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[Welland Telegraph, 10 April 1891]
In an interview with Messrs. Brown Bros. respecting the price of flour, which is 25 cents per 100 lbs, cheaper in Welland than in other places they stated to a TELEGRAPH reporter that having no commissions of double freights to pay, they can sell at present prices at a fair profit, as they are now doing a cash business, and consequently their customers get the benefit.
Very Minute Details Will be Gleaned by the Enumerators
[Welland Telegraph, 27 March 1891]
The machinery necessary for taking the census of the Dominion of Canada will be set in motion on the 6th of next month, when the enumerators will go forth armed with a code of querries of voluminous length. The questions to be put by the enumerators are divided into eight schedules. Schedule No 1. is a “nominal return of the living,” and the querries to be answered a re as follows:
Schedule No. 2 is a “nominal return of the deaths within the last twelve months.” No 3 is a return of real estate, orchard products, nurseries, vineyards and market gardens, and asks for the amount of real estate owned, buildings, etc., the real estate occupied, and a minute detail of the crops harvested from orchards, vineyards and gardens. No. 4 is a return of farm products. No. 5 is asks of details concerning live stock, animal products, home-made fabrics, furs and labor. No. 6 is a return of industrial establishments. No. 7 gives the products of the forest, and No. 8 relates to shipping and mining.
[Welland Telegraph, 27 March, 1891]
Quite a little excitement was occasioned on the streets last Saturday by the report that Robert Bowes, clerk
at the post office, had skipped to Buffalo. The appearance of Deputy Inspector Burnham and a detective led to all sorts of rumors, but the plain facts of the case, as gleaned from the post office officials, are these:- Some complaints had been made of letters being tampered with in transit, and every complaint was respecting letters which had passed through the Welland office. Last week a decoy letter was sent from Buffalo to Fonthill, which never reached its destination, and this led to an immediate investigation. Mr. Burnham dropped into the office at an early hour on Saturday morning, but Mr. Bowes had then left town, having come down to the office early, made up the morning mails, left the door unlocked, and taken the 5.30 M.C.R. train for Buffalo, from which place he telegraphed Postmaster Burgar that he would not be on duty that day. Mr. Burgar states that his first intimation of anything wrong was when he came down at the usual time in the morning and found the office in possession of the deputy inspector. He had no suspicion of any dishonesty on the part of his clerk, and exhibited considerable astonishment at the sudden turn of affairs. Bowes commenced work here on the 4th of last October, and was well thought of by his acquaintances. He came here from Alliston, Simcoe County, where he had been employed in a hardware store, and brought good testimonials of six years post office service at Amberstburg and Bracebridge.
[Welland Telegraph, 20 March 1891]
A meeting of the directors of the Welland Natural Gas Company was held on Monday evening, and a contract with Messrs. Carmody Bros. to drill the well in Welland was ratified. No contract between the company and Mr. Cameron existed, he had merely agreed by letter to do certain things, but the company had not given its official acceptance, and owing to various circumstances they deemed it in the best interest of the stockholders to make a contract with Carmody Bros. who are just now finishing a well in Humberstone. The have a contract with the Mutual Company of Port Colborne, to put down a well immediately, and as soon as that is finished work in Welland will be commenced. There is a possibility, however, that work may be commenced sooner, as this drilling firm is contemplating getting another set of drilling tools, and should they do so they will commence work here a little earlier than the time specified in the agreement.
The First Glass Factory in Canada to Use Natural Gas-The Site Located-A Wealthy Company.
