KENYON WEEDS UPSPRING WHERE THE HEARTH SHOULD BE ... 39

"WEEDSUPSPRINGWHERETHEHEARTH SHOULDBE": RURALHOUSEABANDONMENTINSOUTHERN '

Ian T. Kenyon

A site type often encountered in the course of townships in Ontario south of the Canadian archaeological field surveys is the rural house Shield were reasonably well-settled. In fact, abandoned in the nineteenth or early twentieth rural population peaked in the 1880s, reaching centuries. The creation of such sites is related a total of about 1.4 million. to two phenomena well-recorded in contempo- rary documents. Initially most houses were Log Housing In Early Ontario built of logs, but as settlement progressed " Many nineteenth century accounts chronicle these were often replaced by improved" the pioneer experience. Unless a settler had structures of frame, stone or brick construction. independent means, their first house was Later, in the half-century between 1880 and usually a log cabin or shanty. Only later was it 1930, came a second phase of house possible to build a more substantial dwelling of abandonment, when much of rural Ontario frame, brick or stone. Of these various house underwent a general depopulation. This paper types, 'Tiger" Dunlop wrote in 1832: examines these two periods of house abandonment, and looks more specifically at Most of the houses, more particularly the underlying factors2. In particular, those of recent settlers, are built of logs. When a man gets on a little in contemporary descriptions and statistical the world, he builds a frame house, information from census records will be used weather-boarded outside, and lathed to develop a framework for understanding the and plastered within; and in travelling space-time dimensions of rural house along the road, you can form a pretty abandonment and loss. accurate estimate of the time a man has been settled, by the house he inhabits; — indeed, in some in- INTRODUCTION stances, you may read the whole history of his settlement in the build- At the opening of the nineteenth century, ings about his farmyard. European settlement in Ontario was largely The original shanty, or log-hovel, confined to the loyalist-settled townships ar- which sheltered the family when they rayed along a narrow strip bordering the St. first arrived on their wild lot, still re- Lawrence River, Lake Ontario and - mains, but has been degraded into a an area inhabited by less than 100,000 people piggery; the more substantial log- (Figure 1). From this ribbon-like core, only house, which held out the weather about 25 to 50 miles wide, settlement ex- during the first years of their sojourn, panded northwards. From the late 1820s to the has, with the increase of their wealth, 1850s there was a tremendous wave of emigra- become a chapel of ease to the stable tion to Ontario, especially from Scotland and or cowhouse; and the glaring and Ireland. Each year, something like 10,000 to staring bright-red brick house is brou- 50,000 emigrants arrived in British North Amer- ght forward close upon the road, that ica, many attracted to Ontario where interior the frame-dwelling, which at one time townships were rapidly being opened for the proprietor looked upon as the settlement. By 1851, rural population in Ontario exceeded 800,000 people. Although emigration declined in the 1860s, still, by about 1880, most 40 ONTARIOARCHAEOLOGY No. 64, 1997 KENYON WEEDS UP SPRING WHERE THE HEARTH SHOULD BE ... 41

very acme of his ambition, may at and frugality, ought to have from once serve as a kitchen to, and be twenty-five to thirty acres under im- concealed by, its more aspiring and provement....a comfortable house, a aristocratic successor.... [Dunlop good barn, and plenty of food for 1967:130-131]. himself and family [MacGregor 1832:I:468-469] Cost and convenience dictated why log houses predominated in the backwoods — in Such estimates of land clearing rates ap- remote settlements sawn lumber or bricks pear to be overly optimistic. As shown later, were either not available or very expensive; but only in areas where cleared land exceeded 40 logs could be had for free on the settler's own or even 50 acres per farm did improved houses farm. Through the use of a "bee" - where supplant the log cabin. According to Peter neighbours were enlisted to erect a house - a Russell's (1983) calculations, an average farm log cabin could be built in a few days for as family could clear about only 1.5 acres per little as £5 to £10. In contrast, a frame house of year. It could take 30 or more years until a farm modest size could cost 5 to 10 times as much3. was productive enough to permit financial As a farm lot was cleared and more land put investment in a frame or brick house. into production, frame or brick houses became The relationship between the average more affordable. For those without independ- amount of land cleared per farm and the ent means, nineteenth century writers sug- amount of improved housing was reflected in gested that it might take 10 to 20 years until the the geography of nineteenth century Ontario. settler was in a financial position to erect an Many nineteenth century writers observed that improved house. In 1855, Catherine Parr Traill in making a journey from the developed "front" advised prospective emigrants that: townships to the backwoods the whole settle- ment history could be traced. For example, the ... a wild farm is not to be made in Rev. Beaven in the early 1840s remarked on the one, two or even five years. - The new change in landscape and house types in the soil will indeed yield her increase to a Grand River area as he emerged from the large amount, but it takes years to backwoods and entered into the long-settled clear enough to make a really good countryside: farm, to get barns and sheds and fences and a comfortable dwelling- ...I had an opportunity of witnessing house; few persons accomplish all the clearing process in all its stages. this under ten, fifteen and sometimes In one place might be seen a few even twenty years. I am speaking now trees cut down, and the first rough of the poor man, whose only capital is shanty of boards set up....Then about his labour and that of his family.... an acre, with the trees felled, and [Traill 1968:36-7]. lying irregularly about; about a cou- ple of roods cleared in the centre of it, Similarly, MacGregor observed in 1832 that: a small log cottage set up, and the rest planted with potatoes. This would Few habitations can be more rude be fenced in perhaps with the boards than those of the first settlers, which of the original shanty, nailed to a few are built of logs, and covered with stumps and small trees, with their bark or boards.... The most that an tops cut off and left rooted in the emigrant can do the first year, is to ground....Further on the process has erect his habitation, and cut down the advanced another step ...... comfort- trees on as much ground as will be able stables and barns are erected; sufficient to plant ten or twelve an addition is perhaps made to the bushels of potatoes, and to sow log hut; the chimney, which was of three or four bushels of grain....In wood, filled in and plastered with the course of five years, an clay, is replaced by one of brick or industrious man may expect, and stone, built up from the ground....As should have, twelve acres under we approach the older settled country cultivation....In ten years, the same man, with perseverance 42 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY No. 64, 1997

