20 



REPORTS ON TORONTO HARBOUR. 



Fig. 8. 



Sketches of natural Groynes. 

 was supposed to be the original water-mark. In all cases, the water 

 was from one to two feet deep on the westerly side of the logs, and in 

 several instances the sand was five or sis inches above their upper 

 surface on the easterly side. These groynes, formed by accident, 

 show very clearly the results of the westward motion of the beach, 

 and, although simple in the extreme, are natural models from which 

 may be designed other coutrivances^for the retention of the moving 

 sand, and will be referred to hereafter in treating of the preservation 

 of the Harbour. 



In addition to these indications of the westward motion of the beach, 

 it may be observed that, on an examination of the mouth of several 

 small streams discharging into the lake east of Ashbridge's Bay, it is 

 found that, whatever be their general direction inland, so soon as they 

 intersect the sand beach, their course is westward. In most cases 

 they run parallel to the shore, separated from it by a small ridge of 

 sand, and ultimately discharge into the Lake some distance west from 

 the point where they leave the woods. 



We have also palpable and positive proof of the westward motion of 

 the beach in the extension of the Peninsula itself in that direction. 

 Joseph Bouchette, late Surveyor-General of the Province, made a sur- 

 vey of Toronto Harbour in 1796, a reduced plan of which was published 

 in 1815 along with his work on Canada. At the date of the survey, 

 that part of the Peninsula on which the Lighthouse is erected was then 

 the margin of the lake. Since that time, one sand ridge after another 

 has been washed up, until now, after a lapse of only fifty-four years, 

 a tract measuring upwards of thirty acres has been added, and the 

 Lake is now distant from the Lighthouse about eighteen chains. 



The general appearance of this recent addition to the Peninsula re- 

 sembles so closely other older portions, and its geological character is 

 so clearly identical not only with the adjacent parts, but also with the 

 whole formation, that we may very properly infer they are each and 

 all produced by the same causes. Admitting, then — and it is indis- 

 putable — that this enlargement of the Lighthouse point is due to the 

 progressive motion of the beach sand through the mechanical agency 

 of the waves from the eastward, we come to the conclusion that the 

 whole Peninsula is the result of the same action, continued through 

 past ages, and traceable to the same eastward source. 



Arrived at this conclusion, we are now naturally led to enquire 

 whence has the abundant supply of material for so extensive a deposit 

 been obtained. About five miles east of Toronto, a high bluff, known 

 as the Scarboro' Heights, stretches along the shore for several miles. 

 The bluff is about three hundred feet high, and is chiefly composed of 

 sand, with at intervals a stratum of clay. It is known by the farmers 

 residing in the neighbourhood to recede ten or twelve feet annually at 

 the- present day. Farther eastward, the coast has a low aspect, and is 

 of a soil capable of providing but little of the substances of which sand 

 and gravel beaches are composed. Moreover, by contouring the 



country bordering on this high cliff, it is found that the lines betoken 

 a former great projection lakeward, of which Fig. 9 (see plates) is an 

 ideal outline, and Fig. 16 a sectional sketch on the line K L, at right 

 angles to the shore. For these reasons, then, we are induced to fix 

 upon this point as the locality from whence has been drifted the ma- 

 terials forming the deposit in question. 



Founded on demonstrative and probable evidence, here in part set 

 forth, I will now venture to lay before you what I believe to be a cor- 

 rect theory of the gradual formation of that singular deposit which has 

 provided for Toronto so good a harbour. 



On the subsidence of Lake Ontario from a high to its present level, 

 the land fell in easy slopes to the water's edge, and the gradual, de- 

 scending surface lines were continued outward under water ; the abrupt 

 terminations of the land along the boundary of the lake having been 

 formed by its encroachments through a long course of ages, the pro- 

 montories which formerly projected have been rounded off by the de- 

 structive influence of the elements. The sand clay of which they con- 

 sisted, and which lay between the ancient and present margins of the 

 water, having been removed to other parts, the clay carried out and 

 stratified at the bottom of the lake, and the sand formed into new de- 

 posits, kindred to the one under discussion. 



Referring to Fig. 16, we have an illustration of this as applied to the 

 Scarboro' Heights. K represents the present position of the cliff, and 

 L the supposed former shore of the lake, the point of land extending 

 from K to L, Fig. 9, having been removed by the waves. 



Figs. 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 are sketches of the deposit at several 

 periods prior to and during its formation. The first shows the sup- 

 posed original outline of the lake immediately after its subsidence, 

 prior to any encroachments or changes of the shore line; the second, 

 a small spit running westerly from the Scarboro' promontory; the 

 third and fourth, farther extensions of this spit, and wearing away of 

 the promontory. At this period (Fig. 12) the River Don has brought 

 down a large quantity of drift from its valley, as explained in the first 

 part of this paper, and the lake deposit is now going on over the shoal 

 water. Only a small portion of the spit thrown up at this period now 

 exists, the remainder having been encroached on and moved westerly 

 as the heights at Scarboro' receded. The portion referred to is a 

 narrow ridge running landward to the west of the Don. It may now 

 be seen stretching from near the wind-mill outward, and separating 

 the marsh from the Harbour. 



Fig. 13 shows still further encroachments on the land at Scarboro' 

 the almost entire removal of the spit shown by Fig. 12, and the ad- 

 vancement of the Peninsula westward. 



Fig. 14 represents the present state of the deposit. The dotted 

 lines are contours, (explained on the plate,) showing the rapid pro- 

 gress of the shoal landward at the western boundary of the Harbour. 

 Its edge between the point of the Peninsula above water, and the 

 mainland, at the Queen's Wharf, may be taken at the ten feet water- 

 line, within which it immediately rises, and gives a depth of about 

 four feet only along the eastern side, and from six to thirty inches 

 along its western boundary. 



Figs. 17, 18, 19, and 20 are sections across the Harbour and Penin- 

 sula, on the lines G H, E F, C D, and A B, drawn on Fig. 14. These 

 show clearly, without unnecessary explanation, the nature and limits 

 of the deposit. Fig. 20 runs from the foot of George Street southerly, 

 through that point of the narrows proposed for the eastern entrance to 

 the Harbour, hereafter mentioned; Fig. 19 on a line parallel to the 

 first, from the Parliament Buildings southerly ; Fig. 18 from near the 

 Queen's Wharf directly across the shoal at the entrance : this, as well 

 as the last, cuts several of the many ridges of sand, with long narrow 



