96 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTR. [VoL. I. 



THE SETTLEMENT AND ORIGINAL SURVEY OF NIAGARA 



TOWNSHIP. 



By William Canniff, M.D., M.R.C.S. Eng. 



(Read ?.nd July, 1890.) 



It was the successful rebellion of the thirteen American colonies, 

 1776, which led to the settlement of Upper Canada, now the Province 

 of Ontario. The struggle terminated in 1783, and it was in that year 

 and the year following that the U. E. Loyalists mainly entered the 

 wilderness of Upper Canada. But prior to that, there is good reason 

 to believe, a certain number had crossed the Niagara River from 

 the fort, where, during the war had been a garrison, and to which 

 refugees fled from the time of General Burgoyne's defeat. Fort Niagara, 

 during this time, had been the headquarters of a celebrated colonial regi- 

 ment, the Butler's Rangers. It was here that the regiment was organized, 

 and recruits were enrolled from among the refugee loyalists, and from this 

 fort the Rangers went forth again and again on raiding expeditions. The 

 refugees collected around the fort in tents and rude cabins, and received 

 the necessaries of life from the Government stores. They consisted of the 

 old, middle-aged, and the young, and of both sexes. Those who were 

 unable to serve as soldiers naturally looked about for something else to do 

 and for a place of more permanent habitation. Consequently there is reason 

 to believe that some time before the end of the war not a few individuals and 

 families had crossed the river and squatted along the river and lake on the 

 western side ; so that at the close of the war there had already been formed 

 a settlement in what is now the Township of Niagara, and perhaps more 

 distant places. Not all of these pioneers were connected with Butler's 

 Rangers, but were U. E. Loyalists who had been compelled to leave their 

 homes and estates in the revolting colonies to be appropriated by the 

 rebels. 



The survey of the land into townships was begun soon after the end of 

 the war. It is not probable that much more than a beginning was made 

 in 1783, but in 1784: it was actively proceeded with along the Niagara 

 River, as well as in the east, on the Bay of Quinte and the River St. 

 Lawrence. We learn from the original plans in the Crown Lands Depart- 

 ment that, commencing July 29, 1784, a line was run from a point about 

 a mile up the river, from the site of Navy Hall, or at the present ruins of 



