Login
Create Account
Canadian Store (CAD)
You are currently shopping in our Canadian store. For orders outside of Canada, please switch to our international store. International and US orders are billed in US dollars.
 |
Steamboat ConnectionsMontreal to Upper Canada, 1816-1843 |
eBook Available
An impressive history of the first twenty-five years of steam navigation on the Ottawa and upper St Lawrence Rivers.
In Steamboat Connections Frank Mackey gives us a narrative account of the first twenty-five years of steam navigation along the St Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. Relying on a wealth of primary archival sources, Mackey focuses on the development of steamer traffic from 1816 - when the foundations were laid for the first stage-and-steamboat line between Montreal and Upper Canada - to the early 1840s - when locks, canals, innovations, and human daring conquered the rapids on those rivers and allowed for navigation between Montreal and the Great Lakes.
He shows how, starting in 1841, small steamers ran "the circuit" - down the rapids of the St Lawrence to Montreal and then back up to Kingston and other Great Lakes ports via the Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal. Mackey introduces the entrepreneurs who forged this important link between Montreal and the nation's interior and chronicles the course of their industry, correcting previous misinterpretations. He sheds light not only on steamboats but also on the social, commercial, and geographical development that they made possible. He shows that the history of this country, a land with vast expanses and a harsh climate, cannot be fully appreciated without looking at the different modes of transportation that made it possible.
He shows how, starting in 1841, small steamers ran "the circuit" - down the rapids of the St Lawrence to Montreal and then back up to Kingston and other Great Lakes ports via the Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal. Mackey introduces the entrepreneurs who forged this important link between Montreal and the nation's interior and chronicles the course of their industry, correcting previous misinterpretations. He sheds light not only on steamboats but also on the social, commercial, and geographical development that they made possible. He shows that the history of this country, a land with vast expanses and a harsh climate, cannot be fully appreciated without looking at the different modes of transportation that made it possible.
Details
408 Pages, 6 x 9
Illustrations, maps
ISBN 9780773525832
April 2003
Formats: Paperback, Cloth, eBook
"Steamboat Connections makes a substantial, original contribution to the descriptive history of marine transportation between Montreal and Kingston ... Mackey's mining of the notarial records is impressive." M. Stephen Salmon, business archivist, National Archives of Canada
"Mackey's work rests on a huge body of primary documents that substantially update the research in this field. His sources are excellent" [translation]. Jean Belisle, Department of Art History, Concordia University
"The subject of this scholarly labor of love is the origin and early history...of steamboat communications between Montreal and Kingston, the Ottawa River between the St Lawrence and Rideau Rivers, and along the raw and flooded reaches of the newly created Rideau Canal...From the archival thicket Mackey has extracted a richly textured story that celebrates 'connections' between the various stretches of water and the steamship companies that competed for the traffic they generated..." John R. Abbott, the Canadian Book Review Annual 2000
"The preparation of this book was clearly a labor of love on the part of the author, and a testament to his considerable skills as a scholar... Steamboat Connections will remain the standard source on the subject, and offers a model to be emulated by other scholars writing transportation history." Kevin J. Crisman, Vermont History Summer/Fall 2002
"...Mackey's Steamboat Connections is an extraordinary achievement and worthy of a place of honor in the history of early North American steam navigation." Walter Lewis, The American Neptune
"Mackey's work rests on a huge body of primary documents that substantially update the research in this field. His sources are excellent" [translation]. Jean Belisle, Department of Art History, Concordia University
"The subject of this scholarly labor of love is the origin and early history...of steamboat communications between Montreal and Kingston, the Ottawa River between the St Lawrence and Rideau Rivers, and along the raw and flooded reaches of the newly created Rideau Canal...From the archival thicket Mackey has extracted a richly textured story that celebrates 'connections' between the various stretches of water and the steamship companies that competed for the traffic they generated..." John R. Abbott, the Canadian Book Review Annual 2000
"The preparation of this book was clearly a labor of love on the part of the author, and a testament to his considerable skills as a scholar... Steamboat Connections will remain the standard source on the subject, and offers a model to be emulated by other scholars writing transportation history." Kevin J. Crisman, Vermont History Summer/Fall 2002
"...Mackey's Steamboat Connections is an extraordinary achievement and worthy of a place of honor in the history of early North American steam navigation." Walter Lewis, The American Neptune
Frank Mackey is a copy editor for the Montreal Gazette.
