Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from A Brief Memoir of the Late George F. Warnica: One of the Pioneers of Innisfil
York derived its importance in those early days from the fact that it was the terminus of the great portage from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe and the upper lakes. From. Very early times, a grand Indian trail had existed, leading to Lake Simcoe and thence to Georgian Bay. Along this trail the Indians used to shuffle in single file with their loads of furs from the far distant forests, to be exchanged at Fort Toronto for 'blankets, ammunition and other necos sities. When we read that Governor Simcoe employed the Queen's Rangers in 1796 to construct Yonge Street towards the lake that now bears his name, we are apt to be misled. In a pioneer settlement, such as the district around York was at that time; the public roads were very poorly con structed. They remind one of Emerson's New England road that ended in a squirrel track and ran up a tree. Such was Yonge Street in those days, leading as it did through the forest wilderness to Holland Landing on Lake Simcoe. The original Street was nothing more than the old winding Indian trail, which Governor Simcoe had employed the Queen's Rangers to widen; it followed the course of the old trail from lake to lake. It was usual in making pioneer roads through Upper Canada to follow the tracks made by the Indians. Thus the Lake Shore Road, from York to the head of Burlington Bay was a trail that the aborigines had' trodden from time immemorial. Governor Simcoe secured the services of an old Indian Chief who acted as pilot through the wilderness to the Holland Landing, for the first surveyor. The chief led them along the trail, and Was sufficiently rewarded for his services by a good supply of pork and flour, and a trifle of money which was of less im portance in those days than food. It was called Yonge Street by Governor Simcoe in honor of Sir George Yonge, a personal friend of his and Secretary of War about that time. In succeeding years it has been straightened. Set tlers had to wind their way along this primitive road and over it, in the time of the war, cannons and supplies for Michilimackinac and other forts upon the upper lakes, were transported via Holland Landing and Lake Simcoe. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
