saw a bird actually in the grasp of a large garter-snake--just held by
the foot. As the little creature fluttered violently in the air, the
head of the reptile was swayed rapidly to and fro. All the small birds
in the vicinity had gathered together in a state of noisy excitement;
and many spirited dashes were make by several of them at the common foe.
No great injury having been as yet inflicted, we were enabled to effect
a happy rescue.
From the high sandy cliff, to which our attention has been drawn, it was
possible to look down into the waters of the river; and on a sunny day,
it afforded no small amusement to watch the habits, not only of the
creatures just named, but of the fish also, visible below in the stream;
the simple sunfish, for example, swimming about in shoals (or _schools_,
as the term used to be); and the pike, crafty as a fox, lurking in
solitude, ready to dart on his unwary prey with the swiftness and
precision of an arrow shot from the bow.
_3.--From the Big Bend to Castle Frank Brook._
Above the "Big Bend," on the west side, was "Rock Point." At the water's
edge hereabout was a slight outcrop of shaly rock, where crayfish were
numerous, and black bass. The adjoining marshy land was covered with a
dense thicket, in which wild gooseberry bushes and wild black-currant
bushes were noticeable. The flats along here were a favourite haunt of
woodcock at the proper season of the year: the peculiar succession of
little twitters uttered by them when descending from their flight, and
the very different deep-toned note, the signal of their having alighted,
were both very familiar sounds in the dusk of the evening.
A little further on was "the Island." The channel between it and the
"mainland" on the north side, was completely choked up with logs and
large branches, brought down by the freshets. It was itself surrounded
by a high fringe or hedge of the usual brush that lined the river-side
all along, matted together and clambered over, almost everywhere by the
wild grape-vine. In the waters at its northern end, wild rice grew
plentifully, and the beautiful sweet-scented white water-lily or lotus.
This minute bit of insulated land possessed, to the boyish fancy, great
capabilities. Within its convenient circuit, what phantasies and dreams
might not be realized? A Juan Fernandez, a Barataria, a New
Atlantis.--At the present moment we find that what was once our charmed
isle has now become _terra firma_, wholly amalgamated with the mainland.
Silt has hidden from view the tangled lodgments of the floods. A carpet
of pleasant herbage has overspread the silt. The border-strip of
shrubbery and grape-vine, which so delightfully walled it round, has
been improved, root and branch, out of being.
Near the Island, on the left side, a rivulet, of which more immediately,
pouring down through a deep, narrow ravine, entered the Don. On the
right, just at this point, the objectionable marshes began to disappear,
and the whole bottom of the vale was early converted into handsome
meadows. Scattered about were grand elm and butternut, fine basswood and
buttonwood trees, with small groves of the Canadian willow, which
pleasantly resembles, in habit, the olive tree of the south of Europe.
Along the flats, remains of Indian encampments were often met with;
tusks of bears and other animals; with fragments of coarse pottery,
streaked or furrowed rudely over, for ornament. And all along the
valley, calcareous masses, richly impregnated with iron, were found,
detached, from time to time, as was supposed, from certain places in the
hill-sides.
At the long-ago epoch when the land went up, the waters came down with a
concentrated rush from several directions into the valley just here,
from some accidental cause, carving out in their course, in the enormous
deposit of the drift, a number of deep and rapidly descending channels,
converging all upon this point. The drainage of a large extent of
acreage to the eastward, also at that period, found here for a time its
way into the Don, as may be seen by a neighbouring gorge, and the deep
and wide, but now _dry_ water-course leading to it, known, where the
"Mill road" crosses it, as the "Big Hollow."
Bare and desolate, at that remote era, must have been the appearance of
these earth-banks and ridges and flats, as also those in the vicinity of
all our rivers: for many a long year they must have resembled the
surroundings of some great tidal river, to which the sea, after ebbing,
had failed to return.
