Traveling by horse and carriage between small communities, and by steam train, steamboat, or electric street railcar between larger cities, were the primary methods of transportation during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Farmers brought grain or apples to the mill in their horse-drawn wagons and left with bags of flour, feed, or barrels of apple cider. Visitors arriving in Port Dalhousie by steamship from Toronto or Hamilton would hire a horse-drawn carriage to take them to Decew Falls. Living on the outskirts of town, Wilson and Emma continued to travel by horse and buggy well into the 1920s, even as automobiles grew in popularity.

While it is easy to romantically imagine these forms of transportation as pleasurable, that wasn’t always the case. Bad weather, cold temperatures, and poor road conditions often made journeys difficult. Thomas Wilkinson captured this sentiment in his writing:

So through sunshine and rain on steamboat or train
We are trotting all over the land.
Is it not gay, I hear someone say,
But then they do not understand.

Lorna, Wilson and Emma Morningstar’s granddaughter, recalls traveling to downtown St. Catharines with her grandmother by horse and buggy. They had two route options: Pelham Road or Merrittville Road. Merrittville Road was preferred since Pelham Road often became a muddy, rutted quagmire, nearly impassable due to springs in the valley. To maintain this road, her grandfather used a homemade scraper made from railroad rails to level the surface until the Township began adding gravel.

Jessie writes that she either rode her bicycle or walked 2.5 miles (4 km) to catch the H30 streetcar to get to the Thorold High School. She would also sometimes ‘carpool’ on the Griffith’s wagon and recalls a time when the driver had trouble keeping the partially trained pinto horses going in the right direction. In winter, Wilson drove Jessie in a horse-drawn sleigh, using hot bricks wrapped in cloth or paper to warm their feet, and a buffalo robe lined with red wool to keep them warm. On particularly cold days, she mentioned that even the horses’ breath would freeze.

Horse-drawn carriages or cabs could also be hired. In December 1913, Jessie described the joy of bringing her niece, Lorna, home from the hospital in downtown St. Catharines in a horse-drawn cab arranged by her brother-in-law David, as it was too cold for an open-air carriage.

Jessie also recalls her first ride in an automobile with her Uncle Edward Near. His car resembled a buggy with a dashboard, it had acetylene lamps and was controlled by a hand lever. They sped along the road at around 20 mph (32 kmph), leaving a trail of dust behind them. In Clifton Springs, she also remembers a ride in a luxurious Pierce-Arrow but says that most of the local boys she knew visited with horse and buggies. In 1918, arriving in Savannah for the first time, she was amazed to see women driving electric cars which had large plate glass windows, cut glass vases for flowers, and handle-operated controls.

Lorna fondly remembers watching steam trains pass by and enjoying the sight of smoke and steam. The route to downtown St. Catharines required crossing a railway bridge. If they were traveling by horse, they would stop before the bridge to avoid frightening the animal. However, in the late 1920s to early 1930s, when traveling by car, she would ask her parents to stop on the bridge as a train approached so she could experience the steam rising through the planks.

Jessie also recalls her first trip to Savannah: ‘It was a sizzling day. The cinders from the steam train’s smokestack came in through the open windows, and each mile grew hotter — I had never felt anything like it!’

In 1930, Thomas Wilkinson wrote about taking the Empire State Express from Buffalo to Syracuse, a passenger steam train capable of reaching speeds of 82 mph (132kmph). He remarked on the ‘profuse joy’ of arriving safely, ‘without mishap or disaster.’

During Wilson and Emma’s time, steamships frequently traveled between St. Catharines, Hamilton, and Toronto. In the summer, Port Dalhousie would welcome over 250,000 visitors. One traveler on September 29, 1894, described the beauty of the lake of the crossing:

Never had I seen the lake so glorious as it was on this morning. From the spotless floor of the upper deck…we seemed to be alone with the water and the sky. I gazed into the immense depth and beauty of the arch above me, where the great sun burned as a center-stone… In the hollows between the waves were purple-violet and pale-green depths, and the light smote upon everything with sorcery, so that the rainbow of the spray and the gold upon the waters whirled in a brilliant kaleidoscope before us.

Not all lake voyages were so pleasant. Nora, prone to seasickness, wrote to her mother on October 21, 1905:

I had the blues when the boat pulled into Burlington Beach about ten minutes after one. We had to take the [street]car to Hamilton and the train from there to Toronto. So you can imagine how I feel tonight. The lake was so rough that they could not get near the T[oronto] wharf.

And in 1930, Thomas Wilkinson once again captured the tumultuous experience of a stormy lake crossing:

But we sneak off again, midst a drenching wet rain,
And get on the deck of a steamer.
We are tossed to and fro on the water below —
I tell you, old man, what a screamer!
Of course, we survive, and at last, we arrive,
Not looking too gay or too giddy.

These memories reflect the wide range of experiences during a time of significant changes in transportation methods — from the romance of steamships and carriages to the thrill of automobiles and the challenges of unpredictable horses and weather.

Carla Mackie is Historical Services Coordinator with the City of St. Catharines. Historical Services includes the Morningstar Mill, the Lakeside Park Carousel, and the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre.