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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2017-06-28, Page 7Wednesday, June 28, 2017 • Signal Star 7 commute The Founding of Goderich, 1827 0 n June 29, 1827, John Galt and Tiger Dunlop cracked open a cham- pagne bottle and founded the Town of Goderich at the mouth of the Menesetunk. The new settlement was named Goderich. Yet, it was more than a champagne toast that founded Goderich, it was guts and vision that brought both men to Lake Huron's shores to create what would become 'the Prettiest Town in Canada.' Almost two years earlier, in 1825, the Ojibwe or Chippewa nation ceded over 2.3 million acres of land to the Crown at Amherstburg. The newly formed Canada Company pur- chased the 1.1 million acres that became the Huron Tract with the intention of opening up the lands to settlement. John Galt, age 48, was appointed the Canada Compa- ny's field supervisor. Galt was already known as a man of let- ters who consorted with such literary notables as Walter Scott and travelled the Mediterra- nean with Lord Byron. Galt was a romantic visionary who saw in the virgin forests of Upper Canada an opportunity to shape the continent's destiny by peopling it with hardy and loyal yeomen as a bulwark • against American republicanism. In 1827, Dr. William Dunlop was not quite 35, but he already had a varied career as a soldier, author, scholar and raconteur. A military surgeon, Dunlop saw action on the Niagara frontier during the War of 1812. He served in India where he received his nickname `Tiger. He had taught at the University of Edinburgh; wrote a book on medical jurisprudence and contributed stories for the pres- tigious `Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine.' In his satirical writings, Dun- lop displayed a bizarre Monty- Pythonesque sense of humour. He also enjoyed his whis- key. British historian Thomas Carlyle called Dunlop "one of the strangest men of his age." In 1826, Dunlop was living in Huron History David Yates London, England when he answered Galt's advertisement in a journal requesting help in promoting a Canadian settle- ment scheme. With a 6' 3" frame topped with flaming red hair, Dunlop cut a striking fig- ure when he met Galt. Galt recognized in his fellow Scot a man of action and enlisted his services and gave Dunlop the grandiose title of Warden of the For- ests. Together, they set out on their Canadian adventure. On April 23, 1827, St. George's Day, John Galt over- saw a tree felling ceremony, which founded what became the City of Guelph named after the Royal family. A second town on the shores of Lake Huron was needed to accom- modate the anticipated flood of settlers who would soon pour into the western part of the Huron Tract. Dunlop, with surveyors Mahlon Burwell, John McDon- ald, a few Ojibwe natives and axe men made up the party that set out from Guelph on May 14, 1827 to cut line to Lake Huron a distance of 72 miles. Dunlop called it a 'dive into the woods.' He reported to the Canada Company that, "it is impossible to find two hundred acres together in the whole ter- ritory which will make a bad farm." As the small expedition made their way through the primal wilderness and black flies, the Ojibwe kept the party supplied with fresh game. On Sunday, May 27, Mahlon Burwell recorded in his journal that they had `completed the line' to Lake Huron. Burwell wrote that the party had arrived at the mouth of the Red River so named because of the water's discolouration caused by the red soil washed downstream. The natives called it the Men- esetunk, which Burwell said was the Ojibwe word for 'large, open harbour.' Eventually, the long winding river which meandered through the Huron Tract would was named the Maitland River after Upper Canada's Lieutenant Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland. When Dunlop's party arrived on Lake Huron, several natives were awaiting the return from Detroit of Frank Deschamps and William Gooding who, since 1826, had operated a trading post on the site that would become Goderich. Three canoes carrying several Ojibwe families were the Dun- lop party's first curious visitors. Burwell noted in his journal that on May 29, that he and Dunlop selected "a beautiful situation on the left [south] bank of the" river to erect a log house. The shanty became known as 'the Castle' in what is now Goderich's Harbour Park. With a commanding view of the lake, harbour basin and river valley, Burwell's location was well chosen. By June 1, the party's provi- sions were almost exhausted. While the members of the survey party continued to build the house, explore the_ river, the natives provided a venison supply but more was needed. Burwell hired, Minete- cose, an Ojibwe, to catch fish for the hungry party. Dunlop and several natives, according to Thelma Coleman in 'The Canada Company,' built an elm canoe and made a run to Port Gratiot, Michigan to pick up supplies for the party. They returned with provi- sions on June 19 but a 'much looked for boat' crewed by French-Canadian boatmen had alrady arrived three days earler so that further hardship was avoided. In late June, John Galt arrived from York at the Royal Naval establishment in Penetan- guishene. On June 27, Galt set sail aboard the IIMS Bee, a Royal Navy gunboat that the admiralty placed at .Galt's dis- Founder of Goderich, Dr. William `Tiger' Dunlop. posal, to link up with the Dun- lop party. As Galt passed "the houseless shores and shipless seas" of Lake Huron, he scanned the shore for signs of Dunlop's expedition. About midday, on Friday, June 29, Galt espied through the ship's telescope "a small clearing in the forest, on the brow of a rising ground a cottage delightfully situated" and wondered if it could be Dunlop's party. As the HMS Bee neared the 'unexpected' clearing, Galt later recalled a canoe approaching with "a strange combination of Indians, velvet- eens and whiskers, and discov- ered within the roots of the red hair, the living features of the Doctor." After the HMS Bee anchored in the basin, Galt marvelled at "the beautiful anchorage" and predicted that this spot would "become an important loca- tion" as "civilization progresses westward." When one pictures natives in their canoes, French Canadian voyageurs, naval seamen, red - coated marines, lumbermen, fur traders, surveyors, gentle- men adventurers and a Royal Naval gunboat with ensign fly- ing in the harbour basin, the founding of Goderich may have been a great tableaux of early Canadiana. Unfortunately, it is not known precisely who was pre- sent or what time the event occurred (Burwell whose jour- nal is the most detailed was not present at the time). Goderich's founding proba- bly took place in Dunlop's log shanty late in the day on Friday, Photos courtesy of Dictionary of Canadian (B) Found of Goderich, John Galt, Esq. June 29, when he produced a champagne bottle that he had carried through the wilderness for the occasion. According to Galt, it was at this point that the new settle- ment was named Goderich after Viscount Goderich, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies and soon to be Prime Minister. Galt spent the night in the cabin before setting sail with Dunlop the next morning on the HMS Bee for Detroit. On July 5, one day after the great "American festival'; Galt's party attended a Detroit theat- rical production. When Lieu- tenant Douglas's uniform of the IIMS Bee was spotted, the band struck up 'Rule Britannia' and 'God Save the King' much to Galt's joy. It was probably the highlight of his tenure in the Canada Company's employment. In January 1829, Galt was unceremoniously dismissed from the company. He died in Greenock, Scotland in 1839. Tiger Dunlop returned to Goderich and made it his home. Dunlop died on June 29, 1848, the 21st anniversary of the founding of Goderich. He is buried overlooking the town that he helped found. In a letter dated, June 2, 1827, Dunlop called the area around the Maitland River "the most beautiful country in Can- ada." Somehow the label stuck and, according to local legend, it must have been overheard by a member of the Royal family who proclaimed Goderich 'the Prettiest'lown in Canada."