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That there was a time when
the "County of Bruce" was an unknown designation is a statement to be
readily admitted. To fix the date when as a corporate municipality it came
into existence and first bore its present title is what this chapter will
endeavor to set forth, as well as to narrate the beginnings of its
municipal life. The facts so far presented to the reader have largely
anteceded the existence of the municipality of and even the name of the
county of Bruce, which was bestowed, as we shall see, some time after the
inflow of settlers had well set in. Prior to this, as related in a
previous chapter, the appellation of the "Queen's Bush" was commonly
applied to the unsettled lands lying north of the Huron District, the
larger portion of which ultimately comprised the county of Bruce. This
same territory is described more formally in an Act of Parliament [9 Vic,
Chap. 47, passed May 23rd, 1846.] that provides for the administration of
justice therein as, "That portion of the province lying to the northward
of the District of Huron, bounded on the north by Lake Huron and the
Georgian Bay, which is not included in either of the Districts of
Wellington or Simcoe, (which) is declared, for all purposes of and
connected with the administration of justice, civil and criminal, to form
part of the District of Huron."
An effort was early made
(the particulars of which are given in a foot-note) to have this territory
formed into a county with Owen Sound as the county town, the agitation for
which, however, proved abortive.
[Footnote: Copy of notice
appearing in The Canada Gazette, August 26th, 1848: "Notice is hereby
given, that application will be made to the Legislature, at the next
sitting of Provincial Parliament, by the inhabitants of the townships of
St. Vincent, Euphrasia, Collingwood, Osprey and Artemesia, in the Simcoe
District, and of the townships of Sydenham, Derby, Holland, Sullivan,
Glenelg, Bentinck, Normanby, Egremont, Proton and Melancthon, in the
Wellington District, for an Act to be passed to form these townships into
a county; including the unsurveyed lands west of the said townships and
extending to Lake Huron and the Indian Territory and Islands contiguous
thereto, and that the town of Sydenham, on the Owen Sound, be the county
town of said county."
James Bruce, Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, was Governor-General of Canada
at the time the "Queen's Bush" was surveyed. It was out of compliment to
him that his family name was bestowed upon the new county, which was
brought into existence by authority of an Act of Parliament, [12 Vic.,
Chap. 96.] passed May 30th, 1849, dividing the district of Huron into
three counties, Huron, Perth and Bruce. This Act defines the boundaries of
each of the new counties, and goes on to say: "The counties remaining
nevertheless united until the union be dissolved, so soon as it shall
appear by the census that any junior county contains a population of
fifteen thousand, on order of the Governor-in-Council and upon petition of
two-thirds of the Reeves." The County Division Substitution Act, passed at
the same session of Parliament, to abolish the old territorial district
divisions within the province, [Prior to this and kindred Acta coming into
force, the districts within the province, comprised the limits of the
respective shrievalties within which Courts of Assize, etc., were held,
each district, subsequent to January 1st, 1842, being a corporate
muncipality. The counties comprised the political divisions for
parliamentary representation, and the limits wherein registration of
titles to property were made, there being a registrar for each county.]
names the townships that were to comprise the county of Bruce as follows:
The townships of Arran, Brant, Bruce, Carrick, Culross, Elderslie,
Greenock, Huron, Kincardine, Kinloss and Saugeen. While "All the
peninsular tract of land, lying to the north-ward of the townships of
Derby, Arran and Saugeen and between Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay and
known as the Indian Reserve, shall be annexed to, and form part of, the
county of Waterloo." [The county of Waterloo in 1849 comprised the same
territory, and was conterminate with the District of Wellington, extending
from the Georgian Bay, in the north, to the township of Wilmot as its
southerly limit. The Saugeen Peninsula became a part of the county of
Bruce by 14 and 15 Vic, Chap. 5, passed August 2nd, 1851.] These two
last-mentioned Acts of Parliament came into force on the 1st January,
1850, which date is, therefore, the birthday of the county of Bruce, for
under the terms of these Acts of Parliament it on that day became a
municipality, although only the junior one of the united counties of
Huron, Perth and Bruce.
With the abolishing of
district divisions within the province, and contemporaneous with the
advent of Bruce among the municipalities thereof, came also a change in
the mode of municipal government.
The earliest form of local
government that existed in Upper Canada was that administered by the
Quarter Sessions, held in the several district towns, the members of which
were the justices of the peace within the district. This body possessed,
besides judicial powers, administrative, and to some extent legislative
functions. This system of local government continued in force until 1842,
when district municipal councils were established, [The first meeting of
the Huron District Council, it being the council that had charge of the
territory afterwards comprised in the county of Bruce, then but the
"Queen's Bush," was held February 8th, 1842. The first warden was Dr.