One result of the ancient down-rush of waters, just about here, was that
on both sides of the river there were to be observed several striking
specimens of that long, thin, narrow kind of hill which is popularly
known as a "hog's back." One on the east side afforded, along its ridge,
a convenient ascent from the meadows to the table-land above, where
fine views up and down the vale were obtainable, somewhat Swiss in
character, including in the distance the lake, to the south. Overhanging
the pathway, about half-way up, a group of white-birch trees is
remembered by the token that, on their stems, a number of young men and
maidens of the neighbourhood had, in sentimental mood, after the manner
of the Corydons and Amaryllises of classic times, incised their names.
The west side of the river, as well as the east, of which we have been
more especially speaking, presented here also a collection of convergent
"hog's backs" and deeply channelled water-courses. One of the latter
still conducted down a living stream to the Don. This was the rivulet
already noticed as entering just above the Island. It bore the graceful
name of "Castle Frank Brook."
_4.--Castle Frank._
Castle Frank was a rustic chateau or summer-house, built by Governor
Simcoe in the midst of the woods, on the brow of a steep and lofty bank,
which overlooks the vale of the Don, a short distance to the north of
where we have been lingering. The construction of this edifice was a
mere _divertissement_ while engaged in the grand work of planting in a
field literally and entirely new, the institutions of civilization.
All the way from the site of the town of York to the front of this
building, a narrow carriage-road and convenient bridle-path had been cut
out by the soldiers, and carefully graded. Remains of this ancient
engineering achievement are still to be traced along the base of the
hill below the Necropolis and elsewhere. The brook--Castle Frank
Brook--a little way from where it enters the Don, was spanned by a
wooden bridge. Advantage being taken of a narrow ridge, that opportunely
had its commencing point close by on the north side, the roadway here
began the ascent of the adjoining height. It then ran slantingly up the
hill-side, along a cutting which is still to be seen. The table-land at
the summit was finally gained by utilizing another narrow ridge. It then
proceeded along the level at the top for some distance through a forest
of lofty pines, until the chateau itself was reached.
The cleared space where the building stood was not many yards across. On
each side of it, the ground precipitously descended, on the one hand to
the Don, on the other to the bottom of the ravine where flowed the
brook. Notwithstanding the elevation of the position, the view was
circumscribed, hill-side and table-land being alike covered with trees
of the finest growth.
Castle Frank itself was an edifice of considerable dimensions, of an
oblong shape; its walls were composed of a number of rather small,
carefully hewn logs, of short lengths. The whole wore the hue which
unpainted timber, exposed to the weather, speedily assumes. At the gable
end, in the direction of the roadway from the nascent capital, was the
principal entrance, over which a rather imposing portico was formed by
the projection of the whole roof, supported by four upright columns,
reaching the whole height of the building, and consisting of the stems
of four good-sized, well-matched pines, with their deeply-chapped,
corrugated bark unremoved. The doors and shutters to the windows were
all of double thickness, made of stout plank, running up and down on one
side, and crosswise on the other, and thickly studded over with the
heads of stout nails. From the middle of the building rose a solitary,
massive chimney-stack.
We can picture to ourselves the cavalcade that was wont, from time to
time, to be seen in the summers and autumns of 1794-'5-'6, wending its
way leisurely to the romantically situated chateau of Castle Frank,
along the reaches and windings, the descents and ascents of the forest
road, expressly cut out through the primitive woods as a means of access
to it.
First, mounted on a willing and well-favoured horse, as we will suppose,
there would be General Simcoe himself--a soldierly personage, in the
full vigour of life, advanced but little beyond his fortieth year, of
thoughtful and stern, yet benevolent aspect--as shewn by the medallion
in marble on his monument in the cathedral at Exeter--revolving ever in
his mind schemes for the development and defence of the new Society
which he was engaged in founding; a man "just, active, enlightened,
brave, frank," as the French Duke de Liancourt described him in 1795;
"possessing the confidence of the country, of the troops, and of all
those who were joined with him in the administration of public affairs."
"No hillock catches his eye," the same observant writer remarks,
"without exciting in his mind the idea of a fort which might be
constructed on the spot, associating with the construction of this fort
the plan of operations for a campaign; especially of that which should
lead him to Philadelphia, _i. e._, to recover, by force of arms, to the
allegiance of England, the Colonies recently revolted."
