£~0L. 7 13 



n> 



-C 





REPORTS ON THE IMPROVEMENT AND PRESERVATION 



OP 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS.* 



HARBOUR OF TORONTO. 



THE Commissioners of Toronto Harbour, having decided upon 

 offering premiums for the best Reports on the improvement and 

 preservation of the Harbour, and appropriated the sum of £112 10s. 

 for that purpose, and the Common Council of the City of Toronto 

 having also voted a similar sum for the same object : 



NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, 



That three premiums of £100, £75, and £50, respectively, will be 

 given for the three best Reports on the means to be adopted for the 

 preservation and improvement of the Harbour of Toronto. 

 Such Reports to embrace the following subjects : 



The effects which have been produced, or are likely to be produced, 

 by the present breach at the Eastern extremity of the Bay of Toronto, 

 particularly with reference to the Bar, at the entrance of the Bay. 

 If prejudicial to the Harbour, suggest the best means of closing it, 

 and of strengthening that part of the Peninsula against further en- 

 croachments by the waters of the Lake. 



Furnish also a statement as to the probable cost of such works. 



If, on the other hand, a permanent opening at that end of the 

 Harbour should be shown to be a benefit rather than an injury, furnish 

 full particulars as to the best mode of making a Canal, and the pro- 

 bable cost thereof. 



Also, as to the advisability, or otherwise, of enlarging the opening 

 between the Harbour and Asbridge's Bay, or of making a permanent 

 opening into the Lake, from Asbridge's Bay, and the cost thereof. 



The Reports must be sent in not later than the 15th of April next, 

 addressed to the Chairman of the Commissioners of the Toronto Har- 

 bour. 



Two copies of all such Reports to be furnished, one for the Harbour 

 Commissioners Office, and the other for the Clerk's Office of the City 

 of Toronto. 



Harbour Commissioners' Office, 1 

 Toronto, March 14, 1854. j 



TORONTO HARBOUR. 



rpHE period for receiving the proposed Reports " on the preservation 

 j_ and improvement of the Toronto Harbour," is extended to the 

 4th of May. 



The Commissioners desire it to be understood, that it is not requisite 

 that the Reports should embrace detailed estimates of the cost of the 

 proposed works, except in so far as will suffice to give a general idea 

 of the comparative expense of the different plans proposed. 



Harbour Commissioners' Office, 

 Toronto, April 1, 1854. 



REPORT 



ON THE PRESERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT 



or 

 TORONTO HARBOUR, 



BY HENRY" YOULE HIND, M.A., PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE 

 UNIVERSITY OE TRINITY COLLEGE. 



[The first premium of One Hundred Pounds was awarded to the 

 author of this Report.] 



The questions proposedby the Commissioners of Toronto Harbour 

 respecting the means to be adopted for its preservation and im- 

 provement, involve as a primary consideration the origin and 

 distribution of the entire mass of accumulated materials from near 

 the town line of Scarboro' and York to within a few hundred 

 yards south of the Garrison Wharf, thus embracing the whole of 

 the sand and shingle beach enclosing Ashbridge's Bay and the 

 swamps of the Don, together with the Peninsula boundary of 

 Toronto Harbour and its westerly subaqueous extension towards 

 the Humber Bay. Various theories have been advanced from time 

 to time with a view to unveil the history of the formation of the 

 Harbour. The citizens of Toronto are familiar with the names of 

 Roy, Bonnycastle, Fleming, Shanly, Tully, and Richardson, in 

 connection with this important subject. The views of these gen- 

 tlemen have been brought before the public in various ways, either 

 in papers read before the Mechanics' Institute, (Roy, — published 

 in the Monthly Review, June, 1841), the Canadian Institute , 

 (Fleming, 1850-51), or in the form of reports and letters, (Bonny- 

 castle, Shanly, Tully, and Richardson). Allusions are also made to 

 the encroachments of the Sand-bar towards the Queen's Wharf in 

 the reports of the officers connected with the Board of Works, and 

 published in the Sessional papers of the Legislative Assembly. 

 Notwithstanding a discussion in which so many have taken a part, 

 and which has been extended over a period of fifteen or twenty 

 years, the subject does not appear to be exhausted and perhaps 

 still offers room for additional speculations. It is essentially a 

 geological subject, involving the present active operations of those 

 forces which, on a scale of greater magnitude, have recorded their 

 existence and power on the shores of every tidal and tideless ex- 

 panse of water. Nor can the preservation of the Harbour, with' 



* The Commissioners of Toronto Harbour, in addition to the liberal premiums awarded for the following Reports, have placed in the hands 

 of the Treasurer of the Canadian Institute sufficient funds to cover the expenses of the r publication in the Canadian Journal 



