REPORTS ON TORONTO HARBOUR. 



1 



7. The boundaries of the Peninsula have been immensely ex- 

 tended during the last 58 years, and the addition of so many acres 

 in deep water beyond the Lighthouse implies the subaqueous extension 

 of the shoals forming the sloping Lake sides of the Peninsula to a 

 very considerable degree southwards. 



8. The materials have been obtained by the destruction of the 

 Scarboro' cliffs. (Mr. Fleming.) 



9. The operations of settlers during the last forty years in clearing 

 the crests of the cliffs in Scarboro' have occasioned the immense 

 recent destruction there visible, and have produced to a great de- 

 gree the alarming progress of the Peninsula boundary of the 

 Harbour. 



10. Previously to the settlement of the country the cliffs were 

 much protected from atmospheric influences by trees, under-brush 

 and grass growing on their crests and down their sides, and the 

 beach by natural groynes of fallen timber, also by the large frag- 

 ments of shale and boulders washed out of the drift, which have 

 been removed for building purposes. 



11. The progress of the travelling beaches may be arrested by 

 groynes. (Mr. Fleming.) 



12. The groynes must penetrate into a depth of water beyond 

 the influence of the great waves of the Lake upon the bottom, and 

 the maximum and minimum level of the Lake must be taken into 

 consideration in ascertaining the depth to which they ought to be 

 constructed. 



13. The effect produced upon the beach by waves washing over 

 it, or in some instances creating openings, is merely to change its 

 position and move it a few yards to the north ; this is a conse- 

 quence of the vast extension of the sloping beach southwards. 



14. There is no danger of a permanent breach being made by the 

 waves of the Lake. 



15. Breaches are due to the concurrence of storms and high 

 Lake levels, and no breach would have been made near the Penin- 

 sula Hotel during low Lake levels. 



16. Evidence tends to show that the maximum level of the Lake 

 lasts for one or two years only, whereas the minimum lasts 

 for several years. The maximum level of Lake Ontario for the 

 present period was attained very probably in June last, when the 

 level was 4 feet 5 inches above the level recorded by Captain Lefroy 

 in October of 1849 at the Queen's Wharf. There is a remote pro- 

 bability of the level this year being ecpial to what it was last year, 

 owing to the late severe winter. This is a point which will soon 

 be ascertained. The level (end of April, 1854) is now two feet 

 one inch lower than in June last. 



17. In "order to preserve the Harbour from closing, a groyne 

 must be constructed at Lighthouse Point into 40 feet water, which 

 will cause the sand to 'back up' against it and extend the dimen- 

 sions of the shoal southwards ; in a few years a second groyne 

 must be constructed at B on the Map, and after another interval 

 of time a third groyne at C, then at D, (each groyne being smaller 

 than the preceding one), and so on. The effect of this system of 

 groynes will be' to extend the shoal southwards into deeper and 

 deeper water, and gradually 'back up' the progressing materials 

 to their source, thus immensely strengthening the Peninsula and 



making it a permanent and stable tongue of land. The sand may 

 be prevented from forming dunes by planting trees, beginning 

 with the formation of new land and planting as the land forms- 

 (If groynes were to be constructed first, say at the Hotel and then 

 westward, it would be necessary to plant the whole coast at once, 

 which would be a difficult matter). 



18. Simultaneously with the construction of a groyne at A, a 

 groyne into 15 feet water must be constructed at EM, and simul- 

 taneously with this a groyne at K.F. (Mr. Fleming.) 



19. It is most desirable to produce a current between the Queen's 

 Wharf and the groyne. In order to effect this object the Don must 

 still be permitted to enter the Bay, but not by its present mouths. 

 They should be closed and a mouth opened at H, and a channel 

 cut for the Don south-east of the Railway Bridge. Two or more 

 •channels would be better, for the purpose of preventing the cutting 

 of a deep passage by the waters of the Don ; the channel might be 

 conveyed to different parts of the Marsh. The progress of consol- 

 idating the Marsh by this means would be very rapid. The 

 waters of the Don would then percolate through the Marsh, and if 

 they cut a deep channel they would have time to deposit much of 

 the mechanically suspended matter with which they are charged 

 during freshets, and if they did not cut a new deep channel, the 

 reeds would act as filters, like the reeds in the swamps bordering 

 the Mississipi, (see Lyell's 2nd voyage to America), and effectually 

 arrest all silt. The sewage of the town should be made to flow 

 into the Don ; in the Marsh it would become inoffensive, being 

 rapidly consumed by vegetation. The waters of the Bay would 

 thus be greatly purified. The passage of the Don through Ash- 

 bridge's Bay could not be maintained. 



20. Any permanent opening in the form of a canal between a 

 few hundred yards to the east of Lighthouse Point and the eastern 

 extremity of Ashbridge's Bay could not be kept open, without the 

 construction of works into deep water, and of groynes into deep 

 water east and west of it. 



21. But ONE POSITION for the mouth of a permanent canal 

 exists on the Peninsula, and that is at Lighthouse Point, where it 

 should be carried out side by side with the groyne into 40 feet 

 water. The groyne might form one side of the canal. A canal 

 from the Bay terminating there would retain a permanent open- 

 ing for ages, if groynes at B, C, D, &c, were constructed as the 

 'land made' time after time. v 



22. A canal constructed from the point G to A, and the continu- 

 ation of the groyne at K to G, would soon inclose a piece of land 

 which would amply pay all the expenses of the undertaking, (to be 

 used for the sites of warehouses, storehouses, &c.,) and maintain 

 the integrity of the Peninsula, and the preservation of the perma- 

 nent opening into the Harbour throughout the year. See Section 

 No. I. 



23. In process of time, which might be materially shortened by 

 the construction of simple works, a junction from A to E would 

 be advisable, and thus form a permanent island. 



24. If the entrance at the Queen's Wharf were narrowed simul- 

 taneously with the construction of the canal from A to G, both 

 openings would remain permanent and unobstructed by bars. 