[Welland Telegraph, 3 July 1891]
On Saturday last Mr. Miller of Buffalo, the president of the glass company, accompanied by Mr. Gatchell, of Lancaster, N.Y., a gentleman who has been interested in many of the large glass factories, and at one time a stock holder in the Hamilton glass works, came over to view the land, and if possible to decide upon a suitable site on which to build the company’s first factory. Upon arriving at Port Colborne they were received by Reeve Cronmiller and the reeve and deputy-reeve of Humberstone. To these three gentlemen too much praise cannot be given for the indefatigable manner in which they have worked by giving time and money to establish industries in the locality for the purpose of utilizing the grand gift bestowed upon the people of Humberstone and Port Colborne by natural laws, and to increase the trade and commerce in the neighborhood. Time and again have they been to Buffalo and other places interviewing first this one and then the other as to the best methods of making most of their natural gas, so that the farmer as well as the merchant shall reap the greatest benefit. The outcome of their up-hill labor will soon be realized. A company is formed, a charter is to be applied for forthwith, and the work of building the first glass factory in the county of Welland will be started as soon as it is possible to get the materials together. This is the start, and it is only right to surmise that there are lots to follow. Port Colborne and Humberstone must soon be amalgamated and become the great natural manufacturing district of Ontario, nay of Canada, as with the many advantages that they have over and above any other site in Canada must finally bring them to that lofty position. The people or their representatives, the councils, must encourage companies to build factories, not by giving bonuses and crippling the taxpayer, but by giving free sites, taxes and even natural gas where practicable. If such a course is adopted and faithfully carried out it will not be long before the value of land as well as farm products will greatly increase in value, and the future market for the Welland farmer will be at the great Manchester of Ontario.
Merritton Cricketers Succumb to the Great Play of the Home Team
[Welland Telegraph, 29 May 1891]
By far the most exciting game of cricket seen in Welland for many a year was played between Merritton and the home team on Monday last. Merritton were first to bat and succeeded in running up 54, of which 26 came came from the doughty willow of Dr. Vanderburgh. Lunch was then partaken of, after which the visitors went to the field. The batting talent of the home team seemed to be decidedly off, as the innings was only productive of 34, nobody getting double figures. Merritton stock went up, and kept going up with her score until at the close of the innings it was about 97 per cent, above par, for Welland must make 88 to tie. The whisper went abroad that for once in the annuls of cricket the men from the railway centres were to prevail, and the crowd looked intently at the thistles on the ground. Wicket after wicket of the home team’s crack bats went down. The score was not is sight, and the crowd began to leave. At last McCaw and Cohoe joined ranks and a 6 from the latter shed the first ray of hope. A 4 to the boundary from the former increased the gleam. Over followed over, and run followed run, and still the two were not separated. People began to get excited; ye reporter to calculate, and a well-known sport wanted to bet. At last McCaw was brought down by Vanderburgh with the score of 19 to his credit, and only 17 were left to make and the bowling was broken. Hellems joined Cohoe and the game was won without the loss of any more wickets. Enthusiastic admirers carried Cohoe off the field and well they might for Ed had put up a remarkably fine game, playing in excellent form, and scoring 25 not out with never a chance given. To him and McCaw the local team is indebted for the greatest victory in the present generation of players. In bowling Dr. Vanderburgh was dead on the wicket the whole game, while Crow, Tuckey and Boultbee all did well.
The Provincial Natural Gas Company Believes there’s lots of Gas in the County-Securing Leases Everywhere-Why don’t the Welland Company Hurry up?
[Welland Telegraph, 24 April 1891]
Mr. Coste was in town on Wednesday for the purpose of registering various gas privilege leases, secured during the past few days, on farms in the county on behalf of his company. In reply to the stereotyped question “How is business?” meaning in this case the Natural Gas supply, he said, “there was any amount of gas in the county and that his company were doing everything to develop the same, at the same time stating that they were not confining their attention solely to Canada, but that Mr. D.A. Coste is at the present time locating new fields about 20 miles outside of Buffalo, between that city and Lockport, and they were in hopes that tests by drilling would soon be made.”
Other companies are desirous of sinking wells in Sherkston and its immediate neighborhood, some for the purpose of supplying the ambitious city, Hamilton, whilst others are anxious only to be patronized by the principal towns in the Peninsula. With so much competition the drillers must certainly reap a rich harvest before they get through, and the several townships should see that all the wells and piping are assessed up to their value.
