A paper was produced and read containing a proposal from Mr. Eliphalet Hale to open and make the road, or so much of it as might be required, at the rate of twelve dollars per acre for clearing it where no causeway was wanted, four rods wide, and cutting the stumps in the two middle rods close to the ground; and seven shillings and sixpence, provincial currency, per rod, for making a causeway eighteen feet wide where a causeway might be wanted. Mr. Hale undertook to find security for the due performance of the work by the first of February following (1801). The subscribers present were unanimously of opinion that the subscription should be immediately applied as far as it would go. Mr. Hale's proposition was accepted, and a committee consisting of Mr. Secretary Jarvis, Mr. William Allan, and Mr. James Playter, was appointed to superintend the carrying of it into execution. Additional subscriptions would be received by Messrs. Allan and Wood.
At the same meeting a curious project was mooted, and a resolution in its favour adopted, for the permanent shutting up of a portion of Lot Street, and selling the land, the proceeds to be applied to the improvement of Yonge Street. There was no need of that portion of Lot Street, it was argued, there being already convenient access to the town in that direction by a way a few yards to the south. We gather from this that Hospital Street (Richmond Street) was the usual beaten track into the town from the west.
"It had been suggested," says the report of the meeting, "that considerable aid might be obtained by shutting up the street which now forms the northern boundary of the town between Toronto Street and the Common, and disposing of the land occupied by it. This street, it was conceived, was altogether superfluous," the report continues, "as another street equally convenient in every respect runs parallel to it at the distance of about ten rods; but it could not be shut up and disposed of by any authority less than that of the Legislature." A petition to the Legislature embodying the above ideas was to lie for signature at Mr. McDougall's Hotel.
The proposed document may have been duly presented, but the Legislature certainly never closed up Lot Street. Owners of park lots westward of Yonge Street may have had their objections. The change suggested would have compelled them to buy not only the land occupied by Lot Street, but also the land immediately to the south of their respective lots; otherwise they would have had no frontage in that direction.
In the Gazette of March 14, 1801, we have a further account of the improvement on Yonge Street. We are informed that "at a meeting of the subscribers to the opening of Yonge Street held at the Government Buildings on Monday last, the 9th instant, pursuant to public notice, William Jarvis, Esq., in the chair, the following gentlemen were appointed as a committee to oversee and inspect the work, one member of which to attend in person daily by rotation: James Macaulay, Esq., M.D., William Weekes, Esq., A. Wood, Esq., William Allan, Esq., Mr. John Cameron, Mr. Simon McNab. After the meeting," we are then told, "the committee went in a body, accompanied by the Hon. J. Elmsley, to view that part of the street which Mr. Hale, the undertaker, had in part opened. After ascertaining the alterations and improvements necessary to be made, and providing for the immediate building of a bridge over the creek between the second and third mile-posts, the Committee adjourned." All this is signed "S. McNab, Secretary to the Committee. York, 9th March, 1801."
A list of subscribers then follows, with the sums given. Hon. J. Elmsley, 80 dollars; Hon. Peter Russell, 20; Hon. J. McGill, 16; Hon. D. W. Smith, 10; John Small, Esq., 20; R. J. D. Gray, Esq., 20; William Jarvis, Esq., 10; William Willcocks, Esq., 15; D. Burns, Esq., 20; Wm. Weekes, Esq., 15; James Macaulay, Esq., 20; Alexander Macdonell, Esq., the work of one yoke of oxen for four days; Alexander Wood, Esq., 10; Mr. John Cameron, 15; Mr. D. Cameron, 10; Mr. Jacob Herchmer, 5; Mr. Simon McNab, 5; Mr. P. Mealy, 5; Mr. Elisha Beaman, 10; Thomas Ridout, Esq., 4; Mr. T. G. Simons, 4; Mr. W. Waters, 5; Mr. Robert Young, 10; Mr. Daniel Tiers, 5; Mr. John Edgell, 5; Mr. George Cutter, 10; Mr. James Playter, 6; Mr. Joseph McMurtrie, 5; Mr. William Bowkett, 6; Mr. John Horton, 4; Mr. John Kerr, 2. Total, 392 dollars.
The money collected was, we may suppose, satisfactorily laid out by Mr. Hale, but it did not suffice for the completion of the contemplated work. From the Gazette of Feb. 20 in the following year (1802), we learn that a second subscription was started for the purpose of completing the communication with the travelled part of Yonge Street to the north.
In the Gazette just named we have the following, under date of York, Saturday, Feb. 20, 1802: "We whose names are hereunto subscribed, contemplating the advantage which must arise from the rendering of Yonge Street accessible and convenient to the public, and having before us a proposal for completing that part of the said street between the Town of York and lot No. 1, do hereby respectively agree to pay the sums annexed to our names towards the carrying of the said proposal into effect; cherishing at the same time the hope that every liberal character will give his support to a work which has for its design the improvement of the country, as well as the convenience of the public: *the Chief Justice, 100 dollars; *Receiver-General, 20; *Robt. J. D. Gray, 20 (and two acres of land when the road is completed); John Cameron 40; *James Macaulay, 20; *Alexander Wood, 20; *William Weekes, 20; John McGill, 16; Wilson, Humphreys and Campbell, 15; D. W. Smith, 10; Thomas Scott, 10; *Wm. Jarvis, 10; *John Small, 10; *David Burns, 10; *Wm. Allan, 10; Alexander McDonell, 10; Wm. Smith, 10; Robert Henderson, 10; *Simon McNab, 8; John McDougall, 8; D. Cozens, 8; Thomas Ward, 8; *Elisha Beaman, 6; Joseph Hunt, 6; Eli Playter, 6; John Bennett, 6; *George Cutter, 6; James Norris, 5¼; Wm. B. Peters, 5; John Leach, 5; John Titus, 5; Wm. Cooper, 5; *Wm. Hunter, 5; J. B. Cozens, 5; *Daniel Tiers, 5; Thomas Forfar, 5; Samuel Nash, 5; Paul Marian, 3; Thomas Smith, 3; John McBeth, 3." It is subjoined that "subscriptions will be received by Mr. S. McNab, Secretary, and advertised weekly in the Gazette. Those marked thus (*) have paid a former subscription."
In the Gazette of March 6, 1802, an editorial is devoted to the subject of the improvement of Yonge Street. It runs as follows: "It affords us much pleasure to state to our readers that the necessary repair of Yonge Street is likely to be soon effected, as the work, we understand, has been undertaken with the assurance of entering upon and completing it without delay; and by every one who reflects upon the present sufferings of our industrious community on resorting to a market, it cannot but prove highly satisfactory to observe a work of such convenience and utility speedily accomplished. That the measure of its future benefits must be extreme indeed, we may reasonably expect; but whilst we look forward with flattering expectations of those benefits we cannot but appreciate the immediate advantage which is afforded to us, in being relieved from the application of the statute labour to circuitous by-paths and occasional roads, and in being enabled to apply the same to the improvement of the streets, and the nearer and more direct approaches to the Town."
The irregular track branching off eastward at Yorkville was an example of these "circuitous by-paths and occasional roads." Editorials were rare in the Gazettes of the period. Had there been more of them, subsequent investigators would have been better able than they are now, to produce pictures of the olden time. Chief Justice Elmsley was probably the inspirer of the article just given.