of Sept. 19, 1807:--"Died on the evening of the 17th instant, after a
short illness, Mr. Eliphalet Hale, High Constable of the Home District,
an old and respectable inhabitant of this town. From the regular
discharge of his official duties" the _Gazette_ subjoins, "he may be
considered as a public loss."
The nature of the soil at many points between Lot Street and the modern
Yorkville was such as to render the construction of a road that should
be comfortably available at all seasons of the year no easy task. Down
to the time when macadam was at length applied, some twenty-eight years
after Mr. Hale's operations, this approach to the town was notorious for
its badness every spring and autumn. At one period an experiment was
tried of a wooden tramway for a short distance at the worst part, on
which the loaded waggons were expected to keep and so be saved from
sinking hopelessly in the direful sloughs. Mr. Sheriff Jarvis was the
chief promoter of this improvement, which answered its purpose for a
time, and Mr. Rowland Burr was its suggester. But we must not forestall
ourselves.
We return to the point where Lot Street, or Queen Street, intersects the
thoroughfare to whose farthest bourne we are about to be travellers.
After passing Mr. Jesse Ketchum's property, which had been divided into
two parts by the pushing of Yonge Street southward to its natural
termination, we arrived at another striking rectangular meeting of
thoroughfares. Lot Street having happily escaped extinction westward and
eastward, there was created at this spot a four-cross-way possessed of
an especial historic interest, being the conspicuous intersection of the
two great military roads of Upper Canada, projected and explored in
person by its first organiser. Four extensive reaches, two of Dundas
Street (identical, of course, with Lot or Queen Street), and two of
Yonge Street, can here be contemplated from one and the same standpoint.
In the course of time the views up and down the four long vistas here
commanded will probably rival those to be seen at the present moment
where King Street crosses Yonge Street. When lined along all its sides
with handsome buildings, the superior elevation above the level of the
Lake of the more northerly quadrivium, will be in its favour.
Perhaps it will here not be out of order to state that Yonge Street was
so named in honour of Sir George Yonge, Secretary of War in 1791, and
M.P. for Honiton, in the county of Devon, from 1763 to 1796. The first
exploration which led to the establishment of this communication with
the north, was made in 1793. On the early MS. map mentioned before in
these papers, the route taken by Governor Simcoe on the memorable
occasion, in going and returning is shewn. Explanatory of the red dotted
lines which indicate it, the following note is appended. It reveals the
Governor's clear perception of the commercial and military importance
of the projected road: "Lieut.-Gov. Simcoe's route on foot and in canoes
to explore a way which might afford communication for the Fur-traders to
the Great Portage, without passing Detroit in case that place were given
up to the United States. The march was attended with some difficulties,
but was quite satisfactory: an excellent harbour at Penetanguishene:
returned to York, 1793."
(On the same map, the tracks are given of four other similar excursions,
with the following accounts appended respectively:--1. Lieut.-Gov.
Simcoe's route on foot from Niagara to Detroit and back again in five
weeks; returned to Niagara March 8th, 1793. 2. Lieut.-Gov. Simcoe's
route from York to the Thames; down that river in canoes to Detroit;
from thence to the Miamis, to build the fort Lord Dorchester ordered to
be built: left York March 1794; returned by Lake Erie and Niagara to
York, May 5th, 1794. 3. Lieut.-Gov. Simcoe's track from York to Kingston
in an open boat, Dec. 5th, 1794. 4. Lieut.-Gov. Simcoe's route from
Niagara to Long Point on Lake Erie, on foot and in boats: returned down
the Ouse [Grand River]: from thence crossed a portage of five miles to
Welland River, and so to Fort Chippawa, September, 1795.)
The old chroniclers of England speak in high praise of a primeval but
somewhat mythic king of Britain, named Belin:
"Belin well held his honour,
And wisely was good governour."
says Peter de Langtoft, and his translator, Robert de Brunn; and they
assign, among the reasons why he merited such mention at their hands,
the following:
"His land Britaine he yode throughout,
And ilk county beheld about;
Beheld the woods, water and fen.
