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Founding of Parry Sound
About 1857, James and William Gibson erected a sawmill at the mouth of the Seguin River. William Beatty, with his sons James and William, acquired the mill in 1863, and the following year were granted a license of occupation for some 2,000 acres. In addition to lumbering, they laid out a town plot, promoted settlement, opened a store, built a church, constructed roads and operated boats on Lake Huron and a stage service to Bracebridge... -
Geraldton Gold Camp, The
Discoveries of gold in the vicinity of Lake Kenogamisis in 1931-2 mushroomed into an extensive gold-mining field in this region. Prospector Tom Johnson, mining promoter Joseph Errington and geologist Percy Hopkins played important roles in its establishment. Geraldton was founded and grew into the principal community. Of the twelve mines operating at the field's peak of activity about 1940, Little Long Lac and MacLeod-Cockshutt are probably the best-known. By 1971, when all operating gold mines... -
Silver Islet 1868
Off this shore lies Silver Islet, once a barren rock, measuring about eighty feet in diameter, where silver was discovered in 1868 by Thomas Macfarlane. The claim was purchased in 1870 by a company headed by A.H. Sibley, and one of the partners, W.B. Frue, was appointed mine captain. Frue waged a constant battle against the lake, which undermined extensive crib work used to bolster the restricted working spaces. Despite this problem and the difficulty... -
Rosvall and Voutilainen
On November 18, 1929, Finnish-Canadians Viljo Rosvall and Janne Voutilainen left the Port Arthur-area Onion Lake, 20 kilometres upstream from here, to recruit bushworkers for a strike. Their bodies were found at Onion Lake the following spring. Local unionists and many Finnish-Canadians suspected foul play, but coroner's juries ruled the deaths accidental drownings. The two men's funeral on April 28, 1930, is remembered as the largest ever held in Port Arthur. As thousands of mourners... -
Kirkland Lake Gold Camp, The
The Larder Lake gold rush of 1906 was accompanied by discoveries of gold at Swastika and, in 1911, the first strike at Kirkland Lake was made by William H. Wright. The Tough-Oakes became the camp's first producing gold mine in 1912. During the peak years of the late 1930's the Lake Shore, Wright-Hargreaves, Teck-Hughes, Sylvanite, Kirkland Lake Gold, and Macassa mines along the "Main Break", and other properties in the vicinity, employed about 5,000 men... -
Long Island Mill, The
An outstanding example of mill architecture in Ontario, this grist-mill was constructed by Thomas Langrell, an Ottawa contractor, for Moss K. Dickinson (1822-97) and Joseph M. Currier (1820-84), the owners of a nearby mill. The Long Island Mill began operation in 1860 with four sets of mill-stones driven by water-powered turbines manufactured in Ottawa. By the autumn of 1862, a woollen-mill had been added to this industrial complex, around which the community of Manotick developed... -
Founding of Osgoode Township, The
Named for William Osgoode, the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada, Osgoode Township was established on lands the British acquired from the Mississaugas in the 1780s. Land for farming and a plentiful supply of white pine and white oak attracted the first non-native settlers, the families of Archibald and Catherine McDonell and William and Ann York, who arrived in 1827. They founded the new community's first industries and institutions, and they built the first two... -
Bruce Peninsula Portage
The Bruce Peninsula presents a formidable barrier to water transportation between Lake Huron and southern Georgian Bay. To avoid a difficult detour to the north, aboriginal peoples developed a portage route across the base of the peninsula. The eastern section ran along high ground between here and Colpoy's Bay at Wiarton. West of here were two routes. One ran south across Boat Lake and along the Rankin and Sauble Rivers to Lake Huron. The other... -
Founding of Wiarton, The
In 1855, a town-plot was laid out here on recently acquired Indian Land and named Wiarton, reputedly after the English birthplace of Edmund Head Governor General of Canada (1854-61). Settlement commenced in 1866 and two years later a post office was established. Agricultural prosperity, excellent harbour facilities and extensive sawmilling operations stimulated the community's growth. In 1880, with a population of about 750, it was incorporated as a village. The operation of the Stratford and... -
Founding of Blenheim, The
In 1837 James W. Little, a militia officer and land speculator of neighbouring Raleigh Township, purchased land here at the intersection of Ridge Road and Communication Road, the latter planned by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe to connect the town of Chatham with Lake Erie. Little surveyed a village plot, named Blenheim, but sold few lots before 1847. The completion in that year of Rondeau Harbour and of Communication Road fostered the development of lumbering, and... -
Founding of Bothwell, The
In 1851 George Brown, founder of the Toronto Globe and one of Canada's Fathers of Confederation, purchased about 4,000 acres in this vicinity. The Great Western Railway ran through his property in 1855 and that year a station and a post office were opened. He had the town plot of Bothwell surveyed and by 1857 Brown and others had established several industries. The new community prospered until affected by the general depression of 1857-58 but... -
Founding of Dresden, The
In 1846, Daniel van Allan, a Chatham merchant, laid out a town plot on land purchased from Jared Lindsley, the first settler (1825) on the site of Dresden. By 1849 the erection of a steam sawmill, and the operation of a grist-mill in the neighbouring Dawn Institute Settlement founded by Josiah Henson, provided the basis for a thriving community in this area. A post office named "dresden" was opened in 1854. The region's timber resources... -
Founding of Ridgetown, The
