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- 9. Key Performance Indicators Developing, Implementing, and Using Winning KPIs Second Edition DAVID PARMENTER John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- 10. Copyright C 2010 by David Parmenter. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Parmenter, David. Key performance indicators : developing, implementing, and using winning KPIs / David Parmenter. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-470-54515-7 (cloth) 1. Performance technology. 2. Performance standards. 3. Organizational effectiveness. I. Title. HF5549.5.P37P37 2010 658.4 013–dc22 2009035911 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
- 11. Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xix CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 Key Result Indicators 2 Performance and Result Indicators 3 Key Performance Indicators 4 Management Models that Have a Profound Impact on KPIs 16 Definitions 24 Notes 27 CHAPTER 2 Foundation Stones for Implementing Key Performance Indicators 29 Four Foundation Stones Guiding the Development and Use of KPIs 29 Defining Vision, Mission, and Strategy 37 Note 39 CHAPTER 3 Developing and Using KPIs: A 12-Step Model 41 Step 1: Senior Management Team Commitment 41 Step 2: Establishing a Winning KPI Project Team 51 Step 3: Establishing a “Just Do It” Culture and Process 55 v
- 12. Contents Step 4: Setting Up a Holistic KPI Development Strategy 62 Step 5: Marketing the KPI System to All Employees 67 Step 6: Identifying Organization-Wide Critical Success Factors 74 Step 7: Recording Performance Measures in a Database 74 Step 8: Selecting Team-Level Performance Measures 77 Step 9: Selecting Organizational Winning KPIs 86 Step 10: Developing the Reporting Framework at All Levels 88 Step 11: Facilitating the Use of Winning KPIs 96 Step 12: Refining KPIs to Maintain Their Relevance 101 Notes 105 CHAPTER 4 KPI Team Resource Kit 107 Using This Resource Kit 107 Step 1 Worksheet: Senior Management Team Commitment 108 Step 2 Worksheet: Establishing a Winning KPI Team 115 Step 3 Worksheet: Establish a “Just Do It” Culture and Process for This Project 119 Step 4 Worksheet: Setting Up a Holistic KPI Development Strategy 122 Step 5 Worksheet: Marketing the KPI System to All Employees 125 vi
- 13. Contents Step 6 Worksheet: Identifying Organization-wide CSFs 132 Step 7 Worksheet: Comprehensive Recording of Measures within the Database 132 Step 8 Worksheet: Selecting Team Performance Measures 133 Step 9 Worksheet: Selecting Organization-wide Winning KPIs 141 Step 10 Worksheet: Developing Display, Reporting, and Review Frameworks at All Levels 143 Step 11 Worksheet: Facilitating the Use of KPIs 146 Step 12 Worksheet: Refining KPIs to Maintain Their Relevance 146 CHAPTER 5 Templates for Reporting Performance Measures 155 Reporting Key Result Indicators in a Dashboard to the Board 155 Reporting Performance Measures to Management 163 Reporting Performance Measures to Staff 169 Graph Format Examples 172 Notes 184 CHAPTER 6 Facilitator’s Resource Kit 185 Remember the Fundamentals 185 KPI Typical Questions and Answers 187 CHAPTER 7 Critical Success Factors Kit 199 Benefits of Understanding Your Organization’s CSFs 200 vii
- 14. Contents Relevant Success Factors 204 Step 6: Identifying Organization-wide Critical Success Factors 205 Finding the CSFs through a Relationship Mapping Process 212 How I Organize the Critical Success Factor Workshop 213 Note 222 Appendix 7A: Where to Look for Your Success Factors 222 Appendix 7B: Letter Invite from the CEO 224 Appendix 7C: Success Factors Workshop Planning Checklist 225 Appendix 7D: Workshop Instructions 227 Appendix 7E: Success Factor Matrix 233 CHAPTER 8 Brainstorming Performance Measures 241 CHAPTER 9 Implementation Variations for Small-to-Medium Enterprises and Not-for-Profit Organizations 243 Small-to-Medium Enterprises 243 Not-for-Profit Organizations 246 CHAPTER 10 Implementation Lessons 253 How to Implement Winning KPIs in 16 Weeks 253 Notes 265 Epilogue: Electronic Media Available to You 267 Appendix: Performance Measures Database 269 Index 295 viii
- 15. Preface Performance measurement is failing organizations all around the world, whether they are multinationals, government de- partments, or small local charities. The measures that have been adopted were dreamed up one day without any linkage to the critical success factors of the organizations. These measures are frequently monthly or quarterly. Management reviews them and says, “That was a good quarter” or “That was a bad month.” Performance measures should help your organization align daily activities to strategic objectives. This book has been written to assist you in developing, implementing, and using winning KPIs—those performance measures that will make a profound difference. This book is also aimed at providing the missing link between the balanced scorecard work of Robert Kaplan and David Norton and the reality of implementing performance mea- surement in an organization. The implementation difficulties were first grasped by a key performance indicator (KPI) manual developed by Australian Government Department “AusIndus- tries” as part of a portfolio of resources for organizations pur- suing international best practices. This book has adopted many of the approaches of the KPI manual, which was first published in 1996, and has incorporated more implementation tools, the balanced scorecard philosophy, the author’s work on winning KPIs, and many checklists to assist with implementation. ix
- 16. Preface Embarking on a KPI/Balanced Scorecard Project The goal of this book is to help minimize the risks that working on a KPI/balanced scorecard project encompasses. It is designed for the project team, senior management, external project facil- itators, and team coordinators whose role it is to steer such a project to success. The roles they play could leave a great legacy in the organization for years to come or could amount to nothing by joining the many performance measurement ini- tiatives that have failed. It is my wish that the material in this book, along with the workshops I deliver around the world, will increase the likelihood of success. In order for both you and your project to succeed, I suggest that you: Read Chapters 1 and 2 carefully, a couple of times. Visit my Web site, www.davidparmenter.com, for other use- ful information. Scan the material in subsequent chapters so you know what is there. Begin Step 1 in Chapter 3 by setting up the focus group one-day workshop. Listen to my webcasts on www.bettermanagement.com; webcast support is available for most chapters of this book. Seek an outside facilitator who will help guide/mentor you in the early weeks of the project. Begin the KPI project team-building exercises, and under- take any training to plug those identified skill gaps in the KPI project team. Letter to the Chief Executive Officer Due to the workload of chief executive officers (CEOs), few will have the time to read much of this book. I have thus written a x
- 17. Preface letter to the CEO of your organization to help explain his or her involvement. It is important that the CEO knows: The content of Chapters 1 and 2 The seven characteristics of KPIs The difference between success factors and critical success factors The extent of his or her involvement, and the risks the project faces if the CEO does not actively support the KPI team The content of my “Introduction to Winning KPIs” and “Implementing Critical Success Factors” webcasts on www. bettermanagement.com Using Chapter 1: Introduction For years, organizations that have had what they thought were KPIs have not had the focus, adaptability, innovation, and prof- itability that they were seeking. KPIs themselves were misla- beled and misused. Examine a company with over 20 KPIs and you will find a lack of focus, lack of alignment, and under- achievement. Some organizations try to manage with over 40 KPIs, many of which are not actually KPIs. This chapter ex- plains a new way of breaking performance measures into key result indicators (KRIs), result indicators (RIs), performance in- dicators (PIs), and key performance indicators (KPIs). It also explains a significant shift in the way KPIs are used to ensure they do not create dysfunctional behavior. Using Chapter 2: Foundation Stones for Implementing Key Performance Indicators Effective organizational change relies heavily on creating appropriate people practices as the centerpiece of a new xi
- 18. David Parmenter Writer, Speaker, Facilitator Helping organizations measure, report, and improve performance PO Box 10686, Wellington, New Zealand (+ 64 4) 499 0007 parmenter@waymark.co.nz www.davidparmenter.com January 31, 2010 Dear CEO, Invitation to put winning KPIs in your organization I would like to introduce you to a process that will have a pro- found impact on your organization. It will link you to the key activities in the organization that have the most impact on the bottom line. If im- plemented successfully, it will have a profound impact, enabling you to leave a major legacy. I would like to wager that you have not carried out an exercise to distinguish those critical success factors (CSFs) from the many success factors you and your senior management team talk about on a regular basis. I would also point out that much of the reporting you receive, whether it is financial or on performance measures, does not aid your daily decision-making process. I know this because much of the informa- tion you receive is monthly data received well after the horse has bolted. Whereas this book is principally an implementation guide and thus is suitable for advisors, facilitators, and implementation staff, I recommend that you read these sections: Chapter 1, which explains the background to this breakthrough Chapter 2, which emphasizes the four foundation stones you need to put in place and ensure they are not compromised at any time Chapter 7, on finding your critical success factors Armed with this information, I trust that you will support the winning KPI project with commitment and enthusiasm. By the time you read it, this work will have received international acceptance. The first edition of this book is a best seller in performance measurement. I ask that you spare 45 minutes of your time and listen to my we- bcast “An Introduction to Winning KPIs” on www.bettermanagement. com. I am hopeful that this book, with the support material available on my Web site, www.davidparmenter.com, will help you and your organi- zation achieve a significant performance improvement. I look forward to hearing about your progress. Kind regards, David Parmenter parmenter@waymark.co.nz xii
