16 



REPORTS ON TORONTO HARBOUR. 



in its original state, or, if practicable, to improve thereon so as to ensura 

 a continuance of prosperity, becomes, therefore, of the utmost import- 

 ance. 



The natural basin formed by a sandridge extending from the western 

 boundary of the township of Scarborough, embracing in its arms a 

 portion of the great Lake, possesses many of the requisites for a good 

 harbour ; it encloses about 1200 acres of water, entirely free from 

 rocks and shallows, and averaging from 15 to 35 feet in depth, on the 

 wide expanse of which the whole shipping of all the Canadian Lakes 

 might safely ride at anchor. During the prevalence of certain winds, 

 however, the basin is not of easy access to sailing craft ; and not only 

 is the channel scarcely sufficient to admit the entrance or departure of 

 large vessels, but it is even fast closing up, and, astounding as the 

 assertion may appear to some, will, ere many years, unless efficient 

 means of prevention be taken, put a complete stop to all navigation — a 

 bold enough statement, but from ascertained facts a proper inference. 



That the entrance to the harbour is fast closing up, I have been led 

 to discover, by comparing a series of careful measurements recently 

 made, with old charts of various dates. In the sequel, this important 

 fact will be clearly shown, and an attempt made to account for it ; in 

 the meantime, it may be sufficient to state that a bar has encroached 

 so much on the channel, as to make it not more than half the width it 

 was fifteen years ago. With the view of prescribing an efficient mode 

 to prevent the further accumulation of shoal calculated to prove so de- 

 trimental to the future prosperity of the city, it is first requisite to as- 

 certain the cause of the evil, from whence it arises, and investigate the 

 manner of its action — hence the following inquiry into the formation 

 of the Peninsula and Harbour. 



Few persons visiting Toronto for the first time but are struck with 

 the singular appearance of the neck of land or peninsula stretching 

 out into the lake in front of the town, so low that the few small trees 

 growing at wide intervals on its surface appear almost springing from the 

 water, and on a nearerapproach, so long, so curiously shaped, and so dif- 

 ferent from the land on shore, that many are doubtless led to theorize a 

 little on its formation. Some, who have probably arrived in the pro- 

 vince by way of Niagara, and crossed over with their minds filled with 

 contemplations of the mighty cataract, at once, and without much 

 consideration attribute to the descending torrents of that river, the 

 power of elevating from the depths of the lake, or of carrying across 

 in suspension, the drift deposited here — a theory wild and incapable 

 of defence, though some are bold enough to venture it. 



Others again, who have probably arrived from the west, or whose 

 business takes them frequently in that direction, and from the steamer 

 generally calling at the mouths of the various small rivers emptying 

 into the lake between this and Hamilton, may be induced to think 

 that these streams have had the effect of driftiu g the debris of the 

 uplands outward, which, with the assistance of an imaginary eastward 

 current of the lake, is carried until meeting a contrary current, sup. 

 posed to be of the Don, then the matter held in suspension is supposed 

 to have been deposited at their junction line, opposite Toronto. The 

 advocates of this theory have yet to prove that such currents of the 

 lake as these exist in reality : although it is true that currents out- 

 ward and inward, over the bar, are found, occasionally resembling a 

 slight half hourly tide, yet, if they have any effect on the bar at all 

 they must have a tendency rather to diminish than increase the deposit. 

 All these streams, with the exception of the Don, enter the lake nearly 

 at right angles, and it is impossible that they can flow into a large 

 and deep body of water, such as exists between their mouths and the 

 point in question, without being entirely diffused ; nor could the drift 

 brought down by them be carried wholly or chiefly in one particular 



direction without a most powerful current, but would, if ponderous, be 

 deposited at their outlet, and if light, would be distributed far and 

 wide. More especially is it reasonable to infer that the Peninsula is 

 neither now affected in any way by these western streams and the 

 imaginary currents in conjunction with them, nor Ziasbeenformed by their 

 drift, since the material composing it, sand and gravel, could not, in 

 accordance with existing laws, be held in suspension and transported 

 for miles over still water, 60 and 100 feet deep. Were the deposit or 

 any part of it of an argillaceous nature, there would have been some 

 slight reason to think that these st earns might have been auxiliaries, 

 but such is not the case. 



Others, again, suppose that the Peninsula is merely a narrow ledge 

 of rock, slightly covered with the sand and gravel which we find on 

 the surface, but this opinion is quite at variance with the general 

 geological features of this part of the country, and to local investi- 

 gations. 



A little consideration of the subject will show that these opinions 

 can only be advanced by those persons who have merely been enabled 

 to make cursory observations, and by those who, knowing the wonder- 

 ful transporting power of running water when confined, as in a river, 

 are inclined to attribute to its agency more than is justly due, and 

 overlooking the change of circumstances, class effects universally 

 which can only be produced by causes under particular conditions. 

 They being anxious to account for certain results, are contented with 

 a superficial and fallacious reasoning, and assign to the most con- 

 spicuous agents of nature, that, which after a more careful and deeper 

 search would be ascribed to a power less easily observed, but not less 

 active, or less potent. 



Sir Richard Bonnycastle, in an elaborately drawn up Report, dated 

 1835, gives it as his opinion that the Peninsula " was one of the many 

 ridges deposited at the bottom of a vast lake which existed before the 

 present Ontario and Erie were formed out of its drainage," and " that 

 it had not materially altered for a vast length of time, probably not 

 since it emerged from the waters."' 



It may be thought presumptuous in me to present anything in 

 opposition to the judgment of that respected -and eminent gentleman; 

 but from careful observations and measurements, and a comparison of 

 these with surveys made at different times by others during- the last 

 half century, having found that the deposit both above and under water 

 has received additions so extensive, and which so closely resemble 

 in character its older portions, I may be permitted to suggest, instead 

 of the Peninsula being a sedhnen'ary deposition of the tertiary periods, 

 as thought by Sir R. Bonnycastle, that the whole of it belongs to the 

 present era, and that at least one of the agents of its formation, is at 

 this day as actively engaged in changing and enlarging the outline of 

 the deposit in question, as it has been hitherto in gathering together 

 the materials, and modelling them into its present shape. 



I shall first endeavour to show that the inferior portion or base of 

 the Peninsula has been washed from the valley of the Don by that 

 river at an early date ; second, that the materials composing the supe- 

 rior and more recently formed portions have been gradually trans- 

 ported along the shore from the eastward, and that this westward 

 progressive motion of the sand and gravel beach is now the sole cause 

 of the extension and enlargement of the Peninsula, and of the danger 

 at present threatening the entrance of the Harbour. 



First — That the groundwork of the Peninsula enclosing the Harbour 

 is, or has been, a delta of the River Don." 



It is generally believed that at one time Lake Ontario stood at a 

 higher level, and covered a far greater area than it at present occu- 



