Arrifcial chanels for the river .
Sunday, March 7, 2021
Wilson Fall Ontario Canada
Wilson Fall is an ancient site having intelligent design and megalitic stones. Stones that build the fall are io two colors.There are visible canals probably build so that the fish could go up to the river. A new dam was build above this ancient fall by us the "civilized one" with no consideration for aquaric life.
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Potts Falls Ontario Canada
The waterfall that I used to call Little High Falls is now called Potts Falls. The waterfall that used to be called Potts Falls is now called Little High Falls. I have had the names flipped for many years! Thanks to users for pointing this out. This waterfall is proof that small can be absolutely beautiful! Located only a few minutes' walk from High Falls, just north of Bracebridge, this waterfall yields beautiful photographs.
A little wooden footbridge was built upstream of the falls several years ago. This doesn't ruin the picture but does take away from some of the serenity of the scene by giving tourists easy access to the waterfall. The site is well shaded, allowing beautiful mosses, ferns and sedges to surround the falls. But this also allows a TON of mosquitos to call this home, so be prepared if you visit in summer.
A little wooden footbridge was built upstream of the falls several years ago. This doesn't ruin the picture but does take away from some of the serenity of the scene by giving tourists easy access to the waterfall. The site is well shaded, allowing beautiful mosses, ferns and sedges to surround the falls. But this also allows a TON of mosquitos to call this home, so be prepared if you visit in summer.
Some Quick Facts
Ancient Stone buildings present
Monday, February 15, 2021
The Trent–Severn Waterway
Length386 km (240 miles)Maximum boat length84 ft 0 in (25.60 m)Maximum boat beam23 ft 0 in (7.01 m)Maximum boat draft2.4 m (8') Locks 1 – 19; 1.8 m (6') Locks 20 – 45Locks44StatusOpenHistoryConstruction began1833GeographyStart point
Bay of Quinte
End point Georgian Bay
Trent–Severn Waterway Legend Lock km Georgian Bay Highway 400 Port Severn swing bridge 45 Port Severn 387.1 44 Big Chute Marine Railway 374.1 43 Swift Rapids 361.2 Hamlet swing bridge 42 Couchiching 337.8 CNR swing bridge Highway 11 Lake Couchiching Highway 12 Lake Simcoe Lakeshore Road swing bridge Highway 12 41 Gamebridge 290.9 40 Thorah 289.8 39 Portage 289.1 38 Talbot 286.5 37 Bolsover 284.9 Boundary Road swing bridge Bolsover swing bridge 36 Kirkfield Lift Lock 272.6 Lake HuronLake Ontario watershed Balsam Lake 35 Rosedale 252.9 Cameron Lake 34 Fenelon Falls 247.2 Lake Scugog 33 Lindsay 251.6 Sturgeon Lake 32 Bobcaygeon 222.4 Bobcaygeon swing bridge Pigeon Lake Buckhorn Lake 31 Buckhorn 194.2 30 Lovesick 184.7 28 Burleigh Falls 181.8 Lock 28 foot bridge
The total length of the waterway is 386 kilometres (240 mi), beginning at Trenton, Ontario, with roughly 32 kilometres (20 mi) of man-made channels. There are 44 locks, including 36 conventional locks, two sets of flight locks, hydraulic lift locks at Peterborough and Kirkfield, and a marine railway at Big Chute which transports boats between the upper and lower sections of the Severn. The system also includes 39 swing bridges and 160 dams and control structures that manage the water levels for flood control and navigation on lakes and rivers that drain approximately 18,600 square kilometres (7,182 sq mi) of central Ontario's cottage country region, across four counties and three single-tier cities, an area that is home to more than a million Canadians.
It reaches its highest point of 256.3 metres (841 ft) at Balsam Lake, the highest point to which a vessel can be navigated from sea level in the Great Lakes–Saint Lawrence River drainage basin. The navigable summit of the Monongahela River (part of the Mississippi River drainage basin) at Fairmont, West Virginia is, at 263 metres (863 ft), the highest point in North America (the summit of the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal at its highest point of 406 metres (1,332 ft)[5] is higher still).
The Trent–Severn Waterway is managed by Parks Canada under the statutory authority of the Historic Canals Regulations (which outline and delegate the responsibilities for navigation, resource protection, dredge and fill operations, the operation of boater campgrounds, etc.). The 386-kilometre (240 mi) navigation corridor includes over 4,500 kilometres (2,796 mi) of shoreline and over 500 square kilometres (193 sq mi) of water. More than 125000 private and commercial properties abut the navigation corridor of the Trent–Severn Waterway. The Trent–Severn Waterway also has regulatory responsibility and authority under the Dominion Water Power Act for the 18 hydroelectric generating facilities located along its route.
