The township was ten concessions (each 7⁄8 mile or 1.4 kilometres wide) and thirty-two lots deep, and was surveyed on the Lake Ontario frontage system. Sturgeon Lake completely bisected the township from west to east.
Errors in surveying across the lake resulted in jogs in many of lot lines north of the lake in Concessions IV through X, and was the cause of the irregular northern boundary. The township also included parts of Concession XIX of the Geographic Township of Harvey which were isolated from the rest of that township by Pigeon Lake in the east.
Lumbering was the first important industry to be developed, as the township had abundant stands of white pine up until about 1904, when loggers moved northward into Haliburton and what is now Algonquin Park. Agriculture in various forms was also pursued with the land south of the lake most suitable for crops. Dairying is still an important industry: Kawartha Dairy Company, the last large remaining dairy in the area serving south central Ontario, is in operation at Bobcaygeon. The Verulam Agricultural Society founded in 1858, now the Bobcaygeon Agricultural Society, still meets and holds an annual Fall Fair at its Fairgrounds located on the main island of Bobcaygeon.
Settlement
Settlement first occurred at Bobcaygeon, at the eastern end of the township with the 1832 arrival of Thomas Need from England. Thomas Need built a lumber and grist mill, laid out a village plot, founded a Post Office, and supervised the building of the first lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway. Several other notable settlements arose over the years, including the hamlet of Dunsford, the police village of Greenhurst-Thurstonia, and the police village of Sturgeon Point.
Transportation
The lakes were important to early transportation, though lumber interests mostly controlled use of the waterway until the system was completed in 1920. The Trent-Severn Waterway was originally intended as a defensive and commercial route from the upper Great Lakes through to Lake Ontario, however delays to its completion through the railway- and highway-building eras have relegated the canal to purely pleasure-craft use. Today, the Trent-Severn Waterway is a National Historic Site of Canada under the jurisdiction of Parks Canada.
Water and corduroy roads were the entrance to Verulam Township until in 1879, the Victoria Railway (later the Canadian National Railway) was constructed between Lindsay and Haliburton, via Fell's Station in the northwest. In 1904, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed to Bobcaygeon from Lindsay and Burketon Jct. Improvements to the highway system continued until the need for railways became redundant. The line to Bobcaygeon was abandoned in 1957. The railway through Fell's Station was abandoned in 1987 following the burning of the McLaren Creek bridge near Lindsay.
Verulam Township today
Although there have been various lumbering, manufacturing, farming and mining operations within the township, today the primary industry is tourism. Settlement consists mostly of small farms, with concentrations of cottages along the shores of Sturgeon Lake. Many marinas are located on Sturgeon Lake, and a system of well-developed parks are available for day use.
Lindsay is a community of 22,367 people on the Scugog River in the Kawartha Lakes region of south-eastern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately 43 km (27 mi) west of Peterborough. It is the seat of the City of Kawartha Lakes, and the hub for business and commerce in the region.
The Trent–Severn Waterway is a 386-kilometre-long (240 mi) canal route connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn. Its major natural waterways include the Trent River, Otonabee River, Kawartha Lakes, Lake Simcoe, Lake Couchiching and Severn River. Its scenic, meandering route has been called "one of the finest interconnected systems of navigation in the world".
Coboconk, often shortened to Coby, is a community in the city of Kawartha Lakes, in the south-central portion of the Canadian province of Ontario. The village lies at the junction of Highway 35 and former Highway 48, on the northern tip of Balsam Lake, the highest point on the Trent–Severn Waterway. Coboconk has a prominent role in the logging, limestone, and tourism industries of the Kawartha Lakes region over the past 150 years.
The County of Victoria, or Victoria County, was a county in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was formed in 1854 as The United Counties of Peterborough and Victoria, and separated from Peterborough in 1863. In 2001, the county was dissolved and reformed as the city of Kawartha Lakes. Though first opened to settlement in 1821, the area that was encompassed by Victoria County has a history of Indian occupation, first by the Hurons.
The City of Kawartha Lakes is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. It is a municipality legally structured as a single-tier city; however, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontario county and is mostly rural. It is the second largest single-tier municipality in Ontario by land area.
Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock is a federal electoral district in central Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968.
Lake Scugog is an artificially flooded lake in Scugog, Regional Municipality of Durham and the unitary city of Kawartha Lakes in central Ontario, Canada. It lies between the communities of Port Perry and Lindsay. The lake has been raised and lowered several times over its history. Though not technically part of the Kawartha lakes due to its shallow depths, it is often geographically linked to them. Its sole outflow, the Scugog River, connects to Sturgeon Lake. Lake Scugog is in the Great Lakes Basin and forms part of the Trent–Severn Waterway.
The Municipality of Trent Lakes is a lower-tier township in the rural, mostly wooded northern section of Peterborough County, Ontario, Canada. The municipality has a primarily cottage and tourist industry based economy but has grown year round residency due to its commute distance to the Greater Toronto Area.
