246 CANADIAN TUEP BEOOLLEOTIONS 



construct a first-class mile track. A civil engineer and 

 his assistants were engaged to do the work on scientific 

 principles, and soon it became known and talked of both 

 far and near as a ' ' big thing on ice. ' ' 



Every owner of a horse in the town was congratulating 

 himself on having a high old time as soon as the track was 

 ready, and friend Eiley saw looming in the distance a big 

 reputation for enterprise, with a fine run of customers at 

 his hotel thrown in. A big gang of men were put to work 

 and at the end of two weeks, on a Wednesday at noon, the 

 track was completed and announced perfect. It was 

 bushed every fifty yards, and altogether pronounced the 

 greatest thing yet attempted in that line. At two o^clock 

 a great crowd of people were on the bay taking a look at 

 things^nd speculating on the grand prospects of sport 

 ahead, and in Riley's hotel on the shore the boys were 

 congregated getting up the programme for the races to be 

 held. About this time a strong easterly wind blew up, the 

 sky became overcast and the people at the track made for 

 the shore. The storm came on so quickly that in two 

 hours' time Toronto Bay was clear of ice, Riley's track, 

 with its bushes acting as sails, swept almost intact out 

 into the open lake, and much fun was made over the mis- 

 hap. Some wags sent messages from Hamilton and Oak- 

 ville that Riley's track went sailing by their respective 

 places at the rate of ten miles an hour. The strong breeze 

 did more than blow away the track, it blew out of friend 

 Riley's mind all desire for speculation in that line. In 

 his long experience as a hotel-keeper he had met with 

 many slippery customers, but nothing in his experience 

 came up to his track venture. 



Things have changed since then. The whole aspect of 

 the bay shore has been revolutionized, but as you sit by 

 one of those early settlers like Mr. Riley and hear him 

 talk of past fun, you are forced to believe that the boys 

 of that period were as lively a lot of stags as any we have 

 at the present time. 



