During the Year...

Richard was 43 years old. He lived with his wife and children. At the beginning of the year RBR ran for School Trustee but did not win. His wife Mina became ill with what they thought was appendicitis. It turned out not to be appendicitis. Discussions and difficulties continued with Corry and Laverdure regarding pricing of concrete, materials, labour, which included attempts at settling claims made by C & L, etc. In mid-January Mr. Greenwood was selected to go on to South Africa and he left his work with RBR. In early February Mr. Schreiber at Ottawa agreed to increase prices of concrete etc. Richard Rogers repeatedly visited Ottawa and in the presence of Mr. Schreiber, tried to reach an agreement with C & L. By mid April a Mr. Munro was sent from the Dept at Ottawa to try and settle the dispute once and for all. C & L did not seem satisfied and said that they would not accept the decision. Munro left for Ottawa nonetheless. On April 24th, Mr. G.E. Robertson, one of his assistant engineers (Simcoe - Balsam Lake Division), died of Bright’s Disease. On July 23rd Mina’s father (Mr. H. Calcutt) suffered a partial stroke of paralysis. On September 26th the Houseboat that Richard spent so much time on sunk but was later towed out of the water. Even as late as December his difficulties and differences with Corry & Laverdure continued to cause friction. On December 22 he mentioned the first granite stone being set in the foundation in the West well. Two days later on the 24th Walter J. Francis sent RBR his letter of resignation. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th stones were set in the West well. On the 26th Richard reconciled the situation and this resulted in Mr. Francis withdrawing his resignation. On the last day of 1900 RBR was nominated for School Trustee in the area. He felt optimistic about the nomination.

Headlines in the Papers...

• The Dam Brackets. Argument Before Minister of Public Works. Mr. Geo. M'Hugh, M.P., Reviews Claims of the Farmers. Interesting Correspondence on the Subject is Quoted. Facts in Connection with the Dispute Clearly Presented (Mar. 2, The Weekly Post Lindsay)

1900 Diary

Period covered: January 1, 1900 - December 31, 1900

Dimensions: 14.3 cm X 7.3 cm (l x w)

No. of Pages: 180

Note: The diary contains addenda pages where the diarist has recorded Notes and Bills Receivable for the year of 1900. He has also recorded in the inside back cover some Rent payments made for the house on Stewart and Elizabeth Streets. Also on the cover is a listing of locations which he visited during his inspections. He has recorded the number of visits for some of them.

[Note: At the beginning of the diary RBR has filled in some items on the Identification page. They immediately follow.]

Name: R.B. Rogers

Address: Peterboro, Ontario Canada

Birthday: Jany 16^th

Age: 43 Height: 5.10’’

Complexion: Fair Weight: 175

In case of accident or illness please notify: James Z. Rogers Peterboro Ont

January Monday 1: Election Day for Councils &c. Ran for school Trustee but as I did not work was not elected. A combination worked against me which I did not find out till after. Went calling on Hon. JR Stratton, Kendry, Mrs. Hamilton & Aunty Burnham. Beautiful day & good sleighing.

January Tuesday 2: Office. Very busy getting out quantities for the Trenton Frankford Div’n.

January Wednesday 3: Busy with quantities & sent them down to C.S. At night was terribly rushed with them. Fine & cold. 

January Thursday 4: Started at 7:10 am for Toronto. Took Mina up to Dr. Walker’s Hospital. Saw Dr. Burritt & told him to examine her with Dr. Walker & see if they could get cause for trouble. Mina went to hospital 3:30. Stayed with her till 5. Went out to Junction to Ed’s. Called to see Culversill on business but was not in. 

January Friday 5: Came down town & saw Mina & called at Culversills house & saw him. Doctors had examination of Mina & said it was appendicitis & that only an opperation [sic] would cure her. Saw Mina again & went to tea to Dr. Burritts. Went to theater with Ed & out with him. Fine & cold. 

January Saturday 6: Went to see Engine gasoline with Ed. Called to see Patti & in afternoon up to see Mina. Told Mina that opperation [sic] was necessary. Missed 5:15 train & after tea went up to see Mina again & home on 9:35 train. Fine & milder. 

January Sunday 7: Mild & rain. Walked down to see Z Burnham. 

January Monday 8: Office till 6:15. Went for skate after tea & office 9-11. Fine & cold again. 

January Tuesday 9: Office all day till 6:15. Went for skate tonight. Took a bad cold. Fine & cold. 

January Wednesday 10: Office all day. In afternoon we presented Greenwood with a field glass from the Canal staff. At night went to officer’s Mess where Greenwood was presented with sword &c. Left for Ottawa at midnight. Have a bad [cold] cold. George Orde called in morning. 

January Thursday 11: At Ottawa. Met Land Valuators for Trenton Section with Mr. Schreiber. He gave them their instructions. Met both Corry & Laverdure but had not much to say to them. Started home at night. Very stormy at night. 

January Friday 12: Arrvd home at 5 am. Stormy snow. Office. 

January Saturday 13: Office. Corry was here today but did not call or see any one. 

January Sunday 14: Snowing & mild. Walked down to see Z Burnham. Mr. & Mrs. Spence in to tea. 

January Monday 15: Office all day. Greenwood went to Toronto today. Went for walk over Canal from Warsaw Rd. to Hyd L. Visited gang at Warsaw Rd. Took Add to Hockey match. Osgoode vs Ptb’o. Stormy & snowing. 

January Tuesday 16: Office. Went for walk around to locks. My 43 Birthday. Mr. & Mrs. Spence & Maggie up for tea. Office 9-10.  Fine day. 

January Wednesday 17: Office in a.m. Started at noon for Trenton. Was carried on to Cobourg as train did not stop at Trenton as formerly. Arrd at Trenton at 6:30 pm. Land Valuators Aylesworth & Gilbert met me by appointment at office at night & went over plans. Greenwood left Peterboro on train with me on his way to the Transvall South Africa.  

January Thursday 18: Went over section with land valuators. Brophy also with me. They did not seem very anxious to get over their work to learn too much about it. Miserable day. Rain in afternoon. Went down to Trenton & started for home at 5:30. Office & went up to C’s. GE Robertson arr’d at Peterboro today for to stay. 

January Friday 19: Went to Toronto to see Mina. Took Heber. Went to Hospital & waited all am before I saw Mina. Took Heber down to stay with Mrs. (Letty) Hall who goes everyday to see Mina. Had lunch with the Halls. Called to see Mr. Kilbourn but he was not in & also Culversill. Saw Mina in afternoon & evening. Went out to stay with Ed at Junction. 

January Saturday 20: Went to see Mina & saw Doctor Walker. Mina seems a great deal better. Called to see Mrs. M Boyd & to tea at Dr. Burritts. After went out to Junction. Miserable day. Rained all am. Called at Aetna Ins. Coy & got my check for my 10 year policy $616.49  & plus loan of $400 = $1016.49. 

January Sunday 21: Went to church at Junction with the children. Went in at 3 pm to see Mina. Heber & the Halls were there. Went to tea with the Fairbairn’s & to hospital. We started for home at 9:35 pm. Beautiful day. Mild like spring. 

January Monday 22: Office all day & at night. Beautiful day. Very mild. 

January Tuesday 23: Office. At night went for skate at Canal with Edna & Mrs. Spence & over to office. Colder. 

January Wednesday 24: Office. In pm went for skate along canal from the Hydraulic lock (North end) to near Nassau. Went to Hockey match at night. Very mild. 

January Thursday 25: Office in am. Went to Garden Hill by train. Had Leary meet me there. Drove to Beudley & along line of proposed canal between Rice Lake & Port Hope. Was very favorably impressed with it from an Engineering point of view. Drove to Pt. Hope & took train home. Beautiful day. Mild but turned very stormy at night. 

January Friday 26: Very stormy & blowing & very cold. Snowing. Office. Went to Public School concert at night where children took part. Office at night. 

January Saturday 27: Fine day & milder. Drove out to meet funeral of old T Choate but found they had arr’d at Station where they took body to Port Hope. Went to Station. 

January Sunday 28: Snowing & blowing. Walked down to Z Burnhams in pm. 

January Monday 29: Office. Getting out report of Canal route via Pt Hope. Office at night. Cold & windy. 

January Tuesday 30: Office all day. 

January Wednesday 31: Office all day. 

February Thursday 1: Went to Kirkfield. Drove from Lorneville to K & ret. Drove over line as far as lake with Robertson. Home at night. Very cold. -20° in am. Coldest day this winter. 

February Friday 2: Went to Trenton. Met Brophy in office 12-5:20. Home at night. Office 9-10. Not so cold. Beautiful day. 

February Saturday 3: Started for Ottawa at 12:12 am. Went to Dept. to fix prices with C&L for concrete and unwatering. CS agreed to increase prices for them  to 800 & 3000 respectfully. Went up again in pm. Went for walk with M[---]. Started for Toronto at 10:35. Beautiful day. Not so cold. 

February Sunday 4: Arr’d in Toronto 7:15 am. Went up to stay at Mrs. W. Fairbairns. After breakfast went to hospital to see Mina. She has not been so well for day or two. Dinner at Fairbairns. Hospital in afternoon & again at night. Doctor informed me that operation fixed for tomorrow had to be postponed on account of illness of head nurse. Snowed all day. Mild. 

February Monday 5: Went to hospital in am. Lunch at F’s & down town. Called to see Mr. Kilgour near Frankford property. Looked at Pianola &c. Went to hospital. Called at MM Boyd’s. After tea went to hospital again for while & called at Dr. Burritts & started for home at 9:35 pm. Beautiful day. 

February Tuesday 6: Office all day. Beautiful day. Milder. 

February Wednesday 7: Office all day - at night the children all came over to office to telephone their mother. Went to hockey match Colts vs. UCC. Colts won. Very mild & rain at night. 

February Thursday 8: Office all day. Went to tea at Mr. Francis’, Leah & Heber also. Reid children up after tea to hear graphone [sic]. Very mild & raining hard all day. Waking very bad. 

February Friday 9: Office in am. Drove to Lak’d in afternoon. Exam’d guards along bank & side walk. Mrs. Spence with me. Home  at 4:20. Drove John Kennedy C.E. over to Hy Lock & after up to Mrs. R Hamiltons to see how she was. Spent evening with John Kennedy at hotel. Beautiful day colder. Snow about all gone in fields. 

