[562] 



CANADIAN LOCAL HISTOEY. 



TORONTO OF OLD: 



A SERIES OP COLLECTIOJTS AND E B C LLE C TI ONS , 



BY THE REV. DR. SCADDING. 



LIU.— {Continued.)— rO'MGE STREET FROM BOND'S LAKE TO THE SUMMIT OP 

 THE RIDGES. 



There are some representatives of the original emigres still to be met with in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Oak Ridges ; but theyhave not in every instance continued to be seized of the 

 lands granted in 179S. The Comte de Chaliis, son of Rene Augustili, retains property here ; 

 but he resides in Montreal. An estate, however, at the distance of one lot eastward from Yonge 

 Street, in Whitcliurch, is yet in the actual occupation of a direct descendant of one of the first 

 settlers in this region. Mr. Henry Quetton St. George here engages with energy in the various 

 operations of a practical farmer, on land inherited immediately from his father, the Chevalier 

 de St. George, at the same time dispensing to his many friends a refined hospitality. If at 

 Glenlonely the circular turrets and pointed roofs of the old French chateau are not to be seen, 

 — what is of greater importance, the amenities and gentle life of the old French chateau are to 

 be found. Moreover, by another successful enterprise added to agriculture, the present 

 proprietor of Glenlonely has brought it to pass that the name of St. George is no longer 

 suggestive, as in the first instance it was, of wars in La Vendee and figlitings on the Garonne 

 and Dordogne, but redolent in Canada, far and wide, only of vineyards in Lauguedoc and of 

 pleasant wines from across the Pyrenees. 



A large group of superior farm buildings, formerly seen on the right just after the turn which 

 leads to Glenlonely, bore the graceful name of Larchmere, — an appellation glancing at the 

 mere or little lalve within view of the windows of the house : a sheet of water more generally 

 known as Lake "Willcocl^s — so called from an early owner of the spot, Col. Willeocks, of whom 

 we have spoken in another section. Larchmere was for some time the home of his great grand- 

 son, William Willeocks Baldwin. The house has since been destroyed by fire. 



Just beneath the surface of the soil on the borders of tlie lakelets of the Ridges, was early 

 noticed a plentiful deposit of white shell-marl, resembling the substance brought up from the 

 oozy floor of the Atlantic in the soundings preparatory to laying the telegraiih-cable. It was, 

 in fact, incipient chalk. It used to be emp)loyed in the composition of a whitewash for walla 

 and fences. It may since have been found of value as a manure. In these quarters, as else- 

 where in Canada, fine specimens of the antlers of the Wapiti, or great American stag, were 

 occasionally dug up. 



The summit level of the Ridges was now reached, the most elevated land in this part of the 

 basin of the St. Lawrence ; a height however, after all, of only about eight hundred feet above 

 the level of the sea. The attention of the wayfarer was hereabout always directed to a small 

 stream, which the road crossed, flowing out of Lake Willeocks : and then a short distance 

 further on, he was desired .o notice a slight swale or shallow morass on the left. The stream 

 in question, he was told, was the infant Humber, just starting south for Lake Ontario ; while 

 the swale or morass, he was assured, was a feeder of the east branch of the Holland River, 

 flowing north into Lake Simcoe. 



Notwithstanding the comparative nearness to each other of the waters of the Holland and 

 the Humber, tlms made visible to the eye, the earliest project of a canal in these parts was for • 

 the connexion, not of the Holland river and the Humber, but of the Holland river and the 

 Rouge or Nen, The Mississagua Indians attached great importance to the Rouge and its valley 