- 19. Preface workplace culture. In this context, the introduction of KPIs must be achieved in a way that supports and extends the idea of a co- operative partnership in the workplace—a partnership among employees, management, suppliers, customers, and the commu- nities in which the organization operates. This chapter advances four general principles, called the four foundation stones: 1. Partnership with the staff, unions, key suppliers, and key customers 2. Transfer of power to the front line 3. Measuring and Reporting only what happens 4. Linkage of performance measures to strategy through the CSFs Using Chapter 3: Developing and Using KPIs: A 12-Step Model When you are ready to introduce performance measures (in- cluding result indicators, performance indicators, and KPIs) into your organization, we anticipate that you will want to broadly follow the 12-step approach outlined in this chapter. This chap- ter analyzes each step in detail, its purpose, the key tasks to be carried out, implementation guidelines, and a checklist to ensure that you undertake the key steps. Using Chapter 4: KPI Team Resource Kit This chapter provides the KPI team with useful tools for gath- ering information. For many of the steps, a questionnaire has been included and, in some cases, a worksheet that needs to be completed by the project team or by the teams developing their performance measures. For all key workshop sessions, a program has been developed based on successful ones run by the author. Electronic templates of all checklists can be acquired from www.davidparmenter.com (for a small fee). xiii
- 20. Preface Using Chapter 5: Templates for Reporting Performance Measures This chapter illustrates how to present KRIs, RIs, PIs, and KPIs. Using Chapter 6: Facilitator’s Resource Kit The involvement of a skilled KPI facilitator sourced from out- side the company assists the process of developing and using performance measures (including KRIs, RIs, PIs, and KPIs). The facilitator’s key roles are to help educate the senior management team and then set up and mentor the project team. Chapter 3 suggests that certain key activities within the 12 steps should be performed by this external facilitator. Using Chapter 7: Critical Success Factors Kit It is the critical success factors (CSFs), and the performance mea- sures within them, that link daily activities to the organization’s strategies. This, I believe, is the El Dorado of management. In these trying times, knowing your CSFs maybe the decid- ing factor in survival. If your organization has not completed a thorough exercise to know its CSFs, performance management cannot possibly function. Performance measurement, monitor- ing, and reporting will be a random process creating an army of measurers producing numerous numbing reports, full of mea- sures that monitor progress in a direction very remote from the organization’s strategy. Although most organizations know their success factors, few organizations have: Worded their success factors appropriately Segregated out success factors from their strategic objectives xiv
- 21. Preface Sifted through the success factors to find their critical ones— their critical success factors Communicated the critical success factors to staff The process outlined in this chapter will crystallize and com- municate the organization’s CSFs. The beauty of the method is that it is a simple methodical process that can be run by in-house staff. CSF selection is a very subjective exercise. The effectiveness and usefulness of the CSFs chosen is highly dependent on the analytical skill of those involved. Active leadership by senior management in this process is thus mandatory. Using Chapter 8: Brainstorming Performance Measures Once the CSFs have been established, it is important to find the performance measures. This exercise is best done as part of a brainstorming exercise. Please listen to “Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff” webcast on www.bettermanagement.com when reading this chapter. Using Chapter 9: Implementation Variations for Small-to-Medium Enterprises and Not-for-Profit Organizations When I first wrote about the 12-step process, I set out an imple- mentation Gantt chart showing 12 steps. Attendees from small- to-medium enterprises often request advice on a simpler pro- cess. This chapter presents my new thinking, which I use when I help smaller organizations. I also point out useful tips for not-for-profit organizations, who may believe that performance measurement has to be different. xv
- 22. Preface Using Chapter 10: Implementation Lessons Kaplan and Norton, in their groundbreaking book, The Bal- anced Scorecard—Translating Strategy into Action, indicated that 16 weeks is enough time to establish a working balanced scorecard with KPIs. However, organizations of all sizes and complexity stumble with this process, and 16 weeks easily turns into 16 months. The key to success is to learn the key imple- mentation lessons covered in this chapter. Using the Epilogue: Electronic Media Available to You This epilogue presents the electronic media available, some for free and some with a fee. Using the Appendix: Performance Measures Database The appendix provides a list of performance measures (includ- ing KRIs, RIs, PIs, and KPIs), some of which will be relevant for your organization. These are organized according to balanced scorecard perspectives and are updated constantly. An elec- tronic version of the updated database can be acquired from www.davidparmenter.com (for a fee). Who Should Read What This book is a resource for anyone in the organization involved with the development and use of KPIs. It is desirable that all KPI project team members, the external project facilitator, team coordinators, and local facilitators (if required) have their own manual to ensure all follow the same plan. Team members are expected to take the manual with them when meeting staff and management, as they will be able to clarify issues by using examples from the manual. (Please note that this book is copy- righted, so it is a breach of the copyright to photocopy sections for distribution.) xvi
- 23. Preface KPI Project CEO Team, External Team Co- Overview Board SMT Facilitator ordinators Chapter 1 Introduction. Chapter 2 The foundation stones for implementing KPIs. Chapter 3 Developing and using KPIs: A 12-step model. Chapter 4 KPI team resource kit. Chapter 5 Templates for reporting performance measures. Chapter 6 Facilitator’s resource kit. Chapter 7 Critical Success Factors Kit. Chapter 8 Brainstorming Performance Measures. Chapter 9 Implementation Variations for Small-to-Medium Enterprises and Not-for-Profit Organizations. Chapter 10 Implementation Lessons. Appendix List of performance measures (including KRIs, RIs, PIs, and KPIs) to assist with the short-listing of likely performance measures. xvii
- 25. Acknowledgments Iwould like to acknowledge the commitment and dedica- tion of Waymark Solutions staff members over the years this project has taken (Sean, Dean, Jacqueline, Roydon, and Matt); my partner, Jennifer Gilchrist, who read through the drafts; and my children, Alexandra and Claudine, who, like Jennifer, were so patient during many late nights in the office. I am also grate- ful for all those who have attended my KPI workshops and shared their ideas on winning KPIs. I am grateful to Harry Mills, Matt Clayton, and Jeremy Hope for their sage advice over the years and to Sheck Cho for getting this book published in the first place. A special thanks goes to my parents, who through their unique style of parenting and continuous support have given me the confidence and the platform to undertake the mission I am now on. xix
- 27. CHAPTER 1 Introduction Many companies are working with the wrong measures, many of which are incorrectly termed key performance in- dicators (KPIs). Very few organizations really monitor their true KPIs. The reason is that very few organizations, business lead- ers, writers, accountants, and consultants have explored what a KPI actually is. There are four types of performance measures (see Exhibit 1.1): 1. Key result indicators (KRIs) tell you how you have done in a perspective or critical success factor. 2. Result indicators (RIs) tell you what you have done. 3. Performance indicators (PIs) tell you what to do. 4. KPIs tell you what to do to increase performance dramati- cally. Many performance measures used by organizations are thus an inappropriate mix of these four types. An onion analogy can be used to describe the relationship of these four measures. The outside skin describes the overall condition of the onion, the amount of sun, water, and nutrients it has received; and how it has been handled from harvest to the supermarket shelf. The outside skin is a key result indicator. However, as we peel the layers off the onion, we find more information. The layers represent the various performance and 1
- 28. Key Performance Indicators KRIs Peel the skin to find the PIs RIs and PIs Peel to the core to find the KPIs KPIs EXHIBIT 1.1 Four Types of Performance Measures result indicators, and the core represents the key performance indicator. Key Result Indicators What are KRIs? KRIs are measures that often have been mistaken for KPIs. They include: Customer satisfaction Net profit before tax Profitability of customers Employee satisfaction Return on capital employed The common characteristic of these measures is that they are the result of many actions. They give a clear picture of whether you are traveling in the right direction. They do not, however, tell you what you need to do to improve these results. Thus, KRIs provide information that is ideal for the board (i.e., those people who are not involved in day-to-day management). KRIs typically cover a longer period of time than KPIs; they are reviewed on monthly/quarterly cycles, not on a daily/ 2
