Hidden Ontario (11 page)

William Lyon Mackenzie escaped and remained in exile for several years before he was able to return to Canada. Unfortunately for Samuel, he was captured before he reached the American border. Samuel was convicted of high treason by the government on April 12, 1838; he was escorted to the gallows and hanged. Such was the fate of Holland Landing's spokesman.

The village of Holland Landing had only been surveyed in 1811. Located near the site of a sawmill built by John Eves in 1808 and on the east branch of the Holland River, it was a perfect spot for settlement and industry. It was also only 48 kilometres (30 miles) north of York (known today as Toronto). The Natives had used this very spot as a landing place because it marked the end of the portage from Lake Simcoe and what is now called Georgian Bay. Archaeological evidence revealed the existence of a one-time Native village and burial ground. Many villages established in Ontario at the same time as Holland Landing were located on former Native village sites.

Quakers, Mennonites, and United Empire Loyalists arrived to settle the town. The residents of this newly established community first called it St. Albans and later Beverly. By 1821 Peter Robinson established Red Mills, which quickly became the most important mill in the area. Robinson even shipped the flour he made to Europe. That same year, a post office was opened and the citizens renamed their village Holland Landing, after Major Samuel Holland, surveyor-general of the Province of Quebec in the late 18th century.

The community seemed destined for greatness. By 1825 a stage service ran daily from York, and by 1833 a steamboat connection had been set up. All of this encouraged further growth and led to the establishment of several industries. Among them were a brewery, a distillery, two tanneries, a foundry, and Ellerby's carding and fulling mill. In 1851 the plank road was completed and this facilitated a growing wheat and livestock trade. Cargo ships on the Holland River made Holland Landing a major shipping depot between Lake Simcoe and York.

The completion of the Northern Railway in 1853 altered the booming commerce of the village. People began to travel less by road and water, and the need for such a shipping point diminished. In the late 19th century the owner of the Toby Mill relocated his business to Collingwood, after a dispute with the village over taxes, and area businesses that were dependent on the mill suffered as a result. A number of disastrous fires swept through and demolished most of the remaining businesses, and by 1921 the village population had decreased significantly.

The village of Holland Landing is located adjacent to the market-gardening area known as the Holland Flats. Originally, this area was settled by many Dutch immigrants who were familiar with land management. They were willing and able to turn a marsh into a productive and vital piece of land. The Dutch settlers had drained the land in their home country (with dykes and ditches) and used that same expertise here. The village of Ansnorveldt was established, along with productive gardens near Holland Landing.

A major catastrophe struck the Holland Flats in October 1954, when Hurricane Hazel swept southern Ontario. The Holland Flats literally disappeared under six to nine metres (20 to 30 feet) of water. The village of Ansnorveldt was submerged, homes were swept away or overturned and the losses totalled in the millions. After the water had retreated, the residents attempted to remove the remaining water with large pumping systems. The situation was overwhelming; the damage seemed irreparable. Nevertheless, with the aid of county, provincial, and federal funds, work was started to restore the land, and within the year, Holland Flats was once again fully productive.

The agricultural production of Holland Flats is crucial for the province of Ontario. As urban, commercial, and industrial development in the southern parts of the province swallow the remaining market garden areas, this is both obvious and significant. Perhaps Samuel Lount was a model area resident. He was willing to fight for the things he believed in. This is the kind of resolve needed to protect this agricultural mecca for the future.

 

Ivanhoe, like many of Central Ontario's smaller communities, has taken immense pride in preserving its distinctive quality of life for more than 150 years. This tiny hamlet has kept a firm hold on the basics of life, a hold which some larger towns and cities have relinquished. The Ivanhoe Cheese Company is the major centre of employment here and has some responsibility for the community functioning much like a family.

The first record of land settlement at Ivanhoe, situated on Highway 62 between Madoc and Belleville, was in 1803. These early settlers of Ivanhoe and the township were of Irish, Scottish, and English descent, with names such as Ketcheson, Ostrom, Denike, Luke, Foster, and Ashley. Later families arrived with the names of Ray, Ryrett, McKee, Shaw, Rollins, Emo, Stout, Gunning, Ranson, Carscallen, MacMillan, and Gauen from Ireland; Harvey, Wood, Fleming, Roy, McMullen, and Archibald from Scotland; Tummon, Chapman, King, Lidster, and Prest from England; and United Empire Loyalists such as Reid and Mitz.

To get to Madoc in the early years of settlement, Ivanhoe dwellers used a raft to cross Moira Lake, then known as Hog Lake (Hog Lake got its name from a rock that resembled a hog's back). Sometime later Bronson's Bridge was built.

The first post office in Ivanhoe was established on July 1, 1850, and was named St. George. This name was changed to the Ivanhoe Post Office on April 1, 1857, at the suggestion of an Irish schoolteacher by the name of Thomas Emo. He had been reading Sir Walter Scott's novel of the same name. Since the fictional hero characterized the Irish spirit, he promptly named the post office after the rugged-but-compassionate medieval warrior.

Even in the early days, Ivanhoe's main and thriving business was cheese. In 1870 a two-storey building was constructed on the property of George Rollins, on the 7th Concession of Huntingdon Township, for the purpose of making cheese. The structure consisted of a cooking room on the first floor and a curing room on the second. The milk came in at the curing-room level, where it was conducted by a pipe to vats on the lower floor. Because the curing room was upstairs, it was necessary for large and heavy loads of cheese to be carried downstairs. The factory was called the Ivanhoe Cheese Factory, and its first president was Henry Gauen. He established himself in Ivanhoe on a land grant, which he received for his service in one of the expedition parties that searched in the Arctic for Sir John Franklin.

