Laurie
and I have visited both Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia and we love
the area. Big ferry boats still maintain
a busy schedule taking vehicles and people back and forth between the 2
cities. Victoria is located across the
Straits of Georgia on Vancouver Island while Vancouver (the city) is on the
mainland.
This
postcard is one of the few that I own that was never mailed, doesn’t have a
stamp on it and lacks a message. I just
liked the picture! The names of the
ships in the fleet of the coastal vessels operated by the Canadian Pacific
Railway all started with “Princess”. The
330 foot long SS Princess Charlotte was built in Glasgow Scotland. She was in service by 1908, transporting up
to 1,200 passengers at a time. This ship
was one of CPR’s vessels that made the regular ‘triangle run’ from Vancouver to
Victoria, then onto Seattle Washington USA, and back to Vancouver.
This
postcard that was mailed in November of 1911 shows the harbor at Victoria
British Columbia. FYI, Victoria is the
Provincial Capital. Two of the Canadian
Pacific Railroads steamships are in the harbor and the famous Empress Hotel is
shown off to the left. Laurie and I love
Victoria and we’ve been in but have not stayed at the Empress Hotel. FYI, this was a coast-to-coast Canadian
postcard with it being addressed to someone in St. John, New Brunswick.
The
Empress Hotel is a Chateauesque-style 8-story building. It was opened by Canadian Pacific Hotels (a
division of CPR) in January 1908. The
hotel was expanded twice and a major $60 million restoration was completed in
June of 2017. To learn more about this
hotel, its 412 rooms, 52 suites and 4 restaurants, go to https://www.fairmont.com/empress-victoria/. The hotel is closed for now due to the
Covid-19 pandemic…
This is
the SS Princess Victoria, another of
CPR’s fleet of luxury ships that really were small ‘ocean liners’ with many of
the larger ships luxury appointments.
This 300 foot long ship was built in Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne in
England and she was delivered to CPR in Vancouver in 1903. Like the Princess Charlotte, she served on
the ‘triangle route’.
In August of 1914,
during heavy fog she rammed and sank an American ship that was en-route to
Juneau Alaska. Quick action by the Victoria’s captain saved almost all of
the passengers and crew from the other ship.
The Princess Victoria’s useful
life ended after being converted as a bulk oil carrier in 1951 and then sinking
after striking a rock in a narrow passage in 1953.
This
particular postcard wasn’t mailed too far in October 1912, just from Vancouver
British Columbia Canada to Tacoma Washington USA. Keeping in mind that back in the early 1900s,
postcards served the purpose that texts and emails do today…sending short
messages quickly to friends and relatives.
In this case the sender told Mrs. Stanley “Got your card Mary, am very
tickled too”…and “Why didn’t you write sooner?”
This
postcard showing what Vancouver’s waterfront/harbor looked like ca. 1913, was
mailed to Duluth Minnesota USA. Peter
reported that he “had a good skate last night” but that there was snow there and
he had “10 inches of slush to wade through”. With its beautiful harbor and surrounding mountains, Vancouver is one of the prettiest big cities we've ever visited.
The city
of Vancouver wasn’t incorporated until April of 1886. By 1891, the city’s population only numbered
13,709. However, by the time this
postcard was mailed, 22 years later, the population was over 100,000! Today Vancouver is the largest port in Canada
and the third largest port in North America.
The city is also very diverse.
26.5% of the population is Chinese and about 53% of its residents don’t
speak English as their first language.
From the
west coast of Canada to the Great Lakes area.
This postcard from 1910 was mailed from Ashtabula Ohio USA to Duluth
Minnesota USA…but it shows the locks at Sault Ste. Marie Ontario Canada. Since both Duluth and Ashtabula were and are
both ports on the Great Lakes, I’m guessing that the sender and/or recipient of
the postcard had something to do with shipping.
In 1910,
only 2 locks existed at Sault Ste. Marie.
Note: Cities with the same name are located in the USA and Canada just
across the St. Mary’s River. When this
postcard was sent, one lock was operating on the Canadian side and another was
on the US side. Both locks were built in
order for shipping to be able to bypass the rapids on the river…a fall of 21
feet. Lake Superior is at the north end
of the river and Lake Huron is at the south end. The first locks were actually opened in 1855!
Today,
the only remaining lock on the Canadian side is primarily operated for leisure
craft. The other locks regularly handle
about 7,000 ships (lake carriers and ocean going freighters) per year with
about 86,000,000 tons of cargo. The
largest ships are 1,000 feet long. Keep
in mind that all this traffic takes place once the lakes are ice free enough
to allow safe navigation. Laurie and I
have visited the locks and both Sault Ste. Marie’s and it’s a very interesting
destination.
OK, I
know that the Maid of the Mist tour
boat at Niagara Falls is actually located on the US side of the river…but the
best part of the tour is the approach to the magnificent falls on the Canadian
side. This 1910 postcard also shows the
Canadian side of the bridge over the Niagara River below the falls. Again, there are 2 cities with the same
name…Niagara Falls New York and Niagara Falls Ontario. FYI, this card was sent from Niagara Falls NY
to Batavia Illinois.