- 29. Introduction weekly basis as KPIs are. Separating KRIs from other measures has a profound impact on reporting, resulting in a separation of performance measures into those impacting governance and those impacting management. That is, an organization should have a governance report (ideally in a dashboard format), con- sisting of up to 10 measures providing high-level KRIs for the board, and a balanced scorecard (BSC) comprising up to 20 measures (a mix of KPIs, RIs, and PIs) for management. In between KRIs and the true KPIs are numerous perfor- mance and result indicators. These complement the KPIs and are shown with them on the scorecard for the organization and the scorecard for each division, department, and team. Performance and Result Indicators The 80 or so performance measures that lie between the KRIs and the KPIs are the performance and result indicators (PIs and RIs). The performance indicators, while important, are not key to the business. The PIs help teams to align themselves with their organization’s strategy. PIs are nonfinancial and complement the KPIs; they are shown with KPIs on the scorecard for each organization, division, department, and team. Performance indicators that lie beneath KRIs could include: Percentage increase in sales with top 10% of customers Number of employees’ suggestions implemented in last 30 days Customer complaints from key customers Sales calls organized for the next week, two weeks Late deliveries to key customers The RIs summarize activity, and all financial performance measures are RIs (e.g., daily or weekly sales analysis is a very useful summary, but it is a result of the efforts of many teams). 3
- 30. Discovering Diverse Content Through Random Scribd Documents
- 31. composed of marls and shales. Through these piles of strata the cataract has worked its way back, receding probably most rapidly in cases where, as at present, the lower portion of the cutting was composed of soft beds of rock, which being hollowed out and removed by frost and water, let down the harder strata above. The effect of continual recession must be to diminish the height of the falls, both by raising the river level at their base and by the sloping of the surmounting limestone strata to a lower level. A recession of two miles farther, the geologists say, will cut away both the hard and the soft layers, and then the cataract will become almost stationary on the lower sandstone formation, with its height reduced to about eighty feet. This diminution in the Niagara attractions might be startling were it not estimated that it can hardly be accomplished for some twelve thousand years. APPEARANCE OF NIAGARA. The best view of the great cataract is from the Canadian shore just below it, where, from an elevation, the upper rapids can be seen flowing to the brink of the fall. A bright day is an advantage, when the green water tints are most marked. The Canadian shore above, curves around from the westward, and in front are the dark and precipitous cliffs of Goat Island, surmounted by foliage. The Canadian rapids come to the brink an almost unbroken sheet of foaming waters, but the narrower rapids on the American side are closer, and have a background of little islands, with torrents foaming between. The current passing over the American fall seems shallow, compared with the solid masses of bright green water pouring down the Canadian horseshoe. There, on either hand, is an edge of foaming streams, looking like clusters of constantly descending frosted columns, with a broad and deeply recessed, bright-green central cataract, giving the impressive idea of millions of tons of water pouring into an abyss, the bottom of which is obscured by seething and fleecy clouds of spray. On either side, dark-brown, water-worn rocks lie at the base, while the spray bursts out into
- 32. mammoth explosions, like puffs of white smoke suddenly darting from parks of artillery. The water comes over the brink comparatively slowly, then falls with constantly accelerated speed, the colors changing as the velocity increases and air gets into the torrent, until the original bright green becomes a foaming white, which is quickly lost behind the clouds of spray beneath. These clouds slowly rise in a thin, transparent veil far above the cataract. From under the spray the river flows towards us, its eddying currents streaked with white. A little steamboat moves among the eddies, and goes almost under the mass of falling water, yet finds a practically smooth passage. Closer, on the left hand, the American fall appears a rough and broken cataract, almost all foam, with green tints showing through, and at intervals along its face great masses of water spurting forward through the torrent as a rocky obstruction may be met part way down. The eye fascinatingly follows the steadily increasing course of the waters as they descend from top to bottom upon the piles of boulders dimly seen through the spray clouds. Adjoining the American cataract is the water-worn wall of the chasm, built of dark red stratified rocks, looking as if cut down perpendicularly by a knife, and whitened towards the top, where the protruding limestone formation surmounts the lower shales. Upon the faces of the cliffs can be traced the manner in which the water in past ages gradually carved out the gorge, while at their bases the sloping talus of fallen fragments is at the river's edge. Through the deep and narrow canyon the greenish waters move away towards the rapids below. It all eternally falls, and foams and roars, and the ever-changing views displayed by the world's great wonder make an impression unlike anything else in nature. GOAT ISLAND. Niagara presents other spectacles; the islands scattered among the upper rapids; their swiftly flowing, foaming current rushing wildly along; the remarkable lower gorge, where the torrent making the grandest rapids runs finally into the Whirlpool basin with its terrific
- 33. swirls and eddies—these join in making the colossal exhibition. Added to all is the impressive idea of the resistless forces of Nature and of the elements. Few places are better fitted for geological study, and by day or night the picture presents constant changes of view, exerting the most powerful influence upon the mind. Goat Island between the two falls is a most interesting place, covering, with the adjacent islets, about sixty acres, and it was long a favorite Indian Cemetery. The Indians had a tradition that the falls demand two human victims every year, and the number of deaths from accident and suicide fully maintains the average. There have been attempts to romantically rename this as Iris Island, but the popular title remains, which was given from the goats kept there by the original white settlers. It was from a ladder one hundred feet high, elevated upon the lower bank of Goat Island, near the edge of the Canadian fall, that Sam Patch, in 1829, jumped down the Falls of Niagara. He endeavored to gain fame and a precarious living by jumping down various waterfalls, and not content with this exploit, made the jump at the Genesee falls at Rochester and was drowned. A bridge crosses from the American shore to Goat Island, and it is recorded that two bull-terrier dogs thrown from this bridge have made the plunge over the American falls and survived it. One of them lived all winter on the carcass of a cow he found on the rocks below, and the other, very much astonished and grieved, is said to have trotted up the stairs from the steamboat wharf about one hour after being thrown into the water and making the plunge. From the upper point of Goat Island a bar stretches up the river, and can be plainly seen dividing the rapids which pass on either side to the American and Canadian falls. A foot-bridge from Goat Island, on the American side, leads to the pretty little Luna Island, standing at the brink of the cataract and dividing its waters. The narrow channel between makes a miniature waterfall, under which is the famous Cave of the Winds. Here the venturesome visitor goes actually under Niagara, for the space behind the waterfall is hollowed out of the rocks, and amid the rushing winds and spray an idea can be got of the effects produced by the greater cataracts. Here are seen the
- 34. rainbows formed by the sunlight on the spray in complete circles; and the cave, one hundred feet high, and recessed into the wall of the cliff, gives an excellent exhibition of the undermining processes constantly going on. Upon the Canadian side of Goat Island, at the edge of the fall, foot-bridges lead over the water-worn and honeycombed rocks to the brink of the great Horseshoe. Amid an almost deafening roar, with rushing waters on either hand, there can be got in this place probably the best near view of the greater cataract. Here are the Terrapin Rocks, and over on the Canadian side, at the base of the chasm, are the fragments of Table Rock and adjacent rocks which have recently fallen, with enormous masses of water beating upon them. In the midst of the rapids on the Canadian side of Goat Island are also the pretty little islands known as the Three Sisters and their diminutive Little Brother, with cascades pouring over the ledges between them—a charming sight. The steep descent of the rapids can here be realized, the torrent plunging down from far above one's head, and rushing over the falls. This fascinating yet precarious region has seen terrible disasters and narrow escapes. The overpowering view of all, from Goat Island, is the vast mass of water pouring down the Canadian falls. This is fully twenty feet in depth at the brink of the cataract, and it tumbles from all around the deeply recessed Horseshoe into an apparently bottomless pool, no one yet having been able to sound its depth. In 1828 the Michigan, a condemned ship from Lake Erie, was sent over this fall, large crowds watching. She drew eighteen feet water and passed clear of the top. Among other things on her deck were a black bear and a wooden statue of General Andrew Jackson. The wise bear deserted the ship in the midst of the rapids and swam ashore. The ship was smashed to pieces by the fall, but the first article seen after the plunge was the statue of Old Hickory, popping headforemost up through the waters unharmed. This was considered a favorable omen, for in the autumn he was elected President of the United States. THE RAPIDS AND THE WHIRLPOOL.