Port Perry Ontario Canada
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Province | Ontario |
| Regional municipality | Durham |
| Township | Scugog |
| Settled | 1821 |
| Incorporated (village) | 1871 |
| Population (2016)[1] | |
| • Total | 9,453 |
| • Density | 1,207.2/km2 (3,127/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| Forward sortation area | |
| Area code(s) | 905 and 289 |
| NTS Map | 031D02 |
| GNBC Code | FCIAS |
Port Perry serves as the administrative and commercial centre for the township of Scugog. The town is home to a 24-bed hospital (Lakeridge Health Port Perry), Scugog Township's municipal offices and many retail establishments. Port Perry serves as a hub for many small communities in the Scugog area, such as Greenbank, Raglan, Caesarea, Blackstock and Nestleton/Nestleton Station. The Great Blue Heron Charitable Casino is a major employer. Located at the basin of the Trent-Severn Waterways is Lake Scugog, one of Ontario's largest man-made lakes.
The Trent–Severn Waterway is a 386-kilometre-long canal route (240 miles) connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn. Its major natural waterways include the Trent River, Otonabee River, Kawartha Lakes, Lake Simcoe, Lake Couchiching and Severn River. Its scenic, meandering route has been called "one of the finest interconnected systems of navigation in the world".[1]
Port Perry's Victorian-era downtown is a tourist destination, with clothing stores, restaurants, cafés, bookstores, galleries and antique shops. In the summer, the town features the festivals Mississauga First Nation Pow Wow, the Highland Games, the Dragon Boat Races and StreetFest. Port Perry is also home to the Theatre on The Ridge summer theatre festival featuring 6 shows performed at Townhall 1873 during July and August. Its annual fair, held every Labour Day weekend, has been running for over 150 years. There are also golf courses, both public and private. Other attractions in Port Perry and surrounding area include the Great Blue Heron Charity Casino, Scugog Memorial Library (featuring the Kent Farndale Art Gallery), the Scugog Shores Historical Museum and the Town Hall 1873 Centre for the Performing Arts.
At many local farms, visitors may pick their own seasonal fruit (strawberries, raspberries, apples). In the summer, bass tournaments and lakeside activities are also featured.
The Lake Scugog shoreline offers two popular lakeside parks, Palmer and Birdseye. There are active fishing seasons, both winter and summer. In the winter months, Lake Scugog is dotted with ice-fishing huts and is a destination for ice fishermen and snowmobilers.
History
The area around Port Perry was first surveyed as part of Reach Township by Major Samuel Street Wilmot in 1809. The first settler in the area was Reuben Crandell, a United Empire Loyalist who built a homestead with his wife in May 1821. Their original home is still in use and can be seen on King Street between Prince Albert and Manchester. In November 1821, Lucy Ann Crandell became the first child of European descent born in the area. In 1831, Crandell and his family moved to a homestead at what became Crandell's Corners (later called Borelia).[3] It had its own Post Office, near the present-day junction of Queen Street and Highway 7A.
Settler Peter Perry laid out village lots on the shore of Lake Scugog in 1848 on the site of a former native village known as Scugog Village. The townsite was named Port Perry in 1852 and its first Postmaster was Joseph Bigelow. It was incorporated as a village in 1871. At the time there was an intense rivalry between Port Perry and two nearby towns, Prince Albert and Manchester. Expecting great things for "his" town, Peter Perry predicted that goats would eat grass off of Prince Albert's main street.[4]
At the time, Prince Albert sat astride a planked toll road running south to Whitby. Grain and lumber from areas throughout the area south-east of Lake Simcoe fed through Prince Albert, which was a major grain trading area. Perry and others in Port Perry felt a railway was a much better option, and Perry's prediction would eventually come true.
A group of local businessmen started the process of bringing the railway to the town in 1867, and the first train on the Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway reached the terminus in Port Perry in 1872. In the following year the grain elevator was built, still standing today as Canada's oldest existing grain elevator.[5] Cargo from all over northern Ontario was shipped via the Trent-Severn Waterway to Port Perry via Lake Scugog, and then via the railway to Whitby, where it could be loaded onto the CP or CN mainlines running along the shore of Lake Ontario, or onto ships in Port Whitby. Businesses quickly moved out of Prince Albert and moved to Port Perry, leaving Prince Albert effectively a suburb of Port Perry today. The Port Perry Granary still stands as a tall sentinel on the shores of Lake Scugog and proud of being Canada's oldest grain elevator outlasting numerous fires and modern day demolition.
