As March 1908 was nearing an end, the Hamilton Times carried an announcement that the navigation season for traffic between Hamilton and Toronto was soon to begin:
“The Hamilton Steamboat Company will open the season of navigation between Hamilton and Toronto on Wednesday, April 1, when the Macassa will leave Hamilton 9 a.m., returning leave Toronto 4:30 p.m.. Captain James Henderson will command the Macassa; Mr. Oscar Flumerfelt, chief Engineer, and Mr. James Beeton, purser. The fares will be as follows : Single Fare, 50cs., return fare, 75cs, ten trips, $2.50. The favorite steamer Macassa looks trimmer than ever, no expense having been spared to keep up the reputation that this popular steamer has always borne in the past. For the convenience of patrons, strip tickets may be bought at various leading drug stores.”1
1“First Trip of the Season’”
Hamilton Times. March 28, 1908.
The April 1 target for the start of the Macassa’s regular schedule of over the lake trips between Toronto and Hamilton unexpectedly could not be met.
A combination of adverse weather and problems arising from the reconstruction of the pier at the Burlington Canal were too much to permit the Macassa to pass out from the bay into the lake:
“The steamer Macassa, looking as if she had just come out of a bandbox and carrying a hundred and fifty passengers, opened navigation in Hamilton harbor this morning, leaving for Toronto at 9 o’clock. The Macassa was the first boat to go through the canal this year. The officials of the Hamilton Steamboat Company say the lake is not very rough today, and notwithstanding the snow flurries, the passengers were promised a pleasant voyage. The Macassa will make one trip each way a day.
“The 24-hour gale from the east made things very wild at the Beach last night. The waves rolled up high on the lakeshore, and scooped the usually sloping beach out in great caves. The water ran very high, and completely washed away all the post and wire fencing which the Toronto & Niagara Railway Company erected, from the Beach Road to beyond Dynes’ Had there been a railway on this right-of-way the tracks would have been undermined.
“The east wind also sent the water through the canal into the bay like a river.
“It was very high in the inlets, and gave the Radial Company trouble. The company has a gang of men at work building a breakwater. The change of wind during the night lowered the bay so quickly that by 8 o’clock this morning the tops of the rails were visible.”2
2“Macassa On Season’s Trips : Water Did Damage Along the Beach Yesterday : Radial Company Has Gang of Men at Work Along Its Submerged Tracks ”
Hamilton Times. April 02, 1908
No comments:
Post a Comment