No passage was maked for men,
No highe street thorough countrie,
Ne to borough ne citie.
Thorough mooris, hills and valleys
He made brigs and causeways,
Highe street for common passage,
Brigs over water did he stage."
This notice of the old chroniclers' pioneer king of Britain has again
and again recurred to us as we have had occasion to narrate the
energetic doings of the first ruler of Upper Canada, here and
previously. What Britain was when Belin and his Celts were at work,
Canada was in the days of our immediate fathers--a trackless wild. That
we see our country such as it is to-day, approaching in many respects
the beauty and agricultural finish of Britain itself, is due to the
intrepid men who faced without blenching the trials and perils
inevitable in a first attack on the savage fastnesses of nature.
A succinct but good account is given of the origin of Yonge Street in
Mr. Surveyor General D. W. Smith's Gazetteer of 1799. The advantages
expected to accrue from the new highway are clearly set forth; and
though the anticipations expressed have not been fulfilled precisely in
the manner supposed, we see how comprehensive and really well-laid were
the plans of the first organizer of Upper Canada.
"Yonge Street," the early Gazetteer says, "is the direct communication
from York to Lake Simcoe, opened during the administration of his
Excellency Major-General Lieut.-Governor Simcoe, who, having visited
Lake Huron by Lake aux Claies (formerly also Ouentaronk, or Sinion, and
now named Lake Simcoe), and discovered the harbour of Penetanguishene
(now Gloucester) to be fit for shipping, resolved on improving the
communication from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron, by this short route,
thereby avoiding the circuitous passage of Lake Erie. This street has
been opened in a direct line, and the road made by the troops of his
Excellency's corps. It is thirty miles from York to Holland's river, at
the Pine Fort called Gwillimbury, where the road ends; from thence you
descend into Lake Simcoe, and, having passed it, there are two passages
into Lake Huron; the one by the river Severn, which conveys the waters
of Lake Simcoe into Gloucester Bay; the other by a small portage, the
continuation of Yonge Street, to a small lake, which also runs into
Gloucester Bay. This communication affords many advantages; merchandize
from Montreal to Michilimackinac may be sent this way at ten or fifteen
pounds less expense per ton, than by the route of the Grand or Ottawa
River; and the merchandize from New York to be sent up the North and
Mohawk Rivers for the north-west trade, finding its way into Lake
Ontario at Oswego (Fort Ontario), the advantage will certainly be felt
of transporting goods 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."
We now again endeavour to effect a start on our pilgrimage of
retrospection up the long route, from the establishment of which so many
public advantages were predicted in 1799.
The objects that came to be familiar to the eye at the entrance to Yonge
Street from Lot Street were, after the lapse of some years, on the west
side, a large square white edifice known as the Sun Tavern, Elliott's;
and on the east side, the buildings constituting Good's Foundry.
The open land to the north of Elliott's was the place generally occupied
by the travelling menageries and circuses when such exhibitions began to
visit the town.
The foundry, after supplying the country for a series of years with
ploughs, stoves and other necessary articles of heavy hardware, is
memorable as having been the first in Upper Canada to turn out real
railway locomotives. When novelties, these highly finished ponderous
machines, seen slowly and very laboriously urged through the streets
from the foundry to their destination, were startling phenomena. We have
in the _Canadian Journal_ (vol. ii. p. 76), an account of the first
engine manufactured by Mr. Good at the Toronto Locomotive Works, with a
lithographic illustration. "We have much pleasure," the editor of the
_Canadian Journal_ says "in presenting our readers with a drawing of the
first locomotive engine constructed in Canada, and indeed, we believe,
in any British Colony. The 'Toronto' is certainly no beauty, nor is she
distinguished for any peculiarity in the construction, but she affords a
very striking illustration of our progress in the mechanical arts, and
of the growing wants of the country. The 'Toronto' was built at the
Toronto Locomotive Works, which were established by Mr. Good, in
October, 1852. The order for the 'Toronto' was received in February,
1853, for the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railroad. The engine was
completed on the 16th of April, and put on the track the 26th of the
same month. Her dimensions are as follows: cylinder 16 inches diameter,
stroke 22 inches, driving wheel 5 feet 6 inches in diameter, length of
internal fire box 4 feet 6 inches, weight of engine 25 tons, number of
tubes 150, diameter of tubes 2 inches."
With property a little to the north on the east side, the name of
McIntosh was early associated, and--Canadian persistency again--is still
associated. Of Captains John, Robert and Charles McIntosh, we shall have
occasion to speak in our paper on the early Marine of York harbour. It
was opposite the residence of Captain John McIntosh that the small riot
took place, which signalized the return home of William Lyon Mackenzie,
in 1849, after the civil tumults of 1837. Mr. Mackenzie was at the time
the guest of Captain McIntosh, who was related to him through a marriage
connexion.
Albert Street, which enters Yonge Street opposite the McIntosh property,
was in 1833 still known as Macaulay Lane, and was described by Walton as
"fronting the Fields." From this point a long stretch of fine
forest-land extended to Yorkville. On the left side it was the property
partly of Dr. Macaulay and partly of Chief Justice Elmsley. The fields
which Macaulay Lane fronted were the improvements around Dr. Macaulay's
abode. The white entrance gate to his house was near where now a street
leads into Trinity Square. Wykham Lodge, the residence of Sir James
Macaulay after the removal from Front Street, and Elmsley Villa, the
residence of Captain J. S. Macaulay, (Government House in Lord Elgin's
day, and subsequently Knox College,) were late erections on portions of
these spacious suburban estates.
The first Dr. Macaulay and Chief Justice Elmsley selected two adjoining
park lots, both of them fronting, of course, on Lot Street. They then
effected an exchange of properties with each other. Dividing these two
lots transversely into equal portions, the Chief Justice chose the upper
or northern halves, and Dr. Macaulay the lower or southern. Dr. Macaulay
thus acquired a large frontage on Lot Street, and the Chief Justice a
like advantage on Yonge Street. Captain Macaulay acquired his interest
in the southern portion of the Elmsley halves by marriage with a
daughter of the Chief Justice. The northern portion of these halves
descended to the heir of the Chief Justice, Capt. John Elmsley, who
having become a convert to the Church of Rome, gave facilities for the
establishment of St. Basil's college and other Roman Catholic
Institutions on his estate. Of Chief Justice Elmsley and his son we have
previously spoken.
Dr. Macaulay's clearing on the north side of Macaulay lane was, in
relation to the first town plot of York, long considered a locality
particularly remote; a spot to be discovered by strangers not without
difficulty. In attempting to reach it we have distinct accounts of
persons bewildered and lost for long hours in the intervening marshes
and woods. Mr. Justice Boulton, travelling from Prescott in his own
vehicle, and bound for Dr. Macaulay's domicile, was dissuaded, on
reaching Mr. Small's house at the eastern extremity of York, from
attempting to push on to his destination, although it was by no means
late, on account of the inconveniences and perils to be encountered; and
half of the following day was taken up in accomplishing the residue of
the journey.
Dr. Macaulay's cottage might still have been existent and in good order;
but while it was being removed bodily by Mr. Alexander Hamilton, from
its original site to a position on the entrance to Trinity Square, a few
yards to the eastward, it was burnt, either accidentally or by the act
of an incendiary. Mr. Hamilton, who was intending to convert the
building into a home for himself and his family, gave the name of
Teraulay Cottage--the name by which the destroyed building had been
known--to the house which he put up in its stead.
A quarter of a century sufficed to transform Dr. Macaulay's garden and
grounds into a well-peopled city district. The "fields," of which Walton
spoke, have undergone the change which St. George's Fields and other
similar spaces have undergone in London:
St. George's Fields are fields no more;
The trowel supersedes the plough;
Huge inundated swamps of yore
Are changed to civic villas now.
The builder's plank, the mason's hod,
Wide and more wide extending still,
Usurp the violated sod.
The area which Dr. Macaulay's homestead immediately occupied now
constitutes Trinity Square--a little bay by the side of a great stream
of busy human traffic, ever ebbing and flowing, not without rumble and
other resonances; a quiet close, resembling, it is pleasant to think,
one of the Inns of Court in London, so tranquil despite the turmoil of
Fleet Street adjoining.
Trinity Square is now completely surrounded with buildings; nevertheless
an aspiring attic therein, in which many of these collections and
recollections have been reduced to shape, has the advantage of
commanding to this day a view still showing within its range some of the
primitive features of the site of York. To the north an extended portion
of the rising land above Yorkville is pleasantly visible, looking in the
distance as it anciently looked, albeit beheld now with spires
intervening, and ornamental turrets of public buildings, and lofty
factory flues: while to the south, seen also between chimney stacks and
steeples and long solid architectural ranges, a glimpse of Lake Ontario
itself is procurable--a glimpse especially precious so long as it is to
be had, for not only recalling, as it does, the olden time when "the
Lake" was an element in so much of the talk of the early settlers--its
sound, its aspect, its condition being matters of hourly observation to
them--but also suggesting the thought of the far-off outer ocean
stream--the silver moat that guards the fatherland, and that forms the
horizon in so many of its landscapes.
To the far-off Atlantic, and to the misty isles beyond--the true _Insulae
Fortunatoe_--we need not name them--the glittering slip which we are
still permitted to see yonder, is the highway--the route by which the
fathers came--the route by which their sons from time to time return to
make dutiful visits to hearthstones and shrines never to be thought of
or named without affection and reverence.--Of that other ideal
ocean-stream, too, and of that other ideal home, of which the poet
speaks, our peep of Ontario may likewise, to the thoughtful, be an
allegory, by the help of which
In a season of calm weather,
Though inland far we be,
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither;
Can in a moment travel thither--
And see the children sport upon the shore,
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore!
The Church with the twin turrets, now seen in the middle space of
Trinity Square, was a gift of benevolence to Western Canada in 1846 from
two ladies, sisters. The personal character of Bishop Strachan was the
attraction that drew the boon to Toronto. Through the hands of Bishop
Longley of Ripon, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, a sum of L5,000
sterling was transmitted by the donors to Bishop Strachan for the
purpose of founding a church, two stipulations being that it should be
forever, like the ancient churches of England, free to all for worship,
and that it should bear the name of The Holy Trinity. The sum sent built
the Church and created a small endowment. Soon after the completion of
the edifice, Scoresby, the celebrated Arctic navigator, author of "An
Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the
Northern Whale Fishery," preached and otherwise officiated within its
walls. Therein, too, at a later period was heard the voice of Selwyn,
Bishop of Lichfield, but previously the eminent Missionary Bishop of New
Zealand. Here also, while the Cathedral of St. James was rebuilding,
after its second destruction by fire in 1849, Lord Elgin was a constant
devout participant in Christian rites, an historical association
connected with the building, made worthy of preservation by the very
remarkable public services of the Earl afterwards in China and
India.--We recall at this moment the _empressement_ with which an
obscure little chapel was pointed out to us in the small hamlet of
Tregear in Cornwall, on account of the fact that John Wesley had once
preached there. Well then: it may be that with some hereafter, it will
be a matter of curiosity and interest to know that several men of
world-wide note, did, in their day, while sojourning in this region,
"pay their vows" in the particular "Lord's House" to which we now have
occasion to refer.
In the grove which surrounded Sir James Macaulay's residence, Wykham
Lodge, we had down to recent years a fragment of the fine forest which
lined Yonge Street, almost continuously from Lot Street to Yorkville,
some forty years since. The ruthless uprooting of the eastern border of
this beautiful sylvan relic of the past, for building purposes, was
painful to witness, however quickly the presence of rows of useful
structures reconciled us to the change. The trees which cluster round
the great school building in the rear of these improvements will long,
as we hope, survive to give an idea of what was the primeval aspect of
the whole of the neighbourhood.
The land on the opposite side, a little to the north of the point at
which we have arrived, viz., Carleton Street--long remaining in an
uncultivated condition, was a portion of the estate of Alexander Wood,
of whom we have already spoken. His family and baptismal names are
preserved, as we have before noted, in "Wood" Street and "Alexander"
Street.
The streets which we passed southward of Wood Street, Carleton, Gerrard,
Shuter, with Gould Street in the immediate vicinity, had their names
from personal friends of Mr. McGill, the first owner, as we have seen,
of this tract. They are names mostly associated with the early annals of
Montreal, and seem rather inapposite here.
Northward, a little beyond where Grosvenor Street leads into what was
Elmsley Villa, and is now Knox College, was a solitary green field with
a screen of lofty trees on three of its sides. In its midst was a Dutch
barn, or hay-barrack, with movable top. The sward on the northern side
of the building was ever eyed by the passer-by with a degree of awe. It
was the exact spot where a fatal duel had been fought.
We have seen in repeated instances that the so-called code of honour was
in force at York from the era of its foundation. "Without it,"
Mandeville had said, "there would be no living in a populous nation. It
is the tie of society; and although we are beholden to our frailties for
the chief ingredient of it, there has been no virtue, at least that I am
acquainted with, which has proved half so instrumental to the civilizing
of mankind, who, in great societies, would soon degenerate into cruel
villains and treacherous slaves, were honour to be removed from among
them." Mandeville's sophistical dictum was blindly accepted, and trifles
light as air gave rise to the conventional hostile meeting. The merest
accident at a dance, a look, a jest, a few words of unconsidered talk,
of youthful chaff, were every now and then sufficient to force persons
who previously, perhaps, had been bosom friends, companions from
childhood, along with others sometimes, in no wise concerned in the
quarrel at first, to put on an unnatural show of thirst for each other's
blood. The victim of the social usage of the day, in the case now
referred to, was a youthful son of Surveyor-General Ridout.
Some years after the event, the public attention was drawn afresh to it.
The surviving principal in the affair, Mr. Samuel Jarvis, underwent a
trial at the time and was acquitted. But the seconds were not arraigned.
It happened in 1828, eleven years after the incident (the duel took
place July 12, 1817), that Francis Collins, editor of the _Canadian
Freeman_, a paper of which we have before spoken, was imprisoned and
fined for libel. As an act of retaliation on at least some of those who
had promoted the prosecution, which ended in his being thus sentenced,
he set himself to work to bring the seconds into court. He succeeded.
One of them, Mr. Henry John Boulton, was now Solicitor-General, and the
other, Mr. James E. Small, an eminent member of the Bar. All the
particulars of the fatal encounter, were once more gone over in the
evidence. But the jury did not convict.
Modern society, here and elsewhere, is to be congratulated on the change
which has come over its ideas in regard to duelling. Apart from the
considerations dictated by morals and religion, common sense, as we
suppose, has had its effect in checking the practice. York, in its
infancy, was no better and no worse in this respect than other places.
It took its cue in this as in some other matters, from very high
quarters. The Duke of York, from whom York derived its name, had himself
narrowly escaped a bullet from the pistol of Colonel Lennox: "it passed
so near to the ear as to discommode the side-curl," the report said; but
our Duke's action, or rather inaction, on the occasion helped perhaps to
impress on the public mind the irrationality of duelling: he did not
return the fire. "He came out," he said, "to give Colonel Lennox
satisfaction, and did not mean to fire at him; if Colonel Lennox was not
satisfied, he might fire again."
Just to the north of the scene of the fatal duel, which has led to this
digression, was the portion of Yonge Street where a wooden tramway was
once laid down for a short distance; an experiment interesting to be
remembered now, as an early foreshadowing of the existing convenient
street railway, if not of the great Northern Railway itself.
Subterranean springs and quicksands hereabout rendered the primitive
roadmaker's occupation no easy one; and previous to the application of
macadam, the tramway, while it lasted, was a boon to the farmers after
heavy rains.