LCG 1948 Quebec City, Coal-fired Ferry to Lévis, Older Maps

LC Gagnon worked for McDonald, Currie & Co beginning in August 1944. They were a chartered accountant firm, with offices in the Aldred Building on the east side of Place d'Armes in Montreal. In 1947 he changed jobs, moving to the CPR headquarters to work for the Auditor, Freight Receipts in Windsor Station. 

By October 1948, he had some vacation days accumulated and a CPR pass. Elsewhere on this blog, you can see his CPR trips around Nova Scotia in 1949 (including some CNR mileage), and out to Vancouver in 1950. 

Here are some photos from his first trip - to Quebec City. You can guess where he stayed ...

Back in those days, the value of the corporation's underlying real estate asset had not been surfaced by securitization via a Real Estate Investment Trust and the hotel was run by ... 'employees' ... not pyramids of management contracts. 

There may also have been a discount for CPR employees. 

He arrived on Saturday and departed on Tuesday morning.

Considering all of these factors, his nightly rate in 2026 dollars is $88.11 .

A passerby has volunteered to take LC Gagnon's picture standing on the Dufferin Terrace using his trusty box camera. 

Like Montreal, Quebec City has a Place d'Armes. Maybe it was a franchise. You can see it above.

People always like to see the old cars and buses. The steeple at the left belongs to the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. LC Gagnon might have attended on Sunday, as his grandfather was an Anglican minister. The Price Building is the tallest feature. 

The bus at the right by the Hotel Chateau Normandie is parked outside a 'good restaurant' - so perhaps check it out if you're in the neighbourhood this weekend. On the roof, over the word 'Hotel' is a frame that looks like a primitive radar. I fiddled with the photo a little and I can tell you that whatever this neon sign advertises ... it is 'World Famous' - the only words I could decipher for certain.

The box camera has a convex lens, so vertical structures at the photos' edges tend to bend toward each other. 

We're aboard the ferry and taking a trip to Lévis. They're putting a good fire in by the looks of the stack. Throughout this series of photos, a number of coal smokestacks can be seen. 

Maps of the Quebec and Lévis waterfronts are presented at the end of this post.

A steam whistle by the stack.

With a good head of steam, the Bienville is approaching the Quebec dock.

Many postcards of the Quebec Citadel were taken from this vantage point.

Notice the starboard sidelight and the voice tube beyond it on the wing bridge.

'The most photographed hotel in the world.'

... So far we've seen three photos of the Chateau Frontenac.

Today the docks are frequented by ever-larger cruise ships.

Looking to the east, Quebec's industrial waterfront is seen.

Seen from the Citadel wall, a steamer travels down-river while one of the ferries begins another trip.

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Old Maps

I wanted to find some maps which showed the industrial heritage of the waterfronts of Quebec and Lévis. This first map from BANQ is a fire insurance map which keys to more detailed maps. 

There was nothing to see on the map above the key so it is excluded. Simply read the first map from left to right, then drop down to the next map and read from left to right. This takes you up-river on the Lévis side.

from: Levis,1894; Charles Goad fire insurance maps. BANQ
BANQ. https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2244202?docsearchtext=Levis

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On the Quebec side ...

This is part of a streetcar map from circa 1900. I think the CPR roundhouse is pictured in the upper left corner. There is no numbered key to decode the various identities of the buildings. 

The Ross Rifle factory in the lower left corner is included for history buffs.

Moving east from the Citadel, we are are reminded that the city was shelled by the Americans in 1775 from the west and from Lévis. Major General Richard Montgomery (1738-1775) of the Continental Army (he was ex-British Army) was killed here during that invasion.

The Dufferin Terrace becomes the Durham Terrace at the east end. The Chateau Frontenac should appear on this map near the latter. 

This map does not do justice to the extensive railway network in this area at the time - particularly in the industrial harbour area. 

Quebec City, Electric Railway Map, circa 1900; BANQ.
BANQ  https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4293393?docsearchtext=plan+Ville+de+Quebec

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