Before
1846, rowboats ferried passengers across the river below the falls. In 1846, the first Maid of the Mist steamboat was built. It was large enough to carry a stagecoach and
horses. But in 1848 a suspension bridge
brought this commercial venture to a stop and the business was ‘rebranded’ as a
sightseeing adventure. The postcard
pictures “Maid of the Mist I”. She operated between 1892 and 1955. I lost my rain hat overboard from this vessel
ca. 1951...the same year that my 'beloved' wife was born.
The
original suspension bridge across the river was the idea of a Canadian to
increase commerce. It was built by
companies from both countries. That wooden bridge stood until 1897 and it was the world’s first working railway suspension
bridge. The bridge shown on the postcard
is the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge. It
replaced the older bridge in 1897 and its still in use, with one level for
trains and the other for non-commercial vehicles. This bridge is located just north of the
Rainbow Bridge, which is a much newer crossing for vehicles that was built in
1941.
This
postcard that was mailed in 1908 shows the Niagara River Line Steamer “Chippewa”. The card was sent from Toronto Ontario to
Miss Ruth Mumma in Mt. Morris Illinois.
Mae Aubrey told Ruth that she “crossed to Canada on this boat with 2,000
people”.
The
Niagara Navigation Company was formed in 1877.
The Chippewa went into service
in 1894. This 308 foot-long steamship
could carry 2,000 passengers. Her
finished ornamentation included intricate gold decorative trail boards on the
deck rail and carved Chippewa Chieftain Heads on the center of each paddlebox.
(The latter covered the paddle wheels)
There
were 5 ships in the company’s fleet and they made six trips each day between
Toronto and Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario, making the latter port the busiest
Canadian port for steamer traffic on Lake Ontario. Lewiston New York was another popular
port. At Niagara-on-the-Lake or Lewiston,
passengers could connect by railway for excursions to Niagara Falls, Buffalo
and many other destinations. At the peak
of the summer season, as many as 26,000 passengers traveled these steamship
routes each day!
This is
one of my oldest postcards…dated in November 1907…mailed to a destination in the
Province of Quebec. The Modjeska, a 178 foot-long steel hulled
day passenger steamer, was built in 1888-1889 in Yoker, Scotland. In May of 1889, she began a 34-year career
carrying passengers and fruit between Toronto, Hamilton and Port
Dalhousie. Back in the late 1800s and
early 1900s it was much easier to take a steamer between Toronto and Hamilton
Ontario than it was to go by road…even though they’re only about 40 miles
apart.
In the spring
of 1926, the Modjeska was purchased by
the Owen Sound Transportation Company and she was renamed “Manitoulin”. The ship spent
her next 23 years serving the Lake Huron/Owen Sound “Turkey Trail”, finally
being retired in 1949. FYI, the name “Turkey
Trail” was given to the east-west water route from Georgian Bay along the North
Channel and up the St. Mary’s River (through the locks at Sault Ste. Marie) to
Lake Superior. The name either stemmed
from the erratic route the ships followed to various ports of call or because
of the turkeys they transported from Manitoulin Island.
This is
another postcard that dates back to 1907.
It depicts a scene with 3 steamers at the harbor in Pugwash Nova Scotia,
Canada. Strangely, it was mailed from
Brazil (Complete with stamp) and it was sent to Miss F. Keller in Corona on
Long Island in New York USA.
We’ve
been to Nova Scotia 2 or 3 times…and we’ve done the ‘figure-8’ route around the
southern portion of the Province and Cape Breton Island…but we’d never heard of
Pugwash. Pugwash is a village in
Cumberland County Nova Scotia...population 736.
It’s on the isthmus connecting the main portion of the Province to the
rest of Canada.
Soon
after the American Revolutionary War, UK Empire Loyalists fled the United
States for Canada. Looking for a better
life, Britons, Scots and Irish also arrived.
The native’s name for the area, “Pagwe’ak” was translated to ‘Pugwash’. FYI, Pugwash is just a minor harbor/port today…
“Pagwe’ak” actually translates to “shallow water” as there is a reef near the
entrance to the harbor, a real problem these days given our large ships. However back in the late 1800s and into the
early 1900s, the smaller freighters of the day stopped here to pick up loads of
lumber, bricks and sandstone. Today some
small freighters do stop here for a load of salt from a local mine.
At least
2 former residents of Pugwash are worthy of note… First there is Cyrus Eaton. He founded what developed into Canada’s Continental
Gas and Electric Corporation, then he built Republic Steel in the USA and was
later Chairman of the Board for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.
The
second ‘famous’ person from Pugwash was James Dewar. He created something that makes my wife happy
even today and which is more lasting than Eaton’s Republic Steel or the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad! In 1931,
as a plant manager for Hostess Brands, Dewar created a shortcake with cream on
the inside. Having seen a billboard for
a shoe company called the “Twinkle Toe Shoe Co.”, he was inspired to call his
new invention, a “Twinkie”!
That’s all
for now. Just click on any of the
postcards to enlarge them.
Thanks
for stopping by for a visit!
Stay Safe
and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
