Mr. Charles Gethings, a man of inflexible integrity of character, was appointed to fill the office of cashier, vacated by the retirement of Captain Freer, and under his management, and the careful supervision of the president, Mr. Gibb, who was rarely absent from the office, the bank continued to pay its dividends, namely, in 1853 at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum: in 1854, 7 per cent.; 1855, 7 per cent.; 1856, 7 per cent.; 1857, 6½ per cent.; 1858, 6 per cent.; 1859, 6½ per cent.; 1860, 7½.
In 1860 the president, one of the oldest and most esteemed merchants in the city, died, deeply regretted by the whole community, and Mr. W. H. Anderson, the vice-president, was elected president in his place. The following year Mr. Gethings, the cashier, retired upon a pension; and Mr. William Dunn, a gentleman well qualified to fill an important place in any bank, was appointed his successor. The bank, under his management, continued to pay dividends, namely, in 1861, 8 per cent; 1862, 8 per cent.; 1863, 7½ per cent.; 1864, 7 per cent.
In 1864 Mr. David Douglas Young, a leading and highly esteemed merchant, who had served several years on the directorate, was elected president. Mr. Dunn, the cashier, retired soon after his appointment, and was succeeded by the present general manager, Mr. James Stevenson, in December, 1864.
Since the death of Mr. Young, which happened in 1869, the Honorable James G. Ross has been president of the bank, and Mr. William Withall, vice-president.
Such, in brief, is the history of this old institution, the doors of which were opened for business in 1818, in a small house in Sault-au-Matelot Street. Some years afterwards, a portion of a commodious building erected by the Quebec Fire Insurance Company, in Peter Street, was occupied by the bank. But in 1863 the directors resolved to have a building of their own, and they purchased from Mr. H. Atkinson the site upon which the present handsome banking house is built. A certain historical interest attaches to almost every spot and locality in Quebec; and to none more so than to that very site. There, on a cold stormy December morning, in 1775, when the simultaneous assault on Quebec was made by Montgomery and Arnold, stood a small body of resolute men, ready to sacrifice their lives in defence of the city. While the life of Montgomery was ebbing away with the flow of his blood at Cape Diamond, Arnold was advancing, with a comparatively formidable force, from St. Roch's, upon Sault-au-Matelot, a little lane not over twelve feet wide, opposite the site of the bank. It is not too much to say that the fate of Canada, as a dependency of Great Britain, hung upon the issue of the impending contest in the lane. The struggle was a desperate one.
It lasted several hours; but the repulse was complete; and Arnold, carried off wounded, retired with the remnant of his force upon the General Hospital, the head-quarters of the Americans, which they held till the siege of Quebec was abandoned in the following month of May, 1776.
HORSE BOATS AND ICE BOATS.
Near the site of the old convent just described, we used to embark on a horse boat to cross to Levis in summer, and in winter a canoe, managed by expert boatmen, who paddled their way through shoal ice, and, on reaching any large piece, with wonderful strength and skill raised the canoe and pulled it on the ice as we do a sleigh. These boatmen were so inured to their work that an accident rarely happened. But there are records of a whole canoe full of people being swamped. Fortunately a regular service of ice boats exists in winter now, and with rare intervals (some extraordinary storm) with as much regularity as the summer ferry boats.
Some of my young readers may never have seen a horse boat, so I will tell them they looked like some of the very small steamboats, but the machinery was put in movement and carried on by horses attached to a pole in the centre and walking round and round.
Previous to the year 1857 there were no other means of crossing to Levis but by the canoes, when Capt. Semple chartered a boat, which ran up to December, as it could only go through floating ice. But an enterprising gentleman, the recently deceased Mr. Tibbits, talking over the matter with a young relative of mechanical genius, made out plans for machinery, had them sent to Montreal, made here and sent on to Quebec, were fitted up and at once proved successful, and thus in the year 1862 started his passenger boat, "The Arctic," which would cut through the heaviest ice and became a perfect success. I copy from a newspaper the following notice of Mr. Tibbits, who died March 26, 1889: