Books: Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago
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Canniff Haight >> Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago
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I hope the humble effort I have made to show what we Upper Canadians
have done during the fifty years that are gone will induce some one
better qualified to go over the same ground, and put it in a more
attractive and effective shape. It is a period in our history which must
ever demand attention, and although our Province had been settled for
nearly half a century prior to 1830, it was not until after that date
that men of intelligence began to look around them, and take an active
interest in shaping the future of their country. There were many
failures, but the practical sense of the people surmounted them, and
pushed on. All were awake to the value of their heritage, and
contributed their share to extend its influence; and so we have gone on
breasting manfully political, commercial and other difficulties, but
always advancing; and whatever may be said about the growth of other
parts of America, figures will show that Canada is to the front. At the
Provincial Exhibition in Ottawa, in 1879, the Governor of Vermont, in
his address, stated (what we already knew), that Canada had outstripped
the United States in rapidity of growth and development during recent
years, and the Governors of Ohio and Maine endorsed the statement. We
have a grand country, and I believe a grand future.
"Fair land of peace! to Britain's rule and throne
Adherent still, yet happier than alone,
And free as happy, and as brave as free,
Proud are thy children, justly proud of thee.
Few are the years that have sufficed to change
This whole broad land by transformation strange.
Once far and wide the unbroken forests spread
Their lonely waste, mysterious and dread--
Forest, whose echoes never had been stirred
By the sweet music of an English word;
Where only rang the red-browed hunter's yell,
And the wolf's howl through the dark sunless dell.
Now fruitful fields and waving orchard trees
Spread their rich treasures to the summer breeze.
Yonder, in queenly pride, a city stands,
Whence stately vessels speed to distant lands;
Here smiles a hamlet through embow'ring green,
And there the statelier village spires are seen;
Here by the brook-side clacks the noisy mill,
There the white homestead nestles on the hill;
The modest school-house here flings wide its door
To smiling crowds that seek its simple lore;
There Learning's statelier fane of massive walls
Wooes the young aspirant to classic halls,
And bids him in her hoarded treasure find
The gathered wealth of all earth's gifted minds."
--PAMELA S. VINING.
Since writing the foregoing, I accidentally came across _The Canadas,
&c._, by Andrew Picken, published in London in 1832, a work which I
had never previously met with. It is written principally for the benefit
of persons intending to emigrate to Canada, and contains notices of the
most important places in both Provinces. I have made the following
extracts, thinking that they would prove interesting to those of my
readers who wish to get a correct idea of our towns and villages fifty
years ago.
"The largest and most populous of the towns in Upper Canada, and called
the key to the Province, is Kingston, advantageously situated at the
head of the St. Lawrence, and at the entrance of the great Lake Ontario.
Its population is now about 5,500 souls; it is a military post of
importance, as well as a naval depot, and from local position and
advantages is well susceptible of fortification. It contains noble
dockyards and conveniences for ship-building. Its bay affords, says
Howison, so fine a harbour, that a vessel of one hundred and twenty guns
can lie close to the quay, and the mercantile importance it has now
attained as a commercial entrepot between Montreal below and the western
settlements on the lakes above, may be inferred, among other things from
the wharfs on the river and the many spacious and well-filled warehouses
behind them, as well as the numerous stores and mercantile employes
within the town. The streets are regularly formed upon the right-angular
plan which is the favourite in the new settlements, but they are not
paved; and though the houses are mostly built of limestone,
inexhaustible quarries of which lie in the immediate vicinity of the
town, and are of the greatest importance to it and the surrounding
neighbourhood, there is nothing in the least degree remarkable or
interesting in the appearance of either the streets or the buildings.
The opening of the Rideau Canal there, which, with the intermediate
lakes, forms a junction between the Ontario and other lakes above, the
St. Lawrence below, and the Ottawa, opposite Hull, in its rear, with all
the intervening districts and townships, will immensely increase the
importance of this place; and its convenient hotels already afford
comfortable accommodation to the host of travellers that are continually
passing between the Upper and Lower Provinces, as well as to and from
the States on the opposite side of the river.
