The company owned between twelve and fifteen ships which transported timber, mostly oak and pine, from the Great Lakes to Garden Island, where the logs were built into rafts that were floated down the Saint Lawrence to Quebec City for transportation to Britain to company offices in Liverpool and Glasgow. The company also operated a number of business ventures that enabled Calvin to be significantly diversified. The acted as general merchants, shipbuilders and manufacturers, transported other goods and operated a tugboat service. Calvin's business ventures were incredibly successful amassing a fortune of assets of $460,000 in 1871. Calvin also served as a director of the Kingston and Pembroke Railway.