^2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



to Mr. Burwell, and reporting thereon to the Surveyor General in August, 1821, 

 he expressed the opinion that the laying out of a Middle Road on the highest ground 

 or dividing ridge would tend much to quicken and consolidate the settlements 

 between those waters. The work was entrusted to himself, but as the road as 

 finally laid out extended from a point of junction with the Talbot Road in the 

 township of Sandwich eastward to the county line between Kent and the present 

 county of Elgin, it was not completed until September, 1825. The last division of 

 the survey is the most easterly, being in the township of Orford, and as the height 

 of land there is very irregular it was found necessary to alter the direction of the 

 road frequently. There are in all twenty-eight courses across the township, which 

 has a width of 6| miles, and only one lot has a straight front. A lai"ge tamarac 

 swamp was met with on the way, and there is a tradition that Mr. Burwell was 

 nearly defeated in the effort to find a pass through it. The situation was reported 

 to Col. Talbot, who with his usual urbanity directed the surveyor to follow 

 the ridge. ' ' Follow the ridge, if it takes you to — Hades. ' ' But I need not say 

 that Col. Talbot used another word.* 



There are many matters of interest connected with surveys of the townships 

 north of the Thames, and of Indian reserves there and on the St. Clair river and 

 lake Huron in Lambton county ; and there are also some interesting observations 

 of natural history that deserve attention. But these must be left unnoticed in this 

 paper, in order that its short remaining space may be devoted to the largest of Mr. 

 Burwell' s undertakings in his later years as a land surveyor. 



The Government of the Province in 1825 made provisional terms with the 

 Chippewa Indians of the London and Western Districts for the surrender of 2,200, - 

 000 acres lying to the north and west of former cessions, and about the same time 

 it entered into an agreement with the Canada Company for a transfer of 1,000,000 

 acres of the same land, in a block which afterwards became famous as the Huron 

 Tract. By order from the Surveyor General's ofllce of July 6th, 1827, the survey of 

 the northern boundary of the new purchase was undertaken by Mr. Burwell, and 

 the work was carried on and completed during the months of September, October 

 and November. Provisions for the expedition were purchased at Guelph, and 

 were packed northward to the starting point of the line, at the northwest corner of 

 Garafraxa. A journal entry of September 19th reads: "Met Mr. Gait near 

 Guelph, who invited me to dine on Friday the 21st Instant at his House near 

 Burlington Bay ; ' ' and under the latter date is this entry : ' ' Went to Dine with 

 Mr. Gait at his House — was civilly treated — an agricultural party — Mr. Gait pro- 

 posed that I should be a member of the Agricultviral Society of which he is the 

 head. I declined. Did not know that it was an agricultural meeting until after 

 the cloth was removed. Left Mr. Gait's about 10 o'clock P.M. and slept at Mr. 

 Beasley's. " This is the nearest approach to a supercilious tone that I have discov- 

 ered in all of Mr. Burwell 's official writings. But no one could have more heartily 

 enjoyed the scorn of the land surveyor than John Gait himself. 



The survey of the line was commenced on October 4th. Ten days were spent 

 in running 18| miles, as progress was much hindered hj dense swamps of cedar, 

 tamarac and spruce. Then the head waters of the Menesetung river (now called 

 the Maitland) were reached, and a very fine country was entered. During the next 

 ten days the line was run 29i miles, and the river was crossed frequently. In four 

 days more, during which the survey bore away northAvard from the river, lake 

 Huron was reached at 59 miles 39 chains from the starting point. Storms of rain, 

 hail and snow were frequent, and the actual running time was only nineteen days. 

 The return journey occupied six days, and was made disagreeable by storms 

 of rain and snow, and by the swollen waters of the river, which had to be frequent- 

 ly forded. The stores of provisions which had been left at various points for the 

 return trip were found to be destroyed by wild animals, and it was observed that 

 bears, wolves, foxes, fishers and martens had followed the party along the line. A 

 note of Natural History is entered in the journal of November 3rd, upon the 

 authority of the Indians. " The Deer all appear to have left Lake Huron, some 

 time ago, for the Shores of Lake Erie, where the Snow does not fall so deep, and 



* I heard this story from the late John Sinclair, who moved from Aldboroug-h into Orford in 1832, and took 

 up a lot on the Middle Road. My father, the late John Blue, was the second settler on this road in Orford, hav- 

 ing been located by Col. Talbot late in 1826 or early in 1827. His nearest neig:hbor was four miles away, and the 

 woods were alive with turkeys, deer and wolves. _ 



