Up the Gatineau! Article
This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 17.
A Most Useful And Extensive Organization
Carol Martin
Development of postal service up the Gatineau, early days to 1900
"The Postal Service is probably one of the most useful as well as one of the most extensive organizations which the genius of man has ever devised. Every portion of the civilized world is as it were covered by a vast network of postal routes... Conveyed by swift and powerful steamships, by rapid railway trains, in stages, in waggons, in sleds, in dog trains, on the backs of horses, of camels, and of men; traversing nearly every sea, lake and river, every highway, travelling through smiling fields, through pathless forests, through deep snows, across arid deserts, along undulating plains and over rugged mountains, onward the mails of the world ceaselessly continue their course, spreading intelligence, facilitating commerce, connecting mind with mind and heart with heart, and promoting everywhere the civilization, the brotherhood, and the happiness of mankind.“
Published in the 1867 Canadian Postal Guide, the above introduction to an article on the "Practical Working of the Post Office" signalled the role of the postal service in a world sense; there was no claim that camels were used here!
An official postal service existed in what was later Canada, under the control of the British General Post Office from 1763 to 1851, when it passed to Provincial control and then to that of the newly-formed Dominion of Canada. Its roles were to facilitate communication, business activity and settlement. London Merchants interested in trade had wanted a New York to Quebec postal link, which was established: Canadian settlement fostered an East-West service. By 1827 the route within Canada ran from Halifax in the east to Niagara and Amherstburg, some 1300 and 1500 miles to the west. There were six branch lines, two of which made an exchange with the United States mails on a weekly basis. Before 1850, a Royal Commission had studied the postal routes and service in British North America. Procedures for postmasters covered when to make up their accounts, how to postmark letters, disposing of undeliverable letters, and so on. A registration system came into being in 1840, and in 1843 the system for rating letters changed from the number of sheets of paper to weight.1
The opening of post offices is indicative of development and settlement up the Gatineau. Hull had a post office in 1819, and Aylmer in 1832; between 1830 and 1860, service had extended to Chelsea (1837), Wakefield (1848), Low (1854), and North Wakefield (1859); by Confederation both Kirk‘s Ferry (1863) and Ironside (1867) had been added.2
The mail in the earliest days was carried on horseback or by stagecoach from Ottawa (Bytown) to Aylmer, Chelsea, and points north of Chelsea; on shorter routes it might even be delivered by foot. Contracts were for four years, and specified the distance between points, the means of conveyance, and the number of trips a week. Between Aylmer and Ottawa, service was three times a week "by stage and steamboat" in 1852; between Ottawa and Chelsea the contractor, Josephus Hudson, made the trip by "vehicle" three times a week in that year. In his book A Tale of Two Chelseas, Patrick Evans reports that (in about the 1850s), Gardner Church and Josephus Hudson arranged for Mr. Church's second son, Seldon, then aged 10 years, to carry the mail for 25 cents a trip once a week between Chelsea and Old Chelsea.
Postal Service After Confederation
By 1867, Canada's postal system covered an east-west distance of 1800 miles from Percé to Fort William. There were 2297 post offices at which 12 million letters were delivered. A system for sorting and passing on or forwarding mail had been established, with registered mail, money orders, rates for various categories of mail, and a railway-based “travelling post" system. The gross revenue collected at the post offices was in the order of $850,000, “about equal to the cost of maintaining and supplying them", according to the post office report for that year.
April 1, 1868, marked the transfer of a well-organized, increasingly sophisticated postal service to the Dominion of Canada. Letter rates which had been 5 cents were reduced to 3 cents for up to 1/2 ounce, local delivery cost only l cent, and an additional 10 cents was charged to register a letter. Mailing costs to the United States were also reduced, from 10 cents to 6 cents. Rates of postage to Bermuda and the West Indies "by British Mail Packet, sailing from Halifax to Bermuda and St. Thomas, monthly“ were 12 cents per half ounce, and for sending "included in the United States Mails sent by Steamers sailing from New York... (which should be marked via New York")... were 10 cents for most of the West Indies via this alternative route; 22 cents to Australia via Panama. Books and seeds, newspapers, handbills, and parcels all had prescribed rates; parliamentary papers and petitions and addresses to Provincial Legislatures were free.3
The importance of the mail was reflected in the penalty for felonies involving it: "to steal' embezzle' or destroy a Post Letter not containing money of value" would result in imprisonment in the Provincial Penitentiary, for not less than three or more than fourteen years, while stealing, embezzlement, or destroying a Post Letter containing money or a valuable security would result in imprisonment in the Provincial Penitentiary for life.
