__ L January 1975 Canadian og raph ical Jou rnal
A farm lad exhibits the bounty of the northern Ontario farmland. Ontario’s Great Clay Belt hoax Donald E. Pugh More than 300 miles 480 km north between 1921 labour, heartache, and bankruptcy. and 1931. By 1931, of Toronto, a scattered patchwork of Between 1931 and 1961, the number 200 surveyed townships contained farms follows the Ontario Northland of farms decreased from 11,911 to 51,186 settlers with 11,911 farms and Canadian National Railways totalling 1,991,937 5,058, farm population declined acres 805,938 across undulating land forested by hectares. from 57,186 to 28,762 and farm conifers in Ontario’s Great Clay Belt. This rapid settlement soon showed acreage declined from 1,991,937 Although numerous prosperous itself to be ill-advised and foolish. acres to 1,261,158 to 805,938 farms dot this, the largest agricultural Badly drained, leached clay soils, 510,264 hectares. Migration from region of the Ontario Northland Rail a short growing season with unex the region still continues. way, rotting log foundations and pected harsh frosts, and scarcity of Many early settlers entering the overgrown fields mark the gradual nearby markets led to back-breaking clay belt region were unfortunate decline of settlement. victims of a deception which por Between 1900 and 1931 the Coch trayed the region as a promised land, rane District of the Clay Belt experi fertile and generous beyond all sane Mr. Pugh, now a teacher of history and geography in the Algoma District of north enced the fastest growth in north belief. Ontario government depart órn Ontario, made a study of why settlers ern Ontario, doubling in population ments, including the Department of first went to the Clay Belt while working between 1911 and 1921, and again Crown Lands, Department of Agricul for his MA. at Carleton University. 19
settlement literature without ture and the Temiskaming & North early A reviewing the events of those buoyant Railway Commission, ern Ontario 20th century decades. their efficiency between justified PLAIN TALE OF 1’900 and Part of the enthusiasm for the clay 1932 by the number of PLAIN PEOPLE belt may be attributed to the surprise settlers persuaded to enter this north aroused by the unexpected discovery ern bonanza" district. These depart Pioneer Life in New of the region’s potential value. ments consistently and enthusiasti Ontario Early fur traders had described the cally endorsed the clay belt climate, clay belt as a land of bone-freezing soils and forest in an avalanche of temperatures, swarming mosquitoes glowing press releases, settlement THE GREAT CLAY BELT brochures, maps, farm photos and and dreary, swampy landscapes. The construction of the Canadian Pacific touring exhibits and lectures. Reinforcing this flood of govern Railway along the rocky Precam Pnbltahod 6 Temiskaming and Northern Ontaxlo brian height of land, an area des ment propaganda were newspapers Railway Commission cribed by the Hon. Sir William How and periodicals in Toronto and North Oporotthg ard Hearst, Premier of Ontario 1914- Ontario Govmnmeflt Raliwoy Bay. At the start of northward-lying 1919, as "the most barren and God obviously railways, such centres Hen. W. H. Hearst, Premier forsaken country in the whole north stood to benefit from cheaper agricul in thousands of tural produce as well as developing land", reaffirmed T. & N. 0. R. C.eesi.,in,sr,e travellers the notion of endless grey railhead demands for manufactured 3. L. Enetehart. Chnirraan Today it and useless, products. is difficult to rock, scraggly pine A. I. M0ss. tse..Trsn. Ge,. W. San 0. Ms0tw blackened timber. comprehend the incredible conf i The Ontario Department of Agri dence and exaggeration present in a settlement brochure. Front page of 20
culture asserted in 1897 that the land The Temiskaming & Northern Ontario north of the Great Lakes watershed "has been scarcely touched by the foot of the white man, and then only RAILWAY in rare instances by the hunter and ----- Province of Ontario Government Railway trapper." Yet by that date sufficient positive information concerning the extensive fertile nature of the re SIR JAMES WHITNEY, PREMIER gion’s soil had been published by ge ologists and surveyors to warrant a thorough government investigation. Desperately searching for a popular SOLID campaign issue to revive a sadly moribund Liberal administration in VESTIBULE power since 1871, Ontario Premier TRAINS George Ross gambled. Believing that sufficient northern Ontario had command wide public interest to attention and votes, his government sponsored an aggressive exploration Cn.U Pr r.d Cochrai .nd nm. i,’ Tn!-, pig survey of northern Ontario’s interior 1900. The results of the survey in 20,000,000 ACRES focused Ontario’s attention north ward for the next 30 years. For the first time the government, of Farming rand Awaits the Settler press, and public were made aware of the Great Clay Belt resources. The pind Old Ontario farnier o the Th. ‘r. -n ‘w rwn h th, vn,f described 24,500 sq. miles Nrind Tn. Land report Tmiskamu 63,455 sq. km or 15,680,000 acres hectares of well wa 6,340,000 tered, fertile clay loam, drained by rivers capable of generating valuable amounts of hydro-electricity, and covered by an immense tract of pre cious pulpwood forest. This report caught the public imagi nation. To many people it seemed as L if a fairy tale had suddenly come true The original of this promotion of northern Ontario was published as a full page news for Ontario. At a time when Cana paper advertisement in the pre-1914 era. dian attention was beginning to be diverted westward, some fairy god chants wished to resettle urban serious disadvantage, was greatly mother had waved a wand to grant masses and farmers’ sons in the clay underestimated. The clay belt was the province "an unlimited store belt as a balance for the popular renamed "New Ontario" to eliminate house of wealth" capable of expan attraction of the booming West. the prejudice attached to the word sion to an extent ‘little dreamed of." For these reasons government "northern". The government re Surveyors waxed lyrical, predicting officials tended to overestimate the ported that the climate was not real luxurious fields of waving golden clay belt’s bounty, its resources and ly cold but was mild and equable, grain, vast herds of lowing kine, healthful climate. Closer observation more healthful than the humid ener flourishing towns, and great facto and sad experience had yet to demon vating heat of the south. The area, it strate the region’s faults. With ries and creameries. all was frequently pointed out, did not the lavish praise, the problems and Such romantic visions possibly support malaria, ague, or other terri represented a yearning by crowded difficulties inherent to the region ble tropical diseases. went unnoticed. and slum-ridden Torontonians for a Reports tended to concentrate on Promotion the climate’s ‘fine healthy nature", return to the fast-disappearing, sim literature carried ar guments to ridiculous and comical "its invigorating ple, self-sufficient life of the yeoman bracing qualities", lengths. The long frigid winter, and its promotion of long life and farmer. In addition, Toronto mer a 21
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