The village was amalgamated with Cartwright, Reach and Scugog Townships to form the Township of Scugog in 1974 upon the creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham.
An Ontario Historical Plaque was erected at the Scugog Shores Museum by the province to commemorate cartoonist Jimmy Frise's role in Ontario's heritage.[6]
Port Perry's Victorian-era downtown is a tourist destination, with clothing stores, restaurants, cafés, bookstores, galleries and antique shops. In the summer, the town features the festivals Mississauga First Nation Pow Wow, the Highland Games, the Dragon Boat Races and StreetFest. Port Perry is also home to the Theatre on The Ridge summer theatre festival featuring 6 shows performed at Townhall 1873 during July and August. Its annual fair, held every Labour Day weekend, has been running for over 150 years. There are also golf courses, both public and private. Other attractions in Port Perry and surrounding area include the Great Blue Heron Charity Casino, Scugog Memorial Library (featuring the Kent Farndale Art Gallery), the Scugog Shores Historical Museum and the Town Hall 1873 Centre for the Performing Arts.
At many local farms, visitors may pick their own seasonal fruit (strawberries, raspberries, apples). In the summer, bass tournaments and lakeside activities are also featured.
The Lake Scugog shoreline offers two popular lakeside parks, Palmer and Birdseye. There are active fishing seasons, both winter and summer. In the winter months, Lake Scugog is dotted with ice-fishing huts and is a destination for ice fishermen and snowmobilers.
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Thunder Bay The Sleeping Giant
The Sleeping Giant - Nanabijou
Visible from many places in Thunder Bay, the Sleeping Giant is the city's most well-known natural wonder. The landmass itself is an Ontario Park with hundreds of kilometres of hiking trails and campsites to enjoy.
Thousands of locals and visitors alike marvel at the wonder of the Sleeping Giant each year, but what is the legend surrounding this Giant?
The legend goes as follows...
Standing on the shores of Thunder Bay at
the head of the great Lake Superior, one can perceive, on looking out
across the waters of Thunder Bay, a great land formation situated
directly in the mouth of the Bay.
It requires no imagination whatever to see
that this form resembles the sleeping body of a giant, arms folded
across his massive chest as in the majesty of death.
Mystery and legend surround the origin of
this strange phenomenon of nature and down through the ages the
following story seems to have survived.
On an island just outside Thunder Bay, now known as "Isle Royale," once lived a great tribe of Ojibway Natives.
Because of their loyalty to their Gods, and
their peaceful and industrious mode of living, Nanabijou, the Spirit of
the Deep Sea Water, decided to reward them.
One day he called their Chief to his great
Thunder Temple on the mountain and warned him that if he told the secret
to the white man, that he, Nanabijou would be turned to stone and the
Ojibway tribe perish.
The Chief gave his promise, and Nanabijou told him of the rich silver mine, now known as "Silver Islet." The
Great Spirit told him to go to the highest point on Thunder Cape, and
here he would find the entrance to a tunnel that would lead him to the
centre of the mine.
Apparently the Chief and his people found
the mine, for the Ojibway became famous for their beautiful silver
ornaments. So beautiful indeed were they, that the Sioux warriors on
seeing them upon their wounded enemies, strove to wrest their secret
from them.
However, torture and even death failed to
make the gallant Ojibway divulge their secret and the Sioux chieftains
had to devise another scheme to find the source of the Ojibway silver.
One day they summoned their most cunning
scout to a pow-wow and a plan was formed. The scout was to enter the
Ojibway camp disguised as one of them. This he did and in a few days
succeeded in learning the secret of the island of silver.
Going to the mine at night he took several
large pieces of the precious metal in order to prove to his chieftain
that he had fulfilled his mission.
The scout however never returned to his
camp, for on his way back he stopped at a white traders post to purchase
some food. Having no furs or money with which to pay for the goods, he
used a piece of the silver.
Upon seeing such a large piece of the
gleaming metal, two white men sought to obtain the whereabouts of its
source, in order to make themselves fabulously rich. After filling the
Sioux scout with liquor they persuaded him to show them the way to the
mine.
When almost in sight of "Silver Islet" a
terrific storm broke over the Cape. The white men were drowned and the
Native was found in a crazed condition floating aimlessly in his canoe,
but the most extraordinary thing that had happened during the storm, was
that where once was a wide opening to the bay, now lay what appeared to
be a great sleeping figure of a man. The Great Spirit's warning had
been fulfilled and he had been turned to stone.
