38 



REPORTS ON TORONTO HARBOUR. 



my long observations warrant me in making an urgent appeal to 

 all the inhabitants of Toronto to appreciate the great value of their 

 Harbour as it is. To oppose the stubborn bulwarks of common 

 sense to delusive and costly projects of innovation which oppose 

 the operations of nature. 



There are but two natural Harbours on the North shore of Lake 

 Ontario. These are Toronto and Kingston, Hamilton is only a port 

 by means of its costly canal. Cobourg is entirely an artificial one, 

 and one of continuous cost ; Port Hope does and will owe all its 

 haven properties to art and cost. Port Dalhousie on the other 

 side has claims to that designation at great cost as the terminus 

 of the Welland canal. 



But Toronto, the very best Harbour on Lake Ontario, comprising 

 an all but land locked basin, with a superficies of water of nearly 

 six square miles in extent, possessing what no other port possesses, 

 besides its safe basin within, an excellent roadstead without, a channel 

 of easy and safe access, and moderate harbour dues : yet with all 

 these advantages there is a suicidal call for speculative and dan- 

 gerous innovation. It will be instructive to hear arguments in 

 favour of this canal as beneficial to the Harbour in a, physical and 

 commercial sense, I speak not of the practicability of construction, 

 for the science of engineering is equal to any task ; but the adver- 

 tisement that calls forth this essay is an invitation to constructing 

 engineers to meet if possible the expressed and known wishes of a 

 large portion of the inhabitants of this town, and the temptations 

 to the undertaking of a work of such importance are very great. 

 But the advertisement also calls for and challenges other opinions. 



I, as an official of the Port, as an advocate for the safety and 

 preservation of the Harbour, with a feeling of great interest for 

 its commerce, with a knowledge that the value of all property in 

 the town is based upon the stability of the Harbour as it is, oppose 

 my opinion, grounded upon my long observations and much re- 

 flection, against those who advocate what in my opinion is a dan- 

 gerous and speculative experiment. 



It cannot be denied but that the Harbour good as it is, and may 

 be for years and years to come, is one of gradual transition and 

 decay. To preserve it, to improve it, to protract its decay, call in 

 aid if needful the most eminent science, but touch not with a rash 

 and speculative hand its vital part. 



As a last appeal, and probably the last I shall ever make, I 



cannot impress too strongly upon those who hold property in the 

 town to guard against all attempts at making a second opening 

 into the Harbour. The integrity of the Peninsula is essential to 

 its safety, upon it depends the stability of the Bar, and the flux 

 and reflux to which the channel is due. As long as the Harbour 

 is as safe and as commodious for all the purposes of navigation and 

 commerce as it note is to adopt the common sense and homely adage of 

 " letting ivell alone." 



When this paper was written so far the breach at the narrows 

 was open. It is now closed up, this is as it should be, and it be- 

 hoves the guardian authorities now to raise the beach to a standard 

 height above the reach of the wave sufficient to guard against 

 future evil. 



I have no interests to serve but those I ought to serve, the safety 

 of the Harbour, and the interests of navigation and commerce. 

 Now, that the Peninsula is intact from end to end, keep it so. If 

 any engineer can be found to assert that a body of water can come 

 in at one end of the Harbour, and go out at the other without cur- 

 rent, or that a current can pass over sand without affecting it, it 

 will be an anomaly worthy of explanation. For certain purposes 

 it is convenient to treat the present channel, much as the Czar of 

 Russia treats the Turkish Empire, that it is sick and ought to die 

 for the benefit of others. But I here assert, and I am willing to 

 subject that assertion to the test of the most experienced engineer 

 or to be examined upon it by a board of engineers, that as long as 

 the Peninsula is maintained intact, and as long as there is surface 

 water in the Bay that the last drain of it will jiass by the channel. 

 Neglect in extending the pier coequal with the march of the shoal 

 may allow the water to flow over less navigable bottom, but as 

 long as this is attended to, and the pier carried West, so will the 

 channel be good, even unto the Humber Bay, which will not be 

 for some generations yet to come. As long as the same phenomena 

 of winds and currents exist as now, the guardian powers of the 

 Harbour must be guided by their past and present effects to calcu- 

 late on the means of its future preservation. 



I have the honor to be, 



Gentlemen, 

 Your most obedient servant, 



HUGH RICHARDSON. 



Toronto, 1854. 



EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS. 



Moved by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Harris, — 



That, inasmuch as it is a matter of doubt whether the Harbour Master, being officially connected with this Board can, with propriety, 

 be allowed to compete for the premiums to be awarded for the three best reports on the Harbour, the Commissioners are of opinion, that 

 Captain Richardson's Report should not be considered as in competition with the other Reports that have been sent in. 



The Commissioners, however, are decidedly of opinion, that had no such objections existed, Captain Richardson's Report would have been 

 entitled to stand as second. The Board therefore decide that the sum of .£76 should be awarded to Captain Richardson from the funds of the 

 Harbour Commissioners, as an acknowledgement of the very great merit and the amount of information Contained in his Report. — Carried. 



(Signed), J. G. CHEWETT. 