Fenelon Falls is a village in Ontario, Canada, part of the city of Kawartha Lakes. Nicknamed the "Jewel of the Kawarthas," it has a population of 2,500 permanent inhabitants, which swells in the summer due to tourism and holiday cottages. Fenelon Falls is home to lock 34 on the Trent-Severn Waterway between Sturgeon Lake and Cameron Lake. It is primarily a tourist town and therefore is most active during the summer season. The main street of Fenelon Falls is called Colborne Street.
Sturgeon Lake is a lake in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Trent-Severn Waterway. The lake is Y-shaped and has the communities of Fenelon Falls, Lindsay, Sturgeon Point and Bobcaygeon at the north-west, south, central and north-east points of the Y respectively. The lake is approximately 25 km (16 mi) from the southern to the north-eastern extremes, the longer axis.
The Burnt River is a river which flows from its source at Miskwabi Lake in Highlands East, Haliburton County south into the Kawartha Lakes region. It empties into Cameron Lake in the city of Kawartha Lakes, part of the Trent–Severn Waterway. The town of Burnt River is located near its southern end.
Bobcaygeon is a community on the Trent–Severn Waterway in the City of Kawartha Lakes, east-central Ontario, Canada.
Kinmount is a village with a population of approximately 500, located on the Burnt River in Ontario, Canada. The village is apportioned by three municipalities, they are, City of Kawartha Lakes, Minden Hills and Trent Lakes. The village's hinterland covers large sections of both Haliburton and Peterborough counties for which it is a shopping and cultural centre. Prior to the formation of the City of Kawartha Lakes, Kinmount was the seat of Somerville Township.
King's Highway 35, commonly referred to as Highway 35, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, linking Highway 401 with the Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton, and Algonquin Provincial Park. The highway travels from west of Newcastle, through Lindsay, near Fenelon Falls, Coboconk, Minden Hills, and into Haliburton before terminating at Highway 60 to the west of Algonquin Park. Within those areas, it services the communities of Orono, Cameron, Rosedale, Norland, Moore Falls, Miners Bay, Lutterworth, Carnarvon, Buttermilk Falls, Halls Lake, Pine Springs and Dorset. The winding course of the road, combined with the picturesque views offered along its length, have led some to declare it the most scenic highway in Ontario.
Ancona Point, Ontario is located in the former Township of Verulam, Ontario within the city of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, Canada, and lies on Sturgeon Lake, 8 kilometres (5 mi) along County Road 24 south-west of Bobcaygeon. This stop on the former Canadian Pacific Railway was to have been called Scotch Line, but, after a disagreement between local residents, the completely unrelated Ancona Point was chosen as the station name. Scotch Line Road, which travels south from Ancona Point to Ontario Highway 36, retains the originally mooted name.
The Gull River is a river in Algonquin Highlands and Dysart et al, Haliburton County and the single-tier municipality of Kawartha Lakes in south-central Ontario, Canada. It is in the Trent River and Lake Ontario drainage basins, and flows from southern Algonquin Provincial Park to Balsam Lake on the Trent–Severn Waterway.
King's Highway 121, commonly referred to as Highway 121, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that connected several communities in the cottage country region of Central Ontario on the southern edge of the Canadian Shield. Between Fenelon Falls and Minden, Highway 121 served as an alternative route to Highway 35, which was severely congested during summer weekends. From Minden, the highway branched east to Haliburton Village and thereafter followed the present route of Highway 118 to Highway 28 in Paudash.
King's Highway 36, commonly referred to as Highway 36, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The highway connected Highway 7 and Highway 35 in Lindsay with Highway 28 in Burleigh Falls, providing access to recreational cottages along the northern shore of several of the Kawartha lakes as well as to multiple communities, including Bobcaygeon. Today it is known as Kawartha Lakes City Road 36 and Peterborough County Road 36.
The Lindsay, Bobcaygeon & Pontypool Railway (LB&P) was a short-line railway in Ontario, Canada. It was originally designed to serve sawmills in Bobcaygeon, running southward to the Ontario and Quebec Railway at Burketon, near Pontypool. Passenger service for weekender trips to the beaches on Sturgeon Lake was a major service later in the line's life.
Little Lake is a small lake on the Otonabee River in the city of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. The lake is in the downtown of the city and is used for fishing, swimming, boating, and for various special events. The lake lies on the water route from Lake Ontario to the Kawartha Lakes. The area around the lake was first settled by Europeans around the start of the 19th century. Steam- and water-powered saw mills were built on the lake and on the river upstream to prepare lumber for shipment overseas. Sawdust and other debris from the mills polluted the lake, killed the fish and clogged up the navigable channels. The smell was so noxious it drove residents near the lake to move. These problems were resolved by the end of the century, when the lake became a hub on the new Trent-Severn Waterway from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron. However, industries attracted by cheap hydroelectric power, such as General Electric used the lake for disposal of industrial chemicals for many years. The pollutants seems to be mostly contained in the sediment, and the lake is now considered safe for recreational use.
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