February Saturday 10: Office all day. Went for walk from Lock 6 to Norwood Rd. Went over to see Dr. Boucher. Had letter saying Mina had passed a gall stone. Beautiful day. 

February Sunday 11: Beautiful day. Walked down to see Z Burnham in pm. Mild again & sleighing in country all gone. 

February Monday 12: Showery& very mild all day, Snow all gone. Office all day. 

February Tuesday 13: Rained till 2 & turned cold & blew a hurricane all night. Office. Went for walk & up to S School concert & over to post letter. 

February Wednesday 14: Office till 5. Walked to Canal for skate. After tea went for skate on lake & started at midnight for Ottawa. Colder. A beautiful day & night. 

February Thursday 15: Arrd in Ottawa in am. Went up to Dept. Was wanted to go over Hull plan & make plan showing road across Blk Q & along E side of Canal. Went for walk with Shannon & he came to dinner with me. Started for home at 10:30. Fine & colder. 

February Friday 16: Office all day till 4:30. Walked over to Hyd Lock. Beautiful day & night. News of the relief of Kimberly came this am. 

February Saturday 17: Office. Cold. In afternoon. Went for a skate on Canal with children. 

February Sunday 18: Started for Toronto at 4:56 am. Francis with me. Went to stay with Mrs. Fairbairn. Went to Hospital to see Mina in morning afternoon & evening. She seems pretty well. 

February Monday 19: Went to hospital at 10:15 am to see Mina & left at 11:30. Went over to School of Practical Science & met Francis there & discussed joints in Concrete re lower construction. Went to hospital at 3. Mina was operated on for appendicitis but it turned out there was no trouble with appendix. Saw the doctors. Mina got thro’ very fairly. Went to see JR Stratton re C & Laverdure matter. Went to F’s to tea & Dr. Burritts & to J Halls. Fine. 

February Tuesday 20: Went to hospital at 11 & saw Mina. She was of course very weak. After went to see JR Stratton & met Corry there. Discussed matter re embankment but not much result. Met Francis. We went to Northey’s to discuss pumps re hydraulic lock. Went to hospital at 5 pm & saw Mina. Getting on very well. Went to Burritts & Halls & Started for home at 9:35 pm. Fine. 

February Wednesday 21: Corry called at office for about ½ hour & talked re price of Excavation for Embankment Hyd Lock. Went to meeting M Chap Guild [Men’s Chapter Guild] at night & at office. Mild storming at night. News of relief of Ladysmith read today. 

February Thursday 22: Office. A terrible day. Snowed rain & sleet. Snowed about 12 to 14'' deep & drifted. Blowed. Service & choir practice at night. 

February Friday 23: Office. Fine. Office for while at night. 

February Saturday 24: Mild. Snow & rain. Cold at night. Office all day. 

February Sunday 25: Very cold & windy. Went to early service & to morning service. Walked down with Harry to Z Burnhams. Did not go to service at night. 

February Monday 26: Coldest day this winter. Very windy & cold. Office. Went to Men’s Chapter social. Went off very well but so cold not very many there. 

February Tuesday 27: Office. News of the Surrender of Gen’l Cronje rec’d today. Great excitement over it. Very cold last night 29° below zero. China Hall & Matthews burnt down last night. Went to Hastings in afternoon & here via Norwood to visit Gordon at Gates. Saw Plant & Fowlds re water. 

February Wednesday 28: Went to Toronto. Met Valuators (Alysworth & Gilbert) at Mr. Kilgours office re valuation of Frankford mill property. The plan was not correct so I telephoned Brophy to send me correct plan by tonight’s mail. Went up to see JR Stratton re C&L prices for extra work. Went up to hospital to see Mina. She is getting on well. Went up again to see Mina in afternoon. Went out to see Junction & stayed with Ed. A tremendous snow storm on. 

March Thursday 1: News of the Relief of Ladysmith came this morning. Whole country is crazy with excitement. Plan did not come from Brophy. Went up to see Stratton again & he dictated letter to Blair re C&L matter. Went to lunch with Morrison at Albany club. Went up to hospital. Started for home at 5:15. A terrible snow storm. Been snowing since yesterday a.m. Went up to C’s for supper. 

March Friday 2: Office. Stormy, blowing. Went over to see Dr. Boucher in evening. 

March Saturday 3: Office. 

March Sunday 4: Cold. Went to tea at Calcutt’s. 

March Monday 5: Office. Started for Montreal with Francis at midnight. 

March Tuesday 6: Arrd in Montreal at 12:40 5 hours late. Went up to McGill & saw McLeod. Cocker & Kerry met Johnson & Duggan at ‘Windsor’ at 5 pm. Stayed at ‘Windsor’. We (F & I) went to theater. A most disagreeable day. Snow & blowing. 

March Wednesday 7: Francis & I went out to Dominion Bridge Wks. I came in at 2 pm. Called on Mr. Grant. Started for Ottawa at 4 pm. Fine day. 

March Thursday 8: Went up to Dept. but Mr. Schreiber was so busy could not see him all day. Saw parade of the Strathcona Horse. Went down to their barracks in the afternoon. Saw A Brown & E Snyder. Went to boxing contest at [ORAC]. Beautiful day. 

March Friday 9: Went up to Dept. but did not see Ruel or C.S. Started for home at 11 am. McWIlliams & Carscullan on train. Arrd home at 5 pm. Presided at a Smoker of the Football Club at night. Went off very well. Presented caps to Football team for Intermediate Championship and also Cup. Bad night rain &c. 

March Saturday 10: Cold. Drove to Lak’d in afternoon. [Took] Mrs. Spence & children. Beautiful day. 

March Sunday 11: Beautiful day but cold. Walked down to see Z Burnham in afternoon. 

March Monday 12: Office. Went to Trenton at noon. Drove from Sterling to Frankford & met Brophy. Drove over line to Trenton. Went over land plan lines with Brophy. Came home Via Belleville. Office. Cold & windy but fine. 

March Tuesday 13: Office. Walked over to Hyd lock with Spence at 5:30. West well down 62 ft and East 50 ft. Office at night. Cold but beautiful. 

March Wednesday 14: Office. 

March Thursday 15: Office. 

March Friday 16: Started for Toronto at 7:10 a.m. Called on Mr. Kilgour re Frankford lock property.  Met Miller (Frankford) & Czouski there. Explained what it was proposed to do. Went up to hospital to see Mina. She is getting on very well. Went to stay at the Burritts. After supper called on Sophie Kempt & Fairbairns. Cold. 

March Saturday 17: Called up JR Stratton. Gone to Pet’o. Called to see Patti. Went to hospital after dinner & Mina & I went to station in street car. Took 5:15 train for home. Mina arrived home safely but of course tired. She has been away ten weeks as of Thursday. She seems much better but very weak yet. Dr. Watkins acct was $241. Children delighted mother home. 

March Sunday 18: Milder. Had service at home in evening. Milder with some snow. 

March Monday 19: Office in a.m. Went over to Hyd lock & went down to West well with Francis & Spence. Well down to with[in] 13 ft of finished surface. In evening had meeting at EA Pecks with Rev. Symonds, Matchet & Spence to discuss the advisability of having social entertainments for school children & decided to do so & have one soon. Milder & first thaw for some time. 

March Tuesday 20: Office. Cold & windy. 

March Wednesday 21: Office. Walked to Hyd lock with Spence at 5:30. Cold & Windy. 

March Thursday 22: Office. 

March Friday 23: Office. Busy getting data re claim C&L re Hyd lock. Went over to Hyd lock with Francis. 

March Saturday 24: Office. Busy getting data re C&L claim for extras re Hyd lock. 

March Sunday 25: Mild. Did not go to church tonight. Had service at home. 

March Monday 26: Arr’d in Ottawa. Met CS re a settlement re extras for C&L - re Hyd lock claims for extras. Met C&L and [Note: a blank has been left here] before C.S. but no agreement was arrived at. [Note: a blank has been left here] pleaded their case. CS said he heard their arguments & would go into the matter. Mild. Spence went to Severn today to make surveys. 

March Tuesday 27: At Ottawa. Met C&L with [Note: a blank has been left here] before C.S. regarding settlement of their claim re Nassau dam but no settlement was reached. CS told me & them to meet & try to arrive at a settlement. We [met] & started. Mild. 

March Wednesday 28: At Ottawa. Spent whole day trying to arrive at a settlement with C&L re settlement for Nassau dam. Did not arrive at settlement. Their claim is an absurd one. Started for home at 10:35 pm. 

March Thursday 29: Arrd home this a.m. Office all day getting report for CS re Nassau dam. Leferes arr’d to get out quantities &c re claim of Corry & Laverdure’s claim re Nassau Dam. 

March Friday 30: Met Wade on street & asked to come up. Asked him re his opinion re change of site of Nassau dam. Said He would rather build it on present site than on original. Dumble served me with notice re Hull property - Lak’d. Alymer called & said he was going to move his mixer across the Canal today & go ahead. Corry called. Went to Dr. Kings funeral. 

March Saturday 31: Office. Busy at getting out cost Nassau dam for CS. Corry called. Told him I could not give him thicknesses of granite courses for press well foundation. JR Stratton called me up at 10 pm. Went down to his office. He said he had a telegraph from Blair to go to Ottawa tonight. Spence arr’d home from Severn. Mild. Snow going fast.

April Sunday 1: Beautiful day. In pm walked up to see how Mrs. Hamilton was. 

April Monday 2: Office. Busy getting out quantities re C&L claim Nassau Dam. Spence & Leferes also at them. Office at night. Had telephone J.R. Stratton at Ottawa to meet him tomorrow in Toronto before I put in any report to C.S. Stormy. Snow going fast. 

April Tuesday 3: Office. Busy at above claim. Went to Toronto at 4:45 & met Stratton at House. He said that Blair had sent for him to see him re C&L claims. He said that Blair told him he wanted me to be as liberal with C&L as possible. He said he (Blair) & CS had gone as far as they could with me re telling me to give them as much as possible. Left for Ottawa at 9:35 pm. 

April Wednesday 4: Arrd in Ottawa. Went to ‘Cecil’ for breakfast. Went to Dept. Met Corry & Laverdure re claim Nassau Dam. Went over it but did not arrive at any Settlement. Think I rather staggered them by bringing in a statement of cost coffer-daming original site. Went for walk with Shannon. Fine but cool. Did not see CS but for a minute. 

