1854.] 



TORONTO HARBOUR— ITS FORMATION AND PRESERVATION. 



229 



should be carefully considered before any be proceeded with, lest 

 some of them may interfere with preservative measures, or the 

 general improvement of the whole. It may not be out of place, 

 therefore, to consider briefly another proposition, which, for many 

 years past, has engaged public attention perhaps more than any 

 other in connection with the Harbour, viz., the forming of an 

 eastern entrance. 



Judging from the following paragTaph, extracted from the 

 Courier newspaper, dated 5th March, 1835, the project Was 

 seriously talked of fifteen years ago : 



"Cut across the Pexinsula. — A respectable meeting of the friends 

 to this measure was held on Thursday evening at the Commercial Hotel, 

 when a Select Committee was appointed to request the Governor to 

 name an Engineer, and also to request the Mayor and Corporation to 

 name another, to meet him for the purpose of reporting on the proba- 

 ble result of the cut. The Committee waited on His Excellency this 

 morning, who very readily named Captain Bonny castle, at the same 

 time expressing a hope that a measure so adapted to promote the 

 health of the city would be carried into effect. His Excellency also 

 promised to do all in his power to put the entire Marsh at the disposal 

 of a company, with a view to its being reclaimed as far as it is possible 

 to do so. There is every reason to expect that the Corporation will 

 take the same view of the case ; and if the report of the Engineers 

 shall- be favourable, a number of wealthy merchants and others in the 

 city have expressed their intention to take up a sufficient quantity of 

 stock to complete the undertaking." 



A few months thereafter, the following was gazetted amongst 

 the Notices of Public Improvements : — 



" TAKE NOTICE.— The Inhabitants of the City of Toronto will 

 make application to the next session of the Provincial Parliament to 

 incorporate them into a Company for the purpose of opening a Ship 

 Navigation through the neck of the Peninsula between the Lake and 

 the Bay of Toronto. 



"Toronto, August 1st, 1835." 



It is unnecessary to say that the contemplated improvement 

 has not been carried out. The spirits of the projectors were pro- 

 bably damped, and their stock-book laid aside, after the opinions 

 of the engineers appointed to examine were made public. I have 

 only been able to obtain the perusal of one of these documents, 

 but am informed that the report of the gentleman appointed by 

 the Corporation was even less favourable. 



Captain Bonnycastle says, relative to cutting a navigable canal 

 through the Peninsula : 



"If this should be done without due consideration, the barrier 

 which Nature has interposed for the preservation of a Harbour 

 formed probably by the cutting action of the Don when it was a 

 larger river, which it only requires to look at its banks to convince 

 one's self that it anciently was, will be thrown down, and the 

 Harbour entirely destroyed. 



"The reasons to be assigned for this opinion are as follows: 



" The southern face of the Peninsula, a low ridge of sand, is 

 bordered to some distance out, excepting near the Narrows, by 

 large and fluctuating shoals, well known to the fishermen, who 

 have so recently established a profitable trade on them. 



" The force of the easterly and westerly gales on these shoals 

 and the bounding shore is tremendous, as every person in Toronto 

 has frequent opportunities of hearing, even at the great distance 

 which the city is from them. 



" Should a navigable canal, without due restrictions, be cut 

 through the slender belt which divides the waters of the Lake 

 from the basin, all the millions of tons of large shingle, small 

 rounded and angular fragments of granite and other hard rocks 

 which line the beach will be put in motion ! — will break down by 



their erosive power any barrier opposed to them ! — will carry before 

 them the whole extent of the Narrows, and perhaps penetrate 

 through the ponds, fill the basin, and convert it into a fresh sand 

 bank." This he goes on to show might be produced by a current 

 through the canal, and further states, "It might in fact tear away 

 all the strip of beach along the western or bay shore of the great 

 Marsh, and let the whole of that body of the mud of Age.s into the 

 Basin. 



"It is argued that all this may be avoided by running out ex- 

 tensive piers into the Lake, and forming a strong embankment 

 along the Ontario face of the Narrows. These, if placed in such 

 situations as to break off the strength of the easterly or westerly 

 swells, will do much towards it, but it will be also necessary to 

 make the canal of stone, to puddle its sides to a considerable thick- 

 ness or extent, to make it narrow, and to place gates both at its 

 entrance and exit. 



"With these precautions there can be no harm in trying the 

 experiment." 



Although entirely concurring with Captain Bonnycastle in the 

 expediency of closing up the present outlets of the Don, and of 

 conveying the whole sewage of the city to the Marsh ; yet having 

 already, with all due respect, expressed my reasons for differing 

 from the view he takes of the formation of the Harbour, and since 

 conclusions on this point affect directly and very materially the 

 consideration of all works of improvement immediately connected 

 with the Peninsula, I may also be permitted to entertain opinions 

 not altogether coinciding with his as to the probable effects of the 

 proposed south-eastern entrance, and its mode of construction. 



Knowing the nature of the action of the beach at the proposed 

 site of the canal, and I think it is established beyond a doubt, 

 there can be no possible danger of any part of the Peninsula 

 being torn away, or the basin within being filled up with 

 sand, if proper steps be taken to counteract such action. This 

 action is chiefly the progressive motion of the beach, which would 

 effectually be suspended for many years by the piers of the canal 

 themselves, constructed with crib work in the ordinary manner. 

 The canal need neither be narrow, as suggested, nor provided 

 with gates, since the former would increase the danger in entering, 

 while the latter would add to the cost and inconvenience, and no 

 benefit could result from either. 



Fig. 22 shows the proposed position of the canal. Its extreme 

 length, from 13 feet water in the bay to 17 feet in the Lake, is 

 1600 feet, with a width of 300 feet, The eastern pier, presenting 

 an obstruction to the motion of the beach westward, would, acting 

 as a groyne, retain it permanently at its eastern side; the western 

 pier, on the other hand, would be exercised to a similar result in 

 suspending the retrograde motion. The sand gradually accumu- 

 lating in the space north of the lines A B and D C would thus 

 strengthen the Peninsula at its weakest point, and remove any 

 danger which may be feared from the destruction of the narrow 

 separating ridge between the Lake and the Harbour. The entire 

 destruction of the Isthmus, although hypothetical, is nevertheless 

 a contingency advisable to guard against. Openings have repeat- 

 edly been forced through the ridge bounding Ashbridge's Bay 

 by gales point blank on the beach : these, having a destructive 

 action onlv, might produce a similar result here. If at the same 

 period the base of the Scarboro' Heights became partially protected 

 from the fury of the waves by the lodgment of an uuusual num- 

 ber of trees, or the falling of boulders from the cliffs above, the 

 supply of sand from the east would for a time be diminished, the 

 gap would remain open, and liable to be widened by every south- 

 erly wind. The Peninsula would thus be converted into an island, 

 resembling its kindred formation "Long Point" on Lake Erie. 