WELLAND’S GAS FIELDS TO SUPPLY AMERICAN CONSUMERS.
Some Interesting Details Respecting the Companies who are Operating, and the Objects they have in View-Buffalo will Evidently have some cheap Fuel.
[Welland Telegraph, 10 April 1891]
(Buffalo Express)
Few Buffalonians realize that within twelve miles of their city there is a territory producing 46,000,000 cubic feet of gas a day.
Forty-six million cubic feet of gas per day! According to the estimate of the State geologist of Ohio, 20,000 cubic feet of gas is equivalent to a ton of coal. In terms of coal then the daily production of this territory represents 2,300 tons. Who can doubt that the delivery of such an amount of coal every day at Buffalo’s doors, would react in a marvelous manner on the city’s prosperity? When one considers what an amount of latent power there is in 2,300 tons of coal and that its delivery is limited in a sense to Buffalo, the possibilities that can be pictured for our city are immense. Keen competition in fuel supply is assured.
Buffalo has been burning natural gas produced in Humberstone township, Ontario, for several months. The Provincial Natural Gas Company has carried the gas to the international boundary line where the Buffalo Natural Fuel Company takes it. Thus far the delivery of Canadian gas in Buffalo has been a monopoly. But it will be so no longer. Already two other companies have been formed to supply Buffalo with natural gas, and before three weeks are passed, they will begin laying mains between Humberstone and this city. There is just a possibility that these two companies will unite, but in any event, the Buffalo Natural Fuel Company will have a competitor, and before another six months are passed almost every street in Buffalo will have been piped for natural gas unless present plans are overturned. It is promised that manufactories as well as private homes will be supplied with gas at prices much below the present ones.
Besides the Provincial company there are three other companies operating in the Humberstone gas field. The plans of these companies are in a more or less mature state, but of two of them it may be confidently said that they will have their mains running into Buffalo before the leaves that are just sprouting begin to fall. The companies are: The Hamilton Company, the Erie County Natural Gas Company and the Carroll Bros. Company.
Mr. Bork talked freely of the company’s intentions. He said: “We started about four weeks ago to secure leases of gas territory in Humberstone township, and we now control about 3,000 acres of land. Our farms are scattered, although all of them are right in the gas belt. We have already given the contract for drilling three wells, and we propose to drill nine more as soon after the first three are finished as possible. We haven’t any doubt that we will get gas-in fact, we are going to begin laying a gas main to Buffalo within three weeks.”
“That is positively decided, then?” queried The Express man.
“Positively,” was the reply. “We have a grant to lay pipes in the City of Buffalo already. We also have a grant for Bertie township in Ontario, and the only other grant we need is that for Humberstone township. There is no reason to believe that we will have the slightest difficulty about getting this last-named grant, and when we do will begin laying pipe. Our main will enter Buffalo below the International Bridge, probably not a block away from where the old company’s main is. We cannot tell how how much gas will be delivered through our mains, because that depends both on the supply and the demand, and we are ignorant of both of these factors at present. We shall endeavor to supply everyone who wants gas.”
“How about manufacturers?”
“We will supply everybody-manufacturers, home consumers-anybody who wants gas.”
“But manufacturers cannot profitably burn gas at present prices,” was objected.
“Well, the chances are that prices will be reduced. We figure on delivering gas at a price equivalent to soft coal at $2.25 a ton-possibly at ten cents a 1,000 cubic feet. On the subject of prices we can say very little until we are assured that the supply of gas is going to last.”
Mr. Bork further said that 50 miles of pipe were to be laid in Buffalo by the company within the coming season, and estimated that it would cost the company $150,000 to bring the gas to Buffalo not counting the cost of the wells.