April Thursday 5: Met C&L at Dept. but CS informed us that he could not [Note: a word has been crossed out] see claim with us today. Went down to Spences for at home 9-10. Fine. 

April Friday 6: Met C&L at Dept. Could not see CS till 3:30 pm. Went over part of claim with CS but he was called away before it was finished. Beautiful day. 

April Saturday 7: Went to Dept. Saw CS with C & L re claim. He went over all the claim & instructed me to look into certain assertions made by C&L. (See detailed acct elsewhere). At finish he said he would see Munro & get him to go into it & go up to see the place. In pm went for walk with Shannon Jones & Ruell. Went home at 10:35 pm. Fine & warm. 

April Sunday 8: Porter forgot to call me & was taken as far as Agincourt where I got a freight & got back at 10:30. Walked down to see Z Burnhams in pm & stayed to tea. Went to ch tonight. 

April Monday 9: Went to Omemee on train & drove to Cowan’s bridge. Took Blackwell with me. Exam’d piers, [---] [---]. Came home at noon on train. Went to Lak’d on train to see re concrete work which is being done. Proceeding very satisfactory & a course about 1 ft high at least is on all the piers above. Arr’d home at 4:30. 

April Tuesday 10: Office. Rode horseback down to locks to see Gordon re fitting up. Went to Hyd lock. Blackwell called at 9 pm re work Cowan’s bridge. Cold & windy. Doing house accounts. 

April Wednesday 11: Office till 3 pm. Walked to Hamiltons re dredge machinery & [---]. Office. Rode horseback to see Robertson who is sick & not been at office today. Rode along canal Warsaw Rd. to Norwood Rd. Office at night. Sent down reports re Severn River & Fenelon Piers. Like spring & fine. At home. Accts. 

April Thursday 12: Office. Snowed about 3 inches. Lettie & Kingsley Hall came to stay at house. Jack came at midnight.

April Friday 13: [Note: the words ‘Good Friday’ have been written above the date.] Thos. Munro arr’d from Ottawa to settle claims of Corry & Laverdure at CP Ry drain Hydraulic lock & Nassau Dam. He spent morning going over claims with me. In afternoon we all drove over section from lake to Nassau & went in to claims with contractors. Details of this settlement are given in another notebook. Went to church at night. Went over to see Robertson. Raw day & fine. 

April Saturday 14: Munro met C&L & Hamel in my office at 10 pm and gave his decision regarding their claims. They did not appear very much satisfied  & said they would not accept decision. Went to dinner at Oriental with M & Corry. Spent afternoon with M. He went to tea with Alymer. Met M again at 10:30 pm & he went to Ottawa at 12:12. Cold rain. 

April Sunday 15: Easter Sunday. Boys (G & H) & I stayed for Communion. Went over to see Robertson who is very ill. He is to leave tomorrow for Hamilton. Beautiful day. 

April Monday 16: Office. Went to M Meris funeral in pm & after drove to Lak’d over works. Rushing the concrete on entrance pier at Lak’d - water rising fast. Went to Vestry Meeting at night – & went to see poor little Keith who was taken sudden this am. After went of to C’s. Mr. GE Robertson left for Hamilton hospital with Brights disease. 

April Tuesday 17: Sunny in a.m. Fine. Went to Omemee & to Cowan’s bridge as I was anxious about water levels & levels of finished piers. Found water 3 ft higher than summer level & piers finished. Came home. Told Blackwell to come home tonight. Poor little Keith Rogers died this morning after being delicate all his life of diabetes. Rode horse back to locks & No. 6 & Hyd lock. Spent evening with James. 

April Wednesday 18: Office. 

April Thursday 19: Went to Lindsay & over work on river with Walters. Went to poor little Keith’s funeral. Rode horse back to No. 3 with Morrow. There Examined abut't on South side of dam & instructed him re drainage of Nelson’s lot. Cool. Heavy thunder storm last night. 

April Friday 20: Went to Trenton. Went over land plans &c with Brophy. Drove to Sterling. Along river. Brophy with me. Water high. Instructed Brophy to go to Port Hope and run trial line from Rice Lake. Office till 10 pm. Home. Beautiful day & warm. 

April Saturday 21: Office in am. In pm Drove (team) over work Hyd lock to Lak’d. Took photos of Hyd lock. Met Alymer at Lak'd & agreed to give him the cubic contents of filling behind entrance piers. Told him to give me estimate for building sidewalks. H G & Edna with me. Beautiful day. 

April Sunday 22: Fine day. Mina went to church today for first time since October last. She drove to church. Went to tea at Maria’s. Went to James after. 

April Monday 23: Went to Garden Hill. Met Brophy & Patton at Beudley to start on trial line from Rice Lake to Port Hope. Drove Brophy over line as far as Quay’s. I came home at 4:30. Telephone to ask how Mr. GE Robertson at Hamilton. The Dr. said he had no hope for him. Went to St.  Lukes Concert. Very good. Very warm. 

April Tuesday 24: Office. Fine day. 

April Wednesday 25: Got telegraph saying George E Robertson died in Hamilton hospital this a.m. He was Asst Engineer on Simcoe Balsam Lake Div’n. Rode wheel up to meet Morrow who was quaying river above Nassau & on to Lakefield. Went over work. Beautiful day & warm. 

April Thursday 26: Office. Beautiful day. Went to Meeting of School (Public) teachers to arrange for next entertainment & Empire day at 4 pm. 

April Friday 27: Went to Hamilton to attend Mr. GE Robertsons funeral. Met Rev. Forest & spent considerable time with him in a.m. & in p.m. Drove in cab with mourners to funeral. Rev. [Faird] Mr. Witton met over at hotel at 4 & went over Art School &c. Met also Mr. Hoodless & had quite talk re technical schools. Went to tea with Mr. Witton. Came home at midnight. Very warm. 

April Saturday 28: Office. Went up to Lindsay to visit Walter’s dredging. At night 5:30 pm Met G McHugh M.P. & Rider & Kitchener. Home. 

April Sunday 29: Beautiful day. Rode wheel to Z Burnham’s & S Prices. 

April Monday 30: Went to Cowan’s Bridge via Omemee. Went in to visit Brophy at Quay’s. Line reached about Quay’s station. Drove over to Rossmount to examine plans. Terribly windy & dust. Home at 5:30. Went to adj – Vestry Meeting.

May Tuesday 1: Office. Rode horse over works Hyd lock to lake. Met Laverdure who has just ret’d as he says for Season this evening at Hyd Lock. As he had not written order for cement no cement was here. He wanted to start a little cement work at pier at CP Ry Bridge. Fine. 

May Wednesday 2: Office in am. Went to Perry town & went over Brophys line from P. - [Note: a word has been crossed out] Quay’s. Met Patten below Quay’s. Brophy & Morrow guaging river at Trenton. Office at night. Laverdure called for his estimate. Fine but windy. 

May Thursday 3: Office. Lak’d? 

May Friday 4: Arr’d in Ottawa re claim C & Laverdure. They had T Lewis as their lawyer. He knew nothing of the matter. Neither of Contractors were there. Interview did not amount to much. Started for home at night. 

May Saturday 5: Drove to Lak’d. Took Empire to Lovesick. Called at Kawartha Park. Children with me. Laid out East Entrance pier for Gordon. Drove home. Fine but very cool. 

May Sunday 6: Cool. Mina walked to & from church today. Wheeled down to Z Burnham & stayed to tea. 

May Monday 7: Went to Pt. Hope at noon. Brophy has reached the North end of the town. Laid out line thro’ town for him. Drove out & walked over line from Quays to GT Ry bridge. Went up to see Miss Ward in evening. 

May Tuesday 8: Raining. Intended to go over line today but it rained all day. Came home at 7 a.m. Prof. Bovey & Owens here re purchasing electric supplies. Drove them over line as far as No. 4. Went over at 10 pm to see them. Rained all day. 

May Wednesday 9: Office. 

May Thursday 10: Office. Over at Hyd Lock in am. Met R Hall re running of his logs down river. He was very much excited. 

May Friday 11: Office. Went to Lak’d on train and drove down with Gordon. Instructed him re putting on booms and getting dams ready for running logs. Fine.

May Saturday 12: Went to Lindsay in am. Dredge getting in nice. Went up on train with McHugh. Home at noon. Adams & Boat of Tp Emily in to see fine in pm. Conroy signed contract for Cowan’s bridge. 

May Sunday 13: Rode down to Z. Burnhams. Very warm. 

May Monday 14: Went to Omemee. Took Adams up with me. Office in afternoon & night. Thunderstorm at 6 pm. Very hot & sultry 86 in shade. Mr. A Davis & Sims called and offered me $5.00 per day for use of ‘Lenore’ from 1st June to end of November they to supply Engineer & Wheelsman. Told them I would wire tomorrow. Miss Brown also called re renting Cottages at Stoney Lake Park. 

May Tuesday 15: Office. Busy getting out Specification for glance piers and booms for dams in river. In pm drove over work from lake to Norwood Rd. CH Keefer came up to my office at night for while. Worked in office. Gordon up also. 

May Wednesday 16: Drove to Lak’d. Called at No. 2 to visit Gordon putting in booms. Went to Lak’d. Met Village Council & had talk with them regarding fences &c at canal. D Conroy drove up to Lak’d with me & he bought a cow for me. Took Empire from Lak’d to Chemong & down home. Office at night. 

May Thursday 17: Drove to Bridgenorth at 7 am & took Empire for Upper Section Balsam lake. CH Keefer with me. Drove from lake to Peat works. Kennedy met me at Fort. Talked over work with him together with Sims & it was arranged OK. Ran to Lindsay & took train home. Walters met me at Lindsay. Stormy. Keefer went home tonight. 

May Friday 18: Office. Rode down to Electric works re self adjusting lamp. Went over work Hyd Lock & lake afternoon. Word was rec'd this afternoon of Relief of Mafeking. The town was [wild] at night. Office at night. Fine. 

May Saturday 19: Drove team to Lak’d to examine the running of the logs over the dams. Sent Dunwoodie down to put in more logs to prevent injury to dams. Drove on up to Kawartha Park & planted part of garden & put out some Vines. Beautiful day. Office at night. 

May Sunday 20: Got telegraph to go to Ottawa. Left for Ottawa at midnight. 

