Toronto of Old Part 45

The worthy man neither won martyrdom nor suffered exile; but lived on in great worldly prosperity here in Sharon, reverenced by his adherents as a sort of oracle, and flattered by attentions from successive political leaders on account of the influence which he might be supposed locally to possess--down to the year 1866, when he died in peace, aged eighty-nine years and seven months.

Of Willson's periodical missionary expeditions into town, we have spoken in another connection.

We return now to the great northern route, from which we have been deviating, and hasten on with all speed to the Landing. We place ourselves at the point on Yonge Street where we turned off to Newmarket.

Proceeding onward, we saw almost immediately, on the left, the conspicuous dwelling of Mr. Irving--the Hon. Jacob aemilius Irving, a name historical in Canada, a Paulus aemilius Irving having been Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in British America in 1765, and also President for a time of the Province of Quebec. (This Paulus aemilius Irving had previously taken part under General Wolfe in the capture of Quebec.)

The house of his descendant, Jacob aemilius Irving, here on Yonge Street, was known as Bonshaw, from some ancient family property in Dumfriess.h.i.+re. He had been an officer in the 13th Light Dragoons, and was wounded at Waterloo. In addition to many strongly-marked English traits of character and physique, he possessed fine literary tastes, and histrionic skill of a high order, favoured by the possession of a grand barytone voice. He retained a professional liking for horses. A four-in-hand, guided by himself, issuing from the gates at Bonshaw and whirling along Yonge Street into town, was a common phenomenon.--He died at the Falls of Niagara in 1856. Since 1843 Mr. Irving had been a member of the Upper House of United Canada.

A little way back, ere we descended the northern slope of the Ridges we caught sight, as we have narrated, of the Holland River, or at least of some portion of the branch of it with which we are immediately concerned--issuing, "a new-born rill," from one of its fountains.

As we traversed the Quaker settlement it was again seen, a brook meandering through meadows. This was the eastern branch of the river.

The main stream lies off to the west, flowing past the modern Bradford and Lloydtown. It is at the head of the main stream that the most striking approximation of the waters of the Humber and Holland rivers is to be seen.

We arrive now at the Upper Landing, the ancient canoe-landing, and we pause for a moment. Here it was that the war-parties and hunting-parties embarked and disembarked, while yet these waters were unploughed by the heavy boats of the white man.

The Iroquois from the south-side of Lake Ontario penetrated the well-peopled region of the Hurons by several routes, as we have already intimated: by the great Bay of Quinte highway; by the trails whose termini on Lake Ontario were near respectively the modern Bowmanville and Port Hope: and thirdly by a track which we have virtually been following in this our long ramble from York; virtually, we say, for it was to the west of Yonge Street that the trail ran, following first the valley of the Humber and then that of the main stream of the Holland river. The route which Mr. Holland took when he penetrated from Toronto Bay to the head waters of the river which now bears his name, is marked in the great MS. map which he constructed in 1791. He pa.s.sed up evidently along the great water-course of the Humber.

"You can pa.s.s from Lake Frontenac, _i. e._, Ontario," Lahontan says (ii.

23), "into Lake Huron by the River Tan-a-hou-ate (the Humber), by a portage of about twenty-four miles to Lake Toronto, which by a river of the same name empties into Lake Huron," _i.e._ by the River Severn, as we should now speak.

Hunting-parties or war-parties taking to the water here at the Upper Landing, in the pre-historic period, would probably be just about to penetrate the almost insular district, of which we have spoken, westward of Lake Simcoe,--the Toronto region, the place of concourse, the well-peopled region. But some of them might perhaps be making for the Lake Huron country and North-west generally, by the established trail having its terminus at or near Orillia (to use the modern name).

In the days of the white man, the old Indian place of embarkation and debarkation on the Holland river, acquired the name of the Upper Canoe-landing; and hither the smaller craft continued to proceed.

Vessels of deeper draught lay at the Lower Landing, to which we now move on, about a mile and a half further down the stream. Here the river was about twenty-five yards wide, the banks low and bordered by a woody marsh, in which the tamarac or larch was a conspicuous tree.

