Talk:List of Ontario colonization roads

Latest comment: 2 years ago by Hollomis in topic The Burleigh Road

Untitled edit

This article requires Links to pages about specific Colonization Roads. Monk Road for instance was not "Monk Historical Colonization Road," but simply Monk Road, there was only one Monk Road in Ontario. For information on Monk Road, see John Allan Snow, likely the same person for whom Snow Road was named. Snow Road, Ontario also known as Snow Road Station was where the Kingston and Pembroke Railway crossed the Snow Road.

For information on Elora, Saugeen, Goderich, Southampton, Garrafraxa, Peterson, Muskoka, and Victoria colonization roads see Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online David Gibson and other surveyors involved in their construction. W W 02:32, 9 June 2007 (UTC)Reply

Bobcaygeon Road edit

I would like to submit the following information for inclusion in your article.

Bobcaygeon Road was surveyed from Port Hope, Ontario to Nipissing, Ontario, however only a few portions of the road were actually constructed:

Ont Highway 28 & 7B, Port Hope to Fowlers Corners; Victoria Co. Rd 17, King's Wharf to Bobcaygeon; Ont Highway 649 (now City of Kawartha Lakes 49) Bobcaygeon, to Galena Hill; Ont Highway 121 (now City of Kawartha Lakes 121) Galena Hill to Minden.

Many thanks Cli0019 04:20, 25 June 2007 (UTC)Reply

It was actually surveyed as far north as Bell's line, a east-west road that no longer exists. Highway 35 north of Minden followed this road, but in the 1950s and 1960s it was realigned to be smooth. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ τ ¢ 15:22, 29 May 2010 (UTC)Reply


The Historic Snow Colonization Road was also known as the Mississippi Colonization Road and ran all the way from Bancroft in the northwest to Maberly in the southeast. Snow Road in Bancroft marks the terminius. Part of the original road is now Highway 62 between Bronson and Bowen Corner. East of Bowen Corner Highway 62 goes north and an existing part of the old road still called Snow Road bears south. Further east existing sections of this old road are called Tower Road, Cemetery Road and Hartsmere Road through Carlow Mayo Township. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.146.215.130 (talk) 20:23, 3 June 2009 (UTC)Reply

Map showing eastern and central Ontario Colonizations Roads: http://www.hastingscountyatlas.com/photos/maps/target62.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.146.215.130 (talk) 13:28, 4 June 2009 (UTC)Reply

Reliable reference edit

List of Ontario roads with historic plaques Most of these are historic roads, besides the Trans Canada. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ τ ¢ 04:24, 12 August 2009 (UTC) Re Historic Snow rd. The parts of th Snow Rd East of Bancroft shared by the hywy are Hyway 28 east and not 62. The Snow rd actually ran to the Mississippi River past Snow Rd. Station and did not stop at Mayberly. The correct name of the road is the Mississippi Colonization Road — Preceding unsigned comment added by Donthdumpdude (talkcontribs) 00:26, 13 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

Merging in Monck Road edit

Since Monck Road currently covers little more than the information contained in the list, I don't believe it warrants a seperate article. This article could certainly be improved, but forking duplicate content is unhelpful to readers. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ τ ¢ 04:01, 14 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

  • Oppose merge. In stead of merging, the excessive info in the "notes" column, that is bloating the list, should be removed and should only be included with the separate article. That avoids the duplication and leaves plenty of referenced material for the Monck Road article. As it is, there already is info that is not covered in the list. -- P 1 9 9 • TALK 19:24, 14 February 2011 (UTC)Reply
The list can easily be expanded beyond the rather poorly organized table that it currently is to resemble something more along the lines of List of Ontario Tourist Routes. The Monck Road article currently has the following data:
  • The opening sentence, which answers who, what, where and when. The who is the same for all colonization roads in Ontario, and the what and where have always been in the table on this article. That leaves the when as unique info.
  • A brief history of the road - The primary unique information.
  • The communities it passes through - Has always been in the table on this article.
  • The current designations of the road - Has always been in the table on this article.
The unique information is entirely based on the plaque. Each one of these roads is going to have about the same amount of unique info (when it was built and what it was named for); otherwise these articles just spread information out unnecessarily when a much better, more comprehensive and informative article can be created covering the colonization road period of ~ 1845–1880, the dozen roads constructed as part of that program, and the effects (or rather lack thereof) of the program. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ τ ¢ 21:59, 14 February 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • I looked at List of Ontario Tourist Routes and yes, that is a nice article. The difference between tourist routes and colonization roads is that the latter have a long and meaningful history. So if fully and properly expanded, there will be too much info in the "List of Ontario Colonization Roads" article. Anyway, that may not happen and if you develop this article beyond a rudimentary table, I may reconsider the merge... -- P 1 9 9 • TALK 20:45, 15 February 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • I seriously doubt it could ever be too big; many featured lists push 70-80K. But, regardless, as I mentioned, the history of all of these roads is tied together. They were all created in the same time period by the same statutes and for the same purpose. There's no need to duplicate that over several articles; it can be explained in one section. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ τ ¢ 00:54, 16 February 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • Support merge until such time as there is actually something more to add on the subject. Imzadi 1979  01:16, 16 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