Figure 2. Percentage of Improved (Non-log) Housing in 1861 (Wightman 1974)

the rough clearings scarcely appear, es in house construction material throughout such as the first I described: the farm the nineteenth century. With the 1851 and 1861 buildings, (all of wood) become capa- data, however, a sort of "cross-sectional" study cious, and are kept in good order. can be made, since, as indicated above, There is a good garden with upright different parts of Ontario were settled at differ- paling or boards; and a substantial ent times. frame-house, painted white or rough- To examine quantitatively the shift from log cast, with its neat verandah, and to improved housing the following variables pretty green French blinds, shows were recorded for 89 townships, using printed that the occupier has triumphed over census records: necessity, and possesses both leisure and ability to think of comfort, even • number of log houses in 1851 and in 1861; perhaps of elegance [Beaven 1846:58- number of improved houses (frame, brick and 62]. stone combined) in 1851 and in 1861; number of farms in 1861; In fact, spatial distribution of housing mate- amount of land occupied and cleared in 1861; rial types for 1861, as shown in a map (Figure total acreage of the township; and 2) by the geographer W.R. Wightman (1974), length or age of settlement (i.e. 1861 minus the very much parallels the settlement history of year when township was first settle&). Ontario (Figure 1). To the south, in the old loyalist core bordering the Lakes, most town- Using total acreage of a township, informa- ships had over 50 percent improved housing. tion on houses was standardized by converting But further north, in the backwoods, this figure raw numbers into densities per 100 acres, declines, and log cabins predominated. since 100 acres was about the average farm Printed census records provide a source of size. When certain variables are plotted information that can be used to obtain quanti- against length of settlement, several strong tative information about house types.4.4 relationships emerge. As the length of settle- Unfortunately only the 1851 and 1861 censuses ment increases, so too does the average size of contain details on house construction cleared land per farm. For older settlements the materials. As a result, it is not possible to use average farm had about 50 to 60 acres of census records to develop a longitudinal study cleared land, but for townships settled less to trace chang KENYON WEEDS UPSPRING WHERE THE HEARTH SHOULD BE ... 43

against acreage cleared, there is a net loss of log housing in town-ships that average over 53 cleared acres per farm (Figure 3). For townships that had been settled for about 40 to 70 years there is a tendency for log house density to drop between 1851 and 1861: typically the loss may be - .1 to -.3 per 100 acres (Figure 4). That is, for certain town-ships something like one out of every 5 to 10 log houses disappeared in the decade between 1851 and 1861. Figure 3. Gain/Loss ofLog Housing between 1851 and 1861 (Density per 100 A Acres) vs. Average Cleared Acres per Farm decrease in log house density is there-fore determined by both the length of time a township has been set- tled and the amount of land cleared per farm. When these two vari- ables are considered together, generally the loss of log houses tends to occur only in town- ships that have been both settled for over 40 years and where the average amount of cleared land per farm exceeds 50 acres (Figure 5). These quantitative estimates of log cabin

Figure 4. Gain/Loss ofLog Housing between 1851 and 1861 (Density per loss 100 Acres) vs. Length of Settlement have certain limitations. Not all log cabins truly disappeared. As Dunlop suggested, some than 20 years the average farm had only about could be converted into outbuildings, while 20 to 30 acres. others could have been framed or bricked over In general, house density increases with the and therefore be counted in the next census as age of settlement and with acres cleared. an improved house (e.g.,Rempel 1867: 23). As When, however, densities of log and improved well, these figures are overall losses, they do houses are considered individually, two differ- not take into ac-count log houses built in the ent trends are apparent. Improved housing decade between 1851 and 1861. Once again, increases with the length of settlement and there is nothing unique about this decade, with cleared acreage. In contrast, log housing however it is the only period for which such density decreases with the same two variables. systematic comparisons can be made. When the difference of log housing density between the 1851 and 1861 censuses is plotted 44 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY No. 64, 1997

