HomeMy WebLinkAbout1947 The Etobicoke Valley Report (Province of Ontario Department of Planning and Development)
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Hon. Dona Porter, Minister
AH Richardton. Chitf Conservation E"9ine.r
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THE
ETOBICOKE VALLEY
REPORT
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~ 11
ONTA,"O
Toronto
1947
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
CONSERVATION BRANCH
A. H. RICHARDSON, M.A., S.M. Silv., F. B., P. Eng.
Chief Conservation Engineer.
C. E. BUSH, B.A.Sc., O.L.S., U.L.~., P. Eng.
Hydraulic Engineering
A. S. L. BARNES, B.Sc. F.
F'orestry
W. J. P. CRESWICK, B.A.
Soils
K. 1-1. MA Y ALL, ril. A., B. Sc . F .
Wildlife and Recreation
H. F. CROV'J"N, B.S.A.
Extension
VERSCHOYLE BLAKE
Historical Research
PROFESSOR G. ROSS LORD, S.M., Ph.D.
University of Toronto,
Consultant in Hydraulic Engineering.
PROFESSOR F. P. IDE, M.A., Ph.D.
University of Toronto,
Consultant in Fish Research
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I LETTER OF TRANSIUTTAL
Honourable Dana Porter, Minister,
Department of Planning and Development,
Parliament Buildings,
Toronto, Ontario.
Dear Sir:
I take pleasure in transmitting, herewith,
a Conserva~ion Repol..t on the Etobicoke Valley \latershed,
covering the subjects of Land Use, Forestry, Hydraulics,
with special reference to flooding in the town of Brampton
and the village of Long Branch, Wildlife and Recreation.
Yours very truly,
A. H. Richardson
Toronto, June 12, 1947 Chief Conservation Engineer
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The Etobicoke Valley Report, 1947.
TABLE OF CONT~~TS
Acknowledgements Page 1
:1 Recommendations Page :3
PART I ---- GENERAL
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~ Chapter 1. Location and Boundaries Page 7
II
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I: Chapter 2. Physiography and Geology Page 9
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~ Chapter :3. Climate Page 17
:! Chapter 4. Settlement Page 19
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I l. Indian Treaties
2. The Beginning of Settlement
3. The New Surveys, l8l9
4. The Period of Growth
5. The Peak of Population, l850-l87l .
6. The Spread of Toronto
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I Chapter 5. Agriculture Page 5l
I 1. The Pioneering Period, 1807-1840
2. Grain Growing, l840-1880
3. Transition to Mixed Farming, l88Q-l900
4. Preaent Day Agriculture
PART II ---- LM~D
Chapter 6. General Consideration Page 62
1. The Land Use Jurvey
2. Soils
3. ~~pping Symbols for Soils
4. IV1appiug Land Use
5. Erosion
6. Land Use Capability Classification
7. I~pping Symbols -- Slope, ~rosion,
vlater, Land Use
8. Remedial Measures
Chapter 7. Soils of the East Branch Page 8l
l. General
Z. Soils Developed from Heavy
Till Loam
3. Soils Developed from ~ght
Till Loam
4. Soils developed on the
Bevelled Till Plain
5. Land Use
Chapter 8. Related Soil Features and Land Use Page 91
I 1. Slope
2. Erosion
3. Erosion and Slope
j 4. Erosion and Soil
5. Present Land Use
6. Erosion on Cropland,
Pasture and Woodland
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Chapter 9. Results of the Survey -- Relation of Page llO
Present Land Use to Capability Class
1. Class I Land
2. Class II Land
3. Class III Land ,
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4. Class Iv Land
5. Class V Land
6. Class VI Land
7. Class VII Land
8. Class VIII Land
9. Cropland
lO. Pastures
ll. Woodlots
12. Summary ,
Chapter 10. Planning Land Use Page 132
l. The Control of Erosion
2. Conservation Farming ,
3. Long Term Pastures I
4. Contour Cultivation ,I
5. Strip-Cropping
6. Terraces
7. Diversion Ditches and
Grassed Waterways
8. Adjustment of Use to Capability
9. Class III and IV Land
10. Class V Land
11. Plantable Land for Trees
12. A Regional Problem
13. Planned Redistribution of Pasture :i
l4. Water Supply for Pastures
l5. A Planned Land Use Project.
PART III ---- FORESTS
Chapter 11. The Forest Page l49
l. At the Time of Settlement
2. Since Settlement
3. Forest Products
Chapter 12. Forest Conservation Measures in Progress Page l59 I
1. Private Planting
2. County Forests
3. Municipal Forests
4. Demonstration Plantations
5. Demonstration Woodlots
6. School Forests
Chapter l3. Forest Conservation Measures Required Page l69
l. Water Storage Areas
2. Reforestation
3. Planting in Woods
4. Haw and \'Jild Apple
5. Woodlot Improvement
6. Controlled Woodlot ;Jlanagement
Chapter 14. Present Woodland Conditions Page l80
l. Survey Methods
2. Forest Cover Types
3. Present Conditions
PART IV ---- WATER
Chapter 15. Ground Hater Page 197
1. General
2. Peel County
Chapter 16. The River Page 205
l. Summer Flow
2. Encroachments
Chapter 17. Floods on the Etobicoke, l795-l945 Page 214
Chapter l8. Hydraulic Data Page 235
1. Stream !t'low
2. Field Survey
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i Chapter 19. Small Dams Page 24l
! Chapter 20. The Problem and its Solution
Page 245
Chapter 21. Flood Control at Brampton Page 249
~. The Course of the Creek
through Brampton
2. History and Condition of
Present Conduit
3. Cause of Floods at Brampton
4. Effect of Floods
5. Proposed Diversion
Chapter 22. Flood Control at Long Branch Page 266
l. The Problem Area
2. Changes in Physical Features
3. Causes of Floods
4. Flood Levels
5. Lake Ontario Water Levels
6. Proposed Works to Alleviate
Floods at Long Branch
PART V ---- Wildlife ~nd Recreation
Chapter 23. Wildlife Page 276
1. Former Species
2. Present Species
J. Game Birds, Game Mammals,
and Fur-bearers
4. Species of Significance to
Agriculture
5. Species of Spectacular Interest
6. Hunting Pressure
7. Cover and Food
8. Fish Life and Environment
9. Wildlife Research
Chapter 24. Recreation Page 302
l. Introduction
2. Types of Facilities for
Recreation
J. Present Facilities
4. Recommended Additbnal Facilities
. . . . . . . . . . .
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
i Title Pa.e:e
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~ A "Location", V~?O 3l
II An "improved holding", 1840
II
Ii Farmhouse on the Etobicoke ~Yatershed 35
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Ii ~rly barn and stable combined
I, A typical farm, 1860 40
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A modern fRrm on the Etobicoke Watershed.
1940
Part of the villRge of ''Etobicoke'', now 42
Summerville
Isaac Wilcock's hlacksmith's shop at
Summerville
Horse powered grain separators used in 55
the 1850'5
Early advertisemAnts of farm machinery 57
~rly advertisemAnt for strayed stock
Class I Land, Chinguacousy Clay Loam ll2
Ontario Loam
Class II Land, Chinguacousy Clay Loam ll4
Class III Land ll6
Class IV Land
j
l Class V Land 118
Class VI Land
I Class VII Land
120
Class VIII Land
Terracing on the contour 134
i Strip-cropping
Culti vation on the contour, supported)
by strip-cropping )
) l37
)
Simple Strip-Cropping )
Wise Land Use l40
A Well-formed terrace
Peel County Forest; view down one of l63
the fire guards
A Boreal Island l73
Sphagnum Bog, east side of Heart Lake
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'.t'itle 1?i&t.
Scrub Willow on the edge of a Kettle 175
Pond
Pasture invaded by Hawthorn and Wild
Apple
Cover Type No. 4 -- Trembling Aspen 183
Cover Type No. 0 -- Paper Birch
Cover Type No. 57 -- Beech-Sugar Maple l85
~ Cover Type No. 11 -- Hemlock
Cover Type No. 24 -- wbite Cedar l8g
Cover Type No. 25 -- Tamarack
. Cover Type No. 60 -- Silver ~~ple 189
ilhite Elm
Cover Type No. 60A -- White Elm
The Etobicoke River near Summerville 216
in summer
The Etobicoke River near Summerville
in flood
Facsimile of Brampton Times, August 2lg
28, 1857
George Street, Brampton, looking north, 224-
April 22, 1943
George Street, Brampton, looking south
from Queen Street, April 22, 1943
Main Street, Brampton, looking north, 226
April 22, 1943
Queen and George Streets, Brampton,
looking west along Queen, April 22, 1943
Etobicoke Flats, Long Branch, 1946, 229
looking north towards No. 2 Highway
Etobicoke Flats, Long Branch, 1946
looking southeast towards Lake Ontario
Etobicoke Flats, Long Branch, 1946, 232
looking southwest
Etobicoke Flats, Long Branch, 1946,
looking northwest
Conduit at Brampton, looking in from 25l
Hanna Street
Conduit at Brampton, showing support 253
under beam
Conduit at Brampton, showing same post 255
at different sight line
Title .fwa
Conduit at Brampton, showing defective 257
wall
Conduit at Brampton, I-beams supporting 259
roadway
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~oking easterly along the lake shore 269
at Long Branch
Etobicoke Creek looking easterly towards
Long Branch
,
Snake fence with cover for wildlife 287
Clean fence
Polluted discharge from Brampton Sewage i
295 d
Works entering Etobicoke 295 H
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View in the proposed Etobicoke Park, 3ll I
showing swimming hole "
waking downstream from this pool
~tdoor fireplace 312
Simple bench for picnic sites
A pool in the proposed Snelgrove Park 316
Another view in Snelgrove Park
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ACKNOWLEDG&~NTS
While the present report has been prepared
by the staff of the Conservation Branch of the Department
of Planning and Development, members of other government
departments, university staffs, and other organizations
have contributed liberally in the supplying of data.
Special thanks are due to Professor D. F.
Putnam, Geography Department, University of Toronto, and
L. J. Chapman, Ontario Research Foundation, for help in the
preparation of the chapter on Physiography and for inter-
pretation of observations of the soils and land use;
L. R. webber, Department of Soils, Ontario Agricultural
Colleg~, for advice on the capability classification of
the soils and soil conditions found on the East Branch of
the Etobicoke, and Bruce Beer, County Agricultural
Representative, Brampton, for knowledge of pasture con-
ditions and requirements in Peel County.
Thanks are also due to J. L. Baillie and
Stuart L. Downing, of the staff of the Royal Ontario
Museum of Zoology, for assistance in the preparation of
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the bird and mammal lists.
For assistance in preparing the Hydraulic
section of the report, special thanks are due to George
F. Gage, I~nicipal Clerk and Treasurer of the Village of
Long Branch, for information on population and assessment
of the flooded areas at Long Branch; to N. L. Powel, Engineer
for the County of Peel, for information regarding sub-surface
conditions north of Bramptonj to W. A. N~cLachlan, Contract
Engineer, Department of Highways, for information regarding
unit costs; to Arthur Segwick, Bridge Engineer, Department
of Highways, for information regarding the Concrete Arch
Conduit design; and to D. T. Black, Engineer for the Town
of Brampton, whose years of study of the Brampton problem,
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the surveys he has made, observations and data collected
have been of special value. The alignment and profile of
the proposed diversion are from his plans; the flow measure-
ments, flooded area, damage costs, assessments and list of
industries are also a result of his co-operation.
Mr. Black also was of great assistance in
preparing the historical parts of this report not only
permitting excerpts to be made from the Brampton Town
records, but also furnishing other valuable information.
Assistance with these parts of the report ,
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was generously given by W. J. Fenton, Esq., of Brampton, Ii
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whose recollections of Brampton go back to 1867; by i
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G. H. Glarkson, Clerk of the village of Weston, formerly
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of Long Branch; and by the Charters Publishing Company of
Brampton in allowing access to the files of the
Brampton Conservator.
Miss H. McLung and M1ss O.A.A. Elliott,
of the Department of Public Records and Archives, Ontario,
were most helpful in finding material dealing with the
watershed.
Thanks are also due to the Ontario Depart-
ment of' Public works for furnishing us with a report on
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the present condition of the existing conduit under the j
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town o~ Brampton. i
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RECOMMENDATIONS
STATED OR IMPLIED IN THIS REPORT
Forestrv
1. That all lands designated for natural water storage
areas be reforested where necessary; that natural
regeneration be encouraged by scientific means where-
ever possible; that cattle be entirely excluded; and
that cutting in both reforested and natural woods be
regulated by good forestry practices under supervision
of the Authority. Pages 143, 170-l76J 193.
2. That studies be made to determine the best methods of
es~lishing plantations, particularly of hardwoods,
on good land and wet areas, to overcome loss from
competition by weeds and damage by rodents. Page 176.
3. That counties, townships and other municipalities be
persuaded to establish much larger forests within their
boundaries, or in the case of towns and cities in the
vicinity. Pages l59-l66.
4. That reforestation of privately owned land be encouraged
in every way and that an inspection service be established
which will record the development of plantations set
out on private land. Pages 143, 194.
5. That where small areas on private land form natural
water storage areas, either in the form of surface
water in swamps or ponds, or underground water which
later appears at the surface in the form of springs,
these be reforested where there is no forest cover
at present, and that all cutting thereon be regulated.
Pages 171, l78.
6. That areas covered by zone foresters be reduced so
that each can be covered more intensively by technically
trained men. Page 160.
7. That a programme be drawn up and action be taken as
soon as possible to combat the invasion of land by
hawthorn and wild apple. Pages l76-177.
Land Use
8. That sloping and eroded land be restricted to hay and
pasture to protect against erosion and excessive run-
off. Pages l15-1l9.
9. That larger areas of eroded and wet soils be kept in
long term pasture for protection of the soil. Page 133.
10. That erosion control practices be introduced on
cultivated land on regular and gentle slopes. Page 138.
11. That permanent ponds be surrounded by permanent cover
of grass or trees and cattle excludad from direct
approach to the ponds. Page 143.
12. That co-operative efforts be made by operators and
proprietors of the watershed to readjust land use so
that permanent grass covering be established and
maintained on eroded soils. Pages l46-l47.
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13. That study be made of the possibility of establishing,
by the Etobicoke Conservation Authority, of a zone of
pasture around the recommended Heart Lake Forest.
Page l46.
vlater
14. That further exploration of ground water resources be
carried on, together with study of existing records.
The collection of additional data and information
on wells in rural areas is desirable. Page 204.
15. That small check dams be built in headwater streams
and erosion gullies to control run-off, by arrangement
between individuals or small groups. Page 243.
16. That a few sites be selected from those shown on
drawing H-l3 as suitable, and that small dams be
built to demonstrate their conservation value. Page 243.
17. That a diversion channel be cut for the river at
Long Branch, and extended far enough into Lake Ontario
by means of steel sheet piling to prevent sand bar
formation. That excavations be made above and below
No.2 Highway to remove obstructions, produce better
stream alignment, and encourage the freer passage of
ice. Pages 271-274.
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18. That the river be diverted at Brampton, and that the :1
present underground conduit be backfilled. Pages 260-263. I
19. That two small dams be built at Dale Basin and Snel- I
grove Basin, above Brampton, to augment summer flow.
These dams would not greatly affect flood flows. Page 260.
Recreation
20. That an area of 1300 acres in Concession II East and
III East of the Township of Chinguacousy, including
parts of lots II to 17, as scheduled for reforestation
in the Forestry section of this report, be constituted
as a park to be known as the Heart Lake Forest; and
that it be declared a game preserve and wildlife sanc-
tuary and any improvements in the area be adjusted to
the prospective use of the area for organized nature
study. Pages 307-3l0.
21. That an area of ll7 acres along the ravine of the
Etobicoke Creek, one and a half miles north of the
Dundas Highway, be acquired and improved as a park
whose facilities would include picnic and camping
sites, swimming pools, nature trails and a reforestation
and erosion control demonstration. Pages 310-314. .
22. That in Concession I East of Chinguacousy Township,
99 acres, being parts of lots 18 and 19, be acquired
and improved as a natural park and picnic site.
Pages 3l4-3l7.
Wildlife
23. That farmers be encouraged to improve their land for
wildlife by eliminating the grazing of woodlots, by
the planting of small trees and shrubs in waste lands,
gullies and fence corners, and by scooping out hollows
for farms ponds in suitable locations. Page 286.
24. That farmers be encouraged to control stream erosion and
to improve streams for fish by planting alders along
the stream banks. Pages 286, 288, 300.
25. That steps be taken to minimize the pollution of the
Btobicoke Creek from the Brampton Sewage works.
Pages 297, 300.
26. That Heart Lake be stocked with large mouth black bass
I if the lake is at any time acquired for public owner-
3hip. Page 301.
I 27. That if flood control darns having small permanent
1 ponds are built on the Etobicoke Creek, the introduct-
! ion of warm water pond fish of the bass family into
these ponds be undertaken. Page 301.
28. That one source stream. lying in an area recommended
for acquisition for reforestation and recreation
purposes be considered for development as a pond of
not more than one acre for speckeled trout. Page 301.
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GENERAL
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CHAPTER I
LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES
A watershed has been defined as high ground
separating two river systems. Taken in this literal sense,
it becomes only a boundary line; but in this report the term
is used in the broader sense to describe an area which is
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drained by a river and its tributaries. In this report also I
the terms watershed, drainage area, drainage basin and drainage
unit are used interchangeably. The Etobicoke Watershed,
than includes the land area feeding the river system, both by
surface drainage and by deep seepage.
The Etobicoke Watershed is a narrow strip or
country comprising 79 square miles, approximately five miles
west of the City of Toronto. It is bounded on the North by
.,
the watershed of the Humber River, on the North East by that i
of Mimico Creek and on the East by the watershed of a small
creek which flows into Lake Ontario through the town of New "
Toronto. On the West and South West the watershed borders
on the Credit River basin, and on the South East from near
the village of ~~eadowvale to the mouth the boundary is formed
by the watershed of another small creek, locally known as the
Little Etobicoke, whose mouth is in the same bay on Lake
Ontario as that of the Etobicoke.
The drainage basin is about 32i miles long on
its main axis and runs roughly at right angles to the direction
of the Lake Ontario shore at that point. For much of its
length it is fairly even in width, varying between three and
five miles.
The drainage area lies mostly in the County of
Peel. Only a small portion of it, namely a part of Etobicoke
Township, is in the County of York. Here the river for about
six miles formS the boundary between the two counties.
The total area of the watershed is 50,637.4
acres 2,645.J~ being in Etobicoke Township, 20,300.4 acres in
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Toronto Township, 27,495.3 acres in Chinguacousy Township
and 196.3 acres in Toronto Gore Township.
The two important towns in the area are
Brampton at the North and Long Branch at the South, only a
part of the latter being included in the basin. Other smaller
settlements are Snelgrove, ['~yfieldJ Burnhamthorpe and
Sillmnerville.
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CHAPT~R 2
THE PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY
The river system of the Etobicoke rises in
and flows through an area in which a mantle of glacial drift
overlies the hard sedimentary rock at considerable but varying
depth. There is a distinct break in the slope of the land
facing east in the sector where the 600 foot contour line
crosses the watershed. This is indicated in the accompanying
map by the line marked A--B, (roughly from Britannia to
Frasers Corners). This feature is different from the irregular
topography and surface drainage of glaciated areas and can be
assumed to reflect an underlying condition of the bedrock,
pOSSibly a pre-glacial valley in the shale. This regular
slope, however, has a strong influence in directing the flow
of the river in a south easterly direction, that is to say,
the river moves southward to meet Lake Ontario but tends
eastward to conform to this slope.
As is typical of glaciated areas, the surface
drainage system is poorly developed. In the tumbled top-
ography of the till plain and the gravel ridge there are
places where no really well defined drainage exists. There
are ridges which hinder the development of streams. In the
gravelly hills and in the till plain surrounding them there
are sone 'kettle ponds'. These are hollows between the
mounds of the disordered glacial deposits or are the relics
of hollows left by melting chunks of ice at the edge of the
glacier as its face receded. With no natural outlet they
contain permanent bodies of water resting on the impermeable
beds of clay, or, when silted in by wash from the surrounding
slopes, they become patches of muck or swamp.
Where the streams traverse the flat clay plains
they have not yet worn a system of channels that completely
drain the area. Where stream valleys are seen they often
/CI
have steep irregular slopes and the surface of the land
between the streams remains flat and is traversed only
by intermittent watercourses with no definite channel.
Typic~l of lhis condition is that stretch of land between
the East Braner.. of the Etobicoke and the Nimico Creek, on I
which the Malton @rport stands.
The bedrock which underlies the mantle of
glacial drift is a shale of Ordovician age of the Dundas
formation, it can be seen near the mouth of the river and
is the same as that which is seen outcropping near the mouth
of the Humber river. This consists of generally flat surfaced,
horizontal beds of hard shale. If the drift mantle were not
present ther'e would appear some bold differences in relief
due to pre-glacial erosion. The main features of the surface
of the land, however, are due to the overlying mantle of
glacial deposits. These have certain forms depending on their
mode of deposition and the nature and extent of subsequent
erosion.
There are three main zones of glacial drift
which divide the watershed fairly equally between them with
three smaller regions occupying limited space amongst them.
The three main regions are, from North west to South east,
(1) Till Plain, (2) Clay Plain, and (3) l'<1oraine. Included
within the till plain is a gravel ridge or buried esker.
Near the mouth of the river are narrow belts of sandy delta
and of thin drift over bedrock.
The Till Plain is made up of a deposit of clay,
loam and small fragments of shale which were deposited by the
last of the three glaciers that are known to have covered
this part of Ontario. This material is underlain by gravel,
sand and quicksand in places, these and other features are the
products of previous glacial action or of interglacial periods.
The topography is rolling with irregular drainage patterns.
The most poorly drained areas are, in some places, still
covered with forest. The tributary and source streams of the
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OGRAPHIC AREAS
-. PHYSI
LEGEND ~
PLAINS
llLL IT.]
ESKER .. . .
BUIUED ~
CLAY 'LAIN ~
MORAINE f!:i!1
DELlAS BEDROCK 0
DRIFl ON
SCALE MILES I
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West Branch rise in this area.
The Clay Plain is the product of a ponding
between the fece of the glacier and the moraine. Many 0 f
the characteristics of tho soil of this plain are those of
lacustrine, or water laid deposits. It may more correctly
be termed a bevelled till plain. In this term there is
implied the bevelling or smoothing off of the steeper slopes
of the till and filling in of the hollows by the water action
of the ponding. The soils produced are heavy clays and clay
loarns, relatively stone free. The topography is generally
flat with some slight undulation, but there can be observed a
slope of the land towards the south east.
The Moraine in ~ feature recognizable in a
belt that extends roughly parallel to Lake ~ltario, two or
three miles inland for some miles, usually referred to as
the Scarborough i.10raine. The soils developed on this
moraine are similar to those developed on the Till plain.
The topography is undulating to rolling with little
regularity of features. The valley of the stream is more
marked as it cuts through this region. The northern margin
of the moraine is barely distinguishable from the clay plain
as it merges gradually into land that was obviously shaped
by water. The southern margin is more clearly marked by
the old shore line and cliff which separates it frow the
deltaic deposits bordering it. This boundary is easily
observed near the crossing by number 5 highway of the
Etobicoke creek.
A gravel Ridge runs for some six miles between
the first and fourth concession east of Chinguacousy township
from lots 3 to 20. This is a distinctive feature of the land-
scape of the Brampton region. From it arise the souree streams
of the East Branch. Studies of erosion and water resources
were made on this ridge and are described in the Land Use
section of this report.
/~
This ridge is probably a buried esker. An
esker is a long ridge of gravelly material laid down by
water running in a stream under a glacier. This ridge has
some glacial till, similar to that of the till plain, over-
lying it but the soils reflect the character of the gravel,
being loose, welldrained and full of pebbles. The top-
ography is steep, irregular and hummocky; the surface drainage
is not well defined. There are a nwnber of kettle holes with
both permanent ponds and patches of muck, within the area.
One kettle contains a small lake of about 20 acres called
Heart Lake or Snell's Lake. The wells that supply the water
for the town of Brampton were drilled through the gravel of
this formation. The underlying gravel has been worked in a
number of places to supply contractors in the district.
Much of the woodlot, pasture and potential wildlife resources
of the upper part of the watershed are found on this ridge.
At the margins of the gravel ridge, water,
which percolates easily through the gravel, meets the heavier
textured soils of the till plain and emerges in springs.
Many of these springs are used for watering cattle;, some,
where not needed, are neglected. They all feed the streams
tributary to the East Branch. A cool, clear, permanent
stream crosses highway number 7 at a point 2~ miles east of
Brampton.
Deltas, consisting of water-carried sands and
silts occur between the old shore line previously mentioned
and the present shore of Lake Ontario. These give light
textured soils much prized for special uses such as market
gardening, orchards and residences.
Shallow drift over bedrock occurs for about a
mile inland from the shore of Lake Ontario where the river
can be seen in places running over the rock. This is level
terrain that has few distinctive characteristics apart from
its shallowness and the sand bar that deflects the Aow of
the stream as it enters Lake Ontario. This sand bar is a
feature of lake erosion at a river mouth, its pOSition and
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CONTOURS
100 FOOT INTERVALS
SCALE ' MII.ES
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size has varied even within recorded history of the past
150 years.
Agricultural use of the land in the watershed
has been controlled largely by the kinds of soils developed
on these glacial deposits and by the natural drainage on the
topography described. Knowledge of topography and the
nature of the rock mantle are necessary to understand problems
of water supply and flow. There are questions about which
insufficient knowledge has been obtained to solve all problems
of water relationships of the area. Further investigations
of stream flow, run-off and percolation on various soil types
and of underground water are nece8sary before all the remedial
measures can be prescribed for problems of floods, summer
flow and water supply.
,
/~
REFERENCES FOR CHAPTER ON PHYSIOGHAPHY
1. A. P. Coleman: "The Pleistocene of The Toronto Region"
Ontario Department of Mines
Vol. XLI, Part VII, 1932.
2. D. F. Putnam and
L. J. Chapman "The fl1ysiography of South Central
Ontario"
Scientific Agriculture, l6: 457-477, 1936.
/7
CHAPTER 3
CLIlvlATE
From Lake Ontario at an elevation of 245' above
sea level the Etobicoke Creek extends over twenty miles
inland to the northwest where the altitude is about 900'
above sea level. It drains a gently slopping plain with
one sharp break in slope provided by the shoreline of
glacial Lake Iroquois at Summerville, which serves to set
apart the low plain below that pOint. The gravel ridge
north of Brampton forms a local prominence. The watershed
lies in the lee of, although a few miles removed from the Niagara
Escarpment which stands off to the west. These several
points about surface form each have a bearing on the local
climate.
The climate of this area must be described
without the benefit of records from weather stations
within its borders. A station set up at Brampton
sixty-five years ago was kept only eight years which
is too short a period to be of much use. The station at
Malton airport has only been running for the last eight
years. Figures for temperature and rainfall in this area
were derived by plotting on a map the values provided by
Toronto, Agincourt, Alton, Georg~town and Hamilton; and
they are believed to be reasonably accurate.
The influence of Lake Ontario on the
borderlands around Long Branch and Dixie is quite pron-
ounced in winter, the normal temperature in January
being 2 degrees higher than it is north of Brampton. From
April to October the variation is less, but it is con-
sistently present. A January temperature of 22 degrees
places Long Branch on a par with Brantford, Simcoe,
London, Sarnia, Goderich and Kincardine. The upper
part of the watershed has winter temperatures like those
recorded at Guelph, Stratford or Owen Sound.
/9
In midsummer this watershed lies in a
regular temperature belt extending from the base of
Lake Huron to Ottawa and Arnprior. St. f:Iary' s Kitch-
ener, Brampton, Peterborough and Carleton Place all lie
near the 6g degree isotherm for July.
Spring growth starts four or five days
earlier at Dixie than at Brampton while the last frost
in the belt near the lake occurs ten days earlier.
Early fall frosts, on the avera~e strike about October
20th in the upper part and about October 10th in the lower
part of the watershed. Thus the frost-free period varies
from 140 to 155 days. Comparing with outside points,
Dixie has a season as long as Simcoe, St. Thomas, Sarnia
and Goderich, while Brampton compares equally with Wood-
stock, Clinton, Walkerton or Trenton.
The lowest temperature ever recorded
at both the Toronto and Georgetown stations was
-27 degrees F, in February 1934.
Lying as it does in the lee of the
Niagara escarpment the plain west of Toronto is one of the
drier sections of the province. 'l'he mean annual
precipitation is around 31 inches of which 6 inches
falls as snow. Only the Niagara Fruit Belt and the area
southwest of London have less snow in Southern Ontano.
Owen Sound receives twice as much. There are around
125 rainy or snowy days a year. On the average nearly
half the summers experience a dry month in which rainfall
is less than one inch.
The tendency towards drouthiness must be
pointed out in any description of the climate of this
area. It is particularly pertinent when dealing with
a river and its watershed.
I
I
I
/9
CHAPTER It.
SETTLE1>1ENT
The Etobicoke played little part in the
early exploration of the Ontario region. No important
portage led up its valley and no Indian village on its
banks was notable enough to have its name recorded by
the French. The creek itself was only one of the
many streams along the north shore, userul to the
Indians for its beaver and fish and for the convenience
of its flood plain for corn fields.
1. Indian Treaties
It is only with the beginning of British
settlement after the American Revolution that we begin to
hear anything of the Etobicoke. The ~lississaugas had
then occupied the whole Toronto region for more than
eighty years, but their chief settlements were along
the Credit and Humber. From the British conquest until
the Revolutionary War the British made no attempt to
settle this territory and even tried to exclude traders
from it to protect the Indians from exploitation; but
with the displacement of many loyalists by the war the
question of securing lands on which to locate them became
pressing. It was equally important to prevent Americans
from occupyi ng the Ontario country, if Britain was to
retain her hold on this part of North America. The
Government of Canada therefore began to negotiate purch-
ase treaties with the Indians in order to secure land for
settlement.
One of these treaties was arranged at
the Carrying Place on the Bay of Quinte on September 23rd,
1787. It was signed by three chiefs of the Mississaugas
and conveyed to the Crown a tract between Lake Ontario
and Lake SLlcoe, including part of the Etobicoke i,~atershed.
~o
The boundaries of this "Toronto Purchase" were not
clearly defined in the Treaty. The Indians had supposed
that the Humber River was to form the western boundary,
while the Government considered that the line should be
three miles further west. In l788, Alexander Aitken
was sent to survey the new purchase and persuaded tlJa
Indians to accept the Etobicoke as the boundary. The
difficulty was not finally settled until August 1st, 1805,
when a new treaty was signed at the Credit, conveying to
the Crown, a small portion of the original purchase,
fourteen miles by twenty-eight miles, and thus clearing
the title to the Toronto area. The Etobicoke formed
the west boundary of this tract for about four miles,-
from its mouth "to a maple tree blazed on 4 sides at a
distance of three miles and three quarters in a straight
line from the mouth of the said river". This boundary
is now the western boundary of that part of York County.
The next day a second treaty was signed by the iUssissau-
gas, ceding to the Crown the shore of Lake Ontario from
the Etobicoke to Burlington to a depth of from five to
six miles "reserving for ourselves and the l~ssissague
Nation the sole right of the Fisheries in the Twelve
~lile Creek and the Sixteen Ydle Creek, the Etobicoke
River together with the flats or low grounds on the said
creeks and river which we have herefore cultivated and
where we have our camps and also the right of the
Fishery in the River Credit and with one mile on each
side of said river". The Indians received a thousand
pounds for this purchase. On October 28th, l8l8, by a
provisional treaty with the "Principal Men of the
llississague Nation of Indians, inhabiting the river
Credit, twelve and ~ixteen ~dle Creeks", the Crown
obtained title to the "tract of land in the Home Dist-
rict called the Mississaugue Tract". This included the
northern portions of the Counties of Peel and Halton
~/
and parts of Wellington and Dufferin. The whole of the
Etobicoke watershed had thus been purchased from the
~lississaugas and was open to settlement.
2. The Beei~nin~ of Settleme~t
(l) l79l - 1812
Although the Treaty of 1787 had opened
the Toronto Region to settlement no grants were made
there until after the passing of the Canada Act in l79l.
With the arrival in Upper Canada of its first Lieuten-
ant Governor, John Graves Simcoe, in 1792, a much more
active policy was adopted. "A brisk business in land
granting Conmenced in the Spring of 1793", and continued
for several years. The southern part of the township had been
surveyed in 1795 for the purpose of establishing a military
colony composed of discharged members of Simcoe's corps of
Queen's Rangers. Some difficulty was experienced in persuading
members of this corps to settle in the lands granted, instead
of selling their rights for what they could get, even before
the patents had been issued. Grants were made in the Town-
ship in 1796, but the uncertainty about the boundary of the
I~ssissauga reserve, due to the defects of the 1787 treaty,
limited settlement on the Etobicoke watershed.
This western division of this survey which
included part of the Etobicoke watershed, was known as
"Colonel Smith's Tract." It was granted to Major (later Lt.C01.)
Smith, Commanding Officer of the Queen's Rangers, to settle
with discharged members of the Corps. Smith himself received
the large grant to which hi. military and civil claims
entitled him! The remaining lots were granted former Hangers
including Some within the watershed. The "Tract" included the
fifth concession, "fronting towards the Lake", through which
~~ndas Street ran. Lots along Dundas Str~et were subject to
1. Smith later became President of the Council of Upper
Canada and for a time acted as Lieutenant Governor.
~;;;
special obligations as to clearing the road in front, building
a house of larger size etc. There was a determined effort to
enforce these regulations but it was not entirely successful.
Smith's grant had the effect of retarding settlement in the
watershed below Dundas Street, as it included the most of the
river lots in Etobicoke, as well as a stretch of the lake
shore, and lots on Thlndas Street.
The treaties of 1805 removed the difficulties
as to title and boundary in Etobicoke Township and opened
the southern part of Toronto township to settlement. This
survey, known as the TfOld Survey of Toronto Township", was
laid out in five concessions parallel with :)undas Street,
two lying north of the street and three to the south. The I
third concession south of Dundas Street was actually a !
~
"Broken Front" along the lake shore. Grants in Toronto
Township were made as soon as the survey was completed and
in 1808 there are said to have been seven families settled
in the tOltTnship. These were mostly scattered along Dundas
Street and one of the seven, Absalom Wilcox, lot 3 Con. 1
North of Dundas Street, was located on the Etobicoke water-
1 Settlement proceeded slowly but steadily in the next
shed.
fe!,v years, especially along Jundas Street. Only a small area
of the watershed was as yet open to settlers. t.fost of this
had been granted by 1812 but some grants were not occupied
at once. The settlers at this time were to a great
extent American born, Loyalists, the children of
Loyalists or im.dligrants from the States. Their names
indicate that they were of various stocks, Dutch, German,
English and Irish. They had almost all had experience
1. Smith was also granted lots 3 and 4 in Con. II and
lots 4 and 5 in Con. III, S.D.S. Toronto Township,
so all the flats near the mouth of the river lay in
his grant. John Silverthorne was located on the
watershed on Lot G on the east bank at Dundas Street,
now in Etobicoke Township. He was grouped with his
brother Joseph, of Dixie, as one of the seven
families: Historical Atlas of Peel County, l877.
23
MUNICIPALITIES
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of American pioneer conditions and seem to have prospered
on the whole in spite of the difficulties they had to
face.
(2) Roads
The chief difficulty of the Pioneers was
lack of transportation. The Etobicoke was never a
navigable stream, even in the elastic use of that term
habitual with early writers on Upper Canada. The mouth
of the Etobicoke is mentioned as one of the places where
ships sometimes anchored to discharge cprgo, but it cannot
have been a satisfactory anchorage. The settlers had
therefore to make use of the roads to get their produce
to mill and market. Two main roads crossed the watershed
at this period - the Lakeshore Road and Dundas Street. The
1akeshore Road had replaced the Indian Trail from the
Humber to the Head of the Lake. It was not regularly
opened until 1804 when tenders were called for roadwor~
and bridges from Peter Street to BurliI~ton Bay. It
nay not have been carried beyond the Credit as there is
a reference in August 1808 to the need to open a road
from the head of the Lake to the Credit. It ,,,as the
practice to say that a road was "opened" each time it
was cleared and repaired, so that this reference may
only mean that the road had become overgrown with bush
and blocked with fallen trees. This road, follm'ling the
windings of the shore, crossed the rivers at their
mouths, where marshes made the passage difficult. When
Robert Gourley passed that way in le17 he found the road
"miserablen~ He saw no houses near the creek except
the Hon. Samuel Smith's on the east side, near the mouth.
Eo lost the road completely, after passing the "President's"
1. Gourlay's account of this journey was written in England
"from memory". It is very confused. He says he crossed a
bar at the mouth of the Etobicoke, but evidently means the
Mimico. Samuel Wilmot's map of l81l shDws the "Lake Road"
crossing the Etobicoke much where it does now. Gourlay's
temper was badly upset by the balkiness of his "pony":-
Statistical Account of Upper Canada, Robt. Gourlay, 1822.
i. ",.
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house.
Dundas Street had been blazed by Asa Danforth
in 179$-1800; but little more was done to render it
fit for travel. In 1806 tenders were called for by the
road comrnissionars of the Home District opening "the
road called Dundas Street" to erect a bridge over the
Credit and other bridges and "causeways beyond, as an aid
to statute labour, which is not sufficient n. If any work
was done at this time it did not last long; for a petition
of the inhabitants of Toronto township in laOS repeats
the remark about the insufficiency of statute labour to
ma~e roads down the steep sides of the r~vines and graph-
ically describes the difficulties of the settlers, who
are either forced to carry down their goods on their
shoulders or "to go round by the old road". Again in
lS10 they complain that they cannot get to Cooper's
~lills at Lambton to get their grain ground and ask for a
bridge over the Credit, being willing to build one over
the Humber thernsel ves. No mention is made of any bridge
over the Etobicoke until 1812 when John Van Zantee, Absalom
Willcocks, Philip Cady (Cody) and fifty-six others signed
a petition to pray for public aid in corduroying the
various cedar swamps which lay along the line of the road
for seventy-three chains between Summerville and Dixie.
state that they have procured timber "for the pur-
pose of building a bridge across the Etobicoke River,
which they intend to complete next surumertf. John Van
Zantee (Van Zante) was located on Lot 1 Con. 1, on I
both sides of Dundas Street, directly on the bank of
the Etobicoke. Probably several others of the fifty- !
I
nine signers were within the watershed. The number of
sienatures indicates that settlement along Dundas
progressed considerably since 180B!
Ontario Archives: Reports.
d1/'
This series of petitions gives a good
idea of the difficulties and delays ~/hich slowed up the
development of the highways in the first period of
settlenent. The difficulty was due rather to lack cf
funds and labour than to any unwillingness on the part
of the Provincial Government to push on construction.
T~e work could not be done in a permanent fashion and
had continually to be done again. Any unusual obstacle,
such as 9 long swamp, a deep ravine or a large stream
to be bridged proved too much for the statute labour of
the inhabitants and had to be paiJ for out of the scanty
revenua of government. However, by 1$17 a road of
sorts had been built! Travellers still had reason to
complain of its extre~e badness, and the fact that at
some seasons it was quite impassable to vehicles, but
it represented a considerable advance on the blazed
trail of ten years before.
(J) 1$12 - l$l~
The war of 1$12 restricted immigration
and ca;lsed t he return of some settlers to the United
~ States. Even in le17, this part of the country was
somewhat behind other parts of the Lakeshora in develop-
Lieut. Francis Hall, travelling from Burlington
to York found "that the thread of settlements is slender
and fre'1uently interrupted by hemlOCK s\'lacnps and pine
On his return journey it was '1hile his "wain
dragged heavily over the logged roads, t'ihich cross the
st'Jamp~' woods, round the Nocaco (.Himico) and Etobico"
that he was moved to remnrk: "Nothing looks less
cheerful than the hut of a primitive settler especially
~en isolated in the mass of a dark heavy forest, yet
it is the first glance only which is unpleasant, the
shows present comfort and progressional improvement.
The line of Dundas Street from Lambton to Summerville
was finally settled by a survey conducted by Thos.
Ridout in 1$14. The Field Giary of this survey is
in the Ontario Archives.
~g
I do not remember to have seen one of them abandoned
except for a better house; there are more ruined cottages
in the vicinity of Cork, than in all North America."
This was a reasonably accurate observation as far as
the part of Upper Canada which Hall had traversed was i
concerned. It was probably especially applicable to
the small part of the Etobicoke Watershed as yet opened
for settlement. The settlers here had the advantage of
being within a days journey of York, near a main road
and, in most cases, on a good if somewhat wet soil.
There were also few large grants to non-resident owners
in the neighbourhood. The estate of the Hon. Samuel
Smith at the mouth of the river, tlhich roused Robert
Gourlay to such splenetic splutterings, was actually
not unusually large though it retarded settlement at
thi s point.
Gourlay got no answers to his nQueries"f
from any township in the Home District. It was probable
that the answers from Toronto and Etobicoke TownShips
would have resembled those from the adjacent township
of Trafalgar. The inhabitants of this townShip, in
reply to the query as to the causes of the slow develop-
ment of the country, gave as the first and prinCipal
cause "the want of capital" among the settlers. After
pointing out the difficulties which beset the farmers
who "have little more than a cow, a yoke of oxen, a
log chain and an axe" - if so much, they remark that
"those who weather the first ten years spend the rest
of life in comfort". The second cause they consider to
be the scarcity and dearness of labour which prevented
those who had the means from making improvements. Large
grants, held for a rise in the price of land, were
placed third and the crown and clergy reserves last in
order, as the writers considered the inconvenience from
l. A set of questions sent to the Townships and answered
by committees of the inhabitants Gourlay gives no
statistics for the Home District. Statistical Account.
"'III ....__
~9
these reserves to be a temporary evil which would be
done away with as the country filled up.
3. The New Surveys - 19~2
The opinions of the inhabitants of
Trafalgar Township were justified so ta.r as the Etobicoke
Watershed was concerned, by the events of the next ten
years. After the purchase of the !~ssissauea Tract,
surveys of the nNew Survey" of Toronto Township and of
the Township of Chinguacousy were completed in 1819. These
i were laid out on a different system from the "Old Survey"
i of Toronto Township. Instead of laying out concessions
parallel to Dundas Street with long shaped lots, fronting
II
II the lake, the new concessions were at right Angles to
~
! the old survey and much closer together, making the lots
i
Ii much "squarer". They were laid out on either side of a
i
'I "Street of Communication" or "Centre Road"!
.,
,!
~
i This road was a continuation of the side
.!
i
i road in the old survey between lots 15 and 16. It was
I
:i
;j
1 eventually run in a str1ght line for 36 miles through
,j
I Toronto, Chinguacousy, and Caledon Towhships, from the
.,
.i
.,
II Lakeshore at Port Credit to near Orangeville. It was intended
il
I as the first stretch of a trunk road, to Lake Huron, which
I
II was christened "Hurontario Street". The concessions on each
! side of it were 66-2/3 chains apart and were divided into
Ii
~
, lots of 200 acres with a frontage of thirty chains toward
I
i
I the "Street Road". An allo~ance was made for a side road
i every five lots. The lots were thus much "squarer" than in
I the older concessions of Toronto Township~
I
i ,
i
1. It is called the "Street Road" in the notes of the surveys.
2. The New Survey of Toronto Township was made in ~~rch
and April, lSl9; that of Chinguacousy in June and
July, 1819. The diary of the survey of Chinguacousy
mentions some settlers in the area - apparently near
the north boundary of Toronto Township "Mr. Scott's
! lot, with a small improvement" was near the line
between the 4th and 5th concessions. A "meeting" was
held at Mr. Todd's" lot 14, Con. I West on Sunday,
I June 27th, l8l9 - probably in Toronto Township. No
i
I clearings are recorded in the field nates for Ching-
uacousy: Diaries and field notes of surveys, 1819,
Ontario Archives.
-30
4. The E!r!Rd of Growth
(l) l~~O - 19~O
The "New Survey of Toronto" began to be
taken up as soon as it was completed. Settlement got a
good start with the arrival of a large group of families
from the North of Ireland, living in or near New York
City when the war of l8l2 began. As they were still
British subjects and inclined to be British in sympa-
thies, they were required to move twenty miles inland or
find security for their good behaviour. I~st of them were
able to give security and remain in their homes, but this
experience sickened them of the United States and made
them determine to move to Canada as soon as possible. Two
representativesl were sent in advance to select, locations
and negotiate with the Government of Upper Canada.for a
grant. The area selected \'las the newly purchased lJIiss-
issauga Tract. Soon after, in l8l9, a "caravan" of
twenty-three wagons - one to each family - set out froln
New York on the long trip to Canada. When they reached
Toronto Township they divided into two parties, one
going to the Credit and the other making their way to
the newly opened East line of Toronto Township and
proceeding up it to their locations. Some of this
party went on into Chinguacousy~ These settlers were
mostly men of some means, with capital enough to see
them through the 'first difficult years of clearing the
land. They seem to have had little realization of the
conditions under which they were to live3, but they proved
to be adaptable and capable settlers.
1. Jas. Graham and A. Beatty or Thos. Reid, accounts differ.
2. John Bagwell, a Somersetshire farmer, says he was the first
settler in Chinguacousy Township. Letter of April 5th,
1822. Bagwell letters l8l9 - 23 Ontario Archives.
3. Two brothers of the Graham family brought closed carriages
with them. One of these was sold in York, but the other
was actually taken to the "location" south of Grahamsville.
There it was used as a hen-house, since it was useless on
roads, as they were then.
i
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They had chosen their locations wisely,
area developed quickly. The presence of these
l',U1stermen attracted other families of similar origin.
families from the North of Ireland settled
in the next few years. Other settlers were
;1180 entering the watershed. Before the New Survey of
:~f:
"
r!oronto was completed, settlers from the Old Survey
~~.
(were visiting the surveyors "to look over the land"l and
i .embers of the se families recei ved early grant s. Between
and 1821 the most of the eastern part of the
Toronto Township was taken up, except
and Clergy reserve lots. Some of these
not occupied at once, but by far the greater
to actual settlers. A large number of
&rants in Chinguacousy were made about this time. By
1621 almost all the unreserved lots on the Etobicoke
been granted.
After 1821 a settler wishing to locate
Etobicoke Watershed would have had to buy land
earlier grantee, take up a lot forfeited for
of settlement duties or other causes, or rent
or clergy reserve lot. The settlement duties
the erection of a dwelling house, clearing of
road in front of the lot and getting a small
acreage of land under cultivation, all within a certain
time, usually a year. These conditions had been very
irregularly enforced except in a few townships. They
had been altered from time to time and sometimes waived
altogether. On lots fronting main roads, such as
Dundas Street, special conditions were required and
enforced more strictly. "After l81S they were enforced
with some vigour". The confiscated holdings of those
1. Diary of the New Survey of Toronto TownShip, lS19, Samuel
M. Benson, Surveyor-tn-charge: Ontario Archives. Benson
was employed by Thomas Street and Richard Bristol,
Surveyor, who contracted jointly for the survey in return
for a percentage of the land: "Letters received lS19," _
Land Patents Office, Dept. of Lands and For'ests.
i
J!
1.1
..30
who had taken the American side in the war also opened
some land to settlers.
In 1826 it was decided to do away with
the system of grants subject only to the payment of fees
and offer the remaining unoccupied lands for sale at
low rates. In 1827 many of the Crown reserves were
granted to Kings College, now the University of Toronto.
In the sante year the remainder of the Crown reserves
were sold to the Canada Company for resale to settlers.
~st of the lots bought by the Company on the Etobicoke
~/atershed lay in Chinguacousy Township.
An arrangement had been made whereby the
lessees of Crown reserves could purchase their lots
and some availed themselves of the opportunity. Owing
to the lack of cash throughout the province many lots ;
came into the hands of the merchants, millers and other
businessmen~ There was considerable speculation in
land, especially after the tax on wild land was enforced.
Much of this land had had the settlement dut ies completed
and so ranked as "improved" land. Immigrants wishing to
locate in the older settled townships were in the habit
of inquiring on arrival at Toronto, who had land for
sale in the locality they favoured. Land in a settled
township had many advantages, but required a larger
'cash outlay. When it lay close to an important town
with comparatively good communications and a soil
generally good, it was likely to attract settlers of a
better financial position. The Etobicoke Watershed
combined all these advantages. The lack of water power,
however, made it more attractive to farmers than to
those who wished to combine farming with small scale
industry.
By 18)0 the watershed was beginning to
be well settled, but there were still large stretches
1. See Bagwell letters. Ontario Archives.
Bagwell was very nearly sold out.
o~
of woodland. The clearings were no longer isolated plots
surrounding a single cabin. They often extended along the
main roads for several miles and often for three quarters
of a mile on either side. The remaining bush consisted
not only of unoccupied lots but also of the uncleared
part of occupied farms. Few settlers cleared as much as
half their holding. Forty or fifty acres was considered
enough to provide a living and when more was required
a larger area was often taken up. Frame houses were
b~coming more common. A few hamlets were growing up
near the more frequented taverns. It is in the next
twenty years, however, that the few villages on the
area begin to take form.
(2) Early Mills on the Etobicoke
The Etobicoke was never a satisfactory mill stream.
Very few mills are mentioned as having existed on it. Of
these only one or two seem to have run for any length of
time. Abraham l~rkle is said to have been running a sawmill
on lot 6, Con. 1 N.D.S. in 1810. We are told that in 1820,
two milldams interfered with the run on the salmon and suckers
on the Etobicoke and prevented them from reaching the site of
Brampton in any great number. These mills belonged to the Hon.
Samuel Smith and Joseph Silverthorne; They were probably
both sawmills at this time. Silverthorne's mill was
located above Dundas Street near the present village of
Summerville.. Smith's was farther down stream but its
exact location is uncertain. John Lynch, writing in
1853, says that there were some grist mills and several
sawmills non the Etobicoke and other small streams in
2
Toronto Townshiptt; but the directories of that time
10 Directory of Peel County, Brampton 1874 (John Lynch)
There was no water on Joseph Silverthorne's lot at
Dixie (Lot 11, Con. 1 N.D.S.) His sawmill was apparently
on Lot G, Etobicoke Township, north of Su~aerville _
the property of John Silverthorne. Smith's mill may
have been near Dundas Street.
2. Report on Peel County, 1853. A prize essay by John
Lynch, printed in the Transactions of the Upper
Canada Board of Agriculture, 1855. A copy is in the
Ontario Archives.
-~._'_._-._-..... --..--~-;....._.,".
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J'urmhouae on the Etoblooke Watershed
ChlnguaoousY'Townsh1p
Built about lB45: altered 35 years later
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belonGIng to house above
-~-_.." --'. .~- _,'..___......_______.______..._.u___. _...~~..'~~ _ .~ ...~.~__ _" _"~"_'_
;50
do not indicate any mills on the Etobicoke except those
at Summerville.
Chinguacousy had little water power. The
only water mill on the Etobicoke was a small chop mill.
with the stones set vertically. which ran for a time at
Brampton in connection with a distillery. Once the
roads improved even a little, the lack of water power
was of no great importance to the inhabitants of the
watershed as the two larger streams on either side were
well supplied with mills from the first. Only those
settlers in the centre of the watershed felt any in-
convenience and their wants were eventually supplied
by steam mills. at Brampton and elsewhere.