By 1826, the earliest settlers on the site of Ridgetown, notably William Marsh, James Watson, Edmund Mitton and Ebenezer Colby, had located in this vicinity. Marsh, the first to arrive, was granted a lease on 200 acres of Clergy Reserve land in 1831. Although the settlement's growth was slow, in 1853 a post office was opened. By 1858, with a population of 300, Ridgetown contained stores, hotels and a mill owned by John Moody, one... -
Founding of Cobourg, The
Saw and grist mills erected in this area during the first decade of the 19th century fostered the development here of a small settlement. The completion of the Kingston Road by 1817 facilitated its growth and within a decade it had a population of about 350. Known as Hamilton, then Cobourg, the community expanded rapidly as a commercial and shipping centre and as a port of entry, particularly after harbour improvements were completed in 1832... -
Founding of Colborne, The
A store established here about 1819 by Joseph Abbott Keeler, a prominent early settler, provided the nucleus around which a small community began to develop. Within ten years a distillery and a blacksmith's shop had been erected. The settlement, named Colborne reputedly after Lieutenant Governor Sir John Colborne, soon emerged as a service centre for the surrounding region and, with the establishment of a harbour nearby for the shipment of lumber and grain, it prospered... -
Huron Fish Weirs, The
In the adjacent Narrows joining Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching are the remains of Indian fish weirs. They were noted by Samuel de Champlain when he passed here on September 1, 1615, with a Huron war party en route to attack the Iroquois south of Lake Ontario. The weirs consisted of large number of stakes driven into the bottom of the Narrows, with openings at which nets were placed to catch fish. These weirs (claies) caused... -
Founding of Orillia, The
In 1820, the government surveyed Orillia Township and a decade later located Chief William Yellowhead's Ojibwa band on lands near the "Narrows". By 1849, when the government laid out the Orillia town plot, these Indians had been moved across Lake Couchiching to Rama. The first white settlers arrived about 1832 and by the 1850s, the community had become an agricultural and lumbering centre with two churches and a population of some 200. Advantageous transportation links... -
Founding of Stayner, The
Settlement on this site began with the arrival in 1854 of the Toronto, Simcoe and Lake Huron Union Railroad (later the Northern Railway). Edward Shortiss and Charles Lount acquired land here, divided it into village lots and the first settler, Andrew Coleman, opened a hotel. He was followed by Gideon Phillips who established a sawmill. First called Nottawasaga Station, and later Stayner after a prominent local landowner, the community flourished as an agricultural and lumbering... -
Wasdell Falls Hydro-Electric Development 1914
Completed in 1914 after several municipalities on the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe had requested a supply of electric power, this was the first generating station constructed by the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. The natural formation of solid granite provided an excellent foundation for the development. The Wasdell plant operated as a separate unit serving the northern portion of Ontario County and the western portion of Victoria until 1924, when it became part of... -
Bedford Mills
In 1831 Benjamin Tett (1798-1878), later an important merchant at Newboro, anticipating the completion of the Rideau Canal, acquired a sawmill here on Buttermilk Falls. Tett and various partners, including the prominent Chaffey brothers, extensively exploited local forests and through the Canal sent timber, lumber, and cord-wood to American and St. Lawrence River market centres. Active trade and settlement of the district led him to build a store and, in 1848, construct the stone grist-mill... -
Malcolm Cameron 1808-1876
A prominent Upper Canadian entrepreneur and politician, Cameron was born in Trois-Rivieres. He began his business career in Perth, establishing himself as a general merchant and in 1834 co-founding the Bathurst Courier. In 1837 he moved to Port Sarnia where he developed lumbering, shipping and milling enterprises. Although a successful businessman, Cameron gained renown in politics. He was elected to the legislature as the member for Lanark in 1836 and, representing this, then several western... -
Madeleine de Roybon d'Allonne
Of noble French birth, de Roybon was the first European woman to own land in what is now Ontario. She came to Fort Frontenac (Kingston), probably in 1679, where she acquired property from René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, governor and seigneur of the fort. In 1681 she loaned him money to finance his explorations, and about this time he granted her a seigneury extending westward from Toneguignon (Collins Bay). On this land she built a... -
Founder of Pembroke, The
Peter White, born in Edinburgh, was a merchant seaman when he was impressed into the Royal Navy in 1813 and sent to Canada. Following serve on the Great Lakes under Commodore Sir James Yeo, he left the navy and entered the lumber trade in the Ottawa Valley. In May 1828, he first visited the wilderness site of Pembroke and. Attracted by its timber potential, made his headquarters here. One of the area's principal lumber merchants... -
Gillies Bros. Lumbering Firm, The
This firm was begun in 1873 when James, William, John and David Gillies purchased a steam sawmill here on the Ottawa River at Braeside. Building on the experience acquired by their father, John Gillies, who had begun lumbering in Lanark County in 1842, they had established themselves by the mid 1880s as one of the Ottawa Valley's large lumber producers. This position was maintained partly by the involvement of succeeding generations in the management of... -
Founding of Renfrew, The
Attracted by the development of the lumbering industry in the Upper Ottawa Valley, a few settlers had located in this region by 1830. Six years later, Xavier Plaunt acquired land here near the second chute of the Bonnechère River and by 1848 was selling village lots and had provided land for the community's first church. In that year a post office, Renfrew, was opened and in 1851, the settlement contained a sawmill, grist-mill, tannery and...