"York is well situated on the north side of an excellent harbour on the
lake. It contains the public buildings of the Province, viz., the House
of Assembly, where the Provincial Parliament generally holds its
sittings; the Government House; the Provincial Bank; a College; a Court
House; a hall for the Law Society; a gaol; an Episcopal Church; a
Baptist Chapel (Methodist); a Scots' Kirk; a Garrison near the town,
with barracks for the troops usually stationed here, and a battery which
protects the entrance of the harbour. Regularly laid out under survey,
as usual, the streets of the town are spacious, the houses mostly built
of wood, but many of them of brick and stone. The population amounts now
to between four and five thousand.
"By-Town, situated on the southern bank of the Ottawa, a little below
the Chaudiere Falls, and opposite to the flourishing Village of Hull, in
Lower Canada, stands upon a bold eminence, surrounding the bay of the
grand river, and occupies both banks of the canal, which here meets it.
Laid out in the usual manner with streets crossing at right angles, the
number of houses is already about 150, most of which are wood, and many
built with much taste. Three stone barracks and a large and commodious
hospital, built also of stone, stand conspicuous on the elevated banks
of the bay; and the elegant residence of Colonel By, the commanding
Royal Engineer of that station.
"The town-plot of Peterborough is in the northeast angle of the Township
of Monaghan. It is laid out in half acres, the streets nearly at right
angles with the river; park lots of nine acres each are reserved near
the town. The patent fee on each is L8, Provincial currency, and office
fees and agency will increase it 15s or 20s more.
"The settlement commenced in 1825, at which time it formed a depot of
the emigration under Hon. P. Robinson. The situation is most favourable,
being an elevated sandy plain, watered by a creek, which discharges into
the river below the turn. The country round is fertile, and there is
great water-power in the town-plot, on which mills are now being built
by Government. These mills are on an extensive scale, being calculated
to pack forty barrels of flour, and the saw-mill to cut 3,000 feet of
boards _per diem_.
"The situation of Cobourg is healthy and pleasant. It stands immediately
on the shore of Lake Ontario. In 1812, it had only one house; it now
contains upwards of forty houses, an Episcopal church, a Methodist
chapel, two good inns, four stores, a distillery, an extensive grist
mill; and the population may be estimated at about 350 souls.
"The two projected towns of most consideration in this district (London
district), however, are London-on-the-Thames, further inland, and
Goderich, recently founded by the Canada Company, on Lake Huron. London
is yet but inconsiderable, but from its position, in the heart of a
fertile country, is likely to become of some importance hereafter, when
the extreme wilds become more settled. The town is quite new, not
containing above forty or fifty houses, all of bright boards and
shingles. The streets and gardens full of black stumps &c. They were
building a church, and had finished a handsome Gothic court-house, which
must have been a costly work.
"Guelph. Much of this tract belongs to the Canada Company, who have
built, nearly in its centre, the town of Guelph, upon a small river,
called the Speed, a remote branch of the Ouse, or Grand River. This
important and rapidly rising town, which is likely to become the capital
of the district, was founded by Mr. Galt, for the Company, on St.
George's day, 1827, and already contains between 100 and 200 houses,
several shops, a handsome market house near the centre, a schoolhouse, a
printing office, and 700 or 800 inhabitants.
"The Bay of Quinte settlement is the oldest in Upper Canada, and was
begun at the close of the Revolutionary War. We crossed over the mouth
of the River Trent, which flows from the Rice Lake, and it is said can
be made practicable for steamboats, though at much expense; thence to
Belleville, a neat village of recent date, but evidently addicted too
much to lumbering.
"Brockville is a most thriving new town, with several handsome stone
houses, churches, court-house, &c., and about 1,500 souls."
SKETCHES OF EARLY HISTORY.
[Footnote: This paper was read before the Mechanics' Institute in
Picton, twenty-six years ago. Soon afterwards, the then Superintendent
of Education, Dr. Ryerson, requested me to send it to him, which I did,
and a copy was taken of it. An extract will be found in his work, "The
Loyalists of America," Vol. ii; page 219. Subsequently, in 1879, I made
up two short papers from it which appeared in _The Canadian Methodist
Magazine._ The paper is now given, with a few exceptions, as it was
first written.]
EARLY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS--BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC--LOVE
OF COUNTRY--ADVENTURES OF A U. E. LOYALIST FAMILY NINETY YEARS AGO--THE
WILDS OF UPPER CANADA--HAY BAY--HARDSHIPS OF PIONEER LIFE--GROWTH OF
POPULATION--DIVISION OF THE CANADIAN PROVINCES--FORT FRONTENAC--THE
"DARK DAYS"--CELESTIAL FIREWORKS--EARLY STEAM NAVIGATION IN CANADA--THE
COUNTRY MERCHANT--PROGRESS--THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE.
