Smith's Canadian gazetteer - ElectricCanadian.com

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171
msker, three cabinet-makers, two saddlers, six tailors, one chair-maker, one
turner, one livery stable, one temperance house, two butchers, one cooper, one
grocery, one gunsmith, four shoemakers, one bank agency— " Gore."
SIMCOE DISTRICT.
Consists of the county of .Sinicoe, wliich comprises the townships of Adjala,
Artemisia, Collingwood, Essa, Flos, West Gwilliinluiry, Iiiuisfil, Medonte,
Matcliadash, Mulmur, Mono, Nottawasaga, Ospiy, Uro, Oiillia, St. Vincent,
Snnnidale, Tay, Tiny, Tecumseth, Tossorontio ; Euphrasia and Vespra. It
is hounded on the east by the Home District, Lake Simcoe, Lake Gougichin,
and tlie Severn River ; on the north by the Severn River and the various bays
of tlie Georgian Kay on tlie Most by tlie Wellington District ; and on tlie
;
south by the Home District. It is watered by the Nottav. asaga River, and the
Holland and Ooldwater Rivers, besides numerous small streams scattered over
it. This district formed a portion of the Home District until the year 1843 ;
when the county of Simcoe was declared a separate district. It contains a
large portion of very excellent land, the settlement of which has been hitherto
much retarded by the want of good roads ; some of the fanners in the back
townships finding it almost impos-;ible to get out of the bush, except during
sleighing time. Many of the townships are newly surveyed, and have not long
been opened for sale. The townships of West Gwilliinbury and Tecumseth
are the best settled in the district ; the inhabitants principally Irish and Scotch.
Next to these are the townsliips or Oro, Innisfil, and iMono. There are many
good farms above Barrie, on the road leading from J3arrie to Penetanguishine ;
near tiie latter i)lace the land is mostly stony and sandy, and the timber principally
pine. There is excellent land in Orillia, which township is now beginning
to settle up. Good roads into the interior of the district ai-e much wanted to
promote the settlement of the land.
Barrie, the district town, is beautifully situated on Kempenfeldt Bay, and
tJiere are besides in the district the villages of Bradford. Bond Head, and
Middleton in West Gwillimbury ; Penetanguishine in Tiny ; Orillia in Orillia;
and Coldwater in Medonte ; besides a settlement called " Hurontario," in St.
Vincent, on the Nottawasaga Bay. Two hundred and one thousand eight
hundred and seventy-two acres of Crown lauds are open for sale in the Simcoe
District, at 8.«. c'y per acre, to purchase any of which application must be made
to the Crown Lands Agent at Barrie.
Population in 1842,, 12,592, since when it has probably increased one-fifth.
The following abstract from the assessment I'olls, will show the rate of
increase and hnprovement in the district
Date.