The completion of the Grenville Canal in its original form opened up a new route to the West, somewhat circuitous, doubtless, but with greatly increased facilities for the transportation of merchandise, the immediate effect of which was to transfer the great bulk of west-bound traffic from the St. Lawrence route to that of the Ottawa and Rideau. About this time was formed “The Ottawa and Rideau Forwarding Company,” by leading merchants in Montreal, with Mr. Cushing as manager. A few years later the forwarding business became a lucrative one, and was carried on by a number of prominent firms represented at Montreal, Prescott, Brockville and Kingston. Chief among these were the Messrs. Macpherson, Crane & Co., Hooker & Jones, Henderson & Hooker (afterwards Hooker & Holton), H. & J. Jones of Brockville, and Murray & Sanderson of Montreal. Messrs. Macpherson and Crane were easily the foremost in the enterprise, for they owned a private lock at Vaudreuil and thus held the key to the navigation of the Ottawa, and had complete control of the towage until 1841, when Captain R. W. Shepherd, then in command of the steamer _St. David_, belonging to a rival company, as the result of a clever and hazardous experiment, discovered a safe channel through the rapids at St. Ann’s, which put an end to the monopoly. Up to 1832 the long portage between Carillon and Grenville was a serious drawback to traffic, necessitating a double service of steamers and barges, one for the upper and one for the lower reach of the river. The first steamer on the upper reach seems to have been the _Union_, Captain Johnson, built in 1819, and which commenced to ply the following year between Grenville and Hull, covering the distance of sixty miles in about 24 hours! On the lower reach the _William King_ began to ply about 1826 or 1827, at first commanded by Captain Johnson, afterwards by Captain De Hertel. The _St. Andrew_ followed soon after. In 1828 the _Shannon_, then considered a large and powerful steamer, was built at Hawkesbury and placed on the upper route, commanded at first by Captain Grant and afterwards by Captain Kaines.