4 Arthur W. |
Ontario Tourism Region : Bruce Peninsula, Southern Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe
Description From Owner:
- Pop. 1,763. In Collingwood T., Grey C., on Nottawasaga Bay off Georgian Bay at the mouth of the Beaver R. on Hwy 26 and C. Rd. 13,41 km. E of Owen Sound.
- Upper Canada's deputy surveyor, Charles Rankin, surveyed the area in 1833 and left 900 acres (364.5) at the mouth of the Beaver R. for a townsite, but did not survey it.
- His assistant, William Gifford, named the site Thornbury after his native town in Gloucestershire, England. Rankin settled just west on a tract of 200 acres (81 ha) on Laura Bay.
- In the late 1840s, Solomon Olmstead from Carleton C. came to the area looking for a mill site. He and his brother Rufus built a sawmill on the Beaver R., then a store and a grist mill.
- When the post office was established in 1853, it was named Thornbury. Where Hwy 26 crosses the Beaver R. in Thornbury, is the only lock of its kind in Ontario installed to allow rainbow trout to migrate over Thornbury dam and up the river to spawn.
- In April and May you can watch trout going upstream; in October and November you can watch trout heading downstream.
- Postcard above used with permission from A Great Lakes Treasury of Old Postcards 2007 Lorenzo Marcolin, MD 176 pp. For Copies call the Huronia Museum 705 526 2844 or email lmarcolin@aol.com
Address of this page: http://www.ruralroutes.com/thornbury