CRR_Panel1_2 THEFEVER RETURNS THE COBOURG & PETERBOROUGH RAILWAY Prosperity, promotion and promise in mid 19th century Upper Canada combined to revitalize railway fever in Cobourg. A new entrepreneurial generation was infected by the concept of a local railway. Combining those three traits the intrepid D'Arcy Boulton, a Cobourg resident and son of the builder of Toronto's "Grange", accepted the leadership role in a new enterprise. Fully assured of the success of a local railway, he unabashedly proclaimed in the 1851 Christmas Eve issue of the Cobourg Star that he had no doubt that "in less than three years we shall ride on the rail car to the music of the whistle, from hence through Baltimore and Keene to Peterborough." Some thought him foolish to make such an assertion. Councillor Boulton and Mayor Andrew Jeffrey proposed to Cobourg Council that a subscription of £25.000 of stock be taken in the new railway company. The citizens in a municipal vote agreed to such a bylaw. In November the local promoters and politicians journeyed to Quebec City, site of the Parliament of Canada. There they apparently enlisted to their cause Samuel Zimmerman, a well-known railway contractor and political conspirator of the time. No doubt much effort, money and discourse occurred in the back rooms laden with cigars, wine and whiskey. What exertions actually occurred cannot be determined today, but those men enjoyed success. The Legislature of the Parliament of Canada assented to a charter creating the Cobourg and Peterborough Railway Company on November 10, 1852. It was just the third such charter granted for the construction of a railway in Upper Canada (Ontario). Material prepared by Ted Rafuse. Design provided by Steve Smiley, RGD, Quench Design & Communications, Port Hope. D'Arcy Boulton Credit: Cobourg 1978-1948, Business & Professional Women's Club of Cobourg Samuel Zimmerman Credit: CobourgHistory.ca Andrew Jeffery Credit: Cobourg Public Library Parliament of Quebec Credit: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec; Centre d'archives de Québec, P600, S5, PLC69 SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER - IS IT THE RIGHT TIME NOW? D'Arcy Boulton Parliament of Canada, Quebec, circa 1853 Andrew Jeffery Samuel Zimmerman