Oldal 358 [358]
OCR
Toronto; began his engineering career early in life upon the first construction of the Welland Canal and continued upon the works until 1833, spending part of his time at the College. In this year he was appointed Secretary to the Commissioners of the St. Lawrence Navigation—a mere step to connect him with the works of the Cornwall Canal. Under Judge Wright, C. E. and John B. Mills, C. E., he was first engaged in the survey for that Canal, and afterwards under Lieut.-Colonel Phillpotts, R. E., from 1833 to 1839, remained as resident engineer in charge of construction. In 1839, he was appointed Secretary of the Board of Works of Lower Canada, and, upon the union of the two Provinces in 184r1, and the establishment of a Board of Works for the united Provinces, he was made Engineer of that Board, which position he held for thirteen years, during three of which—1846, "47 and ’48—he was locally in charge of the Welland Canal, to finish the first enlargement, begun under Samuel Power, C. E. During this time, he was also Superintendent of the navigation. As Engineer of Public Works he personally surveyed and located the line of the Beauharnois Canal, the first enlargement of the Lachine Canal, and the locks and dams at St. Annes and St. Ours, all being constructed after his plans. He also made a survey for the Sault St. Marie Canal, on the Canadian shore, not yet constructed. He surveyed as well, the line for the Grand Trunk Railway between Montreal and Kingston. In 1850, Mr. Keefer introduced, for the first time on the St. Lawrence canals, the solid timber lock gates, which since then have been generally adopted on the larger canals, to the greater safety and advantage of navigation. The beautiful suspension bridge at Ottawa, the first of its class in Canada, was one of his earliest efforts, being opened for traffic in 1844. On the commencement of the Grand Trunk Railway, in 1853, he resigned his position with the Government, to take the situation of Engineer in that railway, under the late A. M. Ross, C. E. In that capacity he finally established the line between Montreal and Kingston. which he had previously surveyed for the Government, and remained in the service of the company to personally superintend its construction. At the same time, by a minute hydrographic survey of the River St. Lawrence in front of Montreal City, he fixed the line of the Victoria Bridge where it now stands. He also projected the high level bridges over the Ottawa at St. Annes, and over the Rideau Canal at Kingston Mills. On the first opening of this section for traffic, he, for a short time, superintended this division, until he returned once more to the Government service.— of the Brockville & Ottawa Railway, acting on behalf of the company and the municipalities, and in that capacity directed the location of the line and determined the character of the works. Under the “Accidents on Railways” Act of 1857, Mr. Keefer was appointed Government Inspector of Railways, a position which he filled for seven years. In 1864, he retired from the public service to his private residence in Brockville, where he now lives. Since his retirement from official life, he has been engaged in the private practice of his profession, in the course of which he has accomplished one of the most remarkable engineering feats of the day—the construction of the new suspension bridge at Niagara Falls. The beautiful bridge at Ottawa, before referred to, is 242 feet span, while the Niagara bridge has a clear span of 1,268 feet, and is now the longest single span bridge anywhere in use. EARLY HISTORY OF BROCKVILLE. William Buell, Sr., received a grant of about 505 acres of land from the Crown, of which 265 acres were composed of the west half of Lot No. 11 and east half of Lot No. 12, in the ist Concession of Elizabethtown, with the broken fronts, and the remainder being Lot No. 12 and the west half of No, 11, in the 2nd Concession of the same Township. To the front part of this land, adjoining the river, Mr. Buell removed, with his wife and one child, in the winter of the beginning of 1785, having in the previous year erected a log house and settled. He at once cleared a small piece of ground, where the stone dwelling house now occupied by Mr. Robert Findlay stands; and in the following year planted a number of apple seeds, from the product of which he, in a few years, reared an orchard of about five acres, on the south side of what is now known as Main Street, between Home and St. Andrew Streets. At that time flour could only be secured in Montreal or at the Cataraqui Mills. The original log house and a new one composed of hewn timber was next erected. The western part of the new house stood in what is now known as Home Street, a few feet east of Mr. Findlay’s present residence. Anaddition of frame was subsequently built on to the “ Block House." The only road at that time leading to the country is now known as Perth Street. Nehamiah Seaman built a small dwelling house and also a blacksmith shop. He afterwards erected a stone dwelling house, now standing on the corner of Perth and King Streets. Next came a small tavern, standing on the south side of King Street ; it stood a little west of Home Street, and was owned by the late Adiel Sherwood, Soon after, the late
