FOREWORD 



For almost three centuries after the discovery 

 of America that part of Canada lying west of 

 the Ottawa River was very little inhabited by 

 white men. Adventurers, traders, colonists, 

 and officials who came to seek a fortune, or a 

 home, or both in the New World, clung to the 

 banks of the Lower St. Lawrence or to the 

 Eastern seaboard. 



But gradually the resources of the great 

 unsettled region became known, and colonists 

 pushed on into the forest. With infinite labour 

 and unfaltering courage they began to hew out 

 for themselves little plots of land. This move- 

 ment received a wonderful stimulus about the 

 year 1784, when the United Empire Loyalists 

 began flocking into Canada. 



With the coming of the Loyalists, the rapid 

 development of Ontario may be said to have 

 begun. Whatever we may think of the 

 Loyalists' action, we must admire their courage 

 and their tenacity of purpose. "The sufferings 

 of these Loyalists during the long march to 

 Canada were terrible. With their wives and 

 children, and such household goods as could be 



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