(J) 1$)1 - 1$50
The next twenty years were a time of
rapid development on the watershed. The following
figures of population for Toronto and Chinguacousy
Townships are given by John Lynch:
Township l$21 1$31 1$~1 1$50 1$51
-
Toronto 803 2752 4601 6204 7539
Chinguacousy 412 1936 3721 5480 7469
The early figures were based on assess-
ment rolls and are probably inaccurate; but they serve
to indicate how rapidly population was increasing. The
amount of land under cultivation was also increasing
rapidly; but the proportion of occupied land which was
left uncleared was still large in 1$51.
The groups of houses around the crossroad
taverns, which had served as local centres in the early
years of settlement, began in this period to grow into
villages. Brampton may be said to begin with the open- !
ing of Scott's distillery and store, and Buffy's tavern
in the 1$20's: Part of the town plot is said to have
1. Walton's Directory of the Home District gives Buffy
on Lot 5 Con. 1 West, Scott on Lot 6 Cono 1 East and
Elliott on Lot5, Con. 1 Easto Buffy later moved to
Elliott's subdivision. Lots 5, West and 6, East were
reserved lots 80 Scott and Burry were lessees at this
tilDe.
.- ~--_._,. --------...-- -.- -- . - -" ..,- .~,~,<<.~ -- - .---~-.. --- --
..37
been lain. out in 1834 and by 1837 it appears to have
had a population of 90 to 100~ During the next few
years the village grew more slowly. In W. H. Smith's
Canadian Gazetteer of 1846 it is still the only village
mentioned on the Watershed and its population is estim-
ated as 150. At this time the chief industry of the
village was a tannery. There were also a cabinet-maker,
two blacksmiths, two tailors, two stores and a tavern.
In 1849 Haggert Bros.' foundDT and implement factory
was started. It used horses for power and employed $
to 10 men. The next year Wright's Stea~ Flouring Mill
was buil t . There was a brewery and distillery and a
steam sawmill was unrler construction. The numbers of
stores and tradesmens shops had been greatly increased.
Two of the other vilL,ges on the watershed
had acquired some importance by 1850. Summerville on
Dundas Street then shared the name, Etobicoke, with
s~veral other localities. It had the grist mill
already mentioned, a chair and cabinetmaker's shop,
a store and probably a tavern. Edmonton (now Snelgrove)
five miles north of Brampton on Hurontario Street, was
a large place and seems to have been, to some extent,
the administrative centre of Chinguacousy--probably
because it was also the geographical centre. By 1$51
it had become a thriving centre, with 2 stores, 3 inns1
2 blacks~iths' and 2 waggonmakerR' shops and a carriage
maker's.
(4) Roads
The improvement in the means of transport-
ation lagged behind the growth of population. Some
attempt was made to improve the roads in the old surveys.
1. John Lynch in the Peel Dj,rectory 1873 quotes Walton
as saying that there were 18 assessed persons in
Brampton in 1837. These would be heads of families.
The town plot of 1834 was laid out by Elliott.
IJ
"'-, - ~-~~~- ---~_. ~_T~~____.." .____~_'__C_____.____________..^~__..,..__.."'~__.~~_____..~_T _ . _~_~____~
38
TRANSPORTATION
,I AND
.
'I PUBLIC UTiliTIES
ii \
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II IeAU M'LlS
Ii , Va 0 I I
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09
The Lakeshore Road was partly planked about 1820, but by
1 It was not until 1$36
1828 it was as rough as corduroy.
I that Dundas Street was macadamized as far as Cooksville
and gravelled beyond. In 1853 it is described as "a
~
pretty good stone road". It was under the Road Commiss-
ioners until 1850 when it was sold to the Toronto Road
, Company by the Government. The Lakeshore Road was also
I
!
I sold about this time to a privatp. company and re-planked~
In the new surveys, for a long time, the
roads were nothing but tracks through the forest, some-
times leaving the survey line to avoid obstacles and
needing to be constantly "reopened" - that is, cleared or
brush and fallen trees. By 1829 a number of side roads
and back concessions had been opened, but all the roads
were. bad at the best and impassible in wet seasons~
Even Hurontario Street was not much
improved until after 1845. A meeting was called at
Cooksville on December 6th, 1846 to discuss planking
this road "from Dundas Street, north as far as possible."
A second meeting at Brampton was called for January 6th,
1847. As a result, the Port Credit and Hurontario
Plank Road Company was formed and the road planked as
Edmonton (Snelgrove).
The "Sixth Line" Road, along the boundary
Toronto Gore and Chinguacousy and Toronto
Townships, was the next road in importance in this area.
I'
r It was planked from Dundas Street to Grahamsville about
~:
~~
r the same time as the Centre Road. Several of the side
Hi
Ii': Roads across the area and many of the concession roads
Ii'
ii:had been improved, but all the unplanked roads were
Ii
litTery bad in s pring and fall.
fl
Ii;
I,
i"
Ii!
lil1. Captain Basil Hall: Travels in America in 1827 and
i~ ' ~82g.
1~2. Report on Peel County, John Lynch, 1853
it;. Returns of Inspection of Clergy Reserves - 1827-29;
~F in Ontario Archives.
l
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A llodern f?r,.:1 011 the
Etoblooke V;a tei.. 5116d. 1946
- -
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5. The Peek of Population
(l) 1851 - 1870
After 1851 the period of settlement on
the rural part of the Etobicoke watershed may be said to
be over. Now settlement on the land almost ceased as
most of the area was occupied. The villages continued
to grow, but the population of the townships, after
remaining almost stationary for ten years, began to
decline. The population of Chinguacousy Township,
not including the town of Brampton, increased by less
than 50 between 1851 and 1861. Since 186l it has con-
tinued to decline until the latest census in 1941.
Toronto and Etobicoke Townships also show a falling pop-
ulation until 1901.
This gradual dacline in population was
due to changing conditions rather than to any permanent
loss of prosperity. The hard times of the latter
1850's were felt here, as in other parts of the country;
but were compensated for by the great demand for farm
products which accompanied the American Civil War. It
was precisely during this time of prosperity that the
population of the area passed its peak.
(2) Villages on the watershed
Th.ugh there were many small centres on
the watershed, only Brampton, Edmonton, and perhaps
Summerville had so far had any importance. But after
the coming of the railways Brampton grew rapidly and
several other crossroads hamlets grew into small vill-
ages with some local trade and small industries of
their own.
Edmonton, Summerville and Burnhamthorpe
may serve as examples of the rise and decline of these
centres. Elmbank, Hanlan, Fraser's Corners, Nortonville,
Mount Charles, Mayfield and Victoria all had at one time
populations of from 50 to 100, but except for Victoria
,-,.--'..'..-..~.-- - -- ~--.. .~^_. .-----.-. "'-- ~. - ._.._....~- ~._....- '.~-- .~._--------'-.._~ .'"- ~- _._-_.~---~_.;:-~~-_.- --,~, ,::..'_-;-:-,-,-.--::-:;:::---:..--:-:- - -
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Par' of t!w 'f11.1. ,\:(.J cf " ::-;t;blool.iJ" f1()l.,' . ~w.:lluarri lle I
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't~
they had little industry and centred round stores,
hotels, churches or Orange lodges. Victoria, with a
! population of only 50, had for some years a$eam saw-
~ mill; and a brickyard. Edmonton was the municipal centre
:1
II of Chinguacousy, where elections and public meetings
were held. It is probably for this reason that in 1852
It
I' it boasted three inns, one, Mrs. Harrington's, a temperance
I. hous e . The industries were those usually found at such
I rural centres--blacksmiths shops, waggonmakers and a
I
carriage maker. There were two general stores and the
population was 150. Edmonton remained much the same
until about 1875. By 1877 the Township hall had been
built, there were several churches, the carriage maker's
shop had become a "factory" and there were some crafts-
men's shops. The population was 200. The temperance
inn had disappeared. An express office was opened in
the nineties, but the craftsmen were gone and the
population was going down. By 1908 the name had been
changed to Snelgrove. The population had dropped to
150. There were only two churches, a store, and express
office. By 1910-11 the population is down to 100,
the churches are not mentioned and there is only one store.
Summerville was the only village on the
river which had water mills of any size. As has been
mentioned there were two mills in this neighborhood in
1820. By 1851 there was a mill in the village, owned
by William Ward, and ,John Ward had a chair and bedstead
factory, its lathes probably run by waterpower. Ward
was about to install a steam engine to supplement the
waterpower of his mill. The mill on the John Silver-
thorne property (Lot G. Etobicoke Township) was probably
2
also running at this time. In 1857 the village population
1. Owned by George Wright
2. This mill is marked on the map of Toronto Township
in the 1877 Historical Atlas of Peel County. It is
shown en the Etobicoke bank near the bridge above the
village. Neither mill nor bridges are shown on
Unwin's map of Etobicoke Township, 1856.
~~
was 100. Ward's flour and grist mill was running and
J. T. Smith was running a grist and sawmill, perh~ps
leased from the Silverthornes. By 1865 the village
had grown to 200 and was a flourishing place, with two
hotels, a tavern, a store, and many small craftsmen
as well as Howard's flour and grist mill and Umpeby's
chair factory. The Silverthorne mill was being run by
one of that family~ By 1$81 the population was 250,
though there was only one grist mill and one sawmill
and one hotel. There were however, two stores and a
church. By 1$$8 all the mills are gone though the
village still contained 250 people. In 1$95, there is
only one store and the population is declining. The first
market garden appears at this time. The population was
about 200. The village continued at about the same
size till after 1911, but it is obvious that it was no
longer a place of much business.
Burhamthorpe on the 2nd concession,
North of Dundas Street in the Old Survey of Toronto
Township seems to have come into some prominence before
1860 as a centre for the building trades. In 1865 it
had among its inhabitants a surprising number of build-
ers, carpenters, and masons. J. Howe even describes
2 Possibly
himself as architect, builder and farmer. much of the excellent building on the watershed,
between l850 and 1$60, was done by the Burnhamthorpe
builders. There was a stearn sawmill and an agricultural
implement and carriage maker, who was also a carpenter.
The population was given as 120. By 1$73 this special-
ized activity seems to have disappeared and the popul-
ation had become much smaller. Lovell's Gazetteer
1. F. Silverthorne. In 1895, Aaron Silverthorne is listed
as a millwright - not a miller - while Frank Silver-
thorne is an apiarist or beekeeper.
2. Some of the other builders etc. are also listed as
farmers.
"Ys
gives it as only 50. The figure for 18$1 is 60 but
1
still no industry is listed. In 1895 the village had
again 100 people and two stores and a hotel. In 190$
there was only one store, but a "grain mill" and an
express office had been opened.
It will be seen that the flourishing
period of most of these villages was from 1$50 to l$aO.
The use of steam power which had made their small indust-
ries possible worked in the end to destroy them by means
of the competition of larger plants in other places.
The improvement of communications helped to effect fuis.
The development of railways reduced the traffic on the
roads and in some cases left the villages to ODe side,
while it enabled the large city stores to compete
directly with those in the country. It is plain that
by 1$95 the proportion of elderly and retired people
Ii in the villages was much l~rger than twenty years
1
before and soon the increased comfort of life in the
I towns due to the development of public utilities began
I
to draw avlay this class as well as the workers. With
I
I the rise of market gardening, the coming of motor
,I
:1 traffic and the consequent paving of many roads, the
~
movement was reversed on the lower part of the watershed.
'I
;i
II
~ Long Branch, which had been laid out as a summer resort
Ii
~ about 1890, began to have some permanent residents
~ after the paving of the Lakeshore Road. The presence
~
~
i of the Rifle Ranges and the Toronto Golf Club limited
I,
Ii
I'
II the development at first. But in 1920 the land at the
!
iI
II river's mouth was subdivided. and a few years later
I'
II
.!
~ began to be permanently occupied. In the meantime
i Dundas Street had been paved and "ribbont't development
had begun along it and other main roads. This process
has gone on ever since and is reflected in the populat-
ion figures of Toronto Township. It has however not
I
I 1. Lovell's estimates of population are sometimes not
I reliable.
,
~
,
':1 ,
POPULATION
I DOT REPRESENTS 100 PEOPLE
SCALE MILES
I Yr 0 I 2
tWWWIIt ~-
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.
.
.
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...
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,
.
.
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.
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.
.
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.
;/
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.
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affected the upper part of the watershed to any extent,
outside of the Town of Brampton.
(3) Brampton - 1851 - 1941
Brampton continued to grow rapidly. It
had 600 inhabitants in 1851 and in 1853 it was incorpor-
ated as a village.
The population was then believed to be
~ ' 1000. The building of the Grand Trunk Railway (C.N.R.)
]! in 1856 naturally increased the prosperity of Brampton.
'i
f The town was growing very fast and sp.ems to have been
I
ii
I thought to be even more populous than it really was.
I At least three plants were using steam for power and
I
!i the business of the town was evidently much greater in
i
[
I 1857 than in 1851.
Brampton became a town in 1873. In 1867
!
}
I
, it had been made the county seat of Peel, after a
I
I prolonged struggle for the honour with Malton, which was
I
I at one stage even taken into Court. The new status
'i
I
I increased Brampton's importance and prosperity, which
I
I was growing steadily through the sixties.
I
I This prosperity continued until after
1895, when owing to the failure of the Haggert Foundry
and Implement Factory, the town received a severe
setback from which it did not recover for about ten
years. Since then the population has increased steadily.
In 19J+l it was 6020 - ten times the population of the village
of 1851.
6. The Spread of Toronto
The growth of Toronto affected the
country-side in the same way as the villages. Since
1921 the lower part of the watershed has become steadily
more and more suburban. The growth of market gardening
was already changing Etobicoke and part of Toronto
Township by 1911. After the development of motor
traffic and paved roads the movement of population was
much more rapid. The populations of Etobicoke
it d
I ______
- -
I
- POPUlATION OF + ~ .-
TORONTO TP '1
,- CHINGUACOUSY TP ~ t +- ,_
I
AND
- TOWN OF BRAMPTON .... . t tt t- ,_
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+--- T- if--- --~.' .1- t ~ . ;-- - -
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f I A' -- +--- '.... _ + __ . _ ~---+'__ __ +-_ ....
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-----_710________
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'i'9
aad Toronto Townships nearly doubled between 1921 and
1941.
This movement of population hart probably
some effect on the growth of Brampton, but did not affect
the TOVU1Ship of Chinguacousy. The population of this
township continued to grow less up to 1941 and it is not
unlikely that the same tendency might be observed in
the Northern part of Toronto Township if separate fig-
ures were available.
The peak of farm population in the
northern part of the watershed may be placert close to
1867. This was also a peak for the southern area but
has been far surpassed by recent growth. It is not
unlikely that a similar growth IJay have already began
in the northern part and with wise planning in the future
it may become as marked here as lower down the river.
/
('t\ rl
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rl ()\ \0 -:t 0
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OS
6/
CHAPTER. 5
AGR.ICULTUHE
The history of agriculture on the Etobicoke
watershed followed a development similar to all areas
in Southern Ontario which originally supported mixed hardwood
forest, and can be conveniently grouped into four periods,
namely pioneering, grain farming, transition to mixed farm-
ing and present day agriculture.
1. The PioneerinR Period 1807 - 1~40
That part of the watershed lying south of the 2nd
concession north of Dundas Street, which is the north bound-
ary of the "old survey" of Toronto Township was opened for
settlement in l807. Settlement in the lands north of this
line commenced in 1819 by emigrants from New BrunSWiCk,
the United States and by United Empire Loyalists. Every
emigrant who received land under this settlement was
nobliged to clear at least five acres and fence it, build
a log house 24 feet by 18 feet and make the road in front of
his lot, in eighteen months' time: On producing evidence of
doing such duties he had his writings made out securing such
land to him and his heirs by paying to the crown 5 pounds
14 Shillings 1 pence.n2 In order to do this work and to
carryon his first attempts at farming, his implements were
of the simplest kind and included such items as a wooden
mould-board plow, a log chain, home made sleds, wooden
harrows, heavy iron axes, shovels and forks, a scythe and
a cradle for reaping his grain.
Subsistence farming was the order of the day,
and the settler endeavoured to produce as many of his needs
1. Bagwell seems to be quoting the duties of settlers along
main roads. Ordinary settlers were only required to clear
half the road, and the size of house was usually smaller.
2. John Bagwell's letters 1819. Ontario Archives. "Bagwell
the writer resided all his lifetime on this farm, which
he broke up and cultivated, and died at the ripe old
age of 90, having accumulated over ~gO,OOO. He was a
prominent and loyal citizen in this community." Note
, attached to letters. Bagwell lived for many years
before his death on Lot 12, Con. 4 which he had probably
~ purchased about 1822.
ii
Ii
,
r
~
i
~
,
Ob)
as possible. Ready cash was very scarce. It is inter-
esting to note in John Bagwell's letters the lack of
capital by these early settlers. Bagwell himself, one of
the first settlers in Chinguacousy Township, having emigrated
from England by way of the United States in 1819 and
taken up land on lot 14 concession 4, on several occasions
in the first three years of his settlement wrote to his
brother and sister in England for loans to help him
become established.
Wheat, corn and potatoes were staple
crops and almost every farmer cultivated a small field of
flax to furnish the family linen. The system of cropping
was of the simplest type, generally wheat followed by
corn, potatoes, oats and peas. Often wheat was grown
continuously on the same land for ten years. It is for-
tunate that the majority of the soils in the watershed
were sufficiently heavy and fertile to stand this almost
continuous cropping system, or otherwise the trend of
settlement and prosperity would have been seriously
altered.
The pasture and hay grasses native to the
water~ed at that time were chiefly Kentucky Blue Grass
(Poa pratensis) found on the well drained soils and Red
Top (Agrostis alba) occupying the poorly drained soils.
1
Mr. John Lynch of Brampton, writing an Agricultural Report
on the County of Peel in 1953, states that "on new wet
ground there was a native grass called Red Top which
produced a most luxuriant crop of fine sweet hay, but the
plough however has entirely banished this grass from the
older farms". Timothy, Orchard Grass (Dactylis glomerata)
and wild vmite Clover (Trifolium repens) were brought in with the
1. Transactions of the Board of Agriculture for Upper Canada
1855.
.5.3
settlers in this period and added to the productivity
of the meadows. It is related that the Indians called
wild white clover "white man's foot grass", because
it grew wherever white men settled. Hay was an im-
portant item in the simple economy of the early
settler because the amount of stock a settler could
keep was limited by the lack or abundance of shelter
and feed. The difficulty and expense of wintering
stock was one of the heaviest drains on the farmer's
resources. Only that stock essential for domestic
needs was kept.
The favourite breeds of stock were Short-
horn cattle, Berkshire swin& and the long woolled
breeds of sheep, chiefly Cotswold and Leicester. The
type of horse kept was often a cross between a "blood"
and draught type, the object being to breed a horse
strong enough for farm work and fast enough for the
road. It was not until the 1850's that this dual type
horse gave way to the Clydesdale as the ,favourite
farm draught horse.
2. The Grain Growing Period 1840 - 1880
/
The basin of agriculture on the Etobicoke
Watershed in this period had developed into grain growing
with emphasis on wheat.
The folloWing table from the Canada Census
shows the trend of wheat production in the townships
of Chinguacousy and Toronto during the period 1851
to 1931.
I
I
':;16
WHEAT PRODUCTION IN THE TOWNSHIPS OF CHINGUACOUSY
AND TORONTO - l8sl - 19)1
Chinguacousy Toronto
Crop- % Crop- ~
land Wheat Crop- Wheat land Wheat Crop- Wheat
Acres Acres land Bus. Acres Acres land BUS~
18Sl 23131 14034 60. 246898 19999 ~~~~o ~f ;:~~~~~
1861 42972 17710 40. 330860 ;2433
lo62_0
l87l 51784 11425 22. 241607 39046 6944 l8~
1 6222
1881 56449 15607 30. 228360 !.t1870 9877 24. ..146840
1891 48740 10562 2l. 148840 37540 6880 19. ~~~~~
1911 49639 6242 1.2. l59(8 39378 4415 11.
1931 46226 5068 ll. no 30677 2929 7. no
return retu~n
An examination of this table shows that in Chinguacousy
township in 1851, 60 per cent of the cropland was in wheat
compared to II per cent in 1931.
This emphasis on gr~in growing with no corresponding
increase in livestock prOduction, as shown in the following
table from the Canada Census, was a very unbalanced agriculture
and was referred to as "suicidal" by Geo. Alexander; President
of the Provincial Agricultural Association in 1857.
) LIVESTOCK ON THE FAill~ OF PEEL COUNTY
Horses
Milch Cows (over 3 yrs. old) HOils Sheep
~85l 8107 6341 11847 29007
1861 9809 7072 19876 28337
1871 7021 5046 l22~7 194.73
l8Sl 6580 5624 l1269 12842
1891 7552 6248 l5849 6572
I 1901 8024 5569 l5153 74.88
1911 1~g24 105668 29584 -' 8382
1931 19246 7842 l8500 l8263
1. Transactions of the Board of Agriculture for Upper Canada,
l857.
-------
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The accepted crop rotation of this period
was to have more than one third of the cultivated land
in wheat, most of it sown on prepared fallowed ground
and the remainder of the wheat after peas, oats or barley,
leas than one third in fallow And one third in mixed
grains, roots and hay. Thus the greater part of the
fallow ground would necessarily be that which had been
used for wheat in the previous year. This rotation of
wheat and fallow alternately produced heavy crops while
the land \'TaS ne,.., and fertile, but was a severely depleting
system on the supply of plant nutrients and organic
matter in the soils and Soon showed these unwelcome
truths on many of the 01d6r cultivated farms. It was
not until the early 50's that the value of manure to
the land was appreciated. H. Y. HindI of Trinity College
Toronto points out in his Agricultural Report on the
Unit~d Counties of York, Peel and Ontario in 1853 that
"large h~aps of manure frequently have been purchased
for & mere trifle from farms whose impoverished soil
now yields scarcely 12 bushels of wheat to the acre
where it once prodlJ.ced 30 to 35 bushels".
Wood ashes was one of the first forms of
commercial fertilizer used and was highly endorsed by
the "Agricultural Societies" of the day. Liming Was
considered too expensive an uperation, but many farmers
used plaster of Paris2 which has a high calcium content.
Later when alfalfa was introduced and the growing of
clover was appreciated, liming became a more genoral
practice, especially on the poorly drained areas where
acid conditions tended to develop.
1. Transactions of the Board of Agriculture for Upper
Canada 1$57.
2. It is probable that true plaster of Paris is meant
(dehydrated calcium sulphate) as this could be obtained
from gypsum deposits which are said to have given
Paris, Ont., its name. - Sir Richard Bonnycastle, "The
Canadas 1$41 ft.
,
, '
--IJI(.Ut 1~I'O~-lIio., -I';{)U 1'1 Din- !!! I
I
I
I
j
I
!
Il
JI:\(;GEHT BH()'rIIEH~,
I) It&, l.t, ....'.. Lout l~,' Inli.hlL.aDU ,.,f '.L.. :"\tJrTolJr ~ '.., "" '.0-"- II-,..Ir..
) . " . '"" . ,. ........ ~&, -u .at &0
A....., ,',.. r' ..m ,,"'. ...r,.1 h... .,.W' "''''''''<< ,.~ r"r' '", ,. . '..'r . . I
" ! ' .. "- I ""* &1 (.Jr,.,,'. or
S 'r I'~ j\ lvl - J1:'N (; I ~ L' ~
........ ., t
j. it E :\ P I r-.i (; - M\ (' H I \ E .~ ,
'. Thra.shing-JIlIachines and 8eparaton
. FI,CR, J;J(r//T, .i\V Ff, \ /I'IR....,.; PI/HER, J
SEED DRILLS, OF THE MOST APPROVED PATTERNS
\ 'T ,J:' J,," 1. \.'.' ,,:,Ll.i., 11.11'\1 XI ,",,) 1.'?(1. (''''PI l n '
~.r. ,,-4 uHer" TrouKh., &,<<
"'. '\J' < "";I:J. Ie.' 1lI '~~k"':){l H."t~1 W r &At"-'Ii'" . 1 :'ll }'.., p'. to
:I,'jl ~r. .: '.";1- ""'f .i' &,' l ,.
}, 'iJIII'KI ".~ 1//: dr'''' 1/'tIU:" mad! ,I OtjJ'~""1 flU' ......~rrr"l
.\"tVi'
~'I.';' .... '...f,r'.r.. ool~-
6
-.--.. . I
Stray Steers. I
\ C b 'L_ I
I ("''1 AN E in t.) t h.. P rl' m i3eB" of ~f' :')11 ~Cr1U\' r, !
'\../ Lot ~(l ], l~t Lltl€ East, Chlngtl&Cous.r. j
'on ()rn.~)1~llt.thp l~ti~ Noyember l~t, 1\ YOKE
I of ~Tr,t~H~, '\n.. ltol a Ot\rk Bnndle, aad the I
! ot.b~r 1\ '''hitt' with dark 8pot81 &nd are about
i five Jean old.
! The owner is reqne8ted to prove proper'l,
I .
! IJn.v e:spense8 4nd ta\e them 6lway.
! .. ED\\" ARD COYNE.
; ('hin~tJacom:;y, Feb. 4. 18~9. 4~-3t.
i _._.__.c ,.,_.._.__.__.,~_..,,__"..< _.__._~,.,_"____~ _,_ ___ ,_ ~'_____"_ _____.-.~
.sg
I
I
I Underdraining had not been practised until
j
l the 1860's but low lying fields were surface drained in
I
the autumn by ploughing out a series of shallow ditches
f
to carry away the run-off in the spring. A feature of
i.
i,
,. this period was the improvements made in agricultural
I'
I.
I
Ii implements. Haggert Bros. established an implement
I:
I works and iron foundry in Brarnpton in 1849 and manufac-
I
I tured plows, harrows and one of the first types of grain
~
separators. In 1864 this factory was producing reaping
~
~ It was in this period also that the seed
i machines.
I drill was fDst used on the watershed. Other intro-
i[
ductions were the sulky rake, double-furrow plow, ditch-
I digging implements, and raking machines.
I Closely associated with the progress of
I
this period was the Peel County Agricultural Society
~
~
~ organized in l85J, Mr. Peleg Howland of Brampton being
!
"
!
~ its first president. Also, a branch of specialized
I
~ agriculture in this period was the establishing in 1873
j
"
~
I of the Dale Nurseries at Brampton.
~
~
I
ij 3. Transition to Mixed Farmim! 1880 - 1900
"
I
, In 1870 when grain growing had become
"
!
"
I stabilized on the watershed with dependence on the home
and British markets, the western provinces had begun to
produce wheat in quantity. The greater productivity of
the prairie soils for wheat and their adaptability for
large scale farming placed Ontario at a disadvantage in
producing this crop. Wheat as a major crop commenced to
decline and there was a gradual transition to mixed farm-
ing with emphasis on milk products and livestock.
There was also a growing demand in Canada
and the United States for draught horses for the heavy
industries and for carriage horses in the towns and
cities. This demand continued until 1895 and made
horse breeding one of the major sources of income at a
time when profit from wheat was diminishing. The large
horse barns near Brampton are evidence to-day of this
.5"9
once flourishing phase of agriculture.
From lB90 to lB95 however there was a
rapid slacking off of the demand for heavy horses, due
to the electrification of the street railway in the lB90's
and the fact that the Americans were now breeding their
own draught horses and placed an embargo on Canadian
horses. The loss of this source of farm income placed
greater emphasis on the breeding of dairy cattle for
whole-milk production: This in turn placed emphasis
on the necessity for better hay and pasture improvements.
In 1896 alfalfa, or lucerne as it was more commonly
called then, was first sown in Peel County on the Snyder
farm on the 3rd line east, Chinguacousy township. It
was at first regarded as a noxbus weed by many in the
community, however it was soon realized that alfalfa
hay \iCiS the salvation of the livestock breeder. So
adapted were the majority of the soils of the inland part
of the watershed for alfalfa that in the later period
191$ - 192$ the production of alfalfa for seed became
widespread, but was subsequently made uneconomical by
Western alfalfa se~d production. This transition to
mixed farming with emphasis on the breeding of dairy
cattle improved crop rotations and the use of legumes
tended to restore to the soil the plant nutrients and
organic matter lost by the continuous grain-cropping
system.
4. Present Dav A~riculture 1900 - 1941.
By the turn of the century a well balanced
farming economy was established on the watershed. The
proximity of the watershed to Toronto was an impetus to
the development of the whole-milk trade and this is
one of the major items in the farm program to-day.
1. The sale of hay, grain and straw to the cities and
towns was also an important source of income to
farmers, as long as the horse was generally used for
transportation.
~o
There is a "'ide gap between the pioneer's Shorthorn cow
producing 4000 pounds or milk and 200 pounds or butterrat
and "Brampton Basilua", the world champion Jersey cow
for butterfat production in 1933, which produced 19,Ol2
pounds of milk and l3l2 pounds of butterfat in 365 days.
The long-\'loolled Cotswold and Leicester
sheep hav~ given way to the more mutton type of breeds
such as the Oxford, Suffolk, Shropshire and Hampshire.
Similarly the Berkshire hog has been replaced with the
more bacon type Yorkshire.
Agriculture to-day on the greater part of
the Kc.obicoke watershed is characterized chiefly by
whole-milk production for i:,h~ Toronto market and the
J
breeding of dairy cattle. A smaller portion of the
watershed near the mouth of the creek shows rather a
difrerent development due to the proximity to the city
and its suburbs and to a marked difference in the soils
and a small but significant difference in the climate~
Here on ti1e morainic and deltaic sandy soils a special-
ization in fruit growing and market gardening has devel-
oped.
I
(P/ . :
II
LAND
C:,~
CHAPTER 6
GENERAL CONSIDERATION
1. The Land Use Survey
A land use survey is a detailed inventory
of the physical properties of the l~nd and of the use
to which it is being put. Soil type, slope and erosion
and the major physical factors influencing its use are
shown in relation to the present use of the land. The
field man crosses the land on foot, examines the soil
with a soil augur, determines its type, estimates the
degree of erosion it has undergone and measures the
slope of the land by means of an Abney level. Each
natural land area exhibiting the same characteristics
which is large enough to have practical significance is
mapped. Aerial photographs giving a map on the scale of
one inch to 1000 feet are used as the base on which
detail is mapped. Field boundaries are marked and the
use to which each is put is marked. Other physical
factors, especially the surface drainage are indicated.
Each area delineated is outlined with a black line and
a symbol ffiB.rked on the area. This symbol expresses in
a coudensed form the features that have been observed.
The features mapped in this way are transferred on the
same scale to one map by use of an Abrams Sketchmaster
and copies of this map are provided with the report.
Measurement of the areas delineated on the map is made
by the use of templates marked in acres to the scale of
the map, these are entered in the table of acreages from
which observations of the conditions prevailing on the
watershed can be made.
The purpose of the survey is to find the
relation between the condition of the land and the use
to which it has been put so that future use may be
planned to fit the capabilities of the land as it now
stands. The type of soil, its slope and susceptibility
'='~
to erosion, the erosion that has occurred, internal
and surface drainage, stoniness and shallowness, all
these determine the capability of the land. To measure
the capability of the land a 'yardstick' has been devised
which classifies the land and indicates the treatme~
which is best for each class of land. This 'yardstick' ,
called the "Land Use Capability Classification" is used.
Then there can be shown clearly over the area studied
those areas which would be best withdrawn from cultiv-
ation and put into woodlot or pasture because of stoni-
ness, wetness, steepness, shallowoess or thinness of
soil; those areas which would be suitable to drain,
those areas in which it would be beneficial to practice
erosion control measures and those areas in which the
continued practice of good farm management will ensure
for the future the same good returns that they have
shown in the past. Also there can be observed those
stretches of land most suitable for Withdrawing from
agricultural production that are required for the use of
the community for such purposes as reservoirs, waterworks,
forests, game sanctuaries, recreational areas and parks.
2. Soils
--
There is a systematic science dealing with
soils that has, so far, accumulated a considerable
body of knowledge of soils, their properties, character_
istics, use, capabilities and response to treatment. This
science recognizes soil as a natural body formed from
the materials at the surface of the earth by the action
of water, air, the plants which live on it and the
microorganisms which live in it, over a period of time.
The kind of soil which is found at anyone Spot has been
determined by the mineral substances at the surface and
underlying the surface, the local climate, the access of
air and water to the soil and the kinds of plants that
have been living on it in the past. The topography
affects the movement of the water in and through the
~~
,
soil so that it, t~ has affected the kind of soil
produced. lVIany of the conditiolts thlit have led to the
building of soils in Southern Ontario have been similar
throughout the province so that differences in soils can be
traced to two main influences, that of parent mineral
material and soil water.
Soils can be recognized, described and
classified on the observation of' the 'profile' or
vertical section. This is done by digging and shOWing
a face of the cut into the soil or by examining samples
at various depths by boring with ~n augur. Examination
of this profile shows what appears to be 'layers' of soil
with different chal~cteristics. As they have not
actually been 'layed' down as they appear but have
i grown up in place by the action of those natural forces
described above they are called 'horizons t. The most
~
i characteristic feature of the soils of Southern Ontario
I
!
I has been a process called 'Podsolization', in this a
I
~ wet cool climate and a forest cover has brought about
,
"
i
I the leaching of soluble mineral and colloidal material
;
I from the top horizon and their deposition in a lower
horizon. The horizon at the surface is called the 'A'
horizon, the next lowest, in which there has been
depOSition, is called the 'B' horizon. The next lowest,
called the 'C' horizon, consists of the parent material
and is mineral matter little, or not at all, affected
by the soil building processes. The 'A' horizon is
subdivided into three, the AD, Al and A2 horizons.
The AD horizon consists of the decomposed leaves or
grass of the natural cover, little mixed with mineral
matter. The Al horizon is mineral matter (sand, clay,
silt or gravel) with a heavy admixture of still further
decomposed organic matter and is darker in colour than
the lower soil. This is often called the 'top soil'
but in this report top soil is used to refer to the
Whole A horizon and 'sub-soil' to refer to the B.
fl":
,), )
Fores! Illler and
t.o >-t0r'zon CJ leaf mould
Freshly plowed
A, Horizon 7' Dark minerai sod layer
A, HOrizon
I '
e,)cne1
A. rlor']r,"" ,,~I :; ro, bro.m A. HOrizon
rr, "era ~o,1
i 1 I
I.
.- ,,~-,-.............
Reddl ~h brown
B "oril0n C' more ompxt R "10rlzon
......,ne' , '1)(' I
-
T, , HOrizon ,) "
H(;.r,lOr'o
ft' " l :
f ')r rlle,j I', ' ,
'>I!rQIIl p" f,le Vlrg,n Prof tie
natural fares' sod aile, first plOWing
"-''-"'\. "'~ "'1
rult,... "ed lover
Ao . A, Hor ,Ion , , been
"'\'1 rp'~ . " ~
- ."~ -'- 1''''A~_'' l~ulllvated laier
A, HO'llon
.... ~......" I ""'sit)' A1 With
A. . :. H~)'ll,-H ! sU'r;e A I rema Inlng.
I
A. I1r)r 1',l' ~ . ---~-............ . ,~
"'1 ~0' Inn
I "l
B HOllzon I B Horizon
i lo ' I.? 1
I r'
^ I 1 Uo
C HOlllon ! 1 - l' C Harllon
I c'()ll
I C /':- / 1 () 0 0)1
I i I. I o 1 0 '(J :
Non - eroded Eroded cultivated sod
culflvated serl where ~ topsc II
.
has been lost
, t ' " J:' , ., ; 1-: 0 01"1;.00:3 found in the
" "
r , r, "I 1 i.~' .;l;.lJ'l ~~')~l~ or t..o
" I, .~ l . ~ '
. ! ,~ ~ t ," ~rt) r~; ~1 ~ ..(1. '-1" :)0 l;.:Jcor-
~ . '.
; I ! , . ~; ~. e" ~ :..... ': ~JU. t, U"1'Cr hor 1.:00
, , .~
0,' 1 1:1 ' . t ~,:t u: ,'..J{~ ;'" 1 t. t':.d t ion on siru-
, "l.; .
t:,~
hori zon. The A2 horiaon is the zone of greatest leaching,
is much lighter in colour than the horizon above or
below it, it looks ashy in its most extreme form. The
B horizon tends to be browner than the other horizons, a
little more cempact and plastic and is often mottled
with reddish patches. The C horizon exhibits only the
characteristics of the mineral matter of the parent
material. For fine distinctions in describing soils
of very nearly the same type further subdivisions may
be made of these horizons. Where land tends to be
very poorly drained there occurs below the B horizon,
or in place of it, a gray very compact plastic soil
ca.lled 'glei" or the "0" horizon.
The classification of soils is made first
with reference to the climate and original plant cover,
and certain fairly well defined zones are observed over
the world. The major group of soils which includes
most of the soils of Southern Ontario is called the
Gray Brown, Forest (or podzolic) soils. These soils
were for.ed under hardwood or mixed hardwood forest
under a climate the same or similar to that which is
experienced now. Within this group there is a further
division into Associations on the bases of the parent
material from which the soils were formed. As most of
the mantle of rock in Ontario is a glacial deposit of
one sort or another, such as boulder clay or till, mor-
aine, water deposits and so forth, a study of the
physiographic origin of the soil is the first step in
describing and classifying soils. Within anyone assoc-
iation there are a number of soil "Series" based on
the degree of development of the soil. the factor which
has influenced this development the most is that of
aeration and wetting of the soil so that within one
association we might find excessively drained (and too
aerated) soils, well drained and well developed soils,
imperfectly drained soils and poorly drained soils.
67
Within a series there is another classification accord-
ing to texture of the soil and this, added to the name
of the series, gives the name of the soil type. Soil
series are named after the locality in which they were
first recognized and described, for example, Peel,
Haldimand, Chinguacousy, King, Pontypool, Brighton and
Kettleby. Soil textures are described as sandy, silty,
clay or loam or as clay loam, silt loam and sandy loam
depending on the proportion of soil separates that OCcur
in the soil, sand or gravel being the coarsest particles,
clay the finest particles and even mixtures being loam.
Where a soil type, such as Grenville Loam, occurs in
more than one way a further description is added and
the full name then refers to a phase, for example,
Grenville Loam and Grenvile Loam, bouldery phase. A
soil series can be considered parallel to a plant
Genus, Type to Species and Phase to Variety.
Where soil occurs in a river bottom and
because of its recent deposition by water and its annual
flooding has not developed a profile it is mapped as
tBot tom Land t . Also there are soils that are so wet
that the profile development is very much reduced and
they are described and mapped as muck or peat, muck is
black, contains organic matter fairly well decomposed
and lies directly over parent material that is nearly
always saturated with water, peat is even wetter,
decomposition has not proceeded so far, plant remains
may often be seen and it is likely to be more brown in
colour.
The mapping of soils and examination of
the soils in the field and in the laboratory to deter-
mine their phYSical and chemical composition is the func-
tion of a soil survey. This is done in Ontario, county
by county, by the Ontario Soil Survey which is contrib-
uted to by the Ontario Agricultural College and the
~
6~
Experimental Farm Service of the Dominion Department of
Agriculture. It is done on what is called the detailed
I
reconnaissance scale and their results and observations I
!
are mapped on the scale of one inch to the mile on the
topographic sheets. In Some cases reports accompany the
maps, as published, describing in detail not only the
soils that are mapped but conditions of erosion, fertil-
ity, crop adaptability and type of topography that is
found. Soil types are identified by name and a mapping
symbol composed of abbreviations and initials of the name
are inserted on the map. These maps are used as the
basis for the more detailed observations made of soil
type, condition and use that are made by this department.
-
~9
3. MaPDing Svmbols for Soils
A method of classifying the soils found
in Ontario on a basis that gives a method for mapping
the natural types of soil has been worked out by Mr.
G. A. Hills, now of the Department of Lands and Forests
of Ontario. This is called the 'Decimal System for the
Classification and Mapping of Ontario Soils' and is
used in the field work and published maps of the Depart-
ment of Planning and Development.
Using this system a soil series can be
described by using a three digit nwnber, each digit
representing one of the three main features of the
soil in the following manner:
Hundreds digit Tens digit Unit digit
Parent material Rock composition Profile development
Types of parent material according to
the manner in which the material originated, when
represented by the first of the three digits, the
digits indicate the following:
o. Thin drift.
1. Coarse textured open till.
2. Loamy Till.
3. Heavy Till.
4. Roughly stratified gravelly drift.
5. Uniformly stratified gravelly drift.
6. Heavy deep water deposits.
7. Loamy deep water deposits.
8. Roughly stratified sandy drift.
9. Uniformly stratified sandy drift.
(whichever of these classifications occur in the report
are described in the chapter describing the physiography
of the area.)
The second digit signifies the proportion
of sandstone, limestone and shale represented in the
mineral matter from which the soil has been developed.
The position of the digit in the following table which
best demonstrates the proportion of these rocks is used.
1-
70
~ siliceous
j;].\ 100% argillaceous
/ \
/ ,
, , \
I
/ \
.I \
,/~
50% siliceo~s ,;1 \ 50% argillaceous
,{
It
/ \
siliceous ... j \
\
5 6 ~\...O% argillaceous
calcareous .... ,~ calcareous 100% Ctstlcareous
The third digit represents th~ develop-
ment or the soil profile in the mineral matter indicated
by the first two digits. From the following table it will
be seen that '2' represents the best developed soil, '1 '
and '0' represent excessively drained soils with poer
profile development and numbers lower than two represent
progressively poorer development due to poor drainage.
o. Excessively drained and aerated, practically no
profile and no capacity to hold water.
1. Excessively drained, poor profile development.
2. The best development of a soil profile possible under
local conditions.
3. Slightly imperfectly drained, some 'mottling' in the
'B' horizon.
4. Imperfectly drained, mottled 'B' horizon apparent.
5. ~fuere great variations occur, used to represent
transition from 4 to 6.
6. Poorly drained, 'B' horizon, bluish, mottled with
brown, often replaced by 'glei' horizon or nearly
laCking.
7. Gray muck over mottled or bluish sticky glei.
No A2 or B horizon.
~
Thus, three digits, 682, signifies a soil that
is water laid, composed largely of limey and shaley
material with a well drained, fully developed profile.
The first two features are those which distinguish "assoc-
iations", previously mentioned. Further differentiation
indicates the series, and indicates local differentiation
so that within an area in which all soils are mapped 68 _
there may be some 6e2, Some 684 and some 686, indicating the
well drained, imperfectly drained and poorly drained
I associates. These three series have names _ Peel,
I'
Haldimand and Brookston, or may be referred to as the
I well, imperfectly and poorly drained associates. The
addition of initials signifying clay, sand, silt, loam,
clay loam, etc. specifies the type within the series.
r:
~ ExamDle: In reading the map of the area or a table of
~
,
~ figures it is easy to interpret what is given when this
j
, decimal notation is used. ~fuere the soil type symbol
,
j
! begins with the digit 6, soil of the bevelled clay plain
l
I is indicated, the final digit indicates the natural
,
I
i internal drainage of the soil, 2 is the optimum, 3, 4,
I
j
i
I and so on indicate progressively poorer degrees of
I
I
drainage.
I
I 4. MaDDine Land Use
I
In Mapping Land Use, three main uses are
recognized and mapped, (l) land under cultivation and
cropped, including pasture where that is part of the
rotation used. (2) permanent pasture, that is land
which has been under pasture, not part of a rotation.
(3) forest land, land covered by trees, which may be
pastured as well.
In the field the use to which every
field is put is marked with a symbol, L for cropped
land, P for permanent pasture and F for woodlot. Idle
land, where found, is marked with an X, special features
are also marked, such as gravel pit (G.P.), recreational
'7~
land, urban development, airports and so forth. The
purpose of this survey is to compare the natural capabil-
ities of the land and the actual use to which it is being
put. Where present use is in accord with its capabil-
ities, a good adjustment of land use to land can be
assumed and little is needed of conservation measures.
Where land use is not adjusted to natural capabilities
the results of such poor adjustment are often obvious
and the need for conservation measures to be adopted
is readily seen. There are two aspects of this problem,
first, misuse or excessive use of poor lands and second,
neglect to use fully the best lands. Often the readjust-
ment consists of limiting use of land of lesser capabil-
ities and extending or intensifying use of the better
land so as to return a well balanced economy of the area.
5. Erosion
A major problem in agricultural land use
occurs in some regions in the form of soil erosion. This
occurs on lighter soils on any kind of slope and in any
80il where th6 topography is such that long or steep
slopes appear. This is not only a problem to the agricul-
turalist in reduced yields and effectiveness of the farm
operations, but is parallel to and contributory to prob-
lems of diminshed water supply and possibility of floods.
Indeed, erosion, diminished water supply and threat of
floods very often run hand in hand. Erosion and loss of
water together materially reduce the effectiveness of
any agricultural program.
Soil erosion is brought about by two
main causes, wind and water. In Some light sandy soils
which have been exposed to the action of the wind,
severe erosion has occurred. This not only reduces the
crop carrying capacity of the eroded soil but the
deposition of sand by wind on adjacent areas drastic-
ally affects their use too. Water erosion is the kind
7J
most generally met with in Ontario and can be seen
almost anywhere that land with any slope has been
exposed by cultivation for any length of time. The
actual process as it goes on can be easily observed and
recognized and as such is known to the farmer as 'wash' .
Recognition of the nature of soil brings home a fuller
appreciation of the significance of erosion. The extent
of erosion in anyone place can be measured by observing
the soil profile. A study of the soil in an unexposed
spot, or in a place where it has not been subject to
erosion, will show the depths of the horizons in that
soil type, for example a soil may regularly exhibit
an 'A' horizon of 18 inches underlain by a 'B' horizon of
one foot. If the saMe soil in an area subject to erosion
shows an 'A' horizon of only six inches or none at all,
we can easily recognize the extent of the erosion that
has taken place. This is the kind of examination that is
made in the field when a conservation survey is made.
Water erosion starts as sheet erosion
when rain or welt water begins to wash the surface soil
off a slope. When sheet erosion has progressed to the
point where the running water has begun to form its own
water courses, or is induced into water courses created
by furrows, ruts or drill rows, 'rill' erosion occurs and
deeper cuts are made into the soil. i~re extreme still,
and following rill erosion is gulley erosion. This is
the most obvious evidence of erosion but it must be
borne in mind that the occurrence of gulley erosion is the
extreme manifestation of erosion and indicates that
severe erosion has been going on before the gulleys were
formed. The velocity of the moving water increases
very sharply with degree and length of slope and its
ability to carry away the soil increases even more
sharply with increased velocity. The other vicious
characteristic of erosion is that as the humus bearing
71
'Al' horizon is removed the soil is less able to
hold the water that fails upon it and there is more run-
off to cause erosion. When the 'E' horizon has been
removed the exposed parent material is very easily
eroded and when deposited on the lower land on which it
comes to rest, the lower land loses much of its agricul-
tural value.
Protection against erosion is achieved
by maintaining, as much as Possible, plant cover on the
soils that are Subject to erosion, by restricting the
surfcce movement of ~1ater on sloping lands and above all
by maintaining in the soil the highest Possible propor-
tion of humus.
Besides susceptibility to erosion there
are other natural land conditions that are met with. The
most general of these is restricted drainage in the soil.
This may be due to poor surface drainage which will not
remove the excess wa-ter f'rom the land or it may be du~
to the material of which the soil is made. Of'ten these
two go together. This is land that is called 'cold'
land by the farmer and experience with his own land
soon shows him which soils are in that state and he
either restricts his use of it accordingly or over-
comes the disadvantage by instituting a drainage system,
underdrainage, surface drainage or both. If the topo-
graphy is not suitable for such a system than he is
forced to restrict the use of the land or run the risk
of hazardous cropping. The effectiveness of' natural
internal dr~inage can easily be observed from the soil
profile. In the 'E' horizon the presence of iron
compounds gives it a characteristic colour. If the
water table i8 well below the soil profile and there is
a good chance for air to enter the soil the iron Com-
pounds are oxidized and there is a reddish-brown tinge
to the soil. If the water table is close to the surface
the iron compounds are reduced (or deoxidized) and are
~.
""
characteristically blue-grey. If there is a fluctuating
water table that has alternately permitted and excluded
air from the soil the fB' horizon will be mottled with
brown and gray. These are the observations made by the
survey field man determining the soil type according to
drainage.
6. Land Use Capability Classification
In an inventory of natural capabilities
of land with a view to planning its use some kind of
'yardstick' must he devised by which the worth of land
can be measured in terms of its natural capabilities and
the uses to which it is capable of being put. The yard-
stick used in this survey and report is called the La.nd
Use Capability Classification and was designed by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Service.
In this classification land is grouped into eight
classes according to its capabilities or the practices
which would have to be carried out to bring such land
into fullest possible production agriculturally. The
downgrading of land in this classification may be due
to limitations imposed by erosion or susceptibility to
erosion, by poor natural drainage, by stoniness or
shallowness of soil. The means whereby it may be
brought into the fullest Possible production of which it
is capable, without deterioration of its natural qualities,
consists of various special farming practices or by
limitation of its use to special purposes or by restrict_
ion of crop rotations. When land use is best adjusted
to its natural capabilities it is giving the most profit-
able yield which can be maintained indefinitely.
Classification of Land
Land suitable for cultivation with:
1. No special practices, Level well drained land with
good supply of available
plant nutrients.
11. Simple practices, Land subject to erosion which
will respond to erosion control
practices, or imperfectly
drained soil due to tough
subsoil.
7~
lll. Intensive practices, Subject to erosion or poor-
ly dra~n~d
Land suitable for occasional or limited cultivation with:
lV. Limited use or Eroded or poorly drained
intensive practices, land (often best suited for
lonR: rotationsJ.
Land not suitable for cultivation but suitable for
I permanent vegetation with:
I
i V. No special restrictions
[ or special practices Level land not subject to
i
i erosion but too wet or stoney
t
I and for which drainage or
I clearin~ is not pr~cticftble.
,
r VI. Moderate restrict-
j
F ions in use, Subject to erosion, suitable
I
I for pasture or forest if
I protected from erosion~
,
*, VII. Severe restrictions
fc
, in use, Suitable for forestry with
I
practices to protect against
erosion.
Land not suitable for cultivation, grazing or forestry.
VI II . Land that may have
value for wildlife. Extremely rou~h or wet land.
Wnen 8n area has been mapped to show
soil types, drainage, slope and erosion, and other limit-
ing features it \'vould be cumbersome to describe the area
in terms of the multitude of conditions found but when
the various parcels so mapped are reduced to this
classification the picture becomes much simpler and a
guide to future use is then provided. It must be borne
in mind, however, that more than one feature may have
placed a parcel of land in anyone class and that
the remedial steps to be taken may follow different lines
according to that feature of the land which restricts
its use. Therefore in implementing any plan for land
use, reference must be made to the detailed conditbns
that have been observed, described and mapped. These
details and their significance are all contained in the
text of the report and indicated on the map which
accompanies it.
'7
7. P~PDin~ SxmbDls - Slooe. Erosion. Water, Land Us~
The way in which the natural features of
the land and its present use are mapped in the field is
shown in the following table:
SLOPE GROUPS HU~~OCKY TOPOGRAPHY
A - 0-2 per cent M- 0-7 per cent
B - 2-6 " " N - 7-15 " tr
C - 6-10 tr tr P - 15-25 " "
D - 10-15 " tr R - 25plus " "
E - 15-20 " "
F - 20...30 " ,.
G - 30plus" tJ
SHEET EROSION (WATER)
o - no apparent erosion.
1 - less than 1/3 topsoil removed.
2 - 1/3 - 2/3 topsoil removed.
3 - 2/3 plus topsoil and less l/3 subsoil.
4 - all topsoil and 1/3 - 2/3 subsoil.
