Port Arthur, 1884 (Papers and Records, 1977)
Port Arthur, 1884 presents extracts from To Canada with Emigrants (1885) by the English writer James Ewing Ritchie, edited with an introduction by F. Brent Scollie, in Papers and Records, Volume V (1977), pages 12–17. Ritchie passed through the boom town of Port Arthur in May and June 1884.[1]
What it covers
Scollie's introduction explains that travellers reached the Lakehead by lake steamer and then rail, usually staying only hours, and that the Canadian Pacific Railway had taken over the government-built Thunder Bay section in 1883 and renamed Prince Arthur's Landing as Port Arthur, which was incorporated in 1884.[1] Ritchie's own words describe the wooden town, hotels, busy shops, the emigrants' shed, steamers and elevator, and his optimism for the town.[2]
Key Thunder Bay facts
- The CPR steamer Algoma, launched in June 1883, first reached Port Arthur from Owen Sound on 11 May 1884 and was wrecked on Isle Royale on 7 November 1885.[3]
- The Silver Islet mine closed in early 1884 as Oliver Daunais developed the Rabbit Mountain and Beaver mines, and many Silver Islet people moved to Port Arthur.[4]
- The emigrants' shed had lodged 3,600 emigrants free that season; the Marquis of Lorne called the town "the Silver Gate".[5]
- Scollie's notes quote A. L. Russell's 1915 "A Brief History of Port Arthur Harbor" for early docks.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 edited by F. Brent Scollie, "Port Arthur, 1884 (extracts from J. Ewing Ritchie)", Papers and Records, vol. V (Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, 1977), p. 12. Archived: datum.locker.
- ↑ edited by F. Brent Scollie, "Port Arthur, 1884 (extracts from J. Ewing Ritchie)", Papers and Records, vol. V (Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, 1977), pp. 13–16. Archived: datum.locker.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 edited by F. Brent Scollie, "Port Arthur, 1884 (extracts from J. Ewing Ritchie)", Papers and Records, vol. V (Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, 1977), p. 17. Archived: datum.locker.
- ↑ edited by F. Brent Scollie, "Port Arthur, 1884 (extracts from J. Ewing Ritchie)", Papers and Records, vol. V (Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, 1977), p. 13. Archived: datum.locker.
- ↑ edited by F. Brent Scollie, "Port Arthur, 1884 (extracts from J. Ewing Ritchie)", Papers and Records, vol. V (Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, 1977), pp. 15–16. Archived: datum.locker.