In the early days of the cheese company, workers collected milk cans from local farms twice a day. The company furnished the milk wagons as well as the cans. When the wagons became worn, the company did not replace them. Each dairy farmer who drew milk was, from then on, held responsible for supplying his own wagon and his own cans.

On December 28, 1889, seven men appeared in the law office of A.F. Wood in Madoc, to request the incorporation of The Beulah Cheese and Butter Co-operative. This was done on the advice of cheese buyers in Belleville who felt that the name Ivanhoe should be dropped because it had a reputation for inferior quality products. It was also decided that the quality should improve. British importers were refusing any further cheese associated with the name “Ivanhoe.”

In the same period of time, a second factory was under construction on the property of James Gunning, at the bottom of the hill on the 7th Concession. Beulah Cheese was thought to be better quality and, consequently, could be priced higher. John Fleming was one of many who worked for both companies. He served as the factory salesman from 1895 until his sudden death in 1913.

In 1926 yet another new Beulah factory was erected on a site at the four corners. Upon its completion the old factory was torn down and the lumber was used to build the cheesemaker's home. Business flourished and additions were made to the curing room. In 1965 a dairy bar was opened that was so popular it was enlarged twice.

The Beulah factory continued to produce Ivanhoe's fine cheese until February 1, 1978, when the building was destroyed by fire. Immediate arrangements and plans for a new factory were begun. In April 1979 the new Beulah Co-op Cheese Company was officially opened by the Honourable William Newman, minister of agriculture and food for Ontario. In the early part of 1983, the factory once again took on the original name: The Ivanhoe Cheese Company Ltd.

Today the Ivanhoe Cheese Company is a thriving business and remains an important partner in the community. It is a living historical link to Ivanhoe's past. Its cheddar and specialty cheeses can be found in grocery stores province-wide and are also favoured by American tourists. Their extra-old white cheddar is superb, and their unique horseradish cheddar is relished for its bite.

Not only did Ivanhoe and its cheese company produce quality cheese, it also had some unique citizens. Henry Gauen, the first president of the Ivanhoe Cheese Company and an Arctic explorer, was one of them.

In 1845 Sir John Franklin attempted to find the Northwest Passage in order to chart a navigable route to the riches of China and East India. For 300 years prior to Franklin's expedition, explorers had searched in vain for this route. Exploration caught the fancy of dreamers. Franklin was well aware of the mysteries of the north, the maze of land and sea, the crushing power of ice, the cold, the darkness, and the loneliness. Scattered clusters of bones attest to the frosty plight of many a good sailor.

Franklin, with his two ships, the
Erebus
and the
Terror
, set sail from the Thames on the morning of May 19, 1845, carrying 134 officers and men. The last sighting of Franklin and his ships was in July of the same year when, in Baffin Bay, they met two whaling ships. Franklin's ships were waiting for the right conditions in order to cross Baffin Bay to Lancaster Sound. There was no concern about Franklin's whereabouts until 1847, when there had still been no communication. The British Admiralty in London sent out three expeditions that year to relieve Franklin. Captain Henry Kellett was directed to sail to the Bering Strait, while a second expedition under the command of James Clark Ross was ordered to sail to Lancaster Sound. The third expedition, led by Dr. John Rae and Sir John Richardson, went down the Mackenzie River. The failure of all three expeditions to find any trace of Franklin sparked some urgency concerning the crews of both ships. On April 4, 1850, the
Toronto Globe
ran an advertisement announcing “A 20,000 pound reward to be given by Her Majesty's Government to any party or parties, of any country, who shall render efficient assistance to the crews of the discovery ships under the command of Sir John Franklin.”

Henry Gauen was part of the voyage in search of Franklin that headed out from Plymouth, England, on January 20, 1850, with two ships named the
Enterprise
and the
Investigator
. Gauen served as the ship's carpenter and was under the command of Captain McClure.

McClure's ship, the
Investigator
, was separated from its consort and arrived at the Bering Strait on July 29, 1850. By September 9th he was 96 kilometres (60 miles) from the western stretch of Viscount Melville Sound. On September 26 the
Investigator
was sealed in, surrounded by thick sheets of ice.

On October 10th of that year, McClure turned his attention to other matters — not to finding Franklin, but rather to discovering the Northwest Passage. His lookout had spotted open water in the distance, and he wondered if it was a continuation of Barrow Strait. McClure led a sled party across the ice to the land on the east side of the channel. He and the small party climbed up a 500-metre (1,500 feet) rise and from that vantage point saw the ice-packed channel. Dr. Armstrong, medical attendant to the crew, was convinced that the highway to England from ocean to ocean lay before them, but McClure needed to set foot on shore of the passage himself.

Eleven days later McClure and a party set out again on an exhausting five-day journey along the eastern shore of Banks Island to the end of the channel. On October 26, 1850, Robert McClure, standing on a 200-metre (600 foot) promontory, confirmed the presence of a water route from Atlantic to Pacific. The Northwest Passage had been discovered. McClure and crew were eligible for the prize of 10,000 pounds that had been promised by the English government for the discovery.

Regardless of his success, McClure remained to search for Franklin. By September 9, 1852, the crew were down to one meal a day. In October, a delegation pleaded with the captain for an increase in food, but McClure refused. It was reported that Sub-Lieutenant Robert Wynniatt went mad. Each man weighed about 15 kilograms (35 pounds) less than when they had left England, and 20 were ill with scurvy.

A few years ago, the people of Ivanhoe cleared the grave site of Henry Gauen, erected a fence, and placed a tombstone there in his honour.

Author's collection

During one outing Henry Gauen was attacked by a polar bear. Henry kept the bear at bay until he managed to shoot it with his gun, but carried scars from the bear's claws on his back for the rest of his life. Notwithstanding a polar bear attack, Henry actually put on his skates and was, quite possibly, the first man to ever skate on Artic ice.