provided a satisfying finale to the saga of pioneer settlement. But by the early twentieth century, it was increas- ingly evident that On- tario's countryside was once again being trans- formed. A conspicuous feature of this change was in its demograph- ics: a decline in the number of people who lived in rural Ontario. Each census between 1891 and 1921 recorded a net loss in Ontario's r u r a l p o p u l a t i o n (Cudmore 1912; Watson 1947; Young 1972). In contemporary writings "rural depopulation", as it was termed, created an emotion-laden de- bate6. For example, to the Rev. John MacDougall, in his 1913 book Rural Life in , the 1911 census provided sufficient statistical documentation that a great social evil was loose in Canada's countryside. The agrar- ian base — the source of its moral strength — was in decay: farm houses were standing abandoned; churches and schools were half- empty. McDougall bol- stered his arguments by interweaving dense paragraphs of statistics with doggerel poetry', set within a context of appeals to nostalgia

and religiosity, as well as a touch of racism:

Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Century How serious, therefore, is our situa- Rural Depopulation tion when we find that under the first count in the social strain - the aban- Clearing forests and replacing log cabins doned home - in Ontario, Lennox and with frame or masonry houses should have KENYON WEEDS UPSPRING WHERE THE HEARTH SHOULD BE ... 45

Addington have 366 fewer dwelling depopulation on housing stock, information on houses than ten years ago, a loss of house and farm density between 1817 and 1931 6.9 per cent; East Huron 310 less, a was compiled for a sample of 45 rural town- loss of 7.5 per cent; North Lanark had ships; that is, townships that never contained 265 of its dwellings, or 7.7 per cent, go an incorporated village8. When house density out of use in the decade; and Lamb- profiles are charted through time, some in- ton East 491, or 8.3 per cent; while in triguing differences and similarities emerge Grenville 352, or 9.17 per cent, be- (e.g., Figure 6). Since the sample townships came unoccupied - the largest loss, were first settled at different times — from as for a county, in the Province. early as 1780 to as late as 1852 — the initial population "take-off" dates are correspondingly There was nothing wrong with Rev. variable. Also there are marked differences in MacDougall's numbers, although other con- the slope or rate of increase. The old loyalist temporary writers took a more dispassionate townships (e.g., Sophiasburg) — those settled view of rural change. For example, C.C. James, before the — tend to show a grad- a former deputy minister of agriculture, pub- ual increase in house density. In contrast, the lished a brief history of Ontario farming in new townships (e.g., Hibbert) like those in the 1914. Although he noted the decline in On- Huron Tract and Queen's Bush — first opened tario's rural population, James regarded this as to settlement during the 1830s and 1840s when a "trying" but necessary adaptation to chang- immigration was at a peak — tend to have ing economic circumstances. high initial growth rates. Despite these differ- Reasons for this change are multiple but not ences, most townships reach their peak den- hard to find (Drummond 1987). In part, people sity between 1870 and 1890 at about .8 to 1.7 left Ontario's rural townships because of a houses per 100 acres. Townships with little perception of better economic opportunities arable land, however, may have lower overall elsewhere: in the cities, in the United States densities (e.g., Bruce Peninsula). Most, but not and in Canada's own west. The opening of the all townships, display a decreasing density CPR line in 1886 finally made the bulk trans- after 1881, with a tendency for the rate of portation of people and commodities between decline to be similar. So, notwithstanding the Ontario and the west practical. As a result, different dates and rates of settlement there is a population of the prairies expanded rapidly, sort of "equifinality" in the abandonment of and the west became the wheat producing rural housing in the late nineteenth and early region of Canada. The west attracted many twentieth centuries. people from Ontario; for example, in 1911, 16 Overall, loss of farm houses between 1881 percent of the population of western Canada and 1931 is about 10 to 20 percent for many was Ontario-born. townships. There is, however, a difference The structure of Ontario agriculture was also between the old and new townships in the date changing (Drummond 1987; Lawr 1972). With a when such housing loss takes place. For the shift to mixed farming between 1881 and 1931, 1881-1911 period there is a positive trend wheat production dropped by more than half between the length of time a township had and there was a corresponding increase in been settled and the gain of rural housing livestock and fodder crops like oats and hay. (Figure 7). During this period it is mainly the While the McKinley tariff act of 1891 restricted new townships — those settled after the War of agricultural exports to the United States, "fin- 1812 — where house loss occurs. ished" farm products like beef and pork, butter Between 1911 and 1931 there is a contrasting and cheese, found a ready and profitable trend: a negative correlation between length of market in the rapidly growing cities of Ontario. settlement and increase of house density Mechanization — at first based on horse (Figure 8). While almost all townships were power, later on steam and gasoline — resulted now losing houses, the loss is greater in the old in labour-reducing farm efficiencies. While the townships. For the new townships a loss rate of number of farms decreased, as did farm popu- about -.1 per 100 acres is typical; for the old lation, overall farm acreage for Ontario re- township this figure approaches -.2. In all, mained much the same. between 1881 and 1931 many rural townships To examine more precisely the effect of rural in Ontario displayed a decrease of about -.1 to 46 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY No. 64, 1997

Such depopulation and farmhouse loss can be vividly illustrated by comparing two maps of the central portion of Ashfield Township in Huron County. Ashfield was one of the new townships, first settled around 1838, reaching a population peak in the 1881 census (Figure 6), about the date of the 1879 map data shown on the left in Figure 9. In 1879 the 10,800 acre block contained 109 houses, mostly those of farmers: a density of 1.01 per 100 acres. On the right in Figure 9,

Figure 7. Gain/Loss ofRural Housing Between 1881 and 1911 (Density per 100 is house location data Acres) vs. Length of Settlement taken from a 1932 topo- graphic map. By this time, a half century after the first map, there were only 87 houses. Density had declined to .81 per 100 acres — one out of every 5 houses had vanished.

