[60] The following paragraph, taken from the _North-Western Miller_ for November 12th, 1897, doubtless reflects the opinion of the majority of Western grain dealers in the United States, with whom the feeling of sentiment for the “natural route” is of small account: “The steel barge _Amazon_ left Fort William recently loaded with 205,000 bushels of Manitoba hard wheat for Buffalo, indicating that the Buffalo route is still at its best, and that the monster craft is cutting off the Montreal route as effectively as could be desired by any rival.” [61] We have good authority for quoting the rates of the summer of 1897 as follows: Duluth to Buffalo, 1½ cents per bushel; Buffalo to New York, by the Erie Canal, 3½ cents; New York to Liverpool, 5 cents; elevator charges, ⅞ of 1 cent; total, 10⅞ cents per bushel. Fort William to Kingston, 3½ cents; Kingston to Montreal, 2 cents; Montreal to Liverpool, 5¼ cents, including port charges; total, 10¾ cents per bushel. In 1857 the average rate by lake and canal on a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York was 25.29 cents per bushel; now it is less than 6 cents. The reduction in cost of transmission is due to improved methods of handling freight, deeper channels, larger vessels and more rapid conveyance. CHAPTER X. IN THE PROVINCES OF THE DOMINION. The History of Steam Navigation in the several Provinces of the Dominion and Newfoundland. IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. Among the names of those who were chiefly connected with the introduction and development of steam navigation in this province may be mentioned the Hon. John Molson, Messrs. John and David Torrance, and George Brush. The founder of the Molson family and father of the steamboat enterprise in Canada came to this country from Lincolnshire, England, in 1782. Two years later he returned to Britain and raised money on his paternal estate to erect a brewery in Montreal. Subsequently he sold his English property, which enabled him to complete the Canadian enterprise that eventually grew into an extensive and lucrative business. Mr. Molson was an excellent business man and did much to advance the commercial and educational interests of his adopted country. He was President of the Bank of Montreal from June, 1826, till his death, which occurred in Montreal in 1836, in his seventy-second year. He was also an influential member of the Executive Council of Lower Canada. His son, the late Hon. John Molson, who inherited his father’s enthusiasm in regard to steamboats and shipping, also took a prominent part in the introduction of railways in Canada. The Molsons Bank and the William Molson Hall of McGill University are fitting memorials of the family in Montreal. [Illustration: JOHN TORRANCE.]