After having consented to read a paper on the subject which has already
been announced, I do not think it would be quite proper for me to begin
with apologies. That they are needed I confess at once, but then they
should have been thought of before. How often have we heard the
expression, "Circumstances alter cases," and this is just why I put in
my plea. If I had not been preceded by gentlemen whose ability and
attainments are far and away beyond mine, I should not have said a word.
But when these persons, some of whom finished their education in British
Universities, who have trodden the classic shores of Italy and mused
over the magnificent monuments of her past greatness, or wandered
through old German towns, where Christian liberty was born and cradled;
who have ranged the spacious halls of Parisian Institutes, or sauntered
in places where many historic scenes have been enacted in grand old
England--when these persons, I repeat, must crave your indulgence, how
much more earnestly should I plead, whose travels are bounded in the
radius of a few hundred miles; and whose collegiate course began, and I
may say ended, in the country school-house with which many of you are
familiar. What wonderful scholars those early teachers were.
"Amazed _we_, gazing rustics, rang'd around;
And still _we_ gaz'd, and still our wonder grew
That one small head could carry all he knew."
It is no wonder that we were often awed by their intellectual
profundity, nor that they gave our youthful brains an impetus which sent
them bounding through the severe curriculum we had to face.
The narrow-minded and unyielding policy of George III., as every one now
admits it to have been, brought about the American Revolution, and gave
birth to the American Republic. As always happens in every great
movement, there were two sides to this question, not only between Great
Britain and her colonists, but among the colonists themselves. One side
clamoured boldly for their rights, and, if need were, separation. The
other side shrank from a contest with the mother land, and preferred a
more peaceful solution of their difficulties. A moderate degree of
liberality on the part of the British Government would have appeased the
demands of the malcontents, and another destiny whether for better or
worse, might have been in store for the American people. But those were
days when the policy of the nation was stern and uncompromising, when
the views of trade were narrow and contracted, when justice was
untempered with mercy, and when men were bigoted and pugnacious.
Protracted wars consumed the revenues and made many draughts on the
national purse, and when the trade of the colonies was laid under
contribution, they refused the demand.
The Government, true to the spirit of the age, would not brook refusal
on the part of its subjects, and must needs force them to comply. The
contest began, and when, after a seven years' struggle, peace was
declared, those who had sided with the old land found themselves
homeless, and rather than swear allegiance to the new _regime_,
abandoned their adopted country and emigrated to the wilds of Canada and
the Eastern Provinces. Two results grew out of this contest: the
establishment of a new and powerful nationality, and the settlement of a
vast country subject to the British Crown, to the north, then an
unbroken wilderness, now the Dominion of Canada, [Footnote: This has
been changed. When the paper was written, the Confederation of the
Provinces, if it had been thought of, had not assumed any definite
shape. It followed eight years after, in 1867.] whose rapid strides in
wealth and power bid fair to rival even those of the great Republic.
The history of our country--I am speaking of Upper Canada--remains to be
written. It is true we have numerous works, and valuable ones too, on
Canada; but I refer to that part of history which gives a picture of the
people, their habits and customs, which takes you into their homes and
unfolds their every-day life. This, it seems to me, is the very soul of
history, and when the coming Canadian Macaulay shall write ours, he will
look in vain for many an argosy, richly freighted with fact and story,
which might have been saved if a helping hand had been given, but which
now, alas! is lost forever.
It can hardly be expected that I should be as familiar with the early
scenes enacted in this part of the Province as those who are very much
older. Yet I have known many of the first settlers, and have heard from
their lips, in the days of my boyhood, much about the hardships and
severe privations they endured, as well as the story of many a rough and
wild adventure. These old veterans have dropped, one by one, into the
grave, until they have nearly all passed away, and we are left to enjoy
many a luxury which their busy hands accumulated for us.
As a Canadian--and I am sure I am giving expression, not so much to a
personal sentiment, as an abiding principle deeply rooted in the heart
of every son of this grand country--I feel as much satisfaction and
pride in tracing my origin to the pioneers of this Province--nay more--
than if my veins throbbed with noble blood. The picture of the log
cabins which my grandfathers erected in the wilderness on the bay shore,
where my father and mother first saw the light, are far more inviting to
me than hoary castle or rocky keep. I know that they were loyal, honest,
industrious, and virtuous, and this is a record as much to be prized by
their descendants as the mere distinction of noble birth.
