Part 51

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 mass 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 accumulation 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 canal 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.

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 pass 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 shore 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 circumnavigator. 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 associate 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 circumnavigator, was master of his ship the _Pembroke_."

We here see the link of association which led to the application of the great circumnavigator'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 passage 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.

Matchedash bay is now Sturgeon bay, and Matchedash river, the river Severn. Both bay and river have a peculiar interest for the people of Toronto, as being respectively the Toronto bay and Toronto river of the old French period. "To the north-east of the French river," Lahontan says (ii. 19), "you see Toronto bay, in which a small lake of the same name empties itself by a river not navigable on account of its rapids." (He elsewhere says this river also bore the name of the lake--Toronto.) The Duke of Gloucester was intended to be complimented in the name Gloucester bay. Prince William Henry's island has not retained its name. When it was imposed, the visit of that prince, afterwards the Duke of Kent and father of the reigning Queen, to Upper Canada, was a recent event.--The French ruins spoken of are the ruins of Fort Ste Marie near the mouth of the river Wye--the chief mission-house of the Jesuits, abandoned in 1649, still visible.

The "good path" and "nearest way to Lake Huron," from the bay west of Francis island, indicates the well-known trail by Coldwater, which was long the chief route to Penetanguishene; and the bay itself, west of Francis island, is the bay known in later times as Shingle bay.

In 1834 an attempt was made to found a town at Shingle bay in connection with the road to Penetanguishene. In a _Courier_ of 1834, we have the announcement: "New Town of Innisfallen. Shortly will be offered for sale several building lots in the above new Town, beautifully situated on Shingle Bay, Lake Simcoe. This being the landing-place for the trade to Penetanguishene and the northern townships," the advertisement goes on to say, "persons inclined to speculate in trade or business of any description will find this a peculiarly valuable situation, as the townships are settled with persons of respectability and capital. It will command the trade to and from the lake. Further particulars can be obtained by application to Wm. Proudfoot, Esq., or from P. Handy, auctioneer, or Francis Hewson, Esq., Lake Simcoe. April 1st, 1834."

Innisfallen, however, did not mature into a town. Orillia, just within the narrows, appears to have been a site more suited to the needs or tastes of the public.

At p. 154, in the article on Yonge Street, the old _Gazetteer_ of 1799 speaks again of the portage from Lake Simcoe to Lake Huron, via Coldwater, and calls it "a continuation of Yonge Street." It then adds the prediction, which we have once before quoted, that "the advantage would certainly be felt in the future of transporting merchandize from Oswego to York, and from thence across Yonge Street and down the waters of Lake Simcoe into Lake Huron, in preference to sending it by Lake Erie." And in the article on "Lac aux Claies," _i.e._, as we have already said, Lake Simcoe, it is curiously stated--this is before the year 1799--that "a vessel is now building for the purpose of facilitating the communication by that route,"--but it is not said where.

A "continuation of Yonge Street" in a more perfect sense, was at a later period surveyed and partially opened by the military authorities, from a point on Kempenfelt bay, a little east of the modern Barrie, in a direct line to Penetanguishene; but the natural growth of the forest had in a great degree filled up the track.

In 1847, however, through the instrumentality of the Commissioner of Public Works of the day, the Hon. W. B. Robinson, the highway in question, sixty-six feet in width and thirty miles in length, was thoroughly cleared out and made conveniently practicable for general travel.

This grand avenue is almost in a direct line with Yonge Street, after the traverse of Lake Simcoe from the Landing has been accomplished.

Penetanguishene, indeed, as a port, no longer requires such an approach as this. The naval and military depot which existed there has been abolished; and Collingwood, since it has been made the primary terminus on Lake Huron of the Northern Railway of Canada, is the place of resort for the steamers and shipping of the upper lakes. Nevertheless, the fine highway referred to yields permanently to the inhabitants of Vespra and Oro, Flos and Medonte, Tiny and Tay, the incalculable advantage of easy communication with each other and markets to the south,--the same advantage that Yonge Street yielded to the settlers of Vaughan and Markham, King and Whitchurch, and the three townships of Gwillimbury, in the primitive era of their local history.

It is, however, not improbable that Penetanguishene itself will again acquire importance when hereafter properly connected with our railway system, now so surely advancing to the north shore of Lake Huron: thence to push on to the North-West.

Dr. Thomas Rolfe, in his Statistical Account of Upper Canada, appended to his book on the West Indies and United States, spoke in 1836 of the region which we have now reached, thus: "The country about Penetanguishene on Lake Huron is remarkably healthy; the winter roads to it, crossing Lake Simcoe, excellent. In the summer months," he says, "it is delightful to persons who are pleased and entertained by the wild grandeur and simplicity of nature. The pure and transparent waters of the beautiful bay, and the verdant foliage of the vast woods on the east side of the harbour, form a very picturesque scene."

Capt. Bonnycastle visited Penetanguishene in 1841. He was present at one of the periodical distributions of government presents to the Indians. A great concourse of the native people, from far and near, was assembled on the occasion. Under such circumstances, Penetanguishene and its surroundings must have presented a peculiarly interesting appearance.

