CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY. 



TORONTO OF OLD: 



A SEEIBS OF COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. 



f Continued from page SoU.) 



BY THE REY. DR. SCADDING. 



2XII.— THE VALLEY OP THE DON.— FROM THE BRIDGE ON THE 

 KINGSTON ROAD TO TYLER'S. 



Retracing our steps ; placing ourselves again on the bridge, and, turning northwards, -we see 

 on the riglit, near hy, a field or rough space, which has undergone excavation, looking as though 

 the brick-maker or potter had been at work on it : and we may observe that a large quantity of 

 the displaced material has been sjjread out over a portion of the marshy tract enclosed here 

 by a bend of the river westward. What we see is a relic of an effort made long ago, by Mr. 

 Washburn, a barrister of York, to whom reference has been made before, to bring tliis piece of 

 land into cultivation. In its natural state the property was all but useless, from the steepness 

 of the hiU-side on the one hand, and from the ever wet condition of the central portion of the 

 flat below on the other. By grading down the hiU and filling in the piarsh, and establishing a 

 gentle slope from the margin of the stream to tlie level of the top of the banlc on the right, it 

 was easy to sec tliat a large piece of solid land in an eligible position n>ight be secured. The 

 undertaking, however, was abandoned before the work was finished, the expense probably being 

 found hea\'j', and the prospect of a return for the outlay remote. At a later period Mr. O'Neill, 

 with greater success and completeness, cut down the steep ridges of the bank at Don Mount, a 

 short distance up, and filled m the marsh below. Tliese experiments show how tlie valley of 

 the Don, along the eastern outskirts of the town, will ultimately be turned to account, when 

 the necessities of the population demand the outlay. At present such improvements are 

 discouraged by the lengtli of time required to cover large surfaces of new clay with vegetable 

 mould. But in future years it will be for mills and factories, and not for suburban and viila 

 purposes, that the parts referred to will be held valuable. 



These marshes along the sides of the Don, from the point where its current ceases to be 

 perceptible, appear to be remains of the river as it was at an epoch long ago. The rim or levee 

 that now, on the right and left, confines and defines the meanderings of the stream in the midst 

 of the marshes, has been formed by the alluvial matter deposited in the annual overflowings. 

 Tlie bed of the stream has probably in the same manner been by degrees slightly raised. The 

 solid tow-path, as it were, thus created on each side of the river-cliannel, affords at present a 

 great convenience to the angler and fowler. It forms, m.oreover, as shown by the experiments 

 above alluded to, a capital breastwork, towards which the engineer may advance, when cutting 

 down the adjoining hills, and disposing of their material on the drowned land below. 



Once more imagining ourselves on the bridge, and looknig obliquely to the north-west, we 

 may still discern close by some remains of the short, shallow, winding ravine, by wliieli in 

 winter the sleiglis used to ascend from the level of the river, and regain, through a grove of 

 pines and hemlocks, the high road into the town. As soon as the steady cold set in, every 

 year, the long reaches and grand sweeps of the river Don became peculiarly interesting. Firmly 

 frozen over eveiywhere, and coated with a good depth of snow, bordered on each side by a high 

 shrubbery of wild willow, alder, wych-hazel, dog-wood, tree-cranberry and other specimens of 

 the lesser brushwood of the forest, plentifully overspread and interwoven in numerous places 

 with the vine of the wild grape, tlie whole had the appearance of a fine, clear, level English 

 coach-road or highway, bounded throughout its winding course by a luxuriant hedge, seeu as 



