Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

1867 TO 1901 93Although profits continued to increase for another year,reaching $774,362.86 in 1883, the annual statements forthe five years following 1882 showed a steady falling off intotal assets.Old residents of Toronto will recall that about this periodwhat were known as cedar block pavements were in vogue inthe streets of Toronto and some other Ontario towns. Cedarlogs were sawn into blocks about nine inches in length, andthese blocks were laid on a foundation of sand, after the surfacesoilof the streets had been cleared awayto a sufficientdepth. The interstices between the blocks were then filledwith sand, and the blocks rammed into place. When newlylaid, such a pavement provided an excellent surface for traffic,but as a result of wear and decay the pavement in the course ofa few years presented an indescribably uneven surface, whichcan only be compared with the old corduroy roadways built oftree trunks laid side by side. Many miles of the streets inthe city of Toronto were at one time in this condition. Aminute of the meeting of directors of the bank held on December12, 1882, is, therefore, not without interest. It recordedthe receipt of a notification from the Assessment Commissionerthat the Council of the Corporation of Toronto proposed topass a by-law for the construction of a cedar block roadway onYonge Street between Melinda Street and the Esplanade.This proposal apparently had some connection with the extensionof the street railway south on Yonge Street, from KingStreet to Front Street, and the directors decided that theywould not interfere. It was not until nine years later thatasphalt pavements were laid in this part of the city. JordanStreet was paved with asphalt in the summer of 1889; KingStreet a year later.On the morning of Monday, February 25, 1884, anexplosion of gas took place in the Toronto office of the bank,breaking all but one of the windows in the office, shaking thejoists and partitions, damaging the heavy iron door of thevault and causing large masses of plaster to fall. A number of