"The township of YORK is bounded on the east by the township of Scarborough; on the north by Vaughan; on the west by Etobicoke, and a small portion of Toronto Gore; and on the south by Lake Ontario. ... The City of Toronto is situated in the south of the township, on the Bay of Toronto; and there are eight grist and thirty-five saw mills in the township.
Population in 1842, 5,720
These were shipped at the Humber during the year 1845; flour (54,625 barrels), potash (84 b.), pork (127 b.), Timothy seed (8 b.), bran (60 tons), lumber-sawed (20,000 feet), woolen cloths (1600 pounds), pot barley (58 b.), buckwheat flour (3 b.), peas (48 b.)" [Smith, William: Canadian Gazetteer, p 225]
..another road nearer the lake, known as Kingston Road, became the main highway. Along this road a weekly stage-coach line began winter service in 1817, taking from two to four days to make the trip between York and Kingston. By the early 1830's there was daily, and somewhat faster, service all year round. [Craig: Upper Canada-The Formative Years, p148]
"Settlers are coming in from the states yearly, and those townships (Cramahe, Haldimand, and Hamilton) promise a rapid increase of settlements." ...
"On arriving at the township of Hope you find excellent mills, and from thence there is a portage to Rice lake. From this place you pass by the fronts of Clarke, Darlington, and Whitby; and coming to Pickering, you meet with an excellent salmon and sturgeon fishery, at the river called Duffin's creek, which is generally open, and large enough to receive boats at most seasons of the year. In those townships are found good land in abundance, and pine-timber in plenty. There are saw-mills in the neighbourhood, affording an easy opportunity to settlers, to get boards, etc for building. After leaving the township of Pickering you pass under the highlands of Scarbourough, and arrive at the township of York. Scarborough is a township much admired, the land in general not only good, but so contiguous to the seat of government, that its value is greater than in the places last described." [Boulton: Sketch of His Majesty's Province (1805), p40-41 ]
Steam Engine Manufactories in York "a laudable competition has been entered into, not only amongst those who are engaged in the building of the numerous steam-boats with which our navigable waters are daily becoming more splendidly supplied, .... but also for the purpose of domestic manufactures."... "from Mr. Perry's superior Steam Engine Factory we took a turn down to a steam Saw Mill, recently erected near the Windmill for the purpose of examining its engine... The rage for Steam Saw Mills may be said to have commenced in right earnest in this neighbourhood. ... It had a high pressure engine of 20 horsepower and could easily be converted to a gristmill." [YORK, Colonial Advocate, July 4-11, 1833]
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After 1820 the population of York exploded. The amount of lumber exported from the district was negligible, yet the number of sawmills in the area increased rapidly throughout the decade. By 1830 practically the entire output of 106 mills was being consumed within the local market. [ Acheson, T.W. "The Nature and Structure of York Commerce in the 1820s" Journal of Canadian History, December 1969.]
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Kingston Road in the Don Valley looking southwest to the city of York. Two coaches are depicted passing in the road. The buildings could be some of the hundreds of taverns that dotted the route. The caption reads: "The stage service between (Montreal and Toronto) was a weekly one; and with the allowance of twenty pounds of luggage one could secure a seat on the lumbering vehicle for the sum of eighteen dollars. The incoming mail from Lower Canada used to be advertised in the Gazette, and the annual arrival of postal matter from England was an event in the life of the infant settlement." [Picturesque Canada, 1882]
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