1890s Hamilton

“Great is steam; and great also the steam shovel; particularly the one in use on the spur line construction. But for that steam shovel and a few other things, among them dynamite and detonators, work on the cuts and fills along the line would be terribly slow. The mighty steam shovel takes the place of a big bunch of navies, and the dynamite gets a move on that is unapproachable by a battalion of them.”                         “With the Railroad Makers : What Was Seen in a Trip Along the Spur Line”                         Hamilton Spectator. September 4, 1896 .         During the late summer of 1896, the Canadian Pacific Railway began construction of a project to connect the Grand Trunk Railway with the Toronto , Hamilton and Buffalo Railway by means of a spur line through an area south of Dundurn street to just beyond the Desjardins canal.         The scene of the construction activity was never known as a particularly romantic or picturesque locality despite the hills and hollo

1890-08-02 Herald "No. 63 Au the Foorce : One Day in the Life of a Hamilton Policeman”        “Right About! Quick march!” was the ringing command uttered by Sergeant Prentice one morning lately at a few minutes to 7 o’clock , and out upon the beautiful morning strode three constables and the sergeant from the portals of No. 3 Police Station.           Instantly, the eye of the passer-by lights upon Constable Bankit, No. 63. And no wonder; he is tall, erect, with almost an imperial gesture, deep black moustache, a pleasing countenance and a uniform neat and clean.           He walks out on the street with head up and nostril sniffing the fresh, invigorating air, like a war horse eager for the fray. But the fray is not near, and No. 63 has to content himself with sauntering up and down the beat, looking in the store windows and at pretty girls, for, be it understood, Constable Blankit is yet a bachelor. Occasionally, he stops to flip off the sidewalk, a stray piec

“Not to solve a Cronin murder mystery, nor to bring to an untimely end a bright young life, but simply and solely to satisfy an abnormal condition of curiosity did a Spectator reporter yesterday afternoon march out of the city hall and descend by straight up and down ladder into the bowels of the James street sewer.” “In the James Street Sewer : An Afternoon Trip         Through the Sewage” Hamilton Spectator. February 14, 1895           On Wednesday February, 13, 1895 , an oddly attired young man drew many glances as he walked along James street north towards a sewer trap near the city hall.           As the young man, a reporter with the Hamilton Spectator, later noted, “sewer society rules differ somewhat from those of other society, yet they are just as strict and confining. The correct thing to wear when going calling in an ordinary city sewer is a pair of long, rubber boots, an old blouse and any old thing for a hat. The older the blouse the better, for you will find it c