On a little island at the foot of the
Sleeping Giant, can still be seen the partly submerged shafts of what
was once the richest silver mine in the northwest. White men have tried
again and again to pump out the water that keeps flooding it from Lake
Superior but without success. Is it still under the curse of Nanabijou,
Spirit of the Deep Sea Water... perhaps... who can tell?
Actual Ojibway legends are stories about Nanabijou printed in local 19th-century newspapers. These stories reportedly came directly from Ojibway elders interviewed at the time, but there's no way of verifying that today. The earliest dates from 1882, while another version dates from somewhat later. These versions are completely different from Limbrick's rather simplistic and fanciful one, and neither makes direct mention of the Sleeping Giant. They talk about how Nanabijou created the world, including the lakes, rivers and islands.
Limbrick's story seems to be connected with Silver Islet and, as such, must be of relatively recent origin as the mine was not discovered until the late 19th century.
Link
https://www.northernontario.travel
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
The McKenzie Marsh Aurora Ontario
The McKenzie Marsh property has been sold. A large house was built large amount of trees were removed and the land was poisoned grass removed and wild life dissipated. In May 2020 the large house was in flames.
I was asking myself what is the history of this land? Hard to find information about the history of this piece of land.
Who is McKenzie? Who built this lake? What was here before? 1900, 1800, 1700, 1600? Records were lost, paces were renamed, the history even the recent history is lost. Who was the initial recorded Owner of the McKenzie Marsh.
In this area a University Professor of U of T was digging and found an old Town. He had his doctorate thesis based on the discoveries on this area. All artifact dissipated. There are only 4 pictures of the findings in this area of Aurora.
The Aurora Site, also known as the "Old Fort," "Old Indian Fort," "Murphy Farm" or "Hill Fort" site, is a sixteenth-century Huron-Wendat ancestral village located on one of the headwater tributaries of the East Holland River on the north side of the Oak Ridges Moraine in present-day Whitchurch–Stouffville, approximately 30 kilometres north of Toronto. This Huron ancestral village was located on 3.4 hectares (8.4 acres) of land and the settlement was fortified with multiple rows of palisades. The community arrived ca. 1550, likely moving en masse from the so-called Mantle Site located nine kilometres to the south-east in what is today urban Stouffville. The Aurora/Old Fort site is located at the south-east corner of Kennedy Road and Vandorf Side Road, east of the hamlet of Vandorf in the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville. The Aurora site was occupied at the same time as the nearby Ratcliff site.[2]
The Rouge River trail, used by the Huron and then later by the French to travel between Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe / Georgian Bay, ran through the Aurora site.
Perhaps the busiest and best documented of these routes was that which followed the Humber River valley northward ... although another trail of equal importance and antiquity and used earlier than the former by the French, extended from the mouth of the Rouge River northward to the headwaters of the Little Rouge and over the drainage divide to the East Branch of the Holland River at Holland Landing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Site,_Wendat_(Huron)_Ancestral_Village
The Aurora/Old Fort site was completely excavated in 1947 and 1957 by the University of Toronto. The 1947 dig was the first student excavation by the university, and it was led by John Norman Emerson. Emerson's doctoral work was largely based on the excavations of the Aurora/Old Fort site.
The lack of public records of the findings make me to assume that the University of Toronto is responsible for the destruction of the real History of the place.
The $20 million St. Johns Sideroad reconstruction project was officially completed on June 26, 2006. On this date local stakeholders, Town, Regional officials and staff attended the ceremony. The project was one of the most environmentally significant projects completed by York Region to date. It was a recipient of the Ontario Public Works Association’s 2006 Project of the Year in the environmental category and the American Public Works Association’s 2007 Transportation Project of the Year.
Aurora (2016 population 55,445) is a town in central York Region in the Greater Toronto Area, within the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario, Canada. It is located north of the Town of Richmond Hill and is partially situated on the Oak Ridges Moraine. In the Canada 2016 Census, the municipal population of Aurora was the 95th largest in Canada, compared to 97th for the 2006 Census. Aurora has been ranked in the top 10 wealthiest towns in Canada.
Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe gave the order for Yonge Street to be extended to Holland Landing in 1793, the first step toward the establishment of a community where Aurora now stands. Yonge Street opened between 1794 and 1796. In 1795, the first house in Aurora was built at Yonge St and Catherine Av. The government began granting deeds to land in 1797. By 1801 there were fourteen homes.
