INQUIRY IDEA N°3 -VICTORIAN DETECTIVE

Consult these excerpts linked to the Web activity Inquiry Idea #3, "Victorian Detective".

4) What kinds of industries were found in Montreal in the second half of the 19th century?  

  “[Starting in the 1840s], the Montreal manufacturing industry became organized around two poles. The first comprised light industry based on an abundant supply of poorly qualified and underpaid manpower made up mainly of French Canadians from rural areas. Of the several distinct industries in the city, shoe making, an old Montreal speciality, outstripped all others by 1870. But clothing manufacturing also grew significantly, scattered throughout numerous small studios located near the downtown area. The textile industry, which essentially made cotton fabrics, took hold in the suburbs, where large factories (like that of Victor Hudon in Hochelaga) sprang up. Montreal also became the largest tobacco-processing centre in Canada. Finally, the city attracted numerous industries to the food production sector: flour mills, sugar refineries, breweries, distilleries, meat-processing plants, biscuit-makers, etc.

“The second pole was that of heavy industry. This called for much more highly qualified (and hence better paid) workers of British origin. There were two main sectors. One produced iron and steel products used in the manufacture of engines, rails and pipes on the one hand, and stoves, utensils, tools and hardware on the other. The second sector, that of motorized railroad equipment, owed its existence to the two main railway companies (the Grand Trunk Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway). It produced locomotives, railway cars and the parts that went into them. 

“The diversity of Montreal industry was already quite striking during this period, representing as it did most of the great manufacturing sectors.” [transl.]

Linteau, Paul-André. Brève histoire de Montréal, Montréal, Boréal, 1992, p. 81-82.

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