By the Act of the
Imperial Parliament, 1791 (31 George III., Cap. 31), the Governor was
empowered to divide Upper Canada into as many counties as he might think
fit. Accordingly, in the following year nineteen counties were surveyed,
among them Norfolk, which is the sixteenth on the list. The original
proclamation bounds it as follows:
“On the north and east
by the County of Lincoln and the River La Tranche (Thames); on the south
by Lake Erie, until it meets the Barbue; thence by a line running north
until it intersects the Tranche, and up the said river till it meets the
north-west boundary of the County of York.” This included the townships
of Burford, Oxford-upon-the-Thames, Norwich, Dereham, Rainham and
Walpole, now in other counties.
At first it formed part
of the Western district, an extremely indefinite province. Previous to
the Treaty of 1794, which came into effect in 1796, the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers formed the boundary line of Canada. By that treaty
the line of division was drawn in the middle of the lakes.
The Surveyor-General
described the Western district as follows in 1796 (the early part of the
year): “On the south it is bounded by Lake Erie; on the east by a
meridian passing through the easterly extremity of Long Point, and
comprehends all the lands north-westerly of these boundaries, not
included within the bounds of the Hudson Bay Company or the territory of
the United States. The boundary which divides it from Louisiana is not
well known after it reaches the sources of the Mississippi.”
In 1798 the London
district was created, and Norfolk incorporated in it. “The counties of
Norfolk, Oxford and Middlesex, with as much of this province as lies
westward of the Home district and the district of Niagara to the
southward of Lake Huron, and between them and a line drawn due north,
from where the easternmost limit of Oxford intersects the River Thames
till it arrives at Lake Huron.” (It will be noticed that what is now
called Georgian Bay was not distinguished from Lake Huron.)
The general appearance
of Norfolk county is rolling and pleasant. A century ago the gentle
undulations were covered with vast forests of beech, white pine, walnut
and oak, of which a good deal yet remains.
In certain townships
(Houghton, Middleton, Charlottevillc and Walsingham) are extensive
deposits of bog iron ore of the very finest kind. In this connection may
be mentioned the establishment of the blast furnaces at Norinandale as
far back as 1818.
Nearly every kind of
fruit found in the temperate zone flourishes here—apple, peach, pear,
plum, quince, cherry, grape, apricot and berries of all kinds. The woods
are well stocked with quail, partridge, rabbits, hares and black
squirrels, and the marshes abound in waterfowl, especially at Turkey
Point and at Long Point, which is now a game preserve and owned by a
private corporation. The creeks and streams are well stocked with fish,
speckled trout predominating.
Some parts of the
county, for example, Houghton Centre, are simply tracts of sand ; but
the general character of the soil is a clay loam, suitable for a great
variety of crops, easily worked, early and rich. |