In 1804, Richard Machell became the first merchant at the crossroads of Yonge and Wellington and the hamlet soon became known as Machell's Corners. Charles Doan was another early businessman at Machell's Corners and became the first postmaster and later the first reeve. The post office was originally known as "Whitchurch". As postmaster, he was influential in renaming the village Aurora, after the goddess Aurora from Roman mythology.[7]:10[a] Machell proposed to rename the town "Match-Ville", ostensibly for the match factory in the town, but the name Aurora was more popular and ultimately chosen as the town's name. Flour and grist mills were built around 1827. With the coming of the railway in 1853, Aurora emerged as an important centre north of Toronto. The Fleury plough works foundry opened in 1859, making agricultural implements.
The community was first known as Machell's Corners and had only 100 residents in 1851. The population of Aurora in 1863 was 700, and by 1869 it had grown to 1200.
The settlement was incorporated as a village in 1863 with Charles Doan as the first reeve. Records from 1885 describe Aurora as the "largest village in the county" an "enterprising and stirring business community" with several factories and mills, five churches, a school house with 210 students, and two weekly newspapers. The population in 1881 was 1540. The population reached 2,107 by 1888.
Total Area 49.85 km2
Aurora got its start with the opening of Yonge Street in 1796 by Governor John Graves Simcoe. The first settlers were refugees from the new United States of America: Loyalists, who had sided with the British Crown, and Quakers, who had sided with no one. In both cases, the newcomers proved to be both industrious pioneers and exceedingly loyal to their adoptive homeland.
Aurora’s big boost came when Richard Machell settled along the corners of Yonge and Wellington Street in 1804. He was soon joined by other settlers and soon, as was common in those days, a thriving hamlet sprung up around this busy crossroad. The community took the name, Machell’s Corners, in honour of its first settler.
In a very real sense, the arrival of the railway heralded the dawn of a
new age for the community. Sensing that, postmaster, Charles Doan,
decided to rename the village Aurora, after the Greek goddess of the
dawn. The new name became official on January 1, 1854.
William Lyon Mackenzie (March 12, 1795 – August 28, 1861) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American journalist and politician. His strong views on political equality and clean government drove him to outright rebellion in 1837 after a career as mayor of Toronto and in the colonial legislative assembly of Upper Canada (Ontario). He led the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion and during its bitter end he set up a small rebel enclave named "Republic of Canada," where he served as president December 13, 1837 to January 14, 1838. After a period of exile in the U.S., he returned to Canada and served as elected member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1851 to 1858.
While Mackenzie was not a religious man himself; he remained a lifelong proponent of separation of church and state.
William Lyon Mackenzie was born on March 12, 1795, in Scotland in the Dundee suburb Springfield. His mother Elizabeth (née Chambers) of Kirkmichael was a widow seventeen years older than his father, weaver Daniel Mackenzie; the couple married on May 8, 1794. Daniel died three weeks after William's birth, and his 45-year-old mother raised him alone; as Daniel had left her no significant property.
Mackenzie's mother arranged for him to apprentice with tradesmen in Dundee, but in 1814, he secured financial backing from Edward Lesslie to open a general store and circulating library in Alyth. During this period Mackenzie had a relationship with Isabel Reid, of whom nothing is known except that she gave birth to Mackenzie's illegitimate son on July 17, 1814. The boy was raised by Mackenzie's mother.
During the recession which followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Mackenzie's store in Dundee went bankrupt and he travelled to seek work in Wiltshire in 1818, for a canal company. He travelled briefly to France and then worked for a short period for a newspaper in London. Lacking stable employment, at age 25 Mackenzie emigrated to British North America with John Lesslie.
Mackenzie initially found a job working on the Lachine Canal in Lower Canada, then wrote for the Montreal Herald. John Lesslie settled in York, Upper Canada (now Toronto). Mackenzie was soon employed at Lesslie's bookselling/drugstore business. Mackenzie began to write for the York Observer.
In 1822, Edward Lesslie and the rest of his family, along with Elizabeth Mackenzie, joined Mackenzie and John Lesslie in Upper Canada. Elizabeth brought along a young woman, Isabel Baxter (1802–73), whom she had chosen for Mackenzie to marry. The couple were wed July 1, 1822 in Montreal. Isabel had 14 children with Mackenzie, including Isabel Grace Mackenzie, the mother of William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Edward and John Lesslie opened a branch of their business in Dundas, entering into a partnership with Mackenzie who moved to Dundas to be the store's manager. The store sold drugs, hardware, and general merchandise. Mackenzie also operated a circulating library. However, his relationship with the Lesslies soured and the partnership was dissolved in 1823. He moved to Queenston and established a business there. While there, he established a relationship with Robert Randal, one of four members representing Lincoln County in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada.
