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both the Richelieu Company and a stray vessel of the St. Lawrence Tow Boat Company. The differences with the Richelieu Company were settled amicably but the stray eventually had to be purchased.39 This acquisition was part of the firm's most important expansion. In all, six vessels were acquired in the fall of 1867. The move necessitated an amendment to the act of incorporation authorizing the sale of 50% more stock. At the same time the `Inland Steam' was dropped from the corporate title.40 The primary motivation for the pur chases was to eliminate competition. Fortunately, the Canadian Navigation Company was able to raise the requisite funds without driving itself deeply into debt. Of the six vessels the company obtained, five had been running in opposition the previous season. The exception was the Corinthian, an iron-hulled vessel built along the same lines as the boats in the Mail Line for the company's vice-president. The North Shore - Rochester route on which she operated apparently provided insufficient business for a vessel of her dimensions because Charles Gildersleeve commissioned a smaller steamboat and sold the Corinthian to the Canadian Navigation Company. 4 1For a second time the Gildersleeves may have taken advan tage of their position with the company to dispose of a vessel. The first of the opposition boats was the Union, which had been running against the M a gnet on the Saguenay route. Although constructed of cheaper materials the Union was forty feet longer and possessed an additional deck. Purchased from the St. Lawrence Tow Boat Com pany for a reported $50,000, five years later it would be returned to the same company when the Canadian Navigation Company withdrew from the Saguenay traded2 Like the Union, most of the vessels purchased from the Ontario Steamboat Company were too large to pass the St. Lawrence canals. While one was an ex-Mail Line vessel, the remaining three had, in their heyday, been the largest American boats on the lake. Now, after twenty seasons they could scarcely provide serious opposition for any of the current Royal Mail line vessels. Nevertheless, the On tario Steamboat Company had been making noises about expansion, building a $15,000 dry dock at Charlotte, Rochester's lake port, and openly contemplating the con struction of new steamboats . 43 While it is now impossible to judge how seriously this threat needed to have been taken, the fact remains that the purchase of the company's real assets, including vessels and dry dock, effectively forestalled the danger of a revived American opposition. Run only at the height of the summer travelling season, the American vessels were gradually disposed of.44 PROFITABILITY The principal justification for the policy of expansion in the late 1860s was the continued profitability of the firm. Despite persistent opposition from an improved Grand Trunk and even the depression of the mid-seventies, the Canadian Navigation Company continued to pay divi dends. Although the figures for the first year's operations are not available, the remaining twelve dividends ranged between 5 and 22 1/2 percent. Although the average was 111/4 percent, in most years they ranged between 8 and 12 percent of the paid-up capital. C A NADI AN NA V I G A T I ON COMPANY CAPITAL AND DIVIDENDS, 1883 - 1874 Paid up Stock + Dividends These dividends move in two long cycles. The first, be tween 1863 and 1868 saw them drop from 221/2 to 10 per cent and then rise again to 20 percent. The second, follow ing the expansion in 1868, saw dividends stabilize between 5 and 9 percent. These patterns should not be isolated from the trends in the capitalization of the firm. This almost tripled be tween 1863 and 1867 and increased upwards of 60 percent again from 1868 to 1870. This growth disguises the actual trend in the dollar value of the profits. These steadily grew during the first cycle. The drop-off after the 1867-9 seasons can be large attributed to an unusual fall in the levels of the St. Lawrence which precipitated a series of accidents, including the complete loss of the Grecian. Although only one life was lost (a drunk who attempted to swim to shore through the rapids), these misadventures frightened passengers, prom pted expensive and probably unneces sary experiments with composite hulls, m eant the unscheduled replacement of a fine steamer and sparked 10