Smith's Canadian gazetteer - ElectricCanadian.com

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157
\yf which 5,569 arc unrlcr cultivation. This township is improving fast The
portion of it lying along tlie bank of the Thames, as also tiiu neighbourhood
through wiiich the Talbot Road passes, are well settled and cultivated. Aa
extensive prairie, running parallel with the Thames, at a distance of i'vom half
a mile to a mile, and of an average width of from three to four miles, runs
through nearly the whole length of this township, commencing about three miles
below the town of Chatham; it requires considerable draining, and is at present
used by the farmers in the iieiglibourliood principally for grazing cattle. Near
Erieus, on Talbot Road, is a steam mill. Soil a..d timber generally about tlie
same as Harwich. In Raleigh 4,4UU acres of Crown lands are open for sale, at
8.S-. currency per acre ; and the Canada Company have about 6,.")00 acres.
Two branches of the River Thames run througli this township; one of which
enters the Thames about three miles below Chatham ; the other joins it ia
Tilbury East, about a mile and a half below the town line.
Number of inhabitants, 1,S77.
Ratable property in the township, £20,427.
Exports from lialeiyh (at Lake Erie), for the year 1844.
£. s, d.
3,400 bushels Wheat, valued at 637 10
1,500 do. Indian Corn 140 12 6
32 hogsheads To>iacco 192
50,000 Standard Staves 562 10 i)
Tobacco has been sold from this township at from G(/. to 'd. sterling per pound.
RAMA,
A Township in the Home District; is bounded on the cast and north by unsurveyed
lands; on the west by the Severn River and Lake Gougichin ; and on
tlie south by the township of 3Iara. In Rama 616 acres are taken up, 70 of
which are under cultivation. In the west of the township, near the lake, is a
bed of remarkably fine grey limestone, specimens of which have been sent to
England -for examination, it having the appearance of that kind of stone used
for lithographic purjxjses; but it has not yet been sufliciently tested.
In the west of the township, on the lake, is a settlement of Chippewa Indians,
who formerlj- occupied the lands about Lake Simcoe, Holland River, and the
unsettled country in the rear of the Home District. In 1830 Sir John Colborno,
then Lieutenant Governor, collected them on a tract of land on the north-west
sliore of Lake Simcoe, of 9,800 acres in extent, Miiere they cleared a roiui
between that lake and Lake Huron. They consisted of three tribes of Chippewas,
imderthe chiefs Yellowhead, Aisance and Snake; and a band of Pottawotamies
from Drunmiond Island. Their number was about 500; and they
were placed under the care of Mr. Anderson (lately superintendent at Alanitoulin
Island), under whose superintendence they made rapid progreSA. The tribe
under the chief Yellowhead, now settled at Rama, was located at the Narrows
of Lake Simcoe (where the village of Orillia now stands). Aisance's tribe, at
present residing at Beausoleil, Matchadash Bay, was settled at Coldwater. at
the other extremity of the reserve ; the distance between them being fourteen
miles.
" Prior to the year 1830," says Mr. Anderson in his report, "these tribes
had become ranch demoralized from their long residence near the white settkments.
They were in the constant habit of drinking spirituous liipiors to excess
m)t one of them could read or write; and they scarcely knew anything of
religion. Their hunting grounds were exhausted; the government presents
woi'e exchan/^ed for whiskey. Tliey were in debt to all the traders, and unable
to obtain more credit; and thus were constantly in a state bordering on starvatio:i.
Their sulferings and misery were strongly marked in their personal
appearance, and the condition of their wigwams; the latter imperfectly made,