Our City and Our Sports: Twelfth Annual C.W.A. Meet, Montreal

Published by Montreal Bicycle Club189427 chapters118 images

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Contents

• OUR CITY. (opens in a new tab)

  Samuel M. Baylis's illustrated historical sketch of Montreal, opening under the city's coat of arms with a welcome to the "Royal City" and the view from Mount Royal's crest. It runs from Jacques Cartier's 1535 visit to Hochelaga and Champlain's 1611 "Place Royale" through Maisonneuve's founding of Ville-Marie in 1642, the fall of New France, the North-West Fur Company, the 1833 charter, cholera, fire and the rebellion of '37.
• MONTREAL. (opens in a new tab)

  William McLennan's opening poem, printed beside the city's coat of arms, saluting Montreal as a Northern Queen standing "between The Royal Mount and the River below" and naming Boucherville, Rougemont, St. Hilaire, Lachine, Nun's Island and Ste. Helene.
• MONTREAL. (opens in a new tab)

  W. D. Lighthall's poem "Reign on, majestic Ville-Marie!", set within the "Our City" sketch beside a view of St. Helen's Island, hailing the city as mistress of half a continent, "Sprung of the saint and chevalier" and wed to the Scarlet Tunic.
• OUR BIRTHRIGHT. (opens in a new tab)

  Samuel M. Baylis's closing poem to "Our City", urging the reader to "read the patent of thine heritage" and to hurl back at traitors the challenge "It is my native land!". Signed Montreal, May, 1894, and preceded by Baylis's acknowledgement of McLennan, Lighthall, Sandham, Weir, Murray, Reade, Martin and Parkman as sources.
• OUR SPORTS. (opens in a new tab)

  Will. H. Whyte's illustrated survey of Montreal athletics, opening with John Reade's verse on Pindar and the vanished games of Olympia and the Isthmus, and arguing that lacrosse, the snowshoe, the skate and the cricket field are the northern equal of the Grecian games. The prose introduction claims for Montreal's clubs a record stretching back nearly a century.
• CURLING. (opens in a new tab)

  The Montreal Curling Club, founded 1807, is claimed as the oldest organised out-door sport club on the continent and the oldest colonial club affiliated to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club of Scotland (admitted 1841). The first recorded long-distance match, Montreal v. Quebec in 1835, was played half-way at Three Rivers after a drive of more than two hundred miles.
• CRICKET. (opens in a new tab)

  Cricket in Montreal from the Hambledon and Marylebone precedents through Wolfe's army. The Montreal Club guaranteed £750 to bring out Parr and Lillywhite's professional eleven in 1859, the first English Eleven to cross the Atlantic, and lost about £100 on the venture; the "Trent" affair of 1862 revived the Garrison Club, and Philadelphia sent a team in 1866.
• SNOW SHOEING. (opens in a new tab)

  The Montreal Snow Shoe Club, dating from 1840, claimed as one of the oldest athletic clubs on the continent. Covers the club's Mountain Steeple Chase, Prince Arthur (later Duke of Connaught) enrolled as an Honorary Life Member while serving with the Prince Consort Rifle Brigade, the December 1871 convention fixing the racing shoe at not less than 1½ lb and 10 inches, and the first torchlight tramp of 1873.
• LACROSSE. (opens in a new tab)

  The "National Game" in Montreal: the first recorded match between Iroquois and Algonquin teams at the St. Pierre Race Course in September 1834, the Olympic club of 1842, the Hochelaga–Montreal amalgamation of 1860 and the Beaver Club rivalry, Dr. W. George Beers's first published rules of 1860, the Mohawks of Troy's 1868 visit, and the 1876 tour to Britain with a Caughnawaga team that played at Windsor Castle by royal command.
• SKATING. (opens in a new tab)

  Skating traced from the Norsemen and the "Dutch Skate" of 1662 to Canada, where three officers of the Montreal Garrison raced to Quebec in 1854. British regimental officers pressed for covered rinks and figure skating; Quebec built the first covered rink and Montreal followed in 1859, leading to the Victoria Rink.
• FOOTBALL. (opens in a new tab)