In a cleared s.p.a.ce on the right, at the point where Yonge Street struck the stream, there were some long low buildings of log with strong shutters on the windows, usually closed. These were the Government depositories of naval and military stores, and Indian presents, on their way to Penetanguishene. The cl.u.s.ter of buildings here was once known as Fort Gwillimbury. Thus we have it written in the old _Gazetteer_ of 1799: "It is thirty miles from York to Holland river, at the Pine Fort called Gwillimbury, where the road ends."

Galt, in his Autobiography, speaks of this spot. He travelled from York to Newmarket in one day. This was in 1827. "Then next morning," he says, "we went forward to a place on the Holland river, called Holland's Landing, an open s.p.a.ce which the Indians and fur-traders were in the habit of frequenting. It presented to me," he adds, "something of a Scottish aspect in the style of the cottages; but instead of mountains the environs were covered with trees. We embarked at this place." He was on his way to G.o.derich at the time, via Penetanguishene.

The river Holland, at which we have so long been labouring to arrive, had its name from a former surveyor-general of the Province of Quebec, prior to the setting-off of the Province of Upper Canada--Major S.

Holland.

In the _Upper Canada Gazette_ of Feb. 13, 1802, we have an obituary notice of this official personage. His history also, it will be observed, was mixed up with that of General Wolfe. "Died," the obituary says, "on the 28th instant (that is, on the 28th of December, 1801, the article being copied from the _Quebec Gazette_ of the 31st of the preceding December), of a lingering illness, which he bore for many years with Christian patience and resignation, Major S. Holland.

"He had been in his time," the brief memoir proceeds to say, "an intrepid, active, and intelligent officer, never making difficulties, however arduous the duty he was employed in. He was an excellent field-engineer, in which capacity he was employed in the year 1758 at the siege of Louisbourg in the detachment of the army under General Wolfe, who after silencing the batteries that opposed our entrance into the harbour, and from his own setting fire to three s.h.i.+ps of the line, and obliging the remainder in a disabled state to haul out of cannon shot, that great officer by a rapid and unexpected movement took post within four hundred yards of the town, from whence Major Holland, under his directions, carried on the approaches, destroyed the defences of the town, and making a practicable breach, obliged the enemy to capitulate.

He distinguished himself also at the conquest of Quebec in 1759, and was made honourable mention of in Gen. Wolfe's will as a legatee. He also distinguished himself in the defence of Quebec in 1760, after General Murray's unsuccessful attack on the enemy.--After the peace he was appointed Surveyor-General of this Province, and was usefully employed in surveying the American coasts, from which survey those draughts published some years since by Major Debarres have been princ.i.p.ally taken."

Major Holland was succeeded in the Surveyor-generals.h.i.+p of Lower Canada by a nephew--the distinguished Colonel Joseph Bouchette. In 1791 Major Holland constructed a map of the British Province of Quebec, on the scale of six inches to the square mile. It exists in MS. in the Crown Land Office of Ontario. It is a magnificent map. On it, Lake Simcoe is left undefined on one side, not having been explored in 1791.

It was in 1832 that the project of a steamer for the Holland river and Lake Simcoe was mooted. We give a doc.u.ment relating to this undertaking which we find in the _Courier_ of Feb. 29, in that year, published at York. The names of those who were willing to embark, however moderately, in the enterprise are of interest. It will be observed that the expenditure contemplated was not enormous. To modern speculators in any direction, what a bagatelle seems the sum of 2,000!

"Steamboat on Lake Simcoe:" thus runs an advertis.e.m.e.nt in the _Courier_ of Feb. 29, 1832. "Persons who feel interested in the success of this undertaking, are respectfully informed that Capt. McKenzie, late of the _Alciope_, who has himself offered to subscribe one-fourth of the sum required to build the proposed steamboat, is now at Buffalo for the purpose of purchasing an Engine, to be delivered at Holland Landing during the present winter. Capt. McKenzie, who visited Lake Simcoe last summer, is of opinion that a boat of sufficient size and power for the business of the Lake can be built for 1,250. In order, however, to ensure success, it is proposed that stock to the amount of 2,000 should be subscribed; and it is hoped that this sum will be raised without delay, in order that the necessary steps may be taken, on the return of Capt. McKenzie, to commence building the boat with the view to its completion by the opening of the navigation.--The shares are Twelve Pounds ten s.h.i.+llings each, payable to persons chosen by the Stockholders. The following shares have been already taken up, viz.: The Hon. Peter Robinson, 8 shares; F. Hewson, 1; Edw. O'Brien, 2; W. B.

