576 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTOUY : 



We have ou this continent no " old poetic mountains," no old poetic objects of any descrip- 

 tion, natural or artificial, to "breathe enchantment all around." It is all the more fitting 

 therefore, that we should make the most of the historic memories which, even at second hand, 

 cling to our Canadian local names, here and there. 



The old Gazetteer next goes on to inform us that " from the baj' west of Francis island there 

 is a good path and a short portage into a small lake : this is the nearest way to Lake Huron. 

 The river which falls from Lake Simcoe into Matchedash bay, called the Matchedash river, 

 making a more circuitous passage to the northward and westward" — and Matchedash bay 

 opens out, it afterwards states — " into a larger basin called Gloucester or Sturgeon bay, in the 

 chops of which lies Prince William Henry's island, open to Lake Huron." It is noted also that 

 on a peninsula in this basin some French ruins are still extant: and then it says, "between 

 two larger promontories is the harbour of Penetanguishene, around which is good land for 

 settlement." "Penetanguishene," it is finally added, "has been discovered to be a very 

 excellent harbour." 



Again some annotations on names will not be out of place. 



Matchedash bay is now Sturgeon bay, and ilatchedash river, the river Severn. Both bay and 

 river have a peculiar interest for the people of Toronto, as being respectively the Toronto bay 

 and Toronto river of the old French period. " To the north-east of the French river," Lahontan 

 says (ii. 19), "you see Toronto bay, in which a small lake of the same name empties itself by 

 a river not navigable on account of its rapids." (He elsewhere says this river also bore the ■ 

 name of the lake — Toronto.) The Duke of Gloucester was intended to be complimented in the 

 name Gloucester bay. Prince William Henry's island has not retained its name. When it was 

 imposed, the visit of that prince, afterwards the Duke of Kent and father of the reigning 

 Queen, to Upper Canada, was a recent event. — Tlie French ruins spoken of are the ruins of Fort 

 St. Marie near the mouth of the river Wye — the chief mission-house of the Jesuits, abandoned 

 in 1649, still visible. 



The "good path" and "nearest way to Lake Huron," from the bay west of Francis island, 

 indicates the well-known trail by Cold water, which was long the chief route to Penetangui- 

 shene ; and the bay itself, west of Francis island, is the bay known in later times as Shingle 

 bay. In 1S34 an attemjit was made to found a town at Shingle bay in connexion with the road 

 to Penetanguishene. In a Courier of 1834, we have the announcement : " New Town of Innis- 

 fallen. Shortly will be offered for sale several building lots in the above new Town, beautifully 

 situated ou Shingle Bay, Lake Simcoe. This being the landing-place for the trade to Penetan- 

 guishene and the northern townships," the advertisement goes on to say, "persons inclined to 

 speculate in trade or business of any description will find this a peculiarly valuable situation, 

 as the townships are settled with persons of respectability and cai^ital. It will command the 

 trade to and from the lake. Farther particulars can be obtained by application to Wm. 

 Proudfoot, Esq., or from P. Handy, auctioneer, or Francis Hewson, Esq., Lake Simcoe. Ai^ril 

 1st, 1834." 



Innisfallen, however, did not mature into a town. Orillia, just within the narrows, appears 

 to have been a site more suited to the needs or tastes of the public. 



At p. 154, in the article ou Yonge Street, the old Gazetteer of 1799 speaks again of the 

 portage from Lake Simcoe to Lake Huron, via Cold water, and calls it "a continuation of 

 Yonge Street." It then adds the prediction, which we have once before quoted, that "the 

 advantage would certainly be felt in the future of transporting merchandize from Oswego to 

 York, and from thence across Yonge Street and down the waters of Lake Simcoe into Lake 

 Huron, in preference to sending it by Lake Erie." And inthe article on " Lac aux Claies," i. e. 

 as we have already heard. Lake Simcoe, it is curiously stated — this is before the year 1799 — 

 that "a vessel is now building for the purpose of facilitating the communication by that 

 route," — but it is not said where. 



A " continuation of Yonge Street" in a more perfect sense, was, at a later period, surveyed 

 and partially opened by the military authorities, from Kempenfelt or Shanty bay near Barrie, 

 in a direct line to Penetanguishene ; but the natural growth of the forest had in a great degree 

 filled up the tiack. 



In 1847, however, through the instrumentality of the Commissioner of Public Works of the 

 day, the Hon. W. B. Kobinson, the highway in question, sixty-six feet in width and thirty miles 

 in length, was thoroughly cleared out and made conveniently practicable for general travel. 



