Pithy Road Stuff
New Map of Upper
and Lower Canda by John Cary 1807
For Starters
"I have not got
much to say about Canada, having not seen much; what I got by
going to Canada was a cold..."
Henry David Thoreau
- An Excursion to Canada, 1852
(Alright, it's not road stuff but George WWWYA would understand!)
Pioneer Roads
Excerpt from a letter
to the editor of the Niagara Herald September 12, 1801
"I have lately
had the misfortune to ride on the roads of this district, particularly
through Barton and Saltfleet, and esteem my escape from broken
neck, legs and arms more miraculous than that of the survivors
of the Devil's Hole. Besides the pains I endured on my own account,
I had those of a feeling man towards distressed families in wagons
breaking down, falling into deep gullies and bridgeless creeks
from whence it seemed impossible to emerge -- the women and children
wading through these like Pharoh's hosts, through the (not Red)
but muddy sea..."
Description from
"An Emmigrants Guide to Upper Canada" 1820
"...The roads are
few and poor, but they are moderately commensurate with the retarded
progress of the province ...The conveyances, where there are any
(and such of any description are by no means universal) are generally
poor; the surface rough, the bridges wretched, and the attendance
at the inns as defective, as must necessarily be the case where
there is too great a tone of general equality and familiarity,
amidst a scattered, independent, and uncultivated people..."
Description of a
nine-hour, 25 mile wagon trip to Blandford from "Winter Studies and Summer
Rambles" by Mrs. Anna Jameson 1838
"...We often sank
into mudholes above the axletree; then over trunks of trees laid
across swamps, called here corduroy roads, were my poor bones
dislocated. A wheel here and there, or a broken shaft lying by
the wayside told of former wrecks and disasters. In some places
they had, in desperation, flung huge boughs of oak into the mud
abyss, and covered them with clay and sod, the rick green foliage
projecting on either side. This sort of illusive contrivance would
sometimes give way, and we were nearly precipitated into the midst.
By the time we arrived a Blandford, my hands were swelled and
blistered by continually grasping with all my strength an iron
bar in front of my vehicle to prevent myself from being flung
out, and my limbs ached woefully. I never beheld or imagined such
roads...."
Horse, Wagon and Buggy Days
Act to to Regulate
Travel on Public Highways in Upper Canada 1855 (18 Vic. C 138)
From time to time from
the early 1800s, the government of Upper Canada passed laws relating
to travel and behaviour on the roads when deemed necessary. The
regulation about racing, swearing and shouting etc. on public
highways demonstrates that "road rage" may be a historical,
perhaps even a genetic trait among Ontario drivers.
Rules
of the road set out, carriages meeting to drive on the right
giving half the road, or if too weighty, driver to stop vehicle
and assist others to pass undamaged; Carriages overtaken to turn
to the right;
Penalty for drunk drivers, including riders of horses;
Racing, swearing, shouting etc. on highways forbidden;
Fast driving over bridges forbidden with notice on bridge to
this effect.
All fines collected to be paid into township, village, town or
city treasury to be applied for general purposes. |
Toll Roads - User
Pay 19th Century Style
In the decades after
1829, dozens of toll roads came into existence in Upper Canada,
later Canada West, then Ontario. Built by private companies chartered
by the government, later joint stock companies, toll roads were
seen as the solution to the financing of roads in a province with
a scarce population, limited tax base and vast geographical area.
However, toll roads, privately and municipally -owned, came to
be universally despised. The Port Hope-Cobourg Toll Road was a
case in point.The company opened the road to traffic even before
it was completed. Persons unknown soon burned down one of the
toll gates in retaliation. The satirical broadside below says
it all.
|
Tenders Wanted
"Tenders will be received
until the 20th ins. For the construction of 100 Mud Scows to
run between Cobourg and Port Hope on the Macadamized? Road connecting
the two places, which is owned by Cobourg Capitalists. The Company
feel that the new mode of conveyance is necessary, as the loss
of horses, wagons and valuable lives in the fathomless abyss
of mud during court week was fearfully alarming. Until the completion
of the said Mud Scows the Company will continue to exact toll
from those who may be so fortunate as to escape alive through
the gates. Though the legality of such exaction may be open to
question, they confidently expect that in view of the public
spirit of the Company in providing the Scows aforesaid the public
will submit to be victimized. Dated at Cobourg this 15th day
of March, 1859.
Simon Grumpy
Sec. Road Co."
|
On Sunday Trolleys
in Toronto
For:
"Had Moses known
anything of street cars he would have ordered them to run on Sundays."
S.P.O. Kane to the ecitor
of the World July 26, 1889
Against:
"As a watchman
on the walls of Zion I see the danger of Toronto. I see the armies
of darkness led on by Diabolus to wrest from us our Sunday. I
blow sthe trumpet blast to warn the citizens of their danger."