"I happened to be at Penetanguishene," Capt. Bonnycastle says, "when the unfortunate Pou-tah-wah-tamies and nearly two thousand other Indians arrived there, the latter to receive their annual gifts, the former to implore protection. [They had been recently removed from their lands in the United States by the U. S. authorities.] I had never seen the wild and heathen Indians before," the Captain observes, "and shall never forget the impression their appearance, on an August evening, with everything beautiful in the scene around, made upon me. To do honour to the commandant of the British port and his guests, these warlike savages selected for the conference a sloping green field in front of his house, whose base was washed by the waters of the Huron, which exhibited the lovely expanse of the basin, with its high and woody background, and the single sparkling islet in the middle. No spot could have been imagined more suitable. Behind it rose the high hill which, cleared of timber, is dotted here and there with the neat dwellings of the military residents." He then describes the dresses of the Indians, their painted faces, their war-dances, &c.

"The garrison," he says, "is three miles from the village, and is always called the Establishment; and in the forest between the two places is a new church built of wood, very small, but sufficient for the Established Church, as it is sometimes called, of that portion of Canada. A clergyman is constantly stationed here for the army, navy, and civilians."

In regard to the provisions supplied to the soldiers and others, Capt Bonnycastle has the following remarks: "A farmer [Mr. Mairs, as we presume] on the Penetanguishene road has introduced English breeds of cattle and sheep of the best kind. He was, and perhaps still is," he says, "the contractor for the troops, and his stock is well worth seeing. Thus the garrison is constantly supplied with finer meat than any other station in Canada, although more out of the world and in the wilderness, than any other; and, as fish is plentiful, the soldiers and sailors of Queen Victoria in the Bay of the White Rolling Sand live well." Penetanguishene means "the place of the falling sands;" the reference being to a remarkable sandy cliff which has been crumbling away from time immemorial, on the western side of the entrance to the harbour.

We have a notice of Penetanguishene in 1846, in a volume of Travels in Canada, by the Rev. A. W. H. Rose, published in 1849. "Penetanguishene," the writer says, "is situated at the bottom of a bay extremely shallow on one side, and is a small military and naval station, the latter force consisting of two iron war-steamers, of about sixty-horse power each. There is said to be a nice little society in this (until lately) out of the way station of Upper Canada. The probability is, however," remarks the same writer, "that it will, as a naval and military depot, have to be eventually shifted to Owen Sound, where there is a military reserve specially retained in the survey, as, from the number of shoals about Penetanguishene, the island, &c., the harbour is said generally to close up with the ice three weeks earlier, and to continue shut three weeks later than at the Sound."

A diagram in the _Canadian Journal_ (i. 225), illustrating a paper by Mr. Sandford Fleming, shews the remarkable terraced character of the high banks of the harbour at Penetanguishene. "There are appearances in various parts of this region," Mr. Fleming says, "that lead us to infer that the waters of Lake Huron, like those of Ontario, formerly stood at higher levels than they at present occupy. Parallel terraces and ridges of sand and gravel can be traced at different places winding round the heads of bays and points of high land with perfect horizontality, and resembling in every respect the present lake beaches. One of them particularly strikes the attention in the bay of Penetanguishene, at a height of about seventy feet above the level of the lake. It can be seen distinctly on either side from the water, or by a spectator standing on one bank while the sun shines obliquely on the other, so as to throw the deeper parts of the terrace in shadow."

Mr. Fleming then gives a section "sketched from a cutting a little below Jeffery's tavern in the village of Penetanguishene, serving to shew the manner in which the soil has been removed from the side hill and deposited in a position formerly under water by the continued mechanical action of the waves. Not only does the peculiar stratification of the lower part of the terrace confirm the supposition that it was deposited on the shore of the ancient lake, but the fact that such excavations have been made in this land-locked position, where the waves could never have had much force, goes far to prove that the lake stood for a long period at this high level." (From the successive subsidences here spoken of by Mr. Fleming, the island known as the Giant's Tomb, in the entrance to Georgian Bay, has its peculiar appearance, viz., that of a colossal grave elevated on a high platform or pedestal.)

In 1827, John Galt, the well-known writer, had been at Penetanguishene. He was on his way from York to make an exploration of the Lake Huron west of the Canada Company's Huron tract, from Cabot's head in the north to the Riviere aux Sables in the south. For this purpose, a Government vessel, the _Bee_, lying in Penetanguishene harbour, had been placed at his disposal.

In his Autobiography he gives the following incidents of his journey from the shore of Kempenfelt bay. "About half-way to Penetanguishene," he says, "we were compelled by the weather to take shelter in a farm house, and a thunderstorm coming on obliged us to remain all night. The house itself was not inferior to a common Scottish cottage, but it was rendered odious by the landlady, who was, all the time we stayed, 'drunk as a sow, Huncamunca' (a snatch, probably, of some Christmas pantomime). Next day we proceeded," he continues, "to the military station and dockyard of Penetanguishene by a path through the woods, which, to the honour of the late Mr. Wilberforce, bears his name. Along it are settled several negro families. As I walked part of the way," Galt says, "I went into a cottage pleasantly situated on a rising ground, and found it inhabited by a crow-like flock of negro children. The mother was busy with them, and the father, a good-natured looking fellow, told me that they were very comfortable, but had not yet made any great progress in clearing the land, as his children were still too young to assist."