- 35. The surface of Niagara River below the cataract is for some distance comparatively calm, so that small boats can move about and pass almost under the mass of descending waters. The deep and narrow gorge stretches far to the north with two ponderous international railroad bridges thrown across it in the distance, carrying over the Vanderbilt and Grand Trunk roads. An electric road is constructed down the bottom of the gorge on the American bank, and another along its top on the Canadian side. The water flows with occasional eddies, its color a brilliant green under the sunlight, the gorge steadily deepening, the channel narrowing, and when it passes under the two railroad bridges, which are close together, the river begins its headlong course down the Lower Rapids leading to the Whirlpool. With the speed of an express train, the torrent runs under these bridges, tossing, foaming and rolling in huge waves, buffeting the rocks, and thus it rushes into the Whirlpool. Viewed from the bottom of the gorge alongside the torrent, the effect is almost painful, its tempestuous whirl and headlong speed having a tendency to make the observer giddy. The rushing stream is elevated in the centre far above the sides, the waves in these rapids at times rising thirty feet, tossing wildly in all directions, and coming together with tremendous force. Huge rocks, fallen in earlier ages, evidently underlie the torrent. It was in these terrible rapids that several daring spirits, and notably Captain Webb in 1883, attempted, unprotected, to swim the river, and paid the penalty with their lives. More recently these rapids have been safely passed in casks, peculiarly constructed, although the passengers got rough usage. The Whirlpool at the end of the rapids is a most extraordinary formation. The torrent runs into an oblong pool, within an elliptical basin, the outlet being at the side through a narrow gorge not two hundred and fifty feet wide, above which the rocky walls tower for three hundred feet. Into this basin the waters rush from the rapids, their current pushing to its farthest edge, and then, rebuffed by the bank of the abyss, returning in an eddy on either hand. These two great eddies steadily circle round and round, and logs coming down the rapids sometimes swim there for days before they are allowed to get to the outlet. Upon the left-hand side of this remarkable pool the
- 36. eddy whirls around without obstruction, while that upon the right hand, where the outlet is, rebounds upon the incoming torrent and is thrown back in huge waves of mixed foam and green, the escaping waters finally rushing out through the narrow opening, and on down more brawling rapids to the end of the deep and wonderful gorge, and thence in placid stream through the level land northward to Lake Ontario. NIAGARA INDUSTRIES AND BATTLES. The town of Niagara Falls, which has about seven thousand people, long had its chief source of prosperity in the influx of sight-seers, but it has recently developed into an important industrial centre through the establishment of large works utilizing the power of the falls by means of electricity. Some distance above the cataract on the American side a tunnel starts, of which the outlet is just below the American fall. This tunnel is one hundred and sixty-five feet below the river surface at the initial point, and passes about two hundred feet beneath the town, being over a mile long. Part of the waters of the Upper Rapids are diverted to the head of the tunnel, and by falling through deep shafts upon turbine wheels the water-power is utilized for dynamos, and in this way an enormous force is obtained from the electricity, which is used in various kinds of manufacturing, for trolley roads and other purposes, some of the power being conducted to Buffalo. A similar method is to be availed of on the Canadian side. It is estimated that in various ways the Niagara Falls furnish fully four hundred thousand horse-power for industrial uses, and the amount constantly increases. The largest dynamos in the world, and the most complete electrical adaptations of power are installed at these Niagara works. But the history of Niagara has not been always scenic and industrial. In 1763 occurred the horrible massacre of the Devil's Hole, alongside the gorge of the Lower Rapids, when a band of Senecas ambushed a French commissary train with an escort, the whole force but two, who escaped, being killed, while reinforcements, hurried
- 37. from Lewiston at the sound of the muskets, were nearly all caught and tomahawked in a second ambush. Many of the victims were thrown alive from the cliffs into the boiling Niagara rapids, their horses and wagons being hurled down after them. There were repeated actions near Niagara in the War of 1812. In October, 1812, the battle of Queenston Heights was fought, the Americans storming the terrace and killing General Brock, the British commander, whose monument is erected there, but being finally defeated and most of them captured. There were various contests near by in 1813, and the battle of Chippewa took place above the falls on July 5, 1814, the British being defeated. On July 25th the battle of Lundy's Lane was fought just west of the falls, between sunset and midnight of a summer night, a contest with varying success and doubtful result, the noise of the conflict commingling with the roar of the cataract, and the dead of both armies being buried on the field, so that, in the words of Lossing, the mighty diapason of the flood was their requiem. O'er Huron's wave the sun was low, The weary soldier watched the bow Fast fading from the cloud below The dashing of Niagara. And while the phantom chained his sight Ah! little thought he of the fight,— The horrors of the dreamless night, That posted on so rapidly. Thus majestically wrote Mrs. Sigourney of this matchless cataract of Niagara:
- 38. Flow on forever in thy glorious robe Of terror and of beauty. Yea, flow on, Unfathomed and resistless. God hath set His rainbow on thy forehead, and the cloud Mantled around thy feet. And He doth give Thy voice of thunder power to speak of Him Eternally—bidding the lip of man Keep silence, and upon thine altar pour Incense of awe-struck praise. Earth fears to lift The insect trump that tells her trifling joys, Or fleeting triumphs, 'mid the peal sublime Of thy tremendous hymn. Proud Ocean shrinks Back from thy brotherhood, and all his waves Retire abashed. For he hath need to sleep, Sometimes, like a spent laborer, calling home His boisterous billows from their vexing play, To a long, dreary calm: but thy strong tide Faints not, nor e'er with failing heart forgets Its everlasting lesson, night or day. The morning stars, that hailed Creation's birth, Heard thy hoarse anthem mixing with their song Jehovah's name; and the dissolving fires, That wait the mandate of the day of doom To wreck the Earth, shall find it deep inscribed Upon thy rocky scroll.