Rev. W. A. Rodwell,
Agnes St. Methodist Church, reported by the World, Jan. 5, 1891
Horseless Carriages
Prognostication on
the automobile age by the editor of the "Horseless Age"
in the debut issue in 1895
"In cities and
towns the noise and clatter of the streets will be reduced, a
priceless boon to the tired nerves of this overwrought generation
... Streets will be cleaner, jams and blockades less likely to
occur, and accidents less frequent, for the horse is not so manageable
as a mechanical vehicle."
Speed Trap Parody
- Printed in "The Motor" in 1904
Screened by the wayside
Chestnut tree
The Village P. C. Stands.
The "cop" a crafty man is he
With a stop watch in his hands.
He goes each morning to his lair
And hides among the trees,
He hears the sound of motors here
And it sets his mind at ease,
For it seems to tell of captives -- and
Promotion follows these!
Advice to Early Automobilists
"To keep warm while
travelling in the winter, remove a narrow strip of the floor boards.
If the legs then be extended so that the heels are just over this
space, a current of hot air, which has passed through the radiator
and along the engine, rushes through and fills the skirt of the
passenger's overcoat like a balloon. This will keep the legs and
in fact the whole body quite warm. However, the detachable board
should not be immediately over the flywheel or one may find oil
thrown on one's boots."
The End of the Beginning
of Toll Roads
A. W. "Archie"
Campbell was the father of "Good Roads" in Ontario.
Establishment of both the Ontario and Canadian Good Roads Associations
can be credited directly or indirectly to his imagination and
organizing ability. He also oversaw the demise of Ontario's 100-year
old toll road network. The grumping about tolls on today's Highway
407 would have a familiar ring for the drivers of the 1850s. To
everyone's relief, the last Ontario toll road died quietly in
1926. At the annual meeting of the CGRA in 1923 Campbell forecast
the demise of the old toll roads:
| "I
am strongly convinced, now that the toll roads have been practically
all abolished in Canada and that all the roads of different provinces
are free to public travel, providing it conforms to the statutory
regulations, that never again will any toll be exacted for any
highway traffic. We must expect a certain amount of inter provincial
traffic, just as there is now a considerable amount of inter-county
and inter-urban traffic. Insofar as inter-provincial traffic
may be regarded as foreign, to the same extent and to the same
degree inter-urban and inter-county traffic may be so regarded.
The King's Highway was never intended to end at provincial boundaries
any more than to end in the market centres of a given city. I
trust that the good sense of Canadians of today and of tomorrow
will ensure free passage over roads of this broad Dominion to
any law-abiding citizen, forever." |
Modern Times
From a speech by
John D. Millar at the 1940 CGRA Conference ( DHO Deputy Minister
1943 -1954)
..."Fully half
of the bridges now in existence on our township roads are a hazard
to the motor car, more than half the mileage of the county road
system and nearly a quarter of the mileage of the King's Highways
are unpaved. In a Province with the widest range of tourist attractions
on the continent, we are just beginning to make the vast northland
readily accessible to the motor-car owner. It is now realized
that a highway can be made a thing of beauty as well as utility
and the continued addition of park areas along the King's Highway
system will guarantee the public access to lake, river and forest."
A Quote from Robert
Moses (New York's Power Broker) 1952
"I personally have
never felt that the traffic problem, as bad as it is, is insoluble
if we can get to a point where we stop quarrelling among ourselves
about how to go at it."
Highway Engineering
Quip circa 1960s - Origin Unknown
"If in doubt pave
it."
From an Editorial
in the Toronto Star, January 14, 1984
"Like it or not,
the automobile is here to stay as the main method of moving people
in our cities. And coping with the problems created by this bare
fact has been one of the major headaches for city councils all
over North America."
From an Editorial
in the St. Catharines Standard, May 8, 2001
"....A new Transport
Canada study which recommends making motorists pay tolls in order
to ease traffic congestion and cut pollution in urban centres
seems like a good idea at first glance, but it contains some serious
faults....The idea of a user fee might have merit, if we did not
already have one -- the taxes on gasoline. Road tolls would simply
be one more tax. In addition, high gasoline taxes which are imposed
by the federal and provincial governments have risen 20 per cent
after inflation in the past 10 years, but spending on roads has
fallen 10 per cent in the same interval...."
From "Trans-Canada
Roadkill" an article in the National Post, September 30,
2003
"...Twinning the
Trans-Canada Highway would promote trade and tourism, reduce wear
and tear on millions of vehicles, improve comfort and convenience,
and save numerous innocent lives per year. All this for the price
of an HRDC scandal or gun registry boondoggle. Let's get paving,
before Sheila Copps declares the Trans- Canada a historical monument,
or seeds it over for elk pasture."
Email John Shragge for historical
roads: shragge@pathcom.com
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