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Perspectives on landscape and settlement in nineteenth century Ontario
REVIEWS
385
JOHN P. SNYDER,The Mapping of New Jersey:
The Men and the Art (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1973. Pp. xiv+234. $100)) The historical and cultural geography of the eastern seaboard of the United States has yet to be written. When it is, proper attention must be given to the early role that the Middle Atlantic region, especially colonial New Jersey, played in contributing to the growth and development of America’s national character and landscape patterns. Eighteenth-century New Jersey, although once derisively referred to as “a keg tapped at both ends”, was then, as now, culturally and economically mixed, characteristics not unlike those of the present-day American scene. For these reasons a study of New Jersey’s historical and cultural geography would be eagerly anticipated. While Mr Snyder’s book is obviously not that study, it is a work which should be of value to those who wish to learn more about the kind of place New Jersey was, principally in its early history. What Mr Snyder, a professional engineer and author of The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries (1969), has produced is an informative work on an important geographical topic, “the historical cartography of New Jersey”. Four mapping periods are identified, and the activities and accomplishments of each are presented in the four chapters and seven appendices which comprise the book. Particularly useful for the historical geographer are those sections which deal with the evolution of New Jersey’s boundaries, which include some material repeated from the earlier book. Less useful, although interesting, are brief biographies of the cartographers involved in mapping the state, Erskine, Colles, Hutchins and others, plus details of the various map projections which were used. Historical geographers will also appreciate the reproduction of a good number of historical maps and the data which they provide about New Jersey, particularly about the state’s transportation routes and settlements. Mr Snyder has given thorough coverage and documentation to the mapping of New Jersey from its colonial past up to the present. Only one omission was noted-reference to Pehr Lindestriim’s maps from the New Sweden period. It is unfortunate that the book will probably only be read by those with a provincial interest in New Jersey, for it does make a wider contribution as evidenced by the acknowledgement it has recently received in the first volume of Peter Wacker’s historical-cultural geography of New Jersey, Land and People (1975). Mansfield State College, Pennsylvania
ROGER TRINDELL
J. DAVID Wool (Ed.), Perspectives on Landscape and Settlement in Nineteenth Century Ontario (Toronto : McClelland and Stewart, Carleton Library Series, 1975. Pp. xxviii + 213. $4.95) Among the many symposia held in the weeks before the International Geographical Congress at Montreal in August 1972 was one at York University in Toronto on the early settlement of southern Ontario. The papers given there, largely intended to acquaint Europeans with the historical geography of early Ontario, have since been enlarged and others have been added to them to make up this volume in the Carleton Library series. For the first time in Canada we have a collection of regionally-focused essays by historical geographers, a collection which draws on the considerable variety of current geographical research on early Ontario. There was clearly an opportunity here, but one which has been partly missed. The book has been under-edited. The editor’s introduction and conclusion tend to be diffuse and under-emphasized, neither adding as much as might be hoped to our general insights on Ontario nor acquainting the uninitiated reader with the particular perspectives of historical geographers. A collection of essays such as this, which is less a premeditated package of inter-related work than a reflection of the ongoing research of a number of different scholars, requires a strong introductory essay to establish the coherence of the whole. And the individual essays themselves needed more editorial attention
386
REVIEWS
if only to weed out many awkward or unclear sentences. Professor Wood is greatly to be complimented for the very task of getting this collection together, but he has been too kind and too gentle both with himself and with his authors. The collection must therefore be evaluated on the quality of individual essays. Some are excellent, others hardly publishable. Tom McIlwraith’s study of the transportation landscapes of early Ontario created by the ordinary settler is a vivid glimpse not only into the nature of farm transportation but also of the landscapes and mentality of early Ontarians. “Earliest Ontario”, he states, “was not a land of the wheel”, andas heestablishes this point a picture emerges of the elemental confrontation of man and land out of which the humanized landscape of Ontario was eventually won. Ken Kelly takes up the same theme, depicting the evolving landscapes of early Ontario as farms were wrested from the forest. Taken together, these two essays give a wonderfully sensitive, penetrating insight into the life and landscapes of pioneer Ontario. Grant Head’s essay on the commercial exploitation of the Ontario forest is a most welcome addition to the literature. The changing patterns of cutting and milling are mapped, and the different impacts of the squared timber and lumber trades, as well as the patterns of settlement associated with the cutting and marketing of wood, are ably and succinctly discussed. The marketing of timber involved a close relationship