HAMILTON RIVER 



2676 



HAMLIN 



ford and other points. Steamers communicate 

 regularly with other important lake ports. The 

 first settlement was made in 1813 by George 

 Hamilton, in honor of whom the place was 

 named; it was incorporated as a city in 1846. 

 The population of 81,879 in 1911 ranks it sixth 

 among the cities of Canada; in 1916 it was esti- 

 mated at 97,000. 



Hamilton is a city of wide streets, attractive 

 homes and substantial buildings. Of the last 

 named the most notable are the courthouse, 

 post office, armories, provincial asylum for the 

 insane, some fine office and bank buildings and 

 the Royal Hotel. Educational facilities are 

 provided by an excellent system of elementary 

 schools, a collegiate institute, a normal insti- 

 tute and a public library. Dundurn Park, con- 

 taining the Wentworth Historical Society's 

 Museum, is the largest and most attractive of 

 the city's park reservations. Features of inter- 

 est are the market place and a magnificent 

 monument, erected on the site of the Battle 

 of Stony Creek to commemorate the victory 

 here gained over the American forces in June, 

 1813. 



Through its fine shipping facilities, the 

 abundant electrical power derived from Decew 

 Falls, thirty-five miles southeast of the city, 

 and the large supply of natural gas from the 

 Welland field, Hamilton has won its rank as 

 a manufacturing center. In the value of its 

 manufactures it ranks third among Canadian 

 cities, with a total which increased from $17,- 

 000,000 in 1900 to $55,000,000 in 1910 and to 

 about $75,000,000 in 1916. There are about 400 

 industrial plants, the largest of which are the 

 Canadian branches of the International Har- 

 vester, Westinghouse, International Steel and 

 Oliver Plow companies. In the first three more 

 than 8,000 people are employed. There are 

 also factories for making cotton and woolen 

 goods, clothing, glass, elevators, boots, tobacco 

 products and a great variety of other manu- 

 factures. East of the city lies a large, rich 

 agricultural section, highly productive of fruits 

 and vegetables. The value of the agricultural 

 produce exported annually from this district is 

 estimated at about $1,000,000. H.M.M. 



HAMILTON RIVER, the greatest river of the 

 Labrador peninsula. Its source is a chain of 

 small lakes, among them Ashuanipi and Ati- 

 konak, in the central part of the peninsula. 

 From these lakes issue a number of small 

 streams, which unite to form the Hamilton. 

 About midway to the Atlantic in its course of 

 350 miles the river turns sharply, and instead 



of running southeast, it turns to the northeast, 

 until it ends in Lake Melville, an extension of 

 Hamilton Inlet. 



Grand Falls. The Hamilton River is not 

 important for its length or for the basin it 

 drains (29,100 square miles). It is famous, 

 however, for Grand Falls, which occur about 

 220 miles from the mouth. Here, within a dis- 

 tance of twelve miles, the river drops 760 feet, 

 a series of rapids culminating in a sheer fall 

 over a rocky ledge over 300 feet high. At 

 the falls the river is 200 feet wide, and the roar 

 of the waters can be heard for twenty miles. 

 Below the falls the river rushes through a 

 majestic canon 400 to 500 feet high and about 

 twenty-five miles long. The falls were first 

 seen by white men in 1839, but in the course 

 of half a century the existence became myth- 

 ical, and not until 1891, when they were redis- 

 covered, was accurate knowledge of them again 

 obtained. 



HAMLET, or HAMLETH, a personage, half 

 mythological and half historical, whom Shake- 

 speare has transformed into one of the most 

 prominent figures in literature. He is the hero 

 of the most famous tragedy of Shakespeare, 

 which follows closely the semi-mythological 

 story of Hamleth. According to the ancient 

 legend Hamleth was Prince of Jutland; the 

 king, his father, had been murdered by his 

 own brother, Fengo, who took the throne. 

 Hamleth pretended madness to save his life. 

 His mother helped him avenge his father's 

 murder by putting Fengo to death. The reader 

 is referred to Shakespeare's Hamlet. 



HAMLIN, HANNIBAL (1809-1891), an Amer- 

 ican statesman, one of the leaders of the anti- 

 slavery faction for nearly two decades before 

 the War of Secession. He was active in the 

 organization of the Republican party in 1856, 

 and was the first Vice-President of the United 

 States elected by that party, for he was chosen 

 on the Lincoln ticket in 1860. Hamlin was 

 born in Maine. In 1835 he was admitted to 

 the bar, and two years later began a long polit- 

 ical career with election to the Maine legis- 

 lature, as a Democrat. In 1843 he was sent to 

 Congress, and served in the House of Repre- 

 sentatives from 1843 to 1847. From the begin- 

 ning of his Congressional term he took a firm 

 stand against slavery, and in 1846 attracted 

 wide attention by introducing into the House 

 the famous Wilmot Proviso (which see), an 

 antislavery measure. 



Hamlin was elected to the United States 

 Senate in 1848, to fill a vacancy, and was 



