Oldal 142 [142]
OCR
education. From training, he had not the slightest knowledge of civil engineering, and in after life, when he had won his way to the front rank as a contractor, his devices for overcoming obstacles were out of the beaten track. In fact, his ideas were original: he was born an engineer. Virtually his career commenced as a day laborer on the St. Lawrence Canals, which were in course of construction. From the late Hon. George Crawford (after he had been employed by the day for some time), lie obtained the job of filling a single crib. In this case, he was both contractor and workman, carrying all the stone with his own hands, and completing the work to the satisfaction of Mr. Crawford. A short time after, a large pump which had been brought out from England, was set up by the engineers, but would not work. After several attempts had been made to remedy the defect and had failed, it was finally decided that the mechanic who had superintended its construction in England would have to be brought out to Canada. At this juacture, Weir, by chance, made his appearance on the scene, and was asked in a joking manner by one of the engineers, whether fe could fix the pump. Geordie at once replied, “Yes,” but, with the caution peculiar to a Scotchman, enquired of Mr. Crawford how much he would pay. The prompt reply was, " One hundred pounds.” Ordering the power to be applied, Geordie seized an axe, and commenced his engineering career by demolishing every alternate bucket as it made its appearance. In half an hour the job was completed, the pump working to the satisfaction of all, the cash paid over and from that hour the fortune of George Wier was made. He had convinced the engineers that he had brains which could be employed with profit to himself and his country. Contracts and fortune came to him. The following are among the contracts which he completed :—All the Bridges on the st. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway; the Grand Trunk Railway Pier at Prescott; and the line from Edwardsburg to Conway’s Creek ; the Port Hope Harbor Works ; the Toronto Esplanade: the Grand Trunk Railway from St. Mary’s to London and St. Mary’s to Sarnia. CHAPTER XXV. BIOGRAPHICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS. THE LATE DUNHAM JONES. four years. In his death there disappeared one of the landmarks of the settlement of Upper Canada. Descended from a Welsh gentleman, who more than half a century before the revolution had settled at Fort Edward, New York. The father of Mr. Jones was one of seven brothers, two of whom, in the struggle that ensued, "sealed their faith with their blood,” in espousing the royal cause. Of the surviving five, four subsequently came to Canada, literally pitching their tents in the forest along the bank of the St. Lawrence, betweer where the Towns of Brockville and Prescott now stand. The fifth brother chose for his place of asylum, Nova Scotia, where at Badock, Cape Breton, his descendants still live. Solomon Jones, one of the four brothers who sought refuge on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and father of the subject of this sketch, served with Burgoyne’s army in the capacity of surgeon, to which profession he had been educated, and, effecting his escape at the time of the surrender at Saratoga, made his way to Canada, tendered his services to the commander of the British forces, then having headquarters at Three Rivers, and continued to serve, in Lower Canada, until peace was declared. He removed to the Upper Province, where he was joined by his brothers Daniel, John and David. They seem all to have selected their military grants with consummate judgment, for there are no more fertile, no more charmingly situated lands in Ontario to-day than those located by the brothers Jones. On the same lot on which Dr. Solomon Jones then settled and in the house he built, his son died in the fulness of years. Dr. Jones was a man of note in his locality and generation, and his memory is still cherished as that of a gentleman of high worth and marked capacity. His professional services were eagerly sought along the sparse settlements, all the way from Kingston to Cornwall. He was a member of the first Parliament of Upper Canada and Judge of the Johnstown District Court. He died in 1822. His brother David has a niche, albeit a chance one, in American history, in connection with a very mournful tale, familiar to all interested readers of the chronicles of the troublous times of the Revolution. A " Kebels" daughter, Jean McRae, a young girl, as the story is told, of tender nature and more. than common beauty, was cruelly murdered by | Indians, who carried her scalp to Fort Edward, then Among recounts The young lieutenant was David Jones. others, Irving, in his “ Life of Washington,” the sad tale, and adds that young Jones is supposed to have gone to Canada ; to have lived to old age a single and melancholy life; and that from the day of the terrible revelation at Fort Edward, he was “never known to smile,” The latter part of the