5 - all topsoil and 2/3 plus subsoil.
- accumulation, give depth, eg. plus 8".
- erosion not determined.
(Topsoil -- A layers; Subsoil _ B layers)
wnw EROSION
P - Same as 1 under sheet erosion
R - ,. ,. 2 " " "
S _ " " 3 T' " "
T - ,. If 4 tJ " "
U - " " 5 " " "
GULLY EROSION
7 - more than 100 feet apart
$ - less than lOO feet apart but less than 75% area in gullies.
! 9 - frequent gullies, more than 75% area in gullies.
r
l: o - around 7, $ or 9, eg. (iJ gullies into subsoil.
I:
! V - about 7, g or 9, eg. \1/
[ gullies into subsoil.
~
f o an V-not crossed by implements.
F;
!
,
,
,
I
I
,
I
--
79
I
II WATER COURSES AJ~ D GULLIES
I
I[ (in BLUE)
II - permanent streams.
II
II --- ...,......., intermittent streams,
II
Ii ~,~intermittent streams no definite channel.
I
~ spring.
I
(in RED)
.--",,---- individual shallow gully.
~..~individual gully into subsoil.
individual gully into parent material.
PllliSENT LAND USE
(in RED)
P - permanent pasture.
F - woodland.
L - cultivated land.
X - idle land.
Some examples are given he~
282 The number on top indicates the soil series using
C27
the decimal system, most significant is the final '2'
which indicates that it is a well drained soil. In the
lower group of letters and numbers the letter indicates
the class of slope, in this example between 6 and 10 percent.
The digit following the letter indicates the degree of
erosion, one third to two thirds of the topsoil ('At
horizon) has been eroded, the 7 indicates that gulleys
occur more than 100 feet apart, they extend into the
parent material and can not be crossed by tillage implements.
Wt 6S4 imperfectly drained soil of the lacustrine
clay association.
AO slope less than 2% and no appreciable erosion.
~ 393 Slightly restricted drainage in glacial till soil.
Ml Irregular (or hummocky slopes) up to 7% with
slight erosion on the slopes.
---
7~
8. Remedial Measures
On cold or poorly drained land, exper-
ience and the demands which the ferr:1 operator has to
make on his land determine whether or not he institutes
a drainage system. On land which is eroded or suscep-
tible to erosion or where the matter of water supply is
one of serious concern there are four courses which may
be followed.
(1) Just plain good farm management. It is essential
I when there is close to land that can be counted on to
I
give good yields consistently with special practices, land
which is restricted in its capabilities and which may
require special practices, that special care must be
taken that the greatest and wisest use may be made of
the good land so that no unnecessary burden is placed
on land which requires special consideration.
(2) Conservation farming. There is much land which
is eroded or susceptible to erosion and in which there
I may be problems of water supply. There is a good deal
of this that can be brought into more efficient product-
ion without further deterioration by the adoption of
certain farming practices. These include contour cul-
tivation and strip cropping, terracing and diversion
ditches, grassing of watercourses, minor .farm engineer-
ing works and special rotations designed to add humus
to the soil and maintain plant cover on the land as much
as possible.
(3) Permanent pasture. There is land that is
subject to erosion that because of the topography or the
severity o.f the erosion are not suitable to be handled
in the ways mentioned in the preceding note. Protection
against erosion can best be obtained on these lands by
severe restriction o.f rotation to include hay and pasture
or by maintaining them permanently in pasture. Such lands
can by made, however, to carry their full share of the
90
the farm. If fullest use is to be r~de
meri~ a study of their soil fertilizer
a progra~ of such fertilization.
(4) Reforestation. Land whose soil and "'Tater
can not be protected by grass or which have
been so severely eroded that they will no longer support
a profitable stand of grass is best used as woodlot. There
land which is now under cultivation or in
that, in the long run, will give a better return
labour put into them if put into woodlot.
On anyone farr1, effectuation of a program
conservation may make the difference between
gain.
Adoption of any of these practices, where
well advised, may do much to assist the farmer. A complete
program carried out on the advice of technical experts
qualified to assist the farmer \rill not only be of great
Talue to the farmer but will assist in the overall
consideration of soil and water conservation by the whole
communi t y .
3/
CHAPTER 7
SOILS Of THE EAST BRANCH
General
The area of land on the Etobicoke
watershed which was subjected to a detailed study of
soils and land use comprised some 12,378 acres of the
watershed of the tributary stream that arises north-
east of Brampton at Heart Lake and joins the main stream
near Malton Airport. It includes three distinct regions
of physiographic origin as described in that section
of the repo~t dealing with physiographj-, namely Till
Plain, Buried Esker or Gravel Ridge, and Bevelled
Clay Plain. In these three regions there are soils of
three distinct associations. (1) Soils derived from
Heavy Till Loam, the best developed soll of this assoc-
iation is called Chinguacousy Clay Loam and is indicated
on the map and in the statistical tables by the mapping
symbol '393'. (2) Soils derived from Light Till Loam,
the best developed soll of which 1s called Ontario Loam
and is indicated by the symbol '282'. (3) Soils derived
from Lacustrine Clays on a Bevelled Till Plain, the best
developed soil of this association is Peel Clay Loam
which is indicated by the mapping symbol '682'.
The watershed of this tributary was
chosen as being representative of the 80ils, land use
and conditions of the watershed of the whole Etobicoke.
The soil map of Peel County prepared by the Ontario Soil
Survey shows soils of these associations covering most
of the watershed of the whole river. Another soil
that occurs on the watershed of the Etobicoke is also
represented on the area reported on in this survey, that 1s
'Berrien Sandy Loam'. This soil is derived from much
the same materials as the Peel Clay Loam in similar to-
pography but differs in having a layer of sandy loam
up to three feet in thickness over the clay and most
of the profile development is found within this sandy
layer.
TABLE I
SOIL TYPES
Showing Acreages and Percentage of Total
Percent
Soil Type Acres or
! Soils developed from
light till loam
Ontario Loam 282 0
Poorly (283
drained (284
associates (286
(287
li Soils developed from
heavy till loam
Chinguacousy (J92
Clay Loam (393 0
Poorly (394
drained (396
associates
~ Soils developed from
water laid deposits
on till plain
Peel Clay (682
Loam (683 2
Poorly (684 0
drained (686
associates
Berrien 5/682
Sandy Loam
D Miscellaneous
-
Muck
Bottomland
Gravel Pit
Water 2
Total Acreage 12378 lOO.O
J'~
I
I
if
II
II
I Table I shows the amount of each of these
,I
II soils that occurs in the area studied and the percent-
'I
I,
Ii age of total area of each soil. To summarize this table
!
I
, it may be said that l6.~ of the soils mapped were in the
I
t
light till loam association, 26.0% were in the heavy till
loam association and 46.5% were soils of the association
formed on the bevelled clay plain. The remainder
were Bottom Land and Muck soils which are included in
the areas of the other soils. Map shows the aerial dis-
tribution o~ these three associations on the East Branch
watershed.
I 2. Soils DeveloDed from Heavv T~ll Loam
I
i (l) Chinguacousy Clay Loam. Mapping symbol 393.
,
i
,
I A dull gray or light grayish brown clay loam over brownish
I
II and grayish shaly clay or clay loam, this soil occurs
~
~
" on level or gently undulating land with fair natural
!i
i,
ii
ii drainage. With a fairly compact subsoil and topography
[1
~
iJ
~ that restricts drainage somewhat this soil has a slight
j tendency to exhibit imperfect internal drainage. This
I 1s manifested by a slight brown and grey mottling in
i
,I
i
I the fB' horizon. Local farm operators get around this
,I
! difficulty by maintaining systems of shallow open field
~
i ditches which take away any surface water that tends
'I
'I
I to lie in the fields and the problem of slow internal
!
drainage does not restrict the use of the land apprec-
iably. The irregular topography where this soil occurs
often makes it difficult to get a clear passage for
surface drainage and surface ditches then only serve
to collect water. The slow internal drainage then
becomes a serious problem and good crop growth is
limited in the vicinity of such standing water. In such
cases the operator would be well advised to layout a
new drainage system and, if necessary, seek the coopera-
tion of his neighbour in finding out where he may best get
delivery of excess surface water. There is a general fall of
the land towards the south-wast and no field is far from
--
214
a well established natural watercourse that will serve
as an outlet for his ditches. This soil has fairly
numerous small stones, flat pieces of shale which in
no way appear to restrict the use of the land. It is
slightly acid in reaction, shows some deficiency in
phosphates and may require liming in places where acid
tendency can be shown to be affecting crop production.
MUch of the milk production and stock raising of the
district is carried on in this soil and a wide range of
crop use is seen with no apparent limitations of cereals,
grasDes and legumes. On fairly steep slopes and an
upland field 67 acres were found of a.n associate of this
soil that exhibited in its profile a better internal
drainage than is typical of Chinguacousy Clay Loam and
this was mapped with the symbol 392.
(2) Imperfectly drained Associates of Chinguacousy
Clay Loam.
t~pping Symbol 394. There is nearly as
much of this soil as there is of Chinguacousy Clay Loam
itself. It is found in those stretches where there is
less undulating land or where strong irregularities of
the slope prevented good surface drainage. The variety
of crops that may be produced on this is limited by its
poor drainB.ge and it has not been found feasible to
apply intensive drainage practices any more than are
applied to its better drained associate because of the
stones in it but mostly because of the irregular topo-
graphy. On this soil as on the other imperfectly or
poorly drained soils in the area there has grown up a
fairly extensive hay and pasture production associated
with the milk producing and stock breeding of the district.
(3) Poorly Drained Associate of Chinguacousy
Clay Loam.
Mapping Symbol 396. There were found to
be 73 acres of poorly drained soil in this association,
in this soil the excess of water in the profile has
9S
prevented anything like a rull development of the soil
and there is found a very much reduced 'B' horizon over
a bluish gray subsoil.
It is only very little better developed then the muck
soils found included in the area of this association.
J. Soils DeveloDed from Li~ht T~ll Loa~
(1) Ontario Loam. I~pping Symbol 282. Light browD
loam over reddish brown gnd gray stony loamj frequent
stones and boulders, this soil is on rolling, irregularly
slopir~ land and, in this locality, having been rOTmed
over a gravel ridge, it is very liberally supplied with
pebbles. Being light and on Sloping land this soil is
generally well drained though no excess drainage occurs
and there 1s little tendency for this soil to be droughty.
It is Slightly acid to neutral in reaction, may be
deficient in potash and phosphate and generally exhibits
humus deficiencies. It will carry cereal, grass and
legume crops but the Dature of the terrain where it is
found has limited its use somewhat and a great deal of
the pasture and woodlot or the region are found on this
Boil, The 3l acres of gravel pit found in the district
are contained in the area where this soil is found.
(2) The imperfectly and poorly drained Associates
of Ontario Loam.
A relatively rew acres of land were found
in which soil development from the light till loam has
been restricted by poor drainage. Where it has been
found the mapping symbols 283, 284, 286, 287 have beea
used to indicate the progressively more poorly drained
associates of this soil. Because of the wetness and
coldness of these soils and because it is not feasible
to drain them in this terrain they are orten covered
with woodlot or pasture. Sometimes small patches of
a few acres occur in a corner of a field where they
are cultivated along with the better drained soils
~
though they obviously do not support the crops nearly
as well. In the area where soils of this association are
found there are several quite large areas of muck soil
in the flat depressions between the hills and ridges or
where 'kettle' ponds have been silted in. These for
the most part are covered with woodlot.
4. Soils Developed on the Bevelled Till Pl~~n
(1) Peel Clay Loam. Mapping Symbol 682. Dark
brown clay and clay loam over grayish brown and brownish
clay loam over grayish clay and silty clay, this soil
is found on gently sloping or undulating land of the
clay plain. This soil is found where topography tends
to overcome the natural tendency for poor drainage,
it is almost entirely stone free, is neutral to slightly
acid, may be deficient in phosphates and sometimes
shows deficiency of humus. This is a highly productive
soil, is the basis for the farm economy of the district,
it carries a wide range of crops, is much cultivated
and rarely supports a woodlot.
MUch of this soil shows a tendency to
imperfect internal drainage and exhibits mottling in
the 'B' horizon though profile development is otherwise
quite mature. Such soil was mapped with the symbol 683
but in most respects can be conSidered and treated as
Peel Clay Loam.
(2) Imperfectly Drained Associate of Peel Clay Loam
Mapping Symbol 684. There is almost
as much of this soil as there is of its better drained
associates. It differs from Peel Clay Loam in having
a less well developed profile, the 'B' horizon is
somewhat reduced and is mottled in colour. The 'A' horiz-
on is not so likely to be deficient in humus as the
exclusion of air by moisture prevents oxidation of the
humus. Its use, however, is definitely limited by the
naturally poor internal drainage and where it is used in
the same way as Peel Clay Loam the operator runs risks
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of crop failure attendant on its wetness.
(3) Poorly Drained Associate of Peel Clay Loam
Mapping Symbol 686. This soil can be
recognized by its darker 'A' horizon which overlies a
bluish gray subsoil which is tough and plastic, allows
little water to move through it. Unless it is well
I underdrained it is severely restricted in use and is
I
I best employed for hay and pasture. Orchard grass is
grown to some extent on this soil.
In the bottoms of stream valleys that
run through the area of this soil association there
are fairly wide belts of bottom land which is made up
largely from deposition of soil from the surrounding
land. This is fertile soil a nd supports good pastures
but the regular occurrence of spring floods and standing
water in the summer precludes their employment for any
other use. Only in specially favoured localities might
they be treated in a different way.
In addition to the clay loams of the
region there is a sandy loam formed from a layer of
sand over clay represented by mapping symbol 5/682.
When well drained this has the favourable qualities of
other light soils for gardeni llg or other special crops.
5. Land Use
Table II shows the distribution of land
use on the soils that have been described above. Land
use is largely determined by the type of soil. Generally
speaking land use is well adjusted to the capabilities
of the land in this area but this is not always the
case nor has it always been the case in the past.
From the features of the soil that have been mapped,
observed and recorded there can be learnt a good deal
about the resources of the land and what might be done
to get further good use of the soil without further
deterioration. There follows a set of tables of figures
which show the occurrence and distribution of the
J1~
features that have been mapped. By comparing and col-
lating many of these features we learn a good deal about
the capabilities of the land. We can answer such quest-
ions as; 'where does erosion OCcur the most?' 'On
what soils? Which soils are hilly, which level? and
'What is the present use of eroded soils~.
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-
~
I
CHAPTER 8
RELATED SOIL FEATURES AND LAND USE
The total acreage of each soil type, slope
class and degree of erosion measured on the field maps
along with amounts of each type of land in the main
land use classes, give an indication of the relation
between the various features which were observed and
mapped. The actual distribution of these, and of the
Land Use Capability classes previously mentioned and
which will be discussed fully in Chapter four, are
shown on the Land Use Map accompanying this report. For
interpretation of the numbered mapping symbols for soils,
reference may be made to the discussion of mapping symbols
for soils on pages 6, 7 and 8, MOst significant in these
symbols is the last digit, 2 representing the well drained,
4 the imperfectly drained and 6 the poorly drained soils
of an association of soils derived from similar parent
material.
l. Slope
Table III shows the distribution of slope
classes in each soil type. There are two features to be
seen here. First, that in each association the more
poorly drained soils are found with little or no slope.
The notable exception to this is the mildly hUrmnocky
topography (slopes up to 7%) in which considerable
areas of poorly drained soils are found, in this instance,
of course, marked differences in drainage are found within
a very short distance but the irregularity of the ter-
rain makes such an area, in effect, a poorly .drained
area. The second relation to be seen is that between
slope and soil association. The bulk of the well drained
soils of the light till loam association are found on
2-6% slopes or in hummocky topography. one q~arter of
the acreage in 'M' topography and another quarter in
'N' and 'P' topography. The soils of the heavy till
- N '" .. (,II
0 0 0 0 0 0
.
CD
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~~~~ '"
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.
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9a
T ABLE IV
ACHEAGE AND PEHCENTAGE OF EACH EROSION GROUP AND CLASS
Erosion Group Erosion Class Acres Percent
No Apparent Erosion 0 6084 49.3 %
Slight Erosion I 4862 39.3 %
2, 3 1327 10.6 %
Erosion 4, 38, 48 I05 .8 %
12378 100. %
TABLE V
DISTRIBUTION OF EROSION GROUPS IN RELATION TO SLOPE
Slight MOderate Severe Erosion Total
Erosion (I) Erosion (2,3) 4, 38, 48 Acreage
% Acres % Acres % Acres "
- - - - 82
- - 2
- - - 21 00 - - 2
- - - - -
- - - 00 - -
- - - 22 0
- - - 2
- - 2
- - -
- 6 16 26
- - - 62
49.2 4862 39.3 1327 10.7 105 .8 12J78
9~
association are found about equally divided between
the level land and gently sloping or mildly hummocky land.
The greatest part of the soils of the water-laid deposits
on the bevelled till plain are imperfectly drained and
have little or no slope.
2. Erosion
The overall inventory of erosion that has
occurred on the watershed of the East Branch is given in
Table IV. From this it can be seen that half of the
area studied has no apparent erosion and is not susceptible
to erosion. Where this happy state of affairs is found
will be apparent when a more detailed breakdown of the
observations is made. Slight erosion OCcurs on fourty
percent of the area and moderate or severe erosion is
found on the remaining ten percent. Where slight erosion
has occurred the susceptibility to further erosion
remains and the area merits consideration of methods for
arresting this trend. The moderate and severe erosion,
which is found on only ten percent of the whole area
studied, is, as can be seen from the distribution of
erosion, to be found in one particular locality and
strenuous measures for its control are advisable.
3. Erosion and Slope
The sharp increase in incidence of erosion
with increase in slope is clearly demonstrated in the
observations detailed in Table V. All slopes over six
percent have undergone moderate or severe erosion, that is,
the humus bearing top soil is all or nearly all gone.
Of the hummocky land there is only 13.5%
which has not undergone erosion. Of even the mildV
hummocky land 75.5% has experienced slight erosion and
is subject to further erosion: "clay on the knils
and loam in the hollows" is the local description of
this condition. What this means is that the 'A' horizon
has been largely washed off the slopes leaving the more
9~
I
'i
,f
I
~
!t
Ii
I
i RELATION OF SLOPE AND EROSION
i
Severe
MOderate 0---0-_-0---0__-0
/
/
/
Slioht tf
/
I /
/
No Erosion ~
A 8 C 0 E F G Slope
DOMINANT EROSION GROUPS ON REGULAR SLOPES
Severe /0
/
/
Moderote /
0---0 .
/
/
/
Slight ~
No Erosion
M N P R Slope
DOMINANT EROSION GROUPS ON HUMMOCKY TOPOGRAPHY
SLIGHT EROSION - Up to one-third of tOPlOiI removed.
MODERATE EROSION - Marl lIIon ani-third tOPloil and up to ani-third
lubloil ,emoved.
SEVERE EROSION - All toploil and more than ani' thIrd lubloi I remoVld.
SLOPES - A 0 - 2% E 15 - 20% M 0- 7%
8 2 - 6% F 20 - 30% N 7 - 15%
C 6 - 10% Gover 30% P ,e - 25%
o 10 - 15% Rover 25%
I
...:3 ~~ tD p.,~"'tl C)"'tl p.,~"'tl 00 J,l)t;1"'tl 0
0 VJ~ C/l'10 t-'(I cn'10 .....::r tr.'10 ~
('t Q)O "'1 CIlJ,l)O IU (I CIl"O "1-'- C/lJ,l)0
Q) <ll'O ::S'1 o ....'1 <<..... o .... '1 <<~ o I-'- '1 Q)
..... (1).. p.. ,... O:::S..... O:::s..... O:::s.... '1
..... ~. ....co<< b 1-'-(1""4 be ....4D"'4 I-'-
OJ :;s j).)~ .,~ p.,p. 0 VJ
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....("t co (1) so (1) b ....
("t('t Ib .... rn ~ Ul .....
0 a CI.l ;
J,l)S '< ...:3
:::s..... '<l
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..... :e:~ \J'l
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\.oJ et '" "'''' "'''' \.1.> \.oJ \.oJ \.t.J NNNN N
....:J co OQ. OQ.<)). ();). OQ. '-0\0 \0\0 ();).OQ.();).OQ. ();).
();). '1 N ~~ \.oJ N ~~ \.oJN -..J ~~ \.oJ N t::l
H
tD
..... ...:3
N ~..:j ::0
\.oJ H
-..J '10 tD
OQ. ('D('t c::
J,l)J,l) ...:3
aq..... H
(I 0
2
'" > 0
0 0 2 ~
OQ. '1 trJo
~ (I) '1 lr1
.... 0> ;::c
....'t:l &5
t-' ....'"0
~ 0 OQ) H
'-0 0 'l!A :::S'1 0 to!
. . ('D z ,~
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et ~ .~
0
~ > c: ~
OQ. 0 "'tl
~ I '1 tr1 tD
N (1) "1 Cl)
m 0..... H
en.... z
....aq
\.oJ 0::1' tJ:j
'-0 'l!A :::set >
. I (')
\.oJ :x:
to
..... >- 0
\.oJ (') ~~ H
N I '1 t:-'
-..J (I) 00-
en U\(1) to.;
....'1 r-<
OJ).) "'tl
..... ::set l%J
0 ~ (I
. I
....:J
>-
..... 0
0 '1 tx:l
\J'l ('0 '1tD
CIl 0(1
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1-'-(1
0'1
::S(1)
. )p..
OQ.
97
compact 'B' horizon exposed to action of the tillage
implements, the wash that is deposited in the hollows
is still fertie soil but in such terrain it is usually
poorly drained. The result is that crops on the lower
parts of the field are delayed in the early part of the
growing season by excessive moisture and in the later part
of the growing season the crops on the slopes are more
exposed to hazards of drought.
4. Erosion and Soil
Having learned that erosion occurs
pretty regularly on nearly all the sloping land and
that most of the sloping land is found where soils of
the light till loam association and the heavy till loam
association are found, it would be natural to expect to
find that erosion is most common on the soils of those
two associations. The degree to 'which this is so is
demonstrated by the results summarized in Table VI. It will
be seen at first glance that all the aevere erosion that
was found to have occurred in the region is on the well
drained soils of the light till loam association. or
these soils only 7.7% have experienced no appreciable
erosion. Two factors are responsible for this, first
the large amount of sloping land and second, the light
texture of the soil. The rolling land of the Till Plain
that surrounds the area of light till loam has also
experienced considerable erosion. It is only in the
imperfectly drained and poorly drained stretches of these
soils that the majority of the land has escaped the
ravages of erosion. The soils of the level, clay lands
have experienced much less erosion than either of the
other two areas, yet even here it can be seen that the
better drained soils which were found only where there 1s
some slope, have experienced at least slight erosion
over a considerable proportion of the area.
I !fR
l
I
I
i
:~
I
Ii
!i
i
II
I'
I
1
!
EROSION AND SOILS ON THE EAST BRANCH
SEVERE 0'1%
EItOSION
I
MODERATE 10'1%
EROSION
12,37' Aer..
EROSION ON WEll DRAINED SOilS
ONTARIO LOAM
1"2 Ae,..
SLla"T ....7%
NO APPARENT 7'7,. "2%
LOAM .
17.7 Ae,..
NO APPARENT 3.% SLltHT 5.,.
IIOOERATE ,,.
PEEL CLAY LOAM
l I 0 3242 Ae,..
NO APPARENT 5.% SLltHT ,.,. MODERATE 1%
INADEQUATELY DRAINED SOilS
LITTLE OR NO EROIION 53.7 Ac,..
TOTAL '2,37' ac,..
TABLE VII
PRESENT LAND USE
Acres Per Cent
Crop Land 8,734 70.7
Pasture 2,468 19.9
Woodland 544 4.4
Idle 5 - -
Urban 74 .6
Airport 500 4.1
Gravel Pit 31 02
Water 22 .~~
Tot:als 12,378 100.00 ~
/~
f Areas of muck and bottom land, being level, have exper-
ienced no erosion of the type that is found in the
fields that have some slope. Where such areas are
traversed by a flowing stream they may have undergone
stream bank erosion or wearing away by the stream itself.
On the other hand, it can be said that much of the soil
that has been washed froo the fields has found its resting
place in the muck or bottom land. That which has not
remained there has, of course, been washed away to Lake
Ontario.
5. Present Land Use
As would be expected in an area which has such a
high development of agriculture as the region
around Brampton, over ninety percent of the land is either
under cultivation or is in permanent pasture. Only 4.4%
has a Cover of woodlot and this is to be found on either
the very steep land or the land which is too wet to be
handled in any other way. An insignificant amount is
actually left idle. The area that was studied was out-
lined by the divide of the watershed of the Ease Branch
and this included a small corner of the town of Brampton.
A very small proportion of the area is under permanent
water or has been worked as gravel pits leaving open
stretches of bare grC'evel. The Malton Airport is included
entirely in the area studied. As mentioned preViously,
it Was built on the very flat stretch that lies between
the Etobicoke and the Mimico where no definite drainage
divide can be found. It is necessary to drain the land
on which the airport stands 8.nd the ol:.tlet for this
drainage is through the sewage disposal plant lrlhich emp-
ties into a small stream tributary to the East Branch.
The proportions of land that are devoted to these various
uses are summarized in Table VII. The measurements of
the many parcels of land which share the same soil type,
use, slope and erosion were made from the aerial photo-
graphs that were used as base maps in the field. In the
Components and total area given, the land occupied by
"V en "V
:a 0 ~
PI - '"
en r- en
PI PI
Z ~ Z
-4 . -4
en
r- 0 r
... n ~
-
~ z ~ Z
aD 0 -4 0
c,I >> (5
~ c z c
en r- en .
'" Q '"
-,
0 Q, n
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- ~
Q
. 'C .
(It
~ (It '"
PI 2. en r
- n
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0
r- .. " Z
N -
~ .... Q 0
- 6 2
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~ n i- C
dI r .... (J)
S~ ~ 0 ",
....
4G D ~ l>
cO .
~ 0 Z
-
"V r 0
::0 en
PI (J)
en ....
PI _. 0
-
Z -
-
-4 (') r
- (J)
,.. Q
~ 'C
4G >> Z < ' en 0
CII 0 , 2,
fit z
i- c .-
en N -t
'" 0. :I:
0 .0 ",
Z ~
... rrI
- l>
,..
.. r r- . . (J)
::0 l -t
.. ... o ...
,.. n Q .. .
.... .- .... ,.. i.. .
>> ... .. to
~ . .. c
.. Z . . .
en . .. ; ::0
'I ... o .. . .
.
-. . l>
. - .
,.. . . '. -
2 . . . Z
~ . .
- ..
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cD · . .
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fi' 0.
0 -
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-
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,roadways were ignored. A railroad traverses the area
studied but the land occupied by its right of
in no one parcel of land, sufficient to alter
the measurements. It is considered that no error was
introduced into the results by ignoring these features
'as the natural error created by variations in scale of
rthe aerial photographs exceeds any other mechanical
which might affect the result. .Measurements of
of land use are fairly accurate as they are usually
fence lines. Measurements of areas of land
of course, subject to error as each boundar1
matter of human judgement. One soil type and
slope class actu~lly merge. into the neighbouring
and the placing of a boundary on a map is, after all,
a compromise. By checking the adjacent edges of the piece.
as each was mapped in the .field there was
discrepancy in'the.pbservations.
"
instance can anr mapped boundary line
~e considered accurate to within a dozen yards, in the
'i
the results can be considered a fair and true
of the conditions prevailing in the area studied.
A further analysis of the uses to which
various soils are put, and the occurrence of erosion
~1
~. thin these land uses follows. The proportions of the
that are devoted to each use was given at the
of the chapter on soils.
Erosio~ on CroDland~ E~sture ~nd W02dl,~g
The measure that is usually considered
which will protect land against erosion 1s the
~,reservation of permanent plant cover on the land in the
~',torm of pasture or woodlot. If pasture 1s overgrazed
t :\1'lts protective value is largely lost. If woodlots are
:.(
N,pastured, with a consequent removal of the close, cover
the floor of the woodlot, their value in slowing down
sion is also lost. By comparing ~he proportion or
1--3 :E:oto~ (,f.)to SUp..~ n." I\)p.."tl n(') jbp.."tl 0
0 jl)'10 SUeD rn"'o .....(1 rn'10 I-'::J" {II"'o ~
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llJ <tcCc+li'\' p..'i o .... '1 '<I-' o ....... "<I~ o ....... lU
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I'll .....9 . .....'< b .~ b; .....<< ....
..... S::S I\lp.. l>>Po l>>Po 0
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erosion on either cultivated land, pasture or woodlot
with the average amount of erosion on anyone soil type,
it can be seen that land which is now under pasture or
woodlot has been affected by erosion to just about
the same extent as land which is still currently under
cultivation. Indeed, in some cases erosion found
on pasture land is more extensive than is found on the
cultivated land. For example, of the well drained soil
of the light till ham assooiation, 38.4% has undergone
moderate erosion, only 28.2% of the cropland in that soil
type has undergone the same degree of eroSion, and 54.5%
of that soil under pasture has undergone moderate
erosion. ObViouSly, pasture has not protected this
land against erosion. Erosion in woodland shows the same
sort of conditions, on the soil type cited in this
example 61.4% of the land under'woodlot has undergone
moderate erosion.
An explanation of this condition Can be
found partly in the observation made above, namely that
pastures may have been overgrazed and woodlots pastured.
Explanations can also be inferred from the history of
the use of the land. Erosion of this degree has
occurred on slopes over 6% (Table VI) or in steep
hummocky land. When cultivation Was entirely by horse
drawn implements much of this hilly land could be, and
was, under cultivation. With modern mechanized methoas
such land is not so suitable for cultivation and the
impoveriShment of the soil by the erosion that has
previously occurred, so that it has been put into
pasture. Of the woodlot Some is found on land previously
cultivated and some is found on land that has been
cleared, sometiaes by burning, and subsequently reforested.
While bare, it has undergone erosion and since being
reforested it has, in many cases been pastured, which
leaves it still open to erosion.
... ::~g'if U.ltD \3)"'c1 O"'c1 \3)fi"'d 00 \3)p.." ~
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(+ ~f3)(+n l;j~ coO 1>>$ co 1>>0 Ill.... co I>> 0
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J
On the other soils the incidence of erosion on the
present cropland is pretty much the same as that on the whole
of the Boil. Again it must be interred that previous history
has been dirferent than the present land use. The best soils
of the till plain that are in cropland have 6l.1~ of their
area at least slightly eroded. These can be protected where
they lie on regular slopes by the adoption of erosion control
practices of cultivation. Where such practices are not suited
to irregular terrain, protection can be obtained by limiting
the rotation or crops in such a way as to ensure a maximum ot
plant cover on the land. The lands of the clay plains, where
well drained, have been under cultivation consistently since
they were first cleared. There is little forest Cover in this
region and permanent pasture in this region is mostly on the
more poorly drained soils. It can be seen on Peel Clay Loam
(Mapping Symbol 682) that whereas 53.5% of the area of that
soil has undergone no apparent erosion 60 percent of that
which is under crops shows no apparent erosion. This means
that operators have continued to crop the best of the land and
retired into pasture that which has shown depreciation. A
regular practice in the district is to include in permanent
pastures the bottom lands of the streams along with the
Sloping land adjacent to it, and much of this Sloping land is
subject to erosion. This in large Measure accounts accounts
for the distribution of erosion groups on various land uses.
.-~--- --- -- ---"'~-"~_c____._~,._; _____n____. 0-_' ..
//0
CHAPTER 9
RESULTS OF THE SURVEY
The relation of present Land Use to the Land Use Capability
Classes.
In chapter one there was described a
method of classifying land on the basis of its natural
qualities which can serve as a guide to future planned
use of the land. Discussion of the soils of the East
Branch and their related features has revealed that
the two chief limited factors in the use of these soils
are, (l) slope and susceptibility to erosion and (2)
inadequate surface and internal drainage. Table XI
shows the various soil types and the conditions of
slope and erosion with the Land Use Capability classes
assigned to them. The classification of these partic-
ular soils was done by reference to previous classif-
ications on soils similar to those found on this water-
'.
shed and froM observations of the conditions prevailing
,
in agriculture on the watershed. The advice of the Farm
Planning group of the Department of Soils at the Ontario
Agricultural College which has had valuable experience in
the use and application of this classification was very help-
ful in interpreting conditions found on this watershed.
The three main soil types are all Class I
when they are on slopes less than 2%. \'lith increasing
slope and erosion they are progressively downgraded in
class. The imperfectly drained associates of each soil
association are in Class II with lower classes assigned
to the more poorly drained. Included in Class V land
are the muck soils and bottom land although in special
cases they might be suitable for wider uses than per-
manent cover. The largest body of water in the area is
actually used for an agricultureal purpose indirectly
but in general, small bodies of water, along with their
margins, are eminently suitable for sanctuaries for
I-i ~OtJ:l~ C/J1iII l1lo."O n"O \l)o."O nn \l)o."O ~
0 '10 fl)<O m'10 1-10. tA'10 I-I:::r' to'10
('t l1lc:i'n ::S'1 C/)\l)0 \l) (I to\l)O \l) ..... C/)\l)0 ('t
I $I.) (I<Cl('tl:li' 0.'1 0.....'1 '< 1-1. o ..... '1 '<~ o ..... '1 $I.)
1-1 (10 '<..... n::S1-l n=..... n::S1-l '1
to .....a (I .....(1'< S ...... (I '< b~ .....(1'< .....
1-1 s= l1lo. $1.)0. $1.)0. 0
"'clSD c:i' $I.) ('t l1l n ('t ~C/J
.....::s $I.) <0 a C1> 130 (!) S '<0
('to. a Ul Ul ~ en "d....
to I1l CD....
I1l '< a
::s
0. \n
....... -- -- -- -- ..................................
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1-1
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~ \...>.....:1 \0 \0 OQ. 0\0\ \oJ""" \n 0\.....:1.....:1 I\) (10
$I.)('t
(lqfl)
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wildlife. Included also in Class VIII land are the worked-
out gravel pits. These might be considered as Class VII
land and reforested with some difficulty but as they are
surrounded by land which is also Class VII land, i.e.
.
reforestable with restrictions, they would support a
voluntary cover of miscellaneous trees and shrubs which
would serve admirably as a retreat or breeding place for
wildlife.
.
The classification shows, as the name
implies, the capability of the land. Land which is
,
employed within the limits of its natural capabilities.
and on which there are carried out those practices which
are designed to get the best use of it, will maintain
good production, for an indefinite time and without further
deterioration. Planned agriculture not only gives the farm
,
operator the best consistent return for his efforts but when
practised over a large area, protects the community from
the harmful effects of misuse of the land.
Table XII shows the areal distribution
of the land classes over the watershed. Over three
,
quarters of the land is included in Class I and Class II,
class two predominating. Though special farm methods
intended to control erosion are not systematically carried
on in this area the emphasis on hay and pasture in rotation
as well as on permanent pastures goes a long way to Make
productive use of the land without too much erosion. A good
deal of the Class II land is on the imperfectly drained ~lay
,
loams. Here, too, the pres.nt land use is well adapted to
t~e capabilities of the land. Operators recognizing th~
harards of grain crops on these wet lands largely re-
strict grain production to the well drained land and the
more poorly drained land is used for hay and pasture. Many
fine stands of gresses and legumes are seen in the area
including some of the imperfectly drained soils. Where current
demands for increased production have induced farmers to plant
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olay 10m':!, ,~'.Jt.Jd 1.uril' rj8j."I.de,~.lt vllL/1 no :J'lo!)h:d
l)r(iotlce~:; ~':i 11 rmlfitni.i ,il';:)au~t i vit:) 01" tT liu
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grains on these wet lands the results have not always been
as hoped for. This is assumed to be a temporary situation,
if these lands were to be expected to carry grains con-
sistently it would be necessary to institute systems of
underdrainage.
After considering the Class I and Class II
land the remaining one quarter of the area is made up or Class
V land on muck and bottom land and small proportions of the
other classes. It will be seen from this table that a great
part of the Class III, IV, VI, and VII land is included in
the area of the gravel ridge. In many instances these
parcels of land are found as small fragments on parts of
incividual farms. These are in many cases too small to
warrant special consideration by the farmer, involving
fencing small areas, providing water for small pastures and
so forth. It is often for this reason that they have been
neglected.. There are two possible answers to this and they
will be discussed more fully in the next chapter, rearrange-
ment of farm plans so that special uses or practices may be
assigned to them and second, inclusion of these fragments
within a conservation project to cover the heart of this
gravel ridge where there are over a thousand acres which
could well be taken out of cultivation. Such a project
would go a long way in raaing the rather low figure of 4.4%
of the land in forest cover.
l. Class I Land
This is level or nearly level land which
has undergone very little or no erosion, has good natural
drainage and is suitable for cultivation with no special
practices to maintain good production indefinitely. The
largest amount of this is ~eel Clay Loam, amounting to 1707
acres, in addition there are 683 acres of Chinguacousy Clay
Loam in this class. This latter type is maintained productive
when good surface drainage is provided.
--.---.-- ..- --",,- ._'-~"- ---.---.-'-.-' ~
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.- ......-....,.-- ... _.,-, .......'-~-.-..._..~-- ---~,~_.~.
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Class III Lund - :tostr ictod dreinaGG roduoes
cfl'uctivc yield 0:'" t}lln lund. Depressions such
us one in forc:...;round .:ivo lr'1;:or:rie lei s alld
irruculur torrain :.11'801u(;0 ;juocessful clr'-'.in~~cc .
,
Fh .. _. ..- .-. .. ~'-' ~ ".- .. .,.....~ "".. '..--~ ."~_. ----,~", ~"~~~:~'~~':"':~~-....~~_.~: :.'.. "....~_....- .~..-' .....-.-.,
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Class IV :JG..ild - oorly drq.lned but fertile clay
10m.. J :Jov:n to oats - suituble for full rotation
of orops Vi.On. undcrdr':JinOd, otllGr\;isc llc:.:;urdous
for uruin ane. bast 8'"dLud to hew und pu-sture.
-
//$
2. Class II Land
This land is suitable for cultivation with
simple practices. Without special attention the return
from this land is, on the average, less than that from
Class I land. It can be discussed in three ways.
(1) Gently undulating land subject to erosion.
Practice of conservation farming, contour ploughing and
strip cropping, can be carried on and very much reduce
the loss of soil by erosion. In this method of cultiv-
ation each furrow or crop row serves as a small imped-
iment to the flow of water down the slope, washed soil
is arrested at each ridge and the velocity of the water
is slowed down 80 that its eroding action is not so severe.
Also the water that falls on the land has a better chance
of being absorbed where it falls, otherwise it is lost to
the swamps and streams.
(2) Irregularly sloping or hummocky land, subject
,
to erosion. This land suffers from the same ills as those
noted in the preceding paragraph but the cure is not quite
the same. By its nature it is not suitable for contour
cultivation but it is better used for restricted or long
rotations which keeps a sod cover on the soil as long as
possible.
This protects the land from erosion and helps
to build up the humus content of the soil so that it absorbs
and retains more water.
(J) Imperfectly drained land. This can be restricted
in its use by being reserved for crops that can stand wet
(
or cold land or it m~y be brought into full production by
being underdrained. In either case it is necessary to
provide adequate surface drainage. Sometimes this is impossible
or very difficult due to the irregular surface of the land.
In other places farmers have been unable to achieve this because
of artificial impediments such as side roads, highways
and railroads which do not provide culverts that allow
.,., .... ~'~.
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-_._..~-< .- -.... .~-_. - .
!
Class III Lund - ~ostrlcted drairwge reduoes
efl'uctive yield of. this land. Depressions suoh
as one in foreGround ;..;ive lr:'v:or yields and
1rruCulur terrain l)reolude Guccessful druillq:;C.
,
~ -.'-" - .._" -'----, ....., .~~-----. .,.. ...-._.~...,- '_....~.._._.,......---...--...~ .....,...."t~_.......__.._.. '....~_, _..._'__..~....~____._;
----------..,-..- .---.-- .-.--.- -------.- -~._------- ---~'"-_._--~---_..__..~-----~- t
. ~ _..'
,..., -, ~.~- ,. ~, : ...i_ :...'; .. , t. i. J' J i '.... ~ t I,.... t; i~,.l ) ~..". .. ; i -.,
""'-,._.... 4... - . .. , "
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- ~ ... ' ,. . , I ~ ,. j' l~, f 'I ill
_.4 ""t.....-. ~ :..~ '1.; ,t;I~"",~~, /' . ; ~ ,.~ "I
'J. 'VII" ~ ,"" ._', . , ~ f~. f " /.
. , .JI
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... -... 'j , Iii" -'1 'i,' r, i
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I streams to follow their natural courses but divert them
along ditches that run across the natural direction of
drainage.
3. CJ.ass If I J.and
This is land which is suitable for cultiv-
"
! ation when intensive practices are employed and will give
good returns of crops adapted to use on these soils.
Where s,uch practices can not be carried out, yields can
not be expected to be as great as on Class I land of the
same soil type. Some of the land of this class has both
conditions of erosion and inadequate drainage and the
nature of the terrain is such that intensive practices
are impossible. In such cases providing sod cover by long
rotations gives the greatest protection to this soil while
giving optimum returns consistent with the capabilities of
the land. The largest proportion of this class is on soil
of the imperfectly drained associate of Peel Clay Loam.
Class IV Land ,
4.
This land is suited prima~y for hay and
pasture, with cultivation restricted to reseeding. The
largest proportion of this class (297 acres) is on eroded,
steeply sloping or hummocky Ontario Loam. The other
significant proportion of it is the poorly drained clay loam
of the clay plains. This poorly drained land can be made
productive for the range of crops that Peel Clay Loam supports
if it is underdrained, otherwise it is productive only for
grass.
--.---
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"_~---"---_",_____""".,,,-,.<,,,,"""~~"'___'__'_'__'r___________'__~'___" __ ...~_,_.-.-,c===.~- ---- ..---".--- . --.-. .- ~ . - - .- -
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Claus V l,$.d - nott~;"-l lau{.l. dr()w..~d in sprLoc.
this w111 s)\.o),port a 1>8r!,~ent woOlllot. ;,iuon
B v,,'Oodlot w111 help to keep wute.r in dOllr0SIiI-
ions such as one in f'ol'O{",rouod a;}d ma.lat.a1n a
popul~tlon of ruuakrat.
,
'-'-" ~ .--. .-_~ .. -. ..". ,..,.~.. ........ .., ..,......,--.,.,.. . ~" -_.__......_.~..... -~._..__.__..- -...--
n
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CJ..a~:s '.~I L.o.nd - .':roded loam on a atcop 010":;.0.
now used dB l>e,:':'lWU')Jit ptlsturfl, \VI th orop mill
tOl't.lllz111C 1rr:;n.ove:J8Ilt:'3 and $or:16 1'"Q::3tr1otlono
In use auoh l!'i.':i.U oa':'l rot4.>.i1li prl>duot1 va L'Vld
lll'"ofltablo \/ltl, little or no tl.rthor dctorlor-
ntloa. In forecroUlul. peat and ;uuol:: 0.180.
aui tuble tor per:;lQ.uont COVer.
----------- ---- ------- -
//9
5. Class V ~nd
This includes the muck and bottom land of the
area and the hummocky, poorly drained soil of the Till Plain.
These lands are too wet to support the variety of crops that
are carried on the other soils. They are not generally suit-
able for drainage being on the floors of stream valleys or
contained in basins for which there is no outlet. Permanent
cover of pasture mixtures that can stand flooding and moisture
or of woodlot adapted to wet land is the most suitable use
for these lands. No other special practices are necessary.
6. OJ-ass VI Land
This land is not suitable for cultivation and
when put under premanent cover it should be handled in such
a way as to minimize the danger of erosion. It is included
almost entirely in the steeply sloping or hummocky land of
the Ontario Loam. It is difficult to maintain the organic
content of this soil and pastur~ is not entirely effective
in protecting against erosion. In the region where this is
gound the most suitable use is in woodlot. Besides being a
profitable crop on a long term plan trees serve also to
conserve the water on the land and to protect the sources ot
springs which are numerous in this region and serve a useful
purpose in the pastures that are adjacent.
7. Class fiI Land
This is similar to Class VI land but with more
acute problems of erosion. Gullying has already begun and
their extension is likely to accelerate. This land 1s suit-
able for reforestation but when woodlots are established,
planting should be done in such a way as to protect the
surface and subsequent cutting restricted so that the land 1s
never left bare. Erosion as severe as is found. on this land
is a menace to neighbouring land and to the streams; flood and
flow control measures, dams and reservoirs, can be spoiled by
silting by the soil washed from this land.
8. Class VIII Land
This class includes bodies of water and steep
edges or hard floors of gravel pits. Naturally regenerated
forest cover on the gravel may serve as sanctuary for wildlife.
--'--- -
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~-~ .- - - -
ClUBS wll tJ< .~.LtG. - <:it. t, ~ ,;,J:' ic) j...(jC... , ...~_ t;. stoep il.lt0C-
uL',J.' f~1:'-.'.I1)es .".ic". cl.O Let 1011(. 't:LC; csolvcH3 to
orOSiOi.l 00,,:"1'01 J).L~ ~+,~ c t,l t~ 0 [} . '. ....1CO 8.;.'0310n hc:-c
occurl.'od horo, :.'Ol'O;;\. COVel' ,. C t.1 0. )l'otect tho
\'.; t~ t e it tu.u ~;oil 1,'0 su u.rc 0 S of t-~!.is L,"~d .
1
.--- ,.~. ..~,~..~..,....... ,,~....., ..._'..',....,.,...... ..... .--..~.,,,......~......-, .... ". .."
_..~.,-. _.."..""............~'---..__.- -- ................ ".- +H._....._.,..__ .__.
CIC1SS VIII Lo.nd - n \';orkod out ..~ravol pit, dif-
ficult GO rotUl'o::;t :mt ':.-1 t:. .~l' . 'L t'H1.1 ~.~1 cO'JOl' re-
efJt:~blis;,eu , '" ill ~l_ ov iC- 0 ' . '..... c .~~ l~:J1"~ r for '.;lldllfe.
-,.-.
121
I
I
LAND USE CAPABILlTV CLASSES
OF son. ASSOCIATIONS
10
10
10
I .. II IV V VI VII VIII LAIIO tLAlHl
10
10
..
.
10 ,
s
I_ e ~
r - :;"
I 10
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0
I II III IV V VI VII VIII LA. CUI"
I 10
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t--3 g'~ (J)tD lbPo." O"trl \>>j:l..... 00 III Po." 0
0 lb~ CIJ'10 ...,<1 (.0'10 .....:;,0 c.o'10 ~
et eto ts'1 mlbO \l;)CD CAlbO lb.... uaSl70
lb et~ Po '1 o ....... "<..... o .... '1 '<lts 0....'1 I>>
..... 0 '<l.... 0='..... o::s..... (Jq n::s..... ...
CD a ~ ....<D"-C t'"f f-Jo~'<l be ....CD"-C ....
..... J:-t::S I>>j:l.. 0 lb .j:l.. I'>>~ 0
~ 0 et ; et mg ("I'
I>> (l) ~ ~ b (J)
Po a m (II s:: (.0 0
(II I>> ....
"-C a ......
Vl
....... -- -- -- -- .......--.,......,..................
0'\ 0'\0' 0-. 0-. v.> v.> v.> v.> NNNI\) I\)
(Xl.. (Xl.. (Xl.. ()). ()). \0 ...0 \0\0 OQ. (Xl.. (Xl.. (Xl.. (Xl..
N ~~ v.> N o-.~ \"o,tN .....,O'-~\"o,t N
(Xl.. ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
.....:J v.> ..... (Xl.. O'~ )vJ Vl N
v.> ';--Vl &8 ';--N ~N 0-.0-. \"o,t..... .....:J
.f:'- \01\) -....J WO oVo>> .;--....., '-Q\n.f:"-....J (Xl..
..... . I I I " I I , ~
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\"o,t VJ \"J ..... N
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1 I I I II "'"'~ I I I ..... :2:
...- (Xl.. ';--Vl 00- 0 t:i
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. . . . .;--v.> . "t:l
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0
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v.> ..... ",",-....J > v.> \#J Vl
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0 0 t:i
Vl 0 ~N 0 v-
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Water bodies serve wild fowl or support muskrat of which
there is already a population on the watershed. Having
reviewed the potentialities of the various Land Use Capa-
bility Classes, examination of the present uses of these
lands will reveal the extent to which present land use is
adjusted to the capabilities of the land. This is high-
lighted in the areas and proportions set forth in Tables XIV,
XV and XVI. The chief lessons to be laarned from this are
summarized as follows:
9. Cropland
(l) Present cropland on Ontario Loam (282).
There are 1278 acres of this soil type under cultivation yet
only 9.4% of it is Class I land which can sustain continued
cultivation under ordinary good farm practices without any
special practices. Sixty-seven percent is Class II land which
requires some erosion control practices, if it is to maintain
the best returns without further ~eterioration of the soil.
Two Hundred and ninety-five acres, or 22. 9?~, of this soil
that is in crops is either Class IV or VII land for which
there is recommended hay and pasture or forest cover to
protect it against erosion and to maintain its productivity.
(2) Present Cropland on Chinguacousy Clay
Loam (J9)). A good adjustment of land use to capabilities
is observable on soil of this type. The bulk of this soil
that is under crops is either Class I or Class II land which
is satisfactory as long as care is taken in the use of the
Class II land.
()) Present Cropland on Peel Clay Loam (68)).
The only gross maladjustment in the use of this soil is on
the Class IV and Class VI land. These, however, are compar-
atively small proportions of the total and are made up of
small parcels of land on individual properties where the
operators of those farms could readjust their use of these
lower class lands.
I"i tJj3:: (J)tJj (l)~0-0 00-0 (l)p,."U 00 1>>0.0-0 ~
0 o J:;: 1>>(1) a2'10 t-'(I) (11'10 t-'::J" (11'10
ct ('to ::.l '1 (II(l)O 1>>(1) (111)>0 1>>1-'- a21>>0
I>> ('tll'i" 0.'1 o I-'- '1 "<It-' o I-'- '1 "<1:3 o I-'- '1 I>>
t-' 0 "<II-'- O::lt-' O:;:st-' (}q O;:st-' '1
(II a (I) 1-'-(1)"<1 S 1-'-(1)"<1 Sg 1-'-(1)"<1 I-'-
t-' ~;:s 1>>0. I>>p. 1>>0. 0
I>> 0 ct I>> ct I>> 0 ct
;:s I>> (I) a (I) a 0 (1) s (J)
0. a CI1 to ~ (II 0
CI1 ; I-'-
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'" "'''' "'''' \,N \,N \,N \,N N l\)l\) N N
(>>. (>>. (>>. (>>. (>>. '" \0 '" \0 (>>.(>>.(>>.(>>. (>>.
N (J'\,f;- \.t.>l\) (J'\,f;- \.t.> N ....:>> O'.fI:- \,N N
N V\
~ +- ,f;- V\t-' l-' , , I I 0
0'- ..a\,N V\ ~'" +-\,N V\ \,N ~ 0
00. 000. N 0'" t-'\.t.> "'.... ~
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\,N N e I
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0 N .&:-N t-' t-'
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too
t-' 9
t-' ~ \,N t-' C3
\,N I I I 0'- 0"":>> I V\ ....:>> I I I I a-
\,N (>>. a- ~o ~ 0 t-' 0 H
C
t-' t-' :z
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0'- I I V\ O'-N 10 NI I I -....J I N C
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0 V\ 0 NO'- 0 \,N \.tJ 0
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\,N I I I I I I I I I I I I t-' I t-' ~
t-' '" \,N N c;
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t-' I I t I I l,f:- I I t I I I N I N Z ~
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V\ -....J \oW
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t-' .~ <
\0 I I +- ~ I t-'I I I t-'I I I I I 00. tr.
