Canada Atlantic Railway Company
Description
Corporate History
1879-03-15
Formed by amalgamation of the Coteau and Province Line Railway and Bridge Co. and the Montreal and City of Ottawa Junction Ry Co. Canada Act 42. V Chap 57 [CNRHist]. Note Bell says this was 1879-05-15
1899-08-11
OA&PS amalgamated with Canada Atlantic Railway Company, by deed of amalgamation, dated 1899-06-06 [Bell p158]
1899-09
Notice of Annual General Meeting to be held on Sept 26. [CRSW p268]
1899-12-08
Village of Rockland wins judgement re $6,000 bonus as CA not built in less than two years. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1899-12-15
O'Neil & Ferguson (contractors for railway near Whitney) refused suit to St.Anthony's Lumber Co for wages during forest fire. Railway construction may have caused fire. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1900-01
Booth denies reports that representatives have been in New York entering negotiations for the sale of the railway. [Huntsville Forester, 1900-01-19]
1900-04
Ontario Legislature granted subsidy of $3000/mile for railway less than five miles in length connecting Parry Sound with the Canada Atlantic. [CRSW p115]
1901-12
Earnings for past fiscal year was $1,786,000 versus $1,824,000 for previous year; profit of $375,000 vs $366,000.[CRSW p371]
1903-03
Rumours of talks between C.J.Booth and CNoR denied. [CRSW p105]
1903-08
Parliament increased capitol of CA from $7.2M to $10.2M providing for issue of some stocks as preference not exceeding 5%, authorise issue of bonds to $35,000 per mile. [CRSW p262]
1904-08-15
Grand Trunk acquired control by agreement with JRBooth. [CNRHist]
1905-07-10
E.J.Chamberlain, General Manager writes to Laurier regarding agreement with Canada Central Ry for interchange, petitions for subsidy for Canada Central rather than Grand Trunk Pacific. [Laurier C802 pp74950-953]
1905-10-01
Grand Trunk assumes full control of the CA. [Bell p160]
1914-05-27
Parliament confirms the amalgamation of the CA with the GTR in George 4-5, chapter 89. Deed of amalgamation dated 1914-02-09. [Bell p160]
Other events
1898-11-25
Customs seized 1000 box cars, 18 locomotives for duties. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1899-03-10
A bear got loose in an express car between Ottawa and Eastman's. The messenger left the car at Rouse's Point. Bear continued on to New York. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1899-06-16
The Canada Atlantic issues pamphlet, "The Algonquin Park Route," promoting the Green Mountains, St.Lawrence River and Georgian Bay. It is 36 pages, published by Mortimer Press. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1899-09-01
Anecdote of tramp asking for lift from handcar. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1901-01
"Algonquin Park Route" reported in Railway and Shipping World [CRSW, p19 Scan]
1901-02
"Through the pine woods of Ontario" is the title given to the CAR's summer folder. [CRSW p205]
Construction
1900-01
Trestle filling progressing. Arnprior and Nepean are only ones left. [CRSW p7]
1900-03
CA has built branch, "McAuley Central Ry" from five miles west of Madawaska to lumber operations. [CRSW p72]
1901-02
"Through the pine woods of Ontario" is the title given to the CAR's summer folder. [CRSW p205]
1902-04
Crossings in Nepean, Haggerty, Fitzroy and March receive Privy Council approval.[CRSW p121]
1902-08
New branch constructed from Whitney to Opeongo Lake for St. Anthony Lumber Co. The branch is 14 miles long, and was constructed by J.R.McQuigge, contractor. [CRSW p268]
1902-11
Location surveys completed for new four mile spur from Caldwell to Radnor Iron Mines. [CRSW p381]
1903-02
Whitney to Opeongo line placed in operation. Cost $200,000 due to rock cutting and trestles. Four high trestles longer than 400 ft.[CRSW p49]
1903-09
Arranging for surveys of line to Sault Sainte Marie. G.A.Mountain to be in charge. [CRSW p305]
Operations
1905-04-11
Mr. Emmerson is promoting a bill to give the Intercolonial running rights over the GTR and CAR. Rates to be set by the railway commission. [Fleming: Toronto News]
1888-11-13
Passenger trains left Montreal's Bonaventure Station from platform 2 (second from the right on leaving the station) [Montreal Herald, 13 November 1888, page 1, thanks to David Jeanes]
1898-01-28
Rumours of agreement between CA and CPR re running rights into Montreal instead of over the GTR. In exchange, the CPR would use the CA station at Ottawa.