It has been said that love of country is not a characteristic of
Canadians; that in consequence of our youth there is but little for
affection to cling to; that the traditions that cluster around age and
foster these sentiments are wanting. This may be to a certain extent
true. But I cannot believe but that Canadians are as loyal to their
country as any other people under the sun. The life-long struggle of
those men whom the old land was wont "to put a mark of honour upon," are
too near to us not to warm our hearts with love and veneration; they
were too sturdy a race to be lightly over-looked by their descendants.
Their memory is too sacred a trust to be forgotten, and their lives too
worthy of our imitation not to bind us together as a people, whose home
and country shall ever be first in our thoughts and affection.
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said
'This is my own, my native land?'
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned
As home his footsteps he hath turned?"
Is there any place in the world where such marvellous changes have taken
place as here? Where among the countries of the earth shall we find a
more rapid and vigorous growth? Ninety years [Footnote: The reader will
bear in mind the date when this was written.] ago this Province was a
dense and unknown forest. We can hardly realize the fact that not a
century has elapsed since these strong-handed and brave-hearted men
pushed their way into the profound wilderness of Upper Canada. Were they
not heroes? See that man whose strong arm first uplifts the threatening
axe. Fix his image in your mind, and tell me if he is not a subject
worthy the genius and chisel of a Chantrey. Mark him as he swings his
axe and buries it deep into a giant tree. Hark! how that first blow
rings through the wood, and echoes along the shores of the bay. The wild
duck starts and flaps her wings; the timid deer bounds away. Yet stroke
follows stroke in measured force. The huge tree, whose branches have
been fanned and tossed by the breeze of centuries, begins to sway.
Another blow, and it falls thundering to the ground. Far and wide does
the crash reverberate. It is the first knell of destruction booming
through the forest of Canada, and as it flies upon the wings of the
wind, from hill-top to hill-top, it proclaims the first welcome sound of
a new-born country. And did these men of whom we have been speaking make
war alone upon the mighty forest? Did they find their way alone to the
wilds of Canada? No: they were accompanied by women as true and brave as
themselves; women who unmurmuringly shared their toils and hardships,
who rejoiced in their success, and cheered them when weary and
depressed. They left kindred and friends far behind, literally to bury
themselves in the deep recesses of a boundless forest. They left
comfortable homes to endure hunger and fatigue in log cabins which their
own delicate hands helped to rear, far beyond the range of civilization.
Let us follow a party of these adventurers to Canada.
In the summer of the year 1795 or thereabouts, a company of six persons,
composed of two men and their wives, with two small children, pushed a
rough-looking and unwieldy boat away from the shore in the neighbourhood
of Poughkeepsie, and turned its prow up the Hudson. A rude sail was
hoisted, but it flapped lazily against the slender mast. The two men
took up the oars and pulled quietly out into the river. They did not
note the morning's sun gradually lifting himself above the eastern
level, and scattering his cheerful rays of light across the river, and
along its shores. All nature seemed rejoicing over the coming day, but
they appeared not to heed it. They pulled on in silence, looking now
ahead, and then wistfully back to the place they had left. Their boat
was crowded with sundry household necessaries carefully packed up and
stowed away. At the stern are the two women; one, ruddy and strong,
steers the boat; the other, small and delicate, minds her children. Both
are plainly and neatly dressed; and they, too, are taking backward
glances through silent tears. Why do they weep, and whither are they
bound? Their oars are faithfully plied, and they glide slowly on. And
thus; day after day, may we follow them on their voyage. Now and then a
gentle breeze fills the sail and wafts them on. When the shades of
evening begin to fall around them they pull to shore and rear a
temporary tent, after which they partake of the plain fare provided for
the evening meal, with a relish which toil alone can give, and then lay
them down to rest, and renew their strength for the labours of the
morrow.
They reach Albany, then a Dutch town on the verge of civilization.