..... N 0 \,N \.tJ \,N :;:-
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t-' ::t:
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-....J I I 0 01 NI I I \01 I I I I '" ~
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-....J ....:>> 0 ~ '" -....J
t:l
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\,N \O\.tJ I I I I I I 1 I I I I . 1 (f..
,f:- 000. a- t,%:i
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t-'..... t-' :;:-
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t-' 00 I I I I I O. I I I I . . I :;:-
. . . . tJj
(>>. 00 0 H
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N I I I I I I \.,U . I . I . I I I \,N (p
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I I I t I I I I I I I I I I I I
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10. Pastures
In considering cropland it was seen that
some land that is best suited to pasture is still being
cropped. Here it may be seen that land which is suitable
for continued cultivation is still being pastured, for
example, 6.2% of the Ontario loam that is under pasture
is Class I land. Similarly a large part of the Peel Clay
loam that is under pasture is Class I land and therefore is
suitable for cultivation. These pastures on this good land
constitute considerable areas and reflect the large demand
for good pasture in this region which carries such a large
population of milk cattle and hefers. Insofar as muoh of
the pasture for large herds is rented, consideration might
be given to cooperative planning on the part of the proprietors
of the district who use the resources of the region.
ll. Woodlots
There is only a small proportion of the
,
watershed which is under forest and most of it is on Class V,
VI and VII land. Very little woodlot is left on land which
1s suitable for cultivation. For all the advantages that
woodlots offer there is, on nearly every farm some steep or
wet land which merits consideration of some forestry.
Permanent stream flow is more likely if some trees are
~ maintained on steep river banks and part of the bottom land.
I
I
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12. Distribution of present land use on the
land use capability clas.es is a summing up of the in-
ventory which is the object of the survey. Thi. 18 set
forth in Table XVI. From these figures it can be seen
that the demands for pasture in the region as a whole could
be met almost entirely from the Class III, IV and V land
which is under cultivation for crop.. Nearly 1500 acres
of Class I and ClasB II land are under permanent pasture
while nearly 1200 acres of Class III, IV and V land are
still under cultivation. This condition can be rectified
in two ways, first by planning of farms 80 that pasture
may be provided by land particularly suited for it and
second, by regional planning so that pasture that is
necessary in the region can be provided on those lands
best suited for it.
On analysis it is found that only 66.8%
of the Cla.. I land 1s under crops. This is, in part,
accounted for by the presence of an airport on some of
the good land of the district. If the airport 1s ignored
then eighty-three perce~t of the Class I land 1s cultivated
and the remaining 17% 1s under pasture. This is 1n accord
with the distribution of the Class II land where 82% is
under crops. The distribution of uses on Class III land
is more justifiable; the small amount of pasture on the
land suitable for cultivation is, in part, a good erosion
control measure and partly because of the poor drainage.
Another reason there 1s Class I and II land in pasture is
t he method of providing pasture for the large stock herds. ,
In some instances it is found convenient for the property
owner to rent all or part of a farm for pasture and the
piece that is so let out is located where water supply is
available for the animals. This involves the putting into
pasture of Class I land which otherwise might be put into
crops.
The large proportion of Class IV land
(63.2%) that 1s still under eultivation 1s a matter of
/~9.--
serious concern. Much of this is land that is eroded
or subject to erosion and further cropping may acceler-
ate the erosional processes until an otherwise mild
problem becomes an acute one. The cultivation of this
land also serves to aggravate problems of water supply,
stream flow and flooding. The presence of so much level,
fertile land in this region and on the whole watershed
of the Etobicoke Creek reduces the amount of woodlot
to a bare minimum. Cultivation of less productive
lands as well reduces the area of woodlot still further.
To gain the advantage of a good supply of wood as well
as to protect the water resources of the region, it
would be necessary to ascertain carefully the location
and extent of every piece of plantable land and to
reforest them. There are 339 acres of such land in
Class VI and VII which are now under cultivation for
,
crops or in pasture.
,
In a region with flourishing, specialized
agriculture such as 1s found around Brampton, it would
be surprising if there were not a good adjustment of
land use to land capability. The generally good
adjustment disclosed in this inventory is to be expected.
Yet there are disclosed conditions which can be
improved. Such improvement would be to the advantage
of the individual farmers. Through existing agencies
there is available to them the technical advice to
help them to achieve these improvements. The prOblema
of conservation, however, are in their nature not
mutually exclusive. Community interest in water supply,
stream flow, forestry, provision of wildlife and recrea-
tional facilities, is also concerned with the land
the agriculturalist uses or may use. The measures that
will advance one phase of conservation will also favour
&r\f)tbe~.. This inve~tory of land capabilities is of
value then to those repre~entative8 of the community
who are working to achieve a planned utilisation of
the land resources if their region.
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REFERENCES FOR CHAPTERS ON LAND USE
1. G. A. HUla: ttA Decimal System tor theCla..litioation
and r~pping of Ontario Soill."
Scientific Agriculture, 25:5, January
1945.
2. C. E. Kelly: "The S011s That Support U8"
The MacMillan Company, N.Y., 1941.
3. L. J. Chapman and
D. F. Putnam: "The Soila of South Central Ontario"
Scientific Agriculture 18, 161-197,
1937.
4. u.S. Department
of Agriculture: "So11s and Men" Year book 19)8.
5. U.s. Department
of Agricultures "Classifying Land for Conservation
Farming"
Farmers Bulletin No. 1853
"Conservation Farming and Flood Control"
Miscellaneous Publication No. 253
6. Dominion Department
of Agriculture: "Pasture lmproveme4 in Eastern Canada"
Publication 602.
,
7. Ontario Department,
of Agriculture: "S~il Map of Peel County"
<
"G~ide to Crop Improvement in Ontario"
Extension Circular No. 64, Feb. 1943.
"Good Seed )axture tor Hay and Pasture
in Ontario"
/~a
CHAPTER
~J:NG LANJ) USE
The re8t4,ta of t.hl. conaervation aurvey i'Glate
and emphasil' certain conditions 10 one particular stretch
otland on thewaterahed. Erosion on the soil. of the
gravel reidge and of the rolling land ot the till plain surround-
ing it pre.ents a problem which has not been fully recognt.ed
heretofore and which has received no systematic solution. The
other problem of land use in the area is one that i8 more
generally recogn1s.d and dealt with, this i. inadequate
drainage.
1. The Control of Erosion
The control ot erosion involve. one principle,
the maintenance of 80il organiC matter content. A rertil.
so11 with a good balance ot organiC mineral matter in ita top
hori.on will .b8orb and re;t.aln the water which falla upon it
.tter than an infertile 'and humus deticient 80il. The plant
, ~
cover that vaa on the sollb.tore it was cleared and cultiv-
ated, succeeded in maintaining this balance in the tace or
eroding toree.. It was under 811ch cover that the soilorlg-
uilly developed. A strenuoua and. 8Ustained campaign to
return as DlUch plant residue as p0881bl. to 8011 atter being
cropped. il the first step in tackling this problem.. Thi8
plant realdue can be retarned to the '011 in the form of
DlUlch, green ..nure, animal manure, cOllpoat and the roots ot
hay andpaatun plants.
Th. role played by a011 organic matter in the
control of' run-otf end eros1on haa been atudied to a conaid-
erable extent in tbe United Stat... From their experiments
MUagra" and Nortonl conclude -that the lncrea.. 10 so11
p,oroalty,re.ulting trom the application of organic matter
to the surtace ot a normal soil profile, exert. comprehens1 ve
ettecta upon.water conservation. Such treatment haa aigniticantly
1. Soil and Water Conservation rnr..tlgationa. Progre.. Report,
1931-1933. U.S.D.!. Technlcal Bulletin No. 558.
. .
. /.3c
(1) increased percolation through three-toot profile. of
both permeable and relatively impermeable .oils by large
proportions. (2) decreased run-ott, and ()) increased the
.tor. of potentially available water. The treatm.nt reduced
erosion by large amounts."
The incorporation of organic matter in the
tona of manure and ....t clo....r on certain experlmelltal plot.
growing com in Clarinda, Iowa,l baa reduc.d the run-oft to
one-halt ot what it was for corn without treat.~t. Th. in-
corporation ot manure decreased the loil 10.... to one-third
and the plowing in ot an equivalent amount ot be.t clo...er
decrea.ed 80il los... to le.s than one-quarter of the 10....
measured on the untreated corn plot..
2. Con.ervation Farming
Wh.r. pro ble.. of .rolion and wat.r 10.. are
acute, .tep. may be taken tp reduce the ill etf.cta of th...
proce...s materially and,' at the same time, increase the
~:
productivity of the '011. The introduction ot luch method.
into the tarm plan and tarm practices should be under1Jken
with the advice and under the direction of expert. trained
in this work. Such a service is now being rendered by the
Soil. Department of the Ontario Agricultural College and
advice on conaervation practices can be obtained through the
County Agricult\'l.l"&1 B.epreaenta tive. ConaerYation farming i.
rapidly te.ki_. aD. .rfective part in the agricuJ.ture of QQtario.
). ~Jla ~ P"l~
One or the .at ~t.ctiYe .MD.' or reclueing
ere.ion i. the a4opt1on of crop rotations which restricts the
oultivation or intertil1ed crop. and extends the u.e of
gras. a:1xtun. that g1"'~ent cover to the land. Inter-
tillecl crop. giw poor returna on eroded .lop.. and ~. the
land further to the .fteet. ot .:&-oaton. Har and pa.tv..
when manag.d with thi. aim. in new. can _tar1ally ino,.....
1. c.a. Inlow and. G.W. ..cr.... - "Grua.. and. Other Thick-
Growing YaCltation in Iro,fon Control" - U.S.D.A. Yearbook
ot Agriculture" 1936. pag. 622.
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ny c......'. ."'IIi! { '(lnSfTiWfin}l ....;en.io,.
Terracing on the contour is a practice which~pllecls and prevents water, from heavy rains
and thaws. from running down hill for long distances unchecked. This allows much of the
water to soak into the soil where it will be of some use to the crop, and minimises erosion.
Excess water caught by the terrace can ./low safely away by means of grassed waterways.
i
I
I
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Hy U........ Soil ('ll1lS/'n'IlJiml
Strip-cropping is beneficial on long uniform slopes. Conservation of power is also possible
because the harvesting is done on the level rather than going up and down hill.
/c3S
organic content of the soil, give good returns and also
provide the kind of plant cover which protects the land against
erosion and makes it more absorptive to water. This method
of conserving water and soil is particularly suited for the
sloping lands of the area because the terrain is such that
contour cultivation is impracticable or impossible. (Also
areas of poor drainage are difficult or impossible to drain
because of the hummocky or "knob and kettle", terrain which
outlet for artificial drainage.)
Detailed results are not available to show
effective grass cover is in conserving water and soil in
Etobicoke region but studies made in not dissimilar regions
demonstrate the value of this method of conservation.
,
Data comparing the soil and water losses
cultivated row crop plots and gr~ss plots have been
summarized by Enlow and Musgravei, and' illustrate the effect-
iveness of grass, hay or pasture in preventing soil losses:
(Annual Averages)
Run-off Erosion per acre
Row Grass or Row Grass or
Location Slope Crops Pasture Grops Pasture
Inches Inches Tons Tons
'Vernon fine Guthrie 7.7 4.7l 0.407 24.29 0.032
sandy loam Okla
Methany 8.0 9.85 3.24 68.78 .29
Mo.
silt LaCrosse 16.0 7.11 0.96 88.67 .03
Wis.
silt LaCrosse 30.0 6.99 2.77 81.44 .245
Wis.
Clarinda 9.0 2.32 .26 18.82 .06
Iowa
"Grass and Other Thick-Growing Vegetation in Erosion
Control"- U.S.D.A. Yearbook of Agriculture, 1938, page 620.
-- ~,
I~'
The annual average of soil losses on the grass plots are
constantly very small as compared with the losses on plots
producing row crops.
The following data summarizes the results of
investigations concerning the effect of various cropping
systems on soil and water losses from 12% slope on Muskingum
silt loam in Zanesville, Ohio, 1934-361:
Soil Wasted Water Wasted
Crop (tons per acre) (% of rain-
per year fall)
Fallow 54.7 42.5
Continuous Corn 59.6 35.2
Corn in rotation 4-year
(corn, wheat, 2 years grass) a.o 18.4
Bluegrass 0.05 4.5
The water losses frqm continuous corn plots
are double those of corn in rotation, while the soil losses
, ,
are more than seven times as great. .1t thus becomes obvious
why so much emphasis must be places on the use of rotation of
crops. Data from other experiments conducted by the Soil
Conservation Service of the United States Department of
Agriculture record similar results, many less spectacular,
but soil losses were frequently reduced by at least one-
half by growing corn and other intertilled crops in rotation
rather than continuously. Reference may be made to Ontario
Department of Agriculture publications, "Guide to Crop Improve-
ment in Ontario", prepared by the Standing Committee on
Fl1d Crop Improvement, February 19462, and "Good Seed Mixtures
f9r Hay and Pasture in Ontario", prepared by the Pasture
cfmittee, Ontario Agricultural COllege3, or to the Agricultural
r~': resentative in Brampton for consideration of suitable hay
T
~, jl pasture mixtures.
"Conservation Farming and Flood Control"-U.S.D.A. Miscel-
laneous Publication 253.
Ontario Department of Agriculture- Extension Circular
No. 68, February 1946.
Ontario Department of Agriculture - Extension Circular
No. 64, February 1943.
. ~-- ,...,,,----
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Cultivation on the contour is here supported by strip-cropping with alternating bands of
close-growing, erosion-resisting crops and cultivated roW crops. This practice is recom-
mended as an erosion control measure for the more umform and longer slopes of Class II
and III land.
,
~
n" {'"I.,'. .......oil (U'I"!'/,. 'III JII....(';-;./,'..
Simple strip-cropping on the contour permits th.e growing of long, easily worked bands of
crop.. in rotation. on sloping Class II and III land.
/0;'
~ontour Cultivation
Where regular slopes give scope for handling
of implements on the contour, there are practices which are
a great help in reducing water losses and erosion. The practice
of contour cultivation is particularly valuable when growing
intertilled crops such as roots, potatoes and corn. Water is
held in plowed furrows or ridged rows that are kept on the
contour; instead of running downhill, the water remain on
the slopes, soaks into the soil and becomes available to the
The saving of fuel and energy alone has proved suffic-
ient to recommend this practice where slopes are sufficiently
uniform; however, in addition, the practice of contour cul-
tivation assists in erosion control, flood control, and results
in appreciable increases in crop yields.
Strip-Cropping
Strip~cropping is the planting and growing
of bands of erosion resisting crops' alternating with bahds
of clean tilled or soil exposing crop~. The most common
.
practice is to alternate strips of grain or intertilled
crops with hay or meadow and the most complete control of
erosion is achieved when the strips conform to the contour.
The most satisfactory width of strip which combines the best
c.pntrol of run-off for any particular soil with convenience
of cultivation is being considered for Ontario conditions,
h~wever the following maxium widths for various slopes have
1
satisfactory in similar parts of the United States:
Slope Width of Strip
5% 125 feet
16% 100 feet
15% 75 feet
20% 50 feet
Susceptibility of soil and erosion, length
steepness of slope, kind of crops to be grown and rainfall
influence the width of strips which will provide the
complete control of run-off.
A.F. Gustafson - "The Control of Soil Erosion in New York"-
Cornell Extension Bulletin No. '43$, June 19400
---.~ ~ _ v~_ --- -
/43?
Strip-cropping must be combines with regular
rotations and good farming practices to be effective. It
is a form of vegetative control of soil erosion, the strips
of close-growing, erosion-resisting crops, absorbing nearly
the mois~ure that falls on them and any run-off from
strip above is caught by these strips as well. Most
of the soil washed from the strip above is held by this
controlling strip.
When it is desirable to plant a whole sloping
grain, for example, similar results may be obtained
use of buffer strips of hay between wider contour
of grain. This is particularly useful when endeav-
to keep grain strips on the contour and at the same
have them nearly uniform in width. The buffer strips
not be uniform is width and any great variation can
be taken up by them.
According to W.V~ Kell; "Observations made
on nearly a million acres of land strip-cropped under
various conditions, indicate that the practice, when properly
planned, is very effective in conserving soil and water."
Terraces
Terraces may be used on long slopes with
gradient up to 10% as a more complete measure for control-
ling erosion than strip-cropping alone. The function of
a terrace is to intercept the run-off from a sloping field
either allow the water to soak in or conduct it slowly
safely from the field. Terraces virtually divide long
slopes into several shorter ones and are simply broad-
ridges built approximately on the contour. Cultiv-
operations are conducted with the terrace, not
across it, and as the ridges rarely exceed 18 inches high
cropped. Terraces are usee in conjunction with
strip-cropping and rotation of crops.
"Strip Cropping" - U.S.D.A. Yearbook of Agriculture,
1938, page 6370
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A wise land use policy. The steepest part of1he hill is left in woods with permanent pasture
on the longer slopes too steep for rotalional cropland. The regular cropland is strip-cropped
and crop rotations are used to conserve soil and water.
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A farmer and his son inspect a well-for;"ed terrace. built on gently sloping cropland. The
terrace is perhaps eighteen inches high with a base of fourteen to twenty feet. When properly
built a terrace does not interfere with cultivation or harvesting. All farm operations are
with the terrace rather than across it.
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DEVELOPE D
PROFILE
PROPOSED DIVERSION .
E TO B I C i) K E CREEK THROUGH BRAMPTON j
ShowlnQ "plcal crOII-s.ctlon, f G ' 'h. alternativ.s "-
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POSED DIVFRSION of
OKE CRfr -BRAMPTON
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7. ~version ~itche8 and Grassed Waterways
Diversion ditches have the same function aa '
terraces, but are used under conditions of more serious
run-otf from longer or ateeper slop.., and are used to
protect better land lytng below tromdestructive run-at!
trom above. The ditch.. are deepertha,n those made by. th.'
terrace ridges. They .r.'~eed.d <lawn t.o grasses mainly,aM:'
_1 betlsed a8 hay bu\: a..e no\' cuJ.tlvated. Suitable ..fe O'it.:l..t.
we ..' .. . .... .
(:areapre-requ1sit.~O"'itb. properU1b:tenance of botht.~i',
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;~:J~ .a'pr;ocramofe.on$e~~1;ton. ~.'~cultural land. ,In 'the . ':i(~'m~~
ff:., . .' ... . . ," .."". , '. .... ":I,;;j!y ,
A,~~t~y; ou'tf)t ~cij~!:~~~.t.~i;~dU8. c.pabi~l~y ,cl...~i fi~f"'\ .
..~':\.:) '. . .. .... ..., '.' '." <~:;,:} .' .....! .' '. ...... .,c",;l;~f:
5tlt4.catton that h4lltbe...;d:..cr-tW4i't,'.otcona:1d.erab1..\!\;a.... .:diL(',
\~ . '.. ... . ... c. . .,..C>.<.i.;':' ........ .'. .' ..... ". .....",:l.;;,
,:~;' ....;1, 1an~' ba8:~b..Ili:~..~J.l'1eai~\.,'2;".1~"_11 dralnM'la\n<t 1i~~n~
~;". .. .' '. . """",,: ,,"~ i~;' '. ..... ',. .'>}':;~1~~!~"~.
;~~"lr.8;no"pe~iG'._ot'I:!~..:I"."'I;f ....r.gton 1nclt1de8tr~J'f:~:~';'::,:
~tr' " . .~. "'" .... . "~},,( .. ..."t' ,"";" .'. .. .. ... ..... ':'?~:~~\:!+
~. i;! ,"Y~~ '_u.dr.iJ1~..'~l,.~,ot;...:,~~~,~;~i.rr aS$bcU"~lons. ~t~~r
.' '~~",'._c'::>:"-. ' ," _ ,_ _ -0 "r,:: '. " " _ ':::;~<' _ _, _ ',': :,,- ::', ", .: , : ,: :_:., _~:,:<'~-:;~:_':!_;~~:_~:'~,J:'
.ti.':.~~o~p,r.O~ttOIl.~";~tlttJ~~';(i~~c~ten1li.'.a,~o'':ij;~:'i~}:~:~<;,I/:
;}"/., .,; .... .....". . ';';' ; .~: ,;1/',;'., ..... ". ..' . . .., .i\;,l~~;;.~~:~'
" . .~P$be~."ll,l~~~,i~"oe.,~~t<.of the .~oU.ta .'. ~!;~~'f~:i;~
i _ _ ,> _. . .,'.."_~:.?;_, --;:'. " ; \.;'" i~ ", )<', ,~:T /d_,' , ", _", ' '. ,~.:?~}~~;:\~',~i~~.
:'.~e :ft01ar _na.....t.iof;;theai';eol1.s :tt. ia banI to aa,<';}!~~'~'1~r
?~..'.".'::':7~(~ '....." "".' .~;"'1'. i.". .'. ,'. ...... .i';'I:l!tl};;~~\
.~~.y.o"t1.1d Wb..;'tt,1'I...1~~{;C_rfl~'"dl).aOr 'slope. and dr.~'];;,~'
," .... .'.. .. . ....... .......'. .. .... .' . ..... ...... ....... . ...... ..."i"'"
~~:~'~.rg. :lntopoorejl\\,~~it~!l1. _i~hetendency.r all the::~:.'~r
,i .,. . . "f. ."",..",'1.,
~!~(t:Jn 1;q~regton 'to 'be:_ot'11 ;dr.tn~ 18 one . to becon8id..~::
^,~":' . "#, ", _ _,' _,' , ," " ' :' .:, :l"}~~:rir,~\f/"~~~f
~;~~~. sure that nOdan~U:ng~wat.~ 18 left late in spring or ,~r~~i~r"
,!,) , . ' . .. . .' .' . . . . . . . .~"i,"h
!~,tt..r ~WftDlerralns, 1\18 nec,.sur to provide a run.off cha.~r,r
'.' .'. '.. . .. . .... .. . .:~::~rtt;
~'P."VEm. the be8tlandla;the:district~ . This 1s a practicetbAII;'~:&',
i~ ". . . . .' . .. '.. . "!;)i:~~{:,;
a gene. rally carried ,out ettect.1velybf the operators. ~~~~m'>
, ' '.' . . .!;J{::r"
0188811.....18nd ccftaprtse. more than halt of. the .,". i
in the watershed of. the East Branch. There are three
\ ~ ' "
!.in types, (1) heavy till loams and clay loams that are';:',
fr _ ";>,:/>:~~.~ \;1
steep regular 'slo,pGs (up to (J1, slopes), (2) hummoe~;:r~
~ " f'
~ :'~
. "(
/~~ !
i
land of allthre. of the so11 associatlonsand (3) lmpertec'tly
drained soils ot the heavy till loams and the clay loams. 'or
'the tirst type the adoptlon ofcona.rvation tanning practtic8a
as outlined in the preceding paragraphs would do much to .
reduce the ill ertecta ot erosion and. at the same time,
improve ,the returns troll these 8011s. On the hummocky land
, it 1. unlikely that conservation methods on the contour would
be .pplteable but protection . against. erosion can be obtained
by limiting or arranging rotations 80 that a maximum of per-
manent cover 18 retained on the land. The third type, the
apertectly drained 8011s, 18 in some .1n.t8noes amenable to
drainage by t1le or d.~'tcl1es, ln oth.rathe irregularity ln
the .urface makes any syste. ot dralnage difficult to.work.
It, howeyer, wet patches 'in the tieldaare not drained by a
;;.imple system they will reduoe the total yield of that tield
it ls restricted,to orops that can stand the excess
.
~l,a.~ II I and Clas. IV Land "
..
A relatively tew ~cr.~ of' Claas III land
sulbabletor intensive'practices such as
ep.s1onoontl"'01 by COQtour methods or.underdrainage tor
ltestrloU_.of rotatoioDs to keep thls land under
p1aJlt' cover 'a. .uGh .a pos8:Lble make <It.a treatment much .'the
....a8~hat torCla.~IV Land. In vi." ot the heavy hay and
pasture req,u1rement8 of 'the dlstric:t; considerat.ion mlghtbe
..
g1ven:to theconveralon of a8 much.... po..tbl. of both
Olass III and Class IV land lnto longtel"ll pasture.
10. ClaasV 'ldm4
In this class have been grouped all the flat.
poorly draihed so~ls on bott.om lands and muck. Except in
.special eire.stanceswhere .they JIIlybefound suitable tor
t drainage and employment in 80me spec~a~ use. they are considered
suitable tor permanent cover, either pasture or woodlot.
Conaldering the larle amount of pasture that i. required -it
/"1.3 ^~
would be reasonable to retain as muoh as possible of this land
under grass. In some places, however, the water saturation
of the 80il or its acidity preclude its use for pasture.
Then it would be worth while to reforest these wet ]a nds.
Cedar, Elm and Soft Maple can be used, amongst others, to
reforest such areas to the benefit of the watershed as a whole
in retaining water in the river system.
11. Plantable Land for Trees
Class VI and VII land consist of the hummocky
land in the gravel ridge and the till plain surrounding it
and the steep irregular slopes leading down to the valleys of
the main streams. These are lands that are poor producers
agriculturally and are recommended for forestry. The establish-
ing or woodlot on these steeply sloping lands should be done
under the supervision of a competent forester in such a way
as to further, the aims of conservation. This would involve
the planting as much as possible on the contour, that is along
the slope rather than dolr.'Il it, it caret in the use _or tractors
.
and implements to avoid the creatio~ of rills and gullies,
exclusion of cattle so that a heavy mat is established on
the forest floor, and the limitation of cutting 80 that a
permanent stand of trees is retained .on the land. Oravel
pits that have been worked out are put into Class VIII land.
In each case they are surro~ded by land to be planted in
trees. The trees suitable for planting on gravel slopes
includes pines, which offer very little to wildlife. The
old gravel pits can be expected to establish voluntarily, as
some have already done, shrubs and perennial herbs that offer
food and shelter to wildlife. Similarly permanent bodies or
water, when surrounded by WOOdlot, offer refuge and breeding
place for aquatic animals, both winged and four footed.
Small ponds of less than an acre in extent, of
which there are a number in the watershed, constitute a
resource that is not always appreciated and which is often
neglected. Permanent water is retained in them by impervious
/'1'7 "
- .
~lay underlying the lighter soils, if neglected they are
,lilted in by wash f'rom adjacent slopes. They then become muck
,holes that dry out 1n midswmner and are no use to man or
beast, tame or wild. If the slopes leading to the pond 'a.re
kept in grass, and cattle excluded from the brink, the ponds
.ill be more likely to remain permanent, give a supply of'
water to cattle and also serve the friendly wild things of
the region. To exclude cattle, a narrow lane may be led to
'one corner of the pond as the water may be piped to a 'watering
trOUgh nearby.
Re<<ional Problem
Though erQsion is a concern of the farmer whose
land is being depleted by it, it is a regional problem which
concerns all those who live on the s.-. watershed. The soil
that i8 washed from the farmer's field muddies the water in
the streams and silts up the reservoirs that are built to
control the flow of the river. Along with erosioh there is
the loss of water by exceS8 surface run-off', which the f'armer
needs in the streams and in the ponds to water his cattle. The
water that is lost troutt-he land upstream, menaces the down-
stream dweller with spring floods and leaves a dry midsummer
stream bed that is ot no use to anyone. The protection of
the water r'e$ources of the river system by adjustments 1n
land use near the headwaters need not constitute a loss to
the agriculturalist who works the land. Those practices which
are helpful 1n hold1ng water in the upper part ot the watershed
can be very profitable to.the farmer. The two that bave been
stressed 1n this report are refore$tation and the institution
of long term, or permanent pasture. In the discussion of
Land Use Capability Classes mention was made of the difficulty
of reforesting or putting into pasture of small plots of land.
A regional consideration .of this problem might be fruitful.
As was noted previously. the land use that was mapped showed
a heavy demand for pasture. so much 80, that 1500 acres of
land suitable tor continuous cultivation was found to be in
1J1s-
. .
permanent pasture, was being cultivated, exposed to
erosion and water loss.
1). Planned Redistribution of Pasture
With an analysis of pasture requirementtf-and
pasture capabilities, such as was made in the area that
was studied in detail, steps could be taken to meet
these pasture requirements and serve the interests ot
conservation at the same time. Iti. obvious that much
land in the region is rented from the owners to provide
pasture for the holders of larger herds. Indeed, the
pattern of distribution ot pastu.s in the region con-
forms, to some degree, ~p the capabilities ot the land
according to its natural qualities. To get a little
finer, a little more efficient adjustment of land use,
there is r.equired merely the neighbourly consideration
ot this problem by the operators and proprietors of the
district. Such an expression of team work could easily
constitute the first and one of thetmost effective steps
taken in the field of conservation on the Etobicoke watershed.
14. Water SupplY for D&stures
The observations made of land. use in the area
highlight t~e question of pastures, permanent or long term.
Many of these are used by cattle belonging to the proprietor
of the land on which they grase. These usually have acceS8
to well. wa,ter on the property. In some cases, however, and
1n many ca;s.,s where herds are pastures away from the home
farm, operators depend on springs, streams and ponds for
watering .the cattle. When this is the case, availability of
water supply controls the use of the land for pasture. In
planning for pasture, consideration would have to be given
to protecting natural sources of water. and distribution of
pastures. Reforestation,helps to protect the sources of springs,
small intermittent. at,reams can be made to form permanent pools
by small dams, and ponds need .~~ be protected against. silting
1n. If pastures are to be improved a recommended measure is
rotation or grazing. This can only be done where water is easily
available to all portions to be pastured. Actually it is not
feasible to rotate grazing unless natural watering places are
accessible.
/~t,
l5. A Planned Land Use Pro~
The pasture requirements of an important dairy
and stock raising region and the need for soil and water conser-
vation in an area. with dwindling water' supply and "eroded soils
warrant further study. A planned land use project. here
outlined, could torm the basis for such a study. There are
questions of land holding and rental, soil improvement, distrib-
ution. health of herds and water supply that together form a
complex, but not insoluble. problem.
The nucleus of the project would be the woodland
in that area or la~d which is manifestly suitable for reforest-
ation. The land which is suitable for trees, however, does
not end abruptly at a property line and gives way to land suit-
able tor continued cultivation. Observation of the land itself
or reference to the map of that part of it which was studied in
detail on this survey, shows a fair1y.c:ontinuous zone of
Class III, IV, and V Land, that is, land which is recommended
for pasture, around the land ~uitable for reforestation. If
nature has distributed pasturab1e land around land suitable for
trees in a continuous belt why not, then, a pattern of land
use which distributes pasture in a zone around forest?
\ .,.,
Besiaes the two main advantages of such a project,
provision of pasture and protection of the land by pennanent
cover, there are others that follow naturally. Reforested land
in itself .san be of little use to wildlife, but a zone of
certain bushes, shrubs and perennial herbs on the margin of a
woodlot, can provide much food and shelter for desirable bird
life. If the land to be acquired for a land use project
included more than just that to be planted in trees, then the
forest could be laid out to give as long a border as possible.
On the border of the forest, a zone five or ten rods wide can
be established fo~ encouraging wildlife. The fence which
protects the forest would be between this and the land to be
pastured. With a continuous belt to be pastured, division ot
the pasture land could be affected in such a way as to give
/1f?
best Possible use of available water-supply. It would be
questionable to reforest land which is suitable for cultivation
and the boundaries of a public !'orf'~st would necest,5arily have to
be well within the area which is manifestly plant able in trees,
following property lines or convenient divisions of existing
holdings. The inclusion of cultivable land in pasture is,
in the light of local requirements, much less questionable. A
project of this nature, then, approaches the ideal balance of
land use. Streams and ponds offering shelter to muskrat or
water fowl, forest protecting the water resources of a river
system, plant cover-to encourage desirable bird life,pasture
to protect eroding soils and serve the agriculturalists
of the district, all in a, well planned pattern conforming to
the natural characteristics of the land and set. as a unit, in
the midst of a prosperous and progressive farming region, would
Berve as a model for future e!'forts in the conservation of the
,
land resources of Ontario.
"
<
'.
.'
14/1
!
~
I
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I
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"
~.
~
III <
FORESTS
, '.
~
/'19
CHAPTER II
THE FOREST
Time of Settlement
Etobicoke Creek drains a level area or excel-
agricultural land comprising part of the Peel till
The soil of the area is, .in general, so level and
of such good quality that it has not seemed practical to
most landowners to retain much of it in woodland and con-
sequently none of the original forest remains. As a result,
a study of the forest must be based on the reports of early
travellers and the few.woodlots which exist to-day.
One early writer described the Township of
the western fringe of which is in the watershed,
by stating I "the soil varies in quality, but a large por-
tion of the timber, pine and hardwood intermixed," jurther
on he described Toronto, and Chinguacousy Townships, "about
a mile and a half from Cooksville is the pleasant village
of Sydenham (now nixie). .
A steam sawmill has been erected
on the site of the old grist mill. 'The land between
Cooksville and Brampton" 1s rOlling, the soil of excellent
~ality and a large portion of the timber is hardwood. In
"
the neighbO,urhood of Brampton the hardwood is intennixed
with pine. A steam. sawmill is in progress (in Brampton).
Taking it as a whol~ Chinguacousyis a very fine township.
It contains eight sawmills."
The original forest was predominately hard-
covered the whole watershed. The trees were large
and widely spaced and rose to a height of fifty feet or
more without a limb. The interior of the woods was dim
and cool with hardly any underbrush but with a deep covering
of duf:f over the forest floor. On the dry, level land,
maple with its associate beeCh, and in some sections basswood,
was predominant. On the wetter sites
1. Canada - Past, Present and Future- W. H. Smith, 1851
"
/50
silver maple-white elm forests with their associates of
swamp white oak and shagbark hickory occurred, while on
muck areas cedar grew in swamps and on the wettest sites-
small areas of tamarack were found. A few acres of oak
occurred here and there but nothing like the extensive oak'
plains which were present on the Humber watershed, notably
in the western part of York township. White pine and hem-
lock grew on the well-drained slopes and ridges along
the stream valleys and occurred as scattered trees through-
out the hardwood stands attaining their best growth in
the maple-beech woods ~ut also growing in the swamp forests
among the silver maple <and elm trees. North-east of
Brampton one or two small bogs, which are still in exist-
ence, remain as "boreal islands" the centres of which are
open water surrounded by a cover of leather ~eaf with
black spruce and tamarack around the perimeter. In one
area on the east side of Heart Lake is a sphagnum bog
where black spruce and.white pine~re growing together.
2. Since Settlement
The good earth of the Townships of Toronto
and Chinguacousy was Covered with this dense hardwood
, ,.
forest wh~ch the early settler regarded aS,an enemy to be
attacked by every means in his power because it obstructed
all his efforts to'make a livelihood. Until the ground
was cleared of trees he could not grow crops, build roads,
layout a townsite or even construct a house in which to
live and consequently he cut and slashed and burned the
trees wh~ch were of little e~onomic value at the time.
Though most of the forests of the watershed
have disappeared, one is scarcely justified in stating
that the land has been excessively cleared because lIost
of it is probably paying bigger returns from field crops
and pasture than it woul~ from woodland.
~ 00 ~
0 O::r- 0
'1 s: ~. ~
0 en::s
:::s -<~ en
('t ::r-
0 $\) ...
I 'lj
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\.oJ \.oJ
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V1 \0 .
V1 ....;J
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. .
..... ~
.....
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..... ::s ~. ~ (Jq CO a- N !It
('t 0 i ::r ..... ~
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s:
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cq ~ III
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en t!l ('t EI > ..... ..... (f) CIJ
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:E: . . )A..... 0
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~ ..... r~ ~ Q. ..... n ::1
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~ V1 \.oJ <Do. ::s Q;l. ~ 0 jl.) a'
N ...0 ~ to..... Q. -.,J . 0.
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..... :....."
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..... \.oJ >0
Q;l. Q;l. 0
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'-" ~
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..... ...0 .....
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~
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Table Fl shows the rate at which the forests
of the townships of Chinguacousy and Toronto were cleared.
The figures are taken from the Census of Canada, the per-
centages of woodland remaining at the census years are
given and the close re1ationship,between the figures for
the two townships is interesting, because the two tOWTlships
include within their boundaries almost the whole of the
Etobicoke watershed. The figures give a fairly accur-
ate indication of the rate at which clearing proceeded.
It will be noted that in 1850 approximately 45% of the
original forest remained, but by 1910 it had been reduced
to about 6.0%, close t~ which it has remained ever since.
The actual figures, for the areas of woodland existing
to-day, from the data obtained in the survey conducted
during the summer of 1946, are given in table F2 by townships
and cover only those portions of the townships embodied
in the watershed. ,
J. Forest Products ~
.
(a) Wood Products
Throughout the early part of the nineteenth
century there was ltttrle market for products of the forest r
produced so far inland and settlers had difficulty in-
getting rid of the timber. With the exception of timbers
required for building construction and wood for fuel there
was practically no sale for them and hardwood from hundreds
of acres was burned to produce potash. Toward the middle
of the century however the square timber trade with Europe
developed and Table F3 shows the progress of the lumber
industry as it aff~cted the Etobicoke Watershed from 1870
to the present day.
The figures are taken from the Census of
Canada and it should be observed that from 1870 to 189Q
,
inclusive, timber was classified as square timber measured
in cubic feet, logs were merely counted and other products
~- -.- ..,
. .
'15~
PER CENT WOODLAND
CHINGUACOUSY TOWNSHIP
CENSUS OF CANADA FIGURES
0
1150 tI60 1170 1180 1190 1900 1910 1920 1930 IMO
.
.
"
.
.PER CENT WOODLAND
TORONTO TOWNSHIP
CENSUS OF CANADA FIGURES
.
0
II~O 1110 1170 I~ lItO I toO 1910 1920 1.30 IMO
.
.tt
0 ..: t!' ::;1 .~ ~ tn ~ i .., 'lIEl 0 ~ 0 :=: ~
c+ ~~!~ ~o ~ O~~~~~ .
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10
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) comprised chiefly firewood with some fence posts, staves
and shingles. Squared pine constituted more than half of
the timber sold, with oak second and elm third in quantity.
"
These figures do net. show the relative abundance o-f each
species in the area but reflect ~ather the demand and the
ease with which the different timbers could be squared for
shi pment . Tamarack and oak dropped out of production
immediately following 1890, the former undoubtedly because
of the ravages of the larch saw-fly and the latter because
of the exhaustion of a supply which was never abundant.
The largest production of timber was recorded
. ,
in the year 1890. For the next two ten year periods some
square timber is listed but logs instead of being merely
counted are measured in thousands of board feet. Firewood
continued to be an important item but most of the other
miscellaneous products dropped out. By 1920 logs were no
longer classified as to species for census purposes and the
only other products listed were fe~ce posts and rails. In
the 1940 census the only product listed separately was
firewood which had dropped from 43,098 cords in 1a70 to
l3,706 cords and al~ ~ther forest products' were lumped .
together a~d stated as having a monetary va~ue of $I,741.
Though sawmills were plentiful along bo~h
the Humber and Credit Rivers and it is probable that much
of the lumber of the Etobicoke watershed' was hauled to them
for sawing" there have never been many within the Etobicoke
drainage area. As already mentioned, one steam sawmill was
in opera~ion at the village of Summerville on the Dundas
Highway for some years, and one at Brampton. The census
returns list 35 sawmills (2 steam and 33 water mills)
as being in operation in Peel County in la50, but in 1860,
no steam and only 6 water mills are recorded; in 1890, i
unspecified mills are listed but all the above figures
include mills on the Humber and' Credit rivers as well as
the Etobicoke. The Dominion Census of Industry for 1944
..
/51.0
shows two sawmills and four planing mills or sash and
door factories in operation in the County of Peel.
The Department of Lands and Forf~sts rec_ords
"
show only one mill in operation in Peel County in 1945.
Table F4 shows the cut by species -in board feet.
TABLE F4
Sawmill Cut by Species
Peel County 1945
Dept. of Lands and Forests Figures
Bd. Ft.
Red & White Pine 16,OOO
Ash 9,000
Hemlock 18,000
Maple 3.000
White Oak 2,000
Basswood 3,000
.
" 50,000
(b) Maple Syrup
Peel County has never been ~.yery great
producer of maple sugar and syrup. .
Production by years is
;
given in Table F5. In the census returns up to 1910 prod-
uction figures are all listed as pounds of sugar; from
1910 on figures are given for sugar and syrup. To form a
basis for compari'son a conversion factor of 0.65 has been
used and all syrup figures converted to their sugar equival-
ent. The change from sugar only, to suear and syrup in
1910 would seem to indicate that cane sugar had replaced
the home product on the farm as the chief form of sweet.
~ - ---
I""""
;) i
FIREWOOD PRODUCED IN PEEL COUNTY
CENSUS OF CANADA FIGURES
CORDS
',,",
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940
t
"
,
I'OUNOS MAPL E SUGAR PRODUCE D
",000 IN PEEL COUNTY
$0,000 CENSUS OF CANADA FIGURES
40,000
".t. F.. ,..,. ......IlUe..' t. 1900
e"... t....... 1Iew. ..... ,......' Ie,
Ie tlte" .....' ...."'.....t fer
50,000 ,..".... .f ,....."....
I
10,00O I,
10,000
~--- - ---
0 ,-----. -...-.--- 1
.so 11IO .70 IHO .to 1100 "I() ,tto ,.SO ".0
I
.
.
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. I I ,:; ~ ~:? S I ~I
/59
CHAPTER 12
FOREST CONSERVATION MEASURES IN PROGRESS
As comparatively little la~d suitable'for refor-
exists within the Etobicoke watershed, conservation in
of tree planting has not been very extensive. There
c1s no blow sand within the area and what planting has been done
has been on fairly heavy' soils where competition from weeds is
1keen and damage from mice which have their runways in the long
the snow is usually considerable.
Private Plantin~ ;~~
The fr~e distribution of trees for planting was
J
begun in Ontari~\,in 1905, and the following year a
.
passed which enabled a township council to exempt
]a part of the woodland of a farm from taxation; it provided
'that: "Any part of a farm used for forestry purposes or being
,'Woodlands': provided that such exemption shall not be greater
,
of such farm and not more than
, t
,twenty acres held under' a single oWnership. It
~ 'Woodlands' for the purpose or this paragraph shall mean
.-
,lands having not less't'han four hundred trees per acre of all
\.\' o.l
three hundred trees, measuring over two inches in .
or two hundred, measuring over five inches in diam-
(all such measurements to be taken at four and on_-half
from the groun4) of one' or more of the following kinds:
hite or. NorwaYP~ne, White or Norway Spruce, Hemlock, Tamarack,
k, Ash, Elm, Hickory, Basswood, Tulip, (White wood); Black
herry, ~Ja~nut, Butternut, Chestnut, Hard Maple, Soft Maple,
edar, Sycamore, Beech, Black Locust, or Catalpa, or any other
,
designated by Order-in-Council, and which
set apart by the owner with the object
n~necessarily SOlely, of fostering the growth
thereon and which are not used for grazing live-
R.S.O. 1927., c. 238, s. 4,
Para. 25; 1934, c. 1. 8.4 (3).
.
. ,
/&,0
In 1927 the exemption of taxation on woodland
was made compulsory if applied for, and is interpreted as
meaning planted as. well as natural trees.
In 1938 the Assessment Act was amended ~,o
-- ....
prevent the assessment being rai~ed on land after it had been
reforested and now reads as follows:
"Land which has been planted for forestation or reforestation
purposes shall not be assessed at a greater value by reason
only on such planting." -- The Statute Law Amendment Act, 1928,
c. 37, s. 2 (1).
Both these acts were designed to facilitate
the planting of trees pn private land and should be taken
advantage of by citize~8 anxious to improve woodland con-
ditions on their own property and at the same time benefit
the whole community of the river valley.
For some years now, the Department of Lands
and Forests has divided.Southern Ontario into zones, each
.
with its "Zone Forestern whose duty it is to give advice
t
and assistance to private individuals and municipalities
on the management of their woodland.s and the establishment
of plantations. The address of the office covering the
).., ~ ~ ' .
'..... ;~-
zone in which the EtOpicoke Creek lies is Southern Research .
Station, Dept. of Lands and Forests, R. R. #2, Maple, Ont.
At the present time', the zones are far too large for one man
to cover adequately~ It is anticipated that in the near
future these zon~:8 will be subdivided so that each forester
will have a-smaller area to cover. This will mean that
the forester will have more time to devote to the establish-
ment of county forests, demonstration and school plots,
and also ~ore time to help private individuals with their
woodlot and reforestation problems.
The provincial forest nursery closest to the
Etobicoke Creek watershed is located at Midhurst about
5 miles north-weRt of aarrie on the Barrie-Midland highway.
______~. _____ m._....... ~ --
/(,. /
.
It has served as a distribution centre for trees since
1922 and pro~ide8 some very fine examples of forest plant-
. ,
ations and well-Managed woodlands.
In addition it is possible for a tdwn.ship
council to make an agreement wit'h a private owner under the'
Municipal Reforestation Act. S.O. 1945. Ch.-14. The Act
permits the municipal council of a township ~o enter into
agreements with the owners of land providing for the
reforestation of portions of such lands. The agreements
will prescribe the cutting conditions or all trees planted
and such conditions wi~l be subject to the approval of the
Minister of Lallds ancf.Forests.
Provision is ~lso made for exampting such
lands from taxation and for making arrangements with the
Dominion and Provincial Ministers of Labour regarding
conditions of labour ~d payment of wages in connection
with the planting and conservation of such areas. -- The
Municipal Reforestation Act. 5.0.1945. Ch. 14. (
Under t~is agreement. lands which are essen-
tial to the control of-'the headwaters of streams. or simply
\.., ~, ,
for the utilisation; o,r submarginal agricultural lar~ can be
reforested. ;,
A few small private plantations have been
established totallihg about '20 acres but these are pitifully
small areas, the largest of which is five aCres in extent.
. - - '':'\':
\. ~
This is accounted for toa large degree by the small amount
of submarg~nal land present but there are small areas of
steep slo.pef!l, sections isolated from the main part of'the
farm and wet areas which could be profitably reforested by
private owners.
2. County Forests
In 1922 .the present policy of county forests
-.
was laid down. This w~rk is done under the authority of
The Municipal Reforestation Act' (R. S.O. Chap. 323), which
lay dormant from 1911 until the above year. The Act provide'8
for the purchasing of land and the entering into agreements
/ t, ;;J
by the county for the management of such lands. No limit
as to the size of the area is stated, 80 that some counties
have plots of a .few acres, while others have forests or
several thousand acres. If, however, a county w1~hes to
enter into an agreement with t~e Minister of Lands and
For~sts for the planting and management of_such county-owned
land, the policy has been that the county must purchase not
less than one thousand- acres. The agreements which are in
force at the present time run for a period of thirty years,
during which time the Ontario Government agrees to establ~ah
the forest, and pay the cost of such items as fencing, build-
,
ings, equipment, labour, maintenance, trees etc., in short,
everything connected\with the management of the forest.
~
At the end of the tbirty year period, the
county has the privilege of exercising one of three options;
First, to take the forest over from the Government and pay
.
back the cost of establishment and maintenance; Second, to
relinquish all claim to the forest, whereupon the Government
~ .~
.,
will pay to the county the cost of the land, Without interest;
Third, the forest may.,be carried on as a joint undertaking
by the province anq 1:ihe county, each Sharing half the cost
, '. , ,
and half the profits.
.
.
,~t will be seen from the above sammarY,of the
agreement that all,a county stands to lose on such a "project
is the interest fo~ thirty years on the purchase price of
.,;,.'ft
the land. Also;'it should be pointed out that, in drawing
up such a liberal scheme it was done purposely to endourage
the reforestation of land not suited to agriculture. . Again,
it was not the intention of the Government to have the
counties 'stop at a minimum of 1,000 acres, as the overhead
necessary on an area of this size could very easily be spread
over an area of five, o~ ten times the size. As a matter
of .fact this is what happened in someccounties where the
~
councils have initiated a prog~essive reforestation policy.
-
~'.~~-,,--,--,-
11 ~ ~ 'I;
j ; ~
. .
.loa.
- '.
-
,
I
.,
....eel OOll.L~Y J -"Ol~0 ~ t, . Ii 1 cr;; aO':,.l 0iHJ 01' t..iQ 1'il'e
."ual'ds G~lo;,-';ifl(": red pine 6 yei':.lr's a....ter filuntinc.
~..J
~..00Ut ;';0, :"tc.,;:e~r oJ: la...Hl ,':us <r.C .;. ui:;:'ocl uHd .plall t.ed
L1 19'10 , but no extensions [(eve been Lli d e since
. thut uate.
I
,
~
.-.
~
/~"I
This Act has recently been amended so that
municipal councils of townships shall have all the powers,
privileges and authority conferred on councils of counties
except that instead of issuing debentures' to an alllpt~~'it not
exceeding $25,000.00, they shal~have power to levy, by spac-
ial rate, a sum not exceeding $1,000.00 in ~ny year for the
purpose of providing for the purchase of land for planting
and protecting the timber thereon. -- The Municipal Refores-
tation AmendMent Act, 5.0. 1946, Ch. 62.
Peel County Forest is not in the watershed
but is situat~d in Albion Township, Concession III, Lot 13.
Very little has been 40ne to it since the original planting
of about fifty acres 6f trees in 1940.
3. Municipal Forests
The town of Brampton has a very small plan-
tation of trees on the fifty acres surrounding its pumping
.
station. Over a period of twenty years the town has received
between 13,000 and 14,~OO trees an~ it is presumed t~at most
\..-'-"
of these have been planted in its parks and woods.
4. Demonstration PI~tations
No d~monstration plantatioM\exist within
, .
the waterehed but it is recommended that the townships of
.
.'
Chinguacousy, TQro~to and Etobicoke establish plots of , this
nature. These come,under the policy which was laid down by
the Government in 1922 when it offered to assist municipal-
;: ~ ."
ities in' the establishment of small forest plantations for
.. .
the purpose of deMonstrating the use of trees on marginal
and submarginal land. The requirements are that such.plots
,
be located on a well travelled road and that the land,be
owned by the municipality, in return the government will
supply the trees free and supervise the planting work.
5. Demonstration Woodlots
,
Demonstration woodlots are privately owned
.~
areas of woodland on which the Qwners have agreed to follow
~
~v"
/~s
prescribed methods of woodlot management outlined by the
Department of Lands and 'orests. under the zone forester
and to permit access to the area by interpsted perso.n8~:-". One
"-
of these is in the woods north of Summerville. ~:h1Ch demon-
stration woodlots and the influence they exert for the proper
management of similar areas contribute to the total conser-
vation effort in any watershed.
6. School Forests
In order to encourage the establishment of
school forests which would be planted and cared for by
school children the O~tario Horticultural Association
organized an annual ~ompetition in 1945 for which prizes are
offered for the school having the best plantation and knowledge
of forestry in each forest district. Prizes are provided
by the Ontario Conservation and Reforestation ABsociation
and by Mr. J. E. Carte: of Guelph. The winners in these
district competitions are eligible for the Provincial For-
estry Competition for which Mr. C4.rter furnishes on~ hundred
'-~
dollars in prizes. No schools within the watershed have
participated in thes6"competitions and no school plots
~ ,'. However, 28,937 trees have
exist within the wat~rshed.
, been distributed by schools in the area to .the pupils for
planting on their ,own farms.
,
,
.'.