between the timber stands in the interior and a port on lakefront or river, a topic pursued by Peter Ennals in an essay on the rivalry between Port Hope and Cobourg for the control of a common hinterland. Plank roads and railways built into the interior brought crushing municipal debts, and Ennals sensitively and accurately ties the euphoria that built the railways to the general idea of progress coupled, in Ontario, with an agrarian ideal and a vision of the importance of links between front and back country. These four essays alone are worth the volume. Victor Konrad’s introductory essay on prehistoric settlement near Toronto is a sound and useful resume of a considerable literature although I find his closing comparison of Indian and European settlements contrived and unnecessary. An article by R. L. Gentilcore and David Wood describing the general pattern of settlement in early Ontario is intended to set a stage, but perhaps in a volume of this sort the stage did not need to be quite so familiar. An essay by James Cameron on the Canada Company’s role in the development of Guelph gets a little too tied up with a discussion of the general conditions of settlement and, although containing good information on company expenditures and publicity, does not take the account of the company’s work and achievements nearly far enough. Brian Osborne’s essay on the decline of Kingston does not really reach the heart of the matter. The dominance of Toronto was established by about 1840. Kingston’s decline was only marginally affected by the events that occupy most of Osborne’s discussion: its brief period as capital in the 1840s and loss of the military in 1870. Osborne’s short treatment of Kingston’s feeble hinterland comes closer to the core of the problem, but if Kingston’s decline is to be fully understood Donald Kerr’s work on banking-and indeed the nature of all economic linkages in an economy where centralized agglomeration was becoming steadily more attractive-have to be appreciated. Alan Brunger’s treatment of contrasts in settlement near Peterborough is a failure. Not only is Brunger’s central question, “what was the place utility of locations chosen for settlement?’ simply jargon for “why did settlers select the locations they did?‘, but the question itself is of doubtful value: most of the settlers were brought by Peter Robinson to an area where their choice of individual lots was characteristically restricted by the luck of the draw or the plans of officials. In sum, the volume is patchy in quality, its strengths almost balanced by its weaknesses. Professor Wood has maintained the momentum of a successful symposium to the point of publication, he has edited a volume that most historical geographers should know and that those of us who teach on early Ontario will find useful, though not, unfortunately, nearly as useful as it might have been. University of British Columbia
R. C. HARRIS
385
JOHN P. SNYDER,The Mapping of New Jersey:
The Men and the Art (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1973. Pp. xiv+234. $100)) The historical and cultural geography of the eastern seaboard of the United States has yet to be written. When it is, proper attention must be given to the early role that the Middle Atlantic region, especially colonial New Jersey, played in contributing to the growth and development of America’s national character and landscape patterns. Eighteenth-century New Jersey, although once derisively referred to as “a keg tapped at both ends”, was then, as now, culturally and economically mixed, characteristics not unlike those of the present-day American scene. For these reasons a study of New Jersey’s historical and cultural geography would be eagerly anticipated. While Mr Snyder’s book is obviously not that study, it is a work which should be of value to those who wish to learn more about the kind of place New Jersey was, principally in its early history. What Mr Snyder, a professional engineer and author of The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries (1969), has produced is an informative work on an important geographical topic, “the historical cartography of New Jersey”. Four mapping periods are identified, and the activities and accomplishments of each are presented in the four chapters and seven appendices which comprise the book. Particularly useful for the historical geographer are those sections which deal with the evolution of New Jersey’s boundaries, which include some material repeated from the earlier book. Less useful, although interesting, are brief biographies of the cartographers involved in mapping the state, Erskine, Colles, Hutchins and others, plus details of the various map projections which were used. Historical geographers will also appreciate the reproduction of a good number of historical maps and the data which they provide about New Jersey, particularly about the state’s transportation routes and settlements. Mr Snyder has given thorough coverage and documentation to the mapping of New Jersey from its colonial past up to the present. Only one omission was noted-reference to Pehr Lindestriim’s maps from the New Sweden period. It is unfortunate that the book will probably only be read by those with a provincial interest in New Jersey, for it does make a wider contribution as evidenced by the acknowledgement it has recently received in the first volume of Peter Wacker’s historical-cultural geography of New Jersey, Land and People (1975). Mansfield State College, Pennsylvania
ROGER TRINDELL
