Let me take you on a very brief and superficial visit to the upper Grand River Watershed. The Grand River is suitably named for it is one the grand old rivers of Southern Ontario. It is not as storied as the St. Lawrence which drains the five Great Lakes, nor the Trent that joins Lake Ontario to Lake Huron. Nor even the great Ottawa River, beloved of the early explorers and traders.
For me the Grand has family connections. My mother grew up on a farm not far from its banks and used to talk of two of it’s tributaries, the Speed and the Nith Rivers. So, when I was considering another rural ramble, I thought, “why not trace the Grand from its source to its mouth at Lake Erie? On the day I chose, I could not trace its whole length but left the lower part to explore another day.
In my rambles, I came as close as I could to its source near Dundalk, where it was but a muddy creek through a farmer’s field. From the rich farms I passed in my wandering it was clear that the whole Grand watershed sustains rich farms such as one where the machinery idled after taking off the wheat harvest and bundling the straw.
Here and there one could spot the ruins of the original barns, since taken down along with most of the fences that used to mark off the smaller fields but hindered the mammoth machinery used today.
Here in its northern reaches, as if to mark the conquest of the ancient by the modern, loomed my nemesis, giant wind turbines.
After the American War of Independence, the Crown purchased land from the Mississaugas in Upper Canada to award as grants to Loyalist refugees as compensation for their property losses in the colonies. Loyalists from New York, New England and the South were settled in this area, as the Crown hoped they would create new towns and farms on the frontier. In the 19th century, many new immigrants came to Upper Canada from England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany
The Grand meandered south from its source, quite shallow with the dearth of rain, but leaving deep pools here and there for the fishermen to search for small-mouth bass and a dozen other species.
The Ojibwe name for Grand River is Owaashtanong-ziibi, meaning, near as I can figure, brown river or river that runs brown. The Mississaugas call it O-es-shin-ne-gun-ing, meaning “the one that washes the timber down and carries away the grass and the weeds.” The Mohawk’s called it O:se Kenhionhata:tie meaning “Willow River,” for the many willows in the watershed. The first European known to descend the river was the famous explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle in 1669. To the early French settlers, the river was known as Rivière la Rapide or Rivière L’Urse, “Bear River.” The name “Grand” first appears on a map from 1744.
Just when my hunger for lunch began to surface, I discovered one of those peripatetic chip trucks. I ordered a small fries, but like everything in farming country it was huge, two or three times larger than I could eat! But what rural ramble in Ontario is complete with fresh cut fries?
I took a slight detour to try and catch a glimpse of Luther Lake, really a huge marsh designated as a wildlife management area. But since it was so vast and so marshy, my gravel road never allowed me to catch sight of the lake. Along the way, especially in this northern segment, I drove past muskeg with it’s typical mixture of dead and living black spruce and balsam.
What I did discover, however, was Damascus Lake, really part of the reservoir system maintaining a steady source of water through Luther Lake to the Grand River. From Damascus Lake, I returned to the main river following it down to Grand Valley.
Grand Valley comprised a population of 10 or 15 souls in 1855 when George Joyce came, built a loghouse, barn and shortly, a tavern. Like most pioneer towns in Ontario, as more settlers arrived, a schoolhouse and post office soon followed. At that time the area was mainly woodland teeming with wildlife such as deer, bear, wildcat, wolves, rabbits and partridge. Today it is a small town with the typical dated main street.
Following the Grand south I came to Lake Belwood, a 12 km long lake, beloved by fishermen searching for northern pike, walleye, smallmouth bass, yellow perch and black crappie. To form the lake, the waters of the Grand were impounded in 1942 by the erection of the Shand Dam for flood control and the generation of hydroelectricity creating this little known gem.
South of Lake Belwood we come to Fergus and Elora, two destinations popular with day tourists from the bigger centres. These towns lie on a constricted section of the river where it runs through rocky gorges+ carved through exposed areas of the underlying sedimentary rock. The associated rapids and falls make it an especially interesting section, thus their popularity.
Both towns have done a commendable job of modernizing stores along the main street without destroying their historic character, stores that in many small towns sit empty and rundown. Witness the “I Love Chocolate” store in Fergus.
It being a Saturday and my time short, I had more access to Fergus than to Elora which was completely swamped by tourists and wedding parties. I did witness one such party in Fergus. Fergus has erected a wonderful, flower bedecked pedestrian bridge across the gorge and a walkway along its very lip. Both towns beckon me to return on a day other than during the weekend.
From Elora, I zigzagged back and forth on country roads as the sprawl of the whole Kitchener-Waterloo urban area began to eat up the farming country. Finally I emerged at the Kitchener bridge over the Grand, where I had to break up my ramble.
Before I leave this short saga, however, it is intriguing to note why there might be many disputes from our indigenous tribes concerning land. “In 1784, Sir F. Haldimand … granted to the Six Nations and their heirs for ever, a tract of land on the Ouse, or Grand River, six miles in depth on each side of the river, beginning at Lake Erie, and extending to the head of the river. This grant was confirmed, and its conditions defined, by a patent under the Great Seal, issued by Lieutenant Governor Simcoe, and bearing date January 14, 1793.” We must remember however, that this grant did not include the Mississaugas, Ojibwe or Huron peoples. Much of this land, assumed by the Six Nations to be theirs to govern was sold or traded off. The Six Nations, of course, were more recent inhabitants of land originally ranged over by other tribes. (An opinion.)
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Country Inspiration 