Dominion Arsenal - Quebec City, Quebec.   The strategic value of the steep bluffs above the St. Lawrence River have been a part of military planning from the earliest days of Canada's history.  Erected on an exceptional site atop a plunging cliff, the Fortifications of Québec tower over any would-be attackers. The French began construction of the fortifications in 1712, building what was to become North America's only walled city. At the heart of the fortifications was the Citadel, surrounded by the parade grounds, esplanades, barracks and warehouses. In 1748 an inner set of fortifications known as the New Barracks was constructed, surrounded by a guard wall, thus isolating it from the City and civilians. The Royal Artillery Regiment arrived and took up quarters there in 1812, renaming it "Artillery Barracks, Yard, and Ordnance Stores."  The Dominion of Canada was formed in 1867; the British regiments departed Quebec City in 1871.  In 1879 the Canadian Government converted the empty barracks into a cartridge factory to manufacture ammunition for the Canadian Army.

Canada's involvement in the Boer War (Second South African War, 1899-1901), coupled with Canada's growing sense of national identity brought home the need for a home-grown small arms industry, fueling the start of the Ross Rifle Company.  The government cartridge factory was greatly expanded in 1901 and named the Dominion Arsenal. In no time at all an iron foundry was erected within the old St. John bastion and by 1908 the parade square had disappeared under a huge new workshop.

During both World Wars the Dominion Arsenal played a major role in Canada's war efforts. Thousands of men and women from Québec worked there.  In 1945 the Arsenal was incorporated into the new Crown arms corporation, Canadian Arsenals, Ltd.  Over the next twenty years the facilities slid into decline as ammunition production was shifted to other facilities.  The Dominion Arsenal was closed in 1964.  Today the site is part of Artillery Park, within the walls La Ville Vieille (the Old City) of Québec.  There is a small museum on site.

Canadian military ammunition headstamps are marked with the arsenal code, the C-Broad Arrow of government ownership, and the year of production.

Small Arms, Ltd. (Canadian Arsenals, Ltd.) - Long Branch, Toronto, Ontario.  Like all British colonies, Canada initially relied on England to furnish it's small arms.  By 1899 many Canadians were starting to question Canada's reliance on the Mother Country. The Boer War (Second South African War 1899-1901) was particularly frustrating for Canadians, who took pride in their all-volunteer forces standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Britain in the field, while feeling that the British War Department treated Canada as a second-class backwater when it came to supplying arms for the Canadian Field Force. Sir Charles Ross stepped forward, promising that the new Ross Rifle Company would furnish arms uniquely Canadian that would out-perform any Enfield.  Canadian troops left for France and Flanders in 1914 with the Ross rifle and returned home in 1918 carrying the SMLE.  By 1917 Canada's brief fling with small arms production was over.

Twenty years later, with war looming on the horizon, Canada's Department of National Defense, determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past, began a detailed study in 1937 of small arms production in the United Kingdom.  In June 1940 the Ordnance Branch of the Department of National Defense was authorized to build a small arms factory at Long Branch, an outer suburb of Toronto, Ontario. (The fact that construction was already underway in April didn't seem to be a problem.) The Department of National Defense named the new arms-factory-to-be the Dominion Small Arms Factory.  Barely two months later the project was transferred to the Department of Munitions & Supply, who wasted no time in setting up a Crown Corporation, Small Arms Ltd. (S.A.L.) to run the wartime operation. Most of the machinery was new, purchased in the US, along with some items salvaged from the defunct Ross Rifle Company.  By June 1941 the staff of 735 had produced the first five No.4 rifles and sent them off for trials and testing.

The war in Europe ended in April 1945 and in the Pacific in August 1945.  Small Arms Ltd. ceased operations on 31st December 1945 and on 1st January, 1946 was succeed by the peacetime arm of another Crown Corporation, the Small Arms Division of Canadian Arsenals Limited.  The end was not far away after Canada, like Britain, in 1954 adopted the NATO 7.62mm round along with the Belgian made FN-FAL rifle. The Long Branch factory closed on 30th June, 1976.

The 1939 suburb of Toronto once known as Long Branch is now the city of Etobicoke, Ontario.

Ross Rifle Company - Quebec City, Quebec.   The Colonial Conference of 1897 agreed that troops throughout the British Empire should be armed with .303 caliber weapons. Like every other member of the Empire, Canada depended upon England to furnish its small arms.  During some of the fiercest fighting of the Boer War (Second South African War 1899-1901) in 1900, Canada had an immediate need for 15,000 additional rifles for it's troops in the field, but was unable to obtain them, as British arms production was already fully committed to British forces in both South Africa and the Sudan.

Sir Frederick Borden, the Minister of Militia, decided that it was time for Canada to establish her own small arms industry.  He invited the Birmingham Small Arms Company to establish a branch plant in Canada to produce the Lee-Enfield rifle.  BSA (undoubtedly under some pressure from the British War Office) declined the invitation. Sir Charles Ross, engineer and entrepreneur, stepped forward, promising that the new Ross Rifle Company would furnish arms uniquely Canadian that would out-perform any Enfield. 

The offer was accepted and in June 1901 the Minister outlined an agreement to acquire 12,000 Ross rifles in 1902 and another 10,000 per year for the following five years. The British War Office objected strenuously, but because of the War Office's inability to supply rifles in 1900 and the Canadian Government's determination to become self-sufficient in small arms production, any concerns about the fitness of the Ross, either in design or manufacturing, were overlooked. At the time the order was placed, no factory to produce the Ross rifle existed.

Over the next ten years Sir Charles Ross deftly maneuvered Canadian pride and politics into line behind him. The Ross rifle performed well at Bisley and other important British Empire military and civilian target competitions. Unfortunately, what makes a good target rifle (such as a tight chamber) may prove to be a major drawback under wartime field conditions.  From the very first battles of WWI, the Ross quickly became known for locking up in the heat of battle, making it impossible to open the bolt. After the First Battle of Ypres in April 1915 it was found that 1,452 of the surviving 5,000 Canadian troops had voluntarily "exchanged" their Ross rifles for Lee-Enfields "found" on the battlefield. By June 1915 it was official; the Canadian 1st Division would exchange their Canadian Ross rifles for British Lee-Enfields. Sir Charles and his political allies continued to fight for the Ross, but the tide had turned. A year later, July 1916, all three Divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force turned in their Ross rifles and were equipped with the SMLE.

The Government had paid for arms that Ross could not deliver; attempts to peddle the rifle as a service arm to foreign governments, including China, fizzled. The Ross Rifle Company was fast running out of money and options. The factory, built on government land (the Plains of Abraham, where Wolfe defeated Montcalm in the battle for Quebec) and within walking distance of the Dominion Arsenal, was seized by the Government in 1917. The equipment and any remaining assets were sold off after the War.

We searched the 1900-1920 Québec City Directories (Les Annuaires Ancien are easily found in the Main Branch of the Public Library, and are for the most part written in English) for firms with names that might match the marks found on these oilers. While we found much of interest, we found no matches listed within the City of Quebec.