Desjardins Canal

Although a technological achievement and a short term commercial success, the canal was soon eclipsed by the railway, and Dundas by neighbouring Hamilton.

Following the US Revolutionary War the British government felt an urgent need to populate the interior of the province of Upper Canada.

After the early settlement of Kingston and the lower St. Lawrence River, and the establishment of Butler's Rangers and others in the Niagara peninsula, the possibility also existed for Loyalist communities at the head of Lake Ontario.

Another priority was the need to accelerate the settlement of the unoccupied areas in western Upper Canada to provide a buffer zone between that province and the United States in the event of further hostilities.

Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe hoped to achieve this by offering free 200-acre (80 ha) grants of land in the interior of the province to prospective settlers regardless of nationality.

To make the area more attractive, Simcoe wished to open transportation arteries between the interior of the province and the shipping corridor provided by Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River.

Not only would these support commercial services for the expanding population and economy of the new territory, they would also serve military purposes, routing traffic away from areas controlled by the United States.

The story of the area around the head of the lake during the early 19th century is one of competition between the towns of Dundas, Ancaster and Hamilton to service this increased trade and achieve economic supremacy.

Ancaster had an abundance of fertile land, streams adequate to power mills, and a population of nearly two thousand people.

The previous year George Hamilton, then living in Queenston, had decided to move away from the border with the United States due to concern about further conflict.

Well-connected (his father had been a member of the Legislative Council and an extensive landowner), he was aware that a new district was to be established and purchased a substantial amount of land in the area from James Durand.

The Desjardins Canal was the centerpiece of Dundas’ efforts to adjust to this development and preserve its early status as the industrial hub of the area.

Access to Lake Ontario from the mainland was made more difficult by the topography of the area, which included a large sandbar, a natural sand and gravel barrier, across Burlington Bay.

Since action on the Niagara Peninsula could be expected in any future war with the United States, warships sheltering in Burlington Bay could be protected by land-based guns.

An added incentive was that the liberalization of the British Navigation Acts in the 1820s meant that certain U.S. products could be exported from Canada as though they had originated there, allowing the U.S. Midwest to share in Colonial preferences and attracting additional trade from this source.

The two most influential people in the effort to ensure that Dundas got its share of increased trade with the interior were Richard Hatt and Peter Desjardins.

However success in Ancaster was limited and he soon focused his attention on Spencer Creek in the Dundas area, which not only had ample water to power a mill but also potentially better access to Lake Ontario and the interior of the province.

Recognizing the need for facilities near the inlet to the marsh, where cargoes were loaded and unloaded because of the lack of water clearance over the sandbar, he petitioned for land to build a storehouse and wharf.

By 1808 he owned all the water rights and mills from Webster's Falls to Main Street in Dundas and in that year cleared a path through the marsh, which was used until the canal opened in 1837.

When he died in 1819 he was one of the wealthiest men in Upper Canada, having an interest in over 10,000 acres (40 km2) of land, several farms and a number of industries along Spencer Creek.

The proposal would have allowed the Desjardins Canal a direct water access to the western areas of both Canada and the United States and might have proved financially attractive, if technically viable.

The government was far from being solidly behind the project but was willing to let Desjardins go ahead on an experimental basis as long as in case of failure no risk would be transferred to the province.

The parliamentary approval provided for a fifty-year lease, with title to revert to the Crown after that period subject to reimbursement to the stockholders of the value of their holdings.

Although canal labourers were much in demand due to the many projects previously alluded to, still wages were low, fluctuating around two to three shillings per day, an amount barely sufficient for a family's basic needs.

The potential for railroad transportation in Upper Canada was quickly recognized and almost immediately the Desjardins Canal Company was forced to deal with this new source of competition.

This, along with the availability of waterfront access not dependent on the vagaries of the Desjardins Canal, accelerated the growth of industry on Hamilton's bay shore to the detriment of Dundas.

For all practical purposes the canal had ceased to have a serious commercial future once a low level road bridge was constructed in 1869, denying access to most lake schooners.

However the provincial government, then as in the past, had no interest in equity ownership and the canal was placed under the control and management of the town of Dundas by an Order in Council on April 25, 1877.

However this was to little avail and in 1895 direct rail service to Dundas was inaugurated, finally ending any dreams of commercial potential for the Desjardins Canal.