A Telegrapher in Kingston - George Robinson

Kingston's Nancy Young reached out to me recently, having seen the Global Kingston news report on my HO-scale Hanley Spur layout. Nancy told me that her father George Robinson (top photo) had typed up his memoirs on a typewriter (that she had bought him) while in the family home in Kingston's Strathcona Park. Nancy asked if I'd be interested in reading them, to which I of course answered in the affirmative! 

Imagine my surprise when I visited Nancy and received not a copy, but the original typewritten memoirs! Along with her father's memories of his job as with Canadian National Telegraphs were several actual telegrams he'd received over his career, along with a few related paper items. This post also contains photos of the telegrams. I was pleased to be given these by Nancy, and in this post I'm publishing some excerpts that give a glimpse not only into telegraphy in Kingston but also spanning one man's career in this forgotten field of communication. 

I've estimated dates for each location, and excerpts have been lightly edited for style, with any additions in [square brackets] and verbatim text by George in "quotation marks". [I hereby renounce any claim to more than a skimmingly superficial knowledge of telegraph technology. After all, does a historian have to know everything about a historical subject to document it? I would direct readers to someone who does, my brother David and his comprehensive Rolly Martin Country blog series entitled The Telegraph - In Six Parts.]

Gordon started as a bicycle messenger boy. For two years, George was paid $25 a month, roughly 10 cents an hours based on working 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., every third week 8 a.m. - 8 p.m., sharing Sundays and holidays with the other messengers and no overtime pay!

PETERBOROUGH - 1933 

Mastering the telegraph key allowed messengers to advance to operators, otherwise a career as a clerk would constitute advancement. Operator Frank Sherwood ran a Morse school for telegraphers from his home in Peterborough as a money-making scheme. Once George applied himself to the Morse, his satisfaction with his lot improved. Messengers, contrary to popular opinion, did not necessarily receive tips. One exception was a midway barker received a telegram from George saying his wife had come through an operation with flying colours. The barker read the message then started dispensing quarters out of the money-changer on his belt - seven in total!

The lack of automobiles at the time made bicycling easier. There were fewer than 200 in a city of moderate size, and farmers came to town by horse and sleigh. Breadmen and milkmen put on their winter sleighs as soon as the first snow fell. There was no snow removal as the snow was left for the sleighs. Streetcar systems kept their tracks clean however, which made bicycling easier.

Peterborough's Quaker Oats received 10-12 CNDs each day from Saskatoon and Chicago with grain prices. Getting back to the telegraph office, he didn't get off his bike because there was another CND to deliver. The Western Clock Co. known as Westclox built their factory atop the highest hill in town. George managed to pedal uphill two-thirds of the way, but never to the top. The streetcar ran line only ran up to the bottom of the hill, so workers had a climb to start their day.

During the Depression [June, 1933] the Presbyterian Church in Canada General Assembly was held in Peterborough. A wire was strung into an upstairs Sunday school room of the church. Inspector Tom Taylor ran the copy from downstairs - as a Scotchman he felt that special attention should be given to this Scottish gathering.

Linemen did not have an easy job. The line power came from 30-odd five-gallon glass jars on a dirt-floor basement extension, under a sidewalk. The jars had to be cleaned and rejuvenated every six months. These supplied DC current to the telegrapher's sounders. While the acid was being changed by a lineman, normally responsible for battery maintenance, or even the operator, any splash of acid meant kissing your clothing goodbye!  Linemen had a non-motorized track vehicle. When the line gang was in town, they had their own dining car and sleeping accommodation parked on a siding. Once, George took a message to the gang's cook and he insisted George have a piece of his apple pie!

The office safe and rubber stamp used to seal the remittance envelopes were still lettered for the Great North Western Telegraph Co. although the Canadian Northern acquired this company as early as 1915 before becoming part of Canadian National Railways.

MIDLAND - 1933 

George covered summer vacation reliefs in Midland, Brantford, Niagara and "St Kitts"[St Catharines], and occasionally Kingston "when Maudie Black would take her short". The Midland office was located on the main street in a portion of an insurance office. Compact, but sufficient, with a staff of a manager and messenger. Until the Depression, there was also an operator. George had room and board at a second-rate hotel, on the main street halfway to the harbour. The rate of seven dollars weekly included three meals a day, not overly fancy but the odd delicious meal of whitefish! Covering Brantford was a cinch, except the head of one firm came in to complain that the word 'love' had been inserted at the end of the message his secretary had sent him while on a business trip while accompanied by his wife! Some romantic in Toronto apparently did the same in numerous messages! While in Brantford, George bought a made-to-measure Tip Top Tailors suit for $19.45.