The local post offices were generally associated with some other business enterprise, and the site was wherever the contractor lived or ran the business. By 1868, service between Aylmer and Ottawa was twelve times a week, and between North Wakefield and Ottawa, six times a week. By 1885. the 1 1/4 mile distance between Chelsea and Old Chelsea was covered six times a week for $4.17 a month, or about 15 cents a day. Business volume for some local post offices is shown in the table which follows.
Postal Revenues - 1830-1880
| 20yr. | 10yr. | 10yr. | 10yr. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Post Office | 1830-1850 | 1850-60 | 1860-70 | 1870-80 |
| Aylmer | $100-500 | $1000-2000 | $750-1000 | $1000-2000 |
| Cascades | - | - | - | under $50 |
| Chelsea | under $50 | $100-200 | $200-350 | $350-500 |
| Hull | $100-350 | $350-500 | $500-750 | $1000-2000 |
| Ironside | - | - | $50-100 | $100-200 |
| Kirk's Ferry | - | - | $50-100 | $50-100 |
| Low | - | under $50 | under $50 | $100-200 |
| North Wakefield | - | - | $100-200 | $100-200 |
| Wakefield | - | $200-350 | $100-200 | $200-350 |
As late as 1875, post office correspondence indexed as "Investigation: Hull becoming a City Post Office" found that the postal revenues there were too low and it was not thought worthwhile having the Post Office build a building and pay a salary to a full-time employee. The report noted that the "Villagers want a postmaster who will devote himself from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily to its management. I think that in their laudable zeal for their embryo City they have overlooked the impossibility of obtaining all they ask for the remuneration of $392 per annum which under the existing Postal rules is all to which the Postmaster at Hull is entitled."
Requests To Open Post Offices
Reports in the National Archives of Canada, as Post Office Inspectors"4 evaluated requests to establish post offices, or events concerning those already established, provide insight about community development up the Gatineau. Below are reproduced the Inspectors‘ reports (to the Postmaster General) on three post offices established in the 1870s.
“Petition regarding Kingsmere, 25th April, 1877.
Sir.
Referring to the enclosed application for a new Post
Office at Kingsmere in the township of Hull, County of
Ottawa, Quebec, I beg to say that Kingsmere is as stated in
the petition "on the main road leading from Chelsea to the
Township of Eardley, and four miles from the Post Office at
Chelsea“. The country around Kingsmere is fairly settled
and an office there would afford postal accommodation to
about forty families — all, however of the farming class with
the exception of three or four families from Ottawa who
reside there for some months each summer.
A tri-weekly service would be as much as could be
reasonably expected by the petitioners and this can be had
from Chelsea Office at a cost of from $50 to $60 per annum.
I have now an offer to perform the service for $52 a year —
four and a half cents a mile — a very moderate figure, in a
locality where labour is rather high.
The revenue from the proposed office would probably be
$25 a year. I beg to attach a sketch of the locality in which it
is proposed to establish the new office."
“Petition regarding Wilson's Corners, 8th June, 1878.
Sir,
With reference to the enclosed application for the
establishment of a new Post Office at Wilson's Corners in
the Township of Hull, in the County of Ottawa, I have the
honour to report that the site of the proposed office is about
equidistant from Cantley and Pelissier; that is, five miles
from each. There is a store and a Hotel at the place, and
about 25 families would be accommodated by a Post Office
there.
