TTC 1943 Route Maps, Fares, Wages

LC Gagnon obtained this map of Toronto Transit Commission services in 1943. 

At various times, his grandfather - a dairy farmer living near Lachute, Quebec - sent 'a car' of livestock down to the Royal Winter Fair to show them - or to sell them in some cases. This was in the period when livestock could ride in boxcars with attendants. However, there was no 'Royal' in Toronto during the Second World War as the military had taken over the exhibition grounds. So the reason for this map acquisition is not clear.

The first of the TTC's 700-odd PCCs arrived in 1938. In an official 1953 history of the TTC, they were identified repeatedly as 'Streamliners' and not PCCs. The period of Art Deco styling and aviation-style streamlining influenced the design of many items in the 1930s and 1940s. 'Streamliners' they remained into the 1950s. Unless they were operating along an urban canyon into a howling blizzard, we can guess that their aerodynamics were never employed to advantage.

The cheap, resource-sparing wartime printing and dyes are evident in the image below. Before minor computer-tweaking to bring out detail, the prevailing colour of this cover today is almost a uniform, muddy brown. 

In wartime, or at any other time, there can be no obvious reason why someone would wear a Robin's egg blue suit when coal smoke and soot were ever-present features of urban life ... unless they needed to stand out when posing in front of the dark interior of a PCC streetcar.

As Toronto would have been an important centre for the intake of civilian personnel into the military, we can imagine that incredible numbers of these maps were produced to help these newcomers navigate in the Big Smoke. As Toronto citizens went into the military from their local civilian jobs, we can also assume that many replacement workers were also coming as newcomers to replace them in Canada's second city.

The TTC information (all of it is reproduced below) is on one side and a generic gas station streetmap (by the HM Gousha Company) of the city appears on the reverse. As usual, the latter provides no interesting information on the location or features of particular railway facilities. 

A Canadian dollar in 1943 is the same as $19 today, compensating for inflation.

Below, you'll find fares.

At the very end, you'll find wages from a 1953 TTC-published history.

Today, based on 1943 data and using 2026 dollars ...

A single ticket for the main system would cost $1.18 .

Operators of single-operator streetcars, and buses received wages of $13.87 to $14.82 per hour.

One week of vacation per year.

Two weeks of vacation were provided in 1946 ... until 20 years of service was achieved.

end of TTC map

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From: Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transportation Commission.

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Sandford Fleming - A List of Posts About Him .. & Ocean to Ocean in 1872

Pieces on Sandford Fleming before he was knighted ...

 Sandford Fleming & Time Zones - Stuck Overnight at Bundoran in 1876!

1881 - Sandford Fleming Rides in a Gondola

Time Zones for Railways in North America

International Meridian Conference, 1884 - Indefatigable Sandford Fleming

*  *  *

The Fleming Expedition of 1872 - from Halifax to Victoria

Fleming was a civil engineer and surveyor. In 1872, he was Engineer-in-Chief of the Intercolonial and he had also been offered the post of chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway survey. 

Back in 1862, Fleming had presented the government with the plan for an ocean to ocean railway. A decade later, we find Fleming looking for a route for the railway to the Pacific. Below is a photo of some of the people embarking on that expedition.

Sitting: Frank Fleming, Mrs. Fleming, Mrs. Moren, Dr. Arthur Moren.
Standing: Rev. G.M. Grant, Sandford Fleming, Col. Robertson Ross
Library and Archives Canada / C-002788

Sitting: 

Frank Fleming was Sandford Fleming's son. 

Dr Arthur Moren was from Halifax and the medical officer for the trip. 

Standing: 

Rev GM Grant was born in Pictou, NS and was educated at Glasgow University - he chose to return to Canada to conduct his ministry and was the Secretary for the group. Afterwards, he was the author of Ocean to Ocean. 

Colonel Patrick Robertson-Ross, Adjutant-General of the Canadian Militia (the Canadian 'army') joined the group between Toronto and Fort Garry.

The complete list of participants is shown below. At certain points personnel changed. Fleming sometimes dispatched members to explore alternate routes. 

*  *  *

Ocean to Ocean, Grant's skilfully-written account of the expedition, was widely read both in Canada and in the United Kingdom. It drummed up interest in the former Hudson's Bay Company lands of the Northwest and presented the railway as an essential element of Canadian nation building. 

... It describes life and travel in the west before the introduction of mechanized transportation - the familiar CPR-settlement era. Grant's record of the feats of the highly-skilled guides from Kahnawake, including their canoe competitions and 'games' is particularly interesting.

Also mentioned are those whom we might consider to be 'refugees' from their own lands - bands from the United States who fear the 'longknives' - the US Cavalry. These aboriginal people hope for survival and safety by crossing the British North American border. 

History is always complex and Grant foresees some of the difficult questions facing both the First Nations and Métis ... and those of European extraction ... once their cultures meet in the west. 

Grant does not dwell on aboriginal issues, however, and he does not sugarcoat ...

 As the expedition travelled during summer and late fall in Canada, the relative fierceness of the native insect population is the subject of regular documentation!

*  *  *

My copy is:

Ocean to Ocean; Reverend George M Grant; 1873; Charles E Tuttle & Co (1967 reprint).

At the end, a link to another publisher's version at archive.org is provided.

The images with a yellow tint are from archive.org. 

The map from the reprint is reproduced below.

It is not particularly easy to read, but it shows the general routes explored.

from: Ocean to Ocean; Rev George M Grant; 1873; Charles E Tuttle & Co (reprint). 

*  *  *

The Itinerary of the Expedition

*  *  *

"Bonus Content"

The North-west Angle - July 29, above.

As the expedition passes this location, the Secretary - the Rev George Grant - writes ...

from: Ocean to Ocean; Rev George M Grant; 1873; Charles E Tuttle & Co (reprint).

As the border might have been ...

from: Historical Atlas of Manitoba; Warkentin & Ruggles; 1970; Historical & Scientific Society of Manitoba.

This is the JS Dennis map of 1869.

You can see the Hudson's Bay Company post at the South-west Angle of Lake of the Woods.

The continuation (above) of the 49th Parallel to the South-west Angle of Lake of the Woods would have been logical. 

*  *  *

However, the Mitchell Map was cobbled together from maps compiled by an American-British physician-botanist ... originally from Virginia ... trying out yet another hobby after moving to Britain. 

This was John Mitchell (1711-1768). His work was sponsored by George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax (yes, 'that Halifax') and published in 1755. Halifax had complex imperial motivations. 

Hopefully, it was to no one's surprise that ... a map made at such a distance did not accurately fix the true location of the origin of the Mississippi River. It was this inaccuracy which indirectly led to the North-west Angle error (seen below). After several international armed conflicts, treaties, and conferences ... this error became the official boundary. 

There were worse historical boundary injustices inflicted on Canada on our behalf by the Colonial Office (and its many antecedents) as it bargained with the United States. Please, let's not be bitter. 

The 'Pene-exclave' of water-locked American isolation south of Angle Inlet (below) is the only part of the contiguous United States north of the 49th Parallel. A local plaque attributes this quirk of the border to the skilled negotiations of Benjamin Franklin.

*  *  *

Today's Canada - US Border at Lake of the Woods

... at the North-west Angle (Northwest Point)

from: Google Maps 2026.

*  *  *

Having discussed the North-west Angle, the party continues west from 'Winnipeg'.

 Here is the link to the book at archive.org

Ocean to Ocean, Rev George M Grant; 1873; James Campbell & Son archive.org

end