:
,
.~
~
It- (,
TABLE F6
Trees Distributed for Reforestation Purposes
to Municipalities lying Within or ,.,-
Partly Within the Etobicoke Watershe{~. ....
--
-
Department of Lands and Forests_ Figures
Chinguacousy Toronto Peel. Town o:f Chinguacousy
Township TwPo . Count:t Brampton Township
Private planting 10$,6l8 414,032
Municipal 69,975 13,$00 4,,400
Schools 28,937
,
.!
The total number o:f trees distributed is 639J762 but
it is not known how many were allotted to the area
of the watershed it.elf.
.
~ ~
. ~~
~ ." , ,
.
,.
,
\
..;'-!.,
....'1'
. ,
~
,
0
"--"-
~
--
/t:, 7
TABLE F7
. Land Which Should be Under Permanent Forest
Cover Includin~ the Four Main Source Areas ,-,-
And Minor Ones on Private-Land ...
"- '..
-.
,
Present Acres Percent
Cover
Woodland 1,152 54.6
Pa st ure S59 40.6
Haw and Wild Apple 100 2.1
Willow Scrub 33 1.7
." 2.144 lOOt
.
~ ~
.
~.....~
\.'. - -
-
, ,
.
.
,
\
.;-,..~,
- ,
~
"
~
.~
w
.
1 f r
1 ,)
RECOMMENDED
FOREST. ..
COVER
..
-.
LEGEND 11[&
I.
e ACIt[l
EXISTING WOODLAND - 2735
"EFO!,ESTATION LAND - 991
EXISTING PLANTATIONS - to
1946
SCALE MILES
I ~ 0 I I
t....
TOTIoL Io~EA OF WATERSHED 50.~~6 Aca
TOTAL A"EA OF WOODLAND 2,135 Aca
PERCENTAGE Of WOODLAND 54 'Yo
\ j \
\--'
i! .
. :~. \
i _/J
~
,. -
\
,,~I -
~-
.'
.
;.'.....,
/
-
I
,
~
~
-
.
" /(,9
CHAPTER 13
FOREST CONSERVATION.MEASURE5 REQUIRED
,.-'
The woodland of the Etobicoke watershed
"'- -......
has been reduced to such a low point namely 5.4 per cent of
-
the total area that it is felt that every effort should be
.,
made to retain what 18 left in order to protect the natuFa1
vater sto~age areas and to provide wood for some of the
local needs, particularly fuelwood, fence posts and poles.
Though there is very little submarginal
land within the wate~hed, some--does exist and where this is
\
not already wooded,.~~t is recommended that it be reforested
tor the same reasoner'for which maintenance of the existing
woodlots 1s advised, partioularly since this land is adjacent
to eitper surtace or underground water reservoirs.
1. Water Stor~e Areas
.
There are fo~ main water storage areas
.......,
within the wat~r8hed ;which for the purposes of this report
- " ~ ! ~-
have been designated as follows:- ~--
H ;~
, ,
-...,~
~_.-
\:: .'"
S - _....!r,ea,_--,
~ 300
Cheltenhfim. West Branch Chinguacousy.
SWamp '. ' .' ~.
.
Heart Lake Eas~. Branch Chinguacousy II E: 1,300
. l12.
, ',';;il ::
E 13
~..,.., <to' E . w&, 13.
E 14,'
"....., E wi 14,
JiI'"'-
-: 1
E 16,
; -- E 1 ,.
- ..-.- .
Dixie Woods Burnhamthorpe ~oronto I E: 51 Et :3 250
Creek : W 2
Summerville SUImletviUe Etbbtcoke 1Ft. H, Pt. I
T
The-,above areas should be acquired by the
,
Conservation Authority and maintained in permanent forest
"
~
-
I
. -'}
I. . I
SOURCE ",.AREAs
~.
- ", L:.EGEND
I CHELTENHAM SWAMP
- 2 HEART LAKE .
3 DIXIE WOODS
- 4 SUMMERVILLE WOODS
SCALE MILES
I 'h 0 I 2
r ___________---
.
....~
. ...
.
-
.
,
\.'
. '..,
.
,
,
- ~. .-
/
.
. ~
I
,
.
"
'"'
~
,
.-" " I
-
! /1/
cover except' tor thoe. 8mall'.C,t.t~j>khtc. 1~..7' benec..e-
ary to leave open torr.creatt._l!~....'
.-~.- -',,' ," ,:' " '.', r........ :.' _ _,:",. _~' :, .: :,,-, <' I
'1'hewat.~ot't__/:..~...c~"ltYfci"c~1..ed
' . '.. ., " .. ",Q,;;ti::)"i:)':4,"'i' ......'/>,,,;'4.,:';, ..:: '
chierly fromtheeurtace'ruQ~.rt;,it'~:jr<<lr-~r'~j~tiYatect
and ,much ofwhioh baa, been tLU.'i~~'~~~"'~~:~.~f,.b1Ch
" ,r"'.1 ',; ir.!';:,':" -
were originally the naturalw..l!atctrapt,"'e..,t'oit'..1:l.'
. -,'-":,',,"',.. ': .. .,.:. '.
trlbutar, 8tre..., have dried' up,:;'-....a, .~.:.-'~ioh~.aur. "
untea~ible to take oUt 01: cult't...ti'Olb,':8~1';:~.;'are
found particularly near the height. .,C)fi,'land', '~Q:'it"""
been impo.sible to drain sufficientl,.,forculttV..tt'onlllO.t
of these are amall ~eas on prl.ntlll::!.an4 lrhiCtlll~j1i~:_i1
to be' taken over a,'public toresta bUt" which should'be
... ',- - ~
either maintained in permanent woods where thi, exiata or
reforested in those cases where notre..' a1:-. now P'OWinC'
,
The four largest areas nated abc.e '.' are of
two types:
.
1. Surface natural water' 8torag,,~.s.'
. '"
. 2. U:nderground :-..atural _ter.tb~ear.a..
-10
Adjoining them are small sections ot water stoRI.'.re..
on private land ,w~,oh are not included in the lota ,reCOIl-
mended tor purcNl8e>;but should be _intlllned aapartr.or ~h. ,
~. . ~\.., , ,"
water'torage area~ by owners; pret.J""bl~with ..stetanee
~
troll theConaerv,ation Authority. +
(1) IDl,ltenbam Swam~ ..
~
THis swamp lie8 on tbehe1gh'tot larid ,)Jetw.en
.; ..<;:, ,. ' ';' : ,
,.$.. .... .', ....,
the W~~.:,..Branch of Etobicoke Creek and. ~h. C"dl'1,".I'.
. . ' f..,
Thro'Qghout most Of the .year it dralns'U"6the Wes~'arfJ1ch
i
~ ~-Io."
but atl;~ water-it al"" feeds .~r+~~~.
into th,."Cred:t.t. It 1. 'the _8~'*re"j~'l'l4~_,:,.,.t.r ,
,.--,,' '_:;:[:,:,;:>,::;~:i:.,......y::......:),.,{,.. '
stora&'~' area o~., ~he We.tBrancl\ .~~l;~:It:.*-~~f':"
, . ' .: .' '. :.: ...."; 'ivr"/\h' i "-''('P).''''.
foreat cover.. her..ould'helpto:a.l~";::~~1."<~,"d.
' .,.. . '. "1i,;j,;.'F%ji;'ii{~c< '> \ '~:i:',~;..
in the Town of S,....ptO)l aa well '.. .t.~~~~~' ";,:.' / ',"
~ ,,:l' t~ fl. OJ ~ I ,
' , " 'I " . '. ...
This 80urc. 81'ea" tnl~:'t)M.,~ it..It
...... .) ...... ;:';:!.;)'!f'\'~".','t~::'<>' ,
and aOlle of the ~\lb-rl1.nal 1arld:.~~f!tlfl;~1S;.~[f'_l...
' ..':liH~"';(1')';\';)"'<'~ >{~:',h ".' .,.,. ..
"
...
-<ii
- ._---._- --.-..-- _._---'--~'.. ~,
I 17;?
about )00 acres of which 62 acres is covered with aspen
and paper birch, 21 acres with wild apple and 3 acres with
sugar maple-beech, the remainder is largely covered ~itl1"-
;..
scrub willow and sedge grasses. ---''''~
-
(2 ) Heart Lake - .
The Heart Lake area, in addition to enclose
ing the" lake itself and numerous small swamps, also covers
a large underground water reservoir which not only feeds
the East Branch of the Etobicoke maintaining a year-round
flow of cool water but also is the source from which the
Town of Brampton deriv~s its domestic water supply. Main-
tenance of cover here 'is in the interests of the town of
Brampton as well as of landowners on the East Branch who are
dependent on the stream for watering cattle.
The Town of Brampton already owns 50 acres
of land around its pump~ng station on lot l2, Con. II E of
Chinguacousy township l?ut there is a total of 1,30Q....acres
here which should be reserved as a~public forest as ~ell as
.....
several small adjoining areas which should be maintained in
forest cover by pr1vat~ owners.
~. ' ~
The t~d in the area 1s quite hummocky and
,
is interse~ted by sev~ral gravelly ridges. .Between the
hills are several maple-white elm, white cedar and tam~rack
types with scrub wfllow and' dogwood on the cut over b"Wamps.
,
"
On the dry lan~ ~". maple t,ypes predominate with some areas of
,~ -..
wild apple; the open land is low grade pasture mostly on
steep slopes ideally Suited to reforestation.
The forest cover over the Brampton wells is
definitely a' swamp type namely white elm but when the survey
was made, though the ground was moist, there was no free
water here at a time (May 20) when all the similar swamps
on the watershed were full of water. Two wells at the
present in use are only 97 and 110 fe~t deep respectively
which would suggest that their'water is supplied by water
...
~
r- ~~ .~ - - --~._.., ..- . ~- ..-. .
~ , i
----.- -_.._._...~ ...._............_-.._....:.'--._"'.............;'~. .-...--........, -.....
or (} c :. ~ l' ...'hL i" ;: :..11 i[.,'lt_~ " .", .' llO.l:'t v ",-. ctuticn
:..:.; C;JC.. - " (:1'11
,~ <. l.,;..:.
, Lie i ('< bell. _NO,; to ~ . ~r ~ :81.; 1,.. '.~t. 1)0 :1. 1;(1 r, , t .U ,,).0 icr
..u ......,....'
rotroe.t au 8W~: L':-'t;t;~Qr . ('101':; .-'tlr"' .oc it ~1 - f'''' ~ _ort~ . .L..~' o:cr
, .;:...;.. ';
:.11 t >(; :-;\.lrl'C~,'],C In. 1:. '" 4- '. ~ .:,(cl.; L: .L ~ o "\J;; . ~~.~ '.)1' ,
, . .1.1 t, .i!. i..1 ;>..:
;~ 'rl~01 ,fI(: in,,: tLis 1;:; t, ~"'li"t~t t: \.1 'I )~t:.rt 10,.1 i ,el\, lhe.. ._(;~..,t: .~.jr-
. ,~
l(,~:J. ~ ;:u i~ ; :"cr 1(.' .t, c ;) ~~~; [ () t. 1" :...' (; ')uI : ~] ~J :.:il( ( ';y'ur:"
2. c' '.1 t 1. ~ l..: ; r ,~ l'01111C . - eri-
~ TlI'U~'; i~ ) .' ~. J :: ~ () "," ~)
;,~t or . .
..~. -.- " -.-..-.,.-.--..- - --
"'-
........-........'. .- "'-"'.""_ _-0..,__._ ".....,...,._.... " .~ ., '" .. '.... .. . - .- '"
C 'll:LGilln -30"'; on t,; " U,:5St i.o of ,ur"LJ I~..~l C , -
---'
8:0(::.1111"'; '.j.~1tc ~ t.nt.; , :;1 c.. ;",' ,ruec , G :.;,;~~ru r~ "
,
~c.=)cr - . . ~:. 11,_ V L~l blc . ~~ 111:~
l; J.r c". ,_cue;, r .X.:, "ru
:.:roa. is c~' .~ \..;.l'.~ 1:.: :,llL..r in tUl'u::t tc, ~;.~,-< tUI',~,.J.IDtD.
....
/77
which percolates through the overlying gravel to the rock
beneath where it is either trapped in the rock or forms an
,-,-
underground stream. With the increasing demand for water
, ~
" -."',"
from this Area by the town o~ Brsmpton (it is Understood
'-
that a new well is to be sunk in the near future) the
maintenance of this supply is of vital interest to the
CCliununity.
Large gravel pits Are being worked over in
this region which are eminently suitable tor the planting
of trees after the gravel has been removed.
'"
Two\small patches of unusual vegetatiott'
. 1
occur, one a hyd~o~ere in lot 11 and the other a sphagnum
bog on the east side of Heart Lake, both of which are of
intense interest to botanists and should be preserved for
this reason alone.
(3 ) Dixie ~'loods
The name Dixie Woods has been gi~~n to this area
because it is the name popularlt used by naturali\~s
who visit it frequently. It comprises about 250 acres of
land from which a ff~irly important tributary flowing to
"
the west of the ~~~lage of Burnhamthorpe derives it,S, water.
.
It is ~rtly wooded with some 50 acres of'! elm swamp with the
remainder largely poorly drained pasture with patches of
scrub willow and'sedge grasses. Part of the adjacent land
~.
is muck which has been drained by Chinese for Use as truck
' .,:,,~ .
farms. -. .
It is recommended that this area also be
.
preser~ed'as a natural water storage basin.
(4)n Summerville Woods
. .'
"
This is a WOOded area of Some 139 acres
north of the village of Summerville comprising parts of lots
,
1. Hydrosere - is an area in which land is built up from
water, by the death and d~cay of a SuccesSion of plant
associations which build up muck in progressively drier
. stages. ..
I
"
___. ____u .~._----- -...---------..... -
~\~:~,.~ _ __ __ ~: . _ ~ -- ,-- ---:-:;:;;;ryr'l, \"
~" '"""" ;A~rr~;""'\
ik, " 'If'''' '.""
'.'f.".:~.~,.,
".,,}~ IEI:;. " .. " , , ,
. _ I
I
--_.~ --,..- .-.-." ~.. ,~'-"'"
',.Llo~.: OIl 0~1'.: _.. ";t -t, . _~~nl.l ,lJ_!. or
, , '~ ' , _ J _. 'J .c . , "",~ , .', ; , " ' '~ : ! J () i' , u i r
"1._1... _' i.o~~.
.
"'.....~
~'
. ~"
r '--~ ----;~-;'~,..-..";r~r, r .,...,
~~:o."""'f.,,;liIi.. ~
. 'iT"" , . '~'l!/"'~~~
.: ,', _. .. ~' \ii!o! I ~v ~q
"" ' , .,~~ ~,
, '. ''fiilf:,''!l:'' .;>'., ":lffi'.'
"Ft' ~\;;.~~;) : ~:,. :' :';'~i' t I
" ''-.''.
~
.
~ , 1 '
", ~ ~' : u 1 " ~ ,- }' ; [: '_ ./ . ! I
,"'., i- I... wL.' ;.l<;,"~r\> .\"~r-;c' :..1{,~;
'L~ ~ -
...'\j:'~ (') r-~~1. 0:: J. f..:~ (, J '.. ('("lo-.'t i .
..
'-
~ /7~
H and I in Etobicoke township. The woods are of the sugar
maple~beech forest cover type and part has been managed as
a demonstration woodlot for some years. A small stream f.lows
through a corner of the woodlot and a tributary ri~e~ ~
''- ..
here. It is one of the few remaining areas of good
bush in the watershed and should be maintained, preferably
-
by the conservation a uthori ty..
2. Reforestation
Reforestation is required in run-down woodlots,
on the gravelly phases of Ontario Loam. and on muck and
bottomlands adjoining $wamps. Tree planting on these last
\
mentioned areas present, far more problems than on gravel
and sandy soils. The COmpetition from weeds and grass is
great. some praparation of the soil is frequently required
and the trees usually need some care for three or four years
after planting. This care consists of either cultivating
the soil to keep down the weeds or, at least, mOWing them
"'-..
to prevent the small tre~s from bei~ smothered. Weeds.
-, ~,
and particularly grass. also harbour mice which may tJe .....
very destructive in gird~ing the young hardwood trees.
Reforestation of willow scrub areas will
, ,
also be difficult and considerable reaearch may be necess-
. .
ary before a suitabl~ method is devised for re-establishing
trees here but they ~doubtedly produced elm. soft maple.
cedar and tamarack in the past and can be made to do so
again. ."{.~
J. Planting in Woods
Since many woodlots have suffered from over-
cutting and graZing, these should be supplemented with
suitable species of hardwoods and the hardwood stands,
conifers in the mixed stands, and conifers as an understory
where stocking has run to inferior species such as poplar.
,
4. Haw and Wild Apple
Throughout OntariQ the invasion of pasture
fields and agricultural land by hawthorns (Crataegus) spec-
..
ies and wild apples (Malus) is becoming a serious problem_
....
, /77
with many farmers and though no gre& areas are present on
,
r the watershed, existing ones comprising about 100 acres in
all should be cleaned up. Farmers do not need to' be "re-
....
minded of the seriousness of this problem but-bbey,do need
instruction in modern methods.of attacking it and the value
of reforestation in reclaiming the a reaa .should be emphasized,
for in many cases trees can be planted which will grow up
and eventually smother useless tree growth. In ot her
cases it may be necessary to kill the hawthorns and apples
and for this the Cornell Tree Killing Tool 1 is recommended.
\lihen the haw bushes ~re older and have closed the canopy
,
over the field so that no light reaches the soil and it
becomes bare earth, the problem of removal is a big one
requiring a tractor to nproot and pile them.
5. Woodlot Improvement
Improvement work in the woods in addition
to planting would include the 'cutting of large, ~ture
trees, the removal o~ dead and f~llen trees and t~ees
-', '<J#r
attacked by disease or infested by insects; defective and
crooked trees, weed trees and those having wide spreading
crowns. Such improvement work should include the cutting
, , , ,
of this material 'into fuel wood as well a~ the scattering
.
or burning of br~sh. Based on figures available for, this
class of work in Dther parts of Ontario, the time required
would amount to 60 man-hours per acre.
.~. .,f:-:
6. Con~~?lled'Woodlot Management
In order that conservation measures cart be
properly co-ordinated it is essential that some system of
contro~led cutting of privately owned woodlots be establish-
ed partiCUlarly on those areas which serve as natural water
storage reservoir~ for the small tributary streams.
1. The Killing of Trees with Sodi~ Arsenite. Journal of
Forestry, 1931.,
..
....
, /7t?
In far too many cases, in areas which are
very important in their combined effect on stream flow,
the owner has never realized the deleterious effect which
denundation of the land has on the stream'flowaD~ cUtting
has been done with the sole obj~ct of obtaining the larges~
possible, immediate, cash return with no th~ught for the
future. This has led to the pernicious habit of selling
off timber in blocks which means that the operator, usually
a portable sawmill owner; strips the area clean, cutting
everything down to the smallest diameter which will make a
stick of fuelwood. Th~ farmer is left with a tangle of
"
slash which is frequ~tly burned either by accident or by
design; thus most of the reproduction which would naturally
take place is destroyed, cattle are turned in to graze,
thereby completing the job, and the land grows up to
sedges, willow and dogwood which are difficult to eliminate
when once established.
"-...
Controlled cutting~would eliminate this
. ~.,
vicious condition and the farmer, by having the trees to
be cut selected by a ,eompetent person, would secure a lar-
ger return from th~ land over a period of.' time and the area
would remain wooded in perpetuity.
. i
In lQ46 a bill entitled an Act to Provide
, .
for the Control of, the Cutting of Trees (S.O. 1946, Ch. 102)
was passed by the Ontario Legislature which given the council
.' t-:
of a county, and the council of a township in a territorial
.' .
district, authority to pass by-laws restricting and r egulat-
ing the ?utting of trees in any part of the county or town-
ship, s~bject to the Minister of Lands and Forests. This
bill was' put forward at the instigation of the Ontario
Conservation and Reforestation Association and the Ontario
Horticultural Association to whom much credit is due. At
,
present this power is only granted to the larger municipal-
ities but it is recommended that it be extended to Conser-
vation Authorities when these are set up under the Conser-
...
vation Authorities Act, Chapter ll, s.o. 1946.
~,
, /79
As has been stated before, it is considered
that all woods still extant in the Etobicoke Watershed should
be maintained and every encouragement given to pri vate"owners
to maintain them under good forest managementpracttce,
_...'-'"
.;;:. '"
but this is not sufficient in the cases where woods serve
-
to control the run-off in streams and it is to these last
that a system of controlled management should be applied.
The types of forestry work which are most
essential to a comprehensive conservation program are
improvement thinnings and planting. If such work is under-
taken on private land'by a county, township or river valley
\
authority, it should be regarded by the owner as a subsidy
in return for relinquishing the absolute cutting rights.
It should be distinctly understood that the land on which
the woods are situated would remain the property of the
owner as would the products from it, but cutting would be
regulated according to the best forestry practices and
....-.".
the comrnunitywould reap the ben~fit of controlled flow in
. . ~..
"-
the streams lower down. ...
. ,
- I
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6~/J*jtt
> /90
CHAPTER 14:
PRESENT WOODLAND CONDITIONS
. .~.
In order to get as accurat~ a picture...as
-- '..,
possible of woodland conditions in the Etobicoke watershed
-
a detailed study was made of all woodlands, natural water
-
storaGe areas and plant able land.
1. Survey Methods
Each member of the forestry party was pro-
vided with aerial photographs, a compass, calipers and a
, tally board. The aeri~l photographs were to a scale of
1000 feet to the inchi4.nd each photograph covered an area-
of approximately lOOO acres -- usually a block lying between
two adjacent concession roads and two adjacent side roads.
Every area of woodland, brushland, marsh and
swamp and rough land was visited and notes made describing
it. In the case of woodlots and, plantations detailed notes
were made of their condition. Overgrazed woodlots~and wood-
~. "
lots with very scattered trees which could be restored'\were
included as woodland. In short where doubt existed as to
whether land should be classed as woodland or not, woodland
.
was given the benef,it,'of the doubt.
Following the survey by the forestry party
1 '
all class V , VI and VII land and land adjacent to source
,
areas was examined Oy a forester and soil specialist. All
recommendations. f~r the preservation of existing woodland
and the reforestation of this land are the result of ~heir
combined examination and observations.
All woodlots were grouped according to the
Department .of Lands and Forests' classification as follows:
l. These three land classes include all land which is not
suitable for cultiva~ion but requires a permanent cover
of either pasture or woodland. Class V land comprises
bottomland and depressional muck areas, Class VIis
hilly or severely eroded land where Moderate restrictions
on pasture or woodland are required and class VII is
sir",ilar land on which severe restrictions regarding
pasture and woodland are essential. ...
,,",
.
-
.
181
..:.~-:
.
~'
-.."",,-
..
. ,
-
"R( S WOODLAND CONDITIONS
no" . 1'46
20)2 ' \
I
~
')0 '
,
I
!
t
'.
~oo '
0 '1 t i I i 1:1.;!:4
uu,'; . "~I
... " ~ CI I
-tfll-!.' F~ST COVER TVI'(
jJ' }~:Ii I
KAllOWOOO I".ID I ~U I !
WOOOUNO CLASS
,
,
n.
. ~~ ,..
.'
.
.
'.
.
,
~
...
.
.
'-
.~'
.
ISd
TABLE F!
LIST OF THE FOREST COVER .--
TYPES OF THE ETOBICOKE WATERSHED ....
_. -,..
'-
.
-
Type Cover Type
No
4- Aspen
6 Paper Birch
8 > White pine - red oak - whit
ash
9 \ White pine
10 White pine - hemlock
11 Hemlock
13 Sugar maple - basswood
14 Sugar maple
24 White cedar
25 Tamarack
49 White oak - black oak - red
oak
51 Red oak - basswood - white
ash
57 Sugar maple - beech .......;
58 Beech
60 Silver maple - white elm "'-..
60A White elm
as Willow
,
,
.'~
.....
,
-
,
..
~,
~
-
1
~' - .......-..-..--- v ,-- --- - ~._,.
'---- -----
~-
~ i '1 ,.' \
I ' Ii, '"
, .:~. -
....
- " '-
.,over 'lll.'~ .!.,r,; G. '.,
l'reLl)] i :l"'; H::': .)C '1
. . L n';:e
2.~~ '"LC'.'~C~C;l.'
() I~ r~ U.2.1 r J. Ill~: 0' 1
COll-sici.cr:J.JLe
.,..,...-.:... ~-, .~. Q 0:: soiL::
....... l..;....lu"-'
uS118,11::,' fcllc,":.r-
'i" '" fire.
-_..._~
.....
.'
Jover ~r~TI!e j~o . 6 ,
f:=:.per ~-:. i=- c ~ ~ - ,
tLis type ; C' ~lot
.L '-'
COIilLon but occn&s
on dry s i t.e s .
~
/3~
Mature Hardwood Mixed Wood Coniferous
Virgin H-l M-l C-l
Moderately culled H-2 M-2 ,C!"'2
Severely culled H-3 M-3 C-3
....
Imma t ure " _. ;.,.
,
Second gro''lth H-4- M-4 C-4 '
Young Growth H-5 M-5 C-5
In the case of plantations, records were
made of age, method of planting, care, damage and survival.
2. Forest Cover Types
The Etobicoke watershed lies mostly within
"
the Huron-Ontario Se~tion of the Great Lakes-St. Lawren~e
Forest Region.l Th~ northern boundary of the Deciduous
Forest Region, or Central Forest as it is called by the
Society of American Foresters2, cuts across the watershed
a mile or so north of the mouth of the river but nothing
remains of the forest cover types of this region.
,
No attempt has been made to classi~y the
woods according to forest types. ~ Cover types onlY.~ave
been used and a forest Cover type is defined as being2
"A forest type now occupying the ground _ no implication
,. .
being conveyed as ~o.whether it is temporary or pennanent."
The numbers which are missing in the following list are
those types which, do not occur in the area.
There is at least one tiny island of the
Boreal Forest Region 3 with a black spruce cover type within
~~"!
the watershed.
..., or
The forest cover types occuring in the Etobi-
coke wa~er8hed are shown in Table F8 and a summary of the
data appears as Table 19.
Type 4 A'soen
Aspen is a pioneer type after burns and
- ,
1. A Forest Classification for Canad~ - Dominion Forest
Service Bulletin 29 , W.B. HAlliday, 1937."
,
2. Forest Cover Types of the Eastern United States _ Report
of the Committee on Forest Types - Society of Americanw
Foresters, 1940. .
,",
3. The Boreal Forest is the coniferous forest which lies,
for the most part, north of the forty-ninth parallel of
latitude.
-"~--'-'-- .----
-.
, -
'.
""
- '''"'-- ~
..; C \~ ',} l' '. n "~
. , - 11
c L} ~ ~ 'I'
>.\' t
t, ~:c \,<'ut. .., ,.;C
..:t.:ill , !
t:~_ il"lt ~l . .';r . ~
or 'C:,L ..00 ~ .~ .
,.,,.,,,j
"
...-.
.'
,
~O-,.':F; ::: I 'I ~ .~ > 1.1
~ .
,). ,-. :..- j- :-.~
~. -' .... ~ .
. " 0(-'''-''' .' '\ ~
- ~ ~ '. >..-' ~.i.';'
'-: c ~:' 1 '. .
, .: "..:\ :_~ ln8Q
':":""":'--' J ~ ':;, i. '.J lJ. U
1\ :_:~ ,[ .i . ~ '3 S .
~_u
.. -, .~<.,. ._....,,-.,.
. 1I'f,
cutting occuring on a considerable range of soils. Though
it avoids the wettest swamps, it appears to be creeping in
toward the centre of those where drainage operati~ns-have
....
been carried out and the soil is becoming drier... '.. Its
associates may be white elm or balsam poplar with occasion-
al large-toothed aspen or green ash. It-forms about four
per cent of the woodland of the watershed and occurs mostly
on the drier phases of Ontario loam.
Type 6 Paper Birch
This is a pioneer type of clear-cut areas
succeeded by other northern hardwood types, its associates
\ .
include small proportions of aspen, white pine, hemlock,
red maple, red oak, basswood. Frequently an understory of
conifers or tolerant hardwood develops.
It comprises only one per cent of the wood-
land of the watershed.
S. White Pine - Red Oak - White Ash .....
Red maple is the~chief associate ~(.this type
though others such as basswood, sugar maple, beech, paper
birch, black cherry '-and hemlock may be present. Only one
small area of t~18 ,type occurs forming half of one per cent
, .'
of the woodland.
9. ~'lhite Pine
Tne associates of this type on the compara-
tively heavy soils of the watershed are white ash, red oak,
,~
sugar rn~~le, basswood and hemlock. It is typical on fresh,
loam uplands but also occurs on clay and in swampy areas.
This type. was once fairly abundant in the watershed but now
. ,
forms less than one per cent of the total woodland, -occurr.
ing mostly on the best drained phases of Ontario loam.
ll. Hemlock
Pure hemlock stands are small usually occupy-
ing well-drained, steep slopes along ravines. The associates
in this type are beech, sugar maple, white ash, white pine
..
,",
,
/g7
and red oak. The type now forms nearly three per cent
of the woodland area.
.,'
13. Sugar Maple - Basswood
....
This is a type which properly be~Ongs to
the Algonquin - Laurentides Section of the Great Lakes _
St. Lawrence Forest Region but small areas. of it are round
as intrusions in the Etobicoke Watershed. Its associates
are white elm, green ash, white pine and red oak. It
occurs on well-drained phases of Ontario loam and Chingua-
cousy clay loam and forms four and a half per cent of the
woods. <
~
14. Sugar Maple
Like the foregoing, this is generally a more
northern type and its presence in the watershed may have
been created in some instances by farmers removing the
beech from type 57 leqving the maple for sugar or b~cause
it is the better species; white ash and red oak may~e pres-
, .
ent. Six and one half per cent of the woodlots ar~:~ugar
maple type which occurs on well-drained Ontario loam.
24. White Cedar
,
Thi~ ,type occurs almost exclusively on muck,
but is oc~asionally found on bottomlands and Ontario loam.
Its associates include tamarack, paper birch, black ash, red
Maple, white pine and hemlock. It constitutes about 3% of
,
the wood~and~uJ its area should be extended because of its
value in..providing fence posts and poles.
25. Tamarack
.
~
~ Occuring exclusively on muck in and around
-
the small kettles which are present within the watershed
, .
this type is found making up one per cent of the woods.
Its associates are white cedar, red maple, black ash and
aspen. The trees are ,small and have grown since the near
-
extinction of the sp~~ies which occurred in t~e early part
of the century. ,
..
,",
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_.,,-
/9(,
57. Beech - Sugar Maple
This type was originally the most extensive
Cover type in the watershed and still comprises ~hirty per
_. ~-
cent o~ all the woodlots occuring on the Ontario' loam and
Haldimand clay loam. It is regarded as the typical assoc_
iation of the climax though beech is theoretically the
ultimate dominant. Their associates are ,red maple, white
oak, red oak, hemlock, white elm, red elm, bassWOOd, pignut
f
hickory, shagbark hickory and black cherry. 1~
5$. Beech
f Theoretically this is the ultimate dominant
but is almost invariably associated with sugar maple.
Only one tenth of one per cent of the woods are o~ this
type which occurs on the same soils as the above and has
the same associates.
60. Silver Maple - White Elm .
Because this type and the similar; pure white
.-' . '.
elm type 60A occupy ~he poorly-drained land unsuitable for
general farming unless completely and adequately und~rdrained,
they have survived better than Cover types on land which is
naturally well-drained. They occur on muck soils and bottom_
' ,
land as.well as on the poorly-drained phases of Ontario loam
and Chinguacousy' clay loam. Associated species are red maple,
slippery elm, whtte, red and green ash, swamp white oak and
,
bitternut hickory. This type represents twenty-two per cent
" }.:~
of the w~odlands o~ the watershed.
60A White Elm
-
This type is very similar to the silver maple _
white elm type 60, but sometimes is found on drier sites as
well as in the swamps. Its associated species are the same
but silver maple is absent. It comprises nineteen per cent
o~ the woodland so that ~orty-one per cent of all the woods -
in the watershed are,made up of' these two types.
8$. Willow
..
Stands of this type are usually pure, including
...,
~,
~.
I
~
1 :l ~
.~ ~ ) ~~:. J.!; -? 9 .-'
Su:=,~ ..~l--,r O:~ :CO:~:'L..~':' :.' ~)_ 4~ 4~ ~
-, ,""" "
'.
--
- /.1 of
~
0' ish1 us; Ctiln, . i'oroI1'to :,tobiaoke 'rota1 ...cres v
'-ol
," ,
:0. Ot toodlot": 157 le2 ,~~ ~O6
vf
: o. 0 f _ .C r e~:; : ,u:.:A 759 ;)42 ),7..;y
,ooulot ClaB;,O:
III l:~ 1 1 "
. - 1~
fi2 'J5 11 - 30 1
,.. '. od 3J ;) 106 4
i .1. '""~
}'4 , l}~'~ .:J74 ~Zl 994 . 7:'
,
"it..., ~ ;-,1) 114 5 34l lZ
.~ . ...... "''-'~
~.'4 r- ". I - 53 2
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C3 11 - - 11 1
I~G 19 0 lG3 6
- 7 3 lO -
e;
4 ~7 18 :! 119 4
6 t} ,.~. G - 31 1
,..)001
( 13 - l3 _1
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n 17 - - 1 7~" " 1
10 0-1 " 5 G1
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11 cl' 15 2 78 ::, 3
13 ':1- t) 41 4'/ 128 5
.~
14 115 62 - l.,., 6
iA 53 lC., 9 91 3
~ 27 27 1
.... - -
.' "
40 4 - . - . 4 -
::1 , " I" - - 5 I -
v
5'7 ~~; 0 ~'JG I ,~~~~ 818 30
58 4 - - 4 -
60 55 [', 40 - 598 22
60... )," ',' ::'57 37 517 19
' "J
Sf , ...:,5 1 11. 47 2
7:' r;. :35 I ~1 ,O5l 38
oJ"
,0, .-: 9 524 321 ,a84 .11-->
~.:".: 0...
,20:3 328 GO ,61l 59
4~1 431 262 ,124 ' 41
8~ 3C,,) i:,22 ~~ 548 20
~;o , J;";l 29 7 ; .187 80
6proC:.uct ion: t
157 56 144 357 13
.~ 3G2 1':;1 Ie 571 21
C 733 31t> 152 ,zoo 44
" \. .-.,~... 197 28 607 22
LJ "'>G~
-
--
,
..
....
"
."
.
~
1- /9~
,-
several varieties but black willow is the commonest species.
Associates are tamarack, white elm and silver maple. It
~ .~.
occurs almost exclusively round the borders of kettles and , "
~'
comprises almost two per cent of the woods o.t'bhe' area.
It was impossible to correlate every wOOdlot -;
.'
with the soil type on which it was Situated becauSecthe land: ,
r
use surv(~y covered only the watershed of the East Branch of f
Etobicoke Creek. However, each forest type occurring within
the land use survey area was checked against the'sOil type ..
nap and the above relationships are based on these observa_
tions. .
.'
,
3. Present Conditions
The results of the forest survey are summar_
ized in Table F9.
Woodland, within the watershed, comprises, "
2,735 acres vrhich is 5.4~ of the total area ot ;0..636 acres
drained by the Etobicoke and its tributaries. "
'"",,-
~ -- '..
The total numberbf individual Woodlots exam-
. ,,' , ..,':\
ined was 296 which includes a certain number of area$ which
are considered by tqeir owners as constituting a aingle
, '
woodlot but which, because of the differences in types and "
age classes of certain sections of the woodlot, had to be
-
considered in the, field as separate units.
While some parts of the watershed, notably
along the present Dundas highway where a large cedarawamp
.:~
existed, originally showed a preponderance of conifers, such
T
areas have almost entirely disappeared and the percen~age
of hardWOOdS has increased. The term hardwoods is used here
in the way that the lumberman Uses it, namely to include all
broad-leaved trees irrespective of their physical propertie.,
for instance, a 50ft wood such as poplar is included under
the heading of hardwood~. The result is that at preSent ot -
the 2,735 acres of Woodlots 91~ are classed a~ purebardwoods, .
"
2% miced woods and 7% as pure conifers. >-
For the whole area the percentage of uneven-aged
.
"-
OM
'- /93
stands is considerably more than the even-aged, the
difference being 62% of the former and 32% of the latter.
.-'
This preponderance of uneven-aged stands is due to, the
....
larger percentage of woodlots having formed ah-1tnp,ortant
part of the farm economy, in contrast to the clean cutting
methods which are common on marginal areas in other water-
sheds.
Grazing in farm woodlots shows a high per-
centage being 59%, which is an indication of the low value
~
which the average landowner places on his woodlot as a
permal':pnt crop. Gra~ing, as is well known, is detrimental
to the proper develbpment of any wooded area. The number
of c~ttle and the size of the woodlot have a direct bear-
ing on the damage which is done. For example, a large
woodlot is not as s~riously affected by a few head of cattle.
as a small one, but on most farms and woodlot is small and
, ,
is seriously damaged by large herds. Grazing in~~'woodlot
destroys young growtR; open area~ appear and bec~~.covered
",
with grass, which means that the maintenance of the forest
floor, which is so important to the health of the stand, is
interfered with, ~nd there is less likelihood of a renewing
of the ~tand by reseeding from old trees. These in turn
become stag-headed and are easily preyed upon by fungus and
disease. ,
.'~ The burning of woodlots in the watershed in
recent years is negligible but the prevalence of grazing
has made some planting necessary and 66% require planting
of some kind to bring them back to a fully stocked stand.
Clean cutting of whole areas has not been
carried on in recent years, though many woodlots have been
overcut. Examination show~d that 12% of the woodlots com-
prise young growth under 4 inches in diameter at 4' 6" above
ground and $1% second growth from 4'to lOft in diameter and
7% mature timber most of which has been severely culled.
Forest cover types, their distribution an~
,",
,
\C /9'1
correlation with soil types is dealt with in the section
on surveys and studies. However, as would be expected and
as is the general rule throughout Southern Ontario, pine
mixed with hardwoods occupy the best drained s~~~s,~ and
pure hardwoods the better land~; while cedar, elm, soft
maple, basswood and other species preferr~ng wet soil are
found on swamps and bottomland.
The woodland in general is characterized by
young stands mest of which range from thir~y to fifty f~et
in height, with some areas of less height and a few'areas of
conta::ning trees up to eighty feet. The few lots contain-
,
ing the largest trees are composed of elm and soft maple
on swamp areas and sugar maple beech on dry sites.
From the foregoing it will be seen that the
wooded areas on the watershed are not extensive, but that
where they do exist a systematic method for improving them
is essential and the most important single i'Actor leading
~..
to this improvement is the exclueion of cattle because,
.: ....'. ,
"
where seed trees are present, natural regeneration will in
most cases be sufficient to restock the woodland areas.
It ,is recommended that the authority appoint
a superintendent whose duty it would be to manage the woods
.
owned by the Authority, check cutting regulations as apply-
ing to privatelY-9wned woodlands and that he be provided
with the necessary equipment to fight fire and combat insect
infestations a;d disease anywhere in the watershed.
,
..
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........
IV
" '-,
1:JATER
"
,'-
.'
,
,
..
...
., /97
CHAPTER 15
GROUND lilATER
1. General .-'
...
No consideration of river valley dev~~~pment
or of conservation or of re-development of agricultural
areas could be adequate or in any way cor'plete without some
Mention of that water which occurs beneath the surface of the
earth, and particularly of that part of the sub-surface
water that is within the zone of saturation, the ground-
"
water. For it is this water that is primarily responsible
for the continued flow pf surface streams and that supplies,
to a very great extent'our domestic and industrial needs.
The water of the earth may be divided into
three:
(1) Water in the atmosphere.
(2) Water on the surf~ce of the earth.
,
(J) '.later below th{ surface of the earth. ......,,-
The water below the purface may in tu~ be
clvided into three:
(a) That above the zone of saturation.
(b) That in th~ ~one of saturation. -
(c) That in the interior of the earth.
The water in the atmosphere is perhaps primarily
, the concern of the meteorologist; that on the surface, of
the hydraulic engineer; but that below the surface is directly
the concern ,of the geologist, the agriculturalist, and the
engineer.
There is, in general, an upper limit within the
earth's crust below which the permeable rocks are saturated;
this upper limit is called the water table and it forMS the
surface of the zoneof saturation. The water within this
zone is the grounG water.
w
'>.,
I
- -
~
1 !l8
'"
"
~
~
-
;...:....f.. ....;...'.1....: ,'. .,' . "'~ :....... ......... . :...:::.\..:,:,::..':\:: ,...........:;........: :.::.:'::::-:',.::'" i~:.':",::,:-;:,
~ '::,,':~'(; :.,';' ";.:';, WA TEA TABLE .t;"""':'.(,'l'.h' . :.,:-:.....::1. :.,'.:~,.::. I::......~I!..~, .:.'<:~:. :i.....: ':"'';;/'''.''
JKr~tf:~ ~~~f}:?~{~11;~~~;iX::Y;Y~.f~(~U~;~;';:f:~:~~F~~1f.W1.;~t:~~;t:::~.:(~f~~;~::;.;;i~f:.i./;~{2~{;:H~.:i}(~~W:~t~t},'~./.N/~VWr{
,..... .... ':"~\,.'I. ...,' o:',,"~'.~,:~-: .".i..,\, ZONE CW SATURATION,...,.,'."..' .,,',J'" ,'--I ,\ ..:';.. " '.',c; :.".,', ."
$i,~~i*it.ff~~~i~iltlf;;i;1{1~;.f~i~i~~ii~~~~~'!;~ft(f;'t-i~-;,;.j;:!:,~c;:,'~Jr,r
INTERNAL WATER
.ftl.pkJ jro", O. E, M.,,, 1.11',
Fl.... 1
Dlqram Jaow/n. IHMWon oj &one oj MIIurollen:
" ~.
I
I
_x~dt[f!fgtilJ{{g I
/
I
-::; ---;.:--;:::..: - ~<-' SHALE:~:: -: ::.:-: i
~ -::;~ -[ [{f;J}J/jjt!j(jft;ffl~jjlii{:; I
j
FI,... 2
DIGlrom .ltouJ/n. W roc~ anJ .JadoJ drift. A: JenH of ImpurJlou$ clOII
cain In. pcrcheJ WGter. '"
....
t. /99
Practically all the water recovered from
the zone of saturation, that is, ground water, is derived
from the atmosphere. Most of it reaches the earth. in""'~
the form of precipitation either as rain' or sno~~ Of
the precipitation falling on the ground, part is immediat~ly
-;
carried away by streams as surface run-off, part evaporates r
" ~
either directly from the surface and from the upper mantle
of soil, or by transpiration of plants, and the remainder
sinks into the ground ultimately to be added to the ground
1E
water supplies.
The proportion of the total precip~tation
,
that sinks into the ground will depend largely upon the type
of soil or surface rock and the topography of the area upon
which the moisture falls; if the surface deposits are of
sand or gravel more water will sink in than if those deposits
were of clay; if the region is hilly and dissected by numerous
\
valleys more water will immediately drain away than,!f the
..........
surface is fairly flat and but little dissected. Steady
,-.
. .
#>-:-',
preCipitation over considerable periods will furnish more
water to the ground w~ter supply than will torrential rains;
in this case the run-off may be nearly equal to the total
preCipitation. 1-.101sture falling after the ground sur-fac is
.
frozen will not usually find its way below the surface and
therefore will not,materially replenish the ground water
supply. Light raihs falling during the growing season may
i-_
be wholly absoroed by plants. The quantity of moisture lost
by direct evaporation dpends largely upon temperature, wind
and humidity.
It is evident then, that the percentage of the
total precipitation disposed bf by run-off, evaporation,
or percolation below the surface, is difficult to determine
and depends to some extent upon local factors.
~
..
..
"-
~
~oo
That part of the precipitation that sinks into
the ground finds its way downward until it reaches the
".
ground water level or until it comes into contact with a
~.
_..~
layer or rock which is impervious to its passage;~ 'such a
layer may hold the water some distance above the general
ground water level. This is known as p::'ciied \'later. If
the ground water level is at or near the surface there
will be a lake or swamp; if it is cut by a valley, there
will be a stream. .
The con~itions under which ground water occurs
and the factors determining its quantity, quality,"and
-
possibly recovery are many. This water is directly
associated with the rock into which it percolates and as this
rock may (and in southwe~tern Ontario does) vary in its
physical properties from place to place, so will the condit-
ions affecting the ground'water change.
Because of the large quantities of Water that
"
~re daily consumed from underground sources, it rnay~b~ thought
that precipitation cannot furnish the entire supply. How-
ever, when it is remembered that a layer of water one inch
deep over an area of lone square mile amounts to about l4,520,OOO
imperial gallons and that, in southwestern Ontario the annual
preCipitation is perhaps in the order of 30 inches, it will be
seen that over 420;000,000 gallons fall on each square mile
each year. If ~e estimate that only 10 to 20 percent; (surely
a conserva~iveestimate)of the annual precipitation reaches
the zone Of saturation there is still an appreciable quantity
of water'ava5.lable to recharge the ground water supplies.
It is not ir.plied that the ground water supplies
are inexhaustible. So long as the annual reCharge, that is,
the quantity of water reachlng the zone of saturation is
equal to or greater than the quantity withdrawn, the ground
water supplies will nQt materially decline. Unfortunately
'"
...
-
t. ~O/
However, there are parts of southwestern Ontario where
this condition does not prevail. It is common knowledge
that once permanent streams are now dry, that many springs
have disappeared and many wells have failed. SU,ch a C"On-
...... ~ '.
dition is in large measure the r~sult of cutting down of
forest trees, draining of swamps, and bringing into culti-
vation areas that perhaps should have been left as wood
lots. In general, the same quantity of moisture is falling
now as before the streams ceased flowing, but, so far as
ground water is concerned one of the most important results "
of the aforementioned conditions is the great increase in
\ ~
surface run-off, culminating all too often in disastrous
floods and reducing greatly the quantity of water that
formerly went to recharge the sub-surface supplies. Couple
with this the increase in population with its ever increasing
demand upon ground water for both domestic and industrial
needs, and it is not difficult to see that the ground water
........
resources will still further decli~e unless some remedial
~,
measures are taken.
Getting ,back to the geology of ground water;
all sedimentary rocks are to some degree porous, that is,
they possess pores 'between the individual grains of which
.
they are composed. Water stored within the rocks mainly
occurs as filling tpese spaces. A very fine-grained rock
containing water may have such small pores that the
:-
attraction between the rock and water is great enough to
hold the water in the rock; such a rock will not yield its
water to wells. Those rocks that yield their water readily
are called aquifers; those that do not are impervious beds.
For the present purpose the geology of south-
western Ontario may be divided into two parts; the bedrock
and the overlying uncon~olidated glacial deposits.
The bedrock consists of layers of limestone,
shale, and sandstone that when ,viewed at an isolated out-
..
~
t, a(J~
crop generally appear to be flat lying but that, regionally,
are known to dip from lO to perhaps 40 or 50 feet a mile in
a general southwesterly direction. These rocks ar.e sed-
...
imentary in origin, having been formed from sed~~~ts depos-
ited in bOdies of sea water later to be consolidated into'
hard rock.
The water bearing properties of the various
types of rock constituting this sedimentary succesSipn vary
greatly. In general, the shales, being fine-grained, are
"'
the poorest aquifers while the sandstones and limestones are
considerably better. ~
,
No special stUdy of the water in these rocks
has been made, but they have been mapped overmuch of south-
western Ontario so that the distribution, thickness, and
general physical characters of the several formations are
fairly well known. In t~e area bordering Lake Erie, the
bedrock has been penetrated to various depths by~lls drilled
for oil and gas and a, stUdy of these drilling reco,Jtd~ has
yielded some general data regarding water. Thus it is that we
know of occurrences Q"f .fresh water.generally in the upper
part of the bedrock; of sulphur water somewhat lower; and
of salt water at still lower depths.
Overlying the bedrock is the glacial drift.
During the final ~tages of geological history great accum-
ulations of ice forMed at several centres in Northern Canada.
:-
Due to ~he pressure exerted by the immense thickness of ice,
the ice moved out in all directions from these centres,
cover1ng:larse areas with a continental ice sheet. As. the
ice adv~nced it picked up great quantities of loose rock
which it. carried along and which was deposited when the
ice finally retreated by melting. This material is un-
consolidated and called,glacial drift. Several advances
and retreats of the ice sheet took place and each retreat
left its accomulation of drift 'on the surface over which it
..
....
~, ~O3
passed. I
Thus, over most southwestern Ontario the bedrock
is covpred with dra~t ranging in thickness from zero ~n ...
...
parts of the Bruce Peninsula to over 600 feet in'~he .r.egion
north of Toronto.
Generally, the drift consists-of boulders and
pebbles of various composition and size embedded in a
matrix of clay to form a more or less impervious mass called
boulder clay. Intermingled with this and commonly in a most
"
complex manner, and also lying above below, and between
successive till sheets ~re beds, lenses and pockets of water
laid sand and gravel wHich form the chief water- bearing
Members of the dri~t.
Throughout the greater part of southwestern
Ontario most of the round water supplies are directly
associated with the glac,ial. drift.
2. Peel County ",...,:
From the ,informationtobtained in this.~~unty
it is concluded that there is considerable variat,ion in
the ground water conditions in the mantle. Some areas re-
port great difficulty ~n obtaining satisfactory supplies
, .
from it, wh~reaa others only a short distance away have no
trouble at all. Toronto Gore Township seems to have been
the area which experienced the most difficulty.
Th!s county also has a great variety of mantle
materials. In succession from the south, there are areas
of the Iroquois Lake Plain, the Ontario Till Plain, and the
Peel Lake ,Plain. The northern part of the county in
Albion and Caledon townships has areas of glacial outwash
materials of various sorts interspersed with Clay Moraines
and Clay Plains.
The Niagara escarpment crosses the northern
townships, so that there the upper part of the bedrock is
...
"
. ~Olf
the Lockport dolomite. The rest of the county to the
south is immediately underlain by the shales stratigraph_
'"
ically below the Lockport. The presence of these shales and
~,
the fact that they are often reached in drillirigrural wells
results in the bringing in of supplies of salty water. The
reported extensive use of ponds in some areas and the great
aMount of hauling of water during the 1944-~5 drought, is
believed to be related in part to the dependence in many
places upon shallow wells. Deepening, study of existing "
wells and records, and further exploration should help in
,
securing satisfactory ground water supplies in mos~ areas,
that have experienced' shortages. This is indicated by the
survey made in 1936 of Toronto Gore and Albion townships by
J. F. Caley and H. W. Hainstock of the Canada Department of
Mines.
Brampton secures its supplies from wells a few
\
miles north of town. These draw from outwash gravels. The
watar from these wells ,is reported~to have shown an,~~crease
in hardness; if true it is a matter which may throw
light upon the source~f the water. It is also reported
that subsidence has "taken place at the well locations and
' "
at a nearby road-crossing since the wells were put into use.
Bolton also has a su,ply obtained from subsurface sources.
The well is 309 feet deep, probably in mantle. The Malton
airport has been supplied from wells drilled by E. F. Roberts
"-
of Brantforg. This well record is probably available for
stUdy, and should furnish useful information on the character
-
of the dr;1ft.
The collection of additional data and information
on the wells in rural areas said to be poor in ground water
resources would seem to be a desirable step in this county.
The problem, however, ia,not of immediate urgency.
G. S. Gwynne - A preliminary Ground Water Survey of Southern~
Ontario)
....