Judging, however, by the business done at the office at
Cantley, Pelissier and Lucerne, I should imagine that the
gross Revenue of an office at Wilson's Comers would
scarcely reach $10 a year. It could, however, be serwed
weekly, without additional expense, by the Courier who
performed the Cantley and Lucerne Service and whose route
is by Wilson's Corners. I enclose a sketch indicating the
locality of the office asked for."
"Petition regarding Masham (Joynt), 15th February, 1879.
Sir,
Referring to the enclosed application for the establishment
of a new Post Office at the house of Robert Joynt in
the Township of Masham in the County of Ottawa, I beg to
state that the place at which it is proposed to establish this
office is nearly equidistant from the Post Offices at Rupert
and North Wakefield, being about 7 miles from the former
and 7 1/2 miles from the latter.
The surrounding country is composed of a very fair
quality of soil and is improving, though slowly. No doubt if
the Post Office asked for is established it will give an impetus to settlement and many other families will be induced to
move thither. There are no stores or other places of business
in the immediate neighbourhood - North Wakefield being at
present the business depot for the Joynt Settlement. The
persons then who would use the Post Office at Joynt are
exclusively farmers, some 30 or 40 families of whom would
be accommodated by it, but as their correspondence would
not be very heavy the probable revenue which an office in
that settlement would yield would not, I think, exceed $12
to $15 per annum for a considerable time to come, if established, the best point of connection would be North
Wakefield, from which a weekly service could be had for
about $50 per annum..."
The Post Office Deals With Problems Up The Gatineau
Problems in the running of the system could occur when post office sites were changed or post offices changed hands. In 1876, a petition to Louis Duhamel, MPP, encloses "a memorial praying for the removal of the Masham Mills Post Office" because it was “outside of the village" (it suggested a particular site, 1 mile closer, in a store owned by one of the petitioners). The report below is dated “2nd April, 1878", and evaluates a complaint about the Kirk's Ferry Post Office. John Kirk's resignation, dated 17th June 1877 caused the site of the post office to be moved from Kirk's house to that of William Reid, and not everyone was pleased.
"Sir,
Referring to the enclosed petition of Martin Fleming and
others praying that the Post Office at Kirk's Ferry may be
removed to its former site, upon the grounds of "public
convenience" and the “incompetency of the Postmaster", I beg
to say that Mr. Read, the present Postmaster, entered upon his
duties as such on the 24th of January last, and I have not since
heard that he has failed to discharge them satisfactorily.
As regards the "convenience" of the present site, it is but a
quarter of a mile from its former location at Mr. Kirk's house,
and I am satisfied that it is NOW very well placed for the
convenience of a majority of the people for whose benefit it has
been established.
I am creditably informed that seventeen of the 37 signers
of the petition receive their mail matter either at the Cascades
or Cantley Post Offices, and can therefore have no personal
interest in the removal of that at Kirk's Ferry, while some of the
other signers are, I am told, mere boys.
The accompanying letter of Mr. Fleming, while whose name
is first on the petition, goes to shew that the signature is simply
a forgery, and as the promoters of the petition did not hesitate
to attach Mr. Fleming's name to it without his consent, I think
it is not improbable that they may have taken the same liberty
with others.
On the whole, then, I can see no reasonable grounds for
recommending the removal asked for."
Other problems. to do with the revenue and cash flow, were presented to the Post Oifice Inspector.
"16th June, 1899.
Sir,
I have the honour to return herewith, Departmental
References 10165 and 11089, the former enclosing a letter
from the Postmaster at Cascades, reporting the burning of his
office, and the latter containing a claim from Mr. Alexander
Strachan, Cascades, for the loss by burning of the Cascades
Office of a registered letter containing $5 addressed to him, and
to state for your information that, having learned, the
Department promptly sent the Postmaster at Cascades a new
Office equipment and a fresh Credit Supply of Postage Stamps.
