[7] The route was used for its original military purpose sparingly during the War of 1812, primarily to ship supplies to a naval depot built at Holland Landing.

Its rough location is marked today by a large anchor that was being shipped from Chatham, England to Wasaga Beach (then known as Schooner Town), but was abandoned in Holland Landing when the war ended.

The need for a similar route bypassing Yonge Street and providing access to the upper lakes remained an issue, and several surveys in the area were carried out between 1815 and 1827.

Several attempts to raise the funds for the Trent system using local sources, including a proposed lottery, all failed and the plans remained dormant.

Both steamers proved popular; in the less than three months the lakes were open to traffic in its first year of operation, the Sturgeon made 61 trips, delivering 60 barrels of pork and 55 tons of other cargo.

[16] Boulton hatched a plan to kill the Trent route by ordering a complete survey of the river, hoping the cost of canalizing it would be far greater than building his railway.

Baird had worked on several canals and other engineering projects around the world, including the Rideau, and was at that time supervising a new bridge over the foot of the Trent that would replace a ferry service.

In spite of holding the position of Governor General for only a brief period before resigning, his Report on the Affairs of British North America was implemented in large part and caused sweeping changes to the government.

The newly merged Province of Canada had a single parliament with special rules intended to balance the power of the French and English speaking colonies.

Examining the project, the Board of Works concluded that a route with as many locks as Baird had proposed would take so long to transit that it would not be useful militarily, and thus of little interest to the new federalist government.

This left the problem of getting these products to market, which in turn led to a small railway rush with the express intent of connecting to the Back Lake navigation.

[29] Among the most difficult of the sections completed during this period was the locks at Burleigh Falls; Baird had described the "dreaded iron-bound nature of the rock" which required new tools and techniques to beat.

[30] It was during this time that one of the most infamous events in the system's history took place; at 9:45 a.m. on 4 September 1885 James Simmons and George Morton were hauling a load of dynamite from Tweed to Burleigh Falls when it exploded, leaving behind a 100 foot (30 m) wide crater and nothing but bits of horse and man.

From late 1886, Rubidge was under extreme pressure from the press and the politicians along the line, and he became increasingly paranoid, suspicious of everyone involved in the project for their real or imagined attempts to have him removed.

Rubidge responded by appointing two of his helpers to watch over the construction, harassing Goodwin and his workers continually with a range of problems, even locking up the canoes of the government engineers so they could not get around the sites.

This request eventually led to Rubidge's removal from the oversight position and his replacement by David Stark, at that time the superintendent of Ottawa River canal projects.

[35] The press was filled with comments to the effect that Macdonald had only been interested in the canal as a vote-getting measure; the Peterborough Examiner led the charges, complaining that "Whatever expenditure there had been on the scheme is properly chargeable to the capital (political) account and this is the explanation of all the delay and trifling with this important work.

They also suggested that some of the more complex areas could be greatly simplified by replacing a series of locks with a single hydraulic boat lift, and recommended further study into this option.

They also left considerable room for interpretation as to the desirability of completing the works at either end, allowing politicians to pick and chose what sections, if any, they agreed to fund.

[44] The Peterborough Examiner was not amused, asking, "Why have five years, singularly coincident with the general election, been allowed to elapse between the spurts of activity that mark the survey and construction of portions of the canal?

[46] But it was not long before the same political forces that led the Conservatives to support the plan soon found their effect on the Liberals as well, and yet another meeting with the Trent Association and a subsequent visit by George Albert Blair, the newly appointed Minister of Canals and Railways.

The Association's trump card was the argument that the canal could be a significant shipping route for grain from western Canada, which at that time was having trouble moving eastward due to insufficient capacity in the railway and waterway systems.

The Grand Trunk, whose line along the St. Lawrence stood to lose considerable traffic if an alternate shipping route was completed, nevertheless provided train tickets to everyone involved at a reduced fare.

When the first $600,000 contract was announced on 31 May 1898, Edmund Osler, member for Toronto West and a director of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), was the first to oppose it in parliament, stating that the government must have "money to burn.

At this time, business interests in Port Hope once again argued for completing the route by making a new canal from the western end of Rice Lake south to their town.

In 1904 the Northern Railway of Canada raised its rates and made several changes that would greatly increase the costs of the industries in the town, so much they claimed it would put them out of business.

Mulock hatched a plan to extend the Trent south to the town, an extension officially known as the Holland Subdivision, but universally referred to as the Newmarket Canal.

But the possibility of bringing federal money to his riding in York North was too good to give up, and Mulock campaigned for it continually, presenting petitions on the part of local residents in favour.

However, a survey put the price well over $300,000, a significant amount for such a short link, and was then greatly increased due to changes that appear to have been politically motivated on the part of the Department of Railways and Canals.

[59] In June 2013, Barry Devolin, Member of Parliament for the riding of Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, reintroduced Bill C-530, the "Trent–Severn Water Authority Act",[60] in order to re-capitalize the century-old infrastructure of the waterway.