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William Chisholm's Vision: by Deborah LerechPermanent settlement in Upper Canada began after the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, however, the majority of migration to the north shore of Lake Ontario did not occur until during and after the American Revolution in the 1770s and 1780s. The government acquired lands for these new immigrants by purchasing tracts of land surrendered by the natives of the area. By 1797 "the most desirable unsurrendered lands were those lying along Lake Ontario between Etobicoke Creek and Burlington Bay". 1 When the government attempted to purchase from the Mississauga a "much desired tract stretching along the shores of Lake Ontario from York [now Toronto] to Burlington Bay," it discovered that Joseph Brant, leader of the native population and diplomat, was dictating the terms. 2 Brant demanded on behalf of the Mississauga "at least 2s an acre, unless the Indians were allowed to make such reservations within the tract as they pleased". 3 This was an unheard of price for Indian land. A short while later Brant proposed on behalf of himself and the Mississauga, "to sell the government some 69,999 acres of land bordering on Lake Ontario at 1s 3d an acre". 4 The offer was declined, "both on account of the price and because it was not customary for Indian grants to the Crown to be fettered with conditions." In 1805, however, two years before Brant's death, the Mississauga tract was secured for approximately 5d an acre. 5 In the interval, the Indians had learned from the experience of the Six Nations that "it was one thing to sell land to private purchasers at high rates and another thing to collect from them". 6 Before the War of 1812, when settlement rose enormously, the usual method of land purchase involved a number of people organising themselves into a company and selecting the wealthiest-usually the only merchant or businessman in the group-to act as leader, cover the necessary expenses, and satisfy the regulations. The reward for each person would be a grant of 1,200 acres on condition of actual settlement. Mostly, these claims almost always related to losses suffered during the American Revolution. 7 In nearly every instance the townships granted to leaders were "secured for speculative purposes". 8 To these men land did not represent an agricultural life but capital with which they hoped to return to their professional lives in the cities and towns. 9 Within a British colonial township, the size of a farm lot was fixed at two hundred acres, but with the permission of the government any person could be granted an additional thousand acres and these lands were not to be sold". 10 The normal township was nine miles wide and twelve miles deep. There would be fourteen rows of two hundred acre lots, each row separated from the next by a concession road. This made twenty-four lots in each row and 336 lots in the whole townships. In addition, two sevenths of each township were to be set aside for Crown and Clergy lands, or to support the government and the established Anglican Church. 11 The mouth of the Sixteen Mile Creek has always been the focus of any settlement around Oakville. Before European settlers the area had long been known by the Natives for its fishing. After the Aug. 2, 1805 Mississauga Purchase was put into effect, the Mississauga retained "sole right of Fisheries...together with the flats and low grounds" where they had already cultivated their own land. 12 The land that formed the Mississauga reserve was surrounded by Crown and Clergy Reserves and also the banks of the Sixteen were lined with tall trees, both factors which were not conducive to creating a town at the mouth of the creek. In addition to this, the cornfields of the Natives were further up at the loop, on the flats at the foot of the west bank. 13 However, the Sixteen did have its advantages. It falls quickly and at a steep decline before it enters Lake Ontario at Oakville 14 and the wood could be cleared away leaving the land free for farming. William Chisholm owned a general store and also bought wheat, timber and oak barrel staves from the area around Nelson Township. Later he became involved in the building of his own fleet of schooners to carry his goods as well as those of others'. 15 The area at the mouth of the Sixteen Mile Creek had for years piqued Chisholm's interest. A letter addressed to the Lieutenant Governor by Chisholm in 1824 conveys his interest in the Sixteen, stating that the staves made in the adjacent country could easily be shipped through there. 16 He expressed interest in the advantages of the Sixteen several times over the next few years. When there was controversy over whether Dundas or Hamilton should become the Gore District [capitol] town, Chisholm states that "he thought that Dundas would be preferable because of its mill site, however he suggested that a harbour at the mouth of the Sixteen would serve a greater proportion of the settlements". 17 In light of the migration of Europeans into the land and natives out of the land, the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, agreed to sell the old reserve at the Sixteen at a public auction to be held at Crook's Mill on July 17, 1827 at Dundas Street and the Twelve Mile Creek. Chisholm subsequently made the successful bid for the sum of "£1,029 for the 960 acres of the tract". 18 The land included "the piece of forest which formed a part of the Crown Reserve surrounding the Sixteen". 19 Shortly thereafter Chisholm decided on a harbour, which he thought was the most necessary start to development. Although "many of the required materials lay at hand, all iron, machinery, tools, and other equipment, as well as provisions, had to be brought in". 20 The water power in the Sixteen was to be utilised for the production of sawn lumber and later, when it was more established, for processing wheat that the settlers in the area would produce. 21 Oakville was one of the first "improved harbours in the province." The building of the harbour at Kettle Creek (now Port Stanley) commenced the previous year and other ports along the lake such as York and Kingston had "large natural harbours which required no immediate major improvements". 22 Oakville Harbour was, moreover, the only case in the province of Upper Canada, in which "the development of a harbour was carried out by a private individual." And for half a century it remained a private harbour. 23 In the spring of 1828 the harbour was begun. Parallel piers were set into the deep water on cribs with frames of timber laden with stone and sunk to the lake bottom, the usual manner of construction in the province. The driving of piles was done in a line which extended from the shore into the lake for 576 feet, driven by a 'floating pile engine' which dropped a weight from a sufficient height to drive the pile into the lake bottom. More cribs were built, floated down the river and filled with stone, fitted between the piles, and timbers were placed on top of one another until they were six feet above the water level. 24 Chisholm envisioned a harbour deep enough to accommodate the largest ships on the lake. To accomplish this, a dredge was needed to make the harbour deep enough and remove the silt and gravel that washed down from the river to the lake. Chisholm appealed to the Lieutenant Governor for the use of the dredge from the Burlington Bay Canal and it was granted to him, saving time, effort and money because he did not have to build his own. 25 The project took longer and used more resources than Chisholm had originally expected. In 1831, Chisholm discovered he could not finance the completion of the project and requested a loan from the House of Assembly for £2,500. As collateral, the townsite was then mortgaged to Receiver-General John Henry Dunn on behalf of the government for £2,500. William Lyon Mackenzie used this loan as the basis of a diatribe against Chisholm, alleging that he had more personal motives for securing the loan: "Namely, to place it at his credit with William Allan & Co. for carrying on his mercantile business...It certainly was not to improve the Oakville harbour, for nothing has ever been done during the present year, and all it had ever cost its proprietor will scarcely exceed £1000". 26 The development of Oakville Harbour was in accordance with the harbour development elsewhere in the province. The Niagara Harbour, the Burlington Bay Harbour and the York Harbour were all in development at approximately the same time as Oakville though the difficulty in dredging may have increased the price of construction. Captain Hugh Richardson estimated the construction of a dry dock at only £1000 but was quoted in the Toronto Courier: "Burlington which as only lately become a harbour, at great expense, once entered, presents one of the most splendid basins in the world, and has the advantage of its canal as a place of security for schooners against the depredations of the ice in the spring, but the fear of the heavy easterly gales raising the bar, and therefore rendering precarious early operations, will deter steam vessels from sheltering there until the entrance be more secure". 27 In spite of being expensive at the beginning, Chisholm's vision of the harbour as a stepping off point for the development of his town was sound and accurate. The harbour opened up countless opportunities for industry in the area and established Oakville in the string of ports that lined the north shore of Lake Ontario. After the harbour was established, Chisholm could turn his attentions to the mills and the development of the land around the mouth of the Sixteen. Bibliography Footnotes
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