173 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY. 



the west. Eastward, the same silt sjaread itself out and formed the marshes in that direction' 

 tending in fact to the filling up of Ashbridge's Bay, so long as that sheet of water remained 

 and-locked. As rivers are often seen to do in similar cu-cumstances, the Don, at the point 

 where it was first about to enter the harbour, had taken a sudden bend and formed a long reach 

 parallel with the sheet of water into which it finally discharged itself. Prior to 1812, a bridge 

 had spanned the river here at its mouth, and a road practicable for vehicles had crossed it. On 

 an early map of these parts, the road over the bridge is marked, " Eoad from York to the 

 Light-house." Health alone, however, was not the object of wayfarers by that route. A race- 

 course had been laid oiit on the westernmost isthmus of the peninsula, and races were periodi- 

 cally held there, twelve horses at a time being, as we have been assured, occasionally seen 

 engaged in the contest. The hippodrome in question was not a ring, but a kind of long, straight, 

 level stadium, extending from the south end of the second bridge to the margin of the lake. 

 The invasion of 1813 had been for some time threatened. As a precautionary measure of defence, 

 all the bridges in the direction of the Island were taken down. An earthwork was thrown up 

 across the narrow ridge that separated the Don from the bay ; and in addition, at the point 

 where that river was first apparently about to enter the harbour, a trench was cut across, and 

 the waters of the stream admitted into it. As years passed on, the new channel, at first com- 

 paratively insignificant, became, by a natural process, a deep and wide outlet, known as the 

 Lesser Don, a convenient short-cut for skiffs and canoes from the bay into the river, and from 

 the river into the bay. In the plan, above referred to, of the year 1811, there is no Little Don. 

 A pond or inlet represents it, stretching in from the bay towards the river. A bridge sj^ans this 

 inlet. Another crosses the Don itself at its mouth. There is a bridge also over the ravine 

 through which flows the rivulet by the Parliament BuUdings. A block-house on the south-west 

 bank of this stream guards the bridge. 



After the return of peace, the absence of bridges, and the existence, in addition, of a second 

 formidable water-flUed moat, soon began to be matters of regret to the inhabitants of York, who 

 found themselves so uncomfortably cut off from easy access to the peninsula. "We learn from 

 the Upper Canada Gazette, of AprO. 15, 1822, published at York, that " a public subscription 

 among the inhabitants had been entered into, to defray the expense of erecting two bridges on 

 the River Don, leading from this town towards the south, to the Peninsula." And subjoined 

 are the leading names of the place, guaranteeing various sums, in aU amounting to £10S 5s. 

 The timber was presented by Peter Bobinson, Esq., M.P.P. The estimated expense of the 

 undertaking was £325. The follo^ving names appear for various suras — fifty, twenty, ten, five 

 and two dollars : — Major Hillier, Bev. Dr. Strachan, Hon. J. H. Dunn, Hon. James Baby. Mr. 

 Justice Boulton, John Small, Henry Boulton, Col. Cofiin, Thomas Bidout, sen., W. Allan, Grant 

 Powell, Samuel Bidout, J. S. Baldwin, S. Heward, James E. Small, Chas. Small, S. "Washburn, 

 "W. J. Macaulay, G. Crookshank, A. Mercer, George Boulton, Thomas Taylor, Joseph Spragge, 

 George Hamilton, B. E. Prentice, A. "Warffe, W. B. Jarvis, B. Turquand, John Denison, sen., 

 George Denison, John and George Monro, Henry Drean, Peter McDougaU, Geo. Duggan, James 

 Nation, Thomas Bright, "W. B. Robinson, J. "W. Gamble, William Proudfoot, Jesse Ketchum, 

 D. Brooke, jun., B. C. Henderson, David Stegman, L. Fairbanks, Geo. Playter, Joseph Bogers, 

 John French, "W. Eoe, Thomas Sullivan, John Hay, J. Biglow, John EUiott. 



On the strength of the sums thus promised, an engineer, Mr. E. AngeU, began the erection of 

 the bridge over the Greater Don. The Gazette before us reports that it was being constructed 

 "with hewn timbers, on the most approved European principle." (There is point in the itali- 

 cised word: it hints the impolicy of employing United States engineers for such works.) The 

 paper adds that " the one bridge over the Great Don, consisting of five arches, is in a forwar 

 state ; and the other, of one arch, over the Little Don, will be completed in or before the 

 month of July next, when this line of road wUl be opened." It is subjoined that " subscrip- 

 tions will continue to be received by A. Mercer, Esq., J. Dennis, York, and also by the Com- 

 mittee, Thomas Bright, William^mith and E. Angell." 



By the Weekly Register of June 19, in the following year, it appears that the engineer, in com- 

 mencing the bridge, before the amount of its cost was guaranteed, had calculated without his 

 host ; and, as is usnaUy the case with those who draw in advance on the proceeds of a supposed 

 public enthusiasm, had been brought into difficulties. "We accordingly find that "on Friday 