May Monday 21: Arr’d in Ottawa. Chief wanted me to send in Progress Estimate giving the allowances & prices agreed upon with Munro Report which I did. Left for home at night. Fine. 

May Tuesday 22: Arrd home from Ottawa. 

May Wednesday 23: Went to Lak’d?

[no entry May 24] 

May Friday 25: Went to Lindsay & met deputation of Bd of Trade re widening channel at Carew’s Mill. They are to ask for it. I promised to send estimate to McHugh. 

May Saturday 26: Office. Went up to cricketfield but there was no one there. Fine & hot. 

May Sunday 27: Wheeled out to Amelia’s in pm & to tea. Got telegraph to go to Ottawa. 

May Monday 28: Arrived in Ottawa. Had a meeting with C&L lawyers &c with C.S. but as Munro was absent we adjourned till tomorrow. C Keefer was with Contractors. Nothing was decided. There was an eclipse of the sun this morning. Cloudy in Ottawa. Was in hotel all night. 

May Tuesday 29: Munro came up in a.m. Met C&L with Keefer in a.m. No settlement was arr’d at. Munro holding that Keefer figures were so absurd that it was useless to go on with the matter. Saw CS. He said that he would go no higher than Munros report. At night went to meeting of Royal Society with Mr. & Mrs. Keefer to hear Prof. Clark’s [---]. Went home. 

May Wednesday 30: Arrd home. Office. Drove over work after tea – drove out to Prices. Fine & hot. 

May Thursday 31: The town & country is wild over the report of the Surrender of Pretoria. Was going to Pt Hope but as it was proclaimed a half holiday did not go. Drove to Lak’d. Book at 6:30. Built bon fires on Armour’s Hill. A tremendous celebration at night. Did not get home till 2:30 am.

June Friday 1: Office all day. Went over to works at 5:30. Met Laverdure. Went to CP Ry entrance pier. Went to meeting cricket club at Oriental. Office till 10 pm. Rain hard at night. 

June Saturday 2: Office. Drove to Lak’d. Met Street Committee re widening street up by C. Crawfords. Said I would look at their agreements. Went up to Lovesick to examine pier. Gordon met me, also children. Very stormy. Heavy thunder storm & rain at night.

June Sunday 3: Fine. Wheeled to Lock & Z Burnhams. 

June Monday 4: At Hyd Lock all am. Found that C&L had been blasting in the bottom of the [West] well contrary to strict instructions. Office in p.m. & at night. Drove over works at 3 and at 7:30 pm. Mr. & Mrs. Soothern with me. 

June Tuesday 5: Went to Pt Hope at noon – located line and locks as far as road crossing above Ry Crossing North of Mill pond. In evening went up to TCS. Met new Head Master (Jones). Mr. Clark one of the Committee called & had long discussion with me – 3 others of Com’e promised to call but did not. Fine. 

June Wednesday 6: Office all am. Drove to Lak’d in pm. Mina with me. Men fixing houseboat. Office at night. Fine. 

June Thursday 7: Went to Fenelon this am. At Lindsay went to work & also saw Horn re his steam yacht for rent or sale. At Fenelon saw re glance pier below slide in cliff. At Lindsay went to work & to tea with Sortherns. Showery & sultry. 

June Friday 8: Went to Hyd Lock with Francis. There all am. In p.m. went to Lak'd on train. Carpenters about done on houseboat. Office 10:15. Sent accts away. Fine. 

June Saturday 9: Drove to town Market &c. Office. In afternoon Mr. Francis gave me quantities which he & Spence had been taking out which gave 46,000 yds of Embankment over excavation at Hyd Lock. This paralized me. Went over to Hyd Lock with Francis & up to cricket field. Office till 11:15. 

June Sunday 10: Beautiful day. Harry, George & I rode a wheel to Lak’d. Had supper on the houseboat. 

[No entries June 11 - June 12]

June Wednesday 13: Went to Omemee in am. Drove to Cowan’s Bridge. Everything seemed all right. Met Adams at his house & had long talk with him. Drove to Lak’d in pm & had supper on houseboat. Brot pillows down from houseboat. Z White drove down with me. Met Alymer at Lak’d at 4 pm re Rd. at Crawford’s. 

June Thursday 14: Went to Lindsay. Took C Calcutt & Z White with me. Went to Horn Bros. and paid $400 cash for yacht ‘Victoria’. Went over work with Wallis. Ran Victoria to Fenelon & gave Littleton instructions re piers at [---] Mill and glance on cliff. Victoria cracked steam valve at Rosedale. Got Mc[---] to run me over to [Fut.]. After supper drove to Peat Works with Kennedy & Morrow to see Sims re dams. He is building to get boat in. Kennedy was satisfied with proposal. 

June Friday 15: Drove over work to Victoria Rd. Bridge & to dam at Victoria Rd. Kennedy & Morrow with me. Left for Lindsay at 7:30 am. Took Esturion for Sturgeon Pt & had the Victoria meet me there. Ran to Lakefield. Met C Gordon at Burleigh. There was a circus at Lindsay today. Drove home arr’d at 11:40 pm. Fine. 

June Saturday 16: Busy at office & in town in am. Went over to Hyd Lock at 12 till 1:30 pm. Went over work in banks with Francis & Spence. Went to CP. Ry entrance piers at 2:30 met F & S there. Decided to put in ‘Concrete’ at west embankment. Office till 6:30 & again tonight. J Young & Z White fixing my boat today. 

June Sunday 17: Beautiful day. Wheeled to Lak’d in pm. At houseboat & Lenore. Showers at night. 

June Monday 18: Drove to Lak’d (Rev Warren with me). Exam’d dams for running logs. Saw C Crawford & S Wallace re road at their places. Gave instructions re stop logs in dams for Rathburn’s logs which started today. Hickey & [---] working at Lenore. Z White – J Young also on Lenore. F Tully started at noon on Lotus. Office at night. Fine. 

June Tuesday 19: Office at house 11:30. Went to Hyd Lock office all afternoon. Was going to Lak’d but it was too late. Office at night. Warm. 

June Wednesday 20: Office. Drove to Lakefield. Exam’d claims & the running of Rathburn Coy’s logs. Went with Morrow to Crawfords road. Instructed him to cut down Street leading to Rd. enough to widen road 7 feet & put fence over edge of Canal. Lenore left for Balsam Lake for Peat Coy at 6 pm. Office till 11 pm. Warm. 

June Thursday 21: Office all day till 6 pm. And till 11 pm. Warm day. R.A. Harry decided to leave staff for Sault St. Marie. RA Harry left office tonight. 

June Friday 22: Office. 10. Drove to Lak’d. On Lenore most of day till 7. Office till 10:45. Fine & hot. 

June Saturday 23: At Hyd Lock all a.m. Office in pm and at night. McKoy Engineer went on to run ‘Victoria’ today. 

June Sunday 24: Rode out to Chemong Park in pm & looked over the cottage. Did not go to ch in pm. Very hot. 

June Monday 25: Busy getting ready to take family up to Stoney Lake. Office. At 3:30 Drove to Lak'd. George drove car up to Kawartha Park Stoney Lake. Two teams drawing timber from Lak’d. Took two loads of stuff back to Lak’d for me. We got started at 8 but only got as far as 3 Islands in Katchawanna Lake. 

June Tuesday 26: Got telegraph CS last nt to send down specification & plan [Note: a word has been crossed out] No. 2 Simcoe Balsam Lake. So I have to come down, also had to meet Mr. H AJ McCleod who CS sent here to look into C&L’s claims. Drove him over work in am & in pm up to Nassau Dam. Very busy getting up specifications Sec S&B. 

June Wednesday 27: Breakfast at C’s. Very busy all day getting out revised specifications for Sec 2 S&B. Got them out and sent off at midnight. Morris C.E. Pemprooke [sic] here today on behalf of Contractors. Very hot. 

June Thursday 28: At Hyd Lock all a.m. Went down well. Met Mr. Morris CE there. Morris came over to my office at 2:30 & I showed him all my records re cost re claims C&L. Mr. McLeod also called. Office at night. Heavy thunder storm - cooler. George came down from Lake. 

June Friday 29: Spent all am with Mr. McLeod re C&L Claims. Went to dinner with him. Office in pm. Office in pm & at night. A regular gale blowing at night. Cooler. 

June Saturday 30: Met Mr. Jennings C.E. going over works on behalf of Contractors. Told him if I could give him any information that I would do so. In afternoon came to my office & had a general conversation. Spent till 4:45 when Mr. J went away. Drove to Lak’d. Exam’d logs running & observed boom broken at No. 2 & 4. Took Victoria up to cottage. In office. C & Edna with me.

July Sunday 1: At Cottage Stoney Lake. Beautiful day. 

July Monday 2: Dominion Day. Ran to Lak’d on Victoria & worked on Houseboat all day putting an awning up stairs. Send Neil & party up to their cottage on Victoria. Ran Jack to cottage at night. Beautiful day. 

July [Note: ‘Tuesday 3’ has been crossed out and ‘Wednesday 4th’ has been written above it]: Drove to office & Hyd Lock. Mr. Jennings C.E. called at my office in a.m. & I went over to meet him. He asked and got a lot of information re claims of C&L. Went to lunch with him & he telephoned Corry & he came over at 4. Jennings went away at 4:45. Drove down to Yankee Bonnet to visit Gordon’s men. Mr. McLeod went home tonight. Office 11:10 pm. 

July [Note: ‘Wednesday 4th’ has been crossed out and ‘Tuesday 3’ has been written above it]: Office. Left Stoney Lake at 11 am with ‘Victoria’ for Lak’d. At houseboat till 5. Drove to town. Exam’d boom and dry walls at No. 3 &c. Office at night. Harry and Maggie C & Hetty came down with me. Heavy showers of rain. Victoria went to Lindsay for drill saw for B L & A. 

July Thursday 5: Office till 5:30 p.m. After supper drove over work from Warsaw Rd. to Little Lake. Office. T. Munro arrd at 4:45 pm. Spent night with him in office re prices for claims of C&L. Heavy showers.

July Friday 6: Went on to Hyd Lock in am for while. T Munro at work all a.m. & pm. Office till 5. Drove over to Hyd L for T.M. Met him at Oriental. Drove down to the 57th Review & down to Yankee Bonnet. Office at night & with Munro. A very hot day.  

