List of Ontario colonization roads
The colonization roads were created during the 1840s and 1850s to open up or provide access to areas in Central and Eastern Ontario for settlement and agricultural development. The colonization roads were used by settlers to lead them toward areas for settlement, much like modern-day highways.
History
The colonization roads of the 1840s and 1850s were preceded by other government-sponsored road programmes going back to the period immediately after the American Revolutionary War. One early road was cut through the geographic Beverley Township from Ancaster westward toward the Grand River by two Englishmen named Ward and Smith in 1799–1800. This allowed European settlers to access the northern part of the Grand River Valley. During and after the War of 1812, government spending on roads in Upper Canada increased significantly, leading to the improvement and extension of a number of roads. Roads into the interior were still not plentiful, however. By this time, a number of townships had been established along the northern shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, which contained generally fertile land composed of glacial till and clay-rich loam; at this time, Upper Canada was "essentially one long, thin strip of settlement" along these shores, according to historian Andrew Burghardt. As these townships filled up, development pressure increased toward the interior, but the colonial government struggled to maintain Upper Canada's principal roads and bridges. The government pursued private toll roads, empowering corporations to borrow money to finance roadway improvements, which would then theoretically be paid for from toll income. London, which during the 1820s and 1830s was one of the few major settlements in Upper Canada that was not situated on a lake or canal, relied heavily on road connections. Numerous road companies suffered from financial problems; Burghardt notes that "t is clear that before the advent of the railway it was difficult to supply adequate means of land transportation at a bearable cost."By this time, the focus of development had shifted toward Western Ontario, and new roads to the interior were laid out under the auspices of colonization companies. One of the most prominent of these was the Canada Company, which subdivided the Huron Tract into lots, and which was based inland at Guelph. It opened the western part of Upper Canada to settlement by building routes such as the Huron Road and the Toronto–Sydenham Road during the 1830s and 1840s. As these areas also filled, the government came under pressure to open up the unforgiving terrain of the Canadian Shield to settlement and sought to establish a network of east–west and north–south roads between the Ottawa Valley and Georgian Bay. This area was known as the Ottawa–Huron Tract.
In 1847, an exploration survey was carried out by Robert Bell to lay out the lines that would become the Opeongo, Hastings, and Addington Roads. The Public Lands Act, passed in 1853, permitted the granting of land to settlers who were at least 18. Those settlers who cleared at least within four years, built a house within a year, and resided on the grant for at least five years would receive the title to that land. The government subsequently built over of roads over the following 20 years to provide access to these grants.
However, the promises of fertile land in this new northern tract of wilderness proved false. Beneath thin layers of sparsely spread soil was solid granite. Where this granite descended deeper, valleys formed and filled with muskeg. Despite an early influx of settlers, the vast majority of grants were abandoned by the turn of the century; only 40% remained. During the first half of the 1900s, many of these colonization roads were incorporated into the growing provincial highway network. Some sections were improved to modern highway standards, while others were subsequently bypassed or abandoned. The roads that were not incorporated as highways either became local roads or were consumed by nature.
Though many other roads in the province can be considered "colonization roads", such as Yonge Street, Hurontario Street, Provincial Road, Talbot Trail, and the Penetanguishene Road, they were either constructed for military purposes or by private investment.
In October 2016, the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival premiered a documentary titled Colonization Road at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. The documentary explores these roads within various treaty territories of Canada and the relationships which surround them. The film has toured throughout Canada, and in January 2017, the Firsthand program on CBC Television aired a broadcast version of Colonization Road.
Description
The terrain these roads pass through is interlaced with many hills, lakes, forests, swamps and bedrock outcroppings. The location of many of these roads is in the Canadian Shield, among the most rugged terrain in Ontario. The soil is generally thin and unsuitable for the agricultural development that these roads were built to spur.Most of the colonization roads are not provincially maintained highways. Instead, they follow county roads and local town/township roads. A few have even been converted into hiking trails and bike trails.