~_.- ..-, -.-, .-...__.
.. ~O5
CHAPTER 16
I THE RIVER
~
i: ".
l
!
I The name of the River Etobicoke is probably
I - ~ '-
-,
derived from the Indian work "Viah-do-be-kaung", which is
f .
!' . 1
i said to mean "the place where the alders grow" _ an approp-
! riate name for a creek of this type. The pronunciation and
r
~.
I
spelling of this name seem to have presented difficulties to
the early British settlers. Various spellings are found in
official document~ between 1786 and le05. "
Alexander Aitken, D.P.S. describing the first
~
,
survey of the "Toronto Purchase", spells the name "Tobicoak".
A little later Augustus Jones spells it "Atobicoke" and gives
2 In the official record
I the meaning as "Black alder creek" .
1 of the confirmation of a grant to Major Samuel Smith in 1793,
t
I the name of the river is spelled "Etobicoke" and this may be
t ,
! regarded as the official spelling from that time on; the
t ..,....".
j' variations which continued to occur were probably attempts
I' "
;J, ~.
t
I . at phonetic renderings of the pronunciation. Thus 'in 1795
l
David Smith, Surveyor General of Upper Canada, uses "Tobacock"
I
J in his instructions to Abraham Iredell to. survey part of the
i township in 1795, .;ind'Iredell used "Toby Cock" on his'map of
!'
the survey made in that year. Between 1796 and 1798 "Toby
Cock" or "Tobycock" occurs nine times in the records of
t land grants, "Etobicoke" once, "Tobicot" or "Tobicott"
I
f;
eight times and ~Tobico" once. Up till 1797 the spellings
all indicate that the 'k' was pronounced. In l797 the form
"Tobico" ~ndicates that the 'k' was sometimes dropped and
"Tobicotif also implies a slurring of this consonant.
After 1805 the variations cease in government
documents and "Etobicoke" is always found; but travellers who
had not seen the name written still Sometimes wrote "Etobico"
and even "Tobico" until ~fter 1$353.
l. Gardiner H. F. 1899: "Nothing But Names"
2. Quoted in Gardiner. Jones' wife was an Indian and he WB."S
familiar with the Indian dialects.
3. Francis Hall l817, David Wilkie 1837. Anna Jameson l838.
~. '''~''.''-'- , . .. '-~'~.'-".._._- . -, ,.-
. - ~..... ~ ~~ -- -- - ~- ~ - ~
.. ~Ot-
. .
..: n~
. ETOBICOKE CREEK
AND
.--
MAIN TRIBUTARIES -
....
_. ...... ,~
--
SCALE MILES
If! 0 I 2 ·
...... 0'
. .
1
,. I
-
..,.....
~.
~
<
.
I I
-
..
"-
-
. -....__._--_..~.. --. .
~ ~07
The Etobicoke River drains 79 square miles
of well populated and mostly fertile farm land on thenort.h
shore of Lake Ontario. Its source lies about twenty-three _
-,' >I
miles trOll 'the lake, on the eastern slope 0'1 a low.:-ri~le,
which here torms part of the divide between itsdraina.e are,
and that of the Credit River. Between eight ~~d nin.miles ~."
.. ...". ~.- ~ :'..,.
from the ,laketh. river divides into two branches, the western 1
l-
and longer... branch flows through the village of Snelgrove and
r~~ )
the town of Brampton'and has its source in the ridge described
'. -
above. The East Branch, which has its ultimate source near .
the vill~ge otMaYfield~~ draws much'of its water fro, 8prl~g.
probably tedb,. seepage trom a sand and gravel ridge which
lie. north west of Bram.pton and contains Heart Lake and a -
number of swamp areas and ponds.
The drop in elevation from the source of the
West Branch to the mouth of the river is about 24.5 teet
.
'l~,
pere.lIe. The fall of the East Branch from Heart Lak~to ita
, ..........'
junction with the West ~ranch is ab,ut 31 feet per mi~~. Tb.,
. .
West Branch drops less abruptly on the average, its tall from "
the source being a lit~le less than that ot the whole stream.
namely 24.21't. per lI1i~e. About three miles from its source,
\ .' '1~
thiebranch l.evels out, considerably, the fall from thia 'point
"
to the boundary between Chinguacousy and Toronto Townships
being onl,,19 feet t,o the mile. The main stream drops
more eharplyfrom ne..r Dundas Street (No. 5 Highway) t.o Lake
1:' ~~
Ont,al'!lorall1ng 100 feet in about three miles.
. '"*'" ~ ....
Summer Flj(w ..
- AlthClugh the Etobicoke va-,s probably always a
..
variable ,t:r'.", there can be no doubt that there ,,!asJ.t~ually
;,
more summer tlow 1n earlier times than there is at present.
Early references do not indicate that it was ever very deep
or difficult to crCla. .xc~pt in time of freshet.. Surveyor.
......
~ !
,
..
...
...~.._~,~- .~"_,,,_'_._'p' ._-
~ :10$
reported a number of possible mill sites in Chinguacousy
1
in 1819, and some of these were still being mentioned in
the Inspection of Cler.gy Reserve lots ten years later. "'But
althougn the competition for "mill privileges" was~~k~;n, none
of these sites seem ever to have.been developed for water
power. Probably the series of droughts between l824 and
lS28 showed up the deficiencies of the streams in this township,
so th~t the settlers did not make the mistake (which was
made in some instances on the Don) of building a mill on a
.to-;
stream which proved insufficient to run it.
.
In the Returns of Inspection for Toronto Town-
\,
ship for l828 and 1829, the creek on the rear quarter of Lot
g Con. II N.D.S. is said to be "not durable" - that is, inter-
mittent. and if some of the other notes are reliable other
branches of the creek were also dry at that time.
Whatever th~ conditions were before l850, in
that year therE is definite record that the Etobicoke was
-.
becoming low in summer., The only important water rni~l~ on the
river were in or near the village of Summerville on Dundas
Street. In the second 'volume of "Canada. P::t.st, Present and
Future", W.H. Smith.h~s the following pa~sage: "About two
,
miles and a half west from the Mimico is th~ small village of
Etobicoke, situated on the Creek of the same name. Here is a
grist mill, containing two run of stones, and it is intended
to insert a small steam engine, to be used when water runs
short. It is found throughout the Province, that as the country
becomes ~leared up, and drained, and the sun has power to
act upon the land. the body of water remaining in the small
streams is much diminished, particularly during the summer
months; and we were told by a resident on the Humber, that
sometimes, during a dry season, he can scarcely get water
enough to turn a single run of stones."
-
.,
l. Mill sites were originally reserved for Government.
..
~.
~ - ."-" -~~'"'~'"'--'-~ ----- .,"
... ~O9
The name Etobicoke was given to several places
at that tiMe but this one is certainly the village now called
Summerville. Smith published his book in 185l and seems to
...
have collected much of his material in 1850. _. --::,
It was not long after this that complaints
began to be made of the unsanitary state of the West Branch
of Brampton. These complaints continued through the l860's
and the creek is describe~ as a series of stagnant pools
during the dry months. Nevertheless, there was sometimes
.'
enough water for small boys to bathe, as the council had from
.
time to time to forbid bathing within the town limits, for the
. ,
sake of decency rather than health.
The situation became much worse as time went on
and the village grew into a town. A plan was worked out to
divert the stream from the business section by cutting a
new bed from across a ser~es of bends. Application was made
,
to the Provincial Legislature in 1873 for authoritY. to carry
out the diversion. The plan included the erection,~f, a dam
or dams above the town to provide water to increase the flow
in dry seasons.
In the,' pr€amble of this Act the prevention
of floods is given as the main issue, but the river is 5 id
.
to "become stagnant or dry" in sUnmter. An editorial in the
Brampton Progress af March 13, l874 stresses the iMportance
of the control of summer flow, and describes in detail the
",
shOCking conditions which existed at the time. These con-
ditions were gradually improved in many ways but the original
plan was:abandoned as too costly and the river continued to
dry up in most summers. The effects of low flow were not
limited to the West BranCh, for the river nears its mouth is
reported to have frequently dried up to standing pools since
1900. The Toronto Golf ,Club, whose property lies along the
-
West Bank of the Etobicoke for some distance north of the
Lakeshore Road, at first attempted to obtain a supply of
..
,-,
- ..,.--.- -
.. ~/O
water for use on the course by damming up the river to form
a pool. Water was pumped from this to a reservoir on the
top or the high bank below the Club House. The supply lV~s
soon found to be inadequate during dry seasons an~~water is
now obtained from Lake Ontario.
There can be no doubt that the Summer flow in
the river has become steadily less, though perhaps rather
more slowly than is sometimes stated. The Etobicoke may have
been an inconstant stream, without much water power and in
"
parts too warm for trout, but it certainly had some flow of
water in its main branches throughout the year and ~any
,
tributaries which are now considered intermittent were
once fairly constant. The draining of the swamps and wet
areas by means of surface ditches began almost as soon as
the land was cleared and increased as time went on.' It
tended to reduce the water storage to a great degree and this
,
was carried much further after 1875 by the introduction of
-
tile underdrainage. " ~.
The situation has been serious in Some local-
ities since 1870 or ear~ier and as the population of the
watershed increases,.the need for some solution of this
,
problem grows imperative.
Encroachments
Encro~chments include any works of man which
are built on the natural flood channel of a river. These
flood channels may not be used by the river for several years,
but at certain intervals due to excessive precipitation
and other factors, this supplemtentary channel which it has
,
created for itself will most certainly be flOOded, because
it must be-remembered that flooding is a natural phenomenon
of rivers. As early as 1541, when DeSoto came up the Mississ-
ippi I he recol"'ded "flOOds ~o the height of the tree tops for
-
miles back of the river."
..
....
.~.- ......---.-, .-~_.~-
'- ~//
Encroachments on the ~lood plain of the
Etobicoke, other than bridges and their approaches are limited
to two or three points where towns and villages gre~ up-
...
beside the river. In Ontario, early settlements~~!e often
found near the s~reams. Hamlets frequently grew up near a'
mill or around an inn. Millers and innkeepers were usually .
also merchants and the inns were post offices and relay
stations for post horses. Blacksmiths, wheelwrightsi, sad-
dlers and harness makp.rs were attracted to the posting
.'
station and the nucleus of a town was formed. The inns were
"
usually built at important crossroads and the rigid system
\
of land surveying sometimes placed these intersections
in the valley bottoms. In such a case the business section
of the village is apt to be in the flood bed of the river,
as is the case at Brampton where the meandering course of the
river across the flats int~rfered seriously with the layout
of the town and made obstructions to floods almost_. '
ineVitable. " "'--
Where there was a store and post office
in connection with a mill, the settlement some times grew
up close to the mill bUilding, but very orten an inn was
built in a strategic position with regard to the roads
at a little distance from the mill. This inn, with its
store, post offic~,~ smithy and Wheelwright's shop would then
become the centre of the village. If the innkeeper chose
",
higher ground to keep his yards dry most of the village would
be out of reach of flOOds. This happened at SummerVille, the
only mill-Village on the Etobicoke where the houses of the
<
struggling settlement are thickest around the store.
Moreover, as such encroachments were in
progress, and particularly if the river did not flood severely
for l5 or 20 years, peop~e began to think that severe floods
-
would not occur again. This of cour~e, is an example of
foolish and wishful thinking because records show that river
..
,-,
-
-------..--.- .-.
... ~/a,
of Southern Ontario do flood systematically, and of late
years these floods have become more severe; both from the
standpoint of high water, and damage to structures which . ",-
have been built in the flood channel. ....
........""'" "
The presence of en~orachments such as narrow
brid~es with abutments projecting out into the. river valley,
factories, buildings and so forth, not only aggravate the
situation from the standpoint of preventing the free passage
of water but also by piling up large cakes of ice which natur-
,,'
ally float on the crest of the stream in the spring, accurnul-
ulating behind these structures and buildings up a da~gerous dam
~
only to break when the pressure becomes too great or the
temperature modifies. These encorachments together with the
gradual denundation of the forest, especially at the headwaters
of the rivers have aggravated the flood situation on most of
our streams in Southern Ontario, and it is largely due to
,
these causes that some major works' must be undertaken chiefly
..,.......
in the building of dams in order to protect towns and cities
", .... ,
which occupy the river channel in whole or in part at certain
points on its course.
The problem of encorachments has been pertinently
summoned up by a U.S. Army Engineer as follows: "When we are
honest with OUrselves and get down to the bottom of the flood
prOblem, about 90% of_perennial flood damage is a result of
man's damn foolishness in building his roads, railroads,
factories, houses,'~arm and whatnot on land that plainly
belonged to the river. When he built there, the evidence that
the river has used that land for flood purposes Was plainly
<
visible, and when that evidence is there you can be darn sure
the river will again flood that land. It would be much Simpler ,
I
and more economical to retire from human occupancy and use these
perennially flooded river bottoms and give them back to the
"
river for flood purposes." This is an arresting statement, -
but of course impracticable where ,settlement has advanced to
i
.. ,i
'"
't. ~/a
the extent or millions of dollars in real estate. It does,
however, set forth clearly the relationship between flooding
and encroachments. ...
....
The number of bridges required when~ town
straddles a river always increase~ the likelihood of ice
jams and consequently exposes larger areas tQ serious flooding.
These blocks sometimes form behind road bridges, damaging the
bridges themselves, flooding roads and causing a dange~us
rush of water where they finally give way. Ice jams, however,
, ,:
frequently form behind natural obstacles such as bends in the
channel, piles of debris'and sandbars formed by wave~action
;
at the mouths of rivers. Where these obstacles occur, the
area around them will be liable to flooding, as in the case of
the Etobicoke Flats, near the river's mouth now occupied by
a part of the town of Long Branch.
-.
~ '"',
,
",
<
-
-
..
,
i
'-.
I
.. ,~",~,.,... ------.--"..- _~- ..__'"r.__..~._."_ _ _ -
.,
~/.y
CHAPTER 17
FLOODS ON THE ETOBICOKE
1795 - 1945 '"
....
The Etobicoke, like the other riv&~ .~lowing
into Lake Ontario, has always overflowed its banks at intervals
and flooded the lowlands along its source. .Under certain
conditions these overflowings would constitute floods of a
,
fairly formidable character. They would occur when a~ usual
'imount of rain fell in a short tiT;:}'; or when rains accompanied
, "
the melting of the snow in winter and spring. If there was
.
much ice in the river at such times the flood would~be accom-
,
panied by what was known to the early settlers as an "ice
shovenl, and the big blocks would "rattle down,,2 to the lake,
sweeping away much of the vegetation and "cutting up" the
flats with new channels.
The fact th~t the watershed was covered with
a heavy growth of timber probably modified the form of these
' ~.
freshets, but did not p~event their occurring more ol~en than
not. After long droughts, when the cedar and hemlock swamps
and "black ash swales"~ were dry, they would absorb even an
exceptional rain, but .as a rule when climatic conditions
favoured a flood the swamps and swales were full and soon
began to overflow, adding their surplus to the tributaries
already overcharged~with the run-off of the d~ier areas.
No doubt the freshet near the headwaters flowed
,"
Slowly, spr~ading out gradually behind obstructions in the
river bed. Further down, where the high banks drew close
together ~d the stream ran stronger, it would rush more
fiercely~ tearing at the banks and gathering debris as it
went, until it finally poured over the flats at its mouth,
goug1n~ out new channels and bursting through the sand banks
heaped up by the winter ~torms on Lake Ontario.
-
l. John McTaggert, in "Three Years in Upper Canada" la29, devotes
a chapter to floods and a section of another chapter to
"ice shoves". ..
2. A phase used to describe a freshet on the Credit in 1819.
3. "A low wet tract" - less wet than a swamp. The word 'is
frequently uspd in the notes of the first surveys of tne
Etobicoke Watershed.
'. -. ~_"T. ~ __.~._.._ ___
... ~/S
The first mention of freshets on the Etobicoke
is found in what is probably the earliest description of the
stream. In a note on the map of his survey of 1795" Abraham
1 . ~
Iredale says "The Etobicoke is a rapid stream th~f.la~s along
the river good but much cut up by the high water." The .
pr'\sence of these "flats" alone, is an indication of periodic .
flooding for the settlers gave this name to the level and almost
1
open ground along the streams, on which the forest gr~wth
''las kept s parse by the ice and flood water. These "flats",
.',
also cailed meadows, were favoured by the Indians as corn
,
grounds, because they"~eeded no clearning or ditchiflg" an~
were "enriched by the ,~annual floods."
As the flooding of the flats at the mouth of
the river 1s seldom mentioned in earlier times and was not of
much importance till after the growth of the town of Long Branch,
the floods in this locality have been treated separately.
. ,
Most of the other references to past floods concer~.the town of
Brampton as it was chiefly in thes~ two places that,~~rious
....,
damage to property occurred.
1795-1850 "
From-1795 to l8l9 there are no references to
individual floods on the Etobicoke. SOMe general references
are found to floods in the district, and the Credit and Humber
were flooding at short intervals all through this period.
The surveyors who laid out the "New Survey"
'.
of Toronto !ownship in the spring of 1819 were forced to ~~rk
knee-deep in water on April 5th, while running the south part .
of the li~e between the 5th and 6th concessions, East of the
Centre Road. A frost that night checked the tr:aw, and before
the next mild spell they had moved to the Credit where they
witnessed a considerable freshet. If a snaIl tributary of the
Etobicoke was "out" to such an extent, it seeMS possible that
-
the main stream ~ent on the rampage" also. Most of the water-
shed was unoccupied at this time, especially along the river.
Of
l. Or Iredell '--
- ^".--.-.. ,. -._- ....----, -- -
"
r.~ , J'
,,;;, t ; I
......~_..- ~,...." ._...."'...~--
_.... ..~___ ~..'..d~._ '" .-. ...._-..,~--.._.._- ......'.,. ....... . -..~. .... ....... ..-..-, ~..,.-..-. .. . -"-'..., .-;.-.......-----....-.-..-----...-
PhotogJ:aph by -h F. COTentry
The Etobicoke ii1 ver noar ..;urt;narvl1113 in summer.
-.
!
" Photograph by .,..F.COTentry
The Etobiooke River nOQr~Brv111e in tlood.
..
....
... ~/7
After the survey of 1819 the upper part of the watershed was
settled, but the settlers seem to have paid little attention
to the freshets. They were probably not much bothered-by the
/
spring floods, as travelling was almost 'impossible ln the spring
"-
in any case and winter crops ~ere not often planted on low
ground. 1 The winters from la24 - 1829 we~e mostly mild and "
.
open. Some of these years were dry years as well and streams
were low throughout the country. It is unlikely that any floods
occurred during those years.2
.
It is possible that the succession of dry
years in the 1820's explains why several Ontario ~owns grewup
,
on flats liable to flooding. It was about this time that many
Villages began to form near mills or crossroads, such as Farr~s
Mills - th( first settlement at Weston - and the village of
Brampton. The village at Farr's Mills was entirely swept away
in 1850. It is noticabl~ that the first townplot at Brampton
is said to have been laid out by ~ohn Elliott inla34. Elliott's
-
property was on lot SJ Con. I Ea,t. The northwest~r~ part of
this lot, near the crossroads, is mostly above flood level.
When regularly surveyed town plots were laid out they were usually
on higher ground, ,at any rate after 1827).
laSO - 1860
.
The next twenty-five years are equally bare of
- flood records on the Etobicoke. It is impossible to assume
that no spring floods occurred as there were several at this
time on the Credit and Humber. But no one seems to have thought
it worthwhile to mention spring floods on the Etobicoke.
However; on May 2nd, 1854, the attention of the village council
,
I of Brampton was directed to the "inconvenience of an overflow
of water on Main Street" to the dwellings in that part of
the town. This may have been due to a belated spring break-up
I or to one of those floods caused by heavy rains which have
"
frequently been more destructive than the spring freshets. By
i
I 1857, spring floods had become an annual feature at Brampton.
,
:
i
I
I w
I
, l. Cattle were seldom let out to pasture until after the break up.
.
!
I 2. There were floods on the Don and Rouge in l828 and 1829.
! See Joseph Pickering, "Inquiries of an Emigrant, 1831", for
i
! the drough'.s in these ~ears. The summer of l8l9 was also
i
, dry - Gourlay, "Statistical Account of Upper Canada"
3. For example the Canada Company towns - Guelph, Goderich
Stratford and others.
" j
,-
I
21!l I
!
e
I
i
0 I
,.
,
. ..:~~. i
I
i
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.. ;
. ,
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. " i
!
~
BRAMPTON !
i
f
I
. I
f
I
- ' .. . - - ----...
Frida, , A'.~'lst ~Stll, 1857. !
I
- - !
,
IMMEN.8E FALL OJ4' IlA1N! !
,.
BBAlrTONI P L 001;,1 D ,
..
-.... _. -
I..ast night slIt'lt- ''nil in.nU'lI~p i;, II uf .oa ill tonk plo(o4.', thut,
.~arIJ this .uorning. the.' Ilin,'r 1~luhicn~t~ ....sh.'d down ,,'ith
fearful vclocity"hU't1 so nn'rspr.~ucl its hauks, Ihat dlt~ g..calt'lo
portiol\:of Brunll,tnn \\-US Ilnucl.,.1. 'J'h.onll~h the h\'o .onih"RJ
hridg.~s th(~ ,,'utc'r ruslu'Cl into th.o p.oiucoipal sln't'ls, ,,'hic:h "'crt'
soon like rnpid" rin'.os. 'I'I..~ ,,'uttor, ill N('n'ral Itluc~t~S in the
villagc', ,vas aho\'c "h',! Il,tot clcoc~p. It \\"e'ut ill nt, the ,,"indo,,'j
of somc hOUfCH. 'I'he da.nu~(' clOUt, is t~ollsidcrnble. Tht~
plnDks.,.and 8id.~\\oatlks 0' sonw of the strt'c~ts havo been tor'l up,
. and small brid~es in the n('i~hb.tloll(,oo c~uloricd 1l"'I~J. One
houS(~bas hL't~1l tI.ro,,"u 011 olm Hid., bv th4.~ ,"iolclI(Oc 01 tht,torrent.
Business has been (~ntircIJ susltClld(!d. ')'hc .Iood is 1'0\\'
decreasing rapidly; so, by to-morro\v,. "oc t'XltCct. Brallll)(Oll
\vill B8SUmc its IIsual al.pcaranee. It IS acknc)\vlcdgcd by all
that this very unexpected ilnnlenion of our ,"illnge is the wont
yet cxpcriencc,d.
. .In oolllltlfJ.uence of ,our o~cc having been, li~e manIother.,
I;;.red by. e l1ood; we will ~ un~bIe to J,nbl.sh the Weei',
.-.e. uolll Mondey next. . I.
,
..
,
~ ,;J /9
,,-
In August ~f that year occurred one of the type of floods just
referred to. B1"ampton was heavily flooded. Both the Brampton
..:.~...;
papers reported the'nood - the Brampton Times at great- length, , ~
. ~' ~
the Brampton Standard more briefly. A thundersto~'lasting
through most otthe night of Thut'sday, August 27th, 18S7 .
. ,
r
brought rain 8in torrent8~. The Etobicoke rbse to such . . .
height early the next morning that the water ,could not pass ,
.
through tlle neW ,railway bridge and backing up along Nelson
Street, poured through the subway at Ma1n Street. the flood ,.~
,
rushed down Main Street to the bridge over the Etoblcoke.
~
"Here it tore up the ~1anks, foot boards and carried awaf
. t,
everything that came in its way. From the Main Street it
turned round by Messrs. Haggertst Foundry into (Water)l Street, -
(Now George Street) where the two streams met and trom ____..
"
thence --- across Queen Street which no one could pass without
being carried away. Brs,mpton from the Railway looked
like a town built in the middle of a lake. Here and-' t.here
the water was up to the 'window sill\s." The water b~,
to go down by nine 0 'clock in the morning, but the damage
done in the few hours was said to be large. The Times
.
adds: "BramptOl'l haS:8,D' annual visit of a.flood, at th~
breaklngnup.Of the winter, yet never has it been visited by
.... ;;
so bad a one as thls.,,2 Not too much trust should be put in
the last statement wnich was almost standard phrasingf'or any
.
flood at that t~. The Times goes on: "Can the Corporation
. .
not adopt~.easures to prevent the place being exposed to injury
every yec:~r~ If not we would advise the prople to take to lilt '.,
~
the hills1as- qUick as possible". Had it been feasible to
adopt this' advice, posterity would have been saved much"
..
trouble and expense. The paper does not indicate what "measures"
the corporation could take to change the natural effects of
heavy rains. Perhaps th~diversion ot the stream had already
-
~'i
, f
1. The report has "Elizabeth Street" but this must be a
mistake, 88 Elisabeth Street is too high ~p to be affected
by flOOds. _ .
2. The Standard ..ys the crops were not damaged. _
....
-
~ a~O
been suggested.
It must be borne in mind that the clearing of
the land was far from complete at this time. It had advanced
....
rapidly during the forties and fifties and in 1~5Q was already
believed to be affecting the flQW of the streams. But it was
still the custom up to 1860 to leave a large percentage, of most.
farms in woodlot. After the introduction of agricultural
machinery these woods were much reduced and the great~emand for
lumber during the seventies and eighties hastened the process
>
of clearing. It is quite certain that the cutting of the woods
and draining of the swamps reduced the water in the~ streams;
,
but its effect on floods is not eo clear.
l860 - 1870
The fact that few Brampton newspapers between
l859 and 1873, have survived, leaves us without details of the
floods which were undoubta~ly occurring throughout the 1860's.
That repairs had to be made to the b~idges in the
town in July 1861, May ~g62, June~863 and July 186~~,~ay indic-
ate that floods occurred in at least Some of those ye~rs.l There
can be no doubt that some floods were taking place, for after 1870
a serious effort was, made to induce the town to change the
, 2 The possibility of such a diversion
course of the Etobicoke.
seems so obvious to anyone examining a map of Brampton that it
had probably been p~oposed long before. The town went so far as
to have an Enabling "Act passed by t he Legislature. The necessary
"
by-laws were then passed by the council to allow a survey and
other preliminary steps to be undertaken, but the scheme was
abandoned as too costly. It included the erection of dams above
,
the town to control summer flow and prevent the accumulation of
nuisances of this phase of the problem particularly appealed to
the writer of an editorial wtich appeared in the Brampton Progress
in l874.3 The writer of the ed1t0~ial however, mentions the
"
-
flooding of cellars as one of the inconveniences caused by the
1. Records of the Village Council of Brampton .
2. See Brampton Progress for 1873-4. (Ontario Archives). Brampton
Town Records, Statutes of Ontario, Chap. 52, and Bramptpn
Conservator Jubilee Number, 1933.
3. Brampton Progress, March l3, 1874: Ontario Archives. -
-..
'0,
t9J~/
stream.
The next flood to make such an impression on the
, u
public in Brampton was that which took place on September 13th,
....
1878. The storm which caused it was general throughout'the
Province, causing floods and damage to crops all through
Ontario. Like the floods of June la90, it coincided with an .
election and interfered considerably with the voting, especially
, .
in Peel County as many bridges had been swept away on 'the Credit,
Etobicoke and Humber.
.
At Brarnpton the flood was considered the "worst
.
flood ever known" and ~s still remembered as the highest that
ever took place in the' town. There had been moderate rain
since the preceding Tuesday and heavy rain all night and until
noon of the 13th. By 10 o'clock nearly the whole of the bus-
iness section was flooded, the water being a foot deep in the
stores on the west side of Main Street. Boats had tQ be sent
' '
1 '
for from "Little Lake" , to reSCue people from some-of the
houses. The rain stopped about noon on the l3th and,~he river
began to go down. The damage to property was variously estimated
at from $10,000 to $30;000. Part of the damage was to the
, 2
grounds of houses al~ng the banks of the river.
lagO - 1900
The Etobicoke continued to "devastate the
town every year", but the floods of the next three years were
not sufficiently dramatic to be reported in the Toronto papers.
On April the, l5th, laal the Brarnpton Conservator uttered a
blast against the Town Council for not carrying out the diver-
.
~3ion of the river. There had been freshets elsewhere that
spring in ,February, March and April, and it is possible that
this unusual number of overflows was responsible tor the
editorial. 3 The Conservator considered the diversion one
of the three things needed if Brampton was to continue
-
0
l. Probably Heart Lake. the boats were brought in waggons.
2. Toronto Globe, Sept. 14, 1878 and Toronto Daily Mail for
same date. ..
3. The files of the Branpton Conservator begin in Octobe~
1880. No details of the 1881 freshets have been found.~
~ ~~~
to progress,l and speaks of the "destruction of property caused
by its meanderings and its periodical overflbws".
The attempt to revive the plan of diverttng
the stream was not successful and in l8S3'the Cona~rvator
reports on March 13th "The floo~ of last week in town was
almost as great as the ever-memorable one o~ September 1878." -
.
A small boy named Albert Clarke fell into the stream and was
carried swiftly for Bome distance before he was fished out
at the end of a pole. "Such a swim he don't want again this
2 .
spring."
Some ~f the inhabitants of Brampton may have
~
regarded the flooding ,as an annual source of amusement and
excitement. ~hey are said to have been disappointed if they
were not able to "sail boats" on George Street _ then more
appropriately called Water Street.
UndoubtedlY,in towns subject to flooding a
spring flood was almost as exciting as a fire to those not
-.
directly concerned. Bu~ though th, freshets were not ~ften
.
dangerous, they were always a source of irritation, trouble, and
expense to those whose "property lay in the flood area.
The great cloudburst of June 5th, 1890, seems
to have missed the ~tobicoke. It travelled along the morainic
upland and raised the streams having their sources there. On
December 26th la93,~however, the Toronto Globe printed the
following special r~port from Brampton dated on Christmas
-:
night:
"This town has had many floods, but the present
one beats-them all. The Etobicoke River runs underneath the
town, crossing under Main Street just south of Haggerts'
foundry. In summer time it is an insignificant stream, but
just now it has been re-inforced by all the freshets
from here to the Caledon hills it very much resembles a
,
-
mountain torrent. The ice to-day was borne down to the
1. The other things needed were fire protection and a sewagJ!
system.
2. Brampton Conservator, March 14, 1883.
...
'- ~~~
bridge at Main ~treet, and formed a jam there. The water
backad up and soon raised to the level of the st~eet. It
increased in volume and at this time is five feet ~eep on
....
the principal thoroughfare. One man Clttempted ta. q,ri ve through
the flood a short time ago, but the wat ~ came into the
.
waggon box and he had to retreat. All th(L cellars in the vicin- _
- .. . -
ity and many of the lower storeys of the houses are filled
with water. The Occupants are living upstairs, and ~o not know
when the flood will abate. Some men are doing a thriving
~
business rescuing people in rowboats.
.
A rushing torr~t is surging over Queen Street
~
and those who wanted.to celebrate Christmas in the Wellington
lfuuse had to proceed there on a raft ----- To add to the
inconvenience of the citizens the town is in darkness. The
gas works are flooded and much damage has been done. The
electric lights have also ,gone wrong, and the people are
groping around with lanterns." -.
The flopd was caused by mild weather~and
' . '
rains. There wa~ little or no snow. It had gone down by
morning, leaVing the t~wn "covered by a thick coating of ice".
"The loss cannot now be estimated, but a hundred houses and
many business places had their lower storeys flooded all
.
night." - Toronto Globe, December 27th, 1893.
The ,details of this flood closely resemble
those of la57 and 1878, but the depth of water on'Main Street
'::
was much greater. The fact that part of the river bed along
Main Street had been planked over a short time before may have
had something to do with this.
The years from laaa to la98 were comparatively
free from floOding in Southern Ontario. During the preceding
thirty years, damage from freshets had been especially common
and floods had occurred frequently throughout the world. By
-
1$90 lumbering had almost ceased, south of the morainic uplands.
The sawmills had disappeared from the villages on the Etobicoke.l
..
1. There was a ~~ill at Brampton in 1895, but those at' ~
Victoria, Sumnerville and Burnhamthorpe had apparently
stopped running.
,- ~
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~ . ~ . ~~~.L~-' ...
.. -- -. ---- ..-- _. ---
,
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~=--~
;;.,.~ ."J:~- . '~.wr -<< '(,:
GeCJI",oe ptrec t , ljrum, It 00, Looking r.orth
, A}ril 22nd, 1943.
-.
~ 1!...
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~--- --'--'7 .~ "
-
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---
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-- - ---..-..~" - -,
. "_._- ,,~fl. ,.- - ,.~ ... -
-
C.-tlor, ~e u\..l't.:clt., >~;.A,".:.. \.t-: ~_~ i . L<xl ,,-1; "i " r~outh fr:;':l '-,ue en Dtreet
~ ' 1"1..L G;;';..U , H;'~3 . or
...
'- ~as
;
It is not unlikely that the watershed was more bare of cover
1 It would seem that
around 1900 than at any other period.
the comparative absence of floods in this decade was d~e to
...
climatic conditions. -"'."""::.:;.
1900 - 1932 1
.
A flood took place in Brampton ~n May 20th~ .
19l1, in which a child was drowned. Other floods in Mayor
~
June at about this time are recalled by inhabitants of ",
Brampton, though the years in which they took place are not
, .
certain. It is noteworthy that Brampton has often been
"
flooded between May 1st ~nd October 1st and that these floo~s
made more impression on ~he townspeople than those caused by
ice jams in the spring.
The break-up in 1912 took place early in April.
On the 8th the Globe reported that "never in the memory of the
I
I
oldest resident of Brampton and Port Credit has there been 'I
' . ,
i
such a flood. Many of Brampton's streets were yesterday
i
inundated by three or four feet of water..n This was ,l.e~s II
I
than the depth reported in l893 and about equal to t hat in
l857. In 1918 the damage' seems to have been considerable,
though the reporter wa~ more cautious. The flood came on
February 19t~ and cellars were flOOded, goods damaged and
furnaces extinguished all along Main Street. The roadway
"retired under two feet of water", but was dry again on the
20th, thoug~ there~as still water in the cellars. The loss
was later estimated at $75,000.2
The ice jammed at the bridge on Main Street
-
South, at B~ampton in 1922, in spite of the efforts of the.
town employees to prevent it. Part of the town was flooded
two or three feet deep, but the damage was thought to be
slight compared to that of 1918.
The flood o~ 1925 was more serious. It began
-
at 8:30 a.m. on March 19th and before noon the Main Street of
Brampton was flooded three or fou~ feet deep_ so that trucks
.,
1. Besides the growth of "copses" and "shrubberies" on some~
cut-over woodlots, there was increased planting of
windbreaks etc. after 1900.
2. Toronto Globe, March 8th. 1922.
I
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;<.t. 1. ~~ ~,L~ 1", t. .r'\.~~'-' ~,\tcn t i:()~~,:i.:t t,~' -;11tL
. .~ r" I: ,..,~..~) (~ . 1._ ! r ) .
-
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.
. - :"~~:-;~-.. -" . ,.'~=
:';:;'~~c":;::-"'1,' . ,:. ~ ..II.~~ ~ ~..
~-,.. .# _ .. .~ .."; ~':~~--.L'" :.;:..-:--:..
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.r _~~.,:- .. ~.~-" -;..~ ~.;~~~~;r;:--:~_ -,. ~"; _ _
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... ,":'~;,.",' d",...,-ii.t )~~' . . -.' ':::_ - ,
,- . ---. - t....:' ,. ~ -~:;.;::=,...._,~ -,' ~-'"
., .~'....~ -::"-.. ", II:" - '-'.-=.--. ';' -.- -
... ~. ....... - -.-,'. ,,' ,.',"_'""" .,~~. -l....,~ ,,,Jo .Ao .~~
l4,~c:n L: ::!~-}'I't ~;.:. ,.tr._ ,......r t.,:'Jll, I~O:)f~5~( .\e~t ,";l.o~t" ,tt~I.;:41.
,." 1 .22r.:, l'''~LJ.
or
...
, -
~~7 -<
..
could be driven through only with difficulty. Almost all the
stores on Main Street were flooded and pianos and furniture
were floating about in several of them. A large piece of ".
timber became jammed across Queen Street at the Main_~rners
and kept back the water from stores ~>n this strept. By
.
evening the water had gone down, but the damage "had been heavy.
.
In 1927 the Etobicoke "for the first time in
several years" broke up without flooding. From the
records in the Town Engineer's office, the flood of March
l6, 1942 was the worst at Brampton since that of 1925. .
Another flood on April 22, 1943 caused this time by a r~in-
,
storm only, com~enced at 6.35 p.m., peaked at lO p.m. and
then subsided. The depth of water on Main Street and
George Street was seventeen inches. Cellars were flooded
and there was considerable damage to roads and sidewalks.
On March 24, 19~, a day of bright sunshine,
ice jammed at Andy Robinson's on. Main Street and at 2.50 pm
-
the water had risen to a co~siderable ~eight. It flooded
"".
....,
Main Street, Church Street, the school and Rosalea flats. It
began to recede at 10.15 p.m., the flood interval being nine
hours. There was no flood in 1945. On January 5, 1946, the
temperature rose to 540 F. The river was choked with ice
.
averaging twelve inches in thickness which jammed at the
level on Main Street south. With the use of trucks and hooks
the ice was put in motion and the flooding was therefore
~
not great.
.
,
-
,
..
'-
.
~
'" ~~i
Floods at LonR Branch
Until after 1900 the floods on the Etobicoke
are all reported from Brampton, with only an occasional."'-
reference to the flooding of the flats along the J',.1.ver. If .-'
-0;.. _
records of the Summerville mills were available we might hear
- ,
"
more of damage below Brampton. Probably th~ farmers suffered
,
little from the freshets, as most of the flats were used as
pasture only. .
From the mouth of the river as far as Dundas
Street most of the river flats were originally part of Col- ~,
onel Smith's estate. The bUildings of this estate were
~
originally on the east~ bank of the river at its mouth, too
high up to be affected by floods. Even as late as 1877 the
present Toronto Golf Club property was owned by a Smith who
is described as a non-resident.
That the flats were regularly swept by floods
and torn up by ice is evident, not only .from Iredale '.s note
-
quoted at the beginning of this chapter, but from the many
.. ",.
, .
changes at the mouth of the river and the "oxbows" and flood
channels indicated on the early survey maps. The mouth of
the river and shape of the long bar between it and the lake
varied considerably~ Between 1797 and l806 the river mouth
.
had moved about twelve rods east, Making two bars one behind
the other; by 18ll,the outlet had again moved to the west
and the eastern opening is described as the old outlet.l
It is not unlikely that the eastern gap had been broken through
1. See maps of surveys and lette~ of Samuel Wilmot 7th June,
l806,'Patents Office, Ontario Department of Lands and
Forests.
,
-
..
~
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"ho tt",;r:..l. :'~'l ;-'01'onto .;/ t..;u'
I~tCJbloo1:H ""L" li".i ;:.~ ,I'J,\t:1Crl. "!II" "
_',f:.l t.J~;. J,.,'J'il'.J.
1ool:1$1;"; NOl'th tm"....:d-J 7.(;;. '- 'Ii .~,l'.~JJ~:';
......
- .",.~., -.' ,
~ -- -'-- - - -.- - --- - -.~ -=-<~ '--
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--......" . - ...._--,~~-- -, ............ ~_. ."'R ... -. '
~'11O 'GOi :...1".... ; Ih ';'orm!to ,; t.<...r
, -
r:tc.b!,;:c't:n ,., I!,j:4..~ ;1..:'......-;0.1." l~l'l'J.
" .....,... v.,j.
Lookln~ ,L,:JtIi.-lY4..it toW,..~'(13 I-...i:(:) C!. 'C; .J.l' 1 c.
.,
'-
-
:
" ~3o
by a flood, as has occurred since. 1 These changes at the mouth
were partly caused by the action of the lake, but the variations
in the main channel of the river and the aide chann~l8 -and oxbows,'
...
which appear and disappear on the maps from l79r~...lg77, were
the work of floods.
.
From about l870 the site of the town of .Long .
Branch was part of a large farm belonging to the Eastwood
family. The river flats were used for pasture. About! leaO a
~ummer resort was laid out to the east, outside the watershed,
~,
I Soon
and named Long Branch after a faJl'1011S resort in New Jersey.
2
after Some cottages were built near the mouth o~ the river, but
it was many years before the flooding of the Long Branch flats
attracted public attention.
After 1920 cottages began to be built on the
flats near the mouth of the river. Some lumber which had been
collected near the old (ea~tern) outlet of the river in the
autumn of 1920 was all washed out into the lake by~he freshet
of 1921 and the old channel scoure4 out to a consid~~ble
depth. The lumber was intended for a cottage which was built
that Summer and occupied during the winters of 1922 and 1923.
This was the first ho~se occupied in winter in this part of
Long Branch and for Somp. years there were only two families who
.
stayed the year round.3
Nevertheless three men were marooned on the
roof of a "summer shanty" for several hours by the freshet of
.,
1922. It was feared that houses would be swept into the lake,
but the water went down before this happened. The Globe
reporter ~emarked that "as a rule the houses along the flats
are used only in summer and families who live there the year
round usually move out before the freshet"4
During the 1920's the floods at Long Branch
frequently scoured out the ~old outlet ", as it is called on
-
iamuel Wilmot's map of l8l1. This eastern outlet, through
l. There seems to have been a flood on the Humber in lB06. _
2. Chiefly on the Rifle Range property which is higher ground.
3. Mrs. Oates, widow of Captain Oates, who bUilt the hou8~
referred to, says there were no other permanent residents in
1922 and 1923 and only one other family for Some years atter. - I
4. Toronto Globe: Feb. 3rd, 1922.
~
23/
which the river was flowing in lS06, was evidently a flood
channel, opened by high floods and closed again by sand and
gravel thrown up by the waves of Lake Ontario. ".
This c;ertainly
...
occurred several times between 1921 and 1929. In-l'929 the
Township of Etobicoke extended Lake Promenade onto the point,
.
supporting it on the north or river side by a retaining ~all .
cOMposed of wooden piles. The year this road was made the flood
:
had cut a channel 15 feet deep through the point or bank.
A bad jam formed on February 28th, 1930 between
, ~,
the two bridges at Long Branch. The flats to the north of the
highway were flooded to~ considerable depth. "A large green-
house, some 200 yards from the river bank, was submerged to a
depth of six feet, while a smaller building close by was
completely out of sight....Tourist huts were toppled over by
the rush of water, and their furniture was carried down the
ri ver. . . . The overflow wa~ worst on the west side, and ,', several
unoccupied cottages south of the highway had water up to the
windows. The flood is said to be tfte most serious i~~~ny
years."
There wai a sharp increase in the number of
permanent residents on the Etobicoke flats after 1931. From
, '
1931 to 1934, there was little serious flOOding. The ice had
to be blasted in 1934 as the water was high enoUbh to alarm
the residents, especially as there was a great deal of
.
floating ice. Th~ houses are mostly frame cottages and are not,
in most cases, built strongly enoughto resist floods.
The break-up in 1936 brought the worst flood
-
on the flats since they began to be occupied throughout the
year. By this time there were fifteen families living 'on the
"Island" and twenty-three on "Camp" Street. The flood was
expected on February 25th. The ice was blasted the next day,
the water went down and ~old weather helped to check the flOOd.
-
On the 29th, the water ~as again over the banks ,and many
houses were surrounded by water. ' This condition lasLed ror
..
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Etoblocke ~"lt.L t,,s . I:.on:.;:' La'"moll. 1\J4d
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Looking ;';CUt;!l\.feat. 'rho .~1 vert iJ X:loutll 1a
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....
Cottu(~ ne...r up ;10r lOl~t Jl;.md o orner.
~
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ten days, the river rising at intArvals until by ~larch 9th,
eleven families had been forced to abandon their houses on the
island and twenty-one had moved out on Camp Street. . --
....
On the tenth, the flood changp.d 'its- ~,ourse to
the west, flooding the island more deeply still and cutting
.
off the few remaining families.l The ice was still blocked .
higher up the creek. By the next day a channel "thirty feet
wide" had been cut through the island and rains had i~crp.ased
the floOd. "The natural mouth of the 6reek" was blocked by ice.
~
~The water backed up over the flats and blocks of ice crashed
against the houses." The flood did not go down til~ the
,
sixteenth. Only one family had stayed in their bouse out of
thirty-eight.
This flood caused a great deal of suffering to
the families on the flats, some of whom were already feeling
the effects of prolonged unemployment. The floods were watched
for every year and reported on at length in the newapapers.
Though there were several more or l.ess severe flood~p the
next ten years, the number of residents increased as the housing
situation in Toronto grew steadily worse. In 1939 there were
firty houses on the island half of which were occurierl. Twenty
families were "marooned" for a time. In 1945 after the war
had greatly aggravated the housing shortage "nearly 50 families"
were reported to be,isolated by the flood. The ice block that
year formed a littl~ below the highway bridge.2
-:
BraMpton was also flooded several times in these
years, though the efforts of the town council had some effect
in preven~ing very severe floOding.
The severe floods on the Etobicoke seem in the
past to have been caused by heavy whether they occurred i
in the winter or spring or during the rarnainder of the year.
The melting of the snow alone, seldom causes the river to
-
overflow to an unusual extent, unless there is also rain at the
tiMe of the break-up. On the o~her hand, very serious floods
have occurred at Brampton between May and November, when the~
,
l. "At Least 2"
2. Toronto Telegram, Jan. 7th, 1945.
" ~3.y
ground was not rrozen and there was no snow. The blocking or
ice by obstructions in the stream certainly ag'ravated the spring
~reshet and has often caused severe flooding at Br9~pton and
"-
elsewhere. _. .-:
At ~ong Branch the ice seems to be the most .
serious problem. That the flats should often be overf,lowed by.
~~ter, is probably inAvitable as long as the stream is in its
natural state, but the presence or large quantities of ice
makes the d anger much more serious . Aa it is impossible to
"
I remove all buildings from the flood plains of rivers once
they have been established there, some means must be found
,
either to control the freshets or to protect the property exposed
to floods.
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CHAPTER 18
HYDRAULIC DATA
The hydraulic section of the report is concerned
chiefly with two main problems, an excess of flow in the ~iver
-. '...'.......;;,.
which causes flood~ at certain times_ of the year and a deficiency
of flow which occurs nearly every summer. .
.
The major flood problems are at Long Branch and
Branpton and the report will deal with flooding at these two
points only. The question of water conservation or summer flow
will also be discussed in a part at the end of this section. ~
1. Stream Flow
, -
Flood and water conservation studies on the
Etobicoke are greatly hampered by the lack of adequate flow
records. Previous to 1945 there was no recorded information
regarding stream flow which had been based on accurate engin-
eering measurements. In 1945, with a view to the investigation
described in this report, a gauging' station was set up at
-
Summerville by the DominiQn Water and~Power Bureau at the request
~.
of the Ontario Department of Planning and Development. 'Since
that time daily gauge readings have been secured as well as
more extensive readings ~uring periods of flood.
There is no better method of obtaining an estimate
of the flows to be expected in a river than by actual stream
gaugings secured over a sufficient number of years. Such records
prove to be most reliable when they are available over a period
-
of at least fiteen years. This is desirable since large floods
do not necessarily occur often and a period of flow record cover-
ing only a few years might miss such a flood and give an entire-
I
ly wrong impression regarding the magnitude of the flow~ to I
be expected. Flood records for periods of from twenty to
i
thirty yeal's or more are desirable. It is thus obvious that I
the two years or less of r~cords available on the Etobicoke
cannot form the sole basis for the estimate of the flood flows -
to be expected in the stream. Ii
~
....
~
.. ~.3t.
One method of estimating stream flow is to
consider the precipitation including rainfall and snow on the
watershed, since the stream flow depends primarily o~ the
.:.,.,
precipitation. However, there is no simple rela~1~n~hip bet-
ween rainfall and stream flow since numerous factors such as
the distribution and intensity of precipitation, vegetation, .
including the amount of the cover, types of soil, temperature,
and other factors enter into the calculation to make 1~ an
extremely complicated one.
~
A study of precipitation records does, however,
yield information whicQ is of some interest in studying the
flow conditions on the Etobicoke. Records of precipitation
have been collected at numerous points in S~uthern Ontario
since 1885 and at SOMe points prior to that date. Using these
records, isohyetal lines have been plotted to indicate the
mean annual precipitation for the southern part of the province.
\ '.c
For the watershed drained by the Etobicoke River, the. mean
annual rainfall varies from thirty ~to thirty-two in~tl.e,s, or
averages thirty-one inches. Naturally there is some variation
from year to year. On 'the average the distribution throughout
the year is fairly un~form.
But while on the average the precipitation does
not vary greatly from month to month, grf'at differences from
tre mean occur, and'excessive precipitation therefore may be
experienced in any month. In so far as they a re determined
solely by the amount of precipitation, extreme flows might
occur in any month of the year but other factors determine
whether or not the run-off will be excessive. If heavy
preCipitation occurs when the ground is frozen or partly
frozen, the run-off will be much greater or quicker than would 1
be otherwise the case. Again if the ground is saturated an
abnormally high rate of ~un-off could be expected. This
- if
explains why floods have been experienced in certain parts
of the Etobicoke ~';atershed even when the ground is not
frozen, because of prolonged heavy precipitation. ~
'-.
I
!
~
i
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~37
From the above discussion of run-off as related
to precipitation, it is obvious that although precipitation
...
records are available the estimation of stream flOw-from
...
these records must of necessity be a difficult and 'approximate
computation. . .
Failing long term flow reoords on the E~obico~e'
River, it becomes necessary to make an estimate of the pos-
sible flood flows by a comparison with watersheds for'which
suoh records are available. When such comparisons a~e made, ~
it is desirable to use watersheds as nearly like the Etob-
icoke as possible and preferably adjacent to it. -
The nearest watersheds where the flow has been
recorded for a period of years are the ~redit and the Moira
Rivers. Reoords of the Dominion Water and Power Bureau from
1915 to 1939 show the maximum flow for the Credit River at
Cataract, during that ~eriod, occurred on March 19th~ 1925 and
was 1690 cubic feet per second. The maximum flow !br the
.
Moira River at Foxboro occurred on~March 30th, 19l7'\hd was
12,460 cubic feet per second. These flows are equivalent to
a run-off of 20 c.r.s. '(cubic feet per second) per square
mile for the Credit Watershed and 12 c.f.s. per square mile
for the Moira Watershed.
From isohyetal charts the mean annual precip-
itation over these watersheds is 31 inches for the Etobicoke
and Credit and 31~5 inches for the Moira, which means that the
mean annual precipitation is approximately the same over all
three watersheds. Other features such as forest cover, type
of terrain and river gradient are not very similar in the
three watersheds.
A careful analysis of these facts and all
other available information would lead to the conclusion that
a value of 22 c.f.s. per square mile should be ohosen as -
:
the maximum run-off to.be expected on the Etobicoke. How-
ever, since known records are very scanty and since any
struoture designed must therefore possibly handle floods ..
'"
- ,.
~ ~3;
in excess of the estimated maximum of 22 c.f.s. per square
mile, it has been thought advisable to increase this figure
by fifty per cent. This gives a maximum estimated discharge
of 33 c.f.s. per square mile which was used as a b~is~of
design.
.
The flow recorded at the gauging station at
.
Summerville for March 7th, 1946, was 1160 c.f.s. This was a
high flood flow but was not thought to be a maximum. Using
the figure of 33 c.f.s. p~r square mile, the maximum flood
Thus the 1946 flood ~
at Summerville would be 2213 c.f.s.
would appear to be apprpximately half that which might be
expected once during a'long period of years.