Durham Road edit

Wanted to bring up Durham Road in Bruce County for inclusion on the list. It forms part of Ontario Highway 9 (the info might be added in brief to that article too). See Settlement history - Durham Road, a transcription of an article that appeared in the Kincardine News on July 30, 1969, at the Bruce County Historical Society web site. Another resource might be the map at Township of Kincardine, from the Canadian County Atlas Project at McGill University, which has the road labelled. -papageno (talk) 04:01, 7 September 2011 (UTC)Reply

Personally I'd recommend adding it to Ontario Highway 9's early history. The colonization road program was strictly the roads through central Ontario built after 1850. Another article like this, however, could be created on the settlement roads of southwestern Ontario: the Durham Road, Huron Road (Hwy 8), Bluewater Highway (Hwy 21), Toronto-Sydenham Road (Hwy 10), Garafraxa Road (Hwy 6), etc. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ τ ¢ 04:35, 7 September 2011 (UTC)Reply
  Done Added to article about Ontario Highway 9.--papageno (talk) 16:41, 8 September 2011 (UTC)Reply

"Nipissing Road" is "Rosseau and Nipissing Road"? edit

Is the "Nipissing Road" in the article perhaps the "Rosseau and Nipissing Road"? I find the latter designation for a road on several Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources township mining claim maps, including one for Lount Township, Ontario and another for Pringle Township (see the second map in the series in the PDF for the south portion of the township; the second map is a relatively recent mapping). There also seems to be an Ontario historic plaque for the "The Rosseau-Nipissing Road" per The Rosseau-Nipissing Road. --papageno (talk) 18:55, 11 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Yep, they'd be the same road. My 1984 source from the MTO labels it as just the Nipissing Road (as does the identical map of all the roads which is on display at the Ontario Archives), but it doesn't provide much more than a table with towns, dates opened, and lengths. I'd say the plaque is the most reliable source; it would be very extensively fact-checked before being produced. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ τ ¢ 19:00, 11 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

The Parry Sound Road edit

The section on the Parry Sound Road just has a list of roads and places, and I'm not sure what it is trying to say. The section was called "Parry Sound", but I renamed it because Parry Sound appears to be the name of a town, not the road. However, I can't really find any substantial information on the Parry Sound Road, although it does appear to exist. If anyone with a little more knowledge on the subject could help out, it'd be greatly appreciated! Pupsterlove02 talkcontribs 12:36, 17 May 2020 (UTC)Reply

I agree that this article is an absolute mess, but so is the history of the colonization roads unfortunately. I've only done a small amount of research into specific ones. The real issue with them is the official-unofficial status they had, as government crews weren't exactly laying asphalt in the 1860s and mostly they were just vaguely designated trails that settlers were instructed to follow to get to their plots of land. You will also often see 2-3 different names for them, and some are alterations/evolutions of each other. I haven't found any evidence that this particular Parry Sound Road exists, at least as it's described. It's logical that the Muskoka Road and Great North Road need an intermediary to connect them, but it seems unlikely it would connect at Falkenburg Station, as that settlement was seemingly only founded in the 1890s for railway purposes. It's more logical that it would have been at Falkenburg, which is where the Muskoka Road terminated before it was extended in the 1870s. I believe that this whole article needs an extensive revamp by someone educated on the subject who is able to sort out the relationships between the different roads and the ways different ones replaced/supplanted each other. Julius177 (talk) 20:08, 18 May 2020 (UTC)Reply

The Burleigh Road edit

Having trouble deciphering the text describing this route north of Apsley. The place names and highway numbers are obsolete. Hollomis (talk) 01:40, 9 November 2021 (UTC)Reply

I never worked on that particular one, but from what I can follow in maps, it followed Hwy 28 to County Road 48 (Kitts Corners), thence to Hwy 118. It followed 118 west to Legacy Road, which it followed a short distance to 44.99027, -78.20086. You can sort of follow the path from there to where it joins South Wilberforce Road at 44.99811, -78.21016. North of Wilberforce it followed County Road 15 to Kennaway Road at 45.10693, -78.27235. The 8th and 9th maps at Ontario Genealogy, Haliburton Maps are my primary basis for this educated assumption; obviously the modern roads veer from the path of the old trails quite often. - Floydian τ ¢ 02:31, 9 November 2021 (UTC)Reply
This map from 1929 shows it pretty well also: [1] - Floydian τ ¢ 03:43, 9 November 2021 (UTC)Reply
Based on the above maps, the northern turn from 118/Monck Road was at the former community of Cope Falls. I don't know the exact location of this community, but the topographic falls are at 44.9666, -78.2272, within 2-3 km of the above mentioned turn.
It's safe to say that the running along Cope Creek to the Cope Lake site (mentioned in an earlier edit) should be deleted. Cope Lake is too far north, about 5 km northeast of Wilberforce and therefore illogical. Deer Lake Road is also too far away.Hollomis (talk) 21:40, 12 November 2021 (UTC)Reply
Instead of the description of the local sites, I reference the municipal recreation trailHollomis (talk) 21:49, 12 November 2021 (UTC)Reply
I agree. Whomever wrote this dealt with unclear maps. It can be quite difficult to pinpoint out these trails that have been absorbed by the forests for 150 years. If you need help with any info, let me know. I have a lot of historical resources, as well as a newspapers.com subscription and proquest access for the G&M and Toronto Star. these Topo maps (1:63,360 are the older ones) and every Ontario Highway map may help in your research. - Floydian τ ¢ 00:40, 13 November 2021 (UTC)Reply
Thank you, great resources. Hollomis (talk) 13:00, 13 November 2021 (UTC)Reply