List of colonization roads
Below is a list of all the colonization roads.Addington Road
The Addington Colonization Road was one of the initial routes surveyed in 1847. The contract to construct the road was awarded to A. B. Perry, who completed more than half of the length from the Clare River to the Opeongo Line by 1856. In the south, it began in the village of Clareview and travelled north to the Opeongo Line, where the village of Brudenell was established. From north of Clareview to the community of Ferguson Corners, Highway 41 follows the old road, though in many places bypasses have been constructed and the old road named the Addington Road followed by a number from one to eight. North of Ferguson Corners, the old road has been overtaken by the forest, though short spurs are evident west of Denbigh and north and south of Quadeville.Bobcaygeon Road
The Bobcaygeon Colonization Road opened up the northern half of Peterborough and Victoria counties and much of Haliburton County. The road begins in the village of Bobcaygeon and travels north through Minden, ending north of the Peterson Road. The old road was surveyed as far north as the Oxtongue River but never continued beyond that. It now forms the boundary between Minden Hills and Algonquin Highlands and the boundary between Muskoka and Haliburton further north. The former Highway 649 and Highway 121 were eventually routed the majority of the southern half of this road. From Minden north to Highway 118, the road is a paved township road. Between Ox Narrows and Dorset, Highway 35 generally follows the original survey line.Buckhorn Road
The Buckhorn Road begins just north of Peterborough at Lakefield Road. From Peterborough to the town of Buckhorn, the Buckhorn Road is referred to as Peterborough County Road 23 and is still labelled as the Buckhorn Road at many intersections. North of Buckhorn, the road is listed as Peterborough County Road 36 until Flynn's Turn. From there, Peterborough County Road 507 is renamed the Buckhorn Road until it reaches the town of Gooderham. Slightly west of Gooderham, the old colonization road continues via Haliburton County Road 3, also known as Glamorgan Road, until it reaches Highway 118 just outside Haliburton.Burleigh Road
The old Burleigh Road began in Burleigh Falls and continued north along Ontario Highway 28.Along the way, Burleigh Street in the town of Apsley echoes the name of the colonization road.
In Haliburton County, the route turned northwest at Kidd's Corners and followed Dyno Road past the Dyno Mine site.
At the town of Cheddar, the road briefly jogged west following Highway 118 to the former community of Cope Falls.
The Burleigh Road then turned north, following present-day Loop Road to Wilberforce. Here, Burleigh Road still exists as Haliburton County Road 15, running roughly north on the eastern side of Clement Lake and the western side of Grace Lake until it meets the Kennaway Road. Part of this stretch is now a recreational trail.
The remainder of the northbound tract is an unpaved road running to Fourcorner Lake, where the intersection of the Burleigh and Peterson roads was located.
Cameron Road
The Cameron Road ran north from Rosedale to Minden and is now the route of Highway 35.Frontenac Road
The Frontenac Road travelled north from Kingston to the Madawaska River at Matawatchan.The road was first surveyed in 1852 and 1853 by Provincial Land Surveyor Thomas Fraser Gibbs. Warren Godfrey oversaw construction, completing the road as far north as the Mississippi Road at Plevna via Parham, Mountain Grove and Ardoch. This task was finished by 1862. An extension northwest to the Madawaska River at Matawatchan was completed by 1869.
However, much of this section has been lost to the forest.
Garafraxa Road
The Garafraxa Road was built to extend Brock Road north from Guelph to the new settlement of Sydenham, renamed Owen Sound in 1851, on Georgian Bay. An Order in Council was passed that called for the building of this road on April 13, 1837. Deputy Surveyor Charles Rankin was allowed to lay a line between Oakville and Sydenham. Rankin surveyed the line north of Arthur before the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion broke out in Toronto. In 1839, John McDonald was hired to resurvey the line. He completed the survey between Guelph and Fergus that year, and to Arthur by October 1842.Construction of the line between Arthur and Sydenham began at both ends in 1843. The entire route was navigable by 1848. By 1861, the majority had been gravelled, and tollgates were briefly established between Fergus and Owen Sound. The entire route became part of Highway 6 in 1920.