Showing 18 results

"Feeding refugees:
Marsh refugees enjoy a hot meal in the Bradford town hall after their flight from the flooded Holland Marsh. Most spent the winter in an emergency trailer camp set up where the community centre stands today."

Description : Early Days of the Marsh

Today, one of the richest and most widely known Garden Tracts in Ontario is the Bradford or the Holland Marsh. In the vegetable stores across Canada and in parts of the United States you will see potatoes, celery, lettuce, onions, and carrots, etc., bearing the label "Bradford Marsh" or simply "Marsh" as a sign of quality. But, the Bradford Marsh was not always a gardener's paradise. Unbelieveable as it may now seem, it was once nothing but an impassable marsh of Tamarack swamp, covering thousands of acres.

Beginning about Schomberg and flowing, or moving in a very sluggish manner in a northeasterly direction towards Lake Simcoe is the stream known as the Holland River, so named after a Major S. Holland, Surveyor General of Canada, who in 1971 visited the river in making a general survey of the Lake Simcoe region. This is the main river and it is joined by an eastern or Holland Landing tributary at a place called Soldier's Landing or Soldier's Bay about seven miles from the mouth. At one time, navigation to Lake Simcoe points from Soldier's Landing consisted of small craft. In 1850, when boats were larger and the western or main branch of the river was found to be much easier to navigate, having deeper water and broader streams and not so choked with marsh as the eastern branch, the steamer "Beaver" went on to the Bradford Holland River Bridge.

In 1819, the first settlers in South Simcoe, the Wallaces, the Armstrongs and the Algeos, crossed the river with great difficulty and landed at what is now known as the old wharf in the Scotch Settlement. Here for some years was the only river crossing and that was by a ferry pulled by ropes.

But by this time, the settlement at Bradford had become an accomplished fact and the question of some method of crossing the marsh and so as to give easier access to the Holland Landing had arisen. Petitions were sent to county councils and to the Government and finally under the constant urging of William Armson, Reeve of West Gwillimbury and Warden of the County, money grants were given and a road was made from Bradford to the river by laying logs across a width of marsh and filling in with earth. This was the corduroy road, the logs of which were still visible many years afterwards. Then to cross the river a floating bridge was laid down and a through direct road from Bradford to the Landing was completed and the Marsh was at least partly conquered. The ferry at the old wharf was discontinued.

In 1837 George Lount, Government Surveyor, surveyed as a townsite, the spot on the south side of the river just beyond the floating bridge, known as Amsterdam and the streets were laid out bearing such good Holland names as DeRuyder, DeWitt, VanDyke, Rubens, etc., but the townsite remained as only a townsite and no town arose, so in 1869 a lumberman named Thompson Smith acquired the patent of the unused site and built two sawmills, one on each side of the road just beyond the bridge. And the marsh was still largely unconquered. Rafts of logs were brought up the river by the tugs Victoria and Isabella, and this helped to keep the river fairly clear of weeds. The wreck of the Isabella lay near the railway bridge not so many years ago and it now probably lying on the bottom of the river.

The superintendent of the sawmills was James Durham and in 1870, Mr. Durham cut the floating bridge in two in order to get his logs through and this caused a lot of trouble but led to the erection of a bridge above the water. This bridge was 420 feet long and was complete in April 1871, the builder being Thomas McKonkey of Gilford.

To the many men working in the mills the great marsh became a familiar sight and the thought entered someone's head, why not cut that marsh grass or hay, twist it into ropes and sell it, and so was born the marsh hay industry and some use at last was made of the great wasts of land. The hay was twisted into long ropes. Later, hay-balers were brought into use and the hay was baled instead of twisted into ropes.This marsh hay was used for stuffing mattresses. Marsh hay twisting and baling went on for years and might still be the only marsh industry had not a bright idea entered the head of one D. W. (Dane) Watson, an intelligent, energetic young farmer of the Scotch Settlement who, however, had come into Bradford and acquired a grocery business where the Village Inn now stands.

This bright idea was, why not dredge a canal and drain the marsh and so turn waste land into productive soil? Mr. Watson got Professor Day of Guelph Agricultural College, interested in his idea and so was laid the germ that has sprouted into the now famous Bradford Marsh Gardens.

Notices about the flooded marshland

This article lists the members of the Emergency Relief Committee for the Holland Marsh Flood due to Hurricane Hazel.

Two separate articles on the topic of flood relief funds.
"Holland Marsh Flood Relief Fund
On Sunday a Holland Marsh Flood relief Fund was organized, with "Brad" Walker as chairman.
Money is needed immediately. Many of the flood refugees are homeless. Their homes and everything in them are lost. Their crops, which are their livelihood, are lost.
Send cheques, payable to the Holland Marsh Flood Relief Fund, addressed to the Canadian Bank of Commerce, Bradford. Cash donations will also be accepted at the bank or at the town hall.
Remember - All cheques should be made payable to Holland Marsh Flood Relief Fund."

"Hurricane Relief Fund Makes First Contribution of $150,000
The Hurricane Relief Fund for Ontario has made its first contribution to the Holland Marsh of $150,000/ This is for rehabilitation purposes.
Just as Premier Leslie Frost's pledge of $100,000 is just a start to get the great task on dikes and land on the marsh started, so too is the Relief Fund's $150.000 a start on rehabilitation."

Front page of the first Bradford Witness paper after the Holland Marsh flood due to Hurricane Hazel on October 15, 1954. See Related Descriptions below for individual stories of this edition.

Article on the 25th anniversary of Hurricane Hazel, with recollections from Marsh and Bradford residents

"Toronto - The Canadian Mobile Home Association has announced an offer to provide more than two hundred mobile homes at cost price to victims of the Ontario flood. The C.M.H.A. has pulled its dealers from Winnipeg to Quebec City. Mobile homes can be made available on twenty-four hours' notice and hauled immediately to the stricken areas. ..."

"Immediate credit, to the extent of $100,000 by the Provincial Government, was promised by Premier Leslie Frost within a matter of minutes after his arrival by car to attend a meeting with the Holland Marsh Emergency Relief Committee, held in the Township of West GWillimbury municipal office on Monday. ..."