- 39. DESCENDING THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE. XIV. DESCENDING THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE. The Great River of Canada—Jacques Cartier—The Great Lakes—The Ancient Course—The St. Lawrence Canals—Toronto—Lake of the Thousand Islands— Kingston—Garden of the Great Spirit—Clayton—Frontenac—Round Island— Alexandria Bay—Brockville—Ogdensburg—Prescott—Galop, Plat and Long Sault Rapids—Cornwall—St. Regis—Lake St. Francis—Coteau, Split Rock, Cascades and Cedars Rapids—Lake St. Louis—Lachine—Caughnawaga—Lachine Rapids— Montreal—St. Mary's Current—St. Helen's Island—Montreal Churches and Religious Houses—Hochelaga—First Religious Colonization—Dauversière and Olier—Society of Notre Dame de Montreal—Maisonneuve—Mademoiselle Mance —Marguerite Bourgeoys—Madame de la Peltrie—The Accommodation—Victoria Tubular Bridge—Seminary of St. Sulpice—Hotel Dieu—The Black Nuns—The Gray Nunnery—McGill University—Place d'Armes—Church of Notre Dame—Cathedral of St. Peter—Notre Dame de Lourdes—Christ Church Cathedral—Champ de Mars —Notre Dame de Bonsecours—Rapids of St. Anne—Lake of the Two Mountains —Trappists—Mount Royal—Ottawa River—Long Sault Rapids—Thermopylæ— Louis Joseph Papineau—Riviere aux Lièvres—The Habitan—The Metis—Ottawa— Bytown—Chaudière Falls—Rideau Canal—Dominion Government Buildings— Richelieu River—Lake St. Peter—St. Francis River—Three Rivers—Shawanagan Fall—St. Augustin—Sillery—Quebec—Stadacona—Samuel de Champlain— Montmagny—Laval de Montmorency—Jesuit Missionaries—Father Davion—The French Gentilhomme—Cape Diamond—Charles Dilke—Henry Ward Beecher— Castle of St. Louis—Quebec Citadel—Wolfe-Montcalm Monument—General
- 40. Montgomery—Plains of Abraham—General Wolfe—The Basilica—The Seminary— English Cathedral—Bishop Mountain—The Ursulines—Marie Guyart—Montcalm's Skull—Hotel Dieu—Fathers Brébeuf and Lalemont and their Martyrdom—Notre Dame des Victoires—Dufferin Terrace—Point Levis—Beauport—French Cottages —Faith of the Habitans—Cardinal Newman—Falls of Montmorency—La Bonne Sainte Anne—Isle of Orleans—St. Laurent and St. Pierre—The Laurentides— Cape Tourmente—Bay of St. Paul—Mount Eboulements—Murray Bay— Kamouraska—Riviere du Loup—Cacouna—Tadousac—Saguenay River—Grand Discharge and Little Discharge—Ha Ha Bay—Chicoutimi—Capes Trinity and Eternity—Restigouche Region—Micmac Indians—Glooscap—Lorette—Roberval— Lake St. John—Montaignais Indians—Trois Pistoles—Rimouski—Gaspé—Notre Dame Mountains—Labrador—Grand Falls—The Fishermen. THE GREAT RIVER OF CANADA. The first time I beheld thee, beauteous stream, How pure, how smooth, how broad thy bosom heav'd! What feelings rushed upon my heart!—a gleam As of another life my kindling soul received. Thus sang Maria Brooks to the noble river St. Lawrence, which the earlier geographers always called the Great River of Canada. The first adventurous white man who crossed the seas and found it was the intrepid French navigator, Jacques Cartier, who sailed into its broad bay on the festival day of the martyred Saint Lawrence, in 1534. When this bold explorer started from France on his voyage of discovery he was fired with religious zeal. St. Malo, on the coast of Brittany, was then the chief French seaport, and before departing, the entire company of officers and sailors piously attended a solemn High Mass in the old Cathedral, and in the presence of thousands received the venerable Archbishop's blessing upon their enterprise. Cartier, like all the rest of the early discoverers, was sent under the auspices of the French Government to hunt for the Northwest Passage, the short route from Europe to the Indies, or, as described in his instructions, to seek the new road to Cathay. The Church
- 41. naturally bestowed its most earnest benisons upon an enterprise promising unlimited religious expansion in the realms France might secure across the Atlantic. Carrier's chief ship was only of one hundred and twenty tons, but the little fleet crossed the ocean in safety, and on July 9th entered a large bay south of the St. Lawrence, encountering such intense heats that it was named the Bay de Chaleurs, being still thus called. After an extensive examination of the neighboring coasts and bays, Cartier returned home, reporting that the Canadian summers were as warm as those of France, but giving no information of the extreme cold of the winters. This the sun-loving Gauls did not discover until later. Cartier came back the next year, and sailed up what he had already named the Great River, describing it as the most enormous in the world. The Indians told his wondering sailors it goes so far that no man hath ever been to the end that they had heard. The explorers carefully examined the vast stream, its shores and branches, and were sure, as they reported, that its sombre tributary, the Saguenay, comes from the Sea of Cathay, for in this place there issues a strong current, and there runs here a terrible tide. They saw numerous whales and other sea-monsters, but found the water too deep for soundings, and in fact the river St. Lawrence cannot be sounded for one hundred and fifty miles up from its mouth. ITS VAST EXTENT AND FEATURES. The St. Lawrence is an enormous river, having much the largest estuary of any river on the globe, the tidal current flowing five hundred miles up the stream, and its mouth spreading ninety-six miles wide. It is the outlet of the greatest body of fresh water in existence, draining seven vast lakes—Nepigon, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario and Champlain—besides myriads of smaller ones, including the Central New York lakes, hundreds in the Adirondack forests, and thousands in the vast Canadian wilderness. The St. Lawrence basin covers a territory of over four hundred thousand square miles, and has been computed as containing more
- 42. than half the fresh water on the planet. The main St. Lawrence river is seven hundred and fifty miles long from Lake Ontario to the head of the Gulf, while the total length of the whole system of lakes and rivers is over two thousand miles, and has been computed by some patient mathematician to contain a mass of fresh water equal to twelve thousand cubic miles, of which one cubic mile goes over Niagara Falls every week. The early geographers usually located the head of the system in Lake Nepigon, north of Superior, but it is thought the longer line to the ocean is from the source of St. Louis River, flowing through Minnesota into the southwestern extremity of Lake Superior at Duluth. The bigness of the wonderful St. Lawrence is shown in everything about it. Thoreau, who was such a keen observer, has written that this great river rises near another Father of Waters, the Mississippi, and issues from a remarkable spring, far up in the woods, fifteen hundred miles in circumference, called Lake Superior, while it makes such a noise in its tumbling down at one place (Niagara) as is heard all round the world. The geologists, however, who usually upturn most things, declare that it did not always reach the sea as now. Originally the St. Lawrence, they say, flowed into the ocean by going out through the Narrows in New York harbor, and its immense current broke the passage through the West Point Highlands in a mighty stream, compared with which the present Hudson River is a pigmy. Professor Newberry writes that during countless ages this enormous river, which no human eyes beheld, carried off the surplus waters of a great drainage area with a rapid current cutting down its gorge many hundred feet in depth, reaching from the Lake Superior basin to the Narrows, where it dispersed in a vast delta, debouching upon a sea then much lower in level than now, and having its shore-line about eighty miles southeast of New York. By some stupendous convulsion this channel was changed, drift banked up the old valley of the Mohawk, and the outflow was deflected from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario into the present shallow and rocky channel, filled with islands and rapids, followed by the St. Lawrence down to Montreal.