By the side of the soldier and statesman Governor, also on horseback,
would be his gifted consort, small in person, "handsome and amiable," as
the French Duke again speaks, "fulfilling," as he continues to say, "all
the duties of the mother and wife with the most scrupulous exactness;
carrying the latter so far," DeLiancourt observes, "as to be of great
assistance to her husband by her talent for drawing, the practice of
which, in relation to maps and plans, enabled her to be extremely useful
to the Governor," while her skill and facility and taste in a wider
application of that talent were attested, the French traveller might
have added, by numerous sketch-books and portfolios of views of Canadian
scenery in its primitive condition, taken by her hand, to be treasured
up carefully and reverently by her immediate descendants, but
unfortunately not accessible generally to Canadian students.
This memorable lady--memorable for her eminent Christian goodness, as
well as for her artistic skill and taste, and superior intellectual
endowments--survived to the late period of 1850. Her maiden name is
preserved among us by the designation borne by two of our townships,
East and West "Gwillim"-bury. Her father, at the time one of the
aides-de-camp to General Wolfe, was killed at the taking of Quebec.
Conspicuous in the group would likewise be a young daughter and son, the
latter about five years of age and bearing the name of Francis. The
chateau of which we have just given an account was theoretically the
private property of this child, and took its name from him, although the
appellation, by accident as we suppose, is identical, in sound at all
events, with that of a certain "Castel-franc" near Rochelle, which
figures in the history of the Huguenots.
The Iroquois at Niagara had given the Governor a title, expressive of
hospitality--Deyonynhokrawen, "One whose door is always open." They had,
moreover, in Council declared his son a chief, and had named him Tioga;
or Deyoken, "Between the Two Objects;" and to humour them in return, as
Liancourt informs us, the child was occasionally attired in Indian
costume. For most men it is well that the future is veiled from them. It
happened eventually that a warrior's fate befell the young chieftain
Tioga. The little spirited lad who had been seen at one time moving
about before the assembled Iroquois at Niagara, under a certain
restraint probably, from the unwonted garb of embroidered deerskin, in
which, on such occasions, he would be arrayed; and at another time
clambering up and down the steep hill-sides at Castle Frank, with the
restless energy of a free English boy, was at last, after the lapse of
some seventeen years, seen a mangled corpse, one in that ghastly pile of
"English dead," which, in 1812, closed up the breach at Badajoz.
Riding with the Governor, out to his rustic lodge, would be seen also
his attached secretary, Major Littlehales, and one or other of his
faithful aides-de-camp, Lieutenant Talbot or Lieutenant Givins; with men
in attendance in the dark green undress of the famous Queen's Rangers,
with a sumpter pony or two, bearing packages and baskets filled with a
day's provender for the whole party. A few dogs also, a black
Newfoundland, a pointer, a setter, white and tan, hieing buoyantly about
on the right and left, would give animation to the cavalcade as it
passed sedately on its way--
"Through the green-glooming twilight of the grove."
It will be of interest to add here, the inscription on General Simcoe's
monument in Exeter Cathedral:--"Sacred to the memory of John Graves
Simcoe, Lieutenant-General in the army, and Colonel of the 22nd Regiment
of Foot, who died on the 25th day of October, 1806, aged 54. In whose
life and character the virtues of the hero, the patriot and the
Christian were so eminently conspicuous, that it may justly be said, he
served his king and his country with a zeal exceeded only by his piety
towards God." Above this inscription is a medallion portrait. On the
right and left are figures of an Indian and a soldier of the Queen's
Rangers. The remains of the General are not deposited in Exeter
Cathedral, but under a mortuary chapel on the estate of his family
elsewhere.
Our cavalcade to Castle Frank, as sketched above, was once challenged on
the supposed ground that in 1794 there were no horses in Western
Canada.--Horses were no doubt at that date scarce in the region named;
but some were procurable for the use of the Governor and his suite. In a
"Journal to Detroit from Niagara, in 1793, by Major Littlehales,"
printed for the first time in the _Canadian Literary Magazine_, for May,
1833, we have it mentioned that, on the return of an exploring party,
they were met at the end of the plains, near the Salt Lake Creek, by
Indians, "bringing horses for the Governor and his suite." The French
_habitans_ about Sandwich and Detroit were in possession of horses in
1793, as well as their fellow countrymen in Lower Canada.