"We reached Penetanguishene," Galt then says, "the remotest and most inland dockyard that owns obedience to the 'meteor-flag of England,' where, by orders of the Admiralty, his Majesty's gun-boat the _Bee_ was placed at my disposal. By the by," he adds, "the letter from the Admiralty was a curious specimen of the geographical knowledge which then prevailed there, inasmuch as it mentioned that the vessel was to go with me on Lake Huron in Lower Canada. In the village of Penetanguishene," he then informs us, "there is no tavern. We were therefore obliged to billet ourselves on the officer stationed there, of whose hospitality and endeavour to make the time pass pleasantly till he had the _Bee_ ready for the lake, I shall ever retain a pleasant remembrance."--He then describes his voyage in the little gun-boat as far as Detroit, and his examination of the river subsequently called the Maitland, and the site where Goderich was afterwards built.

Since 1840, the Rev. George Hallen has been a resident clergyman at Penetanguishene. From him have been obtained the following particulars of detachments of military stationed from time to time at that post. In 1838 a detachment of the 34th regiment, Lieut. Hutton commanding. In 1838 also, there were some incorporated Militia there under Colonel Davis. In 1840, a detachment of the 93rd Highlanders, under Lieut. Hay. In 1844, a detachment of the 84th regiment, under Lieut West. In 1846, a detachment of the Royal Canadian Rifles, under Lieut. Black. In 1850, a detachment of the Royal Canadian Rifles, under Lieut. Fitzgerald. In 1851, a detachment of the Royal Canadian Rifles, under Lieut. Moffatt. In 1851, some of the Enrolled Pensioners, under Captain Hodgetts.

In regard to the Navy. In 1843, June 8th, the _Minos_, a large gun-boat, in charge of Mr. Hatch and three men, arrived to be laid up. In the same year, the steamer _Experiment_, Lieut. Boxer, was stationed there. In 1847, the same steamer, but commanded by Lieut. Harper. In 1847 also, the steamer _Mohawk_, commanded by Lieut. Tyssen. In 1850, the same steamer, but commanded by Lieut. Herbert. The place was also visited by Captain Ross, R.N., when on his way to the North Seas; and by Lord Morpeth, Lord Prudhoe, and Sir Henry Harte, (the two latter Captains in the Navy), on their way to or from the Manitoulin Islands.

From Poulett Scrope's Life of Lord Sydenham, we learn that Penetanguishene was visited by that Governor of Canada in 1840. "From Toronto across Lake Simcoe to Penetanguishene on Lake Huron again, and back to Toronto, which I left again last night for the Bay of Quinte."--_Private Letter_, p. 190.

The following account of the removal of the British post from Drummond's island to Penetanguishene in 1828, has been also derived from the Rev. Mr. Hallen, who gathered the particulars from the lips of Mr. John Smith, aged 80, still living (1872) near Penetanguishene, formerly employed in the Ordnance Department at Quebec, and then as Commissariat Issuer at Drummond's island.

"Mr. John Smith and his wife remained on the island till the 14th of November, 1828, when it was given up to the Americans. Lieut. Carson commanding a detachment of the 68th regiment was there at the time; and Mr. Smith well remembers Lieut. Carson giving up the keys to the American officers, and that 'they shook hands quite friendly.' The Government sent the brig _Wellington_ to take away the British from the island, but it was too small, and they were obliged in addition to hire an American vessel. Mr. Keating was at that time Fort adjutant at the island, and Mr. Rawson, barrack master. Smith arrived at Penetanguishene as a Commissariat Issuer on the 20th or 21st November, 1828. He does not remember any vessels at Drummond's island. He says that Commodore Barrie came up in the _Bullfrog_, and that the gossip of the island was, that he was the cause of its being given up to the Americans. Mr. Keating, the Fort adjutant, was afterwards Fort adjutant at Penetanguishene, where he arrived in the spring of 1829, having been detained at Amherstburgh. He died in the year 1849."

"Mr. Smith said that, as far as he could recollect, the detachments stationed on the island were, of the 71st Regiment, under Lieut. Impett; of the 79th, under Lieut. Matthews; of the 24th, under Lieut. James; of the 15th, under Lieut. Ingall. (The last-named officer lived afterwards at Penetanguishene). In 1828, there were at Penetanguishene 20 or 30 Marines, under the command of Lieut. Woodin, R.N. In regard to the four gun-boats which are sunk in the harbour, Mr. Smith said they were sunk there before 1828. He remembers the name of only one of them, the _Tecumseh_."

Mr. Hallen remarks: "The account I heard of these gun-boats when I came to Penetanguishene was that they were brought here, I think, from Nottawasaga bay after the American war and were sunk to prevent their rotting. Vessels must have been built at Penetanguishene," Mr. H. adds, "as I remember a place on the Lake Shore, about five miles N.W. of Penetanguishene, being pointed out to me as the 'Navy Yard.' Many of the logs were still there."