- 43. The system of navigable water ways from Duluth and Port Arthur on Lake Superior to the Strait of Belle Isle is twenty-two hundred miles long. At Lake Ontario the head of the St. Lawrence River is two hundred and thirty-one feet above the sea level, and its current descends that distance to tidewater chiefly by going down successive rapids. There are ship canals around these rapids and around Niagara Falls, and also connecting various lakes above. The Sault Sainte Marie locks and canals, at the outlet of Lake Superior, have already been described. The admirable systems conducting navigation around the rapids in the river below Lake Ontario also carry a large tonnage. Between Ogdensburg and Montreal, a distance of about one hundred and twenty miles, the navigation of forty-three miles is through six canals of various lengths around the rapids, each having elaborate locks. The Gulf of St. Lawrence is also constructed upon an enormous scale, covering eighty thousand square miles, and with the lower river having a tidal ebb and flow of eighteen to twenty-four feet. The mouth of the river and head of the Gulf are usually located at Cape Chatte, far below the Saguenay, and from the Cape almost up to Quebec the river is ten to thirty miles wide. In front of Quebec it narrows to less than a mile, while above, the width is from one to two and a half miles to Montreal, expanding to ten miles at Lake St. Peter, where the tidal influence ceases. Above Montreal the river occasionally expands into lakes, but is generally a broad and strongly flowing stream with frequent rapids. The largest ocean vessels freely ascend to Montreal, at the head of ship navigation, Lachine rapids being just above the city. For several months in winter, however, ice prevents. THE CITY OF TORONTO. Lake Ontario, out of which the river St. Lawrence flows, is nearly two hundred miles long, and in some places seventy miles wide. It has generally low shores and but few islands, and the name given it by Champlain was Lake St. Louis, after the King of France. The original Indian name, however, has since been retained, Ontario meaning
- 44. how beautiful is the rock standing in the water. Three well-known Canadian cities are upon its shores—Hamilton at the western end, Toronto on the northern coast, and Kingston near the eastern end. Hamilton is a busy, industrial and commercial city of fifty thousand people, having a good harbor. The great port, however, is Toronto, with over two hundred thousand inhabitants, the capital of the Province of Ontario, and the headquarters of the Scottish and Irish Protestants, who settled and rule Upper Canada, the richest and most populous province of the Dominion. Toronto means the place of meeting, and the word was first heard in the seventeenth century as applied to the country of the Hurons, between Lakes Huron and Simcoe, the name being afterwards given to the Indian portage route, starting from Lake Ontario, in the present city limits, over to that country. Here, in 1749, the French established a small trading-post, Fort Rouille, but there was no settlement to speak of for a century or more. The United Empire Loyalists, under General Simcoe, founded the present city in 1793 under the name of York, and it was made the capital of Upper Canada, of which Simcoe was Governor. The location was an admirable one. The portage led up a romantic little stream, now called Humber River, while out in front was an excellent harbor, protected by a long, low, forest-clad island, making a perfect land-locked basin, sheltered from the storms of the lake. The nucleus of a town was thus started on a tract of marshy land, adjoining the Humber, familiarly known for nearly a half century as Muddy Little York, which characteristic a part of the city still retains, as the pedestrian in falling weather can testify. Yet the site is a pleasing one—two little rivers, the Humber and the Don, flowing down to the lake through deep and picturesque ravines, having the city between and along them, while there is a gradual slope upward to an elevation of two hundred feet and over at some distance inland, an ancient terrace, which was the bank of the lake. The town did not grow much at first, and during the War of 1812 it was twice captured by the Americans, but they could not hold it long. As the back country was settled and lake navigation afterwards developed, however, the harbor became of importance and the city
- 45. grew, being finally incorporated as Toronto. Then it got a great impetus and became known as the Queen City, its geographical advantages as a centre of railway as well as water routes attracting a large immigration, so that it has grown to be the second city in Canada, and its people hope it may outstrip Montreal and become the first. It has achieved a high rank commercially, and in religion and education, so that there are substantial grounds for the claim, often made, that it is the Boston of Canada. It contains a church for about every thousand inhabitants, Sunday is observed with great strictness, and it has in the University of Toronto the chief educational foundation in the Dominion, and in the Toronto Globe the leading organ of Canadian Liberalism. The city spreads for eight miles along the lake shore; the streets are laid out at right angles, and there are many fine buildings. Yonge Street, dividing the city, stretches northward from the harbor forty miles inland to the shore of Lake Simcoe. There are attractive residential streets, with many ornate dwellings in tasteful gardens. St. James' Cathedral, near Yonge Street, is a fine Early English structure, with a noble clock and a grand spire rising three hundred and sixteen feet. There is a new City Hall, an enormous Romanesque building with an impressive tower, and Osgoode Hall, the seat of the Ontario Superior Courts, in Italian Renaissance, its name being given from the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada. In Queen's Park are the massive Grecian buildings of the Provincial Parliament, finished in 1892 at a cost of $1,500,000. This Park contains a bronze statue of George Brown, long a leading Canadian statesman, and a monument erected in memory of the men who fell in repelling the Fenian invasion of 1866. The buildings of the University of Toronto, to the westward of the Queen's Park, are extensive and form a magnificent architectural group. The main building is Norman, with a massive central tower, rebuilt in 1890, after having been burnt. There are fifteen hundred students, and the University offers complete courses in the arts and sciences, law and medicine. To the northward is McMaster Hall, a Baptist theological college, tastefully constructed and liberally endowed. From the top of the tall University tower there is an
- 46. admirable view over the city and far across the lake. The town spreads broadly out on either hand, running down to the harbor, beyond which is the narrow streak made by the low-lying island enclosing it. Far to the southward stretch the sparkling waters of Ontario, reaching to the horizon, while in the distance can be seen a faint little silver cloud of spray rising from Niagara. In the northern background villas dot the green and wooded hillsides, showing how the city spreads, while in every direction the incomplete buildings and the gentle distant noises of the builder's hammer and trowel testify to its robust growth. Many steamers move about the harbor, and among them are the ferry-boats carrying crowds over to the low-lying island, with its many amusement places, the city's great recreation ground. At Hanlon's Point, its western end, was long the home of Hanlon, the champion sculler of the world, one of Toronto's celebrities. THE LAKE OF THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. Out of Ontario the great river St. Lawrence flows one hundred and seventy-two miles down to Montreal, being for much of the distance the boundary between the United States and Canada. Kingston, with twenty-five thousand people, guarded by picturesque graystone batteries and martello towers—the Limestone City—stands at the head of the river where it issues from the lake. To the westward is the entrance of the spacious Bay of Quinté, and on the eastern side the terminus of the Rideau Canal, leading northeastward to the Rideau River and Ottawa, the Canadian capital. This was originally the French Fort Cataraqui, established at the mouth of Cataraqui River in 1672, the name being subsequently changed by Count Frontenac to Frontenac. The Indian word Cataraqui means Clay bank rising from the water, and after the fort was built the meaning changed to fort rising from the water. Here the Sieur de La Salle, in 1678, built the first vessel navigating the lake. The British captured the fort in 1762, naming it Kingston, after the American Revolution, and by fortifying the promontories commanding the harbor, made it
- 47. the strongest military post in Canada after Quebec and Halifax, the chief work being Fort Henry. Its garrisons have been long withdrawn, however, and now the old-time forts are useful chiefly as additions to the attractive scenery of its harbor and approaches. At the outlet of Ontario the course of the St. Lawrence begins with the noted archipelago known as the Lake of the Thousand Islands, there being actually about seventeen hundred of them. This is a remarkable formation, composed largely of fragments of the range of Laurentian mountains, here coming southward out of Canada to the river, producing an extraordinary region. This Laurentian formation the geologists describe as the oldest land in the world —the first rough sketch and axis of America. During countless ages this range has been worn down by the effect of rain, frost, snow and rivers, and scratched and broken by rough, resistless glaciers, and we are told that, compared with these fragmentary Thousand Islands and the almost worn-out mountains of the lower St. Lawrence basin, the Alps and the Andes are but creations of yesterday. Wolfe Island broadly obstructs the Ontario outlet between Kingston and Cape Vincent on the New York shore, and from them, with an island-filled channel, in some places twelve miles broad, the swift river current threads the archipelago by pleasant and tortuous passages nearly to Ogdensburg, forty miles below. These islands are of all sizes, shapes and appearance, varying from small low rocks and gaunt crags to gorgeous foliage-covered gardens. On account of their large numbers, the early French explorers named them Les Milles Isles, and in the ancient chronicles they are described as obstructing navigation and mystifying the most experienced Iroquois pilots. Fenimore Cooper located some of the most interesting incidents of his Pathfinder in that labyrinth of land and water, the Thousand Isles. The larger islands in spring and summer are generally covered with luxuriant vegetation, and the river shores are a delicious landscape of low but bold bluffs and fruitful fields spreading down to the water, with distant forests bounding the horizon. The atmosphere is usually dry, light and mellow, and the
- 48. Indians, who admired this attractive region, appropriately called it Manatoana, or the Garden of the Great Spirit. Howe Island adjoins Wolfe Island, and below is the long Grindstone Island. Here on the New York shore is the village of Clayton, where the New York Central Railroad comes up from Utica and Rome, the leading route to this region. Below is the almost circular Round Island with its large hotel, and everywhere are charming little islets, while ahead, down the St. Lawrence, are myriads more islands, apparently massed together in a maze of dark green distant foliage, the enchanted isles of a fascinating summer sea: The Thousand Isles, the Thousand Isles, Dimpled, the wave around them smiles, Kissed by a thousand red-lipped flowers, Gemmed by a thousand emerald bowers. A thousand birds their praises wake, By rocky glade and plumy brake. A thousand cedars' fragrant shade Falls where the Indians' children played, And Fancy's dream my heart beguiles While singing of thee, Thousand Isles. There St. Lawrence gentlest flows, There the south wind softest blows. Titian alone hath power to paint The triumph of their patron saint Whose waves return on memory's tide; La Salle and Piquet, side by side, Proud Frontenac and bold Champlain There act their wanderings o'er again; And while the golden sunlight smiles, Pilgrims shall greet thee, Thousand Isles.