Robinson, 4; W. R. Raines, 4; J. O. Bouchier, 2; Wm. Johnson, 2; John c.u.mmer, 1; T. Mossington, 2; A. M. Raines, 1; Robert Clark, 1; Robert Johnston, 1; M. Mossington, 1; B. Jefferson, 1; J. M. Jackson, 1; R.

Oliver, 1; Wm. Turner, 2; L. Cameron, 1; F. Osborne, 2; J. Graham, 1; J.

White, 1; S. H. Farnsworth, 1; Andrew Mitch.e.l.l, 5; Murray, Newbigging and Co., 2; Capt. Creighton, 2; Captain McKenzie, 40; Canada Company, 8; J. F. Smith, 2; John Powell, 1; Grant Powell, 2; A. Smalley, 1; Samuel P. Jarvis, 1; James E. Small, 1; R. W. Parker, 1; D. Cameron, 1; Capt.

Castle, 79th Regt., 8; James Doyle, 2; Francis Phelps, East Gwillimbury, 1; G. Lount, West Gwillimbury, 1; Samuel Lount, West Gwillimbury, 1; George Playter, Whitchurch, 1; Joseph Hewett, 1; Thomas A. Jebb, 2; Charles S. Monck, Haytesbury, 1; G. Ridout, 2; T. G. Ridout, 1; Thomas Radenhurst, 1; Major Barwick, 2; Capt. W. Campbell, 2; C. C. Small, 1; J. Ketchum, 1; Capt. Davies, 2; Lieut. Carthew, 2; Capt. Ross, 1; C.

McVittie, 1; Lieut. Adams, 1; S. Washburn, 2; J. C. G.o.dwin, 1; F. T.

Billings, 2; Thorne and Parsons, 2; James Pearson, 1; R. Mason, 2; Wm.

Laughton, 2; Wm. Ware, 1; A. H. Tonge, 1; Sheldon, Dutcher & Co., 1; Jabez Barber, 1; R. W. Prentice, 1; T. Bell, 1; Lucius...o...b..ien, 1;--Total, 162 shares. Persons who are desirous of taking shares in this boat are respectfully informed that the subscription paper is lying at the Store of Messrs. Murray, Newbigging and Co., where they can have an opportunity of entering their names. York, 21st Dec., 1831."

The movement here initiated resulted in the steamer _Simcoe_, which plied for some years between the Landing and the ports of Lake Simcoe.

The _Simcoe_ was built at the Upper Landing, and after being launched, it was necessary to drag the boat by main force down to deep water, through the thick sediment at the bottom of the stream. During the process, while the capstan and tackle or other arrangement was being vigorously worked,--instead of the boat advancing--the land in considerable ma.s.s moved bodily towards the boat, like a cake of ice set free from the main floe. Much of the ground and marsh in the great estuary of the Holland river is said to be simply an acc.u.mulation of earthy and vegetable matter, resting on water.

The _Simcoe_ was succeeded by the _Peter Robinson_, Capt. Bell; the _Beaver_, Capt. Laughton, and other steamers.

Standing on the deck of the _Beaver_, we have ourselves more than once threaded the windings of the Holland river; and we well remember how, like sentient things in a kind of agony, the broad floating leaves of the lilies along its eastern margin writhed and flapped as the waters were drawn away from under them by the powerful action of the wheels in the middle of the stream.

"The navigation of the Holland river," Capt. Bonnycastle observes in his "Canada in 1841," "is very well worth seeing, as it is a natural ca.n.a.l flowing through a vast marsh, and very narrow, with most serpentine convolutions, often doubling on itself. Conceive the difficulty of steering a large steamboat in such a course; yet it is done every day, in summer and autumn, by means of long poles, slackening the steam, backing, &c.; though very rarely without running a little way into the soft ground of the swamp. The motion of the paddles has, however, in the course of years, widened the channel, and prevented the growth of flags and weeds." We have been told that in the bed of the Holland river, near its mouth, solid bottom was not reached with a sounding-line of ninety feet.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

XXVIII.