Carroll Bros. have not yet organized a company for the special purpose of dealing in gas and gas territory, but have carried on all operations under their firm name. They located quarries and a lime kiln some time ago about a mile from Sherks Station and near the lake shore. Later they become possessors of a considerable amount of property in the vicinity. After Mr. Eugene Coste of the Provincial company had discovered gas, Carroll Bros. decided to bore for gas to supply fuel for their lime kiln. Their first well, located within a stone’s throw of the kiln, was a success, though it is a smaller producer than either of the two wells that have since been drilled. It showed the enormous pressure of 560 pounds and a producing capacity of 2,000,000 cubic feet of gas per day. Encouraged by this unqualified success, they branched out. They took up a large amount of territory between Sherks and Port Colborne until they now hold leases, it is said, over nearly as much land as the Provincial company. The gas territory that has been thoroughly tested is a belt four miles broad, extending from Sherks to Port Colborne, a distance of seven miles. The Provincial company was first in the field, and soon had leased a great many farms within this belt. Carroll Bros. then adopted the policy of securing leases, and though Mr. Carroll did not care to say how large an acreage they had control of, he stated that their property alternated with the Provincial company’s property, and included some of the most promising farms in the belt.
Carroll Bros. have completed three wells and are now drilling a fourth, all of them located within a radius of about 1 ½ miles from Sherks. They have been carefully distributed about a mile from each other. No. 1 has a daily capacity of 2,000,000 cubic feet; No 2. 15,000,000 cubic feet; No 3. 5,000,000 cubic feet- a total of 22,000,000 cubic feet. This volume of gas represents a daily output of 1,100 tons of coal,-enough to run many hundred boilers and many thousand wheels and furnish employment for a vast population.
The first objective point visited by the Express reporter was the well which Carroll Bros. have just begun to put down about half a mile west of the station. On the way Mr. Carroll explained that it cost about $2,500 to drill a well. The depth to which wells are drilled in the Sherks territory is between 800 and 1,000 feet varying according to location. Arriving at a cross-roads the derrick of the gas producer to-be-was discovered a few feet of. The “hole in the ground” was not yet begun, but the engine for working the drill was already set up, and it was Mr. Carroll’s intention to start boring the following day. Fuel for the boiler was already delivered in the shape of gas piped from a neighboring well.
Mr. Carroll said he would much like to show off No. 2-the 15,000,000 cubic feet well-but he was afraid lest something should happen. When gas was struck with this well, five days elapsed before the drillers were able to get control of it. The force of the gas was so great that it all but ejected the 2,200 pound drill and it was next to impossible to put a valve over the vent. The men worked assiduously day and night to prevent the precious gas from escaping. Meanwhile 75,000,000 cubic feet of gas were lost and with it went $18,750. The men who were working about the well w ere so deafened that for days afterwards people had to shout at them to be heard. Mr. Carroll’s recital of the well’s titanic strength was evidently without exaggeration-No. 2 was too good proof of his story.
The country about Sherks is ordinary, rolling farm land, similar in appearance to the country about Buffalo. The gas wells interfere but little with agriculture. While the capitalist is reaping harvests of dollars from the gas underneath the earth, the farmer is gathering his crops of wheat from the face of the earth. The farmers generally get between 25 and 50 cents a year for the rental of an acre of land for gas crops. In addition, they are supplied with all the gas they need for fuel purposes.
“We expect to strike gas with No. 4-the well we are now drilling -within a month,” said Mr. Carroll. “We intend to continue drilling until we feel we have enough gas to supply all who want it in Buffalo, with a margin left over in case any well should get out of order or cease to produce.”
“You expect to carry the gas to Buffalo and distribute it yourselves?” was queried.
“Yes, we want to retain control of the whole business. We intend to produce the gas and deliver it ourselves. No one is associated with us at present, though I won’t say that we will take no one into partnership in the end.”
“And when do you expect to begin laying pipe between your territory and Buffalo?”
“Within two or three weeks,” was the prompt reply. “We have pipe already ordered, and if nothing intervenes to prevent we’ll soon have it laid. The distance to Buffalo is 12 miles, and we purpose laying an eight-inch main the entire way.”
“To what class of consumers do you intend to cater.”