After the departure of General Simcoe from Canada, Castle Frank was
occasionally made the scene of an excursion or pic-nic by President
Russell and his family; and a ball was now and then given there, for
which the appliances as well as the guests were conveyed in boats up the
Don. At one time it was temporarily occupied by Captain John Denison, of
whom hereafter. About the year 1829, the building, shut up and
tenantless at the time, was destroyed by fire, the mischievous handiwork
of persons engaged in salmon-fishing in the Don. A depression in the dry
sand just beyond the fence which bounds the Cemetery of St. James,
northward, shews to this day the exact site of Castle Frank. The
quantity of iron that was gathered out from this depression after the
fire, was, as we remember, something extraordinary, all the window
shutters and doors having been, as we have said, made of double planks,
fastened together with an immense number of stout nails, whose heads
thickly studded the surface of each in regular order.
The immediate surroundings of the spot where Castle Frank stood,
fortunately continue almost in their original natural state. Although
the site of the building itself is outside the bounds of the Cemetery of
St. James, a large portion of the lot which at first formed the domain
of the chateau, now forms a part of that spacious and picturesque
enclosure. The deep glen on the west, immediately below where the house
was built, and through which flows (and by the listener may be
pleasantly _heard_ to flow) the brook that bears its name, is to this
day a scene of rare sylvan beauty. The pedestrian from the town, by a
half-hour's easy walk, can here place himself in the midst of a forest
solitude; and from what he sees he can form an idea of the whole
surrounding region, as it was when York was first laid out. Here he can
find in abundance, to this day, specimens, gigantic and minute, of the
vegetation of the ancient woods. Here at the proper seasons he can still
hear the blue jay; the flute notes of the solitary wood-thrush, and at
night, specially when the moon is shining bright, the whip-poor-will,
hurriedly and in a high key, syllabling forth its own name.
_5.--On to the Ford and the Mills._
We now resume our ramble up the valley of the Don. Northward of the
gorge, where Castle Frank Brook entered, and where so many other
deep-cut ravines converge upon the present channel of the stream, the
scenery becomes really good.
We pass along through natural meadows, bordered on both sides by fine
hills, which recede by a succession of slight plateaux, the uppermost of
them clothed with lofty pines and oaks: on the slope nearest to "the
flats" on the east, grew, along with the choke-cherry and may-flower,
numbers of the wild apple or crab, beautiful objects when in full bloom.
Hereabout also was to be found the prickly ash, a rather uncommon and
graceful shrub. (The long-continued precipitous bank on the west side of
the Don completely covered with forest, with, at last, the roof of the
rustic chateau appearing above, must have recalled, in some slight
degree, the Sharpham woods and Sharpham to the mind of anyone who had
ever chanced to sail up the Dart so far as that most beautiful spot.)
Immediately beyond the Castle Frank woods, where now is the property
known as Drumsnab, came the estate of Captain George Playter, and
directly across on the opposite side of the river, that of his son
Captain John Playter, both immigrants from Pennsylvania. When the town
of York was in the occupancy of the Americans in 1813, many of the
archives of the young province of Upper Canada were conveyed for safe
keeping to the houses of these gentlemen. But boats, with men and
officers from the invading force, found their way up the windings of the
Don; and such papers and documents as could be found were carried away.
Just below Drumsnab, on the west side of the stream, and set down, as it
were, in the midst of the valley, was, and is, a singular isolated mound
of the shape of a glass shade over a French clock, known in the
neighbourhood as the "Sugar Loaf." It was completely clothed over with
moderate sized trees. When the whole valley of the Don was filled with a
brimming river reaching to the summit of its now secondary banks, the
top of the "Sugar Loaf," which is nearly on a level with the summit of
the adjacent hills, must have appeared above the face of the water as an
island speck.
