Continued difficulties delayed construction, during which time the company re-chartered as the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Union Railroad in 1850. Capreol was fired as manager two days before the official sod turning, which was carried out on 15 October 1851 by Lady Elgin. The occasion was marked with a parade, to which an estimated 20,000 people attended of a total population of the city of only 31,000. Sandford Fleming took the sod and preserved it for history. A party later that night at St. Lawrence Hall was capped by a performance by Jenny Lind organized by P.T. Barnum.