The Scenery Along The Shores Of The Bay Is Exceedingly Beautiful All
The Way From Kingston To The Head, Where A Large River, The Trent,
Discharges Itself Into It At A Thriving Village, Of About A Thousand
Inhabitants, Called Trent Port.
A summer ride along the lower
portion of this river presents scenery of a bolder and grander
character than
Is often met with in Upper Canada, and it is
enlivened by spectacles of immense rafts of timber descending the
rapids, and by the merry chorus of the light-hearted lumbermen,
as they pursue their toilsome and perilous voyage to Quebec.
Belleville was originally a spot reserved for the Mississagua
Indians, and was laid out in 1816 for a village, when there were
only two or three white men settled among them as traders in
the place. It was only during the last year that the two frame
farm-houses, situated about a quarter of a mile apart, were
removed to make room for more substantial buildings. Belleville
remained nearly stationary for several years, during which a few
persons realised handsome fortunes, by means of large profits,
not withstanding the limited extent of their business. It at
length began to grow in importance as the fine country in its
neighbourhood was cleared and rendered productive.
In 1839, when the county of Hastings was set apart from the Midland
district, under the name of the District of Victoria, and Belleville
became the District town, the population of the county, including
Belleville, was about 12,000, and that of Belleville about 1500. In
1850 the population of the county had reached 23,454, of which that
of Belleville was 3326. By the census just taken, on a much more
correct principle than formerly, the population of Belleville in
1852 appears to be 4554, showing an increase of 1228 in two years.
During the same period, from 1850 to 1852, the population of Cobourg
on Lake Ontario, which town formerly enjoyed the full benefit of a
large emigration, has risen from 3379 to 3867, showing an increase
of only 488. The town of Dundas in the same time has increased its
population from 2311 in 1850 to 3519 in 1852, showing an increase
of 1208. The population of the city of Hamilton in 1850 was 10,312,
and now, in 1852, it is said to exceed 13,000. In 1838 the then
TOWN of Hamilton contained a population of only 3116. When I first
visited that place in 1832 it was a dull insignificant village,
which might, I suppose, contain a population of 1200 or 1500. I can
hardly describe my surprise on revisiting it in 1849, to behold a
city grown up suddenly, as if by enchantment, with several handsome
churches and public and private buildings of cut stone, brought
from the fine freestone quarries in the precipitous mountains or
tableland behind the city.
Little need be said of the capital of the province, the city of
Toronto, the progress of which has been less remarkable in the
same period, for the obvious reason that its merits were sooner
appreciated or known by the emigrants from Europe.
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