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C2 The Acton Free Press Wednesday Fcbruory 1971 Transportation vital in Ben Case history In any district pioneer otherwise it would be difficult to overestimate the value of transportation whether by land or water The settler had to be able to reach his newly acquired holdings with his family and all his worldly goods and after becoming established it would be still more Important for him to be able to take his produce to the nearest mill or market The miller had to have a means of shipping out tils flour and the storekeeper a way to bring In supplies and taking out the goods acquired by trade The people living clow to the lake had a great advantage In this respect as the water provided an efficient means of transportation in the open season No doubt most of the effects of those coming in from Niagara or by way of the St Lawrence were carried by schooner or scow and landed at easily accessible spots along the shore Then harbors were eventually developed at Oakville and Wellington Square later Burlington and to a lesser extent at Bronte there was a great shipment of wheat flour pork salted fish potash lumber and oak staves The latter were In demand as most goods with the exception of wheat and lumber had to be packed and shipped In barrels or easy handling Transportation by land was quite a different matter We have seen how Street was laid out as a blazed trail in 1703 but It was not till 16056 that It was surveyed Into the regulation foot wide roadway Although the first settlement was along this roadway it was for long almost Impossible to traverse except on foot or horseback One obstacle was the presence of empty Clergy Reserve and Crown Land along this highway leaving no one to clear out the stumps as the settler was required to do In front of his own property After considerable protest these reservations were moved to more remote areas Where there was low swamp land logs were laid across to form corduroy roads but these were necessarily very uneven and in time some logs rotted more quickly than others making travel by wagon a nightmare Mrs Jameson has this to say in her aforementioned book page 126 I set my teeth screwed myself to my seat and com mended myself to Heaven but I was well nigh dislocated At length 1 abandoned my seat and continues made an attempt to recline on the straw at the bottom of the cart but all in vain I expected at every moment to be thrown over headlong Street became the main east and west thoroughfare and a mall service was instituted between Toronto and Here Is another article in a The Trafalgar Post Office was series token from a history of opened In at the line in Halton written for Halton the store kept by Alexander Women s Institutes by Ben Case This office was later There are moved to Posts Corners now only three copies of his history In Trafalgar and the existence Ihe Free Press has Sixteen page The next borrowed one to share the story office was opened at Han with our readers later Nelson in The mail for north and south was taken from these Post Offices by Mrs Jameson was driven when horseback An office was opened Canada early in 1837 In in 1835 and one in ItwaYby way of Street Esqueslng In the 1820 just south that William Lyon Mackenzie of Ashgrove made his historic flight following In 1816 a stage coach the skirmish at Montgomery was started along Street Tavern on Thursday Dec between Toronto and Hamilton The following account Is with a change of horses being made at the tavern at Posts Comers or Trafalgar as we know It Through and Peel there were great stretches of heavy clay and in the spring of the year and after a period of heavy rains the condition of the roads can only be left to the imagination taken from Mackenzie s memoirs as related Sketches of Old Toronto by Frank Walker At three m on Friday he reached Comforts Mills In along with a companion Allan Wilcox They were given dinner and were driven in a wagon down to The passengers were often called Street and along It to the on to assist in extricating the Sixteen Mile Creek On being stage when bogged down In the hotly pursued they Jumped out of mire Mrs Jameson reports that the wagon before reaching the on a road further west it took bridge They took to the woods three and one half hours to cover and crossed the creek further seven miles A difficult part of upstream after asking a work the journey was the crossing of man the road to toput the Sixteen Mile and Twelve Mile the pursuers off the track Creeks the road having to They were given dry clothing negotiate the steep clay banks by by a friendly farmer Here precarious descent carved along Wilcox became ill and the sides of the ravines proceeding alone Mackenzie In the Lake Shore Highway crossed Street by eleven was opened up for coach service Friday and the Twelve Mile although the mail was still Creek by midnight By four am delivered along the more Saturday he reached Wellington populous Street This Square by the Middle Road At new road was not only a few the home of a friend he hid all miles shorter but the difficult and day In a peastraw stack while dangerous ravines were by passed It was over this road that the premises were searched After dark he proceeded where a friend loaned him a horse He made his way that night to and thence on Sunday to Smlthvllle and from there to and crossed Ihe Niagara River on Monday morning From this account it would appear that Mackenzie was in Halton County only from late Friday afternoon till early Saturday evening spending the daylight hours of Saturday in a straw stack in Wellington Square Village Equally important from the standpoint of the settlers were the north and south roads leading down to the waterfront from the north It was along these by which the products of the set tlements were brought down for sale and export whereby the much soughtafter cash was forthcoming There were three such main roads in namely a the line through the easterly part of the upper townships and leading to ville the Second Line through the central part of the County and leading to Milton Bronte and and the line from the townships of and Nelson and leading to Port Nelson and Wellington Square later Burlington It was by these roads that wheat was brought down to the local mills to be ground into flour for shipment In barrels or else to be shipped In bulk to outside markets Including