Beyond is a wilderness land but little known. Some necessaries are
purchased here, and again our little company launch away. They reach the
place where the city of Troy now stands, and turn away to the left into
the Mohawk river, and proceed slowly, and often with great difficulty,
up the rapids and windings of the stream. This rich and fertile valley
of the Mohawk was then the home of the Indian. Here the celebrated Chief
Brant had lived but a short time before, but had now withdrawn into the
wilds of Western Canada. The voyageurs, after several days of hard
labour and difficulty, emerge into the little lake Oneida, lying in the
north-western part of the State of New York, through which they pass
with ease and pleasure. The most difficult part of their journey has
been overcome. In due time they reach the Onondaga River, and soon pass
down it to Oswego, then an old fort which had been built by the French,
when they were masters of the country, as a barrier against the
encroachments of the wily Indian. Several bloody frays had occurred
here, but our friends do not tarry to muse over its battle-ground, or to
learn its history.
Their small craft now dances on the bosom of Ontario, but they do not
push out into the lake and across it. Oh no: they are careful sailors,
and they remember, perhaps, that small boats should not venture far from
shore, and so they wind along it until they reach Gravelly Point, now
known by the more dignified name of Cape Vincent. Here they strike
across the channel, and thence around the lower end of Wolfe Island, and
into Kingston Bay, where they come to shore. There were not many streets
or fine stone houses in the Limestone City at this time; a few log
houses composed the town. After resting and transacting necessary
business they again push away, and turn their course up the lovely Bay
of Quinte. What a wild and beautiful scene opens out before them! The
far-reaching bay, with its serried ranks of primeval forest crowding the
shores on either hand. The clear pure water rippling along its beach,
and its bosom dotted with flocks of wild fowl, could not fail to arrest
the attention of the weary voyageurs. Frequently do they pause and rest
upon their oars, to enjoy the wild beauty that surrounds them. With
lighter hearts they coast along the shore, and continue up the bay until
they reach township number four. This township, now known as
Adolphustown, is composed of five points, or arms, which run out into
the bay. They sail round four of these points of land, and turn into Hay
Bay, and, after proceeding about three miles, pull to shore. Their
journey it would seem has come to an end, for they begin to unload their
boat and erect a tent. The sun sinks down in the west, and, weary and
worn, they lay themselves down upon the bed of leaves to rest. Six weeks
have passed since we saw them launch away in quest of this wilderness
home. Look at them, and tell me what you think of their prospects. Is it
far enough away from the busy haunts of men to suit you? Would you not
rather sing--
"O solitude, where are the charms
Which sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place."
With the first glimmer of the morning's light all hands are up and at
work. A small space is cleared away, trees are felled, and in due time a
house is built--a house not large or commodious, with rooms not
numerous or spacious, and with furniture neither elegant nor luxurious.
A pot or two, perhaps a few plates, cups and saucers, with knives and
forks and spoons, a box of linen, a small lot of bedding, etc., with
"A chest, contrived a double debt to pay--
A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day."
These constitute pretty nearly the sum total. This is not a fancy
sketch. I have heard the story many a time from the lips of the little
old grandmother [Footnote: The writer is one of her grandsons. The
incident will be found in Dr. Ryerson's book.] who was of the party. She
lived to rear a family of nine children, and to see most of them married
and well settled; to exchange the log house for a large and comfortable
home, and to die peacefully at a good old age.
It is hardly possible for us to conceive the difficulties that beset the
first settlers, nor the hardships and privations which they endured.
They were not infrequently reduced to the very verge of starvation, yet
they struggled on. Tree after tree fell before the axe, and the small
clearing was turned to immediate account. A few necessaries of life were
produced, and even these, limited and meagre as they were, were the
beginnings of comfort. Comfort, indeed! but far removed not only from
them, but from the idea we associate with the term. I have in my younger
days taken grist to the mill, as the farmers say. But I can assure you I
would prefer declining the task of carrying bags of wheat upon my back
for three miles, and then paddling them in a canoe down to the Kingston
Mills, [Footnote: This mill was built by the British Government in the
first settlement of the Province for the benefit of the settlers.] and
back again to Adolphustown--about seventy miles--after which resuming
the pleasing exercise of backing them home. [Footnote: This was an early
experience of my grandfather, which he liked to relate in his old age to
young men.] Such things do not fatigue one much to talk about, but I
fancy the reality would fit closer to the backs of some of our young
exquisites than would be agreeable. Nor do we, when we stick up our
noses at the plainer fare of some of our neighbours, remember often what
a feast our fathers and mothers would have thought even a crust of
bread. How often--alas, how often!--were they compelled to use anything
they could put their hands upon, in order to keep soul and body
together. Could we, the sons of these men, go through this? I am afraid,
with one consent, we would say "No."
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