In direct response to the limitations of water transportation came the railways. The first railway in Canada, the Champlain and St. Lawrence, was in fact a fourteen-mile portage from Laprairie on the St. Lawrence opposite Montreal to St. John on the Richelieu River. Planned by a group of merchants led by Peter McGill, its purpose was to facilitate trade between Canada and the United States. This north-south orientation of many of the earliest railways should be noted. The rails of the Champlain line were of wood with flat bars spiked on top. The first cars were horsedrawn, but soon locomotives such as the Dorchester shown here, were introduced.
