Humber River still open in mid-January

Humber River ~ east side of the King Creek bridge

Humber River south-west of Nobleton

                                                                                                                                                                          Photos by Barry Wallace
Humber Trails Conservation Area

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Barry Wallace

Village gets a skyscraper

                                                                                                                                                      Photos by Barry Wallace

Residents of King City are getting used to that fact that an honest-to-goodness, towering, first-ever, 4-storey building is being built on the village's western edge.   The village has never known anything of this immensity before.   But a year from now, some of those 'incredualists' may very well be living in this latest entry into the new-housing tsunami that has struck our quiet little burgh.   King City will burgeon from 6,000 to 12,000 inhabitants in just a couple of years.   God help us all.   

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Barry Wallace

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck...

                                                                                                                                                       Photo by Barry Wallace

If your going to heat your home with wood, during a Canadian winter, you had better know a thing or two about stacking firewood.   Whoever dwells at this Keele Street home, in King City, certainly brings some orderliness and imagination to the task at hand.   You have to really admire that layered carousel with the turreted cap, in the foreground.   Well done, buddy.

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Barry Wallace

Holland Marsh's $26M muck control project

Photos by Barry Wallace

Way ahead of schedule, the Holland Marsh canal relocation continues to benefit from what has been, up until now, a mild 2011/12 winter.   One has to wonder how many residents of King Township, particularly those who seldom visit the northern areas, really have an idea of the scope of the project.   When completed, the 'Marsh' (also known as Ontario's Vegetable Patch or Salad Bowl) will be able to withstand a 50-year storm event, provide enhanced drainage capabilities and make roads safer.   Several drowning deaths have occurred over the years as vehicles have plunged off unprotected roads into the adjoining canals.   In all, 28 kms. of canal will be either mostly and fully relocated, or widened and deepened with enhanced guard-rail protection.   In addition to the $26 million canal costs, there is an additional $57 million in municipal and provincial expenditures on roads, highways and bridges.   Moving this canal is truly an impressive example of engineering and execution.   It is the largest drainage project in Ontario being done under the Drainage Act.   Despite all the activity, the 'Marsh' continues to be a great spot for birdwatchers (like me) to spot Snowy Owls and hawks in the winter and lots of herons and waterfowl in the summer. 

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Barry Wallace 

A final resting place in Hammertown

                                                                                                Photos by Barry Wallace

Hammertown, now not much more than a crossroads in the north-west part of King Township, was once a modest hamlet that apparently got its name from the ringing of the anvil in a blacksmith shop operated by a Thomas Elmer, on the south-east corner of the 12th Concession and the 17th Sideroad.   So says Elizabeth Gillham in her 1975 book, Early Settlements of King Township Ontario.   South of the long-ago, vanished smithy shop, The First Baptist Cemetery is still maintained to a certain degree by King Township, but the few remaining monuments are tumbled and derelict.  Some other pioneer cemeteries in King Township are similarly and sadly disassembled.   The two gravestones pictured below are, in my humble opinion, noteworthy.   On the left , Edward McKay was born in 1780 at Islay, Arglyleshire, in Scotland, while on the right Donald Kennedy was also born in Scotland in 1780 and his wife Mary was born in the Highlands also, in 1791.   These gravestones leave me wondering if these King Township pioneers were sorry victims of the cruel and outrageous Highland Clearances, torn from their birthplaces and years later peacefully laid to rest in the highlands of the King Ridge.   The records of their existences have been transcribed and photographed, but what of the actual tombstones themselves?   They lie fallen, but intact.   For how long?

   

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BtheB

Band music at Laskay in King Township

These two ancient photos of Laskay Union Cornet Band members are sadly unidentified...with two exceptions.   The leader of the band in the top photo is Abraham Carley, who was also a school teacher at Kinghorn.   This photo was taken in 1908 when the fine brass band was always a popular attraction, especially at fall fairs.   The band is posing in front of the Laskay Temperance Hall, which still stands today in an attractively restored fashion.  The gentleman standing in the bottom photo, at the right rear, is Leonard Glass, my wife's maternal grandfather.   Len was born in 1886, so I'm guessing this photo was taken between 1905 and 1910, which is the half-decade of the Laskay band's existence.   The back-drop in the lower photo shows a scene of Niagara Falls and the Maid of the Mist, which began its journeys in 1846.   No doubt the gentlemen of this band were a source of tremendous pride for the citizens of King Township because of both their stirring musicianship and splendid uniforms.    

Gettin' around King Township in 1916

My wife's grandfather Len Glass, at left, is pictured with his brother Norm, the family dog, and Len's wife Elsie, behind the wheel of their 1915 Jackson Olympic "46", a 4cylinder model costing $1,395.   The Olympic was built in Jackson, Michigan and boasted an immense fund of reserve power that made 'No hill too steep - no sand too deep'.   When the seasons changed and snow was the order of the day, the Jackson was put away and out came the one-horse open sleigh with jingle bells (below).   Len Glass is pictured standing while his brother Ernest and sister Margaret are ready for a ride.

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BWW