SUMMARYAND IMPLICATIONS

As discussed earlier, initially most houses were built of logs, but as settlement pro- gressed, and land was cleared and put into

Figure 8. Gain/Loss ofRural Housing Between 1911 and 1931 (Density per 100 Acres) vs. Length of Settlement

agricultural production, these were often replaced by "improved" struc- tures of frame, stone or brick. Typically this -.3 houses per 100 acres. In effect, one out of period of log cabin abandonment occurs about every 5 to 10 farm houses disappeared — a 40 to 70 years after first settlement, although figure, in fact, similar in scale to the loss of log the rate of farm clearance has a contributing houses at an earlier time. Except for areas of effect. In the southern tier of counties, which marginal agriculture, farm land itself was not were first settled in the late 18th century, this abandoned, but combined with existing hold- phase of log cabin abandonment should occur ings. As farm house density decreased, farms at a relatively early date, about 1830 to 1850. In became larger. In the 45 sample townships, the more northerly tiers of counties, which were farm size increased by 20 percent — from 96 settled more recently, this phase should corre- acres in 1881, to 115 in 19319. spondingly occur later. KENYON WEEDS UPSPRING WHERE THE HEARTH SHOULD BE ... 47

A second phase of house abandonment took periods of house abandonment (Figure 10). For place between 1880 and 1930. This phase was the old loyalist townships these two phases associated with a general depopulation of should be separated by a period of roughly 70 rural Ontario. When these two trends are taken years, since log cabin abandonment came together it is evident that for most rural town- early, but depopulation after 1910. For town- ships there should be two reasonable discrete ships settled in the 1820 to 1850 period there is 48 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY No. 64, 1997

to occur on more mar- ginal farms, then such sites may not represent a random sample of households for the pe- riod, but rather ones of lesser wealth. Looking at broadly defined regions (the "tiers"), this paper deals only with some general trends for southern On- tario in the nineteenth and early twentieth cen- turies. For any particu- lar locality under study there should be docu- ments (e.g., census and

Figure 10. Tiered Bimodal Model of Periods of House Abandonmentassessment returns,historical maps) that less separation of the two phases, about 50 may be able to provide " years. township-specific information — a calibration" In the more remote townships settled late in — on periods of house abandonment. Such the nineteenth century, the two phases may data can help archaeologists, particularly coincide, so that the early twentieth century those in the planning and consulting fields, in period of depopulation is also the time when making determinations of relative site signifi- log cabins are abandoned. For example, in the cance or rarity for any nineteenth century site Bruce Peninsula housing density reached a under investigation. But such an approach peak in 1901, and many of these structures requires the archaeologist to be aware not just were still first generation log cabins. But the of "mean ceramic dates," but also of historically Bruce, like the more southerly townships, also and archaeologically defined initial and termi- suffered rural depopulation, so that by 1921 it nal dates for the site in question. With such had lost almost one-quarter of its houses. information it may be possible to equate any This model has certain implications for discussion of site significance to both truly analyzing the results of regional archaeological local and broad regional measurements of surveys. One is that in most parts of south-ern rarity and representativeness. Ontario, if terminal dates (not the median dates) of rural homestead sites are plotted ENDNOTES through time, there should be two date clus- ters, which correspond to the two eras of house 1. A version of this paper was given at the abandonment. Furthermore, if many log cabins 1993 symposium of The Ontario are being abandoned at about the same time Archaeological Society, held in Niagara Falls. and being replaced by improved structures, it A later version of this paper was published in would seem likely that these households would Kewa, newsletter of the London Chapter of be at a similar economic level, since they had The Ontario Archaeological Society Inc.: 95- enough wealth to erect more substantial dwell- 6:2-16. Thanks to Susan Kenyon for tracking ings. In such cases, the abandoned cabin sites down some of the printed census material, and may display similar material cultures. It would to Neal Ferris for his editorial assistance. be interesting to know more about the socio- 2. Since there is a decided spatial aspect to economic features (e.g., income, farm produc- this, changes in house types and population tivity) of families that abandoned farm houses densities are features of settlement well-stud- during the period of rural depopulation at the ied by historical geographers, notably W.R. turn of the century. If this phenomenon tended Wightman and his colleagues (e.g., Clarke et al. 1978; Taylor et al. 1986; Wightman 1974). KENYON WEEDS UPSPRING WHERE THE HEARTH SHOULD BE ... 49