July Saturday 7: Office & drove about collecting things in am with Harry. Played cricket 3-6. First practice match for 2 years. Town vs Gen Elec Wks. I made 30 not out. Harry & I started with a load at 7:30 for Lak’d  & took Victoria for cottage. A terribly hot day but turned very cool at night. 

July Sunday 8: Very windy & cold. Heavy showers of rain during last night. Ran ‘Victoria’ to Young’s Pt. in evening to service. 

July Monday 9: Left cottage at 10. Drove to town office 2:30 pm to 5. T. Munro in all am & pm. Drove Munro over work & thro' parks - TM - at tea at Alymers. Office 8-11. Very cold & windy. 

July Tuesday 10: Office. In pm drove to Lak’d Gordon with me. Showed him where I wanted sidewalks at Lak’d. Went up to houseboat. They had Victoria out on [---]. Drove over to Bridgenorth & went to St. Lukes picnic. Went to Bobcaygeon on Empire. Spent evening after 10 at Boyds. Went over work with Grant. [---] lock bottom. 

July Wednesday 11: Started for Bobcaygeon 8 am. Ran to Balsam L. Detained by Rathburns logs at Fenelon & Burnt R. Team met me at B Lake. Morrow & I went to Victoria R. bridge & then up to dam Victoria R & to Pier end of Sec. Met Kennedy at Kirkfield. Heavy thunder showers. 

July Thursday 12: Started from Kirkf’d at 8 am at Lindsay. Drove to work at dredge & had Walters drive up to Station with me. Office till 5. Drove to Lak’d & exam’d dams if stop logs were in. Dickson Co’y took all logs out of Nassau & 3 & 5 in [driving]. They put in logs in Nassau this am & shut off Mills. Took Victoria for cottage. Arr’d 9 pm. Fine but cool. Big celebration here today. 

July Friday 13: At Cottage till 12:30. Ran to Lak’d. Met Gordon re sidewalks & Alymer & Morrow re work at Lak’d & No. 2. Called at No. 2 re boulder hall &c. Arr'd office 4:45. Drove to Hyd lock with Francis till 6:45. Met C&L there. Office 10:30. Beautiful day but very windy. 

July Saturday 14: Office. In pm drove up to Lak’d team. Took Soph. Barnett & Greta Symond up with me. Ran up on Victoria to Park. 

July Sunday 15: At Stoney lake. Started down with Victoria at 6:30 for Peterboro. Left at midnight for Ottawa. Fine. 

July Monday 16: Arrd at Ottawa. C.S. instructed me to make two Sections out of the one (No. 2) S & B. Did no [sic] busy with new specifications. Went to lunch with CS & Pottinger. Heavy showers. Started home at night & bro’t specifications with me. 

July Tuesday 17: Very busy all day getting out new specifications for sections 2 & 3  S & B Div’n. Sent the new specifications down to Ottawa at night. 

July Wednesday 18: Office. Went up on train & took Sunbeam for Park. Worked for 3 hrs fixing the cold storage in the house. 

July Thursday 19: This morning I overslept my self & missed boat. Rowed down to Youngs Pt & had ry meet me there & drove to Peterboro. Drove direct to [the] Hyd Lock. After tea drove down to scow & down to Yankee Bonnett. Hot day. It [entry ends here]. 

July Friday 20: Office. At Hyd lock in am. Started for Kirkfield at 5:30 pm. Met Morrow there also Kennedy. Very warm. 

July Saturday 21: Started at 6 am. Drove to Victoria Rd. dam to examine bottom at Lindsay. Went down to dredge. Office all day. Drove team to Lak’d. Examined dams & water at different dams. Mills said they had to partially shut down as the water was so low. Enquired but can find no cause. Ran Victoria up to Park. Fred Tully came to Peterboro’. Beautiful day. 

July Sunday 22: At Stoney Lake. Ran Victoria down to Youngs Pt to church all children with me. Fine. 

July Monday 23: Came down on regular boat & train. H Calcutt had a partial stroke of parallises [sic] last night. Went [to] dinner at HC. Drove to Hydraulic lock – and up to Lak’d & met Mina who came  down on Victoria to see her father. Very warm. Office 10 to 11. 

July Tuesday 24: Office. At H.C. all pm, reading over copies specifications Sec 2 & 3 S & B. Heavy rain at 5 & cold most of night. HC about the same. It was reported that A McDonald had raised stop logs in dams after warning not to do so. 

July Wednesday 25: Drove to Hyd lock & to lake & CP Ry. Met Francis & Spence there. Office. A McDonald called re his taking out stop logs. He asserted he was determined to take out what logs he liked that he did not care for anyone. Office till 6. After walked over to Hyd Lock C Logan with me. Office till 10 pm. 

July Thursday 26: Drove (Lily) to Cowan’s Bridge. Francis E Conroy & Blackwell with me. Work satisfactory except a little fixing at ends of dump. Beautiful day. Office 3-6 & 8-10. Went to Hyd Lock after tea (drove L). Beautiful day. 

July Friday 27: Met Mr. Schreiber at his car at 7:45 & had breakfast with him. Mrs. & Mr. Gwynn with them. Drove to office & over works. Had quite a time arguing with C&L. Met Alymer at Lock No. 5. CS. Met council at Lak’d re fences at Hull’s. Took Houseboat at Lak’d with Empire & got as far as Bob’n at 10 pm. They all stayed on board. Fine day. 

July Saturday 28: Started at 7:30 from Bob’n. Ran to Balsam L – 1:30. Drove over work & to Peat Works. Left CS & party at Kirkfield at 3:30 & they drove me to Beaverton & I came back on Houseboat to Bob’n & stayed there. Went down to W Boyd’s. H Morrow with me. Fine. 

July Sunday 29: At Bob’n took Empire at 7 am for Bridgenorth. Drove to town H Morrow with me. Stayed at C's. Mina there. 

July Monday 30: Drove over line. At 5 drove to Lak’d. Mina with me. Took Victoria to Cottage. Meade girls & Marnie R with me. 

July Tuesday 31: At Stoney lake. Busy about house & putting up tents for the Meade girls who are camping beside us. Drove to Lak’d & home on train. Office. Went to Port Hope.

August Wednesday 1: Walked over line from Choats to Perrytown & located locks &c. Decided to telegraph for Brophy to run some more loop lines. Went home in pm. Went back to Pt Hope. Took Patten with me. Mr. Combes on train with his bride. 

August Thursday 2: Left for home at 7 am. Drove over work. Met C&L & gave them instructions about lines for cutting above Hyd Lock. Went to Perrytown. Brophy started loop line down East side of Ry to deep culvert near Perrytown. Home. Office till 11:30. Fine. 

August Friday 3: Office. Went to Hastings to look over repairs of dam – building 2 new sluices North end. Drove to Lak’d to see dredge which has just arrived from Lindsay. Joe Young fixing my yacht at night. Office till 11:15. Fine. 

August Saturday 4: Office. Drove to Hamiltons foundry at 7:30 re repairs to dredge machinery. Drove over works Lake to Warsaw Rd. with Francis. Drove to Lak’d & took Victoria for Cottage. M Pousette with me. Fine. 

August Sunday 5: At Cottage - ran Victoria to church, Headlands & took Prof. & Mrs. Huntingford for run around Juniper. Warm. 

August Monday 6: A terrible hot day. Clearing up &c at cottage till 2 pm. Drove (Calders) team to Peterboro. Arranged with White Z. for his boy to go in Victoria. Office. Drove over work. Drove to station to meet A. White. Victoria left Cottage at 5 am for Bob’n. She took Houseboat to Lindsay for party. 

August Tuesday 7: Arrived in Ottawa 6 a.m. Saw C.S. re change of plans, filling up to grade in prism of canal above Hy lock, lining of wells. CS instructed me to fill up prism & to build my walls as laid out - & wells as specified. Very warm. Francis at Ottawa with me. My back very sore from strain. Started for home at 11 pm. Party from Franklin Pa went aboard the Lotus. They left for Fenelon. 

August Wednesday 8: Arrd home from Ottawa. Office. Drove over works after tea from lake to Norwood Rd. Office till 10:30. A terrible hot day. 

August Thursday 9: Drove (F) to No. 2. Gordon with me. Located piers & booms for slides from No. 2 to No. 5. Conroy’s up there also. After went to JA Hall’s funeral. Met Mina at train & George & Edna. Mina was used up from large crowd staying at house. Terribly hot. Office till 10:30. 

August Friday 10: Drove (L) to office & station. Went over new loop line from Perrytown to 4:40 on old line. Brophy drove up & met me. Patten with me. Home at 5:30. Horse met me at train. Was going over line but train was late. A terribly hot day. Office 10:30 

August Saturday 11: Drove to Works & went over from Lake to Warsaw Rd. Francis with me. Exam’d filling in of voids in bottom of lock. Pretty fair. Drove Mina & Edna to train (noon). George , Sarah and I took democrat to Lak’d. Took Empire to Cottage. Maria came down on Empire. A terribly hot till 5:30 when it suddenly changed to cool & windy. 

August Sunday 12: At Cottage. Rowed over to Headlands to service. Walked over lot. Cool & windy. 

August Monday 13: Came to town on boat & train. Rained most of day. Office. Supper at house. Office at night till 10:45. Met Fair. 

August Tuesday 14: Breakfast at home. Drove to office & to train. Went to Hastings to see Gordon. Putting down bottom for first pier. Drove to Norwood. Drove in to Hyd Lock. Spoke to Cliff about concrete inspectorship. Started west wing wall this a.m. Office till 11 pm. 

August Wednesday 15: Office. Drove over works in pm. Drove to Station and took train to Lak’d. Took Sunbeam to Cottage. Fine. 

August Thursday 16: Civic Holiday. Worked all a.m. underbrushing – ‘Empire’ went to Burleigh & took scow to Wood pile. Met me at 2 pm. Ran to Indian River dam. Found too much water passing down. Went to Regatta at Juniper Is. Harry won swimming race & [----] [----] [---]. Ran on to Buckhorn for night. Family with me. Fine. 

August Friday 17: Ran to Bob’n hoping to see American party (D. Mallory) but found they left houseboat this am at 6 am. Had ‘Empire’ help tow Lotus to Burleigh. Left Lotus in dry dock all night as she leaked. Empire took us to Cottage. Fine. 

August Saturday 18: Walked up early & exam’d Lotus but only found leakage thro' tow post at bow. Empire crew & Francois [Marin] loaded wood and towed Lotus to Cottage & took wood to Lak’d. I had Lotus fixed before Empire got there. Underbrushed all pm. Fine. 

August Sunday 19: At Cottage. Beautiful day. Worked at yacht all am getting her ready to go over to service but did not do so. 

August Monday 20: Went down on Empress. Muriel Rogers went with me. Drove to town –  (Cooper). Office till 5:15. Drove (L) over works from Lake to Warsaw Rd. with Francis & Spence. Office at night. Fine. 

August Tuesday 21: G.H. Duggan here. Drove (L) over to lock with him. I left him with Francis. I went to Hastings to visit Gordon. Just sinking pier for coffer dam. Got Telegram from Tarte & Lafleur re instructions at Lindsay. Went to Lindsay. Took Duggan with me. Notified all boatmen that Scugog was open again. Work will be completed tomorrow. Stayed with Duggan till 12. 

August Wednesday 22: Office. On works in a.m. 

August Thursday 23: Office. Drove (L) over works in pm. Went to Lak’d on train was told there was no night boat so drove (C) to Sandy Bay. Family are in Houseboat. Hot. 

August Friday 24: Started in Victoria for Lak’d at 10. Victoria out of line so Joe Young & boys drew her up on ways. They took out shaft & George drove it down at 10:30 pm. I drove down (C). Arrd 1:30 pm. Office. Drove over works in pm. Office 11 pm. Went down to Hamiltons with shaft with George. 

August Saturday 25: Drove (L) to Hamilton’s re Victoria shaft. Office. Drove to Works. On work most of a.m. In afternoon drove to Lak’d. Morrow with me. Went over work at Hulls with M. Worked at Victoria till 9 and launched her. Started for Cottage with Victoria. Harry, George & Claud with me. George took shaft up this am. Very warm. James & Maggie Rogers went up to Stoney Lake to stay. 

August Sunday 26: Very hot. Ran Victoria up the lake tonight for sail. All family with me. 

August Monday 27: Started at 11 on Victoria for Lak’d. Drove (C) to town arrd 3:30 pm. Drove over works 6-7. Office till 10:15. Met Mr. Bell Canadian Co’y agent at Oriental re lot in Stoney L. Amazed to meet him. Saturday am at S Lake. Very warm. Very heavy thunder showers. 

August Tuesday 28: Drove (L) to office & over works. Went to Hastings at noon. Gordon just closing in coffer dam. Came home via Norwood. 2 volunteers Hall & Johnson arr’d home from South Africa. Had good reception. Office till 11 p.m. Very hot. 

August Wednesday 29: Drove to Lak’d & took Empire up to Stoney L. Empire painting buoys in Stoney Lake. Bro’t me to Lak’d again & I drove to town. Hot day. Worked at office till 10:30. Started for Coteau at midnight.

August Thursday 30: Started for Coteau at 12:12. Arr’d 9 am. Met Mr. Schreiber at Munro’s office. Discussed question of extra price for Moulding on towers & wall of Hyd Lock. C.S. decided to leave question to Mr. [Euart]. Went thro’ Canal on tug to Lachine & into Montreal. Pope came up at night. Went with Johnson P. to see CS re setting of beams &c by Corry & Laverdure on work. 

August Friday 31: Have dihorea [sic] very badly. Went out to Dominion Bridge works to inspect material. Felt so miserable. I laid down for while. Called on Badgley, Gaele Tilter McCauley & [---]hall & Marceau. Was going over harbor but felt too miserable. Left at 9:30 for home.

September Saturday 1: Arrd home at 5 am from Montreal. Went to Lak’d on train. Took Empire for Stoney Lake. Felt so miserable from dihorea [sic] that I could not do anything. Make out Acct for [---] Exp’s for Aug. & July for Repairs. 

September Sunday 2: At Stoney Lake. Feel pretty tough & C Gordon & George drove up to see me re work at Hastings. A Bell C.E. & [---] (lawyer) at houseboat to tea. Discussed settlement but arrived at no settlement. 

September Monday 3: Labor Day. Left Sandy Bay at 9 & went to Cottage & packed up. Left with Houseboat & Victoria at 1:30 & got to Lak’d at 4:20. Cooper drove us down got home at 7:30. Very heavy showers today. Went over to meet A. Bell C.E. Canada Co’y Ag’t re settlement fence between lots at Stoney Lake. Offered 300.00 for their lot & said I would write him to [---]. 

September Tuesday 4: Office. Drove over works. 

September Wednesday 5: Office. Drove over to Hy lock at 11 am & to train. Went to Hastings to meet Gordon. Drove to Norwood & train home. Office till 11 pm. Very warm. Sent Harry to Lak’d for large canoe for Esson. He bro't rest of stuff home from Lak’d. 

September Thursday 6: Went to Toronto. Saw J.R. Stratton, CB Smith C.E. re cement tests. Went up to Exhibition at 2. Poor. Went up to Junction. Ed came down to train. Home at night. P Hamilton & A Hall on train. Very warm. Lent P Hamilton 2.00 

September Friday 7: Very busy. Office all day. Reports &c. Drove (L) to Hy lock at 5 pm with Francis. Office till 10:45. Fine. 

September Saturday 8: Office till 5 pm. Drove (L) over works. Office till 12 Midnight. Sent off C&L Estimate. Fine. 

September Sunday 9: Very warm. Spence at dinner.

September Monday 10: Went to Lindsay. Took Empire for Balsam lake. G. McHugh & Johnson Ellis with me. Rig did not meet us so walked to Victoria Rd. Examined Canal crossing of G.T. Ry to discuss Ellis’ application for stone. Had just time to catch train so started for home & arrd 9:30 pm. Office 10:30. 

September Tuesday 11: Very busy in office. Got off plan for Nassau property for G.M. Roger. Drove over works at 5:30  pm with Francis. Went to Warsaw Rd. after tea. Office till 10:30 pm. Fine. 

September Wednesday 12: Office. Drove to works to meet Francis re letter from C.S. re wing wall plans. Went to Mrs. Manvers funeral and to works. Office till 6 and 8 to 10:15. A terrible gale last night. 

September Thursday 13: Busy getting Harry ready to go to TC School. Went down to Pt Hope with Harry to take him to T.C. School. Saw Head & paid fees. Drove over canal line & exam’d Harbor &c. Called to see Miss Ward. Came home at 5 pm. Fine. 

September Friday 14: Arr’d Ottawa. Went to Dept. for ½ hr. Went to meeting of C.S.C.E. [re] Mills &c & to new Interprovincial Bridge. Lunch by Dom’n Bridge Coy. Garden Party at Thos Keefer’s & conversation at Alymer. Intended to go to excursion to Parry Sound but CS told me to go to office in tomorrow a.m. 

September Saturday 15: Went to Dept. all a.m. Discussed matters with CS re staff &c. Went to excursion up the Gatineau of ladies re C.S.C.E. Very pleasant. Rust G.E. with me. Met Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Anderson. Started for home at night 11 pm. Beautiful day. 

September Sunday 16: Arrd home at 7 a.m. Church – Cool. 

September Monday 17: Office in am. Drove over works in pm. WT Boyd came over to works & I took him over work. Instructed Francis to go to Montreal. I left for Kirkfield at night. A Davis went up on train with me. Stormy. 

September Tuesday 18: Drove over Sec 1 with Mr. Dennon Sr & exam’d rock upheaval near Balsam Lake. Convinced it has raised. Called Bethune down for being absent from dam. Found bad work at dam & no inspector there. Drove to see Morrow & party laying out line Sec 2. At Gamebridge tried to find D Graham M.P. but he was away. Met Alymer on Sec 3. Stayed on at Lindsay & met. Meeting of mill & steamboat, me re interference of logs with navigation. No decision but comttee appointed.

September Wednesday 19: Office till 4:30. Drove Mina to Exhibition and then to locks to visit Hickey building scow at locks – then over work at Hyd lock. Fine day. Started for Ottawa at Midnight. 

September Thursday 20: Arrd in Ottawa at 6:20. Saw CS re an ambiguity in Larken & Sangster’s contract for Sec 2 S&B. Had it put right. Busy at Report on Port Hope route. Heavy showers in a.m. Started for home at 11 pm. 

September Friday 21: ["Brantford" written above date.] "Arrd home. Busy at house office with Report on Port Hope route. At 5 drove over wrk from lake to Hyd lock. Office 8-10. Jas Kennedy C.E. called by appointment to discuss matter of the Brantford work with me. He was on his way to Montreal. Fine. 

September Saturday 22: Busy at house office all day. Get out my report on the Port Hope route. Got it off today. Sawers called this a.m. re piers of Conroy’s. Gordon called re Hastings work. Office 9-10. Mrs. Spence came home tonight. Fine. 

September Sunday 23: Drove to Chemong in pm to see Cottage. Mina with me. Cool. 

September Monday 24: Went to Beaverton. Drove to Gamebridge. Met Robinson C.E. there. We drove to Kirkfield. Went over matters with Morrow at night. 

September Tuesday 25: Drove out to meet Morrow & party, on line at Balsover & on to meet Graham M.P. at Gamebridge but he was not at home. Met Alymer & his brother & we went to Center Rd. & I gave him permission to put [blkshop] &c & we then went on to Lake Simcoe. Drove to Beaverton & home. Met Graham while passing thro Blackwater. 

September Wednesday 26: Houseboat sunk last night. Drove to Lak’d and raised her up again. Did not do very much harm. Had Empire & two scows raise her. S Montgomery & Tully & Crew on Emp. George & my self helping. Dinner & tea at J [---]. Very warm. 

September Thursday 27: Drove up to Lak’d & found nothing wrong with Lotus. She was allowed to get too much water in & got to the upper seams. Home at 11:30 & went to Hastings. Took photos. Just putting coffer dam (2d) at North end. Drove to Norwood & home. Drove over to Hyd lock. Very bad cold & did not go out. Harvest Festival at St. Lukes. 

September Friday 28: Have a terrible cold. Stayed in house all a.m. In pm drove over work from Norwood Rd. to lake. Fine. 

September Saturday 29: In house all day till 4:30. Drove (L) to Football Match & to office & to train to meet Rev W.C. Allen who is to stay with us till Monday. Have been working at house all day. Rained till 2 pm. 

September Sunday 30: Went to Service early morn & night. Rev  WC Allen went to Otonabee. Fine. Feel better.