The McKenzie Marsh property on St. John’s Sideroad in Aurora has been sold and landscaping behind the pond began sometime in May. Changes can be seen from the main boardwalk observation deck just West of the railroad tracks on the North side of the road. The pond is transforming and the standing trees and shrubs in the midst of the pond are progressively collapsing. Also note that on the East side of the pond behind the leaf-less landmark oak tree a white cell tower post appeared sometime last year standing behind the water treatment facility.
The devastation of the property is reflected in the lack of wild life Gooses that used to lay eggs here were not returning.
I believe that land destruction for the benefit of one person had consequences.
McKenzie Wetland (also known as Aurora Wetland or McKenzie Marsh), an area designated as a Provincially Significant Wetland and an important environmental feature to the local community. The McKenzie Wetland is a permanent home to numerous fish and wildlife species. Recognizing a significant opportunity to both protect and enhance the wetland and its functions along with the roadway, York Region implemented a number of key design elements to limit intrusion in the marsh and restore many of the impaired functions of the wetland.
While achieving the transportation objectives, project design emphasized improvements to: (1) Wetland area, function and attributes; (2) Fish and wildlife habitat and function; (3) Water quality and circulation. Other technical innovations associated with the project included: (1) Timber boardwalks, viewing areas, education and interpretive signage; (2) Unique streetscaping elements including landscaping and decorative lighting; (3) Bike paths throughout the length of the project, which linked the Town’s existing bicycle trail network to the McKenzie Wetland and its boardwalk; (4) Widening the roadway to a fully illuminated four lane urban cross-section with curb and gutter, storm sewers, sidewalks on both sides and traffic signals at major intersections. (5) Railway safety improvements that included profile revisions and new gates and signals at an existing at-grade commuter railway crossing; (6) Extension of the East Holland River Culvert, a triple-cell culvert, with construction being staged to maintain stream flows without using dam-and-pump or flow bypass methods; (7) Tunnel construction of the East Holland Sanitary Trunk Sewer using a tunnel boring machine with a connection to the Aurora Pumping Station. This $20 million project presented several challenges that in turn provided opportunities to develop unique design approaches. This project complimented the surroundings by being sensitive to both the natural environment, while enhancing the communities enjoyment of the area.
Links
https://youtu.be/1PlGB-RPo7g
https://www.livinginaurora.com/mckenzie-marsh-changing-landscape/
http://www.torontozoo.com/adoptapond/pdfs/r&e_Wed5.BHenshaw.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratcliff_Site,_Wendat_(Huron)_Ancestral_Village
I was asking myself what is the history of this land? Hard to find information about the history of this piece of land.
Who is McKenzie? Who built this lake? What was here before? 1900, 1800, 1700, 1600? Records were lost, paces were renamed, the history even the recent history is lost. Who was the initial recorded Owner of the McKenzie Marsh.
In this area a University Professor of U of T was digging and found an old Town. He had his doctorate thesis based on the discoveries on this area. All artifact dissipated. There are only 4 pictures of the findings in this area of Aurora.
The Aurora Site, also known as the "Old Fort," "Old Indian Fort," "Murphy Farm" or "Hill Fort" site, is a sixteenth-century Huron-Wendat ancestral village located on one of the headwater tributaries of the East Holland River on the north side of the Oak Ridges Moraine in present-day Whitchurch–Stouffville, approximately 30 kilometres north of Toronto. This Huron ancestral village was located on 3.4 hectares (8.4 acres) of land and the settlement was fortified with multiple rows of palisades. The community arrived ca. 1550, likely moving en masse from the so-called Mantle Site located nine kilometres to the south-east in what is today urban Stouffville. The Aurora/Old Fort site is located at the south-east corner of Kennedy Road and Vandorf Side Road, east of the hamlet of Vandorf in the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville. The Aurora site was occupied at the same time as the nearby Ratcliff site.[2]
The Rouge River trail, used by the Huron and then later by the French to travel between Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe / Georgian Bay, ran through the Aurora site.
Perhaps the busiest and best documented of these routes was that which followed the Humber River valley northward ... although another trail of equal importance and antiquity and used earlier than the former by the French, extended from the mouth of the Rouge River northward to the headwaters of the Little Rouge and over the drainage divide to the East Branch of the Holland River at Holland Landing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Site,_Wendat_(Huron)_Ancestral_Village
The Aurora/Old Fort site was completely excavated in 1947 and 1957 by the University of Toronto. The 1947 dig was the first student excavation by the university, and it was led by John Norman Emerson. Emerson's doctoral work was largely based on the excavations of the Aurora/Old Fort site.
