STEAMERS 149 



formed in 1845, and took its other title thirty 

 years later, when it made its first great 

 4 merger.' It began in a very humble way, 

 by running two little market boats between 

 Sorel and Montreal. From the first it had to 

 fight for its commercial life. The train was 

 beginning to be a formidable competitor. But 

 the fight to a finish was the fight of boat against 

 boat. Fares were cut and cut again. At last 

 the passengers were offered bed, board, and 

 transportation for the price of a single meal. 

 Every day there was a desperate race on the 

 water. The rival steamers shook and panted 

 in their self-destroying zeal to be the first to 

 get the gangway down. Clouds of fire- 

 streaked smoke poured from their funnels. 

 More than once a cargo that would burn well 

 was thrown into the furnaces to keep the steam 

 up. The public became quite as keen as any 

 of the crews or companies, and worked ex- 

 citement up to fever pitch by crowding the 

 wharves to gamble madly on this daily river 

 Derby. The stress was too much for the 

 weaker companies. One by one they either 

 fell out or ' merged in.' After the merger with 

 the Ontario Company in 1875 things went on, 

 with many ups and downs, more in the usual 

 way of competition. Finally, in 1913, a 



