Duffins Creek State of the Watershed Report Human Heritage June 2002

Duffins Creek State of the Watershed Report Human Heritage June 2002 Other topics in this series for both the Duffins Creek and the Carruthers Creek include: Introduction Study Area Greenspace, Trails and Recreation Land Use Air Quality Climate Surface Water Quality Surface Water Quantity Stormwater Management Fluvial Geomorphology Hydrogeology Aquatic Habitat and Species Terrestrial Natural Heritage Cover photograph: 1856 House Preserved, George Washington Post II built his Gothic Revival style house near Millers Creek when Kingston Road was just a dirt track. The Ajax Municipal Housing Corporation renovated and preserved it as office space for an apartment complex. Photo credit: TRCA This document is intended to be shared for non-commercial use. We are promoting the electronic use of this document to minimize the consumption of paper resources. Images appear courtesy of the Ontario Archaeological Society Toronto and Region Conservation, 5 Shoreham Drive, Downsview, Ontario M3N 1S4 Telephone: (416) 661-6600 Fax: (416) 661-6898 www.trca.on.ca Table of Contents Introduction to Human Heritage . .2 Current Inventory of Human Heritage Features . .3 Archaeological Sites . .3 Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee Heritage Inventories . .4 Historical Review of the Duffins Creek Watershed . .6 Archaeological Resources . .6 Early Contact and Euro-Canadian History . .13 Summary . .18 References Cited . .19 Appendix A: 1999-2000 Human Heritage Study Methodology . .21 Appendix B: Heritage Definitions . .25 Appendix C: Architectural Styles . .26 Appendix D: Archaeological Case Study The Glen Major Complex . .29 Appendix E: Second Nations (Euro-Canadian) Case Study The Glen Major Complex . .32 Tables and Figures Table 1: Human Heritage Designation of Sites Per Subwatershed . .3 Table 2: Archaeological Sites: Cultural Affiliations . .4 Table 3: Built Heritage Structures and Other Visible Features: Original Uses . .6 Table 4: Built Heritage Structures and Other Visible Features: Municipalities . .8 Table 5: Built Heritage Structures: Architectural Styles . .8 Figure 1: Registered Archaeological Sites in the Duffins Creek Watershed . .5 Figure 2: Built Heritage Features and Centres of 19th Century Settlement . .7 1 Introduction to Human Heritage Over thousands of years and into the present, geological processes such as glaciation, erosion, flooding and deposition have shaped the Duffins Creek watershed into a region of unique and noteworthy natural heritage value. Physiographic features contained in the region, such as the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Duffins Marsh, are some of Ontarios most outstanding natural features. These features, and the environmentally significant areas along the valley corridors of the Duffins Creek, provide critical habitat for flora and fauna, in addition to providing a diverse and resource-rich environment for human habitation. This chapter details the known human heritage resources, in other words the history of the people both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal and the remnants of the human past, in the Duffins Creek watershed. The study area consists of the entire Duffins Creek watershed, including the East and West Duffins plus 10 tributaries. In contemporary political terms, this watershed falls within the boundaries of the municipalities of Uxbridge, Pickering and Ajax in Durham Region, and Whitchurch-Stouffville and Markham in York Region, and is the least urbanized of the Greater Toronto Area watersheds. Less urbanized areas contain greater numbers of human heritage resources, in general, since there is less pressure to remove the old to make way for the new as urban areas expand. An analysis was undertaken in 1999-2000 to begin an open-ended inventory of the human heritage resources within the Duffins Creek watershed. These non-renewable resources included archaeological sites that have been registered with the Ontario Ministry of Culture, and heritage buildings and other structures, plus plaques and cemeteries, that have been identified by municipal and provincial heritage agencies. Each feature or resource was researched and mapped in order to obtain a basic understanding of the relationships between these, as well as their relationships to the natural features within the watershed. This information will form the basis of future planning, stewardship, consultation and regeneration efforts. The methodology employed in the 1999-2000 study is detailed in Appendix A. Working definitions of basic terminology appear in Appendix B which identify the types of assessments that were involved in the Duffins human heritage study. 