The lack of public records of the findings make me to assume that the University of Toronto is responsible for the destruction of the real History of the place.
The $20 million St. Johns Sideroad reconstruction project was officially completed on June 26, 2006. On this date local stakeholders, Town, Regional officials and staff attended the ceremony. The project was one of the most environmentally significant projects completed by York Region to date. It was a recipient of the Ontario Public Works Association’s 2006 Project of the Year in the environmental category and the American Public Works Association’s 2007 Transportation Project of the Year.
Aurora (2016 population 55,445) is a town in central York Region in the Greater Toronto Area, within the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario, Canada. It is located north of the Town of Richmond Hill and is partially situated on the Oak Ridges Moraine. In the Canada 2016 Census, the municipal population of Aurora was the 95th largest in Canada, compared to 97th for the 2006 Census. Aurora has been ranked in the top 10 wealthiest towns in Canada.
Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe gave the order for Yonge Street to be extended to Holland Landing in 1793, the first step toward the establishment of a community where Aurora now stands. Yonge Street opened between 1794 and 1796. In 1795, the first house in Aurora was built at Yonge St and Catherine Av. The government began granting deeds to land in 1797. By 1801 there were fourteen homes.
In 1804, Richard Machell became the first merchant at the crossroads of Yonge and Wellington and the hamlet soon became known as Machell's Corners. Charles Doan was another early businessman at Machell's Corners and became the first postmaster and later the first reeve. The post office was originally known as "Whitchurch". As postmaster, he was influential in renaming the village Aurora, after the goddess Aurora from Roman mythology.[7]:10[a] Machell proposed to rename the town "Match-Ville", ostensibly for the match factory in the town, but the name Aurora was more popular and ultimately chosen as the town's name. Flour and grist mills were built around 1827. With the coming of the railway in 1853, Aurora emerged as an important centre north of Toronto. The Fleury plough works foundry opened in 1859, making agricultural implements.
The community was first known as Machell's Corners and had only 100 residents in 1851. The population of Aurora in 1863 was 700, and by 1869 it had grown to 1200.
The settlement was incorporated as a village in 1863 with Charles Doan as the first reeve. Records from 1885 describe Aurora as the "largest village in the county" an "enterprising and stirring business community" with several factories and mills, five churches, a school house with 210 students, and two weekly newspapers. The population in 1881 was 1540. The population reached 2,107 by 1888.
Total Area 49.85 km2
Aurora got its start with the opening of Yonge Street in 1796 by Governor John Graves Simcoe. The first settlers were refugees from the new United States of America: Loyalists, who had sided with the British Crown, and Quakers, who had sided with no one. In both cases, the newcomers proved to be both industrious pioneers and exceedingly loyal to their adoptive homeland.
Aurora’s big boost came when Richard Machell settled along the corners of Yonge and Wellington Street in 1804. He was soon joined by other settlers and soon, as was common in those days, a thriving hamlet sprung up around this busy crossroad. The community took the name, Machell’s Corners, in honour of its first settler.
In 1853, and to much excitement, the tracks of Ontario’s first railway
arrived in the village. The railway provided a direct link to Toronto
and encouraged growth in population and industry in Aurora. On the eve
of the railway’s arrival, a mere 100 people lived in the village. By
1878, that number had risen to 1500. Aurora had become an important
industrial town, home to two farming implement factories, three
sawmills, two cabinet factories, and other business enterprises.
William Lyon Mackenzie (March 12, 1795 – August 28, 1861) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American journalist and politician. His strong views on political equality and clean government drove him to outright rebellion in 1837 after a career as mayor of Toronto and in the colonial legislative assembly of Upper Canada (Ontario). He led the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion and during its bitter end he set up a small rebel enclave named "Republic of Canada," where he served as president December 13, 1837 to January 14, 1838. After a period of exile in the U.S., he returned to Canada and served as elected member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1851 to 1858.
While Mackenzie was not a religious man himself; he remained a lifelong proponent of separation of church and state.
William Lyon Mackenzie was born on March 12, 1795, in Scotland in the Dundee suburb Springfield. His mother Elizabeth (née Chambers) of Kirkmichael was a widow seventeen years older than his father, weaver Daniel Mackenzie; the couple married on May 8, 1794. Daniel died three weeks after William's birth, and his 45-year-old mother raised him alone; as Daniel had left her no significant property.
