The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 1, October, 1884Various
History
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 1, October, 1884
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
"Better for the continent and the world that England won," said Vincent.
"Perhaps so," allowed Hugh. "Though we cannot tell what might have been.
But that does not concern this Ulysses and his crew. Onward, voyagers
and voyageresses."
"Your simile is an unfortunate one. Ulysses was wrecked off Circe's
island and at other places. Rather let us be the Argonauts in search of
the Golden Fleece."
"Mercenary wretch!" exclaimed Hugh. "My taste is different. I am going
in search of a dinner."
Hugh Warren's ability for discovering anything of that sort was
proverbially good, so we, having the same disposition, followed him
below to the dining-saloon.
We arrived at Toronto, one hundred and sixty miles from Oswego, a little
before dusk. This city, the capital of the province of Ontario, is
situated on an arm of the lake. Its bay is a beautiful inlet about four
miles long and two miles wide, forming a capacious and well-protected
harbor. The site of the town is low, but rises gently from the water's
edge. The streets are regular and wide, crossing each other generally at
right angles. There is an esplanade fronting the bay which extends for a
distance of two miles. The population of the city has increased from
twelve hundred in 1817 to nearly sixty thousand at present. In the
morning we took a hurried survey of its chief buildings, visited Queen's
Park in the centre of the city, and got round in season to take the
afternoon steamer for Buffalo.
The district situated between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, as it has been
longest settled, so also is it the best-cultivated part of Western
Canada. The vicinity to the two Great Lakes renders the climate more
agreeable, by diminishing the severity of the winters and tempering the
summers' heats. Fruits of various kind arrive at great perfection,
cargoes of which are exported to Montreal, Quebec, and other places
situated in the less genial parts of the eastern province. Mrs. Jameson
speaks of this district as "superlatively beautiful." The only place
approaching a town in size and the number of inhabitants, from the Falls
along the shores of Lake Erie for a great distance, beyond even Grand
River, is Chippewa, situated on the river Welland, or Chippewa, which
empties itself into Niagara Strait, just where the rapids commence and
navigation terminates. One or more steamers run between Chippewa and
Buffalo. Chippewa is still but a small village, but, as it lies directly
on the great route from the Western States of the Union to the Falls of
Niagara and the Eastern States, it will probably rise into importance.
Its greatest celebrity at present arises from the fact of there having
been a great battle fought near by between the British and Americans in
the war of 1812.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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