188 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY: 



portion of liis military career, will be here in place, and will be deemed of interest. " I joined, 

 he says, the Peninsular army in the year 1811, having obtained leave of absence from my British 

 Regiment quartered at Canterbury, for the purpose of volunteering into the Portuguese army, 

 then commanded by Lord Beresford. I remained in that force until the end of the war, and 

 witnessed all the varieties of service during that interesting period during which time I was 

 twice wounded, and once fell into the hands of a brave and generous enemy." From 1831 Col. 

 O'Hara held the post of Adjutant General in Upper Canada. His contemporaries will always 

 think of him as a chivalrous, high-spirited, warm-hearted gentleman ; and in our annals here- 

 after he will be named among the friends of Canadian progress, at a period when enlightened 

 ideas in regard to government and social life, derived from a wide intercourse with man in 

 arge and ancient communities, were, amongst us, considerably misunderstood. 



After passing the long range of suburban properties on which we have been annotating, the 

 continuation, in a right line westward, of Lot tStreet, used to be kno'wai as the Lake Shore 

 Road. This Lake Shore Road, after passing the diigway, or steep descent to the sands that 

 ^orm the margin of the Lake, first skirted the graceful curve of Humber Bay, and then followed 

 the irregular line of the shore all the way to the head of the Lake. It was a mere track, repre- 

 senting doubtless a trail trodden by tlie aborigines from time immemorial. So late as 1813 all 

 that could be said "f the region traversed by the Lake Shore Road was the following, which we 

 read in the "Topographical Description of Upper Canada," issued in London in that year, 

 under the authority of Governor Gore : " Further to the westward (i. e. of the river Humber)," 

 we are told, "the Etobicoke, the Credit, and two other rivers, with a great many smaller 



streams, join the main waters of the Lake ; they all abound in fish, particularly salmon the 



Credit is the most noted : here is a small house of entertainment for passengers. The tract 

 between the Etobicoke and the head of the Lake," the Topographical Description then goes on 

 to say, " is frequented only by wandering tribes of Mississaguas. At the head of Lake Ontario," 

 we are then told, "there is a smaller Lake, within a long beach, of about five miles, from 

 whence there is an outlet to Lake Ontario, over which there is a bridge. At the south end of 

 the beach," it is added, "is the King's Head, a good inn, erected for the accommodation of 

 travellers, by order of his Excellency Major-General Simcoe, the Lieutenant-Governor. It is 

 beautifully situated at a small portage which leads from the head of a natural canal connecting 

 Burlington Bay with Lake Ontario, and is a good landmark. Burlington Bay," it is then 

 rather boldly asserted, "is perhaps as beautiful and romantic a situation as any in interior 

 America, particularly if we include' witli it a marshy lake which falls into it, and a noble pro- 

 montory that divides them. This lake is called Coote's Paradise, and abounds with game." 

 (Coote's Paradise had its name from Capt. Coote, of the 8th, a keen sportsman.) 



As to "the wandering tribes of Mississaguas" who in 1813 were still the only noticeable 

 human beings west of the Etobicoke, they were in fact a portion of the great Otchibway nation. 

 From time to time, previous and subsequent to 1813, and for pecuniary considerations of 

 various amounts they surrendered to the local Government their nominal right over the regions 

 which they still occupied in a scattered way. In 1792 they surrendered 3,000,000 acres, com- 

 mencing four miles west of Mississagua point, at the mouth of the river Niagara for the sum of 

 £1,180 7 4. On the Sth of August, 1797, they surrendered 3,450 acres in Burlington Bay for 

 the sum of £65 2 6. On the 6th September, 1806, 85,000 acres, commencing on the east bank 

 of the Etobicoke river, brought them £1,000 5. On the 2Sth of October, 1818, "the Mississagua 

 tract. Home District," consisting of 648,000 acres, went for the respectable sum of £8,500. 

 On the 8th of February, 1820, 2,000 acres, east of the Credit reserve, brought in £50. Ali 

 circumstances at the respective dates considered, the values received for the tracts surrendered 

 as thus duly enumerated may, by possibility, have been reasonable. Lord Carteret, it is 

 stated, proposed to sell all New Jersey for £5,000, 150 years ago. But there remains one 

 transfer from Mississagua to Wliite ownership to be noticed, the equivalent accepted for 

 which excites surprise ; and we can offer no explanation. On the 1st of August, 1805, the 

 records of the Indian Department inform us, the "Toronto Purchase" took place, comprising 

 250,880 acres and stretching eastward to the Scarboro' Heights : and the consideration accepted 

 therefor was the sum of ten shillings. Two dollars for the site of Toronto and its suburbs 

 with an area extending eastward to Scarborough heights. On the early map from which we 

 have been taking the names of the first locatees of the -range of park-lots extending along 