William Dunlop, M.P.P., and Daniel Lizars, the first municipal clerk for
the district.] the members of which represented the several townships in
the district and were elected by the ratepayers. The district council
performed the work now undertaken by county, township and village
councils, levying taxes for local improvements and school purposes. Annual
township meetings were held, at which the freeholders and householders
elected the following officers: a clerk-treasurer, assessor, collector,
overseer of highways and pound-keeper. These officials, before the passing
of the District Councils Act, acted under the direction of the Quarter
Sessions. There were also two township wardens; these acted "as a
Corporation to represent the whole inhabitants of the township" in any
action at law, but had no legislative powers or functions.
The change indicated in the
mode of municipal government, spoken of in a preceding paragraph, affected
the county of Bruce when on Monday, January 28th, 1850, the first session
of the Council of the united counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce was held
at Goderich, when Dr. Wm. Chalk, the Reeve of Tuckersmith, was elected
warden, and Alfred W. Otter appointed county clerk. Among the members of
the Council then and there assembled was Thomas Johnson, who sat as reeve
for the municipality of the "United townships of Ashfield and Wawanosh, in
the county of Huron, and all the townships in the county of Bruce," [This
enormous stretch of country, so formed into one municipality, had its
Township Council composed, in 1850, of Thomas Johnston, reeve, and
Councillors John Hawkins, William Graham, Jeremiah Flynn and John King.
The clerk and treasurer was Michael Healy. In 1851 Charles Girvin was
reeve, and John Strachan, clerk-treasurer. Not one of those here mentioned
was a resident of the county of Bruce. The author has been told that the
settlers in Bruce sent Allan Cameron to this meeting of the Council as
their representative, this being unauthorized by either statute or by-law.
His claims as a representative were not recognized.] which municipal union
had been brought about by a by-law of the Huron District Council, passed
at a special meeting held October 2nd, 1849, called to make the necessary
preparatory arrangements for the new order of municipal government
required by the Acts of Parliament just passed. The idea of forming a
municipality by a union of townships in two different counties was a
blunder, productive of trouble that was not smoothed out until a couple of
years had passed. It is not difficult to surmise why the District Council
formed the union of townships indicated in the foregoing lengthy title.
The Municipal Corporation Act of 1849 [1] provided that townships having
less than one hundred resident freeholders or householders were to be
attached to some adjacent township in the same county. As the required
number were not to be found in the whole of the county of Bruce, the
District Council thought that it was acting within the limits of its
authority in attaching the whole county of Bruce to the two adjacent
townships of Ashfield and Wawanosh. [2] The settlers in Bruce thought
otherwise, and after obtaining legal advice they repudiated the by-law
forming them into a municipality conjunctly with the townships of Ashfield
and Wawanosh, and refused to pay taxes either to the township or the
county. This position was maintained until the separation from the two
townships in Huron was effected, after a nominal union which had lasted
for the years 1850 and 1851. The attitude of the settlers in Bruce in
refusing to pay taxes was sustained, and it was not till 1852 that taxes
for township purposes were first collected in the county of Bruce, and
1853, when the first levy for county rates was paid. An assessment of the
county was attempted in 1850, but only Kincardine and Huron Townships were
included therein; Brant, where, as we have seen in a preceding chapter, a
small settlement was commenced in 1849, was not assessed. The statistics
[3] obtained by this assessment are most interesting, revealing the actual
progress made by the settlers during their first year in the bush, and are
given in a foot-note.
Although, owing to the
above mentioned blunder of the Huron District Council, an enforced
collection of taxes could not be legally made in the townships within the
county of Bruce, the settlers were not content to escape the burden of
taxation, the penalty being loss of municipal rights and privileges. A
petition was therefore presented to the Council of the United Counties in
December, 1850, asking that the townships in Bruce be separated from
Ashfield and Wawanosh and formed into a separate municipality. This the
council declined to do that year, owing to legal technicalities. The
petition was, however, complied with in 1851.