  The Montreal Football Club, founded 1868, is claimed as the pioneer club in Canada, its early fixtures against the officers of Her Majesty's regiments quartered in the city. The Britannia Football Club of 1875 became its keenest rival, and the Montreal club put up a Challenge Cup for competition in 1873.
• TOBOGGANING. (opens in a new tab)

  The Montreal Toboggan Club was established on 19 January 1881; before that the sport ran on Esdaile's Hill, Brehaut's Hill, Fletcher's Field and the slopes of Peel and McTavish streets. The Winter Carnivals from 1883 prompted an M.A.A.A.-suggested slide on the old Lacrosse Grounds on Sherbrooke Street, where the "Tuque Bleue" club built the first artificial chute.
• HOCKEY. (opens in a new tab)

  Hockey on ice as a game Canadian youth developed for itself, first played in recognisable form by the Montreal Football Club; the earliest recorded match was in the Victoria Rink on 3 March 1875, between the Football Club and Victoria Rink skaters captained by Creighton and Torrance. R. F. Smith of McGill re-arranged the rules, McGill met Quebec in January 1881, the Victoria Skating Club organised formally in 1882 and Ottawa in March 1883.
• BICYCLING. (opens in a new tab)

  Cycling dated from Pierre Lallement's crank-driven two-wheeler of 1865, ridden from Ansonia to New Haven, through Gilman's 1866 English patent and the boneshaker craze of 1868–69. Boston organised the first club in February 1878 and Bangor the next; Montreal agitated in June and completed its organisation on 3 December 1878, ten days before San Francisco, leaving the Montreal Bicycle Club the second oldest on the American continent.
• THE "M. A. A. A." (opens in a new tab)

  History of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association from the 1859 agitation for a gymnastic club and the McGill gymnasium, through the Montreal Lacrosse and Snowshoe Clubs' 1879 lease of the Mansfield and Burnside street building and the April 1881 assumption of its $13,000 mortgage, to the $75,000 grounds, track, pavilion and club house opened in 1888. Lists its five constituent clubs under the "Winged Wheel" and its connected cricket, hockey, chess, junior lacrosse and dramatic clubs. Signed Will. H. Whyte.
• THE CANADIAN WHEELMEN'S ASSOCIATION. (opens in a new tab)

  President A. T. Lane's account of the C.W.A.: eight wheelmen met at Toronto on 11 September 1882, Alderman J. B. Boustead of Toronto becoming first president and J. S. Brierly of St. Thomas hon. secretary, succeeded a year later by Hal B. Donly of Simcoe. Now 3,000 strong, it works for good roads, amateur status, racing rules and records; membership costs $1 a year (50c per capita for clubs) and brings the official organ "The Canadian Wheelman" free.
• SIGHTS AND SHRINES. (opens in a new tab)

  The Numismatic and Antiquarian Society's series of white marble historical tablets set about old Montreal, printed here in full for the first time and in chronological order, each in the French or English chosen by its donor. The inscriptions run from the Hochelaga village site visited by Jacques Cartier and Maisonneuve's landing of 18 May 1642 through Fort Ville-Marie, the Seminary of St. Sulpice, Bienville, the surrender of Montreal to Amherst in 1760 and John Molson's steamer "Accommodation"; sites are locatable via the map index.
• OFFICERS OF THE CANADIAN WHEELMEN'S ASSOCIATION. (opens in a new tab)

  The 1894 roll of the association organised at St. Thomas in September 1882: president A. T. Lane (Montreal), vice-president J. G. Gauld (Hamilton), secretary-treasurer Hal B. Donly (Simcoe), with the chief consuls of the eleven districts, Huron, Niagara, Toronto, Midland, Ottawa, Quebec, Maritime, Manitoba, Regina, Calgary and Pacific, and their district representatives and past presidents.
• OFFICERS OF THE MONTREAL BICYCLE CLUB. (opens in a new tab)

  The club's 1894-95 slate: Gordon Kingan president, Louis Rubenstein first vice-president, G. S. Low second vice-president, David J. Watson hon. secretary and W. S. Weldon treasurer, with a committee including D. S. Louson, E. W. Barlow, W. G. Robertson and A. A. Simpson, road officers under captain Art. Harries, and past presidents Horace S. Tibbs, C. H. McLeod, Jas. D. Miller, F. G. Gnaedinger and A. T. Lane.
• C. W. A. MEET, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (opens in a new tab)