2. Field Survey
In order to collect the necessary information
upon which to base recommendations and designs, a field survey
was carried out between\J~e 12 and July 10, 1946. The survey
collected data at Long Branch, investigated five possible
-
flood control reservoirs and located diversion chann~l~ in
the vicinity of Brampton. A checked line of levels, referred
to the bench marks of the Geodetic Survey of Canada was
carried along the roa~s following the Etobicoke River and
bench marks established. There were five possible storage
basins on the river, which are indicated in figures H 1.
Only two of these namely 7 and g are being recommended for
use at the present time. The field parties were suppli~
-
with vertical aerial photographs of the watershed and suf-
ficient points were indentified on the photographs with their
location and elevation to prepare a contour plan having tan
foot intervals by the use of the 'Abrams Contour Finder'. The
contours shown are only approximate but it is believed that
the basin capacities as shown on the storage curves (Fig.
H 2,3) are within fifteen per cent of values that might be
obtained by a more costly ground survey. -
The survey of the flooded area at Long Branch
w~s made in more detail as it entailed a chain survey with ~
'-.
~39
a stadia survey of the valley some distance Erom the river.
Except for the bUildings near the mouth of the river~ and
for a few of the bUildings in the low area., the remaining
-. '"~
buildings were plotted from aerial photographs.
.
.
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\ I ETOBICOKE WATERSHED
;, SHOWING
,. POSSIBLE RESERVOIRS,
. THEIR ...
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. DRAINAGE MEAS,
e I lJNCOtfiRCU.m AREAS,
.
,. - ~ AND THE
-- .. . .. .~
.. FLOW ~IONS OF THE TRIBJTARIES
.
LEGEND
.. POtfMNENT FlOW :
o DRY AS OF.AU ,....
SCAlf ; MILES
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LAKE ONTARIO
FIG. He-. r
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CONCRET[ Df\M
GRAV\TY" TYPE I
Sea le ~ ~ '-I~C.O'_: 'I
FOUNDATiON ~ Sand i Clrcv1'
I .
L.ENGTH OF DAM -=.. \00 Ft.
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HEAO TO CRES \ :: \0 ~t i
lOll
Designed to serve' as elthel"'"
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oveY" F lovy se c- t-Ion or non- Oyet f I OYV
~ec tlon WI th d c..entYd\ ~P\ ~lyyt 'j
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~ ~tot> 10'3 '=> cui " wa.te\' up t_o c~*1 "~ ddtl
=385c.~~ CafJ o~ (W~ '"" ~ \tpY'V C'(t-' ',t
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~ ~~I
CHAPTER 19
SMALL DAMS
An increase in population on a watershed is..
often accompanied by intensive cultivation of the ,l~~. ~re-
moval of forest cover and encroachment on the river valley.
The result of this may be seen on practically .every water-
shed in Southern Ontario. The water table lowers, as indic-
ated by falling well levels; in summer the river is nearly
dry or stagnant; in spring flash floods of great magnitude
cause extensive damage to property and sometimes loss oT life. ~
Most of the time there i~ too little water, but for ~ few days
there 1s a great excess~
It is too late to find a remedy for tllis sit-
uation? The question has been answered in several water-
sheds in the United States and is in the process of being
answered in Ontario. Conservation measures carefully planned
\
and properly carried out will control the rampaging floods
.-
and stop the continued deterioration of water conditions on
~.
a watershed.
When trees and vegetation are removed from a
drainage basin and tpe.land intensively ploughed and cultivated,
rainfall and melting snow can find its way quickly into gullies
and valleys and thence into the river channel. There is
nothing to hold back this water until it can soak into the
ground and find i~s way to the water table. An intensive storm
under these conditions must result in a rapid increase in the
volume of water reaching the streams. The more denuded
the land and the steeper the slope the more rapid is the
rise in river discharge.
The remedy would appear to lie in the preven-
tion of such rapid run-off from the slopes into the streams.
Any method of doing this, no matter how cheap or insignific-
ant it might appear, is an instrument' of conservation and
flood control. Some of these methods are:
(1) Reforestation and strategic planting.
..
....
, ~'f;j
(2) Contour ploughing
(3 ) Small conservation dams.
..
(4) Large dams.
..
The subject of reforestation and~trategic
planting has been covered in another section of this report. .
By placing obstacles in the way of the water and making the .
ground more permeable, this method causes the retention of
water where it does the most good - on the high lands of
the watershed.
~
Contour ploughing has been discussed elsewhere
,.
as well. Essentiall~ each furrow at right angles~o the
natural path of the water acts as a small dam, slowing down
the water as it rushes towards the river valley and allowing
it to soak into the earth.
By small dams we mean those that can be
built cheaply by individu~ls or small groups. Thes.e dams
may be located in erosion gullies or in small streams near
the headwaters and play an important part in any f+_od control
and conservation scheme. The cheapest and crudest of these
consist of logs, brush and rocks piled in the channel and
anchored to prevent ~ernoval during floods~ Other more elab-
orate structures may be built of timber weighted down with
rock or of compacted earth with provision made for spilling
water during a flood. Several typical cross-sections are
shown in figure H-12. Note the importance of making the
'.
dam heavy enough so that it won't be swept away, and in the case
of the earth type, the necessity of preventing flow over the
top of the earth.
The two larger drawings (H ~O, 11) show more
expensive dams designed to impound water to a depth of ten
feet. As sho~n the earth dam with concrete spillway would
cost about $10,000., while the all concrete one would cost
slightly more. If a rock foundation is available or if the
length or height of the dam may'be reduced, the cost would be
considerably less. It should be noted that these are typica~
....
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designs, and before they are used in any specific location
should be checked by a competent engineer. Such structures
as these may be used to impound water in the spring and let it
out gradually during the SUM~er to augment the low nOrMal flow.
Ponds created by these dams may be used for livestock water-
ing or recreational purposes.
Large dams are expensive and have their place
only on larger rivers where flood damage is very costly. They
serve the same purposes as the smaller one" but to a greater
extent.
The provision on the 1~obicoke Watershed of
numerous small, cheap dams and some larger dams of the type
shown would provide great benefits to all within its boundar-
ies. Flooding would be reduced considerably while summer flow
would be increased materially, and the ground water lsvel would
rise. When this is done in conjunction with other control
measures on the high lands of the watershed, a new era of well-
being will commence for the plant life, wildlife and people
of the Etobicoke Watershed.
Recommendation
On drawing H-13 are shown the small watersheds
which are tributary to the Etobicoke. On each of these small
streams are several locations for small dams. Dams at all
these locations would provide a total storage of 19,818 acre
feet and affect 49,171 acres of land. The cost of erecting
such a large number of dams would be considera.ble. It is
recommended therefore, that a few selections of sites be made
and small dams be built in order to demonstrate tbeir value in
conservation planning.
.
SUMMER FLOW STORAGE
SHOWING tri'ff
TRIBUTARY DRAINAGE AREAS
ETOBICOKE WATERSHED
LEGEND
. PERMA"'E~T FLOW
o DRY AS Of JULY 1'J46
',. r~', SCALE MILES
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I
LAKE ONTARIO
~
-.- . - --
~ A~S
CHAPTER 20
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTION
Water control has been practised for centuries
throughout the world. Irrigation and draina~~e were attempted
earl:r in history while water supply was a highly developed
science in early Rome. Vlaterpower made its appearance later,
first in the form of crude waterwheels supplying grist and
flour mills, then developing rapidly until today we see mag-
nificent power dams impounding huge man-made lakes and supply-
ing power sufficient to meet the needs of our highly industrial-
ized cities.
Flood control played a minor role in history, per-
haps because the necessity for it was not great. Land was
plentiful enough so that the well defined flood plains were
avoided by settlers and little damage was done by seasonal
floods. But in the last century man ha~ stripped the watersheds
of their natural growth. has cultivated the fields and. worst
of all. has encroached upon the flood plains, building his
cities at the mouths of rivers and cultivating the fertile
floors of the lowlands. For the advantage of this encroachment
men must pay by designing expensive flood control works.
Fortunately, conservationists are advocating meas-
ures that will tend to correct this situation. In the past the
common idea of flood control was the construction of a large
dam above the city that was to be protected. This served as
protection but did little to correct the situation causing
excessive floods. The trend today is towards the retention
of the flood waters on the headwaters of the river by a large
nlmber of smaller dams, ranging in size from the moderate size
structure and reservoir down through crude dams in gullies on
farmland to the simple furrow of contour ploughing. Reforest-
ation and planting in strategic locations will add to the
effect of these darns in slowing down the water as it makes its
way to the river so that more will be used to recharge the
groundwater and provide needed water for the roots of vegetation.
~ a~h
A plan such as this will prevent erosion and silting in
the rivers. as well as reducing floods by the equalization of
flow throughout the year.
There are two divergent views, therefore. on the
value and use of run-off. The man interested in waterpower
desires large amounts of run-off. and his control measures aim
at providing constant flow throughout the year at its maximum
value. On the other hand, he who is interested in conservation
desires the control of run-off at its origin on the fields and
slopes of the watershed to give the maximum opportunity for
infiltration into the soil, replenishment of the ground water
and prevention of erosion.
Flood control is closely allied to the conservat-
ionist'a views. Floods are caused by rapid run-off and will be
reduced by measures taken at the headwaters to slow down the
destructive torrents of eroding rainwater which dig gullies
into the fertile soil of the drainage basin.
Both factions recommended the building of dams and
storage reservoirs to carry out their purposes, but here the
similarity ends. The Y'/aterpower designer would choose a site
which would give hi~ a large drop in head plus a big storage
reservoir, usually requiring a large, high dam. Probably only
one or two of these structures would be contemplated on a river
of average size. The lake would be used to maintain a constant
flow through the turbines at all times, storing water during
floods and redUCing the lake level somewhat during periods of
low flow. The elevation of the reservoir level would be main-
tained within close limits at all times because power is depend-
ent on the depth of water on the turbines. Thus it would
happen that during a bad flood the reservoir would be filled
quickly. and the large flood volumes would proceed undiminished
to the lower reaches of the river.
The flood control and conservation interests would
recommend a larger number of smaller dams on sites chosen not
because of power possibilities but because they would give the
Maximum effectiveness at minimum cost. Thus the river that
would support only one or two power dams might contain perhaps
~~"._,.^
~.y7 "'
ten smaller dams spreLd widely over the drainage basin. These
smaller lakes would be emptied during periods of low natural
flow so that they would impound the maximum amount of flood
waters thus offering the maximum protection.
It may be seen that the two types of river develop-
ment systems described are the extremes serving different pur-
poses. There are several intermediate schemes combining some
of the features of each and depending for their desirability
on the nature of the stream.
Where the river conditions are such that a large
flow volume is available with no extreme flow stages, flood
control is of minor importance and, if considerable drops in
elevation occur, power dams may be feasible. TheBe would be
single purpose dams and would have controlled outlets or spill-
ways to maintain the desired head on the turbines at all times.
When the river is subjected to severe seasonal
floods but low flow in the summer is not a problem and power
production uneconomical, smaller retardation basins or dry dams
serve the single purpose of flood protection. They are so operated
that no water is in storage at the approach of the flood season.
They impound water to their full capacity during the flood,
releasing it as quickly as possible in preparation for the next
emergency.
Rivers which are subject to severe seasonal floods
and which approach the dry stage in summer need control designed
to reduce floods and increase the summer flow. This requires
a dual purpose dam with controlled outlets, capable of impound-
ing water during floods and releasing it gradually during
periods of low flow. These dams must be larger than the
previous type for the same amount of flood protection because
of the possibility that floods may occur before the reservoir
is completely empty.
When the storage reservoir is of sufficient capac-
ity that it need never be lowered below a certain elevation a
permanent lake is formed which may have recreational value. In
this way flood control, low flow augmentation and conservation
may be combined with a real addition to the natural beauty of
~ cf1~P
the comMunity. In Southern Ontario where small recreational
lakes .are rare this plan has great attraction, and, indeed,
Bellwood Lake on the Grand River is an example of what is
possible in this area.
The Muskineum project in Ohio with a total drainage
basin of $~OOO sq. miles with fourteen reservoirs is an out-
standing example of an area where permanent recreational lakes
are combined with flood control storage.
In respect to conservation it 1s to be emphasized
that large storage reservoirs are not as effective in preventing
erosion and depletion of natural resources as the other control
measures on the headwaters mentioned previously. It should be
the purpose of flood control specialists to concentrate on the
retention of precipitation on the drainage basin first, with
large dams secondary, in strategic locations to protect cities
and valuable land from the most extreme conditions.
Individual dams and their lakes depend for their
design and characteristics on the particular job they have to do.
This, in turn, depends on the conditions of the river on which
they are located.
i:
I'
.1
~ ~/f9
CHAPTEE 21
FLOOD CONTROL AT BRAMPTON
1. The Course of the Creek through Brampton
As stated in an earlier part of this report early
settlement at Brampton was near the creek and the town later
grew up on both sides and eventually over the creek bed. Much
ot the difficulty connected with flooding is due to this fact.
Drawing H4 shows the course of the creek through Brampton at
the present time. The creek enters the town rrom the north
flowing in a general southeasterly direction, whence it con-
tinues in an irregular meandering course until it reaches
Nelson Street. From Nelson Street to James Street it forms a
loop, turning southerly at Nelson Street. Its course is then
in an irregular southerly direction, passing under the Canadian
National Railway and, as it crosses Main Street, taking a sharp
south easterly turn, about fifty feet from and paralleling Main
Street. It crosses Main Street again at vlellington Street, is
adjacent to and follows the other sid~ of Main Street for six
hundred feet where it makes another sharp turn left. in a north
westerly direction to James Street. ending the loop. At James
Street, it makes another sharp south westerly turn for a quarter
of a mile and thence in an irregular southerly course. again
crossing Main Street and proceeding to the soath easterly liMit
of the town. From a point three hundred feet south of Vodden
Street to where it passes Guest Street. (which are the limits
of the flooded area in the northerly and southerly direction)
the meandering course of the creek covers approximately 10,160
feet or 1.92 miles and the distance. as the crow flies. between
these points is approximately 5.670 feet or 1.07 miles.
From observation made in the field and a
study of an atlas of the county of Peel which was published
in 1877. there does not appear to be any great change in the
course of the stream through the town since early days.
About 1914 some straightening and probably some widening was
done on the east side of ~.~ain Street below \ie1lington Streflt
and concrete retaining walls were built. About 1920 when the
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Memorial Park was being laid out. some slight change w~s
made by straightening the stream behind the service station
flT!d thence through the p8rk area. Above the intersection of
Main and Queen StreetD the changes have been very slight. A
retaining wall was removed by the corporation in recent years .~
and there have been some adjustments in alignment at the '''I
1
,~thletic field above the C.N.R. bridge. Some deepening of the l
bed of the stream directly below Queen Street was attempted
by the town recently but abandoned as it threatened to under-
mine privately owned retaining walls.
2. History and Condition of Present Conduit
In the description of the course of the stream ~j
,
through Brampton. mention was made of a loop (sp-e figure H4),.
It will be noted that the northern portion of the loop is through
the business section of the town and the stream is conveyed
through this section by a large closed culvert or conduit vary-
ing from twenty-four to t~irty~four feet in width and from
eight and one half to eleven and two tenths feet in height or
an average height of nine and nine-tenths feet. The conduit is
not continuous but is in three section with a span of open
channel between each section. The portion of the cour6~ of
the stream through the conduit appears to be the same as that
shown in the 1$77 atlas. already mentioned.
Efforts have been made to obtain info~ation
regarding the time of construction of the conduits. At the
present time a complete history is the conduits is not avail-
able. However. it does seem probably that sections of the
conduit were built at different periods. One old resident
who claims that his memory goes back to 1$67 says that the !
.
building on the north west corner of Main and Queen Streets I
was built in 1$70. But whether or not it was at that time
I
I.
built over the creek is not clear. Another account of the flood
in ~893 says that the creek flowed under the town which would
imply that the roadway had been built over the creek at that
time. In 1890 the river was open where the Haggart building
now stands. One concrete wall was built under the stores on
-
"
PL AN SHOWING THE COURS
(TOIICOKE CREE~
WITH IT' CONDUIT I!C'
T r< ROUGH THE BUSINESS SECTI(
TOWN of BRAMPT(
1'47
r, a ( . d . I " "Ion p , . po, . db, t h . To. n E n
SCALE 30 FEET TO I IN(
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E CREEK f' ~
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one side of the river and on the opposite side of the river,
in the roadway of Main Street, a wall provided with a handrail
was built by the town. Some time later a man fell off the
rail and lost his life and the street over the creek was planked
about 1890. About 1910 it was paved at the same time as MRin
Street.
Plan H5 shows the conduit and indicates the
type of construction and also the dates of construction of
the buildings along its course. The two northerly sections
of the conduit are of stone masonry and the southerly sections
of concrete. The roadway and buildings over the conduits are
supported by steel I-beams overlaid with concrete. As will
be shown below, the beams and masonry walls are in many places
in poor condition.
Five photographs taken at different points of
,
the interior of the conduit are included to show the existing
condition ot the structure. ,. The locations of the photographed
points are shown on the drawing H5 by numbers which correspond
to the photograph numbers.
The deteriorated condition of the conduits is
emphasized by the folloWing part of a report submitted by the
Department ot Public Works, Government of Ontario, following
an inspection carried out in March 1947.
The inspection was made with V~yor Beck and
Town Engineer Black.
"After examining the plans of the above creek
where it passes through the town, we made an inspection of it
where it passes under the street and bUildings, using a flash-
light to view the beams supporting the roadway and the cantil-
evers supporting the fronts of the buildings on Main Street.
The roof of the tunnel or conduit is supported
by unprotected steel beams, which are badly rusted. In some
places the webs are rusted through and are of no value as
supporting members, while most of the steel work is rusted and
in varying extent.
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Upon enquiry, we find that these beams were
erected about 1905 and have, therefore, been exposed to the
weather for 42 years without proper paint protection.
\'ihile ind1 vidual live loads on the road above
these structures MaY not have increased appreciable, the
volume of traffic has increased considerably since 1905 and
these produce constant and annoying vibrations in the adjacent
buildings.
Some of the bUildings on the Main Street pro-
ject over the tunnel about 12' and the fronts of these are
supported independently ot the steel carrying the roadway and
sidewalk by means of cantilever beams and brackets. The brack-
ets are of square rods and the whole appear inadequate to carry
the loads in addition to" being badly rusted.
The masonry walls supporting the steel framing
<
of the roadway are in a bad state of repair, particularly near
the base where ice action occ~s and 15 subject to the pressure
of ice tormation. 4t Some sections of the base of the walls,
the bottom Rtones have fal2en out leaving the upper parts of
the wall unsupported except for the arch action.
Some parts of the walls of the tunnel are of
concrete, most of which are in fair condition, but in 'some
places they are badly cracked and about to collapse.
A spring flood would, undoubtedly cause further
damage to these walls.
Sorne buildings have been erected over the creek
on private property and these also have been supported on
unprotected steel girders and secondary floo,:!" beams. These
beams and girders are also badly rusted due to insufficient
protection."
The above report emphasizes the unsatisfactory
condition of the ccnduit through the town and from it we may
safely conclude that ...:ostly repairs and indeed perhaps com-
plete reconstruction would be necessary to place the conduit
in a safe condition. If it is permitted to remain in its
present state indefinitely, serious collapses of roadways,
walls and buildings are not beyond the realm of pOSSibility.
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3. Cause of Floods at Brampton
The floods at Brampton are caused by high creek
flows which cannot b~ passed through the restricted channel
through the town without raising the water level to flood
heights. The flows which caU5C floods have occurred during
heavy rainfall at other times than in the spring. The most
frequent floods hO~levcr, are those associated with the annual
spring break up in March or April. There are no accurate
estiMates as to the volume of flow through Brampton during
these floods. The Town Engineer has made some approximate
estimates using the best meaneat his disposal and these
estimates indic~te very large flows. In fact the size of the
momentary flood flows can probably be explained by assuming
that they are caused by the sudden release of backed up water
caused by the breaking of ice jams above the town. 3uch large
flows would cause floods, with tne present channels, even when
jams do not occur in the town. .. I
Ice jams occurring anywhere along the winding
and restricted channel in the municipality itself are a
constant flood threat in the spring. These jams will remain
a hazard until such time as the river channel is improved.
4. Effect of floods
The flooded area in Brampton 1s shown in
drawing H4. This area extends from about Vodden Street in
the North to Guest Street at the southerly end, a distance
already mentioned as being 10,160 feet or 1.92 miles. The
width of the flooded section varies from 400 to 1000 feet and
its area is 136 acres or 0.21 square miles. Among the places
flooded are the publiC school grounds, the athletic field,
all of the business section between George and Main Streets
and Most of the area east of Main Street between Queen Street
. ,
and the Canadian National Railway.
It is interesting to note that most of the
merchants have made provision to protect themselves against
the regular floodtng by having their doors and windows made
as watertight as possible. They usually receive warning of
.
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# 4. Showin8: defective 1N811 about 2 1. beams
from 2 and v ie\'led as shown on plan.
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~53
approaching floods and move their merchandise from basements
to upper floors. These timely precautions as a rule prevent
extensive damage to merchandise but they are distressing and
a great inconvenience. They have other damage costs however
and in addition there is the cost of repair of sidewalks,
roadways, bridges etc. The average annual maintenance cost
of the conduit is stated to be $3000., about half of which
is paid by the property owners. The town pays seventy-five
per cent of the cost for the sections of conduit under streets
only, and the property Qwners are assessed for the balance,
Where the conduit passes through private property, the property
owners pay all of the cost. As has been pointed out previously,
the conduit is in a condition which demands extensive rebuild-
ing or replacement in the near future. The annual maintenance
cost mentioned above does not therefore represent the true
picture of flood damage to ~is structure.
5. PropOsed Diversion
An obvious solution to the problem of the
conduits through th~ town would be a diversion of the creek
which would direct it away from the business section and per-
mit the Closing up and abandonment of the present undesirable
conduits.
The idea of a diversion is not a new idea and
in fact is a solution which might occur to any thoughtful
person who studied the problems at Brampton. As has already
been stated earlier in this report, a diversion was discussed
many years ago. The "Brampton Conservator" in its Jubilee
Number, December 7th, 1933, says that the plan for a diversion
was revived in 1931 and also gives a description of the flood
which occurred in 1857. It ends wi th the sug:estion that the
corporation do something to prevent the loss due to annual
flooding.
As has also been stated, in March le73 an
Act (Chapt. 52, Statutes of Ontario) was passed by the legis-
lature entitled, Act to Authorize the Council of t}'e Village
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.# 5. Is a v iew of I. beams supporting roadway, sidewalks,
etc. Taken from the circle shown and lookin~ in the
direction indicated by the arrow. On this photogra ph,
line B is aprroxim~te1y the s t re e t line of the buildinf~s
and D shows the struts of the cantilever supporting
the front walls of the blJildincr,s. Line C is approxi-
mately the curb line of the s t re e t . :la11 marked E is
under the ro,-.,dway and about 12 feet from the curb line.
-
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of Brampton to change the course of the River Etobicoke. It
also provided for a dam or dams above the town to increase
summer flow. In 1873 there was considerable agitation for this
purpose, by-laws were passed for the work by the Corporation
of Brampton but being considered too costly the idea was
abandoned. In 1874 Mains Creek which is shown in drawing H5
was diverted into the Etobicoke and exists so at the present
time. An editorial appeared in the "Brarnpton Progress", on
March 13th, 1874 which discussed at length the danger to health
from low water in the river within the town and considered
that storage darns were more important that proposals for a
diversion. The plan for a diversion is again mentioned in
the "Brampton Conservator" on the 16th of September, Iggl,
at an estimated cost of $30,000. In 1931, during the depress-
ion, tenders were called for a diversion. Twenty-eight con-
struction companies submitted tenders for the work at an aver-
age cost of $159,956 but again this was considered to be too
high.
A careful study of the problem as included in
this survey indicated that a diversion of the creek across
the loop is necessary to relieve the situation at Brampton.
The Department of Planning and Development,
having made a complete revision and redesign of the diversion
scheme is now in a position to recommend a plan which will
provide a permanent diversion capable of handling the largest
flows without submitting Brampton to any flood damage.
The details of the diversion are shown on
drawing H6. It is recommended that the stream be straightened
by cutting across the loop, commencing about 120 feet southerly
from the south limit of the school grounds (the diversion to
the North across the school grounds having already been com-
pleted); thence across Church Street, Scott and Nelson
Streets on a reverse curve; thence along Glendale Avenue
crossing Queen and John Streets; thence curving to the right
and crossing under the Canadian National Railway to and down
James Street, joining the stream at the oth~r end of the loop.
-
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In the design, adequate provision is made in
the cross-sectional area of the channel to carry the maximum
flood flows with ice. In this way floods in the town would be
eliminated.
The design was investigated along three pos-
sible lines of construction:-
A. An open channel with two to one side slopes, paved
to protect against erosion at high flood velocities. This
channel would have the necessary bridges or covered sections
at all street intersections and at the Canadian National
Railway.
B. An o~en ~hannel with vertical concrete r~taining
walls and having the same type of covered sections at streets
and railway as per scheme A.
c. A closed conduit of special design for the entire
length of the diversion. This conduit was designed as a
circular arch section as shown in drawing H 7.
Scheme A above proved to be very consider-
ably cheaper than either of the other two schemes. The design
for scheme A is shown in drawing H 6. As indicated, it
consists of an open channel section with paved side slopes.
Where the diversion passes under streets, such as at Scott and
Nelson Strepts and under the railway, it is proposed t1:at a
ci.rcular arch conduit be used.
The estimated cost of these three possible
types of diversion at pr>sent day unit prices and allowing
reasonable figures for the cost of appropriated land are shown
in the accompanying table. This figure includes an item for
backfilling the old conduits under the town. It is strongly
recommended that this be done on the grounds of both safety
of structures and health.
The design calls for the use of the circular
arch section under Church, Queen and John Streets. Provision
is made for steel sheet piling, eight feet in length, across
both en1s of all circular arches, including the foot-
.
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ings, driven to the finished surface grade of the paving
and the concrete paving placed flush and against the piling~
11 so provided for are forty foot concrete approaches to and
exits from the circular arches with warped or faired surfaces
in order that the flow may be smooth when entering and leaving
the arches from the trapezoidal open cuts. The tops 0.1 the
levees or dy~es in sections A, C and F (see dra\tling n6) are
fifteen feet above the bed of the stream. The channel slopes
are paved to a vertical height of ten feet. This paving while
adding to the cost of the project, is necessary in order to
protect the banks from erosion due to the high velocities
expected during floods. In order to keep the velocities
within reasonable limits it will be necessary to have a
concretrated fall of severa~ fe~t at the end of the diversion.
It should be kept in mind that further design
work will be necessary before construction is carried out.
Further investigations which were beyond the :3cope of' this
report are necessary to determine the most economic section
of channel, best slope, concentrated falls and other details.
Storag;e Dams
While there are a number of sites on the water-
shed where small storage and flood control dams can be built,
it is at present recommended that only two small dams be
built above Brampton. These earns would be located at site
7 (Dale Basin) and site 0 (Snelgrove Basin) see drawings
He and H9. The dams would be mot over fifteen in height
and would impo\md an anount of water as indicated in draw-
ings H2 and H3. Since the bed rock is some distance below
the surface at both of these sites it would be necessary
to design a dam for these conditions. Two sample designs
are shown in drawings HID and Hll.
The purpose of the two dams above Brampton
would be to provide recreational ponds and also provide
some measure of summer flow. They would not provide
sufficient stor~tge to great,ly affect flood flows. except
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STORAGE IN THOUSAN OS OF ACRE FEET
0 I 2 3 4
820
810
800
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~ 790
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7710:t BED of RIVER
170 . -----+- - - - + ---- - --- ._~-~---+---- -- ~-
160
7500 I 2 3 4
AREA IN HUNDREDS OF ACR E 5
StoraQ e approllimate only, hovlnQ been determined by a 1000ft to the Inch
contour plan which wa. prepared by usin g Abrams Contour finder.
ETOBICOKE VALLEY SURV EY
PROPOSED STORAGE
NO.8 SNELGROVE RESERVOIR
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
CONSERVATION BRANCH
FI G- H-3
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in so far as they might help to retain ice and prevent the
jams which have so frequently occurred.
Sumrnar:'(
Briefly the main points in question at Brartpton
are as follows:
(1) Brampton has been subjected to floods almost
annually for many years.
(2) The floods are aggravated by the restricted path
of the stream through conduits passing tInder sections of tl:e
business part of the town.
(3 ) Th~ conduits are in a dangerous co~dition struct-
w~ally .
(4) It is recommended that the creek be diverted past
the business district by th~ construction of an open channel
with suitable sheet and railway crossings. The estimated
cost of a permanent and adequately designed diversion is
$310,000.00.
(5) It is recommended that two small dams be built
above Brampton to augment the summer flow, provide recreation-
al areas and he~p to hold iee in the upper reaches.
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BENCH MARKS ~
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CHAPTER 22
FLOOD CONTROL AT LONG BHANCH
1. The Problem Area
The village of Long Branch was incorporated
in 1930 and had a population as at the 1941 census of 5,172.
It is located in the township of Etobicoke and lies astride the
Etobicoke River at its Mouth. It is bounded on the North
by the Canadian National Railway; on the South by Lake Ontario;
on the East by New Toronto, and on the West by the centre
line of the Etobicoke River through its west ch~nnel. Frior
to incorporation, this area had been divided into seven parts
and all parts except number seven were divided into village
lots. In 1931, after incorporation, these subdivisions were
all registered. The floode~ area known locally as the flats,
is the number five division and is the south westerly por-
tion of the village. The flats have an area of S.4 acres and
the assessm~nts in this area are shown in a t~ble at the end
of this chapter. Old plans show (at a point about where
No. 2 Highway crosses the river) two channels known locally as
the west and ea~t channels. The forMer is now a blind snigh
and the flow is entirely down the latter. When within 200 feet
of Lake Ontario the river channel makes a sharp ninety degree
bend to the West and flows for about a quarter of a mile
separated from the lake by a sand bar or peninsula. At the
end of the peninsula the river flows into the lake at an exit
which is constantly filled in by gravel washed up by lake storms.
2. Changes in the Physical Features of the Flats
The sketches shown in fi""ure H 14 were copied
from old plans of surveys and show changes in the channels
and in the form or outline of the sand bar from time to
time. At the time of thp. early surveys it is not likely that
much importance would be attached to this area and it is like-
ly that the channels and sand bars were only sketched. The
plans however do agree to some extent with reports received
~,
.
"
,.
.--- .- - ---.- -1
;?~7 !
r, H R 0 "J ' " r"',, ,r" A : ,-.. H ~ N ,..,. F C I
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I
ot moutn of
ETOBICOK E CRE E K
i
S.etch,. from old,s. plans to ;,re,. , t '"I"le !
1795- !947 I
~ - --"- ~- ". ~ -'=""= "T-='=' ~ ---====-=0= =:~~'._ __ _,e'l
1795 1844 I
I
By A irede AD C, By TParlle Sur. Gen I
(True copy)
t
i.,
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~ I
Iv' ~,O
v~ l~~'
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~
Snowl .,.t,rly c~onnll o. tn, main courSl, : Snows westerly Cl10nntl J5 lh, "'Oln course,
IwO outllts and tnl landbar al an Illand two outlet, separa'ed oy narrow 10l\dbar
-----~----------_._----,------- +- -- ---
I
1797 1856
.~
'\ By A Jontl DPS \.:', By G Unw n Pl. 5
I\" "', ".
I \ \ \ \ ""'-
" " \1
! Toronto purenole'~' I ), /
I or Indian Line \ \ I ,~
' I /
, ) ) ~,/' /
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_ // v -<..t,>.~,-_/// "'~~'
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// ~ ~
/ v~ ~
/ Sketched at lime of Toronlo 'v
Pure hall Llnl Survey. Apparently tne Y'res~.rly I Show. weat,rly channel os Ihe main course;
channel only i. Ihown, one outlet lone out lit at wilt end of landbor
-+-- _._---- . ---
1806 I (About) 1920
BySLW,lmol DS, : ,I
I \ I I
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// \...o....t. I )
S'o., ...f,'" ","0,1 .. th, mooO eo.'.., ~_ Sllttch.d frbm I,thooropn.d plan of thl
IwO outlets and two sondbarl Lono Branch Sub dlvlllon
---- ----.----
_._- --.....-.-....-----.
1819 I 1947
e, R 11<'''01 bo..' 00 I l (
· 1".,11', s."" r ~\
/ I ~~,~(/ 0
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~ ,0 ,.) ,/// ....~
/ ~ /1/ "",
i ,,'t !/ o~
s/~ / v~+-<.,., .
(
May hove b.ln cop'ld Skltched from Alflol Photooraphl,
...
~~tf
from old residents. The sketches of 1795. l819 and 1844 show
the westerly course of the Main Channel. An old resident says
that at one time the course of the river was down that channel.
Differences in the sand bar as represented have no doubt been
caused by the vagaries of flood and lake storm action as well
as the noticeable decrease in summer flows over those which
were reported many years ago.
Mrs. Oates, widow of the late Captain Oates,
who still resides on the sand bar and whose house is about
opposite the West Chann,l, reports that previous to the instal-
lation of the piling at the bend, flood water and ice would
,
often force ~8 way over the bar just east of her house and
'.""
would wash ~t a chennel fifteen teet deep. This channel
would be filled in by lake ~ve action during the S\ln1.mer. The
first permanent resident in the flats was a mariner, Captain
Oates. who in 1921 built a oottage on the sand bar. In 1923
the Oates family were joined"by the Clement fAmily and for a
number of years were the only year round residents. ,Prior to
this time however, and for some years later there were
campers and summer cottagers. At that time the sand bar was
wooded and somewhat higher. 'It has been presumably cleared a.'1d
~,
levelled off by the oottagers, At the present time dU$C in
a large measure to the housing shortage most families live
in thi, area the year round. From a recent count it has been
\
\
found that 277 fam1lie~ are now living in this part of the
town of Long Branch and 197 are affected by floodins.
3. Causes of Floo~
Flooding of the flats at Long Branch occur in
two different ways. First: since the general level of the
flats is only slightly above Lake Ontario water level, flOOding
may occur at the time of abnormally high lake levels. While
such a tlood condition does not occur otten, it may last for
a period of a month or more when it does occur. Second:
floods due to high spring freshets are aggravated by ice
jamming at various locations in the lower river. The sharp
r
...
I
- -----.
) h
,
I
!
:
...JI.... ..~-- ..
...~... ~ )i;~,4
Lookin;_; er;::;terly along the l;:,keshore of the
sandbar. The gap in trk fon;:;round. ind.icates
where the channel \VetS washed out &s described
in text.
...
l~tobicoke '~re e k looking 8a st~":?rly towctrds I
I
t!W villa~e of Long Branch, srlr)wir!g a por-
tion of the sand bar, the piling and the
"biG bend!! lrIhere it is proposed to divert
the river direct to the lake.
.
... c:?I 7()
I
turn in the channel when within 200 ft. of the lake, and the
quarter mile channel paralleling the lake shore are factors
",rhich contribute in no small degree to the formation of ice
jams and f200ding in the flats. At the bend, timber retaining
walls were constructed in 1930 at a cost of $8500. While
this retaining wall undoubtedly prevented flood water from
flowing over the sand bar it did little to alleviate flood
conditions generally in the flats.
Flood caused by spring flows are short in dur-
ation but h~ve caused serious inconvenience to the residents
while they are in progress. Old residents of Long Branch say
that t~ere have been floods over the flats as far back as
they can r erne1'1ber.
4. Flood Levels
The water level of Lake Ontario on J~~e 14,
1946, during the course of the' survey was 246.81. During one
of the worst floods, according to an operator of the sewage
disposal plant, there were two inches of water over the
floor of the power house. This would mean a floorl level at
elevation of 251.60. Other evidence as to flood level was
obtained from an old resident Qn the sand bar who stated that
in one flood the water topped the timber piling at the'b~nd by
two feet. This would mean the flood reached an elevation of
252.20 which is in fair agreement with the figure estimated
at the disposal plant.
5. Lake Ontario :'later Levels
The field survey indicated that most of the
area known as the flats is below elevation 250.0. The serious-
ness of this fact is emphasized by the following data regarding
Lake Ontario water levels, taken from the records of the
Precise T;later Level Division of the Hydrographic and Map
Service, Surveys and Engineering Branch, Department of Hines
and Resources, Ottawa.
.
" .
--
TRAVERSE T~BLE
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Elevation
The highest elevation, 18)8------------------------ 248.96
Since 1860, the maximum Monthly
mean occurred in IS70------------------------------ 24$.63
Since 1860, the minimum monthly
mean occurred in December, 1934-------------------- 242.55
During 1943, which Has a year of high lake levels,
the water in Lake Ontario r€pched a maximum elevation of
24S.93. The monthly mean levels for June, July and August of
1943 were high being 248.62, 248.47 and 246.16 respectively.
Past experience has sho"ffi that lake levels do not change
rapidly and when Lake Ontario reaches a peak level, it may
remain at that level from two to three months. It is obVious
froM the above data, that high lake levels alone may place
the flats at Long Branch in a precarious position with respect
to flooding. This is particularly so if we add a foot or
!:10I',! to the above pl9ak lake levels to allow for vJ'ind action
and other i~fluences. For exa~ple, the highe~t monthly mean
lake level during the past 86 years occurred in May 1870 when
the lake was at elevation 248.83. The monthly mean for June,
1943, was 24S.62. ~f each of these be increased by one foot
to allow for probable wind actio:Q, the elevations become 2J..9.83,
and 249.62 respectively. Since, as has already been stated,
the flats are mostly below elevation 250.00, a repetition of
the lake levels such as the above, coupled with sustained
wind action, would flood much of the fl.9.ts. The general
elevation of the flats is shown in Figure H-l5.
Plan H 16 sho",s coloured brown the area flooded
up to elevation 24S.62, the monthly mean for June, 1943
omitting wind action. Coloured in blue is the area flooded
up to elevation 249.83 which was the monthly mean of ~mYI
lB70 with one foot added for wind action. Shown in red is
the high water elevation of 25l.6o caused by river flOOds.
6. Proposed \iorks to Alleviate Floods at Long Branch
In order to make a study of flood correction
works at Long Branch, a scale nodel of the Etobicoke River
and flats was constructed including the area from the No. 2
... ~7,i
I
highway bridge to the lake. The model sc~le was one foot
equal to two hundred feft horizontally and one to forty-
eight vertically. The model was constructed and the tests
carried out in the Hydraulic Laboratory of the University
of Toronto. The use of models such as this in the solution
of hydraulic problems has become an accepted technique.
The model tests consisted of four series with
results as indicated:
lst Series. No obstructions in natural channel by ice or
other debris.
Flow c.f.s. Flow per SQ. mile Remarks
700 c.f.s. (S c.f.s. per sq. mi.) Slight flood on
east bank
970 c.f.s. (ll.l c.f.s. per sq. mi.) Slight flood over
island
1190 c.f.s. ( 13 . 7 " " " " ) Current acroes
island
2320 c.f.s. (26.6 " tf " " ) Flow over bar to
lake, east side
2nd Series. Ice Jams in main channel just before it enters
the lake.
Flow c.f.s. Flow per SQ. mile Remark s
425 c.f.s. (4.9 c.f.s. per sq. mi.) Just overflowing
east side
6S0 c.f.s. ' (7.8 " " " " ) 'Island' flooded
12$0 c.f.s. (14.7 " " " " ) Flow over bar to
lake east side
1480 c.f.s. (17.0 " " " ,,) Flow across bar at
central section;
bad flood
2020 c.f.s. (23.2 " " tf ,,) Heavy flow over bar
at east section.
2318 c.f.s. (26.6 " " " ,,) More blocking in
channel; complete
area covered high
velocity flow over
bar to lake
3rd Series. Channel 60 ft. wide cut through bar and small ice-
jam. Channel west of bend.
Flow c.f.s. Flow per SQ. mile Remarks
2370 c.f.s. (27 c.f.s. per sq. mi.) No flooding
2820 c.f.s. (32.2 c.f.s. " " " ) Slight flood east bank
3010 c.f.s. ( 34.6 n It " n ) East bank flooded - no
current - no flooding
on island.
...
~7c3
4th Series Channel 60 ft. wide and channel west of bend
completely blocked off.
Flow c.f.s. Flow per SQ. mile Remarks
2230 c.f.s. (25.6 c.f.s. per sq. mi.) No flooding, just
on ~erge, east side.
It will be noted from the above tests that a
c
channel cut through the bar to the lake, at the bend, as in-
dicated in figure H 16 reduced flooding to a negligible amount
for a flood of 2230 c.f.s. or 25.6 c.f.s. per square mile of
drainage area. Such a flood would be greater than any exper-
ienced during the past several years and would in fact be
,
equal to a most unusual flood flow, one which might be ex-
pected ver~rarely.
The details of the diversion channel or cut as shown in
Firo1re H 16
The channel would be cut with two bo one slopes
and protected against erosion by two feet of rick rip-rapt
To prevent the lake wave action from closing up the exit
from the cut, it will be necessary to carry the channel out
into the lake far enough to provide protection against the
tendency for bars to be formed across the channel. It is
proposed to use steel sheet piling to extend this section of
the channel.
~
In order to provide access to the western part
of the bar, after the cut has been carried through it is
proposed to place fill in the old channel just west of the cut
to form a causeway. A suitable steel culvert could be left
through the causeway. The estimated c oat of constructing
this out at prices existing in March, 1947, is $34,000.
In addition to this cut it is recommended that
the following work also be carried out:
(a) Some 3370 cubic yards of earth and gravel be taken
from the bed of the stream just below ko. 2 highway in
order to remove obstructions which t end to cause floodihg.
(b) That 2000 cubic yards of earth be removed froM the
bend above No. 2 highway in order to produce better
stream alignment and encourage the freer passage of ice.
The cost of items (a) and (b) above is estimated
to be $4,000.
-
.
... dJ7Y
I
SU'M}1AHY
Briefly the ~indings at Long Branch may be
summarized as follows:
I. Ground surface of flats mostly below elevation 250.00 ~t.
2. Highese lake level (May 1870 at elevation 24$.83 ft.
3. Adding one foot for wind action, the lake level
might rise to elevation 249.83 ft.
4. The water level of the lake on June 14, 1946
(during survey) was at elevation 246.81 ft.
5. The highest known level of fIe d lrJater over
the flats was at elevation 251.60 ft.
6. A channel cut through the bar would ease
floods at a cost of $34,000.00
7. Excavations in the river above and below
No. 2. highway $ 4,000.00
8. The total number of residents in the flats 277
9. The number of residents ~looded 197
lOa The total assessment, of residents in the flats $66,725.00
II. The assessments of residents flooded $49,660.00
TABLE H - 1
THE NUMBER OF RESIDENTS IN THE FLOODED AREA AND
THE NUMBER OF RESIDE:NTS ACTUALLY FLOODED AND ASSEssr.1ENT
Number Average
Assessment Assessment
.
Permanent Residents 225 $62,975 $2$0
Summer residents 52 $ 3. 760 72
Total 277 $66,735 $241
Permanent residents flooded
165 $46,980 $285
Summer residents ~looded 32 2.680 84
Total 197 $49,660 $252
.
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19 20 21 22 23 24 2' 26 27 28
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,
V
WILDLIFE AND RECREATION
~
... ~7t
CHAPTER 23
WILDLIFE
There are two objectives in planning for
wildlife in Southern Ontario, The first is to retai~ for the
average citizen the opportunity to see and enjoy the varied
forms of birds, mammals and other wildlife indigenous-to the
region concerned, in the greatest possible variety, The
second is to retain for the averaGe citizen the opportunity
to hunt and fish, within the law, in an attractive environ-
ment, and, where possib].e,. to trap fur for profit, These
objectives must be adapted so that they have no adverse effect
on farming p~act1ces. Since the soils of the Etobicoke Water-
shed, apart from small areas of ~uck and a gravelly esker, are
chiefly excellent clays and clay loams, intensive mixed farm-
ing is practised. The watershed therefore shows the almost
cOMnlet~ elimination of cover for the larger and more spectac-
ular forms of wildlife, characteristic of the better agric-
ultural lands of Southern Ontario,
The Etobicoke Watershed covers a very small
part of the large area of Ontario in which two of the major
,
life zones of North America overlap. These are the Canadian
~nd the Carolinian Biotic Provinces,l and the two zones have
notable differences in climate, physiQgraphy and plant assoc-
iations. The fauna of these zones are likewise different.
The occurrence of the Cardinal and the Cottontail, belong-
ing normally to the more southern zone and the Pileated
Woojpeck~r, normally in the northern or Canadian zone, all
recorded in the Etobicoke Watershed are examples of the
transitional character of the fauna,
1. Former Species
BefOre the coming of the first settlers the
area was covered with dense forests and the creek and its
tributaries were cOMparatively clear and constant. It may
1. Lee R. Dice - Biotic Provinces of North America,
University of Michigan Press, 1943
.
... OJ '77
be presumed that an automatic balance had been achieved
between the numbers of the various animals in this constant
environment, apart from those cyclic species whose numbers
varied greatly from year to year, and apart from theocc-
asional effects of fire. It is doubtful whether there has
been a stable environment for wildlife since that time-,
because the swamps have with few exceptions been gradually
drained, the woods cut over or grazed, and more recently
the fences changed from the old cedar snake fences to the
present wire type. In aQdition sheet and gully erosion have
affected some areas. At the same time extensive trapping
and hunting were greatly reducing the wildlife population,
The net result is that the habitat is no longer adapted to
many of the former species.
Since many of the early records do not specify
the exact geographic location of observations, it is not
possible to establish with certainty all the species'which
were present in the watershed at the time of early white
settlement, but which are no longer to be found in the area,
However the watershed was within the range of the following
mammals, for which there are no recent records:
Beaver, Black Bear, Marten, Fisher, Wol verine, Timber-- Wolf,
Otter, Bay Lynx, Canada Lynx, Porcupine and Varying Hare.
It is possible that the Moose and the Wapiti or American
Elk also roamed in the watershed in pioneer times but no
records are available in the scanty literature concerning
the area, The chief bird of former times, now extinct in
the watershed, was the Passenger Pigeon, of which there
were formerly at least two large nesting sites.l The Wild
Turkey may also have been present. The Bobwhite was probably
plentiful in the watershed as late as 1870, but then rapidly
disappeared from the lack of suitable habitat and from
overshooting. Dr. McKay reported a covey in 1905 on
1. Margaret H. Mitchell "The Passenger Pigeon in Ontario"
Royal Ontario f4Useum of Zoology Publication, 1933
.
... ~7;
the banks of the Etobicoke. Reports in 1910 and more recent
ones are probably those of birds imported and released by the
Ontario Provincial Governmentl.
Beaver were plentiful along the tributaries in
ea.rly days. They were already being "discouraged" in the
Brampton area in 1820. The Etobicoke was listed as "not a very
good fishing stream". Mention is made of both salmon and
2 It is certain,
suckers being "stopped by two mill dams" .
however, that the river must have been in much better condition
for fish and fishing than in its present condition alternating
as it does between floods and dried up water courses.
The variety and abundance of former wildlife in
the watershed can perhaps best be gauged from a letter written
November 3rd, 1819, by John Bagwell, who located in Lot 14,
Concession IV east, Chinguacousy Township, on the eastern edge
of the watershed: "Plenty of deer and partridges, wild geese
and ducks, pigeons, snipes and woodcocks in profusion, free
to anyone that likes to shoot them.,,3
2. Present Species
(a) Mammals
.
ln view of th~ short time available for survey
of the watershed it was not considered possible to make an
adequate collection of the sMaller mammals. Much attention
has been focused by naturalists on the fauna of the Toronto
region. but the only nearby area in which intensive collect-
ion or recording of the higher forms of animal life has taken
place is the Township of King4 in which the high percentage of
swamp and bog areas have greatly affected the animal life to
be found there. The list which follows is therefore a hypoth-
etical one based on the fact that the Etobicoke Watershed is
well within the range of the species listed, and taking into
consideration the limited physiographic conditions in the
watershed.
1. Dr. J. M. McKay, quoted in "From Hummingbird to ,Eagle" by
W. Perkins Bull - S. J. McLeod, Toronto, 1936.
2. Directory of Peel County 1874.
3. John Bagwell 'The Bagwell Letters', in Toronto Archives.
4. L. L. Snyder and E. B. S. Lozier, "A Faunal Investigation of .
King Township. York County, Ontario". Contribution No.3
Royal Ontario Museum of Zoology.
-
... dJ/9
Brewer's Mole Long-tailed Weasel Meadow Mouse
Starnosed P-1ole Mink Muskrat
Cinereous Shrew Striped Skunl: House Mouse
Pigmy Shrew Red Fox Norway Rat
Smoky Shrew Groundhog Meadow Jumping Mouse
Mole Shrew Eastern Chipmunk European Har~
Little Brown Bat Red Squirrel Cottontail
Silver Haired Bat Red or Black Squirrel Varying. Hare
Big Brown Bat Eastern Flying Squirrel Virginia or White-
tailed deer
Racooon Northern Flying Squirrel
Ermine Deermouse
(b) Birda~,
The list of birds which have been recorded
within a thirty-mile radius of the Royal Ontario Museum of
Zoology, Toronto, comprises 325 species. It may therefore
appear surprising that the following list of birds for which
there are authentic records in-the Etobicoke Watershed,
includes only 162 species. There are two reasons for this
difference. The first is that naturalists have concentrated
their observations on other more favourable areas and there are
therefore undoubtedly many spec~es which have passed through
or nested in the watershed but have not been recorded. ., The
second is that the watershed at least in its present condition,
lacks the proper habitat for many species, particularly shore
and marsh birds. Heart Lake, and its 8urrounding unspoiled
woods and ponds, stretching southeastward along the gravelly
esker to No.7 Highway, of course attracts the greatest variety
of species and density of bird populations. This is well
shown by Samuel A. White's list of 157 species of birds
identified in the vicinity of Heart Lake;
There are few nesting records available for
the watershed. For the benefit of those who might wish to
1. L. J. Baillie and Paul Harrington - "Distribution of Breeding
Birds of Ontario" - Transactions of Royal Canadian
Institute 1936, Vml. XXI.
... ~fO
know what birds to look for in summer. eighty-eight species
in the list which may reasonably be expected to nest in the
watershed have been starred. The full list of species which
breed in or pass through the watershed would probably number
more than 250 species. The arrangement and the names are from
Taverner's "Birds of Canada", 1934. The list is based on the
Royal Ontario Museum of Zoologyts record file of observations
made at intervals since 1886 and has been checked by Jas. L.
Baillie Jr., of the Museumts staff.
Common Loon Gray Partridge
Red-throated Loon Common Pheasant I
Red-necked Grebe Common Gallinule
Horned Grebe Semipalmated Plover
Pied-billed Grebe Killdeer Plover 1/
Great Blue Heron American Woodcock II
Green Heron I Wilson.s Snipe
Black-crowned Night Heron Hudsonian Curlew
American Bittern /I Upland Plover
Least Bittern /I Spotted Sandpiper 1/
Canada Goose Solitary Sandpiper Ii
Mallard Duck , Greater Yellow-legs
Black Duck /I Lesser Yellow-legs -. {I
Pintail Least Sandpiper
Green-winged Teal Glaucous Gull
Blue-winged Teal Herring Gull
Wood Duck Rung-billed Gull
Redhead Bonaparte' s Gull
Greater Scaup Duck Rock Dove {I
Lesser Scaup Duck Mourning Dove /I
Common Golden-eye Yellow-billed Cuckoo /I
Buffle-head Black-billed Cuckoo 1/
Hooded Merganser American Screech Owl /I
Common Merganser Great Horned Owl /I
R~d-breasted Merganser Snowy Owl
.'