I wrote the Postmaster for full particulars as to the origin of the
fire, and what articles of mail matter were destroyed, etc. To
this the Postmaster replied that, a few minutes after he left the
Post Office on the afternoon of the 10th December last, he
noticed that the store was on fire, and as if by some explosive,
the place was blown up. "...The letter continues, to report that
4 or 5 ordinary letters and newspapers were destroyed, as well
as the registered letter to Mr. Strachan... "to whom I wrote
asking for the name and address of the sender of the letter and
at the same time I informed him that in such cases the
Department did not hold itself responsible.“
..."I enclose a Certificate for refund, signed by the Postmaster
at Cascades, claiming $3 for Postage Stamps and cards
destroyed. This will reduce the Postmaster's old Credit Supply,
which the Accountant is keeping out of salary warrants."
"13th April. 1898.
Certificate for Refund
I, Henry J. Cole, Postmaster of Ironside, County of Wright,
Province of Quebec, hereby make oath and say that on the 13th
day of April, in the year 1898, the Post Office at Ironside was
totally consumed by fire, and that, as I confidently believe.
postage stamps to the value of $2 were burned in the office and
that this estimate is based on the following known facts: the
number of stamps placed in book for the use of office on the
previous Monday.”
This was signed by H.J. Cole and sworn before Robert Kerr, Justice of the Peace.
The Post Office Inspector signed the following, with respect to the fire damage at Ironside:
“I. Frank Hawken, Post Office Inspector, do hereby declare that I believe, on investigation, the above statement to be correct, and that the loss to revenue in this case did not occur through any failure to observe the prescribed regulations as to remitting funds or any other culpable negligence or disregard of instructions on the part of the postmaster."
On the Certificate for Refund filed due to a fire in the North Wakefield post office, the claims listed:
| “postage stamps valued at | $ 32.90 |
| postal notes | 128.75 |
| cash addressed to Montreal Bank | 120.00" |
The Inspector did not support this claim, and his report notes that:
“Mr x has been very negligent in his endeavour to straighten
up his Accounts... I think the Postal Notes and Stamps were
really burned, but I regret to say that I have grave suspicions
that the Postmaster did not make up the remittance which he
claims for $120, it will, therefore, be seen that if the Postmaster
be not held responsible for the loss of the Postal Notes and
postage stamps, he is now indebted to the Department to the
amount of $150.13... The merchandise in the Postmaster’s
store was insured in two Companies to the amount of $1500
and $1000 respectively, and I understand that a settlement in
the matter has not yet been effected.
I enclose herewith a Certificate for Refund which the
Postmaster has signed before Mr. Robert Joynt, Justice of the
Peace. I have, of course, not attached my signature to it."
A report dated 20th March, 1877, concerned the Aylmer East Post Office, and referred to a complaint "stating that there is scarlet fever in the family of the post master of Aylmer East and that it is dangerous for people to go to the post office".
A carefully reasoned reply indicates that there is a distinction to be made whether the person handling the mail is "coming directly from the sick room" or mainly handling mail. If the latter, no problem was seen.
Turn of The Century
By 1900 there were 36 post offices throughout the Gatineau region; more settlement and the railway in the 1890s had brought further expansion. In the thirty-odd years since Confederation, the number of letters posted in Canada had increased by 485% (178 million were reported in 1900). Domestic postal rates were reduced on December 18, 1900, from 3 cents to 2 cents, and "inter-imperial“ rates from 5 cents to 2 cents per half ounce. The Post Office budget was now over three million dollars, including a deficit of a half-million which was ascribed mainly to the change in postal rates.
The 1900 annual report highlights the “experimental introduction of automobiles“ for mail collection in Toronto, and describes provisions for handling letters from Canadian troops serving in the Boer War. What was indeed a most useful organization had truly become an extensive one in Canada and up the Gatineau, and it was entering a 20th century which would see communications changes barely foretold in 1900.
Footnotes:
- Winthrop S. Boggs. The Postage Stamps and Postal History of Canada
- Frank W. Campbell. Canadian Post Offices. 1755-1895
- "Canada Official Postal Guide", 1868.
- Frank W. Campbell, Canadian Post Offices. 1755-1895
- There were 7 inspectors: 1 each for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 2 for Quebec and 3 for Ontario.