October Monday 1: Office. At night went to Kirkfield. Morrow sick & at home. Make out ‘Repair’ act for July, Aug. & Sept. 

October Tuesday 2: At Kirkfield. Drove to Gamebridge & met Graham M.P. re office &c. In pm went on line & drove to Beaverton & looked about office. Drove back to K’d. Worked in office. Had talk with Mosgrove & looked [---] for office. Fine & hot. 

October Wednesday 3: Started for home. At Lindsay went down to look at Walters work but found no one there. Col. Sam Hughes came home fm South Africa on morning train. In pm drove over work with Francis. Office at night. 

October Thursday 4: Office. Drove Learys back to Lak’d. Exam’d Corroy’s work at No. 3 & located pier. Took Empire for Youngs Pt. At Ygs Pt exam’d work being done by the Lak’d Cement Co’y to report on necessary repairs. Ran on up to Sandy Bay & back. H Calcutt Sussie & Mina with me. Beautiful day. Very warm. 

October Friday 5: Office. In pm drove down river to visit dredge gang. Gathered some mushrooms & water cress. Very warm. Little Midsummer. Office. Went to theater but came out. No good. 

October Saturday 6: Office. Drove over to Hyd lock & Lock 6. Went to Hastings. Gordon went down & up with me – about 4 rounds on north abutment. Gordon & I drove to Robinsons Island. Office. Very hot. Like July. Weather has been like July for days. 

October Sunday 7: Services. 

October Monday 8: ["Brantford" written above date.] Started for Brantford re exam. head gates for Council City. Met Kennedy J & Wise at Toronto. Stayed 4 hrs in Hamilton. Saw H Witton. Arrd in Brantford at 5 pm. Went down to Headgates in pm. Called on Mayor & Mr. Bushell. Fine 

October Tuesday 9: ["Brantford" written above date.] Met Manufacturors Com’e at 9:30 & after met Kennedy. We decided [---] headgates should be unwatered to examine it. It was decided to unwater next Sunday. Left for home at 11 am. Arrd in Toronto at 1:30. Saw CB Smith re Cement tests. Called at Canada Coy. & Patti & tea at [---]. 

October Wednesday 10: Went over work in am. 

October Thursday 11: At Kirkfield. Went over work with Morrow. Vict’a Rd. dam & dredge & over Secs 2 & 3. & to Beaverton. Saw McKenzie re house for office. No decision. Came home. Started for Ottawa at midnight. 

October Friday 12: Arrd in Ottawa. Saw CS re another Asst-Engineer for S & B as Morrow was leaving. Went to lunch with CS. Started for home at 11 pm. 

October Saturday 13:["Brantford" written above date.] Arrd home from Ottawa in am. Went over work with F. Gave instructions for inspectors to report. Started for Brantford at 11:30 at request of City Council. Stayed in Pt Hope 1-3. Harry had dinner with me & I went up to school & saw Headmaster. Went on to B. Fine. 

October Sunday 14: ["Brantford" written above date.] At Brantford. Went to Head gates in am. It was nearly unwatered when coffer dam gave away. Went to dinner with H Jones. Met Bunnel Hall & [Watsons] re conferring with Kennedy. They decided for me to go home & await further instructions. Jas Kennedy drove me to Harrisburg& I came home. 

October Monday 15: Drove to Lak’d & took ‘Emp’ to Youngs Pt. Exam’d dam. Gordon with me. Mr. Dennon arrd at noon to examine the skill displayed by C&L on work. At night Dennon came over to my house. Morrow & Farris also over. Warm & fine. 

October Tuesday 16: Office till 5 pm. Mr. Kennedy, Barton & another called re water power at Nassau. Drove over work Norwood Rd. to Hy L. Mr. Kennedy (Montreal) with me. He was impressed with lack of energy on work. Mr. Dennon (Onderdonk's Supt) on work examining method of operations. He went home at 5:30. Mr. Kennedy at home to tea. Went to party of Rev. Symonds. Rain in am. Very cold. 

October Wednesday 17: Went to Beaverton. Drove to line at Gamebridge. Met Municipal Com’e re choice of Survey on High Level & they chose Survey for Center Rd. & Hy L level for road on shore of lake. Decide to rent Mckenzies house for office $8.00 p.mo. Home. H Morrow came down. Office 9-10. Cool. Harry came home from TCS tonight. 

October Thursday 18: Thanksgiving Day. Went to service. Office til 1. Went to works at 2 till 4:45. Suggested double track to Laverdure & he said he would put it down. Office till 6:30 and at night. Beautiful day. 

October Friday 19: Office. Harry went back to school at noon. Drove to Lak’d. Visited Conroy & Empire men in pm. Went to tea at EA Pecks. Office till 11 pm. Beautiful day. 

October Saturday 20: Went to Lindsay in am to visit Walters. Just started today to drill with drills on scow about 200 holes drilled and 150 to drill. Came home at noon. Hon Merlock on train & went to Oriental with Irwin, Mr. Merlock & McLennan. Went to Hyd L in pm. Office at night. Beautiful day. 

[No entry October 21]

October Monday 22: C.H. Rust, City Eng’s Toronto arr’d to go over works. Drove Rust over works & to Lakefield. Asked him for Report on his opinion of the way C&L carry on work. Took Empire to Bob’n. Spent evening with M & W Boyd. Beautiful day. Victoria was to start tonight with scow of materials for Balsam L. 

October Tuesday 23: Started at 7:45 for Kirkfield. Arr’d at [Fut.] at 12. Drove to K. Met Morrow at K. also Dennon. Drove to Beaverton with Morrow. Came home on train. GA Cox & Davis on train. Office till 11. Rain in am. Water so low above Fenelon. Took Burgoyne's boat Fenelon to Balsam. Rust went home. 

October Wednesday 24: Office. Went over to work at 11:30 with Francis till 1. Office till 4. Drove to locks & to Robinsons Is. with Gordon. Office 9-10. Went to Football Ball. 

October Thursday 25: Started for Kirkfield at 5:30. Davis A. on train. H. Morrisson met me at Blackwater. Spent evening with Dennon & Burritt. Fine. 

October Friday 26: Drove to rock work near Balsam L. Went to Peat Works at Hy L No. 2 in a.m. Found stripping not far enough out. Drove to Sec. No. 3. Met Alymer at Lock 1. Came home. Rained hard in evening. 

October Saturday 27: Office in a.m. At Hyd Lock in afternoon and up at Hurdons. Office at night. 

October Sunday 28: EA Peck to dinner & went for walk. Maria & Miss Loucks to tea. Office after ch. - to visit H Morrow. Fine. 

October Monday 29: Worked at house re Lock plan No. 1 S&B till 11:30. Went to office - Patterson, lawyer Toronto, came to office re Nassau plan which I made for him. In pm drove to works with Francis. Dennon was here this afternoon to examine into linking of Corry & Laverdure’s work. Office till 10:30. Stormy from 3 pm. 

October Tuesday 30: Office in am. In p.m. went to Hy L. Met Jennings, Morris & Keefer there who are inspecting work &c for contractors. Dennon was also on work today. Met him at my office at 5 & went to train with him. He gave me his report. Office at night. Cooler & cloudy. 

October Wednesday 31: ["Brantford" written above date.] Went to Hyd Lock till 10:30. Office. Jennings at my office. Started for Toronto at 11:25. Stayed at Pt Hope. Went up to see Harry who has a pain over the appendix. Went on to Toronto. Met Jas Kennedy at ‘Queens’ re Headgates of Brantford. Arrived at a decision. Went home. Fine.

November Thursday 1: Went to Hyd Lock in am. Took photos. Office pm. Rain at 4. Started for Kirkfield in pm. Spent evening with Dennon getting out his report on C&L’s mode of work. Make ‘Repair’ Acct for July-Aug Sept & Oct. 

November Friday 2: Drove to Victoria Rd. bridge with Sawers & to Peat Works. Saw Sawers & asked him to report on Corry & Laverdures work. Drove to Victoria Rd. dam & to site of Hyd Lock No. 2. H. Morrow met me at Kirkfield. Drove to Balsover & Gamebridge & Beaverton. Went home. Office. Rained hard at 5.

November Saturday 3: Office. 

[No entry November 4]

November Monday 5: C Co’y of 1st Contingent from S Africa stayed off here from 4 to 11 am. Gave them a great reception. 57th went to Toronto. I drove children around in a.m. Went to Omemee to meet Tp Council re settlement with Conroy. They agreed  to leave it with me. George drove team from town. Went to Cowan’s Bridge to inspect it. Went to lecture with Mina on War scenes. Fine till 4:30. W Sims was on Corry & Laverdures work reporting. 

November Tuesday 6: Started to move from home on Douro St. to house Cor. [corner] Stewart & Elizabeth. George had horse & wagon with [---] & I helped in afternoon till 9 p.m. Got beds &c moved and slept in house. Office till 11 pm. 

November Wednesday 7: Dominion Election Day. I was moving all day with George. I went to vote at 4:45. They gave me a ballot at North Ward & I marked it & they then told me I had no vote. I tore ballot up & kept it. At night in town at ‘Oriental’. Liberals have a majority of about 50. Raining showers. 

November Thursday 8: Office in a.m. Hyd L in pm. Office. Went to train to meet Genest & introduce him to Morrow who went up to show him over work. Office. Fine. 

November Friday 9: Office. 

November Saturday 10: Office. Went over work in pm – had a long talk with Corry different reports on the work. Went to a send off reception to Harold Morrow at the 57th Mess Rooms. Went off well. 

November Sunday 11: Fine. Walked over to see Sims in pm re his report on C&L work. Office 8:30 to 10 pm. 

November Monday 12: Mr. Schreiber arr’d. Drove to station to meet him but he did not bring his car. Went to National to breakfast. We came to office and Alymer & Sims met him there & they gave CS their opinion regarding C&L’s work. Drove over work from Norwood Rd. to Lake. C.S. very pleased with look of work. CS went to Ottawa at 11:25 a.m. Drove to Thompson’s dam in pm. with Spence. Office 9-11. Gordon came to see me re ptivate work at Burleigh. 

November Tuesday 13: Office & on work. Drove to Bridgenorth at 5 pm to meet Empire but it was snowing so hard that she did not get thro’. Had supper at Br’h & went home again. J.E. Belcher with me. 