... ~F/
American Goshawk Barred Owl
Sharp-shinned Hawk Great Grey Owl
Cooper's Hawk 1/ American Long-eared Owl
Red-tailed Hawk 1/ Short-eared Owl
Common Rough-legged Hawk Little Boreal Owl
Golden Eagle Acadian Owl
Bald Eagle Whip-poor-will II
Marsh Hawk 1/ Nighthawk II
Osprey Chimney SWift /I
American Sparrow Hawk 1/ Ruby-throated Hummingbird II
Ruffed Grouse II Belted Kingfisher II
Pileated WQodpecker II Yellow-stafted Flicker 1/
Red-headed Woodpecker II Common Shrike II
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker {I Common Starling {I
Hairy Woodpecker 1/ Solitary Vireo
Downy Woodpecker /I Red-eyed Vireo /I
Eastern Kingbird /I Philadelphia Vireo 1/
Crested Flycatcher 1/ Warbling Vireo
Eastern Phoebe 1/ Black and White Warbler 1/
Least Flycatcher If Parula Warbler
Eastern Wood Pewee II, Yellow Warbler {I
Horned Lark 1/ Magnolia Warbler -.
Tree Swallow /I Cape May Warbler
Bank Swallow $ Black-throated Blue Warbler
American Rough-winged Swallow Myrtle Warbler
Barn Swallow /I Black-throated Green Warbler #
Cliff Swallow Blackburnian Warbler /I
Blue Jay /I Chestnut-sided Warbler /I
American Crow 1/ Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-capped Chickadee 1/ Oven-bird 1/
White-breasted Nuthatch 1/ Maryland Yellow-throat 1/
Red-breasted Nuthatch Canada Warbler 1/
Brown Creeper /I American Redstart 1/
Ht:>use Wren /I English Sparrow 1/
.
-
... r:1Ja
vl1nter Wren II Cardinal
Catbird 1/ Rose-breasted Grosbeak /I
Brown Thrasher II Indigo Bunting 1/
American Robin II Evening Grosbeak
Wood Thrush Pine Grosbeak
Hermit Thrush Redpolled Linnet
Olive-bacled Thrush Pine Siskin
Wilson's Thrush # American Goldfinch #
Red-breasted Bluebird Ii Red Crossbill
Golden-crowned Kinglet II White-winged Crossbill
American Pipit Eastern Towhee 1/
Bohemian Wa~ing Savannah Sparrow 1/
Cedar Waxwing /I Vesper Sparrow II
Northern Shrike Slate-coloured Junco
Bobolink # Tree Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark # Chipping Sparrow /I
Red-winged Blackbird /I White-crowned Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole II White-throated Sparrow 1/
Rusty Bla ckbird /I Swamp Sparrow #
Crow Blackbird 1/ Song Sparrow 1/
Cowbird II ~ Lapland Longspur
Scarlet Tanager II Snow Bunting -.
-
... ~io
(c) Amphibians and Reptiles
Although about twenty species of amphibians and
reptiles may be presUMed to occur in the Etobicoke Watershed,
there has not been enough systematic collecting to allow the
listing of species with any certainty.
3. Game Birds. Game Mammals and Furbearers
The Ring-necked Pheasant is at present the
only significant game bird of the Etobicoke Watershed. Since
its first introduction in Ontario in 1897, it has spread
widely, but it is here close to the margin of the range in
which it can live and breed succes'ifully, Very few pheasants
remained i~"the watershed in the winter of 1946-47. The part
of the watershed included in Chinguacousy Township and the
portion of Toronto Township north of the Queen Elizabeth
Highway was open for pheasant shooting on October 25 and 26th,
1946. In the remainder of tie watershed no shooting of birds
is allowed. The edge of the watershed cuts the Long Branch
Rifle Ranges which are a Crown Game Preserve. There is no
record or census of the actual or relative populations of
pheasants in t~e watershed before and after the shoot.
'A study of the Ring-necked Pheasant in Southern
Ontario was inaugurated in 1946, under the Division of Fish
and Wildlife of the Department of Lands and Forests. This
study may require several seasons to indicate what is the
critical factor in pheasant survival in various parts of
Southern Ontario. It appears certain that without winter
feeding, and sometimes in spite of it, pheasants do not
survive in areas having deep snow in Southern Ontario. Low
temperatures alone have little effect, since the birds are
hardy as far north as the Peace River district in Alberta.
Sportsmen almost without exception blame the lack of pheasants
on the abundance of predators, particularly foxes. There
is abundant evidencel that fox abundan~ is unlikely to be
the critical factor.
1. Aldo Leopold - Wisconsin Conservation Bulletin, April, 1945.
-
... ~U
The Ruffed Grouse is a species which can hold
out in small numbers even in the much reduced habitat avail-
able in the watershed. J. L. Baillie recorded the Ruffed
Grouse in the Dixie Woods in the wouthwest part of the water-
shed in 1946. Probably a few pairs also persist in the wooded
swamps surrounding Heart Lake. There is no evidence to indic-
ate that the population is cyclic in the reduced and sparse
habitat available. Although the Woodcock is still recorded
at intervals in migration in the watershed there is little
hope of its ever becoming common in the area. The above
,
remarks also apply to the Wilson's Snipe. The Gray or Hun-
garian Partr~dge has been introduced in or near the watershed,
with little success.
With the lowering of the ground water level,
affecting both streams and ponds, nesting and feeding sites
for ducks have steadily deteriorated. Heart Lake and its
surrounding small marshes are of interest to naturalists as
duck nesting sites, but the lake is too small, and the avail-
able duck foods too limited to be of much interest to migrating
ducks. In any case the main flights either follow the Lake
Huron shore or cross the wat~rshed with the minimum delay. The
Heart Lake is closed to hunters and the surrounding ponds
are too small to be of significance.
Since the upper end of the watershed lies within
two miles of the wooded Niagara escarpment it is inevitable
that the occasional White-tailed Deer will visit that part of
the watershed, but the species has no valid place in the r~ch
agricultural lands of the basin. The European Hare or Jack-
rabbit continues to hold its own in spite of occasional winter
drives in which thousand acre sections are combed to remove
every rabbit. The Cottontail which was either very rare or
nonexistent in the watershed prior to settlement, suffers
from the lack of woodlots, but is common Wherever cover
remains, in spite of heavy hunting pressure.
The Red Fox was abundant in 1945, according to
... ~~5
many reports. Its population appears to be correlated with
,
the population of the Meadow Mouse which was also reported as
abundant in 1945. Two reports indicated that foxes were very
numerous in 1946 in the gravelly partly wooded area surround-
ing the Brampton WaterWorks in Concession II East of Ching-
uacousy Township.
The rapid drainage and the lack of standing
water in summer prevents a high population of the "'uskrat. Only
a very small part of the watershed provided a habitat for
Mink, Raccoon and Varying Hare. The Skunk may be considered
,
as common,
4. Species\:cof Significanc,e to A~riculture
The American Crow is considered by farmers as
a serious pest in the watershed. Its food includes enormous
numbers of insects. Investigation by the United States Biol-
ogical Survey has shown that although the Crow undoubtedly
damages crops at times, it. should probably be regarded as
beneficial in an agricultural community. The Starling, now
abundant throughout the area, is a damaging species. There
is at present no known method of control.
'Another species whose damage is probably great
though little noticed is the Meadow Mouse. BesideS' the
damage it does to grain fields, the Meadow Mouse, at its
peak of more than a hundred mice per acre decimates young
hardwood plantations and orchards. It also occasionally
attacks softwood plantations.
5. Species of Spectacular Interest
The casual observation of the larger and more
spectacular forms of wildlifs provide both interest and
excitement to the average citizen who is neither sportsman
nor professional hunter or trapper. Few are left of the more
spectacular forms in the watershed, the birds for instance
being now almost exclusively of the small songbird type,
Three species provide exceptional interest,
There are the Red Vox, whose abundance reached a peak in
1944-451, the Great Blue Heron, which can be seen daily on
I. From Questionnaires issued by the Royal Ontario Museum
of Zoology
... ~9,
Heart Lake and the surrounding ponds, and the Snowy Owl, The
Snowy Owl invades the watershed irregularly in the fall sometimes
in large numbers. Since examination of hundred of its
"pellets" has shown that over 90% of its food consists of
Meadow Mice and Deer Mice, both of which species are harmful
to grain crops and young trees, it should be considered a
friend of the farmer and given adequate protection.
6. Hunting Pressure
It has not been feasible to make a census of
the number of hunters or of thp. game taken in a small a rea of
,
irregular shape such as the Etohicoke watershed. Game in
the watershed is so spa~se that few of the large number of
hunters in the Toronto area visit. However, the gravelly
and bushy esker north and east of Brampton is probably sub-
ject to heavy hunting pressure, particularly by those hunting
the Red Squirrel, Groundhog, Red Fox and Cottontail. In the
remainder of the watershed the European Hare is the. only
common game animal.
7. Cover and Food
~he methods used in attem~ting to deal with
the decline of game and other wildlife since early settlement
have been the traditional ones of restrictions on shooting,
predator control, reservations and artificial stocking.
Artificial stocking has not been attempted in recent years.
None of the other methods has any chance of success in an
a~ea sa short of cover as the Etobicoke Watershed. The last
~nd most important tool in game and wildlife management is
environmental control, or the provision of a proper habitat
for the species concerned.
The elimination of grazing of woodlots and
the reforestation of source areas would be the most useful
mea4S of improving the wildlife environment. It should be
noted that large blocks of coniferous trees will, after
about the twelfth year from planting, have little or no under-
growth and will, apart from their edges, be entj.rely sterile
.
-' ------ - -- -
",-
~ it
"
287
.
-
41
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.
,
-)
( 'leun j~nce." ur~ nou' (on J
prudia,' TM ,'.1 ,i ~e.J b" mo,( (urme" to be '''''' ,i I h
ph)/,",~:~'''J ;h;'::f~:~e~/:';"j,';,7'~~1 ";\~:'J~)~lflll" f: ,,,',:',, , u!.'~,J'f;;"oi,:':;i":,::,r~;:fr:_~'
lIn11 or l"',"lt' nHlfliJ~t'nl{',,1
.
... ~gg
as far as upland game are concerned, a nd of little use to
the remainder of the larger forms of wildlife. The Meadow ,
Mouse and 'the Cottontail will require severe control even in
softwoods when planted adjacent to agricultural land. Mixed
small hardwood and softwood plantations scattered throughout
the watershed would be the ideal environment for most species
of Wildlife, but such plantations would mean the use of ~ood
agricultural land.
The watershed as a whole can never again be the
paradise for wildlife which it once was. Nevertheless the
"
individual farmer who is interested in wildlife either as game
species or f~r its gene~al interest can improve his land for
..
.
many species by adding the following facilities:
short rowe of standing corn left close to good cover, small
groups of evergreen trees, shrubs or trees planted in gullies,
disused rolls of fence w ire 'left at the edge of plantations
or woodlands, hollows scooped out of lowlandS to form pools,
and alders or willows planted along streambanks,
The Heart Lake area in Concession II East of
Chinguacousy Township is one of the unspoiled lake, dense woods
- ~
and marsh, and 1s nearer to Toronto than any similar area. If
the shores of this lake should eventually be subdivided and
exploited, Toronto and Brampton would lose a unique possession
which could never be duplicated or replaced. Since it is
surrounded by flat and intensively cultivated land the
.
area could never be expected to produce a yield of game to
supply the large numbers of hunters who would visit it if
hunting was permitted there. It therefore appears more
reasonable to recommend that it should be dE~clared a Crown
-
9ame Preserve so that the average ~tizen will have an oppor-
tunity to see and enjoy the many species of birds, mammals
and other wildlife which will make increasing use of it if
and when the reforestation programe which is recommended
for it is carried out.
-
... ~i'r;
The part of the gravelly esker stretching
from the Brampton Water Works southeast to Ho. 7 Highway~
includes many acres of disused gravel pits, and some small
boreal bogs and ponds. It may be expected that the part
of this area recommended as unfit even for permanent pasture
will eventually be reforested. If so, in ten or twenty years
it will become attractive for wildlife. It would therefore
be advisable that the Authority acquire this land now.
It is also recommended th&t if the Etobicoke
Creek Park is established as discussed in the chapter on
,
Recreation, it would be necessary to prohibit hunting within
that area., The shooting of birds is already prohibited in
the part of the park which lies in Etobicoke Township.
.
,
,
-
... ~90
8, Fish Life and Environment
The planning of stream and lake improvements'
involves not only an examination of the fish populations, but
also a general survey of many other factors affecting the
productivity of the water.
The following survey includes an extensive
study of the Etobicoke Creek, and a more general examination
of Heart Lake. These provide at present the only possible
habitats for fish species of any interest to the angler.
(a) Heart Lake
This lake is situated in a gravelly ridge
at an elevat~~n of about ~OO feet above sea level. The lake
is about half'a mile in length and covers about thirty-nine
acres. There are no inlets of any size and the only outlet
dries up during the midsummer months.
The south and east shores are densely wooded in
some parts and more parkline, in others. \"lhile those to the
west and north are open pasture and barnyard. The banks
rise sharply except in the bays to the north and southwest
which are low and marshy with many stumps and floating veg-
etation, mainly polygonum nat~ns, f. genuinum. Around the
lake to the east are several residual boggy pools an~ ponds,
The water on examination in late July was
turbid and green owing to the presence of much filamentous
and other algae. The bottom is of mud with overlying woody
detritus and the contour fairly regular with a maximum depth
of thirty-four feet near the centre. Temperatures taken on
July twenty-nihth showed a range from 750 F at the surface
to 510 F at the bottom in the deepest part with a well-
developed thermocline extending for about five feet on either
side of the 15 foot'level.
(b) Etobicoke Creek
The Creek flows about 28 miles in a southeast-
erly direction, emptying into Lake Ontario at Long Branch.
... ~9/
Most of the area drained in rich agricultural land with a
few woodlots, for the disposition of which reference should
be made to the reports on soils and forestry.
The Creek is described in detail elsewhere in
this report, but two of its characteristics must be emphasized
here. The first is the rather shallow uniform gradient of
twenty-five feet per mile. The second is that the stream in
its lower sections has cut a valley 500 to 1,500 feet wide,
and meanders through the flat alluvial bottom of this valley
in a narrow channel whose banks are much eroded by the floods,
,
particularly in spring. The silt from this erosion makes
the water exbremely turbid during floods,
(i) Methods
The method adopted was to visit the streams at
intervals of about a mile where they are crossed by roads,
on the larger streams at somewhat longer intervals and at
the source regions examining them in some cases more closely.
On these visits collections were made of organisms of the
rapids and quiet pools. The organisms, consisting mainly of
aquatic insects.. crustaceans and fish, were collected in
the following way. In the rapids stones were picked out of
the water and the organisMs picked from them and in the quiet
water a small sieve was used to take the organisms on plants
and in the mud. Fish were taken with a 6' ~nd 20' seine and
minnow trap,
At each station a form was filled out dealing
with meteoroligical conditions, type of country--whether
hilly or flat. open or with tree cover. vegetation in the
water and on the banks, artificial ponds, bridges and natural
cover for fish, percentage of rapid and more slowly flowing
water, evidence of drying up or ceasing to flow, evidence
of erosion in fields or by cutting of the banks, type of
bottom in strea1"" temperature of water at time visited,
turbidity of water, depth, width, rate and volume of flow,
-
... ~9e?
Determinations of oxygen content of the water were made in
special places.
In addition to taking temperatures of the water
on each visit to a station, maximum and minimum thermometers
were placed in the streams at various distances from the
source to determine the gradient in maximum and minimum tem-
peratures of the water over the period of the collecting,
(ii) Indicator Species
The collections were identified, some groups
being identified to species and others to families or genera
only. Of over a hundred such species or groups identified,
the majority were distributed at nearly all the places visited,
and others, on account of their scarcity, occurred irregularly
in collections. The remainder are the ones which were abund-
ant in particular parts of the strf:am and are indicators of
special conditions existing in these parts of the stream
throughout the year. From previous investigations, it is
known that these organisms, when considered alone with other
factors and grouped together, are reliable indicators of such
conditions, Some of them, by their presence in numbers,
indicate that ,the stream i~ of a permanent character, and
their complete absence is a sign that the str~m dries up in
dry seasons at least to a point where there is no flow;
others indicate that the water teMperature does not rise
above a particular maximum temperature during the summer,
and the stream is suitable at this point for speckled trout
spawning as far as temperature is a critical factor, Other
indicator organisms again are known to be distributed in that
part of the stream or river at which the water attains high
te~peratures in summer, water unsuitable for speckled trout
the year round. 'From a study of these indicator organisms,
cold sections, sections intermediate in temperature, warm
sections and sections which dry up during dry spells have
been determined and the result shown on the accompanying map.
. ~~
lo
2!l3
0
10
t-
w THERMOCLINE
w
~
! 20
%
t-
L
W
0
30
.01 , , , I ,
~- , SS- 10- 6S- 70- 7S-
'.
WATER TEMPERATURE (FAHRENHEIT)
.,
TEMPERATURES IN HEART LAKE, JULY 29, 1946.
-
... ~9?t
(iii) Permanence of Flow
The forecast of drying up of certain parts of
the stream made from the collections of index organisms was
born out and the streams were observed in their dried up
condition. Relatively few of the many tributary streamlets
remain flowing, and the volume of flow in all sections is
reduced to an insignificant amount in the summers of dry
seasons.
The sources with permanent flow are A 21, A 22,
B a and A 38. Of these B,8 is a spring coming from a gravel
esker, and A 21 and A 22 from a residual boggy area. A
special feature of the region is a long gravel esker or ridge
marked out by ~he aco foot contour on the map (Figur~ 2)
with elevation locally of over 900 feet, extending southeast-
ward, with Heart Lake arid other bog areas and sloughs along
its ridge. The B g source arises as a spring at the 725 foot
level at the southeastern extremity of this esker. The ^ 21
and A 22 sources a re located on the western slope of the
same ridge in somewhat boggy areas. Because of the small
volume of flow supplied by these sources the main streaM below
them has a small flow which tends to diminish rather than
increase, so that at Brampton it has ceased to flow in" dry
seasons. At this point, 2.5 cubic feet per second is added
from the Brampton water works supplied by wells in the above
mentioned esker. This addition keeps the river flowing some
distance below Brampton but it again diminishes to a negligible
flow before it is joined by the B branch. Again below the
junction of the two main branches the flow may fail for a
period in the dry season as it nears the mouth. Except in
extremely dry years such as 1946 the stream remains flowing.
though with negligible volUie, throughout the summer in
parts indicated as permanent on the map.
(iv) Temperature
Since the volume of f low is small in midsummer
and there are few springs, the temperature of the water is
II
.'OM 'ClLLUTIOII oWn_ 'ClLLuTIOII 2 ~ 6
A A
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YMlATION
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01 ___ .___. J
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IT"T~ M DflT&JII(;( Iff IIIIUS OOWtlITlIf... ,1tOII ITATIOII Ae
EFFECT OF POLLUTION ON THE ETOBICOKE CREEK
FROM READINGS A80l/E AND BELOW THE BRAMPTON SEWAGE WORKS
~ ~9'7
...
subject to wide fluctuations approximating those of air
teTl'lperatures. On bright days, the maximum temperature of the
water frequently exceeds that of the air. For instance at
2 p.m. on July 13, 1946, with an air temperature of 770 F the
water temperature recorded was S40 F at location A 12. Since
the VOllJJ C' is small the minimum teMperature of the "mtf'r att.'::: L.,-"
i3 lower than in a stream of greater volume. ~Jith the exception
of very short reaches below the spring sources the water in
the Etobicoke is excessively \'!arm during the day in hot weather.
(v) Pollution
,.
The stream below Brampton ~)hows marked evidence
of pollution,_ mainly from _ the effluent of th(~ smlag(~ disposal
plant. Many of the organisms which are potential fish food
are absent in this stretch and are replaced by characteristic
pollution forms. Pollution of this type'has the effect of
gr'EJ.tly lowering the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water
and greatly increaslng the acidity and also the amo~nt of free
carbon dioxide in the water. The extent of these changes in
this section of the stream, an':! also the gradual recovery of
'"
the strt:am over a distance of three miles downstream from the
source of pollut.ion, are show,n on the accompanying graphs.
The pollution is no doubt more serious in summ.er whep the
volume of water flowing in the stream is at a minimum. The
graph shows that the depletion of oxygen was evident for more
than two miles downstream. This is one of the more serious
effects of sewage pollution as i' arfects not only the fish
in the vicinity but also acts as a barrier to the movement
of fish up and down the stream. Below the polluted section at
A-II there was a profuse growth of algae thriving in the
fertilized Kater. Other local areas of pollution were detected,
narticularly the standing pools in tributa~ies which otherwise
dried up ;,.nd in tL(;se instances the pcllution WRS mainly from
cattle droppings and was serious enough to kill off fish.
(vi) Fish Distribution
While fish themselves were not userl as indicator
-
- "
...
298
BIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS
OF WATERCOURSES AND
FISH DISTRIBUTION
L[G[OIO
_ Ot!1€S uP COWL[Y[Ll III SU_[~
~.. C)lt1€S uP YO srAioo_ p~s '01 ,_~
_ Pf:_AOI(OIT flOW COLD '01 _"
_ Pf:......T 'LOll _11III .. _II
_ l'Ol.LUTlI ...nll
-Al' COU[cT~ STAT~
- - ... -.,
SCALE MilES
I ~ 0 I 2
......
~
..
I
.
'.
... //19
orp,anisMs in classifying the different parts of the stream
their distribution as shown in the accompanying table indicates
that it is correlated in part with some of the conditions
described, e.g. temperature of \V'atf~r, permanence of flovT,
bog conditions, lake conditions, and acce~sibility to lakes.
Speckled trout are entirely absent from the
river, which is not surprising since the B 8 stream is the
only one in the whole river where water conditions approach
those in streams where this fish is known to occur.
The Miller's thumb was taken in the above
mentioned stream. In other surveys it has been found that the
?1iller's thumb is frequent.ly the only fish taken with the
speckled trout and that it rarely occurs in places which are
not suitable for this fish also. Creek chubs and redside
dace were found at B a also but they extended d ownstrf~aM into
warmer reaches. The Johnny darter, rainbow darter,ind fantail
darter were distributed along the parts of the stream which
has b~en determined to have permanent flow. The common sucker,
the hog sucker and the long and black nose duce tended to have
a si~ilar distribution. Confined to the residual boggy
area at A 19, A 21, and A 22 were the pearl dace, the red belly
dace and the g:olden shiner, the lat t €r species being also
found in Heart Lake. Among the more vlidely distributed were
the creek chub, the common shiner und the brook stickleback,
found in both permanent flowing parts and also in pools which
were left when flow ceased. Some species, notably the ale-
\'life, the three spined stickleback and t he emerald shiner,
were confined to the estuary of the creek at Lake Ontario.
The only fish of interest to the anr,ler are
the suckers, the brown bullhead, the rock bass and the sunfish.
The sunfish and bullheads were taken in Heart Lake, tlH~ latter
being also taken in the estuary, while rock bass were taken
in the estuary and at three points alon~ the permanent stream
where there were larger pools than usual.
.
... 000
(vii) Deficiencies
The most significant feature of the river from
the biological standpoint and therefore from the fisheries'
point of view is the impermanence and fluctuation of the flow
of water under different neteorolo~ical conditions, and at
different seasons. Two or three springfed tributaries only
of the sixty-five or more tributaries contribute any water
in the middle and late summer so that the total flow of the
river is then almost negligible. At the peak of drought
the stream is not flowing for a period at its 10\'ller end though
two source sprinf,s are permanently flowing during this thoe.
The small volume of water in the river during
late sumMer in itself makes the river of little use in its
present condition for propagating fish of any kind and the
list of fish taken and recorded elsewhere bears this out.
The extremely high summer temperatures throughout the
river, with the exception of one tributary at B 8 which is
sprinr,fed, make the stream unsuitable except for a few types
of fish.
(viii) Summary of Deficiencies
>
1,. Extreme fluctuation in volume of flow
~,.
with flooding in spring and after heavy rain and drying up
in most pqrts of drought.
2. Extreme bank erosion during floods with
excessi ve turbidity of the \'lInter and deposition of silt.
3. High temperatures during the day in summer.
4. Few springs,
5. Organic pollution from sewage in the
section of the river below the town of Brampton.
6. Little cover in the form of pools or ponds
for larger fish.
7. Lack of tree cover along the banks,
(ix) Recommendations
In its present condition the Etobicoke has
little value for fishing. In the r€;port on hydraulics are
-
.
... 301
plans for providing a minimal flow of about I cu. ft. per
second in the main branches. In the same report are proposals
for creating some reservoirs and flood control darns on the
stream as well as low dams to create smaller ponds. It such
reservoirs and ponds are created, and provided these ponds
are properly re~ulated and controlled, the introduction of
warm water pond fish of the bass family would be feasible.
One source stream only in the whole watershed,
that at B 8, would be worthy of consideration for development
as a pond of not more t~an one acre, for speckled trout,
by the construction of a small dam near number 7 Highway.
This nlanned"pond lies inah area which is recomnlended in
both the Land Use and Recreation sQctions of this report for
acquisition for later development as a recreation area.
In another sQction of this report it is
recommended that the Heart Lake area should be reforested
for the purpose of safeguarding the Brampton water supply,
If this is done, and th( area is acquired for the public,
it is recommended that large mouth black bass be introduced
.
into Heart Lake"which at present contains no game fish of
any significance. -..
9. Wildlife Research
The Etobicoke Watershed does not provide a
good enough habitat either for upland game or fisheries to
warrant any research being carried out within its borders with
a view to improving the area for them. Studies of the
Meadow Mouse and Deer Mouse and their sir,nificance in both
agriculture and reforestation are, however, urgently needed.
-
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la. 30;?
CHAPTER 24
RECREATION
Introduction
In the planning of recreational areas out-
side the towns and cities stress must be laid on three
essential needs:
1. The retaining and protection of natural
advantages.
2. The development of adequate recreation fac-
ilities in maximum variety available to all
..
people in the watershed, no matter what their
~e. occupat.~on,,\or income may be.
3. The adjustment of recreation plans -to any
other conservation measures planned by the
local conservation authority.
Thus the planning ,of recreation involves a
careful adjustment of the natural characteristics of the region
to the recreational facilities required therein. This is a
comparatively Simple matter in large watersheds such as.those
of the Grand River and the Thames above London, where
.
industrial and agricultural communities are well balanced
.-
and where the great majority of those who could benefit;.'
from improvements live within the watersheds and have
little or no alternative to those facilities provided within
the area. On the Etobicoke the situation is vastly
different. The population of the watershed is approximately
17,400, of whom about 6,000 earn their living through
agricultural pursuits. But only 17 miles separate the
heart of the watershed from the cent~r of a metropolitan
1 The lower end of the
community of some 890,000 persons. watershed is, in facti less than 10 miles as the crow
flies.from the center of the city of Toronto. The distance
to the upper end is some 26 miles. Any plans for
1. Census figures for 1941
.
la. JO~
recreation areas on the Etobicoke Watershed must, there-
fore, take into account the relationship of the watershed
to the Toronto metropolitan area.
The proposed urban limits of the metropol-
itan area according to the report of the City Planning
Board of Toronto, 1943, actually include a part of the
watershed itselr. The master plan for the metropolitan
area shows a ruture community of 10,000 persons living on
the edge or, and partly within, the watershed just south of
the Queen Elizabeth Way. It would, therefore, be unwise
..
at this time to consider the planning of a rural recreat-
ional area',Within this" pa,;-t of the watershed. Good
access to recreational areas should be one of the factors
considered in locating them. The master plan of 1943
shows a planned super-highway which is roughly a continu-
ation westerly of Eglinton'Avenue crossing the watershed
southwest of Malton Airport. Unfortunately, plana for
this highway are tentative only. Ho~ever, therp. is now
good access to the watershed from the metropolitan area
via the Queen Elizabeth Way, and Provincial Highways #2,
.
#5 and #10. The county an~township roads in the water-
shed are also on the average in excellent conditioR in
summer.
4~,f;'::~:'~:_
The planning of the metropolitan are.'> of
Toronto is clearly still in its early stages. In view of
this, certain assumptions will have to be made. The first
assumption is that it is now well recognized that a new
type of recreation facility is urgently required, the
publiC area within a few miles of the agricultural or
urban worker's home and that there is an exceptional need
for such areas close to Toronto. The second assumption i9
that there will be a great demand for any facilities avail-
able on the Etobicoke, whatever recreation areas are
planned and executed in the near future on the Humber and
Don watersheds, in view of the serious shortage of developed
-0;-
la.
30'1
. ~
/
- ..
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~ ~
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,-~
----~
~ "
L A I( A R I
0
.
, TORONTO REGION
~- SHOW""
ItfllTIOIl Of (T1*C()ll[ _UltIMlD
TO I'lIOf'OI(D 1iII[(1l III TS llllD
.TlIOPOLlTlN lltU
ICAlE 1 MilES
- "'U lit UIl II L T - 'UIl IITU 'N (TOIICOItl WlTfIllHID
m:IlI OUTIIl ..IIN lilT T ., ~ w ~ _ ""01'0110 10UNOAIIT Of '"flUI TOIIIOIITO
---- fTOI'COIlf .lTfltlHfO 10UNDlltT
la. 305
recreation areas. The third is that the conservation practices
which are planned in other sections of this report may be
expected to increase the summer flow of the Etobicoke Creek
so that it will eventually be a permanent stream at least in
its two main branches.
!y'pes of Facilities for Recreation
The types of recreation facilities commonly
considered are as follows:
Scenic drives
Trails for hiking and nature study
Roadside and riverside picnic areas
Parks for group picnics
Individual and group camping areas
Swimming holes
Beaches for QMi14ren
Boating areas including public wharfs
Fishing areas
Hunting areas
Winter sports areas
Historic Sites
Arboretums
Many of these facilities may be combined in one area.
They may also be integrated in a broader plan for the
zoning of land on a large scale, involVing the setting up
of Green Belts, areas surrounding urban districts which
are set aparta~d restricted to a~riculture and recreation.
(In fact tentat~ve plans ha~e been prepared for two Green
Belts around the metropolitan area of Toronto. According
to these plans an inner green belt skirts the metropolitan
area well inside its limits, and an outer one stretches
from Hamilton along the Niagara Escarpment to Mono Mills
and thence east along the sandy morainic highlands to
Yonge Street and beyond. The Etobicoke Watershed lies
entirely between these two Green Belts.)
Present Frcilities for Recreation
There has been very little development of
recreational facilities in the watershed, outside the
municipal areas. This is not surprising since the
Etobicoke Creek drains a gently sloping area of excellent
agricultural land comprising part of the Peel Till Plaj.n.
No detailed regional survey of the recreational areas and
----.-.
la.
-,
.,. \.<
. ,~
. .' I
RECREATION
LEGE NO
HEART lAKE FOREST H
SNELGROVE PA~K S
ETOBICOKE PARK E
PICNIC SITES - For future recomm.ndol,onl .
MAIN HIGHWAYS -
\ . . BORDER OF METROPOLITAN AREA- --
..' PropOlld by Toronto Planning Board
- ~
. RADIAL DISTANCES - From Toro"IO -
I C, ty limit,
~s GOLF COURSES
l S"-AlE MILES
\ I n 0 I 2
, - -
- -
. -.
. t
'.
,
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.
.
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la. 307
facilities in the Toronto Region has ever been prepared.
On the Etobicoke Watershed itself there are two golf
courses, and so far as is known these are the only planned
facilities outside the urban or suburban areas. Since it
is not possible with the data available to forecast the
exact number of recreational a reas that will finally be
needed the ubvious course is to recommend the acquisition
of areas which have scenic possibilities, are not agricul-
tural land, and can b~ easily developed to fill the more
obvious needs. Referenc~ to the report on woodlands
shows that there are very few extensive areas of woodland
available, ROnning water 'is a natural attribute of mo.st
good picniC and park sites. Attention is therefore focussed
on the main river valley itself. on the single sizeable lake,
Heart Lake, and on the gravelly and partly wooded esker east
and northeast of Brampton. During the stream survey of the
watershed all possible picnic and park sites were examined
and three of these were clearly outstanding.
The ~ajor recommendation of this report is,
therefore. the establishment of three natural parks all of
which are shown on the recreation map of the watershed and
on individual large scale maps. Since there are in tbe'
Torontc region so fp', remaining attracti va sites for park
areas that have not been already subdivided for summer
cottages or acquired for large estates, it is import~nt
that one C~ mor8 of those recommended be acquired without
delay.
Recommended Additional Facilities
(1) Heart Lake Forest
In the Forestry section of this report it
is recommended that an area of 1300 acres in Concessions
II E and III E of the Township of Chinguacousy including
parts of lots 11 to 17 be acquired and reforested, partly
as the only certain means of ensuring permanent water
supply to the town of Brampton, whose wells are sunk on
the esker in which Heart Lake lies, and partly to make
use of land which is otherwise idle.
la.
;108
-
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._----~. HEART LAKE FOREST
CO<o ,.
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~ 500 1000 iIOO
0 110 J
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la. 309
.
.,
For several years a dance hall was operated
--;, ~
near the southeast shore line of Heart Lake in the a\1lU11er,
and for eight years ending in 1939 a small summer camp tor
, children was also organized annually, at the sam. place.
Fortunately these did not spoil the lake although some ot the
underbrush was cleared. -,
If the area surrounding the lake is,to be
acquired tor reforestation, the administration ot such an
area requires careful consideration. Part of the lake end
shore 1s now make use ot as a large domestic duck ra~.
'"
Heart Lake and it surrounding woods are ot
.. -
.. "
exceptionttJ. interest "t(S-"Mtura1ists, although tew ~ve'
~
visited i~in recent years. The wide variety ot forest cover
"" -
type8. the amount of sw.ampy shore and the varied aquatic
vegetation make the lake and its environs a paradis& for
many species of wildlife. It is therefore an exceptional
site for nature stUdy. An additional advantage is the
existence, within half a mile ot the lake,of five.sIIlall
protected "escape" pondS which are also within the area
recommended for reforestation. The flora is unusual,
inclUding a Bone of boreal"or northern bog vegetation
.. -,
on the east shore. ~ '
It the lake were eventual1yaaquired it
would certainly be unwise to open the area for lndi8~rim-
inate use as a park site, It much reforestation is
carried out in the area the use or it as a park slte might
in any case raise the fire hazard in young plantations. " -
,....,..
There is a natural re1ucatance to recommend anY area ...
wildlife sanctuary bec,ause ot the comparatively re8tri~tec!
use that can be made of it in such event by ,the pu~11e. ,
But this is a clear case ot an exceptional OPportunity "10..,
-:";,: ", ,
for the acquisition of an area with a wide variety of
plant and animal life which would not only be of interest
to the general public but also available tor field study'
by urban and rural school systems. The southeast and weat
"
shores of the lake provide possible camping sites for
.
small groups of those interested in nature stUdy. .
la. 3/0
Competent leadership would be a necessity to prevent the
spoiling of an area as small as this one is. Certainly
the opening of a lake shore such as this to unrestricted
cottages or dance halls would be to throwaway a rare and
vanishing type of recreation facility.
(2) Etobicoke Park
There remains on the Etobicoke Creek a
narrow stretch of bottom land and steep and wooded slopes
which is of little economic significance and which might
be developed at small cost into an attractive park. This
,
area is shown in detail on the accompanying plan. and
includes parts of the Jo 1,1 owing lots:
Q.Q.!!nt y Township Concession ~
Peel Toronto II N.D.5. 2.
" " " '1
" " " A
" " IV E. 1
" " VE. 1
York Etobicoke II N. Div. F~L.O. F
" " II N. Div. F.L.O. E
This area of park land is just outside the
boundary of Greater Toronto proposed by the Toronto City
Planning Boar4.1
, It is at present owned by a number of
individual farmer6 of whom two at least make some~use of
the bottom land as pasture.
The total acreage is 117 divided up as follows:
Area in Acres
River Bottom 5
~l ood1and 88
Cultivated Land 3
Unimproved Pasture 21
It is clear from the above percentages
that little farm land of high value is involved in the
area recommended,for acquisition. There are no houses
or barns on the described area.
The following facilities could be made
available within the boundaries of the park:
(a) Swimmin~
There is at present a swirmning hole at
1. Report of Toronto City Planning Board 1943.
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A view in the proposed ~tobicoke ;'o.rk, showiu,-;
an old sviimLlin...; hole. 'l'his photo,,;raph was tUl~eil
1n the fall, and the water v:as considerably'
abovo the summer level. /..rl improved flow of
water in ti.10 creek and construotion o{a ~)all
inexpensive dan v;ould ensure 8n excellent SWiIil-
min;.; pool at this sIte.
.
>
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.~ view lookinG downstrea.:,j from the pool referred
to above, l:'.1id sllov:in..:; the road bridce at the
Toronto - Jtobiooke TOM1Ship line.
- ~'_. ~-~- - ~1'FV""l -- --
-
la.
-,
:J 12
:5te1'" the ac 'll.1l;:; l!:, "~,Oil of cn c:r~ :..; ,:l. 101' e i Jublic ..:-'arl\. or
picnic Cr ound , SOT!le iUlp1'ovel,13 n t S Ql\r~ r (; c.'; S SQr:l.. 1,,'l1'e-
plClce :.; sllould be DH_1 de to l1a1','joni:..'.u ':/:L L l.L t ['ceil' ::.mrround-
ini;s r.iS fClr .J c- ';:'0 S 3 i 'ole , as in t~'l8 tl>,ove ,..;xaJtcple .
v..~
.
.
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0e at s of simple desiGn, s UC!~ ~~ t,.r. o rl '3 3(10~la , snOl) ld
~.... '.J
be an inteural part of [,.:1 J (,l:;Illled I):.i1' t= or piCldc site.
la. 3/.:3
-
the location shown on the accompanying map. This facil-
ity could be greatly improved by the addition of a small
dam 4' high at t he rapids just below the pool.
(b) Picnic Sites
The better locations for picnic sites are
shown on the accompanying map. Those which are in wooded
areas should have the usual type of cemented fireplace
sini1ar to those now supplied by the Province of Ontario
at camping sites in many parts of Northern Ontario. Sites
selected for group picnicing would also be provided with
rough benches and tables.
(c) Camp111g Sites
"'
There are two possible camping sites alopg
the river course which could be developed easily, but the
critical factor would be the lack of drinking water.
Cemented fireplaces would be a necessity. Camping sites in
public areas should, if possible, be provided with fuel-
wood cut and piled. A small charge might be made for the
use of camping facilities.
(d) Nature Trails
Nature trails a~e marked paths intended to
help the average citizen to appreciate the interesting and
attractive side of natural history. Such features as
trees, plant and animal communities and other natural
phenomena are names or explained on attached tags or near-
by posts. The location of a possible nature trail is shown
on the map. This could be marked and also perhaps maintained
...
by any of several Boy Scout troops in the neighbourhood~
(e) Parking Areas
A small area would have to be set aside at
each of the two entrances to the park, for car parking.
Recommenaed parking areas are shown on the map.
(f) Other Consideration~
There are excellent opportunities for ski
trails to be opened at both ends of the park.
,
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Although the park area is attractive as it
stands, it should be improved in appearance. Individual
schools and Scout troopS and other organizations could be
encouraged to make tree plantations on small areas ann-
ually. This type of education has already been given
prominence in Simcoe County, where Boy Scouts have planted
a million and a quarter trees, and has proved of great
value'in teaching the principles of proper land use and
woodlot conservation. There is ample scope in the park
for small projects of erosion control, particularly on
,
the west side of the river.
While lands ,should be acquired for a park
such as is described at the earliest possible time, imp~ov.-
ments would be spread over a number of years. Some provia-
.
ion for the selling of soft drinks in the more crowded
part of the park, either by concession, or by the Authority
itself would probably be ne~ded.
(3) Snel~rove Park Site
In the Etobicoke Watershed as a whole, good
picnic sites are ~ew and far between. There is, however,
one area which is'exceptionally attractive. This is in
Concession I E, lots lS and 19 of Chinguacousy Townsh!p.
The rough outlines of the proposed picnic area is shown on
the map, but the exact limits would have to be defined by
mutual arrangements with the two farmers concerned. This
area includes an excellent swimming hole in one of the num-
erous ox-bows which the stream has carved in this part of its
course, and is also exceptional in having a spring used a3 "
a source of water by two farmers and here again a mutual
arrangement would have to be made.
This picnic site could be reached by a
short lane of two or three hundred yards directly off #10
Provincial Highway. A small parking area would be
necessary, and the area would have to be fenced from cattle.
At the eastern side of this park there are high eroded
.~,-,-, -:.;;;,;-...,--..,.'----. .~ ..-.-,..... =.~""-~..,' - ..::<:.,.- '-- 'yo-- - --
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315
~s(D
SNELGROVE PARK
LEG(ND
9- ..... ~lty ---
b .OOOUIIID {.t (\ 'of
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~D I.A"U
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SCALI 'nIT
0 110 NO 1000 110O
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la.
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A quiet pool on the ~tobicohe Cree~J in the pro-
posed Sllelt;;roYe Park. Fed by a permaneht spring J
this pool remains clean throughout the summer
and is ideal for swimming. The photograph was
taken in the autumn.
-,,," ..._----,
....
Another vlevl in ;~nelc;rove Park, shov!inC an
attractive open woodlot of :3oeoh and :.tuple.
la.
3/7
bluffs, and a small tree planting prog~amm~ should be carried
out. There is an exceptionally fine Sugar Maple-Beech woodlot
on this picnic site.
The total acreage in this area that is
recommended for immediate acquisition for public use is
99 acres. An additional area of 18 acres which would provide
more space and allow access from the Snelgrove side-road is
,also marked on the map.
Picnic sites such as the one described
above should surrounQ every town in Southern Ontario.
This one is only three miles from Brampton. The develop-
ment and improvement of such sites is of much less, .import-
ance than their immediate acquisition since the good remaining
sites are already few and far apart. Most of the best 'sites
within thiety miles of the centre of Toronto are already
in the hands of private owners from the city, who do not
allow visitors.
(4) Other Park Sites
Three additional park sites are shown on
the map, but~hey do not have the same natural advantages
as those described above arid would warrant consideration
.,..
only if the areas described above were developed and-found
to be insufficient to meet the demand.
....
!\ddition to the Ltobicoke H.ecreation lleport of 1947
Since the Etobicoke Heport \"Ias published in
1947 there have been five major changes in the conrlitions
existing at that time. 'These are:
( 1) Formation of the .',,1unicipality of Metropolitan Toronto.
( 2 ) The addition of the Mimico Crcek,/atershed to the
l~tobicoke ../e tersherl huthori ty.
(3) The huge increase in density of population, particularly
in the l~keshore areas, in the southern part of
Ltobicoke and Toronto Tmmshi}?s.
( ~) ~lteration~ in the ownership and building restrictions
through the establishment of various Gfficial !'lans
and Zoning By-La,Js
(5) The effect of Hurricane Hazel in emphasizing the
need to keep the valleys clear of buildings.
7hree kinds of recreational fadilities are
needed for the people of the .l'Jtobicoke-r1imico,~atershed, as
',/ell as for many others in the Greater Toronto area who now
find themselves cut off from recreation areas.
These are:
(l) !\11'ks or beaches on Lake Ontar:!o. ,..
( 2) Hiver valley parks.
( 3 ) Parks on inland lakes.
There has already been some improvement along
the lakeshore, with the planning of park lands on the lower
sections of Mirnico and Etobicoko Creeks near the mouth of
each. Further development of this type appears to be the
responsibility of the local municip,ilities of the Metropolitan
Cor.i)oration.
'The parklands recommended in the 1'-)47 i,tobicoke
Conservation Report have all been re-visited. A "art frc:'1 the
status of the Ltobicoke park, described in Item J, the
10
- 2 -
oril:.;inal recommendations in the 1947 report still ap.A~ar sound
~. with veru few changes. It is suggested that the priority of
!
I attention by the Conservation Authority be gjven to -
t
[ l. Heart Lake
f 2. Snelgrove Park
i
i
I 'I'hese are shown on the attached map.
,
f
I Item 1. Heart Lake
t
i All of the Heart Lake area except a small
!
r
l portion of the lak:shore is owned by Colonel Taylor. On the
[,
! portion not owned by him, two large houses are being built.
i
[ The remainder of the. stwreline remains most} y ',i; :/ded and uns poi led
~
except that two or three small frame cottages have been built
on the understanding that the land remained the propert.y of
Col. Ta'.'lor.
This lake lies only ~ Miles from the Municipality
of Metropolitan Toronto and within 6 "1iles of the enlarged
planning area of the Metropolitan Municipality. It is thus
much closer than any other lake (apart from Lake Ontario) to
the Metropolitan area. Its characteristi cs have been d escri bed
in a previous report. ,
The Planning Boarrl of the Hunici!)ality of
Metropolitan Toronto was not interested in this pcoperty as of
.June 28, 1955, because there are so many others awai.ting their
attention in the built-up sections.
The fact that Heart Lake has a maximum depth
of 32' and a sandy shoreline, at least on the south side, and
"-
the fact that it is much warmHr than Lake Ontario, warming up
much earlier in the spring, make this property of exceptional
im~ortance.
Colonel T~ylor is definitely interested in the
preservation of this t,ro1Jerty in more or 1ess its natural state.
It seems probable, then, that the success or failure of any
attempts to purchase it at a reasonable price will depend on
- 3 -
the re1ationship between him and the member or members of
the Authority who might negot,iate the matter wit,h him. I
suspect that someonE: who is familiar with the ma.ny interesting
birds and the highly unusual flora on the east shore, if there
is such a person on the ^uthority, might be able to win him
over to the idea that it is more important to ~reserve the
area for the public than that he should receive a very large
price for it.
I tern 2. Snelgrove 'Park
'rhis area was also examined during the past
week. The previous maps of it are still a fair description
of the prolJerty. It was not seriously affected by the Hurricane
of October 1954.
There are many oxbmiS of the stream which could
be used for swimming, but it would be preferable to construct
several by-pass ponds for this purpose, in order to control
silting, if. in an exceptional year, the creek's flow dried
',p, water could easily be pumped from the }iresent spring on
the east side of the valley, or from a sand point driven' on
the west side, sufficient to tide over the ponds until the
..
next ra in.
Item 3. htobicoke Park
The status of this area, marked A. on the
accompanying map, which was originally proposed as the Ltobicoke
Park, is now much confused by the acts and by-laws for different
,
areas which include parts of this park. All the south-east
portion of it, lies ;.vithin Ltnbicoke Tmmship and this area was
marked on the official plan of Etobicoke Township as greenbelt
1<1 nd . However, a recently pro}Josed Zoning By-Law which was
passed by the Etobicoke Township Council altered the status of
this area to agricultural ann almost none of the east side of
the valley of Ltob~coke is rreenbelt, except a golf course near
the mouth of the creek.
- 4. -
'ihis by-l:::w is not likely to be CliJproved by
the Community Planning l3ranch of the De.partment of Planning
and Development, on the grounds that it contravenes the official
plan, and the Matter will prohahly COMe bufore the Ontario.
jJ'iunicipal Board.
In Toronto Township there is an official plan
which inclu1es all of the township except that section set
apart and known as the ['1al t~on Planning area. On this oj.... icial
plan of Toronto Township the ~tobicoka Park araais listed 28
,
greenbelt and a Zoning By-law has been passed and approved
reserving ~he WAst 5id~ of the creek in actual fact as Greenbelt.
This officially approved ereenbelt now includes the area below
the crest of the vallev along the west side of Etobicoke Creek
for many miles. as shown on the attached map.
The remainder of the proposed park lies in the
Malton ;"11anning Area for which at the moment t,here is no
official plan. It is possible that the area may come under
Federal jurisdiction.
At both the Burnhamthorpe Road and the Base Line
crossing of ~he Etobicoke Creek there are excellent swimming
holes which are in frequent use so long as the stream is running,
and in spite of the fact that the Creek carries the effluent
of the Brampton ~)ewage Plant.
As the proposed park now comes under three
conflicting kinds of planning legislation, it appears wisest
that the Authority should not concentrate their efforts in
,
this area. It is, however. recommended that the Authority
shoulrl prepare a brief for presentation to the Hunicipal Board
when the hearing concerning the proposed consolidation of
Zoning By-laws for Ltobicoke Township comes (as it probably will)
before the Board. It is sug{ested that the Conservation Authority
recommend restriction of the valley land to greenbelt in the
loning By-law, as has been done in Toronto Township.
"
- 5 -
The preeent tmpasse has probably been reached because no
serv:i ces such as water and se'dBge mains are at .1)resent
available in this section of Ltobicoke 'l'oltmship and t.here-
fore the land has not been subdivided. As the land is
restricted to greenbelt uses the owners object that they
cannot make a profit on their investment unless the Township
is prepared to buy the land for !;reenbclt uses. The Townshiv's
hope is that eventually the land vfill be subdiv],ded and the
5 per cent allotment for public purposes can be concentrated
in the va ley lands of the Etobicoke and M1mico Creeks.
I t em 4._ Parcel of'I;arid Within the Limits of thE:~ Town of Brampton
The parcel of land in Brampton 1:1es in a special
category because -
1. It is jointly OVffien. by the Town of Brampton and the
Conservation Authority.
2. It is subject to flooding.
It is reported that the Town of Brampton is
short of parklands but tt would estabJ.ish a very unusual
precedent if a Conservation Authority bought or maintained an
,
area within a town for ihe specific purpose of recreational
")0.
use of the people of that town. It 'woul,-] be much. more logical
that the Town of Brampton should take the lead in developing
-
the area and that the Conser"ation Authority might give
limited support to it. The attached plan No. 2, shows thrt~e
a rea s -
itrea (a) . Includes approximately 14.9 acres of land
which is the propert.y of the Town of Brampton. A good pa rt
of this is under willow and elm and other tree cover but much
of it is flooded in the spring.
Area (b), is the property of the Conservation Authority
and amount to about 7.5 acres. An additional area of about
7 acres (Area c) is under fill of uncompact d garbage and
refuse and ..;ill a1)parently be subdivided later when it has
settled.
"
- () -
,6th respect to area (a) there is no doubt
that this could be ~ai1e into attractive jlarkland but e1 t,her
the level souId have to be raised or the parkland must be
expected to be flooiert in spring. The rletailed plans for
this area shoul.} normally thE.~rerore be carried out by a
landscape architect. Since the approximate flows that can
be expected in this river are known, the de"th of "vater on
both area (a) and area (b), which belongs to the Conservation
Authority, can be caJculated. The amount ~)f scouring to ,.,e
,
expected can also be closely estimated. It~iOuld therefore
be vresumed that the.landscape architect making a plan for
development of these t',JQ areas would work in close co-operation
with a hydraulic engineer.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
No new suttable areas Wt;re apparont in the
,iatershed except the Brampton area described above.
The picnic sites suggested in the original
report are far fro~ spectacular, and \ve do not know of any
others.
, In terms 'of urgency of acquisi tion, or the
danger of the areas being later built up or una9ailable for
acquisition, there is no rloubt that every possible attempt
should be made to acqu-; j"e Hl~art Lakf!. This wou-d automatically
be classed as a Scheme under the terms of the Conservation
Authorities Act since the reforestation of a large area is
recomrlended, :Hld since there are excellent samples of land
'lvailable for erosion control rlemonstrations. The 'Ilh01e
area of ~rOi)erty at Heart Lake amounts to 154 acres.
J