Opening of the Sherbrooke, Eastern Townships and Kennebec Railroad.
By the time of Confederation the western half of the Eastern Townships was well served by railroads but the region's eastern counties were too sparsely settled and too distant from the direct Canadian-American lines of communication to attract international investment for railroad construction. The newly created provincial level of government decided to offer subsidies to low-cost colonization lines. Backed by the Grand Trunk Railroad and J.G. Robertson, Sherbrooke M.L.A. and provincial finance minister, the Sherbrooke, Eastern Townships and Kennebec Company was incorporated in 1869 to build a wooden-railed railroad into the wilderness of Wolfe and Compton Counties. This plan proved impractical but Robertson's group reorganized in 1875 as the QuΘbec Central Railroad Company and completed a line through to the ChaudiΦre Valley and QuΘbec City five years later. The region through which it passed was rather barren from an agricultural point of view, but the railroad's promoters were probably more interested in its pulp wood, lime and asbestos deposits.
This drawing from the Canadian Illustrated News (November 7, 1874) shows the formal opening of the line. At the time the excursion train could only travel 22.5 kilometres from Sherbrooke to the township of Westbury. This did not dampen the popular enthusiasm, however, and a thousand people dressed in their best to jam themselves into ten cars and go for a ride. The Honourable Mr. Robertson is seen regaling the crowd about the benefits his railroad will bring to the region. When the annual provincial subsidy failed to materialize the following year, the whole region was up in arms and Robertson resigned from the cabinet in protest.