3. In 1817 — a time of high prices — Gourlay given in the 1921 and 1931 censuses. These (1974:292) reported the cost of a log house at were estimated by dividing the township popu- £25 and a "good" frame house between £ 125 to lation by the average household size for those £250. In 1824, E.A. Talbot cited £10.10s as the years. Pre-1851 information was taken from cost of a log house fit for settlement duties. assessment rolls where, too, house numbers Respondents to an 1840 questionnaire about had to be estimated from population size by farm making costs gave slightly different dividing this figure by the average household estimates (Ankli and Duncan 1984). Estimated size as given in the 1851 census. Information costs to construct a log house ranged between on number of houses in 1817 was taken from £5 and £20, although the Canada Company Gourlay's Statistical Account of respondent said one could be built through a (1974). "bee" for only £2.10s. Costs for frame houses 9. These figures compare well for the averages were higher, ranging from £50 to £90. An 1843 for all Ontario farms: 93 acres in 1881; 119 folder, issued by the Canada Company to acres in 1931. attract prospective settlers to its lands, gave the price of a "comfortable Log House, 16 feet APPENDIX by 24, two floors, with shingled roof" as £9 (Coleman and Anderson 1978:118). The same Building Shanties and Log Houses document indicates a cost of £50 for a frame house of the same dimensions. This must be The following are a number of quotes on the taken as a minimal price for most frame subject of cabin and shanty construction taken houses were larger than 16' by 24'. from nineteenth century traveller accounts. All 4. Printed census records consulted include accounts come from Ontario experiences. volumes in the following series: Census of the 1851-52. 2 vols. (1853- 1) Catharine Parr Traill, The Backwoods of 55) Canada 1836: Census of 1860-61. 2 vols. (1863- 64) The shanty is a sort of primitive hut in Census of Canada 1870-71. 5 vols. (1875) Canadian architecture, and is noth- Census of Canada 1880-81.4 vols. (1882-85) ing more than a shed built of logs, the Census of Canada 1890-91.4 vols. (1893-97) chinks between the round edges of Census of Canada 1901. 4 vols. (1902-06) the timbers being filled with mud, Census of Canada 1911. 6 vols. (1912-15) moss, and bits of wood; the roof is Census of Canada 1921. 5 vols. (1924-29) frequently composed of logs split and Census of Canada 1931. 13 vols. (1933-42) hollowed with the axe, and placed Census of Canada 1941. 11 vols. (1944-50) side by side, so that the edges rest on 5. Following the practice of Taylor et al. each other; the concave and convex (1986) the date of first settlement was taken surfaces being alternately upper- from the answer to question 1 in the township- most, every other log forms a channel by-township survey that appeared in Appendix to carry off the rain and melting snow. B of the Report of the Ontario Agricultural The eaves of this building resemble Commission (Ontario 1881). the scalloped edges of a clam shell; 6. This phenomenon also occurred in the but rude as this covering is, it effec- United States. Barron (1984) summarizes some tively answers the purpose of keeping of the contemporary social commentary on the interior dry; far more so than the rural depopulation, and provides an account of roofs formed of bark or boards, throu- the economic and social impact in a New gh which the rain and snow will find England rural community. entrance. Sometimes the shanty has 7. For example: a window, sometimes only an open " Stands a house by the river side, doorway, which admits the light and Weeds upspring where the hearth should lets out the smoke. A rude chimney, be, which is often nothing better than an Only its tottering walls abide." opening cut in one of the top logs 8. Number of houses per township was not above the hearth, a few boards fas- 50 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY No. 64, 1997

tened in a square form, serves as the carried out in a manner something vent for the smoke; the only precau- similar to the stick chimnies common tion against the fire catching the log in Irish cabins. The floors are then walls behind the hearth being a few pinned down and the inside of the large stones placed in a half circular walls hewn. The vacant spaces be- form, or more commonly a bank of tween the logs are filled up with small dry earth raised against the wall timber; and the outside is carefully [1966:44]. mudded over, so as to render it per- fectly airtight. Windows and doors are 2) Col. Talbot, Five Years' Residence in the then put up; the mansion is pro- Canadas 1824: nounced fit for the residence of a Monarch; and the family for whom it On arriving at the destined spot, the was intended, take immediate pos- first consideration is to construct a session (1824, Vol. 11:187-190). shanty, or shed, for sleeping in. It is covered with bark; and when a large 3) J. MacGregor, British America 1832: fire is made on the outside opposite the entrance, the interior of the tem- The habitations which the new set- porary dwelling is rendered suffi- tlers first erect are constructed in the ciently comfortable, during the short rudest manner. Round logs, from time that it is necessary to make use fifteen to twenty feet long, are laid of it. The next thing required, is to horizontally over each other, and clear a spot for laying the foundation notched at the corners to allow them of the house; and, this being effected, to come along the walls within about the whole party proceed to cut down an inch of each other. One is first laid a sufficient number of small tress for on each side to begin the walls, then building. The trees must not exceed a one at each end, and the building is foot in diameter; and, on being cut to raised in this manner by a succession the required length, they should be of logs crossing and binding each drawn up close to the foundation of other at the corners, until seven or the proposed house. Beams and sills eight feet high. The seams are closed are then made out, and drawn up to with moss or clay; three or four rafters be hewn. Large White Ash and Bass- are then raised to support the roof, wood trees are also cut down; and, which is covered with boards, or with after being divided into lengths of 10 the rinds of birch or spruce trees, feet each, supposing the house to be bound down with poles tied together 20 feet in the clear, they are split into with wires. A wooden framework plac- planks, and prepared for the flooring. ed on a stone foundation is raised a When all this has been effected, 10 or few feet from the ground, and leading 12 persons, who reside in the vicinity through the roof, its sides closed up of the intended building, are re- with clay and straw kneaded to- quested to assist in raising it. On the gether, forms a chimney. A space arrival of those persons, the founda- large enough for a door, and another tion is laid, by dove-tailing four of the for a window, is then cut through the largest logs together, and notching walls; and in the centre of the cabin a down the sills. A man then steps up square pit or cellar is dug, for the on each corner of the frame, and as purpose of preserving potatoes or quickly as the logs are rolled up, they other vegetables during the winter. are connected together. The roof is Over this pit a floor of boards, or of carried up in the same way, and is logs hewn flat on the upper side, is covered either with bark or split clap- laid, and another overhead to form a boards. The door and window-places sort of garret. When a door is hung, a are then cut out; a stone back is built window sash with six or more panes to the fire-place; and the chimney is of glass is fixed....New settlers who KENYON WEEDS UPSPRING WHERE THE HEARTH SHOULD BE ... 51