- 49. In the Thousand Islands, St. Lawrence Sailing down the river, group after group of big and little green islands are passed, the winding route and tortuous channels marked by diminutive lighthouses and beacons, while nearly every island has its cottages and often ornate and elaborate villas. Everywhere the shores appear to be granite rocks, bright green foliage varying with the darker evergreens surmounting them. All the waters are brilliantly green and clear as crystal, rippled by breezes laden with balsamic odors from the adjacent forests. Attractive cottages everywhere appear, with little attendant boat-houses down by the water side, and canoes and skiffs are in limitless supply, as the chief travelling is by them. Everything seems to be full of life; in all directions are pleasant views, the surface is dotted with pleasure- boats and white-sailed yachts, the whole region being semi- amphibious, and its people spending as much time on the water as on the land. The river, too, is a great highway of commerce among these islands, many large vessels passing along, and timber rafts
- 50. guided by puffing little tugs. Much of the product of the Canadian forests is thus taken to market, a good deal going to Europe, and the sentimental and often musical Metis, who live aboard in huts or tents, are the raftsmen, working the broad sails and big steering- paddles on the tedious floating journey down to Quebec. There are many large hotels, and the big one on Round Island is named for Louis XIV.'s chivalrous and fiery Governor of Canada, Count de Frontenac. His remains are buried in the Basilica at Quebec, and his heart, enclosed in a leaden casket, was sent home to his widow in France. She was much younger, and, evidently piqued at some of his alleged love affairs, refused to receive it, saying she would not have a dead heart which had not been hers while living. The Baptists have a summer settlement on Round Island, and a short distance below the extensive Wellesley Island has on its upper end the popular Methodist summer town of the Thousand Island Park, where little cottages and tents around the great Tabernacle often take care of ten thousand people. Upon the lower end the Presbyterians have established their attractive resort, Westminster Park, which faces Alexandria Bay. ALEXANDRIA BAY. The chief settlement of the archipelago is the village of Alexandria Bay on the New York shore, and in the spacious reach of the river in front are the most famous and costly of the island cottages. Here are large hotels and many lodging-places, with a swelling population in the height of the season. Some of the island structures are unique— tall castles, palaces, imitations of iron-clads, forts and turrets—and many have been very costly. As most of the summer residents are Americans, those cottages are chiefly on the American side of the boundary, but there is also quite a group of island cottages over near the Canadian shore adjacent to the village of Gananoque. Alexandria Bay is a diminutive indentation in the New York shore, with a little red lighthouse out in front, while over to the northeast is spread a galaxy of the most famous islands, having fifty or more
- 51. pretentious cottages scattered about the scene, amid the green foliage surmounting the rocky island foundations. In every direction go off channels among them of sparkling, dancing, green water, giving fine vista views, the dark crags at the water's edge underlying the frame of green foliage bounding the picture. The population has an aquatic flavor, and everybody seems to go about in boats, while the place has the air of a purely pleasure resort, evidently frozen up and hybernating when the tide of summer travel ebbs. In the season, the village presents a nightly carnival with its many-colored lights and dazzling fireworks displays over the rippling waters. For miles below Alexandria Bay, the islands stud the waters, although not so numerous nor so closely together as they are above. The largest of these is the long and narrow Grenadier Island in mid-river. Farther down they are usually small, some being only isolated rocks almost awash. The last of the islands are at Brockville, twenty-five miles below Alexandria Bay—the group of Three Sisters, one large and two smaller, apparently dropped into the river opposite the town as if intended to support the piers of a bridge over to Morristown on the New York shore. This is an old and quiet Canadian town of nine thousand people, perpetuating the memory of General Sir Isaac Brock, who fell in the battle of Queenston Heights in October, 1812, and which is developing into a summer resort. Such is the charmed archipelago of attractive islands, unlike almost anything else in America, which brings so many pleasure and health seekers to the St. Lawrence to sing its praises:
- 52. Fair St. Lawrence! What poet has sung of its grace As it sleeps in the sun, with its smile-dimpled face Beaming up to the sky that it mirrors! What brush Has e'er pictured the charm of the marvellous hush Of its silence; or caught the warm glow of its tints As the afternoon wanes, and the even-star glints In its beautiful depths? And what pen shall betray The sweet secrets that hide from men's vision away In its solitude wild? 'Tis the river of dreams; You may float in your boat on the bloom-bordered streams, Where its islands like emeralds matchless are set, And forget that you live; and as quickly forget That they die in the world you have left; for the calm Of content is within you, the blessing of balm Is upon you forever. SHOOTING THE RAPIDS. Ogdensburg is an active port on the St. Lawrence about twenty miles below Brockville, having a railroad through the Adirondacks over to Rouse's Point on Lake Champlain. Here flow in the dark- brown waters of the Oswegatchie, the Indian Black River, coming out of those forests, which commingle in sharp contrast with the clear green current of the greater river. Prescott, antiquated and time-worn, is on the Canadian bank. The shores are generally low, with patches of woodland and farms, and the St. Lawrence below Ogdensburg begins to go down the rapids, having tranquil lakes and long wide stretches of placid waters intervening. The first rapid is the Galop, flowing among flat grass-covered islands, with swift moving waters, but a small affair, scarcely discernible as the steamboat goes through it. The next one, the Plat, is also passed without much trouble, and then a line of whitecaps ahead indicates the beginning of the Long Sault, the most extensive rapid on the
- 53. river. This is the Long Leap, a rapid running for nine miles, its waters rushing down the rocky ledges at a speed of twenty miles an hour. All steam is shut off, and the river steamer is carried along by the movement of the seething, roaring current, the surface appearing much like the ocean in a storm. The rocking, sinking deck beneath one's feet gives a strange and startling sensation, and looking back at the incline down which the boat is sliding, it seems like a great angry wall of water chasing along from behind. An elongated island divides the channel through the Long Sault, and there are other low islands adjacent; the boat, swaying among the rocks over which the waves leap in fury, being now lifted on their crests, and then dropped between them, but all the while gliding down hill, until still water and safety are reached at Cornwall. Here begins the northern boundary of New York, which goes due east through the Chateaugay forests across the land to Lake Champlain, and large factories front the river, getting their power from the waters above the rapid. Below Cornwall, which has an industrial population of some seven thousand, and the Indian village of St. Regis opposite, the St. Lawrence is wholly within Canada, and far off to the southeast rise the dark and distant Adirondack ranges. Soon the river broadens into the sluggish Lake St. Francis, at the head of which two well-known Adirondack streams flow in, the Racquette and St. Regis Rivers. The ancient village of St. Regis has its old church standing up conspicuously with a bright tin roof, for the air is so dry that tin is not painted in the Dominion. The bell hanging in the spire was sent out from France for the early Indian mission, but before landing, the vessel carrying it was captured by a colonial privateer and taken into Salem, Massachusetts. The bell, with other booty from the prize, was sold and sent to a church in Deerfield, then on the Massachusetts frontier. The St. Regis Huron Indians heard of this, and making a long march down there, recaptured their bell, massacred forty-seven people, and carried all the rest who could not escape, one hundred and twenty of them, including the church pastor and his family, captives back to Canada. Thus they brought the bell in triumph to