November Wednesday 14: Drove to Bridgenorth & took ‘Empire’ for Bob’n. Ice ¾'' thick from clearing as far as Gannons. Broke ice all day. Arr’d at Bob’n at 6:30 pm. Cold & windy. 

November Thursday 15: At Bob’n sent Empire down lake to try & get thro’ to Lak’d but she had to return. I went down with M & W Boyd to get over some of the Buffalo’s from the Island. Blustering & cold – down to 15 °. Everything frozen up – except in open lake. Went over work with P Grant this a.m. to staunch canal above lake. 

November Friday 16: At Bob’n. Decided to lay up Empire at Bob'n. They took engine down. Ordered team from Peterboro. Leay, JE Belcher & I started at 3:30 by sleigh for home. Went over work this a.m. with W Boyd to see what was req’d to be done for repairs. 

November Saturday 17: ["Brantford" written above date.] Office. T.H. Jones - Brantford - here all day re approval of Kennedy plan for Headgates. Went over to works in a.m. Disagreeable but milder. Busy fixing up house at night. 

November Sunday 18: Rained most of day. 

November Monday 19: A miserable day. Poured rain all day & froze. Office. Drove over to Hyd Lock at 11 a.m. In pm went up to old house & packed up office things &c till 6:15. At home at night putting up blinds &c. 

November Tuesday 20: Went over to Hyd Lock in a.m. Went to Lak’d on train & instructed Joe to lay houseboat & Victoria up. Drove home & called at No. 3 to visit Conroy. 

November Wednesday 21: Rain hail snow sunshine & cloud and a regular gale blowing all day. Went over Hyd Lock at 4:30. Drove around to see how Francis was as he is sick. 

November Thursday 22: Mild & work going on. Office in a.m. At Hyd Lock in p.m. Started for Beaverton at 5:30. Spent evening with Genest & Fairbairn at B. 

November Friday 23: Drove all over Sec.’s 3, 2 & 1 with Genest. Found he knew nothing whatever about the work & had never been on work since he went over it with Morrow over a fortnight ago. Met Dennon at Kirkfield. Decided to put in concrete core in embank’t at Victoria Rd. Dam. Drove to Beaverton & home. Office till 11:10 pm. M Pousette came in the am & to Jacksons till 12 pm. 

November Saturday 24: Went to Lindsay to look at condition of dam which leaks very badly. Met J.D. Flavelle there. Met Rev. CL. Ingles at station. Went over to work in afternoon. Davis & Sims called. Ordered  concrete work on main & chamber walls to stop. Snow at night. 

November Sunday 25: 4'' snow. 

November Monday 26: A miserable day. Showry & snow. Office all day. Home at night. 

November Tuesday 27: Office. At work in pm. Drove to town & to station CP Ry met Gordon. 

November Wednesday 28: Drove to Lak’d. Gordon & McAlister with me. Took Sunbeam to Burleigh. Got some white fish below Falls. Walked over to cottage & went home from there. Exam’d work at Young’s Pt also L.P.C. Coy’s work. Supper at Lak’d - office. Met Pope & Serties (C.E.) at my office re drowned Canal. Cases at mouth River. 

November Thursday 29: Went to Beaverton in a.m. Drove with Genest to Kirkfield. Went over work with him. Stayed at K. Drove to Victoria Rd. to inspect embankment. At night went to Banquet to Wm Dennon & Son (Wm). Onderdonk’s Supt. at Hotel at Kirkfield. Went off very well. Made speech & song. Mild. 

November Friday 30: Came home on morning train. Spent afternoon with Serties & Pope. Went over to Lift lock with them. In evening drove up to Houseboat at Lak’d & spent evening there. There was Fair, Hill, Pousette, Hall (K.), McAlister, Spence, Gibson, & Halpany. Went off well. Got home at 3 a.m.

December Saturday 1: Met Pope & Serties in my office in am. They went home at noon. Office in p.m. & at night till 10:30. Mild. 

December Sunday 2: Very mild. 

December Monday 3: Office. Went to choir meeting at night & then to office. 

December Tuesday 4: Office. Drove over to work and to Norwood Road. Miserable day. Rain & sleet most of day. Office till 7. Went to St. Lukes annual tea. It went off very well. 

December Wednesday 5: Office in am. In p.m. drove up to No. 4 to inspect Conroys work. Laid out 3 piers for boom. Snow & sleet. Went to United service at St. Johns & after. Office till 11 pm. 

December Thursday 6: Office am. Walked to Hyd L in pm till 4. Office. Intended to spend evening at Lundy’s but found I had made a mistake by telephone. Went to choir practice. Sleet & snow. 

December Friday 7: Drove to Peterboro locks to examine dams & Gordon’s gang. Decided to do as little rep’s as possible & to build new dam. Went to Hastings. Gordon with me to examine dam which was finished last week. Drove to Norwood. Took photos of dam. Went to card party at the McAlister’s. Mild in am. Turned colder. 

December Saturday 8: Office. Had racket with Corry re putting ladder in East well to go down in. Went to Hyd lock in pm. Went down East well to examine bottom. Sherley Onderdonk came this a.m. re his final Estimate. Busy getting out Estimates for appropriations. Office at night. Cooler [nt]. 

December Sunday 9: Turned colder last night & towards evening it got bitterly cold with a regular gale blowing from North West. The ice froze on top of stop logs at No. 2, 3 & 4 Dams & completely blocked the water. It rose & ran around E. of No. 2 & washed out G.T. Ry track. Sent Gordon up at 10:30pm to inspect dams. 

December Monday 10: Drove up at 7:30 am with Gordon to No. 2 Lock to inspect dams & had gang men to take out logs. Gordon went up last night & took out logs in No. 4, 5 Nassau & sent Smith up to No. 2. Very busy all day getting out Annual Estimates. Office till 11 p.m. 

December Tuesday 11: Left for Ottawa 12:34 this morning with Estimates. Met S Onderdonk & Dennon in a.m. Went to office & to lunch with Onderdonk. Went over estimates with CS. Went to dinner (6 pm) with C.S. Left at 8 p.m. Met A Bell (Almonte) & D. Edwards & Rosemond. Spent evening with them. Fine & cold. Cold. 

December Wednesday 12: Left for Montreal at 9 am. Went out to Dom B Works at 1. Went over material & plans with Murphy. Duggan not there. Spent evening with Phillips, Johnson. Cold. 

December Thursday 13: ["Brantford" written above date.] In Montreal met Jas Kennedy re Brantford Headgates & we went over to the C.S.C.E. rooms & went over plans & specifications & adopted them with amendments. Called on Mr. Kennedy. Went up to McGill in pm & down to see John Kennedy. Saw Duggan in evening at Windsor. C. Gaile called & I went with him [---]. 

December Friday 14: Started for home at 9 am & arrd at 4:45. Office 5-6:15. Went to concert at night with Edna. At 8 pm went to a meeting of the Men’s Guild but only few there. Cold. 

December Saturday 15: Walked over to Hyd L. Met Corry there & had long talk with him re dumping behind walls. Busy getting annual Rept & on Hy. to Dept. P. Wks. Office 9-10. 

December Sunday 16: Fine & cold. Walked out in afternoon to see Sam Price. Meeting of Men’s Chapter after service. 

December Monday 17: Went to Be’n. Drove with Genest to K’d. Exam’d [---] Sec. 3. Drove with Dennon to rock cut north G.T. Ry. & exam’d rock berm - & on to Vict’a Rd. dam – OK. Drove to Gamebridge & home. Office till 10:30. Beautiful day. 

December Tuesday 18: Went to Hyd Lock 9 a.m. Office all day. Went to lecture Fortnightly Club at YMCA by Sir John Bourinot re U.E. Loyalists. Mild. 

December Wednesday 19: Office all a.m. Drove along line to Lak’d. Called at No. 4 to see Conroy’s work. Gordon with me – at night went to All Saints Church. Office. 

December Thursday 20: Went to Hyd Lock in am. Office all day & at night. Very mild. Started for Ottawa at midnight. Harry got home from T.C. School this morning. 

December Friday 21: Arrd at Ottawa – re gate crossings of GT Ry on Charlotte & Simcoe Sts. C.S. at Ry Committee all day. Met Mr. Kennedy, Kendry, E.R. Rogers & Edwards deputation re crossing [---] also. Started for home at night. See Notes re interview with S. Onderdonk and C.S. 

December Saturday 22: Arrd home at 6 a.m. At Hyd lock most of day. Getting ready to set first granite stone in foundation in West well. Had dispute with Francis about his going away  for Monday while first [stone] is being set. Mild. 

December Sunday 23: Mild. 

December Monday 24: At lock all day. Most of afternoon in West well. Got first stone in West well set this afternoon. Got letter from Francis resigning his position. Busy buying [Xmas] presents at night. Fine & little colder. 

December Tuesday 25: Xmas Day. Mina & boys & I went to early service. Then to service at 11. Dinner at home. Went to tea at Calcutts & Xmas tree – at 9 - Went up to Maria’s till 11. Went skating on lake for 1 hr this afternoon. 

December Wednesday 26: Went to Hy Lock in a.m. & then to office. Had talk with Francis which resulted in his withdrawing his resignation. Went to work in afternoon. 

December Thursday 27: At Hy Lock in West well most of day. Setting second stone (SE) - got it well set & bedded. Went to Masonic Meeting (St. Johns) at night. Beautiful day. 

December Friday 28: Office in a.m. Drove to Lak’d in pm with team. C Gordon & my children with me. Visited Conroy work at No. 5. Starting first pier today or yesterday. Went to party at Z. Burnham’s. Beautiful day. 

December Saturday 29: Office in am. Went to Works in p.m. Put in third & fourth granite stones in West well. Went for skate to Nassau. Office 9 to 10:30. Beautiful day. 

December Sunday 30: Mild. 

December Monday 31: Office 11-12. Went to Nomination of Council & School Trustees. Was nominated for School Trustee. A notable fact was that all nominees agreed not to solicit votes which is a very good sign. Drove to works in pm & office. 

[On the back inside cover of the diary, Richard has recorded some payments made for rent of the House on [corner] of Stewart & Elizabeth St. They immediately follow]

House Cor Stewart & Elizabeth St.

Date Rent to

Jany 10 – Jany 1^st 10.00

March 9 – March 1^st 20.00

Oct 20 – Nov 1^st 80.00

[Below these entries is a list of trips made to different locations in the Works that RBR visited during the year]