YONGE STREET: ONWARD, FROM HOLLAND LANDING TO PENETANGUISHENE.

To render our narrative complete, we give in a few parting words some of the early accounts of the route from the Landing, northward as far as Penetanguishene, which, after the breaking up of the establishment on Drummond's island, was for some years the most remote station in Upper Canada where the naval and military power of England was visibly represented.

"After leaving Gwillimbury [_i. e._, the Landing]," says the _Gazetteer_ of 1799, "you enter the Holland river and pa.s.s into Lake Simcoe, by the head of Cook's bay, to the westward of which are oak-plains, where the Indians cultivate corn; and on the east is a tract of good land. A few small islands shew themselves as the lake opens, of which Darling's island in the eastern part, is the most considerable. To the westward is a large deep bay, called Kempenfelt's bay, from the head of which is a short carrying-place to the river Nottawasaga, which empties itself into the Iroquois bay, in Lake Huron. In the north end of the lake, near the Narrows leading to a small lake is Francis island, between which and the north sh.o.r.e vessels may lie in safety."

It will be proper to make one or two remarks in relation to the proper names here used, which have not in every case been retained.

Cook's bay, it will be of interest to remember, had its name from the great circ.u.mnavigator. Kempenfelt's bay recalls the name of the admiral who went down in the Royal George "with twice four hundred men."

Darling's island was intended to preserve the name of Gen. Darling, a friend and a.s.sociate of the first governor; and Francis island bore the name of the same governor's eldest son. Canise island retains its name.

The name of another island in this lake, "parallel to Darling's island,"

is elsewhere given in the _Gazetteer_ as Pilkington's island--a compliment to Gen. Pilkington, a distinguished engineer officer.

Darling's island, at the present day, is, we believe, known as Snake island; and Francis island and Pilkington's island, by other names.

Iroquois bay is the same as Nottawasaga bay: the interpretation, in fact, of the term "Nottawasaga," which is the "estuary of the Nodoway"--the great indentation whence often issued on marauding expeditions the canoes of the Nodoway--so the Ochibways called the Iroquois.

Lake Simcoe itself, the _Gazetteer_ of 1799 informs us, was so named by its first explorer, not with reference to himself, but to his father.

"Lake Simcoe," we read in a note at p. 138 of the work just named, was "so named by Lieut.-Governor Simcoe in respect to his father, the late Capt. Simcoe of the Royal Navy, who died in the River St. Lawrence on the expedition to Quebec in 1759. In the year 1755, this able officer,"

the _Gazetteer_ adds, "had furnished Government with the plan of operations against Quebec, which then took place. At the time of his death, Capt. Cook, the celebrated circ.u.mnavigator, was master of his s.h.i.+p the _Pembroke_."

We here see the link of a.s.sociation which led to the application of the great circ.u.mnavigator's name to the bay into which the Holland river discharges itself. The Holland itself also, as we have already heard, had its name from a companion of Gen. Wolfe.

We have on this continent no "old poetic mountains," no old poetic objects of any description, natural or artificial, "to breathe enchantment all around." It is all the more fitting, therefore, that we should make the most of the historic memories which, even at second hand, cling to our Canadian local names, here and there.

The old _Gazetteer_ next goes on to inform us that "from the bay west of Francis island there is a good path and a short portage into a small lake. This is the nearest way to Lake Huron, the river which falls from Lake Simcoe into Matchedash bay, called the Matchedash river, making a more circuitous pa.s.sage to the northward and westward;"--and Matchedash bay "opens out," it afterwards states--"into a larger basin called Gloucester or Sturgeon bay, in the chops of which lies Prince William Henry's island, open to Lake Huron." It is noted also that on a peninsula in this basin some French ruins are still extant: and then it says, "between two larger promontories is the harbour of Penetanguishene, around which is good land for settlement."

"Penetanguishene," it is finally added, "has been discovered to be a very excellent harbour."

Again some annotations on names will not be out of place.