The Great Northern Railway of Canada was incorporated by an Act of Parliament of the Dominion of Canada, 1892, Chapt. 40.  The act amended and consolidated various previous Provincial and Dominion acts which had been passed in the the late 1880s concerning the company.  The company was capitalized with a stock of $3,000,000 and authorized to construct a railway from the town of Hawkesbury Ontario, to Rivière-à-Pierre on the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway near Quebec (a distance of 226 miles).  Some 48 miles had already been built when construction began again in earnest in May 1899.  The railway was completed in October 1900.

The initial plan was to build only 110 miles since 58 miles of the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway as well as 40 miles of the Lower Laurentian Railway could be utilized  to connect Quebec with Hawkesbury.  At Hawkesbury the line would connect with the Canada Atlantic Railway to Ottawa, and beyond over the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway to Parry Sound on Lake Huron.  From Parry Sound freight could continue on by ship through the Great Lakes to Duluth.  In the reverse direction, the shipment of grain from the praries through to Quebec City (mostly a year round port) was enhanced by shortening the distance between Duluth and Liverpool by some 800 miles over the conventional  route through Buffalo and New York City.

Plan of the Great Northern Railway and Connections (1894)

Close up of the Rawdon area

Map of the Great Northern Railway of Canada (1902) (Hinshelwood, 1902)

Great Northern Railway of Canada Advertisement  (original version)  (ASCII text version) (LeMoine, 1901)

The Directors of the company were:

Frank Ross, Esq.
Hon. P. Garneau (ex-Minister of Public Works)
T.H. Dunn, Esq.
Jno. C. Eno, Esq
Simon Peters, Esq.
Hon. John Hearn, M.P.
V. Chateauvert, Esq., M.P.P.

The Officers of the Company were:

Frank Ross, President
Hon. P. Garneau, Vice President
J.G. Scott, Secretary and General Manager,
E.A. Hoare, C.E.,  Chief Engineer.

The Great Northern Railway of Canada lasted only a few years, eventually merging with the Chateauguay and Northern Railway in 1906 to form the Canadian Northern Quebec Railway, a predecessor of Canadian National Railways.

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References

Canada Department of Transport.  (1938).  A statutory history of the steam and electric railways of Canada, 1836-1937.  Ottawa: J.O. Patenaude.

Great Northern Railway of Canada. (1894).  Prospectus of the Great Northern Railway of Canada.  Québec: L. Demers.

Hinshelwood, N. M. (1902)  Amidtst the Laurentians: Being a guide to Shawinigan Falls and points on the Great Northern Railway of Canada. Montreal: The Herald Press.

LeMoine, Sir James McPherson (1901).  The Port of Quebec:  Its Annals, 1535-1900. Quebec:  The Chronical Printing Company.
 

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Glenn F. Cartwright
January 12, 2001
Revision 10, last rrevised 2001/11/21