By the mid-1880s, the nearby railway station in Ceylon was a busy place with three railyards, since goods travelling to western Canada—including troops sent to quell the Riel Rebellion of 1886—were shipped up this line from Toronto to Owen Sound, and from there by boat to Lake Superior. However, the economic boom did not extend to the nearby village down in the valley. Although the train station was relatively close, new businesses balked at moving to the village, since their goods to be shipped by rail would first have to be hauled by horses out of the steep valley. Economic growth stagnated, and the population remained below 1000.