2 Current Inventory of Human Heritage Features A total of 464 individual human heritage features were defined during the Resource Definition component of the project. These heritage features are defined below in Table 1. The built heritage features have all been field surveyed to determine such characteristics as precise location, subwatershed association, architectural style and original use. Table 1: Human Heritage Designation of Sites Per Subwatershed Subwatershed Listed Designated Cemeteries Plaques Borden Total and de- and Burial Archaeological Designated Places 1) Stouffville Creek 58 1 2 4 3 68 2) Reesor Creek 7 0 1 0 10 18 3) West Duffins 17 9 4 3 61 94 4) Wixon Creek 0 0 0 0 2 2 5) Mitchell Creek 1 1 1 0 13 16 6) East Duffins 81 15 9 4 42 151 7) Major Creek 8 0 0 0 18 26 8) Whitevale Creek 3 0 2 1 0 6 9) Ganatsekiagon Creek 2 0 1 0 17 20 10) Urfé Creek 1 0 5 1 6 13 11) Brougham Creek 4 1 3 4 10 22 12) Millers Creek 13 3 2 0 10 28 TOTAL 195 30 30 17 192 464 Archaeological Sites A total of 192 archaeological sites (Table 2, Figure 1) have been located within the Duffins It is well established that human activity has always Creek watershed. These sites represent a use of centred on a regions rivers and lakes in order to the watersheds by both Aboriginal peoples and fill the need for a stable water supply, to utilize Euro-Canadians for thousands of years. Of note, associated resources and to take advantage of is that while many historic mills were in use during transportation potential. The main channels, all the Euro-Canadian settlement of the region, very orders of streams and the headwaters of the little specific spatial information is available to Duffins Creek on the south slope of the Oak assist in the location of these structures in the Ridges Moraine provided ample opportunity for Duffins Creek watershed. While each of these the utilization of aquatic resources. properties is considered to be an archaeological 3 site, most have not been registered with the Local Architectural Ministry of Culture, and consequently, these Conservation Advisory resources have not been defined in the present project. It is important to note that mills were Committee Heritage fundamental to the development of communities Inventories in Upper Canada and while, in most instances, these mills are represented now as archaeological Each of the municipalities found within the sites, they must be included in any inventory of Duffins Creek watershed, through their Local an historic landscape. Future studies should Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee endeavour to define the location of the mill sites (LACAC), has prepared an inventory of buildings which are not presently known. of architectural and historic importance. TABLE 2: Archaeological Sites: Cultural Affiliations Duffins Creek Subwatersheds Culture / Time Period 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total Palaeo-Indian 5 undetermined 11 Late 11 2 4 Archaic 30 undetermined 1213 313 2 3 28 Early 11 Middle 0 Late 11 Woodland 30 undetermined 1121 5 Early 1214 Middle 314 Late (Iroquoian) 17 Early Iroquoian 44 Middle Iroquoian 22 4 Late Iroquoian 22 undetermined Iroquoian 221 1 1 7 undetermined Aboriginal 39 Pre-contact 3 25 1 3 4 36 undetermined 33 Historic Mississauga 1 1 Multi- component 2 2 Historic Euro- Canadian 1146 Undetermined 1 6 36 1 8 5 11 4 2 5 79 TOTAL 3 10 61 2 13 42 18 0 17 6 10 10 192 4 Figure 1: Registered Archaeological Sites in the Duffins Creek Watershed. The apparent lack of sites on the Oak Ridges Moraine and along the East Duffins reflects the lack of fieldwork that has been required to-date in these areas. 5 Examination of these inventories identified a total of 272 built heritage features and their original Historical Review uses, 30 of which are designated properties which fall within the study area (Table 3, Figure 2). It of the Duffins should be noted that this list is not definitive. If an individual structure is not classified as Creek Watershed designated or listed by a municipality, it is not included in the local inventory and consequently Archaeological Resources is not included in the present study, with the exception of cemeteries, cenotaphs and plaques. To place the human history of the Duffins Creek Table 4 defines the distribution of the built watershed into the proper context, the following heritage features for each municipality. descriptions briefly encapsulate the Aboriginal and historic Euro-Canadian cultural periods (and The sophistication and complexity of the Euro- associated diachronic positions) for the Canadian settlement of the Duffins Creek archaeological record of southern Ontario. watershed is demonstrated in the vast array of architectural styles found in the heritage structures Palaeo-Indian Period: defined in this project. The variety of different architectural styles (Table 5) lends a unique 10,000 to 7,000 BC identity to the 19th century Duffins Creek landscape As

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