J. DAVID Wool (Ed.), Perspectives on Landscape and Settlement in Nineteenth Century Ontario (Toronto : McClelland and Stewart, Carleton Library Series, 1975. Pp. xxviii + 213. $4.95) Among the many symposia held in the weeks before the International Geographical Congress at Montreal in August 1972 was one at York University in Toronto on the early settlement of southern Ontario. The papers given there, largely intended to acquaint Europeans with the historical geography of early Ontario, have since been enlarged and others have been added to them to make up this volume in the Carleton Library series. For the first time in Canada we have a collection of regionally-focused essays by historical geographers, a collection which draws on the considerable variety of current geographical research on early Ontario. There was clearly an opportunity here, but one which has been partly missed. The book has been under-edited. The editor’s introduction and conclusion tend to be diffuse and under-emphasized, neither adding as much as might be hoped to our general insights on Ontario nor acquainting the uninitiated reader with the particular perspectives of historical geographers. A collection of essays such as this, which is less a premeditated package of inter-related work than a reflection of the ongoing research of a number of different scholars, requires a strong introductory essay to establish the coherence of the whole. And the individual essays themselves needed more editorial attention
386
REVIEWS
if only to weed out many awkward or unclear sentences. Professor Wood is greatly to be complimented for the very task of getting this collection together, but he has been too kind and too gentle both with himself and with his authors. The collection must therefore be evaluated on the quality of individual essays. Some are excellent, others hardly publishable. Tom McIlwraith’s study of the transportation landscapes of early Ontario created by the ordinary settler is a vivid glimpse not only into the nature of farm transportation but also of the landscapes and mentality of early Ontarians. “Earliest Ontario”, he states, “was not a land of the wheel”, andas heestablishes this point a picture emerges of the elemental confrontation of man and land out of which the humanized landscape of Ontario was eventually won. Ken Kelly takes up the same theme, depicting the evolving landscapes of early Ontario as farms were wrested from the forest. Taken together, these two essays give a wonderfully sensitive, penetrating insight into the life and landscapes of pioneer Ontario. Grant Head’s essay on the commercial exploitation of the Ontario forest is a most welcome addition to the literature. The changing patterns of cutting and milling are mapped, and the different impacts of the squared timber and lumber trades, as well as the patterns of settlement associated with the cutting and marketing of wood, are ably and succinctly discussed. The marketing of timber involved a close relationship between the timber stands in the interior and a port on lakefront or river, a topic pursued by Peter Ennals in an essay on the rivalry between Port Hope and Cobourg for the control of a common hinterland. Plank roads and railways built into the interior brought crushing municipal debts, and Ennals sensitively and accurately ties the euphoria that built the railways to the general idea of progress coupled, in Ontario, with an agrarian ideal and a vision of the importance of links between front and back country. These four essays alone are worth the volume. Victor Konrad’s introductory essay on prehistoric settlement near Toronto is a sound and useful resume of a considerable literature although I find his closing comparison of Indian and European settlements contrived and unnecessary. An article by R. L. Gentilcore and David Wood describing the general pattern of settlement in early Ontario is intended to set a stage, but perhaps in a volume of this sort the stage did not need to be quite so familiar. An essay by James Cameron on the Canada Company’s role in the development of Guelph gets a little too tied up with a discussion of the general conditions of settlement and, although containing good information on company expenditures and publicity, does not take the account of the company’s work and achievements nearly far enough. Brian Osborne’s essay on the decline of Kingston does not really reach the heart of the matter. The dominance of Toronto was established by about 1840. Kingston’s decline was only marginally affected by the events that occupy most of Osborne’s discussion: its brief period as capital in the 1840s and loss of the military in 1870. Osborne’s short treatment of Kingston’s feeble hinterland comes closer to the core of the problem, but if Kingston’s decline is to be fully understood Donald Kerr’s work on banking-and indeed the nature of all economic linkages in an economy where centralized agglomeration was becoming steadily more attractive-have to be appreciated. Alan Brunger’s treatment of contrasts in settlement near Peterborough is a failure. Not only is Brunger’s central question, “what was the place utility of locations chosen for settlement?’ simply jargon for “why did settlers select the locations they did?‘, but the question itself is of doubtful value: most of the settlers were brought by Peter Robinson to an area where their choice of individual lots was characteristically restricted by the luck of the draw or the plans of officials. In sum, the volume is patchy in quality, its strengths almost balanced by its weaknesses. Professor Wood has maintained the momentum of a successful symposium to the point of publication, he has edited a volume that most historical geographers should know and that those of us who teach on early Ontario will find useful, though not, unfortunately, nearly as useful as it might have been. University of British Columbia
R. C. HARRIS