation model used by the Great Western Railway was also used by the Grand Trunk Railway to connect through the Port of Toronto.

Conclusions

After the Great Western Railway linked Hamilton and St. Catharines, Lock 3 data shows very limited trade by ship between Hamilton and the cities along the Welland Canal. However, direct shipments of coal from Ohio through the Welland Canal to Hamilton, grew significantly and were an important component of Hamilton’s growth. At the same time, the Great Western Railway-Port of Hamilton route had become an important rail-to-ship corridor, successfully taking business from the Welland Canal because it was faster and had a lower cost. In this period, the role of the Port of Hamilton as a shipping center expanded significantly, benefitting from the advantages of a large, protected harbor and rail connections throughout southern Ontario. This expansion was aided, to a significant extent, by the shipbuilding industry along the Welland Canal, which contributed a large portion of the ships based at the Port of Hamilton in 1875.³⁷

This relationship between the Welland Canal and the Port of Hamilton, as both a supplier and competitor, would change again after 1881 when a significantly larger Third Welland Canal opened. This new canal opened just as Hamilton entered a period of significant growth in heavy industries, including iron and steel. These industries required large quantities of iron ore and coal, coming from ports on the upper Great Lakes that significantly favoured the economics of shipping through the Welland Canal. This contribution from the Third and Fourth Welland Canals would be pivotal to this next stage of Hamilton’s growth.

Acknowledgements

Funding towards the transcription of the Second Welland Canal Registers was provided to Dr. Kimberly Monk from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Research Grant # 430-2018-1113 Visualizing Past Landscapes: Toward Reengaging the Local Historic Environment (2018-2023). Students in Brock University’s History 3M61: Local Historical Archeology, undertook the initial draft transcription work during 2020-2021 under the direction of Dr. Kimberly Monk.

TABLES

Table 1

Ships Downbound to Hamilton Between April 1 and August 31, 1854

(Based on Ships Transiting Lock 3)

Data from the Welland Canal Register. Library and Archives of Canada, Vessel Registers Lock 3 1854-1858, RG 43 Vol. 2403.

Table 2

Ships Upbound from Hamilton Between April 1 and August 31, 1854

(Based on Ships Transiting Lock 3)

Data from the Welland Canal Register. Library and Archives of Canada, Vessel Registers Lock 3 1854-1858, RG 43 Vol. 2403.

Table 3

Ships Downbound to Hamilton Between June 18 and end of season, 1875

(Based on Ships Transiting Lock 3)

Data from the Welland Canal Register. Library and Archives of Canada, Vessel Registers Lock 3 1875-1877, RG 43 Vol. 2406.

Table 4

Ships Upbound from Hamilton Between June 18 and end of season, 1875

(Based on Ships Transiting Lock 3)

Data from the Welland Canal Register. Library and Archives of Canada, Vessel Registers Lock 3 1875-1877, RG 43 Vol. 2406.

Table 5

Schooner Agnes Hope from June 18 to end of season, 1875

Built in Hamilton, owned in Hamilton

(Based on Transiting Lock 3)

Data from the Welland Canal Register. Library and Archives of Canada, Vessel

Registers Lock 3 1875-1877, RG 43 Vol. 2406.

Table 6

Schooner Ella Murton from June 18 to end of season, 1875

Built in Mill Point, owned in Hamilton

(Based on Transiting Lock 3)

Data from the Welland Canal Register. Library and Archives of Canada, Vessel

Registers Lock 3 1875-1877, RG 43 Vol. 2406.

Table 7

Schooner Star from June 18 to end of season, 1875

Built in Mill Point, owned in Port Hope

(Based on Transiting Lock 3)

* Did the Star have a cargo arranged to take to Cleveland or some other Lake Erie port en route to Cleveland?

Data from the Welland Canal Register. Library and Archives of Canada, Vessel

Registers Lock 3 1875-1877, RG 43 Vol. 2406.

Table 8

Packet Freighter Lake Michigan from August and September 1875

Built in St. Catharines, owned in Hamilton

(Based on Transiting Lock 3)

Note. The Lake Michigan spent the first part of the season on a scheduled Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, St. Catharines route carrying passengers and freight. While travelling to St. Catharines, the ship did not go through Lock 3 and so its travels in April through July are not recorded in the Lock 3 Register. Starting in August the Lake Michigan’s route changed to include US ports on Lake Erie.

Data from the Welland Canal Register. Library and Archives of Canada, Vessel Registers Lock 3 1875-1877, RG 43 Vol. 2406.