NIAGARA FALLS - 1933

Afteray summer stint at Oshawa, superintendent Wells offered George a permanent job at The Falls. 

One day, the line gang was troubleshooting, and had thrown a wire over the streetcar power line and connected it to their cable. This was expected to blow a hole in the trouble spot. Instead, it came right through the switchboard and a lightning-like flash shot clean across the office. If the operator had been standing there, it would have blinded him.

There were rooms on each side of the office used by train crews, with small windows on each side. One Sunday morning, George had forgotten his keys but successfully made an entrance through one of these small windows, though nicking a corner of the pane in the process. The manager made him pay for the new glass, though the messenger told him that a month before, the same manager made the messenger break the glass when he also forgot his keys, and that the CN Building and Bridges (B&B) gang had replaced it at no charge!

For $24, George bought his best-fitting suit ever, hand-tailored by a  tailor up Erie Avenue. There was a one-armed operator in the yard office. One day the circuit was out so George and a colleague handled the traffic consisting of car numbers, and they agreed it was quite a battle.

Train crews set their watches by the huge railroad clock in the their office. Each morning at 11 a.m. a time signal was received from the Ottawa observatory. A card, hanging below, was adjusted to show the number of seconds it was out. 

George typed 10 pages about his time in Niagara Falls, though he noted it would take many more to cover his 25 years in Belleville. However, his time in Guelph, London, Brantford, Midland, St. Catharines and Toronto would only rate a page apiece!

GUELPH

When his job was abolished in Niagara Falls, George went to Guelph, initially temporarily. The ticket office was up front, the express in the centre, and telegraphs in rear of a former bank.

BELLEVILLE - 1935

George's time was up in London, so he was offered an opening at Cochrane, though intending to go to another opening in Belleville. The Belleville office was located in the heart of the business district, superior to the Canadian Pacific Telegraph (CPT) office which was on a side street across from the Quinte Hotel. Sub-letting from the ticket department, who always commanded the front of district offices, the telegraphs contended with a rear portion, and only a four-foot counter compared to the ten-foot ticket counter. The sole source of heat was a stove, stoked up each morning by the janitor who also brought up a scuttle or two of coke. The rest of the day, the staff kept it going. Oil-burners were not yet on the market.

George took over as temporary manager from the  "clean-cut, good-living fellow who never smoke or drank". The pole line came down Coleman Street, around houses and was built before automobiles. As cars became popular, the residents found the couldn't have driveways to their houses due to pole locations. The telegraph companies had priority when it came to right-of-way, and no residents accepted CN's offer to have the poles moved for the sum of $300!

The first teletype installation in a broker's office required the installer to build a small table in the office basement to hold the electric motor needed to convert AC to DC. A year later, the electric motor was discontinued and a vacuum-tube converter installed upstairs behind the switchboard. Later, a stock ticker was also ordered. 

A few years later, an oddball fellow who seemed to believe he was a secret service operator for the RCMP started sending cables to overseas dignitaries such as Governors-General in Singapore, Hong Kong and even Moscow. A quiet chap of around 40 years of age, it was said he had been brain-injured during the [First World] war. 

As the Depression deepened, the company asked all employees to take a half-day off per week with no pay. A ten-day strike later resulted in a 40-hour week being brought in. At that time, hourly pay was around 25 to 30 cents for most workers. Families on 'relief' were furnished with a quarter-cord of wood monthly plus food vouchers for specific corner grocery stores. Able-bodied men were compelled to work on city projects. Old fellows were forced to work in the middle of winter levelling the hill on Zwicks Island or shovelling snow on the main streets. Many of them were ill-dressed for the cold winds blowing off the Bay of Quinte, and ended up with frozen feet. 

Campbellford and Stirling hockey teams played a playoff game in Belleville [1934]. CNR ran special trains from both points, running down Pinnacle Street to the arena - the only time such specials ever ran. 

The threat of war led to the economy recovering. During the war years, there was a considerable increased in traffic off the crack CNR trains: No 6 eastbound at 6 p.m. and No 15 westbound at 7 p.m. With messages destined to Brockville and Kingston there was a rush to get them to these points prior to train travel.

The competition was the the North American Telegraph Co., a subsidiary of Bell Telephone having purchased the franchise some years back so they would have license to operate telegraph equipment wherever they wished. North American covered Kingston, Belleville, Picton, Trenton, Campbellford and Deseronto.

During the war years, the manufacutre of automobiles and household appliances was put on hold, resulting in pent-up demand when the war ended. Upto this time only an ice box was used, and most were anxious to go electric. Walter Douglas helped George get a refrigerator after the war - a deluxe model costing $150!

