http://www.fepl.ca/localhistory/files/original/58583cea3a748578da3d84b05efb8a99.pdf dbcb81018aabff6868966d03debca7de PDF Text Text 'i,j LlOll::S �HUY/ r:i carried II Open:nll!: . ·'· ;;, I zco mme'"'��,,.,) 1' of Pea:c"' B:ridc·e exned:ed to "' importance of one of early settlements � · � of Uppe:r Canaoa .JI ('by J. George Johr:.ston � I ·--"""'I! . in The Financial Post) Fort Erie, Upper 'Canada, prior to 1825, was of greater commercial The village, which grew in population importance than Buffalo, N. Y. hardly at all for a century, was the shopping community for Buffalo and the distributing point for manufactured goods and imported articles for the. western end of New York state, the rude settlements along the Upiper Lakes, the Ohio valley and a great part of that portion of Upper Canada lying fur,.,_ west. ,�11er There was a series of long portages ·Fort Erie was on the water route. between A1bany and Buffalo, while the only portages 'between Montreal and Fort Erie were around th e St. Lawrence Rapids and· between Queenston and 1 Trade follows along the line of least reChippawa around Niagara Falls. 1 sistan e; transportation expense is the principa ' resistent to the flow of ·"···traue. Erie Canal Is Hurtfui ,by Vi. li�i.t:: rn ·,.:h .:nt. re- Sailwell, John Bridges, consigned to :factor Peter Allen at f·L11sterdam, to foliowii:g,, sell fo:r my account th e marked and r:.umbered as >er }. nia:rgrn,: viz: · . per hhd., "10 hh d s. tobacco at £12 · £120. "Paid charges, &c. £5 716-£125 7s. 6 d . " ! That was on February 25, 1822. I On March 5th, the ship evidently having not sailed, Traffick "lent Johin Bridges of the Sailwell, bound for Havana, .£100 upon bottom of the said ship to be paid upon her safe return £120." Under date of March · 6th, Traffick had insured his interest ]n the Sailwell for £120 and ,paid "at J i the office" £9 12s. premium. On April 3rd, the tobacco shipped to Amsterdam at a total cost of £15 · 7s. 6d had been sold at a net price to Traffick of £170 10s. . On April 9th, it is recorded that "Ship 'Sailwell, on which I had in­ sured £120, is cast away in her voy­ age home. I have, therefore, receiv­ ed at the office on that account: £120." It would almost seem that th e merchant had forseen that this ves­ sel would be lost after, and no·t :be­ fore, it had carried his cargo of to­ bacco to its destimation where it was sold at a profit. 'S olomon Trafl'ick had a fairly good bookkeeper, whom he paid £25 every three months. But a merchant doing business on the scale of this frontier business man, needed his accounts kept straight, and anyo1ne who ex­ amines the books now can 1be grate­ ful that .they were kept legirbly. Otherwise it proba·bly would not be known that the detail of transac­ ,tions with merchants in Bristol, Lis­ bon, ·Amsterdam amid Leghorn, <be­ tween January 1882, and March 7, �he, same year, netted Traffick some­ thing like £1,200 increase in working capifal, although h is cash on hand · was £70 less than on the pi·ecedi.ng January fat. It is not known if his venture in cost him ''South Sea stock" which £730 after he had f orfeite d £2 10s. for an earlier option, was success­ ful. Salesmen were persistent even in those days. Neither is L known how his investment of £800 for a third interest in the ship Neptune re­ sulted and it should be recorded that his improved position was partly due to hi.s re � eipt of a gift of £500 from "my uncle Payne." 1 I i c 'Commercial importance of Fort Erie waned with the opening of the Erie Buffalo and what was then western wilderrness settlements of the Unjted States, began to get their goods from New York and the Hudson. Fort Erie, along with the prosperous settlements of 'Chippawa and Queens­ ton, sustained another blow when the first W,e.lland Canal obviated the steep fifteen-mile portage over the escarpment of Niagara. Advent of the railroads gave the old town of Fort Erie a new lease of , life. The Huron and Erie railroad, from Goderich to Fort Erie, established � · a car ferry from the shadow of the fort to the foot of Porter av.enue, Buffalo arnd the Erie & Niagara railway obviated the use of river craft 'by building a line from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Waterloo, which was the name of the civil settlement two miles south of the n�ilitary est&blishment. The Huron & Erie railway had connections with, and later thecame a part of, the Grand Trunk system, and the Erie & Niagara became a branch of the Canada Southern, now the Michigan Central line of the New York Central. Canal. Is Railway Terminal With two important railways operating car ferries, Fort Erie again took on the sem'blance of the commercial importance of the pre-canal days. But it was not for long. The Grand Trunk in 1872 opened its railway 'bridge a mile down the river from the nearest ferry. The car ferries were moved to Windsor. The only road traffic was local. The only business for ''1asse.nger and vehicle ferry was local. Buffalo became a metropolis; Fort _ :ie remained a villag.e. This year the Peace 'Bridge, a vehicle bridge, will be o,pened to traffic. The autonrnbile has restored much commerce and travel to the highway. The supersession of the ferry by the bridge will, it is expected, restore to the old town of Fort Erie much of its former economic glory. l-ll":! eXLJ::Ht.. this early Th e fm;t item of inten•c>t gard is as follows: "Shipped on rboard the i/,, ii, i Captain rre''!llVe on 1 ' , I 1 I Old Book3 Are Diverting The stranger visiting Fort Erie in the early years of the present century I . might have doubted if Fort Erie ever could have been aruything ·but a border community born of military activity and continuing to exist merely through 1 inertia and because some of its people got work on the railroads crossing the river at Buffalo and O"thers i;1 the factories and ,offices of the city across the river. In the confirmation of the fact that Fort Erie was once highly important commercial centre - a fact which the compilers of history have almost completely ignored - are a 1bale of century-old account books recently fuund ini the attic of the old Lewis home, which was also hotel, p os t office jobbers' establishment, and retail emporium from a few years- after War of until a generation ago. These cash books and ledgers not only Gift Frnm H;s Uncle attest that their owners did J;msin.ess !n a l�rge way, !lot deterred 'tby distance Solomon Traffick may hav.e J;i ee , of tnose days, bi.:t abo are d1vert1i;i m the1� suggest1 0 ns of ways and means, c3 the overastute business man rnd1ca . me.thods and prices, compared w1cn conditions of the present. pro. eel by his insuring a vessel at a · was . · •'t when· aforementioned vessel '1'.' An account book sans cover which "To John Hatfield ______ 400 b · cast way, but as evit . hkely recently h<J.s come .to lig1ht shows that "To Thomas Griffiths ____ 120 3:• Pt f £500 from denced · Y l s re�;1 on January 1822, one Solomon 0 ·a1 '·ola ·h e w , not • . · "" \'Vo,.king Capital Large "my unc e p ayne . . hant, v,;as Lraff' i!c k ·, ·"' a I< ol1t E ne · mer� ' · ' ,.., ;;.i., others n · •··· t ,,.,,, l s io re a · · .h is bloo d e d in i Thuu a merchant had work " the • ng • �a!r 4' • ly we 11 o ff' in · t·he goo . ds OI" th'is • • • r .n would conn 'b o ok mod"'. •. ... . � �� 'Y :na ?t N cap . al f 6,33 two it plus shillings £ o q orld 9 The . following is uoted ver w s larger operations in the follow- tam items of this purpo� 0• Hi lbatim · · •· .' . " · "Jonas Careful refusmg payment ths are recorae the d. rn · ' Inventory of the money, goods mg f ew m cm. \;.'"·.· '· s's 'b1'll on him for w._ ..... ' ' �h .an Duib 01 b o· • b ,'�nc-' Jonac.1 0 f ' . . . . same slim v:o1ume. ;,uu .rn. _ t �. ' ':'.1'""'i1_ng, co l';t�, .s o l omon it for the honor of the paid I On ¥.'?OO. January 7,th he borrowed -: £500 , . taktn tms aay, viz. �rote•'";n0 ,, 00• '". • s. Gf Samuel Mason at 4 per cent. - 1 drawer w1'th c h.arges 0.1. P £ er item is: anoth And 6d." £200 per aps fo Mason had loaning r it h "In ready money _______ 5,000 pur,poses - and on the 9th he 1Jaid " Gav e .Joseph Bennet, as an ack:i DW· "7 pipes red port a t £25, fidelity, s. 'bmk his 1edgement of ohn Turner the £100 due on 1note. .T 10s. per pipe --------­ 178 note valued: On the 27th Peter Morton paid him "10 hhds. rto,bacco, at i The oth er accmrnt ·book� wh1ch with interest of £7 0s ., the per h hd . ___________ _ 120 due. On Feibruary 8th, Mason gave l have come to light !l re mosdy ;• pieces Colchestel' baize From these him back with one month's in- 1 bocks. t £7 12s . ,per piece 45 terest. red that the busine;>s, '"" wmcn ,:a�p� hronrh•lofh flt. I I th� 18112, I 1, ,Traffick, . ,n b ii c ; £12 '\ 10 1 12 £500 £500 11 7�. £20." it i1;ay, 1?'', . cash � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Louis McDermott Collection Subject The topic of the resource Local history, Fort Erie and surrounding area. Description An account of the resource A collection of historical documents, photos, news clippings, letters, and writings, assembled by local historian, Louis McDermott, and donated to the Fort Erie Public Library. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Louis McDermott Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived FEPL-LH -Louis McDermott Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Included in this collection are writings, historical documents, news clippings, images, maps, and more. They were written and compiled by Louis McDermott into a series of binders. The digital collection has been scanned from these physical copies. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fort Erie Public Library and Louis McDermott Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Opening of the Peace Bridge Description An account of the resource Listed here is a document about the opening of the Peace Bridge by J George Johnston, which was originally published in The Financial Post. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Louis Mcdermott Collection Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1920s 1920s Fort Erie Louis Mcdermott Collection peace bridge