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later acted for his estate. Most o f Ward's contracts did not involve guarantors, but in one particularly large deal Ward was backed by som e o f the leading American businessmen in Montreal: Horace Dickenson, Jacob D e Witt, Horatio Gates and John Frothingham. 20 Despite som e short term cash flow problems, Ward was an immediate success both in the construction and repair o f steam engines. So much so, in fact, that with the exception o f the few engines built by John Bennet and his various partners, Ward supplied Upper and Lower Canada with all its marine engines between 1820 and 1829-- thirteen new engines and a wide range o f replacement contracts. (See Table 1) Apart from an engine built by Joseph Lough (possibly with Ward's assistance), prior to the establishment o f the Eagle Foundry all o f the marine engines used on the St. Lawrence had been imported from Boulton and Watt in England. Their cost delivered to the Liverpool dock ran between £84 and £48 per horse power. 21 These then had to make their way across the Atlantic. Ward, by contrast, quoted at £4 8. 10 to £50 per horse power including installation and provided the option for "factory servicing".22 Just as important was the reputation Ward engines would earn over the years for quality and durability. Most critical for the foundry's reputation was the 1823 con tract for the engine o f the Hercules, one o f the most powerful in North America at the time. 23 Details o f Ward's contracts for engines varied, but rather typical was the arrangement for this one, signed in February 1823 with a group o f Montreal mer chants. It required him to build a 100-horsepower engine, boilers, paddle-wheels, and "other necessary gear" for a boat then under construction and to install them by the end of October. Ward was to receive £4500, o f which £500 would be paid when the 55" steam cylinder was cast and inspected, £500 at the end o f each o f the five succeeding months. The final £1, 500 was due when examiners completed a favourable inspec tion o f the engine's performance. The only unusual elements of this contract were that Ward was required to supply guarantors and the price, at £45 per horse power, was the lowest the Eagle Foundry would charge in the decade. Reluctant to take in outside partners, Ward had brought his twin brother, Samuel, north with him in 1819. 24 Three years later, their younger brother, Lebbeus, joined them, and the firm o f John D. Ward & Co. was formed. 25 The firm expanded across Queen St., using the old site for the boiler shop and the larger new site for a new foundry, and other shops. Although no estimates o f the foundry's workforce have come to hand for the years before 1868, at that stage it employed a regular staff of around 100, although as many as 300 were hired in peak seasons. There is no reason to suspect that this was any less in the peak years o f the 1820s and 1830s before many critical machine shop tools had been developed. 26 A long with the shipyards in Quebec, it would have been one o f the largest industrial estab lishments in British North America. Indeed it was on the same scale as som e o f the major New York foundries. 27 Some evidence also suggests that it was a temperance shop, one o f the first o f its kind, in fact.28 At the same time no evidence survives o f financing from outside the family. Indeed apart from the modest, dirt-floored buildings off Queen St., the nature o f the firm's cash flow was such that payments for materials would coincide with prelimi nary instalments from engine buyers. "Buyer financing" o f this type reduced cash flow problems to a minimum and deferred profit-taking by the Wards until the acceptance o f their engines. The Wards appear to have exclusively built what were com monly known as "low pressure engines". Their boilers were operated at pressures close to that o f the atmosphere, only ten to fifteen pounds per square inch. The steam entered the cylinder and was condensed by jets o f cold water, forming a vacuum which drew the piston to it. Typically, the piston was connected to a long rod thrusting well above the deck o f the craft to a "walking beam" which pivoted on an "A " frame. A second rod, connected to the other end o f the beam, would turn a crank on the shaft to the paddle wheels. The result was a large, heavy mass o f machinery with a relatively tricky condenser. But, given the tensile strength o f hand-riveted boilers, the bulk and the cost were considered an acceptable "trade-off' for the safety of the lower pressure steam. And considering that their uncle and early mentor, Daniel D od, had been killed experimenting with a high pressure engine, the Wards "conservatism" is understandable. Nevertheless, as the techniques for building boilers improved, even the "low pressure" or "condensing" engines started run ning at higher pressures (though rarely over 40 or 50 psi). In the meantime, virtually every new contract was an o p p o r tunity to experiment with different arrangements of machinery. With imperfect knowledge o f most o f the engines built in the region, it is very difficult to trace the thoughts and contributions o f each engine builder. However, the Wards were well travelled, inquisitive men. W e know, for example, that John D od Ward was in England in 1829, and his brother Lebbeus in 1837. 29 While John was across the Atlantic, Samuel travelled south to Washington, visiting a friend o f his brother at the United States Patent Office and commenting on a locomotive under construc tion in Baltimore. 30 They were also keen observers o f w hat the local competition was building, and o f the performance o f their own work. On the other hand, keeping improvements a secret would have been virtually impossible. Once an engine left the founders it was placed in a comm on carrier in which the founders only occasionally had a financial stake. It was a simple matter for a curious rival to take a passage in a new steam er and look over the engines. But while the Wards and their rivals engaged in the collective improvement o f the low pressure marine engine, by 1868 the lofts o f their foundry were stuffed with the accumulation o f nearly 50 years o f moulds and p a t terns. 31 The equipment o f the foundry reflected the best that machine shops o f the day could offer. In 1838 this included a steam engine and blowing apparatus (worth £400), three furnaces and two cranes. The blacksmiths' tools included vices, bellows, anvil, drilling machine, jacks, purchase blocks and other tools were valued at £1415. There was a punching and budding machine (for rivets), a nut cutting machine, a portable forge, a trip hammer and a planing machine. The land and buildings were considered to be worth about £2500, the machinery, tools and supplies another £5120. 32 Like other foundries o f the period, the Wards did som e other business. When engine production was off in 1829, orders in cluded "a bark mill or two and machine for rolling leather, a puncher, a turning lathe, mill crank, a few wheels for Brouses carding machines and mill, som e small wheels for Roebuck" and a few small steamboat repairs.33 In the mid-1830s Lebbeus became involved in the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railway, - 30-