have means build much better hous- unburnt stone, which make it not so es at first, with two or more rooms; but good for plastering. I built my house the majority of emigrants live for a of elm-logs, thirty-six feet long by few years in habitations similar to the twenty-four feet wide, which I divided one here described [1832:558-5591. into three rooms on the ground floor, besides an entrance-hall and stair- 4) Samuel Strickland, Twenty-Seven Years in case, and three bed-rooms up stairs. Canada West 1853 (where he describes his I was very busy till October making the shingles, roofing, cutting out the experience as a settler, first building a shanty door and window-spaces, and hewing and then soon after a log house): the logs down inside the house. I was anxious to complete the outside My friend in Douro turned out the walls, roof, and chimneys before win- next day and assisted me to put up ter set in, so I might be able to work at the walls of my shanty and roof it with the finishing part inside, under cover, basswood troughs, which was com- and with the benefit of a fire (1970:97- pleted before dark. I was kept busy 99). for more than a week chinking be- tween the logs and plastering up all 5) Wm. Magrath to Rev. T. Radcliff, Authentic the crevices, cutting out a doorway and place for a window, casing them, Letters From Upper Canada 1831 (describing making a door and hanging it on the erection of a log house near Erindale): wooden hinges, &c....Four thick slabs of lime-stone, placed upright in one To return to the new settler. Having corner of the shanty with clay well determined on the plan, the proper packed behind them to keep the fire scantlings, he has the logs cut, ac- off the logs, answered very well for a cordingly, to the right lengths, and chimney with a hole cut through the drawn together where the formation roof directly above, to vent the smoke of the house is to take place. (1970:92). The walls are contrived in the same I was anxious to commence building manner as a schoolboy makes a crib, my house, so that I might have it except that they must be upright; but, ready to receive my wife in before the like that, they have corresponding winter commenced. My first step to- notches, cut out of the ends of the wards it was to build a lime-heap. I respective logs that their adjoining calculated I should require for plas- surfaces may close, with as little tering my walls and building my space as possible between them, and chimneys, about a hundred bushels. that the coins or angles may be thus We set to work accordingly, and built strongly braced. an immense log-heap of all the larg- The elevation must depend on the est logs I could get together. It took at room required within; where upper least the timber growing on half an apartments are intended, it must rise acre of land for this purpose....We according, and proportionately high made a frame of logs on the top of the in a log house, which is generally heap, to keep the stone from falling finished with a shed, or pent-house, over the side. We drew for this pur- roof. pose twenty cart-loads of lime-stone, In the formation of this roof, however which we threw upon the summit of simple, much accuracy is to be ob- the heap, having broken it small with served. a sledge-hammer; fire was then ap- Black ash and bass wood are consid- plied to the heap, which was con- ered best adapted to this purpose - sumed by the next morning....This is the stems should be about fourteen the easiest and most expeditious way inches in diameter, straight, clean, of burning lime; but the lime is not so and easily split. Having cut them into white, and there are more pieces of lengths, corresponding with the pitch 52 ONTARIOARCHAEOLOGY No. 64, 1997

