Tobermory

Geography

The Government of Ontario has erected a plaque in Tobermory about the geography of the area. The first, at the tip of the peninsula, titled ESCARPMENT SUBMERGENCE, provides this information: "This shoreline marks the northern extremity of the Niagara Escarpment in southern Ontario. Stretching unbroken for 465 miles across southern Ontario from Niagara Falls. The escarpment was created by erosion of layered sedimentary rocks deposited in ancient seas of the Paleozoic Era over 400 million years ago. Portions of the escarpment form the islands between Tobermory and South Baymouth, and the same Paleozoic rocks shape the geology of Manitoulin Island." In 1857, A. G. Robinson, the chief engineer for Lake Huron lighthouse operations, described the area as being “totally unfit for agricultural purposes." In 1869, Public Land Surveyor Charles Rankin arrived in the area to resurvey the proposed road that would run through the centre of St. Edmonds Township from the Lindsay town line to Tobermory Ontario Harbour. After six weeks of struggle to complete the task, Rankin and his crew returned to their base camp. He summarized in his report that the work had been “one of the most troublesome explorations and pieces of line running ... which I have ever met with." William Bull, a representative of the Indian Department, was sent in 1873 to explore the region to ascertain the amount of good agricultural lands and also the quality and quantity of timber resources. He reported that the town plot and some of the surrounding area were “nearly all burnt off, leaving the white rocky ridges quite bare.” Despite such warnings, during the 1870s and 1880s, the government sold tracts of land to prospective settlers under the guise of promoting them as agricultural lands. The result was…