At the first session of the
united counties council in 1852 there was present Francis Walker, who
sought to sit as reeve for the township of Kincardine and the remaining
townships within the county of Bruce. He was not, however, permitted to
take his seat, owing to some irregularity which had occurred regarding his
election, the nature of which the author has not been able to trace,
beyond that a protest as to his right to hold the office was entered. That
the vacancy might be filled, the Council directed the warden to issue a
warrant for a fresh election at Kincardine, and "that Mr. Francis Walker
be returning officer." The result of this election was that William
Rastall was elected reeve. To him belongs the honor of being the first
representative from Bruce to sit at the County Council. The date when he
took his seat as such was May 3rd, 1852.
The municipality of which
Mr. Rastall was the head comprised all the townships in the county of
Bruce, Kincardine being the senior township. This municipal union lasted
during the years 1852-3. The Council thereof for the year 1852 consisted
of Wm. Rastall, reeve, and councillors, Rev. Wm. Fraser, Francis Walker,
Wm. Blair and Thos. Harris. The meetings of Council were always held in
Kincardine. The clerk was Christopher R. Barker, to whom was deputed the
duty of appointing pathmasters, it being impossible for the Council to
have a personal knowledge of the best available men living throughout a
territory as large as the eleven townships lying within the municipality,
so Mr. Barker travelled the length and breadth of the county to make the
necessary appointments.
The Council for 1853
differed but little, as regards its members, from that of the preceding
year, excepting that the Rev. William Fraser held the position of reeve of
the municipality, [Francis Walker was elected deputy reeve in 1853, but
did not sit in the County Council, as that body considered his certificate
of election irregular, owing to the roll not being certified to as a true
copy of the names of the householders and freeholders in the united
townships.] while C. B. Barker remained as the clerk-treasurer. In a
footnote1 are to be found the names of the assessors and collectors for
the years 1852-3 and of the taxes collected in the latter year.
Without exception the
members of the Council of "The United Townships in the County of Bruce,"
as given in the preceding paragraph, resided in either Kincardine or Huron
Townships. The councillors being all from one section of the county, it is
easy to perceive how the actions of the Council might be biased by local
interests. The incident about to be related proved that in some instances,
at least, this was the case.
Those who settled at
Kincardine and in the immediate vicinity were from the first strongly
impressed with the desirability of having a harbor constructed at that
point (in accordance with the plan suggested in the original survey of the
town-plot), which would permit vessels to load or unload safely in any
weather. This sentiment was, of course, from local interests, one in which
the individual members of the Townships Council participated.
Names of the Assessors and
Collectors of the United Townships for the Years 1852 and 1853, and of the
Levy for Taxes for the Latter Year.
Blinded by a strong desire
to accomplish this local improvement, it was but a step to believe that
the county at large would also derive therefrom benefits sufficient to
warrant the passing of a by-law, under the "Consolidated Municipal Loan
Fund Act," to raise the required funds for the construction of a harbor.
On steps being taken to obtain the concurrence of the ratepayers to this,
a storm of indignation was raised in all the townships outside of the two
that supplied the quota of councillors. This feeling of indignation was
accentuated by disapproval of the action of Reeve Rastall in voting in
support of a by-law, passed October 20th, 1852, by the Council of the
United Counties, to take stock to the extent of £125,000 in the Buffalo,
Brantford and Lake Huron Railway. [The necessity of railway communication
was a felt want in the western part of the province at that time, and the
enterprise shown by the County Council is to be commended. The taking of
this amount of stock enabled the road to be extended to Goderich. True, it
was a half-dozen years after this before the rails were laid to the lake,
but for the succeeding fifteen years this railway was the main outlet for
travel to and from the western part of the county of Bruce.]
The proposed Kincardine
harbor by-law was to be considered and voted upon by the ratepayers on May
28th, 1853, at the village of Penetangore (Kincardine). [See procedure of
such a meeting, given in 16 Vie., Chap 22, Sec. 5 and 6.] A great rally
was organized in the outside townships to vote the project down. The
voters from the north reached Kincardine by sailing vessels, Capt. D.
Rowan, in command of the Emily, and Capt. John Spence, in the schooner Sea
Gull, bringing large contingents. Prom Brant there started a procession
that comprised most of the resident freeholders of the township, and which
gathered in numbers until Kinloss was reached; by that time it numbered
fully four hundred within its long strung out ranks. At the head rode
Joseph Walker, mounted on the one solitary horse of the settlement. The
rest trudged sturdily along on foot, one of their number carrying a
banner, on which was painted the motto, "Brant, No Taxation, No
Surrender," the lettering of which was the handiwork of Mr. Malcolm
McLean, the present postmaster of Walkerton. At Johnston's Corners Mr.