Mackenzie's mother arranged for him to apprentice with tradesmen in Dundee, but in 1814, he secured financial backing from Edward Lesslie to open a general store and circulating library in Alyth. During this period Mackenzie had a relationship with Isabel Reid, of whom nothing is known except that she gave birth to Mackenzie's illegitimate son on July 17, 1814. The boy was raised by Mackenzie's mother.
During the recession which followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Mackenzie's store in Dundee went bankrupt and he travelled to seek work in Wiltshire in 1818, for a canal company. He travelled briefly to France and then worked for a short period for a newspaper in London. Lacking stable employment, at age 25 Mackenzie emigrated to British North America with John Lesslie.
Mackenzie initially found a job working on the Lachine Canal in Lower Canada, then wrote for the Montreal Herald. John Lesslie settled in York, Upper Canada (now Toronto). Mackenzie was soon employed at Lesslie's bookselling/drugstore business. Mackenzie began to write for the York Observer.
In 1822, Edward Lesslie and the rest of his family, along with Elizabeth Mackenzie, joined Mackenzie and John Lesslie in Upper Canada. Elizabeth brought along a young woman, Isabel Baxter (1802–73), whom she had chosen for Mackenzie to marry. The couple were wed July 1, 1822 in Montreal. Isabel had 14 children with Mackenzie, including Isabel Grace Mackenzie, the mother of William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Edward and John Lesslie opened a branch of their business in Dundas, entering into a partnership with Mackenzie who moved to Dundas to be the store's manager. The store sold drugs, hardware, and general merchandise. Mackenzie also operated a circulating library. However, his relationship with the Lesslies soured and the partnership was dissolved in 1823. He moved to Queenston and established a business there. While there, he established a relationship with Robert Randal, one of four members representing Lincoln County in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada.
The McKenzie Marsh property on St. John’s Sideroad in Aurora has been sold and landscaping behind the pond began sometime in May. Changes can be seen from the main boardwalk observation deck just West of the railroad tracks on the North side of the road. The pond is transforming and the standing trees and shrubs in the midst of the pond are progressively collapsing. Also note that on the East side of the pond behind the leaf-less landmark oak tree a white cell tower post appeared sometime last year standing behind the water treatment facility.
Large Aurora house under construction on McKenzie Marsh goes up in flames
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/05/14/large-aurora-house-under-construction-goes-up-in-flames.htmlThe devastation of the property is reflected in the lack of wild life Gooses that used to lay eggs here were not returning.
I believe that land destruction for the benefit of one person had consequences.
McKenzie Wetland (also known as Aurora Wetland or McKenzie Marsh), an area designated as a Provincially Significant Wetland and an important environmental feature to the local community. The McKenzie Wetland is a permanent home to numerous fish and wildlife species. Recognizing a significant opportunity to both protect and enhance the wetland and its functions along with the roadway, York Region implemented a number of key design elements to limit intrusion in the marsh and restore many of the impaired functions of the wetland.
While achieving the transportation objectives, project design emphasized improvements to: (1) Wetland area, function and attributes; (2) Fish and wildlife habitat and function; (3) Water quality and circulation. Other technical innovations associated with the project included: (1) Timber boardwalks, viewing areas, education and interpretive signage; (2) Unique streetscaping elements including landscaping and decorative lighting; (3) Bike paths throughout the length of the project, which linked the Town’s existing bicycle trail network to the McKenzie Wetland and its boardwalk; (4) Widening the roadway to a fully illuminated four lane urban cross-section with curb and gutter, storm sewers, sidewalks on both sides and traffic signals at major intersections. (5) Railway safety improvements that included profile revisions and new gates and signals at an existing at-grade commuter railway crossing; (6) Extension of the East Holland River Culvert, a triple-cell culvert, with construction being staged to maintain stream flows without using dam-and-pump or flow bypass methods; (7) Tunnel construction of the East Holland Sanitary Trunk Sewer using a tunnel boring machine with a connection to the Aurora Pumping Station. This $20 million project presented several challenges that in turn provided opportunities to develop unique design approaches. This project complimented the surroundings by being sensitive to both the natural environment, while enhancing the communities enjoyment of the area.
Links
https://youtu.be/1PlGB-RPo7g
https://www.livinginaurora.com/mckenzie-marsh-changing-landscape/
http://www.torontozoo.com/adoptapond/pdfs/r&e_Wed5.BHenshaw.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratcliff_Site,_Wendat_(Huron)_Ancestral_Village
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