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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."