John Eckford and others addressed the gathering, and united action was
decided upon, one item of which was to the effect that not a penny was to
be spent for food or drink in Kincardine, and thus show in a marked
manner, as well as by their votes, the sentiments they cherished regarding
this scheme, which originated, so they vociferously asserted, in a desire
to tax the county at large for the benefit of Kincardine. This proposal
was actually carried out by many, who brought with them food and whiskey
sufficient to last during their stay, and who also, when night came, slept
under the juniper bushes on the lake shore rather than ask for shelter in
some house in the village. The preliminary meeting, as well as the voting,
was held at "Paddy" Walker's tavern. During the proceedings the Roll of
Brant was surreptitiously purloined and buried in the sand near the beach.
Any action after the disappearance of this Roll would have been irregular,
so Messrs. Wm. Gunn, Valentine, Conaway, Benson and Hilker served a
protest, and demanded that all proceedings in regard to the by-law be
stopped, which, under the circumstances, had to be complied with. The
excitement, which all day had been at fever heat, was much augmented by
stirring speeches and an abundant supply of whiskey. In such an atmosphere
fights started very easily. These at last became so general that it seemed
at one time as if the many fights would merge into a general riot. To
prevent this Reeve Fraser had some twenty-two special constables sworn in,
who succeeded in maintaining the peace and in dispersing the excited
throng to their homes.
Thus Kincardine's first
effort to secure the construction of a harbor collapsed; nevertheless,
there remained implanted in the breasts of many throughout the county a
resentful feeling against that village, cherished for years afterward.
One effect of the foregoing
incident was to develop a desire for a dissolution of the municipal union
of townships. In pursuance of this, petitions were presented to the
Council of the United Counties, at its several sessions in the year 1853,
for the erection of several minor municipalities within the county of
Bruce. At the September session of that year it was decided to carry out
the expressed wish of so many ratepayers in Bruce, and there was passed,
September 21st, 1853, a general by-law [As this by-law is the authority
for the separate municipal existence of the townships named therein, it is
given in full in Appendix F.] changing the municipal conformation of the
county, and erecting six minor municipalities therein. This took effect on
the 1st January, 1854. The following list gives the names of the six
municipalities so formed and of the reeves thereof for the year 1854:
United townships of
Kincardine, Bruce and Kinloss......William Rastall, Reeve.
Township of Huron..........John Hunter, Reeve
United townships of Brant and Carrick.......Joseph Walker, Reeve
United townships of Greenock and Culross....George Cromar, Reeve
Township of Saugeen.....Alexander McNabb, Reeve
United townships of Arran and Elderslie......Richard Berford, Reeve.
The dissolving of the union
of all the townships in the county and forming thereof six municipalities
was a measure much appreciated by the ratepayers. A large increase in the
number of settlers was required, however, ere each township could enter
upon a separate career as an independent municipality. The first to do so
was Kinloss, which in 1855 was detached from Kincardine and Bruce. The
following year (1856) witnessed the severance of the union of Kincardine
and Bruce Townships, of Brant and Carrick, of Greenock and Culross, as
well as of Arran and Elderslie. It was in this last mentioned year that
for the first time each of the several townships comprised in the original
county of Bruce sent a representative to attend the Council of the united
counties of Huron and Bruce, there being but these two counties in the
union at that time, Perth having separated therefrom on January 1st, 1853.
In doing so Perth assumed two-fifths of the liabilities of the originally
united counties.
Among the many municipal
alterations which occurred during these changeful years, the uniting of
the township of Amabel to that of Arran should not be overlooked. This
union was accomplished December 18th, 1856, when the United Counties
Council passed a by-law to that effect. Amabel was the first of the newly
surveyed townships in the Indian Peninsula to come into possession of
municipal privileges and responsibilities.
By this time the population
of Bruce had so increased as to warrant an application being made to have
abrogated the union of the counties of Huron and Bruce. This was acceded
to and Parliament passed an Act on May 16th, 1856, [19 Vic, Chap 19.]
authorizing the formation of the provisional County Council of Bruce, the
preliminary step towards a separation from Huron. At this time it was
hoped that a few months would see the separation completed, but local
jealousies as to where the county town was to be, intervened to prevent a
consummation so desirable. The story of the ten years' struggle for the
county-town is reserved for another chapter.
The tabulated statement of
the equalized assessment of the several municipalities within the county,
as given in Appendix M, indicates the growth, as well as the relative
development, of each township during the days when Bruce was but an
"infant county." |
