The old Gazetteer next goes on to inform us that "from the bay west of Francis island there is a good path and a short portage into a small lake. This is the nearest way to Lake Huron, the river which falls from Lake Simcoe into Matchedash bay, called the Matchedash river, making a more circuitous passage to the northward and westward;"—and Matchedash bay "opens out," it afterwards states—"into a larger basin called Gloucester or Sturgeon bay, in the chops of which lies Prince William Henry's island, open to Lake Huron." It is noted also that on a peninsula in this basin some French ruins are still extant: and then it says, "between two larger promontories is the harbour of Penetanguishene, around which is good land for settlement." "Penetanguishene," it is finally added, "has been discovered to be a very excellent harbour."
Again some annotations on names will not be out of place.
Matchedash bay is now Sturgeon bay, and Matchedash river, the river Severn. Both bay and river have a peculiar interest for the people of Toronto, as being respectively the Toronto bay and Toronto river of the old French period. "To the north-east of the French river," Lahontan says (ii. 19), "you see Toronto bay, in which a small lake of the same name empties itself by a river not navigable on account of its rapids." (He elsewhere says this river also bore the name of the lake—Toronto.) The Duke of Gloucester was intended to be complimented in the name Gloucester bay. Prince William Henry's island has not retained its name. When it was imposed, the visit of that prince, afterwards the Duke of Kent and father of the reigning Queen, to Upper Canada, was a recent event.—The French ruins spoken of are the ruins of Fort Ste Marie near the mouth of the river Wye—the chief mission-house of the Jesuits, abandoned in 1649, still visible.
The "good path" and "nearest way to Lake Huron," from the bay west of Francis island, indicates the well-known trail by Coldwater, which was long the chief route to Penetanguishene; and the bay itself, west of Francis island, is the bay known in later times as Shingle bay.
In 1834 an attempt was made to found a town at Shingle bay in connection with the road to Penetanguishene. In a Courier of 1834, we have the announcement: "New Town of Innisfallen. Shortly will be offered for sale several building lots in the above new Town, beautifully situated on Shingle Bay, Lake Simcoe. This being the landing-place for the trade to Penetanguishene and the northern townships," the advertisement goes on to say, "persons inclined to speculate in trade or business of any description will find this a peculiarly valuable situation, as the townships are settled with persons of respectability and capital. It will command the trade to and from the lake. Further particulars can be obtained by application to Wm. Proudfoot, Esq., or from P. Handy, auctioneer, or Francis Hewson, Esq., Lake Simcoe. April 1st, 1834."
Innisfallen, however, did not mature into a town. Orillia, just within the narrows, appears to have been a site more suited to the needs or tastes of the public.
At p. 154, in the article on Yonge Street, the old Gazetteer of 1799 speaks again of the portage from Lake Simcoe to Lake Huron, viâ Coldwater, and calls it "a continuation of Yonge Street." It then adds the prediction, which we have once before quoted, that "the advantage would certainly be felt in the future of transporting merchandize from Oswego to York, and from thence across Yonge Street and down the waters of Lake Simcoe into Lake Huron, in preference to sending it by Lake Erie." And in the article on "Lac aux Claies," i.e., as we have already said, Lake Simcoe, it is curiously stated—this is before the year 1799—that "a vessel is now building for the purpose of facilitating the communication by that route,"—but it is not said where.
A "continuation of Yonge Street" in a more perfect sense, was at a later period surveyed and partially opened by the military authorities, from a point on Kempenfelt bay, a little east of the modern Barrie, in a direct line to Penetanguishene; but the natural growth of the forest had in a great degree filled up the track.
In 1847, however, through the instrumentality of the Commissioner of Public Works of the day, the Hon. W. B. Robinson, the highway in question, sixty-six feet in width and thirty miles in length, was thoroughly cleared out and made conveniently practicable for general travel.
This grand avenue is almost in a direct line with Yonge Street, after the traverse of Lake Simcoe from the Landing has been accomplished.