“Principally to small manufacturers. We have looked the ground over carefully, and think that it will take much less capital to distribute gas among manufacturers than it would to lay mains through Buffalo’s residence streets. Doubtless there is more money in selling gas for heating purposes, and we may eventually extend pipes into streets not occupied by the Buffalo Natural Gas Company. Our Buffalo plans are as yet not fully matured, but it is almost certain that we will endeavor to supply manufacturers first. Gas is too precious a fuel to allow of extravagant waste such as would attend to use in rolling mills, blast furnaces, and similar large-fuel consuming establishments, and we shall not try to supply them, but to manufacturers who use gas more economically we will cater especially.”
“And what prices do you propose charging?”
On this all-important point Mr. Carroll was not fully determined. “We will probably charge special rates computed on the output of each manufactory,” said he. “For instance, if it is a flouring mill, we will charge a certain price for every barrel of flour turned out. It is estimated that at present Buffalo prices gas costs as much as hard coal at $6 a ton. We will sell gas at a cheaper rate than that-probably at a rate equivalent to coal at $5 or $5.50 a ton. With the improvements that are continually being made in the methods of burning gas, we can probably lower that price still more at no distant date.”
From a trustworthy source it was learned that the Carroll Bros. and the Erie County Natural Gas Company were talking of uniting. In fact, the office of the gas company admitted there was the possibility of such a union. Negotiations between the companies are now pending. Whether they will lead to a joining of forces, it is now too early to foretell.
MESSRS. MORRIS, STONE & WELLINGTON’S HAPPY FAMILY REUNION
[Welland Telegraph, 6 February 1891]
The sixth annual banquet given by Messrs. Morris, Stone & Wellington, of the Fonthill nurseries, to their employees, friends and invited guests, was a most enjoyable event at Fonthill, on Monday evening last. The long D’Everardo hall was filled to its utmost capacity, and its sides fairly bulged out with the pressure of good feeling and kindly sentiment. In these days of strikes and labor agitations, when the columns of every metropolitan and provincial newspaper teams with accounts of distress, riots and destitution- the outcome of ill-advised st rife between capital and labor-it was a relief which stood out like a fertile oasis in the arid desert , to see the perfect harmony, good feeling and affection which exists between employer and employed in connection with the Fonthill nurseries, an institution which enjoys an enviable business reputation form the Atlantic to the Pacific.
These annual banquets have become part of the yearly routine of the institution, and are looked forward to with the same keen interest and joyous anticipation by both the members of the firm and their employees. By the former because it is a genuine pleasure to accord the entertainment to those who so faithfully serve them, and by the latter because it forges another link to the endless chain of true friendship, and gives fresh assurance that faithful service is more fully appreciated than can be demonstrated by the mere payment of wages.
The gathering on Monday evening was the largest which ever did honor to the occasion. The good feeling was very marked and almost affectionate in its character; the bill-of-fare was a culinary triumph; the happy remarks of the “after dinner speakers” touched the chords of sympathy, and the greetings of old friends who met was cordial in the extreme. Evergreens in various designs hung in festoons overhead, and the table was laid with captivating taste the whole of its 100 feet of length, and no one was there who placed their knees beneath the richly laden board, but what enjoyed the banquet in the fullest sense of the word. No awkward restraint prevented an easy flow of conversation or spoiled a good appetite.
[Welland Telegraph, 6 February 1891]
Just after the bell had announced 12 o’clock yesterday, the firemen were summoned by the alarm to the house of Mr. John Peach, on Burgar street, where a fire was in progress, and which they extinguished before a great deal of damage had been done to the building. The fire is supposed to have originated from the chimney, and when discovered it had burned a considerable portion between the roof and ceiling. Mrs. Peach was busy preparing the dinner at the time, but as soon as she learned of the fire dispatched her boy to give the alarm, then with the assistance of some neighbors commenced to clear the house of furniture, most of which was carried out The building belongs to Mrs. Clement, of Buffalo, and the damage is covered by insurance in the Mercantile.