Written on the Opening of the Eastern Section of the Great Western Railroad, 1st November, 1853
Artistic licence places the bridge much closer to the Falls as is the case. Construction of the bridge was completed in 1855
Image courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library
Hurrah, for the straight, hard iron road !
‡‡For the fire-horse swift and strong !
Hurrah for the pond’rous chariot-train
‡‡That fleetly speeds along !
Through wood and wold—through hill and dale,
‡‡Past hamlet, hut, and hall,
The snorting fire-horse flys apace,
‡‡With a swift adieu to all.
Trees, rocks, and streams seem darting past
‡‡Like shadows on the wind—
The earth itself is rushing on,
‡‡To recede fast, fast, behind !
Away ! away bounds the mighty steed,
‡‡While wondering crowds admire
And, breathless, gaze on the fearful force
‡‡Of iron moved by fire.
The horse—the horse of our grandsire’s days,
‡‡With bones and muscles strong—
And the camel tall, and the elephant,
‡‡Could drag huge loads along ;
But the iron-horse, from the hand of man,
‡‡Impelled by mind and steam,
Whirls mountain chariots through the air
‡‡With the swiftness of a dream !
Speed on, strong horse ! with thy tidings glad,
‡‡Through wood and wild, speed on—
Thou bear’st abroad in triumphs now,
‡‡The conquest Mind has won ! —
The marvels, mysteries, magic, spells
‡‡Of a darker, bygone day,
Before the fact of the iron-horse
‡‡Must quickly pass away—
And fleet and far o’er the iron road
‡‡Strong thoughts shall soon be borne,
To burst the bondsman’s irksome chain,
‡‡And blast the tyrant’s scorn :
Intelligence, and power, and peace,
‡‡As the Maker, God, designed,
Like a rainbow wreath shall gird the earth,
‡‡As the heritage of Mind.
Land of the wood, and ocean lakes—
‡‡Of the wild beasts’ dark abodes !
Lands where the shirtless savage raved
‡‡Wild mummeries to his gods !—
Land of the savage now no more !
‡‡Blest, peaceful, prosp’rous land !
Thy wealth and freedom are secured
‡‡By a massive iron band !
The red man’s rude and murderous bow—
‡‡His flimsy bark canoe—
His frantic worship—war-whoop wild—
‡‡And nostrums not a few—
From Art and Commerce fled away,
‡‡Yielded to mental force :
And Science now, on her iron road,
‡‡Sends forth her iron-horse.
Hail, Canada ! Thy fame, in part,
‡‡Is shadowed here to-day,
When sounds the steam-car’s whistle loud
‡‡Round our commercial Bay,
And hark ! the whistle sounds again ;
‡‡Crowds press, with keen desire,
To witness Mind’s stupendous power
‡‡In iron and in fire.
Source: St. Catharines Journal, November 17, 1853. p. 1
At the time of writing this poem, McQueen was the editor the the Hamilton Canadian newspaper. Read more about Thomas McQueen here
From Holt, William J. (ed) Niagara Falls, Canada: A History of the City and the World Famous Beauty Spot; an Anthology. Niagara Falls: Kiwanis Club of Stamford, 1967, p. 62 :
“The coming of the Great Western Railway in 1853 brought boom times to the village of Elgin, Canada West.* Hundreds of jobs were created in construction and railroading in Elgin, resulting in a startling population increase from 100 in 1853 to 2000 in 1857. The Great Western, in 1845, took over a charter granted in 1834 to the London and Gore Railroad, which gave it authority to build from any point on the Niagara River to the Detroit River. The construction of the Suspension Bridge at Elgin and its charter provision for a top deck for railroad traffic made Elgin the obvious choice.
Samuel Zimmerman had the contract to construct the portion of the line between Hamilton and Niagara Falls. Construction began in 1851 and the first run to Niagara Falls, with a steam engine and six passenger cars, took place in November, 1853. A gala party was planned at Zimmerman’s Clifton Hotel to mark the arrival of the first train and even though the last few miles of the trip were made by road, after the locomotive broke down, the party was held.”
It is possible that this poem was read at the gala.
*Elgin was a small village where the present day Via/Go railway station and the Niagara Falls bus terminal are located, a few blocks from Niagara Falls City Hall. It amalgamated with the village of Clifton in 1856, and in 1881 was renamed the Town of Niagara Falls. In 1904 the Town of Niagara Falls and the Village of Niagara Falls (formerly Drummondville) were amalgamated to form the City of Niagara Falls.