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and other barges and some tugs were bought or chartered on the open market. It is likely that this list does not include all of the barges that were acquired. Salmon ("A Prosperous Season, Investments in Canadian Great Lakes Shipping 19001914") noted that between 1895 and 1914 the amount of grain moving east from the Canadian prairies doubled every five years. In addition, there were even larger volumes of American grain coming from ports such as Chicago. Most of both American and Canadian grain usually moved east by water through American ports such as Buffalo and then further eastward rail or barge, but some of it was routed down the St. Lawrence to Canadian ports such as Montreal whenever market conditions, tariffs and transportation costs were favourable. Montreal Transportation Co.'s objective was to divert as much prairie grain as possible to the Canadian route for export or consumption. CANALLERS: By the 1890s, the directors of Montreal Transportation Co. could see that most of this increasing volume of grain would bypass Kingston once work on the St. Lawrence canals was finished and then 14' draft Welland canal-sized vessels ("canallers") could travel all the way from the head of Lake Superior to the sea. Montreal Transportation Co. therefore began to supplement their tug and barge operation, with its emphasis on trade between Kingston and Montreal, by building canallers (first BANNOCKBURN (C 102093) 1893 and then ROSEMOUNT (C 103565) 1896 although neither had a 14' draft) for the lakehead [see definitions]-Kingston trade. The firm's emphasis would then be to carry bulk grain all the way from Chicago or the lakehead [see definitions] to Montreal or Quebec City, bypassing Kingston. Montreal Transportation Co. was among the earliest lake shipowners to make this move. When the war started in 1914, Montreal Transportation Co. had a fleet of nine canallers that had all been built in Britain. The shift in the fleet's composition is demonstrated by the numbers. According to Salmon, on 1 January 1900 Montreal Transportation Co. had three canallers and six lake barges. Their total lake fleet tonnage was 8,673 tons. On 1 January 1914, they had eleven bulk carriers and canallers as well as one lake barge. Their total lake fleet tonnage was 19,294 tons. PURCHASE OF COMPETITORS: Beginning in 1883, the growth of Montreal Transportation Co. was partly through the purchase of various competitors. The first of the rival firms to be absorbed was the St. Lawrence & Chicago Forwarding Co. of Toronto. It was doing poorly by the late 1870s and had not paid a dividend in some years. Montreal Transportation Co. took over the St. Lawrence and Chicago Forwarding Co. in 1883 and thereby gained possession of two tugs, 26 barges and four floating elevators. Montreal Transportation Co.'s strongest competitor after the enlargement of the canals was finished was the Kingston & Montreal Forwarding Co. Montreal 4