1760, Major Robert Rogers at Toronto

In his Journals, Major Robert Rogers, who was on his way from Montreal to Detroit to oversee the surrender of the French fort to the English, wrote the following:

I embarked at Montreal the 13th Sept. 1760 (with Captain Brewer, Captain Waite, Lieutenant Brheme, Assistant Engineer, Lieut. Davis of the royal train of artillery, and two hundred Rangers) about noon in fifteen whaleboats...

...The wind being fair the 30th, we embarked at the first dawn of day, and with the assistance of sails and oars made great way on a south-west course, and in the evening reached the river Toronto, having run seventy miles. Many points extending far into the lake occasioned a frequent alteration of our course. We passed a bank of twenty miles in length, but the land behind it seemed to be level, well timbered with large oaks, hickories, maples, and some poplars. No mountains appeared in sight. There was a track of about 300 acres of cleared ground round the place where formerly the French had a fort that was called Fort Toronto. The soil here is principally clay. The deer are extremely plentiful in this country. Some Indians were hunting at the mouth of the river, who run into the woods at our approach, very much frightened. They came in however in the morning, and testified their joy at the news of our success against the French. They told us "that we could easily accomplish our journey from thence to Detroit in eight days: that when the French traded at that place, the Indians used to come with their poultry from Michilimackinac down the river Toronto: that the portage was but twenty miles from that to a river falling into Lake Huron, which has some falls but none very considerable." They added that there was a carrying place of fifteen miles from some westerly part of Lake Erie, to a river running without any falls thro' several Indian towns into Lake St. Clair.

I think Toronto a most convenient place for a factory, and that from thence we may very easily settle the north side of Lake Erie.

We left Toronto the 1st of October steering south right across the west end of Lake Ontario. At dark we arrived at the south shore, five miles west of Fort Niagara, some of our boats being now become exceedingly leaky and dangerous.

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