- 54. St. Regis, and it has since hung undisturbed in the steeple, although the Indians who now hear it have become very few. The lake is twenty-eight miles long and very monotonous, although a distinguishing landmark is furnished by the massive buildings of St. Aniset Church, seen from afar on the southern shore. Coteau, at the end of the lake, has a railway swinging drawbridge, carrying the Canada Atlantic Railroad over, and below is another series of rapids. These are the Coteau, with about two miles of swift current, making but slight impression; and then the Cedars, Split Rock, and the Cascades. The Cedars give a sensation, being composed of layers of rock down which the boat slides, as if settling from one ledge suddenly down to another, producing a curious feeling. It was here, in 1759, that General Amherst, by a sad mishap, had three hundred troops drowned. The Split Rock rapid is named from enormous boulders standing at its entrance, and a dangerous reef can be distinctly seen from the deck as the steamer apparently runs directly upon it, until the pilot swerves the boat aside, seemingly just in time. Then, tossing for a few moments upon the white-crested waves of the Cascades, the steamer glides peacefully upon the tranquil surface of Lake St. Louis, which is fifteen miles long, and receives from the north the Ottawa River. Each little village on the banks of the lake and rivers is conspicuous from the large Roman Catholic Church around which it clusters, the steep bright tin roof and spire far out-topping all the other buildings. At the lower end of the lake a series of light-ships guide vessels into Lachine Canal, which goes down to Montreal, avoiding Lachine rapids, three miles long, the shortest series, but most violent of them all. Here, at the head of the rapids, stood the early French explorer, sent out to search for the road to Cathay, and looking over the great lake spread out before him, with a view like old ocean, he shouted La Chine! for he thought that China was beyond it. The Canadian Pacific Railway bridge spans the river, and skirting the southern shore is the Indian town of Caughnawaga, with its little old houses and light stone church, the village on the rapids. The steamboat then slides down Lachine rapids, the most difficult and
- 55. dangerous passage of all, though it lasts but a few minutes—the exciting inclined plane of water, with rocks ahead and rocks beneath, indicated by swift and foaming cataracts running over and between them, and by stout thumps against the keel, sometimes making every timber shiver, and the apparent danger giving keen zest to the termination of the voyage. These rapids passed, the current below quickly floats the steamboat under the great Victoria tubular bridge, carrying the Grand Trunk Railway over, and the broad stone quays of Montreal are spread along the bank, with rank after rank of noble buildings behind them, and the tall twin towers of Notre Dame Cathedral rising beyond, glistening under the rays of the setting sun. THE CITY OF MONTREAL. The delta of the great Ottawa—the river of the traders, as the Indians named it, debouching by several mouths into the St. Lawrence, of which it is the chief tributary, makes a number of islands, and Montreal stands on the southeastern side of the largest of them, with the broad river flowing in front. St. Mary's current runs strongly past the quays, and out there are the pretty wooded mounds of St. Helen's Island, named after Helen Boullé, the child- wife of Samuel de Champlain, the first European woman who came to Canada. She was only twelve years old when he married her, he being aged forty-four, and after his death she became an Ursuline nun. The miles of city water-front are superbly faced with long- walled quays of solid limestone masonry, and marked by jutting piers enclosing basins for the protection of the shipping against the powerful current. At the extremities of the rows of shipping, on either hand, up and down stream, loom the huge grain elevators. The piers are about ten feet lower than the walled embankment fronting the city, this being done to allow the ice to pass over them when it breaks up at the end of winter, the movement—called the Ice Shove—being an imposing sight. The elongated Victoria Bridge stands upon its row of gray limestone piers guarding the horizon up- river to the southward. Many storehouses and stately buildings rise
- 56. behind the wharves, and beyond these are myriads of steeples, spires and domes, with the lofty Notre Dame towers in front. The background is made by the imposing mountain giving Montreal its name, called Mont Real originally, and now known as Mount Royal, rising to an elevation of nine hundred feet. Few cities of its size can boast so many fine buildings. The excellent building-stone of the neighborhood, a gray limestone, is utilized extensively, and this adds to the ornamental appearance, the city rising upon a series of terraces stretching back from the river and giving many good sites for construction. Numerous, massive and elaborate, the multitude of costly houses devoted to religion, trade and private residences are both a surprise and a charm. Mount Royal, rising boldly behind them, gives not only a noble background to the view from the river, but also a grand point of outlook, displaying their beauties to the utmost. The city has wide streets, generally lined with trees, and various public squares adding to the attractiveness. But the most prominent characteristic of the Canadian metropolis is the astonishing number of its convents, churches, and pious houses for religious and charitable uses. Churches are everywhere, built by all denominations, many being most elaborate and costly. The religious zeal of the community, holding all kinds of ecclesiastical belief, has found special vent in the universal development of church building. This commendable trait is their natural heritage, for the earliest French settlements on the St. Lawrence were largely due to religious zeal. When Jacques Cartier ascended the St. Lawrence upon his second voyage in 1535, he heard from the Indians at Quebec of a greater town far up the river, and bent upon exploration, he sailed in boats up to the Iroquois settlement of Hochelaga. Wrapped in forests behind it rose the great mountain which he named Mont Real, the royal mountain, and in front, encompassed with corn-fields, was the Indian village, surrounded by triple rows of palisades. Landing, Cartier's party were admitted within the defensive walls to the central public square, where the squaws examined them with the greatest curiosity, and the sick and lame Indians were brought up to be healed, the ancient historian
- 57. writes, as if a god had come down among them. No sooner had Cartier landed and been thus welcomed than he gave thanks to Heaven, and the warriors sat in silence while he read aloud the Passion of Our Lord, though they understood not a word. The religious services over, he distributed presents, and the French trumpeters sounded a warlike melody, vastly pleasing the Indians. They conducted Cartier's party to the summit of the mountain and showed them an extensive view over unbroken forests for many miles to the dark Adirondacks far away and the distant lighter green mountains, which he called the Monts Verts, to the eastward. There is a tablet placed in Metcalfe Street near Sherbrooke Street which marks the supposed site of the Indian village of Hochelaga. In 1608, when Champlain came, Hochelaga had disappeared. The fierce Hurons had destroyed the village and driven out the Iroquois, who had gone far south to the Mohawk Valley. For three-quarters of a century the French seem to have waited after Cartier's voyages, before they made any serious attempt at settlement. Then there came a great religious revival, and they planned to combine religion and conquest in a series of expeditions in the early seventeenth century under the auspices of patron saints and sinners whose names are numerously reproduced in the nomenclature of Quebec Province, in mountains, rivers, lakes, bays, capes, counties, towns and streets. It was chiefly due to Champlain, however, that the French foothold was obtained. This great explorer, known as the Father of Canada, was noted alike for personal bravery and religious fervor. His occupations in the New World were perilous journeys, prayers and fighting. He firmly planted the French race in America, and every characteristic then given New France, as Canada was called, remains to-day in the Province of Quebec. His noted saying is preserved in the Canadian chronicles, that the salvation of one soul is of more importance than the founding of a new empire. His system was to take possession for the Church and the French king, and then erect a cross and a chapel, around which the colony grew. During the half-century succeeding Champlain's first voyage, many Recollet and Jesuit missionary priests came over,
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