The office was moved later to the fringe of the business section. The Rev. Semple of Bridge Street United Church would often come in to send a message, but he wouldn't stop at the counter. He would walk right in, pull up a chair in front of George's desk and shoot the breeze as he wrote his message. "I wouldst that I could once again met all the ones I ever worked with, say hello and shake their hand."

KINGSTON - 1961

A sample telegram sent during CN's 'wet-noodle' logo era, post-1961. In this case, it's a July 3, 1962 telegram sent from Toronto to the Davis Tannery on Rideau Street, via the Kingston office at 115 Princess. Street. (Above - Queen's University Archives, A. Davis & Son Limited Fonds, 2319.2-6)

The last 15 of George's 48 years of service were spent in Kingston, with the "demise of the company following a year or two later". The office was jointly occupied with the ticket and express functions, and was located downtown on Princess Street. A year or two later, the express staff relocated to the Outer Station on Montreal Street, necessitating the move of ticket and telegraph offices to a less expensive location one block east on Princess [1963] Storefront of the 95 Princess Street office August, 1966 (Below - Queen's University Archives, Kingston Whig-Standard Fonds, V142.3-3-229)

CN offices at Princess and Wellington Streets - January 12, 1970 showing a convertible being driven down Princess, beneath a light-up banner celebrating Confederation, with an outside temperature of 15 degrees Fahrenheit! (Below - Queen's University Archives, Kingston Whig-Standard Fonds, V142.7-190)

Murray Cornfield was the express agent and Earl Mohr was the new ticket agent. Plans were being drawn up to split the space down the middle, with each department having a five or six-foot counter up front. The landlord put in a side entrance, so the messengers had a place to part their bikes and did not have to enter via the front entrance. Anyone expressing dissatisfaction with the layout was threatened with having the operation moved to the repeater station.

Leo LeBlanc from Montreal took over as ticket agent, and a few months after that, Bart Kenney of Brockville. George, Leo and Bart went to Gananoque one afternoon to familiarize Bart with some of the customers there. Leo's only call was at the Blinkbonnie Hotel, and he asked to be picked up later. Bart and George made their calls and stopped to pick up Leo two hours later. Leo was slamming out a tune on the piano, and he was quite good! The only others in the dining room were two of the hotel staff and they had apparently supplied Leo with plenty of beer!

Leo was recalled to Montreal and chief clerk Frank Becker took over. Finally, tickets moved to the Outer Station with Bart Kenney in charge and Becker going to the Belleville area office. Later, as the passenger department was starting cutbacks, Bart was forced to take early retirement. 

With tickets gone, the telegraph office again moved to a new location on Bagot Street[1972], the best office George had worked in. It was also air-conditioned. This was Kingston's last telegraph office, and Howie Penlington was the last manager. Ken McIntyre was chief repeater attendant at the repeater station adjacent to the Outer Station. CN's competition had been North American Telegraph, Co., a subsidiary of Bell with a tie-in to CPT, located on Montreal Street at the corner of Brock. George MacDonald was manager, with Charlie Payne and Art Wehman the operators. All three were approximately the same age as George. They'd also begun their careers as bicycle messengers [for North American on Clarence Street] in Kingston, where they remained for their telegraphic years [becoming CPR employees in 1956]. Arthur Wehman, George MacDonald and Charles Payne just before the CPT office closed on May 29, 1968. (Below - Queen's University Archives, Kingston Whig-Standard Fonds, V142.6-33)

It was an anxious time for all employees, as the telegraph companies agreed to alternate closing of offices, though fortunately for George it was CN that was selected to maintain the office in Kingston. When the decision to close out CPT was finalized, CN was still in the crowded space at Princess and Wellington Streets.

When express was amalgamated with freight, Jake Mills was moved up from freight agent to terminal traffic manager. The repeater station was handling a considerable amount of the traffic in the evenings after the downtown office closed. Telegraph technician Guy Dalton was transferred to Montreal and replaced by Gord Smithson. Ken McIntyre retired and was replaced by Don Harris. Mel Kealey, lineman, got along with everyone, though George overruled him once. When CN closed out the Forfar station, the agent wanted to keep the Morse equipment. Mel maintained that his instructions were to ship all material to head office. George wired the superintendent and the agent's desire was fulfilled!

"Looking back, I'd say the job itself had some good points. 

You weren't pinned down to a desk all day."

George retired in 1975. 

I trust this post has suitably honoured George's long career. Just imagine the many lives that were touched by the telegrams he conveyed over all those years. No doubt many contained good news of happy occasions, as well as some more serious, sombre messages. It's been a real pleasure and an education to learn about this now-forgotten means of communication and one man's involvement in telegraphy!