2 



REPORTS ON TORONTO HARBOUR. 



nny propriety, I"' considered apart from the limits of geological 



science ; the remedial isuros prop aed would then resemble 



guesses ol Q remedy for an unknown and dangerous disease. 



The President of tho Board of Works in lj844 reported to the 

 Provincial Secretary that, "nt tho inlet of tho Toronto Bay tho Band 

 is evidently making much, and I am of opinion, that at do remote 

 period some work must be encountered n> fix and preserve such on 

 entrance as the rapidly increasing trade of that important City 

 will require." 1" L847 Mr. Gzowski reports (Sessional Papers, 

 Legislative Council, 1847) to the Secretary of the Board of Works 

 that, "from the data that could bo obtained from several masters 

 of vessels, who have certain permanent landmarks (now existing) 

 to guide them in coming in and going out of the Harbour, it was 

 ascertained that within tho last seven years tho bar had made a 

 distance of 280 feet." Further on he observes, " there can be no 

 doubt that tho making of the bar is caused by the wash and drift 

 of the sand and shingle from the southern portion of the Peninsula, 

 which is carried when the wind is from the east, which, from 

 want of a sufficient current in the Bay, when the wind changes to 

 the west, is not carried out, but remains forming the bar referred 

 to, and which, if not prevented by the construction of works, and 

 increasing and confining the current will very soon destroy the 

 entrance to the Harbour." 



Of all the explanations which have been advanced in relation 

 to the origin and progress of formation of the Peninsula 

 boundary of Toronto Harbour and its subaqueous extension, the 

 one which appears to be most complete and at the same time 

 most consistent with observed phenomena, in many important 

 particulars, is that submitted by Mr. Sandford Fleming, C. E. 

 Mr. Fleming's views have been fully explained in two papers, 

 read by him before the Canadian Institute, and since published 

 in the Canadian Journal (Vol. II., p. 105 and 223). It appears 

 necessary that the adoption wholly or part, of any particular 

 theory of Toronto Harbour, out of several which have been offered 

 to the public, should be accompanied by satisfactory reasons for 

 the selection. In accepting the main features of Mr. Fleming's 

 theory, the writer cannot give assent to that gentleman's exposition 

 of the early history of Toronto Harbour, or of the Delta of the Don, 

 or to the remedial measures for the preservation of the Harbour. 

 It is but just to add, however, that many important features of 

 Mr. Fleming's explanations, which will be referred to hereafter, 

 are thought to involve the true history of the Peninsula as to its 

 origin and dcvelopement, the question of time not being taken 

 into consideration. The views submitted in a report to the Har- 

 bour Commissioner that the origin of the Peninsula is to be traced 

 to detritus brought down by the rivers to tho west of Toronto, is 

 completely set aside, first by Lieut. Herbert's Chart of Lake On- 

 tario, which gives a depth of ninety feet between the southern 

 limits of the Humber Bay and the Lighthouse point ; second, by 

 Mr. Fleming's measurements, which show a depth of sixty feet 

 about sixty chains from the Garrison Common beach ; third, by tho 

 direction of the prevailing winds and their influence upon the 

 , expanse of water exposed to them ; fourth, by the impossibility of 

 masses of sand and shingle creeping along the shore in water suf- 

 ficiently shallow for waves to impel them from the west, without 

 leaving traces of their passage in the form of beaches and shoals ; 

 fifth, by the ponderous nature of the materials of which the Pe- 

 ninsula consists, namely, shingle, pebbles, coarse felspar and 



quartz sand, and black magnetic oxide of Iron ;* and sixth, by 

 tin- topographical conformation of t!i<- Peninsula, which shortly, 

 will be described. 



The geological conformation 'if this part of the country is alto- 

 gether contrary to tin- supposition that the basis of the Peninsula 

 in an upheaval of the Hudson River Group, upon which shingle 

 and sand have been deposited. The Hudson River Group extends 

 from beyond the 1 Rouge to the Credit, and forms the basis of the 

 drift which covers the country. Its character in this neighbourhood 

 i- any thing but persistent as shown by the uniform depths to 



which the Rivers Don, [lumber, Mimico, toe., have succeeded in 



cutting it. In its exposures in all the localities mentioned, inclu- 

 ding also the Garrison Common cliffs, and the west side of the 

 Humber Bay, it exhibits blue argillaceous shales alternating with 

 bands of calcareous sandstone, and occasionally limestone bands. 

 Its descent into the Bay and Lake is gradual, and within a distance 

 cf 500 yards north of Privat's Hotel it is not reached at a depth of 

 30 feet.f The water-worn shingle which largely enters into the 

 composition of the Peninsula contains occasionally fossils belonging 

 to this rock, but they do not differ from those which may easily 

 be found in the drift clay superimposed upon it on the neighbour- 

 ing shore, and which, during the deposition of the drift, have been 

 washed out of some more northern exposure. (See the Geological 

 Report for 1845, page 88). That shingle of the Hudson River 

 Group forms the base or foundation of the Peninsula is quite pos- 

 sible, but it is more than probable that all the shingle found there 

 has been transported to its resting-place and had its origin in the 

 drift clay of the neighbouring shores of the Lake to the eastward. 



Mr. Fleming separates the history of the delta of the Don from 

 that of the Peninsula boundary of Toronto Bay, and he carries us 

 back into the dim and misty ages of the Quarternary period in 

 order to account for the deposition at the mouth of the Don of its 

 present 'delta.' "Having thus," he says, "shewn that sufficient 

 time may be granted, the Don therefore supplies an adequate cause 

 for performing, and completing long since the work assigned to it; 

 year after year during its early history, slowly but constantly 

 hollowing out a channel and removing the former contents of its 

 valley to the Lake, the lighter and more soluble matter being held 

 for some time by the water, to be distributed far and wide, the 

 heavier particles on the other hand, to be deposited near its 

 mouth in the form of an extensive shoal or delta, — the base or 

 ground work of the Peninsula, on which again to be deposited a 

 drift from other causes and from another source." — (See page 107, 

 Canadian Journal, Vol. II.) 



His arguments for the antiquity of the marshes of the Don, to 

 be hereafter alluded to, are so intimately connected with his views 

 of the former probable extent and influence of the Scarboro' heights, 

 that it is desirable, before proceeding further, to examine the exist- 

 ing phenomena of that range of hills and cliffs, and see how they 

 agree with the descriptions which have been given of them. 



The following description of the Scarboro' heights is the result 

 of a personal visit to that romantic and picturesque range of cliffs 

 during the present month. (April, 1854.) The Scarboro' heights 

 consist of two distinct terraces, which run into one another on the 

 farm of W. Crone, J about nine miles from Toronto. These ter- 



* See Xote A. in Appendix, f See Note B. in Appendix. 

 + See Map of the Township of Scarboro' for names, by J. Ellis, Toronto. 



