At a later date Mr. Gilderslieve superintended the building of the “Sir James Kemp,” at Finkle’s Point. This was the last built there, after which Mr. Gilderslieve commenced building at Kingston. Here were constructed the Barry, a lake boat, with two engines, which in its third year of running collided with the schooner Kingston, at night, and immediately sank, the passengers only being saved; the Prince of Wales, the New Era, and the Bay of Quinté. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Gilderslieve’s name is associated with most of the steamers which have plowed the waters of the Bay, first as a skilful shipwright, then commander and shareholder, and finally as a successful proprietor of a ship-yard, and owner of vessels. Says one who knew him long: “Of Mr. Gilderslieve’s business habits there are numerous evidences, for years it seemed that everything he touched turned to gold, hence the wealth he left behind him, and I can say, that during the many years I knew him, I never heard a want of honest integrity laid to his charge, he died in the fall of, I think, 1851, of cholera, much lamented and greatly missed.”
The following we clip from a paper of 1842:
“In 1821 the new steamboat Prince Edward, built at Garden Island, and intended for the Bay of Quinté route, made her trial trip to Bath and back last week in three hours. She is beautifully finished, but being rather crank in the water, it will probably be necessary to give her false sides.
“The new steamboat Prince of Wales, built at the marine railway by Mr. Shea, and intended for the Bay, was also tried last week, and performed well. She has the engine of the Sir James Kempt.”
Canals.—The mighty water way from the Atlantic to the head water of the western lakes is interrupted in its course by numerous rapids down rock-strewed channels, and by the Falls of Niagara. These natural obstacles to navigation had to be overcome by artificial means, before the water road could become a highway. This has already been done for vessels of a certain tonnage, by constructing the St. Lawrence Canals—the Lachine Canal, Beauharnois, and Cornwall, which were completed in 1847; and the Welland Canal, across the Niagara District, to Lake Erie. The distance from this Lake to Montreal, is 367 miles. The total fall in this way, is 564 feet.
After the war of 1812, seeing the importance of inland navigation, beyond the easy reach of an enemy, the country was explored with the view of securing navigation between Montreal and Kingston. It was proposed to open a “new route up the Ottawa to the mouth of the Rideau, and up that river near to its head waters, thence by a short portage to Kingston Mill river, and down that stream to Kingston;” but the want of means for a time delayed the work, although, at the time mentioned, advertisements were made for estimates.
The Welland Canal Company was incorporated in 1824, by Act of Parliament. The projector and the most earnest worker securing this important work, was the late William Hamilton Merritt.
The first canal cut in Canada, was that between Burlington Bay and Lake Ontario. An Act to provide for this was passed in March, 1813.
In 1826, the Desjardin Canal Company was incorporated by Act of Parliament, in accordance with the petition of Peter Desjardin, and others, to make a canal between Burlington Bay and the village of “Coats’ Paradise.”
“At Kingston is the outlet of that stupendous work, the Rideau Canal, an immense military highway, connecting the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers. The locks on this canal are amongst the grandest structures of the same nature in the world. The undertaking was commenced and carried out by the Imperial Government at an immense expenditure, chiefly for military purposes, as affording a safe channel for the conveyance of stores, arms, &c., when the frontiers might be exposed, and partly with a commercial view of avoiding the rapids of the St. Lawrence, at that time considered insurmountable, in the transit from the sea-board. This canal cost upwards of £1,000,000 sterling. Its construction was expected to have great influence on the welfare of Kingston, and for some time such influence was doubtlessly beneficially felt, as it was necessary to trans-ship at that port as well the products of the west in their carriage to the seaboard, as the merchandize for Western Canada in its transportation westward, and to forward them by other crafts through the canal, or up the lake, thus creating a large source of labor, outlay and gain, and employment to numerous forwarders, agents, and workmen in the transhipment. The improved navigation of the St. Lawrence, by the construction of the St. Lawrence Canals, and the discovery of other and better channels than were known, to a great extent abolished that source of life and activity on the wharfs and in the harbours of the city.”