[Fleming: Renfrew Mercury]
1898-02-18
Report of government attempt to have ICR trains on CA tracks. [Fleming: Renfrew Mercury]
1898-02-25
Rumour of dissolution of running agreement over GTR to Montreal. [Fleming: Renfrew Mercury]
1898-11-25
Customs seized 1000 box cars, 18 locomotives for duties. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1899-08
The Canada Atlantic is carrying about 200 cars of grain a day from Depot Harbor. Up to the end of July over 5,000,000 bushells of grain had been received at Depot Harbor since spring. [CRSW p229]
1899-09
5,087,000 bushells of grain have been received at Depot Harbor from start of navigation to Aug 1. [CRSW p261]
1899-09-29
CP reduces schedule to Montreal to two hours. New engine to do the job. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1899-10-13
Train that pulled government party to opening of Soulanges canal made record run of 76 minutes to Coteau. Locomotive 619 was engineered by George Orr, fired by Allan, conducted by O'Dell. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1899-10-27
Mail blockade at Scotia Junction due to change in GTR train times. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1899-10-27
Grain traffic congestion. The government allows US ships between Port Arthur and Depot Harbor. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1899-12-15
12 million bushels of grain sent from Depot Harbor. 20,000 freight cars in service. [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury]
1902-10-31
Trains 2,3 offered through sleeper service via Noyan Jct to New York. Sleepers on train 2 left Ottawa at 4.15 PM, arrived New York 7.20 AM. Sleepers on train 3 left New York 6:35 PM and arrived Ottawa 11:30 AM. Trains 1,2 and 3,4 met at Alexandria, which was a refreshment station. See timetable below [public timetable listed on ebay]
1904-01
Mackenzie and Mann have traffic rights on CAR and subsidiaries including steamship lines. [Fleming]
1904-03-31
CA shipped 14,756,591 bushels of grain in period ending 1903-12-31. Package freight was as follows:
eastbound
43,353 tons to USA
3,817 tons to Canada
47,170 tons total
westbound
69,315 tons to USA
10,129 tons to Canada
80,782 tons total
Laurier C810 pp84070-84074
1904-08-27
Large quantities of lumber forwarded to points on D&H. Traffic was light all summer, but picking up in late august to the point that 100 cars were secured from the D&H. [Ottawa Journal, 1904-08-27]
1904-10
3.5 Million bushels of grain shipped in 1904 [Eganville Leader, 1904-10]
1905-04-11
Mr. Emmerson is promoting a bill to give the Intercolonial running rights over the GTR and CAR. Rates to be set by the railway commission. [Fleming: Toronto News]
1905--06-18
First through train from Buffalo and Toronto arrives in Parry Sound over the Canada Atlantic. [The Globe (Toronto), 1905-06-19 via http://www.cnr-in-ontario.com]
Accidents
1898-03-04
Mechanical Engineer, Wm. Holtby killed by slipping beneath wheels of an engine as it was being replaced on track. [Fleming: Renfrew Mercury]
1898-12-09 St Polycarpe
CA train standing on crossing at St Polycarpe hit by CPR train. [Fleming: Renfrew Mercury]
1899-08-11 St Polycarpe
CA fast express wrecked at Ste Polycarpe. Seven killed, five injured. Engine, baggage, 2nd class, 1st class left tracks. Fireman George McCuaig of Ottawa killed. [Fleming: Renfrew Mercury]
By 1899-08-18, the jury for the disaster found find CA at fault for high speed, poor tie maintenance. Three more dead. [Fleming: Renfrew Mercury]
1899-10-27 Rock Lake
Landslide causes accident at Rock Lake. Fireman Ormier Garney killed; Arthur Grogan, engineer, injured. [Fleming: Renfrew Mercury]
1900-11-10 Maxville
Ballast train, backing into siding, struck by oncoming freight on which the "brakes did not act promptly." Engineer Jacques White of the ballast train was on the foot plate and the coupling between engine and tender broke in the collision; White was pinned between the engine and tender, and died later that day of his injuries at St Luke Hospital in Ottawa. [Ottawa Citizen 12 Nov 1900 p9 c4 thanks to Andrew Jeanes]
1906-11-17 Canoe Lake
Short train ran head-on into stationary train at Canoe Lake. Fireman Maurice O'Connell injured. [Eganville Leader, 1906-11-23]