of the roof, they are then to be cleft 6) Martin Doyle, Hints of Emigration to Upper asunder and hollowed out by the axe Canada 1831: like rude troughs. These are ranged in sufficient num- ber from front to rear, in the line of the The first habitation which a settler roof with the hollow side uppermost; thinks of, is the log house - and this is and over them are ranged alternately, very speedily erected. Proceed in the an equal number, with the round following way:- After clearing the side uppermost; so that the adjoining underwood....with a peculiar kind of of each two of the upper logs meet in hook, like our billhook, except it has a the hollow of that beneath them, long handle, gather it into a heap and whilst the adjoining edges of each set fire to it, then cut down as many two of the lower logs are covered by trees as will answer your purpose; the hollow of that which is above these divide into lengths from 14 to 20 them; thus forming a compact roof feet, according to the size of your perfectly water tight, as the hollows of family - square and dress them with the under logs effectually carry off all an adze as well as you can; then lay rain that may fall through the joints three of these pieces thus [figure] of the upper surface; and the roof morticed at the angles, on the continues staunch as long as the ground, and raise corresponding logs timbers remain undecayed. over them, fitted into each other by This being completed - means must notches previously cut, until your be taken to admit both the family and walls are 8 feet in height, building up the light. The openings of the doors the second gable at the same time and windows (Which are generally with stones, to prevent danger from procured, ready made, from the near- the fire, which is to be placed on a est settlement) are then formed in the flagged portion of the floor next to it; walls by a cross-cut saw or an axe. then fasten your rafters for the roof, The chimney is then built with mud, if which is to be covered with boards stones be scarce. The stubbing after- lapped over, or if permanence be wards takes place, which means the intended, with short pieces of boards filling up the vacancies between the called shingles which are more easily logs with slips of wood, mud and renewed than long pieces - you then moss; the floor is then formed of cleft cut out a door and window; the crev- planks pinned to logs sunk in the ices in the walls, appearing between ground, and smoothed or rather lev- the logs, are to be closed up with clay elled with an adze; the interior parti- and moss, then floor the house either tions &c may be got forward by de- with smooth boards or rough ones, grees; but the oven, which is an es- thrown across sleepers; timber being sential, must be completed before the abundant, and dryness essential to arrival of the family. health and comfort, a clay floor is Stones or bricks must be procured for never used in Canada. An oven will be this, at any inconvenience, for secu- essential, especially in summer, when rity against fire; but mud will serve as the heat would render the operation mortar; it is always built outside the of baking inside the house very house, and stands alone. It is heated disagreeable, and this is frequently with pine, or very dry hard wood split made of clay, and perhaps raised on into small pieces, and burnt in the the stump of a large tree [1831:59-61]. oven to ashes, which being swept out, the bread is baked as in the common 7) David Kennedy, Incidents of Pioneer Days brick ovens at home, where dried at and the County of Bruce 1903 (remi- furze are used to heat them (1953:16- niscing about erecting a shanty in Bruce 18). County in 1851):

...we commenced at once to cut logs KENYON WEEDS UPSPRING WHERE THE HEARTH SHOULD BE ... 53

to build a shanty near by a pure run- The chimney is then built spacious, ning spring creek....we also got the with a few stones for the back, to logs of the shanty put up, which was prevent the fire from communicating only thirteen feet square....began to with the logs, which nevertheless it saw a doorway into our shanty, and often does; and log houses are fre- before night I had completed the quently burnt. Seldom any accident cutting....We managed to roof our happens, and the smallness of their shanty with elm bark and we chinked value renders the loss inconsiderable. the cracks up with pieces of split When time and circumstances admit, basswood and moss, and we made a and saw-mills are accessible, a fireplace with stones from the river, frame-house is built, and covered and a chimney place of bent sticks neatly with boards, planed and paint- plastered with mud, and a floor of ed [1820:82-83]. basswood slabs, split and hewn with an adze [1903:31-37]. 9) J. MacGregor, British America 1832 (a half- pay officer describing his settlement near Rice 8) , A Visit to the Province c Lake, writing about 1827 or 1828): Upper Canada in 1819 1820: In February, 1820, I contracted with In some excursions which we made, two men to put me up a log-house, 28 we saw the first struggles of the new feet by 20; and thirteen logs, or as settler. As soon as he gets in a little many feet high; to roof it with shin- Indian corn and a few potatoes in the gles, and to board up the gable ends; ground, he endeavours to put up a and to clear off one acre about the log house: accordingly, he chooses a house, to prevent the trees from fall- spot most convenient for his resi- ing on it, for all which I paid them 100 dence, and cuts down trees of a suit- dollars. This shell of a building had able size for his cabin. These he cuts merely a doorway cut out of the mid- into lengths; the most common di- dle....[During the summer] I was now mensions of the first building are 18 anxious to get my house made habit- feet long by 16 broad; and it is so built able as soon as possible, and a car- as to become the kitchen of a supe- penter being employed not far off, I rior house to be erected in its front, endeavoured to engage him to put in when the settler has enlarged his the windows and door; but finding clearing, and got a little more forward that he wished to take advantage of in the world. After cutting a sufficient my situation, I determined to do it number of logs, his neighbours as- myself, and thus was forced to learn semble, and raise the building for the business of a carpenter....In the him, by laying the logs in a rectangu- fall, or autumn, I put up a log-kitchen, lar figure, with the ends notched, so and a shed for my cattle....During the as to interlock with one another, by summer, I got my house chinked, or which means the whole are secured filled the interstices between the logs and braced together. The spaces for with pieces of wood to make the in- the door and windows are then cut side flush or smooth, and to prevent through; and towards winter, the the mud used as plaster on the out- interstices, or openings between the side from coming through [1832:468- logs, are chinked, that is, filled with 469]. pieces of wood, and mudded, or daubed with plaster of common mud. 10) J. Beavan, Recreations of a Long It is covered with bark; and, where Vacation 1846 (observations made while mills are distant, or the newness of travelling in the Grand River area): the country makes it difficult to get out to the roads which lead to them, the I had the opportunity of witnessing the floor is likewise covered with bark. clearing process in all its stages. In 54 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY No. 64, 1997

