Travel by road in the 19th century was something most people avoided as much as possible.
The majority of traffic was farmers going to and from the nearest town.
Most people in towns and villages did not own a horse and carriage. Renting a rig was expensive, and covering 25 or 30 miles was a good day’s itinerary.
Then there was the expense of putting up at hotels. A night’s lodging for man and beast could eat up the best part of a day’s wages for most working men.
An alternative was to take a stagecoach, but only a few routes had scheduled stages. The fares were expensive, and passengers were subjected to a bone-jarring journey in uncomfortable seats.
Added to all that was the condition of roads.
Only a few roads were maintained to a reasonable standard. Most of those were maintained by the county, and until the 1870s were toll roads. Even they could become muddy and deeply rutted in spring and fall.
The railways offered an attractive travel alternative. The Grand Trunk and Great Western Railways offered service to and from Guelph in 1856.
During the 1870s, the general public welcomed the construction of branch lines that touched every major centre in the county.
Though very expensive at that time, rail travel was far quicker, more comfortable, and more convenient than travel by road.
It was something of a novelty in June 1876 when Henry Stovel, editor and publisher of the Mount Forest Confederate, decided to take an overland trip to Georgetown to visit relatives in that area.
Such a trip was sufficiently unusual that Stovel published an account of it in his July 11 issue.
Stovel departed Mount Forest, bound for Arthur, on the evening of June 29, a Thursday. The moon that night was in its first quarter, so Stovel probably had a little light to guide him, assuming the sky was not overcast.
It is surprising that people of that time thought nothing of travelling on roads at night, relying in large part on the fait glimmer from an oil lamp. Some stage lines had their vehicles scheduled for night runs year round.
Stovel arrived in Arthur about midnight, and pulled up at Green’s Hotel. He had to rouse the proprietor from bed. Green, in turn, woke one of his sons to attend to the feeding and stabling of Stovel’s horse.
Accommodation in the hotel was not so simple. Apparently, Green did not assign rooms to his guests, instead permitting them to take any room that suited their fancy. He quickly discovered that he had no vacant rooms. After a consultation with one of the guests, Stovel took the second bed in a room that was occupied by that guest.
Stovel was up early the next morning for a stroll around the village.
He noted much activity around the town. Contractors were busy putting up several buildings, while other crews were laying wooden sidewalks on the main street and to the Toronto, Grey and Bruce railway station on the north end of town. He noted that the population of the village was 1,016.
After breakfast Stovel resumed his journey, down the Owen Sound Road (now Highway 6), at what he called a leisurely pace. By mid morning he was in Fergus, where he paused to feed his horse and call on some acquaintances: J. & H. Tindale, who had formerly operated a store in Mount Forest, and Dr. G.A. Reid, a dentist who set up shop in Mount Forest during the monthly cattle fairs there.
He noted that a number of buildings were under construction in Fergus, virtually all of either brick or stone.
“The village presents a very substantial appearance, the principal buildings being of stone, some of which have considerable architectural beauty,” he wrote.
The amount of construction activity noted by Stovel in both Arthur and Fergus is surprising. The economy was then entering the third year of a depression. Commodity prices for farm products were down, and that had a profound effect on small town business activities.
Millers, in particular, were suffering badly, and many were facing insolvency. On the other hand, people in business had endured through previous downturns, and stoically, they made their plans for the future. Depressions did not last forever.
After a pause of about an hour, Stovel resumed his journey.
Stovel turned left after crossing the St. David Street bridge, following that route for what he said was 14 miles. (It is now Wellington Road 18 and Dufferin Road 3).
He noted that he crossed the right-of-way of the Credit Valley Railway, which was partially graded. That company, continually short of money, would not have regular service on its Elora branch until early in 1881.
Stovel noted passing “a small village, the name of which we did not learn.”
That was certainly Marsville, which then had a hotel, two stores, a blacksmith shop, a church, and, since 1873, a post office.
At what was then known as Donaldson’s Corners (now the intersection of Dufferin Roads 18 and 24) Stovel turned right. Another four-and-a-half miles brought him to Hillsburgh, which he described as thriving, but straggling place, stretching for a considerable distance along the road. He did not stop.
At the first intersection south of the village he turned left, then right. Soon he was in the village of Erin, a little past 1pm.
Stovel noted that the substantial church buildings, several small factories, and a flour mill in the course of rebuilding after a fire.
As events would turn out, that new mill was not a wise investment.
The good days for small town milling were over by the mid 1870s. Villagers told him they were anxious for the completion of the Credit Valley Railway, which they believed would make Erin a town of some importance and a significant shipping point for agricultural products.
Stovel departed Erin about 3pm, and two hours later, after passing through Belfountain, he arrived at Cheltenham, where he stayed overnight with a friend.
He noted many empty houses at Cheltenham. Residents there hoped for a revival when the railway opened.
The next day, July 1, he attended a Dominion Day picnic, put on by the Baptist Church.
He saw many people on their way to a Grange picnic. That event, he learned, drew over 1,000 people.
Stovel spent Sunday touring the back roads. He noted a great deal of hops under cultivation in the area.
On Monday he moved on, passing through Georgetown. At Limehouse he noted dozens of kilns, and piles of limestone and firewood beside the roads. Later that day he paused at his family’s homestead, spending the night there.
Late Tuesday afternoon, July 4, he began the trek back home, driving for a time on what today is Highway 7. He then turned north, “passing through a small village at the foot of a hill called Ballinafad,” continuing on to Donaldson’s Corners, and turning there for Fergus, which he reached at midnight.
A full moon made travel easier.
He stopped at Fergus for the night, and completed the trip to Mount Forest the next day, Arriving back home after an absence of six nights.
Stovel advised his readers to undertake a similar trip. “The journey was indeed a pleasant one and we would advise those who wish to enjoy themselves, with very little expense, to take a drive through the townships of Eramosa, Caledon, Erin, Chinguacousy, and Esquesing,” he noted, “It is pleasing to note along the way the number of fine churches and school houses, some of the latter two storey, all pretty much built of stone or brick.”
Local Chambers of Commerce, had they existed in 1876, would have been pleased at the editor’s recommendation.
It is doubtful, though, that anyone took the advice.