Fonds MSG 475 - St. Lawrence Steamboat Co. Fonds

268 cm of textual records

This material consists of business documents and correspondence reflecting the activities of the St. Lawrence Steamboat Co., mostly for the pre-1840 period, although there are documents dating to 1863. The major portion of the fonds, comprising 83 of a total 89 volumes, consist of freight books (1819-1833) and passage books (1822-1838). These logs provide information on passengers and goods carried between Montreal and Quebec, as well as other stops such as Chambly. The fonds includes information on fifteen steamboats and two barges, operated by the St. Lawrence Steamboat Company, which made voyages between 1819 and 1838. The data found in the vessel logs in the fonds include names of vessels, details on their crews, quantities of fuel aboard such as wood and coal, and the number of downbound voyages (that is, from Montreal to Quebec) and upbound voyages per seasons (generally from May through November). Lists of cabin and steerage passengers as well as descriptions and quantities of goods carried between Montreal, Chambly, Sorel, Trois-Rivieres, and Quebec are also sometimes included in the logs. The information also includes charges levied for passage and for freight as well as the names of consignors (shippers of goods) and consignees (receivers of goods, usually a merchant), as well as the destination address. The steamboats found in the fonds also frequently towed barges and brigs, whose names are sometimes recorded along with the charges levied. In addition to these vessel logs, the fonds also includes: account books, 1803-1818, 1844, 1851; wage books, 1826-1832-1835; bills of lading, 1812-1813; and letterbooks, 1827-1829, 1843-1863. One book of account pertains to laundering costs for the years 1819 to 1828; a journal (log book) for the “Lady Sherbrooke” for 1823 is also included. Finally, there is an inventory of furniture, bedding and wares onboard th steamers in 1829, 1831, and 1833, and an unrelated and incomplete pay list for dock workers dated September 1892.