those in the United States Other products such as the frozen carcasses of hogs and quarters of beef and barrels of potash would also be transported particularly in the winter months The roads would be ungraded and would be full of stumps especially in front of the unoc cupied lots and there would be swampy parts to be traversed by the unsatisfactory corduroy roads One can imagine the long dreary trip from the upper end of the county and can hardly blame the teamster for frequent stops at the taverns along the way It is said that there were twentyfour such establishments along the line between Ballinafad and ville With whiskey at twenty five cents a gallon and no license required at least In pioneer times it didnt require much capital to set up shop and with a watering trough for the horses and a a good fire roaring in the fireplace or It didnt take long to establish in business In 1846 a private Joint stock company The Trafalgar pioneer ti in Halton I Tt divided Super A iVifKW Thin nl a 1 j iflMUj Toll gate and Erin Road Company was formed as It was felt that this would be a profitable venture as there would be suf ficient teaming from the north to warrant it Maintenance and dividends would be taken care by tolls collected at toll gates jjjected at intervals along the road Building commenced in 185u construction consisting of threeInch planks laid across fourInch square stringers completed as far as Stewarttown and at first all went well but It wasnt long till the weaker planks were broken or rot set In Repair costs became too high and the company went bankrupt and ceased operations by With the coming of the railway the whole aspect of roads and transportation changed The farmer wag now concerned only with the condition of the road for hauling produce to the nearest railway station and for proceeding to the local store going to church and meetings of various kinds and for visits to relatives and neighbors They were maintained by statute labor whereby the farmer supplied his time and wagon and team free for two or three days each year for all necessary upkeep The Great Western Railway running along the lake shore to Hamilton Brantford and London and eventually to Windsor was completed in The Grand Trunk Railway crossing the county by way of Georgetown and Acton and proceeding to Guelph Stratford Samia and Chicago wa3 com pleted in 1856 The Hamilton and North Western Railway to Allendale through Georgetown built after the other lines men tioned above was later taken over by the Grand Trunk Lnstly the Credit Valley Railway passing through Milton anil Campbellville on Its way to Gait London and WlndBor was later taken over by the Canadian Pacific For years the railway reigned supreme in the matter of all passenger and freight traffic until the advent of the automobile and the truck THE HIGHWAYS With the coming of motor traffic there came a demand for better roads than the gravel roads that had served all local traffic up to the time of the First World War As a result the Lake Shore Road between Toronto and Hamilton the most heavily travelled road In the province was paved by the Provincial Government amid great scep ticism among the doubting Thomases ana was opened In 1915 It proved a great success and was a boon to motorists In cluding the citizens of the lower part of Halton Further road building was halted during the war years but from onwards there was a great upsurge In highway con struction The Ontario Highways Department commenced on a system of paved roads which interlaced all main roads In the province Each provincial road was numbered as part of the Kings Highway and with the aid of these numbers and road maps one could go from any part of the Province to the other without confusion Dundas Street was one of the first to be so treated following the war and was extended west to join Highway No 2 at Paris In high level bridges were constructed over the Sixteen and Twelve Mile Creeks and a great rockcut was mode to mount the escarpment west of Nelson Highway No was next in line traversing the county from Nerval and through Georgetown to Acton and west to and Highway No followed from Burlington to Palermo and north to Acton and beyond The main secondary roads such as the Line from to the Guelph Line from Port Nelson through Camp the Base Line through Hornby and some aide roads are taken care of by the County Engineers Office while the remaining concession lines and aideroads are looked after by the Township or Town Councils With increased traffic both from cars and trucks the necessity for further highway construction arose ana the utnucu was evolved This consists of a double line of traffic each way with a dividing strip separating them and cross traffic eliminated by a series bridges and Clover leafs at strategic points In the IBM the Queen Elizabeth Way was built between Toronto and Fort Erie pausing through between the Lake Shore Road and Street and In the the Macdona IdCart Freeway or Ml as It is more familiarly called has been constructed from the Quebec border to Windsor and passes midway through the county near Hornby Milton and Camp v This revolution In roadway building has resulted In a steady increase In traffic over the years to the great detriment of the business of the railways both from the standpoint of carrying passengers and also freight The public prefers travelling by car to the extent that railway travel has been reduced to such an extent that the number of passenger trains has been greatly curtailed or on many lines cancelled altogether As regards freight the same situation applies and ex cept for long distance bulk freight shippers have found It more convenient to ship by truck with door to door delivery and a minimum of handling We have thus seen tremendous changes In the way of travel and haulage and can only conjecture what further changes the future may hold In store for the generations to come VEHICLES OF THE 90 LAKEVIEW CENTRE MAIN ST ACTON 8531190 ON INSTALLATIONS NEW 1971 PATTERNS STYLES OZITE CARPET CARPETS ARMSTRONG VINYL FLOOR TILES BY ARMSTRONG FUNTKOTE LET OUR EXPERTS BRIGHTEN YOUR HOME WITH WALL TO WALL BROADLOOM DUCTED or DUCTLESS INWHITEOR COLOR RANGE HOODS start at Drop In And See Them Now WALLPAPER PAINTS sZus OFF SEE OUR SELECTION OF PLYWOODS PREFINISHED PANELLING TRIM CERAMIC TILES COUNTER TOPS AND ALL YOUR NEEDS FOR HOME RENOVATION Yes were open Monday til PM