This picturesque and curious mound is noticed by Sir James Alexander, in
the account which he gives of the neighbourhood of Toronto in his
"L'Acadie, or Seven Years' Explorations in British America":--"The most
picturesque spot near Toronto," says Sir James, "and within four miles
of it, is Drumsnab, the residence of Mr. Cayley. The mansion is roomy
and of one storey, with a broad verandah. It is seated among fields and
woods, on the edge of a slope; at the bottom winds a river; opposite is
a most singular conical hill, like an immense Indian tumulus for the
dead; in the distance, through a vista cut judiciously through the
forest, are seen the dark blue waters of Lake Ontario. The walls of the
principal room are covered with scenes from Faust, drawn in fresco, with
a bold and masterly hand, by the proprietor."--(Vol. 1. p. 230.)
In the shadow thrown eastward by the "Sugar Loaf," there was a "Ford" in
the Don, a favourite bathing-place for boys, with a clean gravelly
bottom, and a current somewhat swift. That Ford was just in the line of
an allowance for a concession road; which from the precipitous character
of the hills on both sides, has been of late years closed by Act of
Parliament, on the ground of its supposed impracticability for ever,--a
proceeding to be regretted; as the highway which would traverse the Don
valley at the Ford would be a continuation of Bloor street in a right
line; and would form a convenient means of communication between Chester
and Yorkville.
In the meadow on the left, just above the Ford, a little meandering
brook, abounding in trout, entered the Don. Hereabouts also was, for a
long while, a rustic bridge over the main river, formed by trees felled
across the stream.
Proceeding on our way we now in a short time approached the great colony
of the Helliwells, which has already been described. The mills and
manufactories established here by that enterprising family constituted
quite a conspicuous village. A visit to this cluster of buildings, in
1827, is described by Mr. W. L. Mackenzie, in his "Sketches of Canada,"
published in London, by Effingham Wilson, in 1833. At page 270 of that
work, the writer says: "About three miles out of town, in the bottom of
a deep ravine, watered by the river Don, and bounded also by beautiful
and verdant flats, are situated the York Paper Mills, distillery and
grist-mill of Messrs. Eastwood & Co.; also Mr. Shepard's axe-grinding
machinery; and Messrs. Helliwell's large and extensive Brewery. I went
out to view these improvements a few days ago, and returned much
gratified with witnessing the paper-manufacture in active operation--as
also the bold and pleasant scenery on the banks of the Don. The river
might be made navigable with small expense up to the brewery; and if the
surrounding lands were laid out in five-acre lots all the way to town,
they would sell to great advantage."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
XVIII.
QUEEN STREET, FROM THE DON BRIDGE TO CAROLINE STREET.
We return once more to the Don Bridge; and from that point commence a
journey westward along the thoroughfare now known as Queen Street, but
which at the period at present occupying our attention, was
non-existent. The region through which we at first pass was long known
as the Park. It was a portion of Government property not divided into
lots and sold, until recent times.
Originally a great space extending from the first Parliament houses,
bounded southward and eastward by the water of the Bay and Don, and
northward by the Castle Frank lot, was set apart as a "Reserve for
Government Buildings," to be, it may be, according to the idea of the
day, a small domain of woods and forest in connection with them; or else
to be converted in the course of time into a source of ways and means
for their erection and maintenance. The latter appears to have been the
view taken of this property in 1811. We have seen a plan of that date,
signed "T. Ridout, S. G.," shewing this reserve divided into a number of
moderate sized lots, each marked with "the estimated yearly rent, in
dollars, as reported by the Deputy Surveyor [Samuel S. Wilmot]." The
survey is therein stated to have been made "by order of His Excellency
Francis Gore, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor."
The number of the lots is eighty-three. None of them bear a larger
amount than twenty dollars. Some of them consisting of minute bits of
marsh, were expected to yield not more than one dollar. The revenue from
the whole if realised would have been eleven hundred and thirty-three
dollars. In this plan, what is now Queen street is duly laid down, in
direct continuation of the Kingston Road westward, without regard to the
engineering difficulties presented by ravines; but it is entitled in
large letters, "Dundas Street." On its north side lie forty-six, and on
its south, thirty-seven of the small lots into which the whole reserve
is divided The scheme was never carried into effect.