  Gordon Kingan chairman and David J. Watson hon. secretary, with A. T. Lane, Louis Rubenstein and G. S. Low, plus the general committee. Sub-committees are listed for transportation, hotels, souvenir programme (Major Freeman chairman, with joint editors S. M. Baylis and W. H. Whyte), entertainment, race and prize.
• OFFICIALS OF THE 12th ANNUAL MEET OF THE C. W. A. (opens in a new tab)

  Referee Hal B. Donly; judges E. Baird Ryckman (Toronto Bicycle Club), J. G. Gauld, A. T. Lane, J. J. Higgins (Atheneum Cycling Club), W. A. Hunter (Wanderers) and Major Freeman (M.A.A.A.); timekeepers Geo. H. Orr and Jas. A. Taylor; electrical timekeeper W. H. Sproule; starter R. A. Robertson of Hamilton, chairman of the C.W.A. racing board. Continues on the next spread with scorers, clerks of course, umpires, announcers and marshal Gordon Kingan.
• OFFICIAL PROGRAMME (opens in a new tab)

  The 12th annual meet of the Canadian Wheelmen's Association, under the patronage of the Governor-General and the Countess of Aberdeen, on the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association grounds, 30 June and 2 July 1894. Saturday brings the five-mile team race for the Subscription Trophy and trial heats run alongside the Shamrock v. Montreal senior lacrosse match; Monday's card runs from the 1 mile novice through the quarter, half, 1, 3 and 5 mile championships and the 5.20 and 2.40 class races, plus Class B events for L.A.W. riders.
• REGULATIONS. (opens in a new tab)

  Conditions for the meet's racing: time limits on second prizes in the 1, 3 and 5 mile championships, trial heats at the committee's discretion, starting positions drawn when entries close, entrance fees of $1.00 for championships, 50 cents for other events and $2.00 per team race, entries closing Monday 25 June, a track of three laps to the mile and all races under C.W.A. rules. Signed David J. Watson, hon. secretary M.B.C. and C.W.A. Meet, M.A.A.A. Club House.
• ENTERTAINMENT. (opens in a new tab)

  The hosts' plans for visiting wheelmen: the Shamrock v. Montreal Merchants' Cup lacrosse series, a Sunday church parade, a Monday morning steamer through the Lachine Rapids, guided tours of Mount Royal, Sohmer Park, McGill University, the shipping and the towers of Notre Dame, and Mr. Lighthall's tour of the historical sites and commemorative tablets, closing with a prize-giving entertainment. The Y.M.C.A. opened its new building and plunge bath to C.W.A. members, who are told in capitals to bring their membership certificate.
• AGREED RATES To Canadian Wheelmen's Association Meet, Montreal, June 30 to July 2. (opens in a new tab)

  The joint Canadian Pacific / Grand Trunk letter of 17 April 1894, signed N. J. Power (G.T.R.) and D. McNicoll (C.P.R.), quoting single fare with a $5.00 maximum from points to Toronto and $10.00 from beyond, examples for London ($8.40), Sarnia ($9.50) and Windsor ($10), $7.50 from St. John, N.B., tickets good 29 June to 3 July, one bicycle carried per full ticket at owner's risk, and $2 extra for the Richelieu & Ontario river route from Kingston plus a $3 side trip to Quebec.
• HOTELS. (opens in a new tab)

  Tariff list for visiting wheelmen, from the Windsor Hotel at $3.00-$3.50 a day and St. Lawrence Hall, Queen's, Balmoral, Hotel Richelieu and Avenue House in the $1.50-$2.50 range down to the Albion at $1.00-$1.50, with the Hotel Cadillac, Turkish Bath Hotel and St. James Hotel. All are noted as having ample accommodation for wheels.
• INDEX TO MAP. (opens in a new tab)

  How to use the folding map's quarter-mile lettered and numbered squares, worked through the example of the M.A.A.A. Club House at G 11, followed by the directory of Montreal parks and squares (M.A.A.A. grounds E 17, Place d'Armes K 11, Dominion Square H 12, Mount Royal Park E 8), public buildings, railway stations and the chief schools and colleges.