38 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
XVII THE TALBOT Roap. 
The Colonel’s policy was to have a compact settlement of loyal 
British subjects. For this purpose it was necessary to have a good road, 
and the settlement duties included clearing ten acres of land and one- 
half the road itself in front of each lot, as well as 100 feet adjoining the 
road. It was also necessary that the Talbot Road should have no large 
blocks to obstruct settlement, and the Crown and Clergy Reserves were 
accordingly shifted to the back concessions. The settlers were in most 
cases poor and unable to pay survey and patent fees; therefore they 
should not be molested by the Toronto officials until it was entirely 
convenient to pay them; and lastly, no certificates for patent should 
issue except to persons who had erected a house 15 feet by 20 feet, 
and been actual settlers for five years. This prevented them from sell- 
ing out to speculators, and induced continuous improvements. 
The Talbot Road was the first good road of any considerable length 
in the province, and in 1837 it was described by Mrs. Jameson as the 
finest in the province. Situated between the lake and the ridge which 
forms its watershed, it was within convenient reach of excellent gravel 
on both sides. This natural advantage, and the Colonel’s policy, com- 
bined to make it an excellent highway; and it became an object lesson 
to the settlers on the back concessions, who vied with each other in 
improving their roads. The result is seen in the excellent highways 
which form a network over the county of Elgin. The “ Paradise of 
the Hurons ” is now the Paradise of the motorist and the cyclist. 
XVIII.—THE BEGINNINGS OF SETTLEMENT. 
The progress of the settlement was at first very slow. There is 
a tradition that the Colonel resided near Fort Erie from 1803 until 
1806 for the purpose of learning the art of farming, but this is not 
borne out by the documents. A few men came in, apparently as 
domestics or mechanics, and left again after a short stay. For his 
cwn needs apparently, for there were few or no settlers, or else in anti- 
sipation of immigration, the Colonel erected a grist mill and a saw mill 
on Talbot Creek, near Port Talbot, in the year 1807 or 1808. The 
event was celebrated by the Indians with a war dance to which the 
Colonel was invited. He became by adoption, probably at this time, 
a member of the Delaware or of the Munsey tribe. The mills were 
burnt down by American marauders in 1814. George Crane, who came 
with Talbot in 1803, and, on marrying, had a farm allotted to him in 
Dunwich in 1806, was the first settler located by Talbot. He had not, 
however, come in as a settler, but as an employee. 