one place might be seen a few tress Doyle, M. cut down, and the first rough shanty 1831 Hints of Emigration to Upper Canada: of boards set up, with which by the Especially Addressed to the Lower bye many of the Irish appear to con- Classes in Great Britain and Ireland. tent themselves altogether for two or W. Curry, Jr., Dublin. On microfilm, three years together. Then about an Wheldon Library, UWO. acre, with the trees felled, and lying Drummond, I.M. irregularly about; about a couple of 1987 Progress without Planning: The Eco- rods cleared in the centre of it, a small log cottage set up, and the rest nomic History of Ontario from Con- planted with potatoes. This would be federation to the Second World War. fenced in perhaps with the boards of University of Press, Toronto. the original shanty, nailed to a few Dunlop, William "Tiger" stumps and small trees, with their 1967 "Statistical Sketches of Upper Can- tops cut off and left rooted in the ada" In Tiger Dunlop's Upper Can- ground.... Further on the process has ada, edited by Carl F. Klinck, pp. 63- advanced another step.... comfort- 137. McClelland and Stewart, To- able stables and barns are erected; ronto. Originally published in 1832. and an addition is perhaps made to Gourlay, R. the log hut; the chimney, which was of 1974 Statistical Account of Upper Canada. wood, filled in and plastered with McClelland and Stewart, Toronto. clay, is replaced by one of brick or Originally published in 1822. stone, built up from the ground James, C.C. [1846:58-621. 1913 History of Farming. In Canada and Its Provinces, vol. 18 (Ontario II), edited by A. Shortt and A.G. Doughty, pp. REFERENCESCITED 551-82. Publishers' Association of Canada, Toronto. Ankli, R.E., and K.J. Duncan Kennedy, D. 1984 Farm Making Costs in Early Ontario. 1903 Incidents of Pioneer Days at Guelph Canadian Papers in Rural History and the County of Bruce. Toronto. Lawr, IV:33-49. D.W. Barron, H.S. 1972 The Development of Ontario Farming, 1984 Those Who Stayed Behind: Rural 1870-1914: Patterns of Growth and Society in Nineteenth-Century New Change. Ontario History 64:239-51. England. Cambridge University MacDougall, J. Press, Cambridge. 1973 Rural Life in Canada: Its Trend and Beaven, J. Tasks. University of Toronto Press, 1846 Recreations of a Long Vacation. Row- Toronto. Originally published in 1913. sell, Toronto. MacGregor, J. Clarke, J., H.W. Taylor, and W.R. Wightman 1832 British America. 2 vols. Blackwood, 1978 Areal Patterns of Population Change Edinburgh. in , 1831-1891; Core, Ontario, Government of and Intervening Space. On- 1881 Report of the Ontario Agricultural tario Geography 12:27-48. Commission, vol. II, Appendix B. Radcliff, Coleman, T., and J. Anderson Rev. T. 1978 The Canada Company. County of 1953 Authentic Letters From Upper Cana- Perth and Cumming Publishers, Strat- da. MacMillan Company of Canada, ford. Toronto. Originally published in 1833. Cudmore, S.A. Rempel, J.I. 1912 Rural Depopulation in Southern On- 1967 Building with Wood and Other As- tario. Transactions of the Royal Cana- pects of Nineteenth-Century Building dian Institute 9:261-67. in Ontario. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. KENYON WEEDS UPSPRING WHERE THE HEARTH SHOULD BE ... 55

Russell, P.A. 1983 Forest into Farmland: Upper Canadian 1968 The Canadian Settler's Guide. Clearing Rates, 1822-1839. Agri- McClelland and Stewart, Toronto. cultural History 57:326-339. Originally published in 1855. Strachan, J. Watson, J.W. 1820 A Visit to the Province of Upper 1947 Rural Depopulation in Southwestern Canada in 1819. D. Chalmers and Ontario. Annals Association of Amer- Co., Aberdeen. ican Geographers 37:145-54. Strickland, S. Wightman, W.R. 1970 Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West 1974 Construction Materials in Colonial or the Experience of an Early Settler. Ontario 1831-61. In Aspects of M.G. Hurtig, Edmonton. Originally Nineteenth-Century Ontario, edited by published in 1853. F.H. Armstrong, H.A. Stevenson and Talbot, E.A. J.D. Wilson, pp. 114-34. University of 1824 Five Years' Residence in the Canadas. Toronto Press, Toronto. 2 vols. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Young, W.R. Brown and Green, London. 1972 Conscription, Rural Depopulation, and Taylor, H.W., J. Clarke and W.R. Wightman the Farmers of Ontario, 1917-19. 1985 Contrasting Land Development Rates Canadian Historical Review 53:289- in Southern Ontario to 1891. Cana- 320. dian Papers in Rural History V:50-72. Traill, C.P. 1966 The Backwoods of Canada. McClell- and and Stewart, Toronto. Originally published in 1836.

Ian T. Kenyon 1946 - 1997