lsewhere--but they all
came to nothing. It was not until the railway mania broke out in
England in the middle forties--when 'King' Hudson, first of the great
promoters and speculators, turned all to gold; when ninety schemes were
floated in a single week, calling for eighty million pounds; when
companies capitalized at over seven hundred millions scrambled for
charters {39} and all England fought for their shares--that Canadian
promoters found interest awakened and capitalists keen to listen. At
the same time, the active competition of United States roads for the
western traffic and the approaching completion of the St Lawrence canal
system prompted further steps. A second stage in Canadian railway
building had begun.

First may be noted three small lines, which were in their beginnings
chiefly portage roads of the most limited type. The Montreal and
Lachine, begun in 1846 and completed in 1847, was the second complete
road built. Its track of eight miles took the place of the earlier
stage route round the Lachine rapids. Five years later an extension,
the Lake St Louis and Province Line, was built from Caughnawaga, on the
opposite shore of the St Lawrence, to the boundary and beyond to
Mooer's Junction, where it made connection with American roads, and
thus offered a route from Montreal to New York rivalling the older
Champlain and St Lawrence route. A steam ferry, which could carry a
locomotive and three loaded cars, was used for crossing from Lachine to
Caughnawaga. The enlarged line, known as the Montreal and New York
Railroad, did not prosper, and was {40} eventually absorbed by its
rival, the Champlain and St Lawrence. The third completed road, the St
Lawrence and Industry Village, was also built in Lower Canada, running
from Lanoraie on the north bank of the St Lawrence twelve miles to the
village of Industry, later Joliette. It was opened for traffic in
1850, and was a road for use in summer only. Meanwhile, the
desirability of building a road to circumvent Niagara had not escaped
attention. In 1835 the Erie and Ontario Railroad was chartered, and in
1839 the line was opened from Queenston to Chippawa. The grades near
Queenston were too steep for the locomotives of the day, and the road
was operated by horses; even so, it halted a hundred feet above the
level of the river, and failed to make good its promise as an effective
portage route. In 1852 the charter was amended, and two years later
the ro