254 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



the land. Such surveys became necessary in both Upper and Lower 

 Canada in 1783, "when the United Empire Loyalists scattered and 

 located on the bay of Chaleurs in Lower Canada and along the banks 

 of the St. Lawrence and its lakes in Upper Canada." 



A rather close analogy may be traced between these old surveys 

 of the earlier settled parts of Canada and more recent surveys — still 

 occasionally undertaken by the Dominion Government — of lands 

 settled on but located so far from other settlements as not likely to 

 be reached by the regular system of survey for some time. In re- 

 gard to these "settlement surveys," the Manual of Instructions for 

 the Survey of Dominion Lands states in part: 



"Land bordering on any river or lake, or other body of water, 

 or on a public highway, and upon which settlements are in existence, 

 may be laid out and divided into lots of certain frontage and depth 

 in such manner as appears desirable ... a road sixty-six feet in 

 width is laid out across the settlement in the most convenient loca- 

 tion, also such further roads of the same width as may be necessary 

 to give access to every settlement lot." The surveyor is further in- 

 structed to endeavour to lay out the land into lots of such size and 

 shape as will best meet the wishes and legitimate claims of the occu- 

 pants. Such, it may be premised, was also the spirit in which the 

 early surveys were attempted. With the limited facilities townships 

 could not, in any event, have been surveyed regularly. Only the 

 front lots — or lots bordering (as in Fig. A) on a river and required 

 for immediate use by settlers — were laid out. Further rows of lots 

 or "concessions"* were added as settlement, forced further back 

 from the river, required. Thus naturally evolved what is now known 

 in Ontario as the single front system (see Fig. A). Townships sur- 

 veyed under this system were not necessarily of uniform size or 

 shape, and frequently changes in the widths, depths and area of lots 

 (from 120 to 200 acres) were made, though roads were generally to 

 be 40 feet wide. 



"By royal instructions, dated August 23rd, 1786, to Lord Dor- 

 chester, townships fronting on navigable rivers and lakes were or- 

 dered to be laid out nine miles in front by twelve miles in depth — 

 subdivided into twelve concessions or ranges, twenty-eight lots each. 

 The lots twenty-six chains by eighty chains eighty links, contain 200 

 acres each with an allowance of five per cent for highways. These 

 dimensions were adhered to in Lower Canada surveys, but were little 

 regarded in Upper Canada. In Lower Canada it appears that the 

 allowance of five per cent for highways has always been made and 

 the roads have been established in the most suitable places. In 

 Upper Canada road allowances were reserved on the township and 

 concession lines and on certain side lines, but no uniform mode was 

 adhered to in laying out roads in Upper Canada. Many gross errors 

 were made in the old surveys, owing to the use of the magnetic needle 



* The word concession, with such a meaning, originated in the survey of lands 

 granted or 'conceded' to United Empire Loyalists, and in this connection is a 

 word peculiar to Ontario. That row or range of lots nearest the river was termed 

 the first concession; other concessions, as added, were termed the second, third, etc. 



