Canadian Land and Emigration Company

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In 1859, the Crown Lands Department in Province of Canada advertised a block of land for sale in (what is now) Haliburton County. The purpose for the sale of the land was to promote rapid settlement of the newly created townships in the district through private enterprise. The townships included in the sale were Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt, Gilford, Harburn, Bruton, Havelock, Eyre, Clyde, and Longford. In 1861, the land was purchased by a group of gentlemen from Great Britain, established as follows:

1st The name of Company is The Canadian Land and Emigration Company Limited.

2nd The registered office of the Company is to be established in England.

3rd The objects for which the company was established were:

• The purchase, holding, alienation, sale, lease and disposal of lands or property of any kind, in the Province of Canada.
• The survey, improvement, clearance and cultivation of the lands belonging to or under control of the Company.
• The promotion and encouragement of settlement thereon, by the loan of money to settlers and others, and the establishment of Schools and the erection of places of Worship.
• The opening, making, improving and maintaining of roads, railways and other communications and the subscription of any Railway Undertaking, with a view to the settlement, cultivation and improvement of such lands.
• The promotion of emigration into the said province from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or elsewhere and generally the performance of such acts, matters and things as are incidental or otherwise conductive to the attainment of the before mentioned objects or any of them and also such additional or extended objects as the Company may from time to time, by special resolution, determine and resolve.

4th The liability of the shareholders is limited.

5th The nominal Capital of the Company is: Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds divided into Fifty thousand Shares, of Five pounds each.

The first Chairman of the Company was Thomas Chandler Haliburton, who’s name was given to the first village to be established within the company’s lands and later to the County of Haliburton.

Lengthy negotiations were carried on between the Company, and the Department of Crown Lands concerning the selection of townships and the terms of sale. The Department agreed to pay for the survey of the outlines of the townships, but the Company had to pay for the survey within the townships and their subdivision into lots.

Brookes Wright Gossage with other surveyors under his direction began work in the townships of Dysart and Longford. At first, Gossage was in partnership with John Stoughton Dennis and later with Vernon B. Wadsworth. As many as sixty or seventy men were employed on the project at one time, and large sums of money were required for wages and provisions. Although the Company had to pay for all the land except swamp. When the survey was completed it showed 403,125 acres in the ten townships of which 41,000 deducted as swamp, leaving 362,125 acres to be paid for at 50 cents per acre.

From the outset the Company had difficulty in selling the lands. The distance of the townships from the settled parts of the province, the absence of good roads, the rough nature of the country, the Civil War in the United States, the Fenian raids on the border, and rival attractions of Western Canada, all combined to discourage sales.

From 1863 to 1870, a large number of emigrants came to settle in the region. By 1871, the Company had sold 16,650 acres to settlers and a number of town lots to various purchasers. Most of the company’s profits were realized from the sale of timber. In 1872, the Company built a road between the villages of Kennaway and Haliburton. Also, the Company contributed greatly to the cost of the connection of a telegraph line to Haliburton. In 1877, the Company contributed to the construction of the Victoria Railway from Kinmount to Haliburton with the hopes of increasing settlement in the townships.

By 1883, the Province of Ontario had begun to open up neighbouring townships of Haliburton and Muskoka with offers of free land grants, the Company found settlers were even more reluctant to purchase Company lands. The Company was unable to cope with this competition. As a result, it was decided to offer for sale its complete holdings and undertakings in Canada. The Company was purchased by W.H. Lockhart Gordon and James Irwin on April 11, 1883. It should be noted that Mr. Irwin had previously been involved in lumbering in the area, beginning in 1877.

On April 10, 1889, Letters of Patent were issued by the Province of Ontario incorporating the new Canadian Land and Immigration Company, of Haliburton Limited. From 1890 to 1897 little activity took place. Sales of land and timber cutting right had practically ceased. In 1895, Mr. Irwin declared bankrupcty and the bank (most likely the Canadian Bank of Commerce) took possession of his rights and interest in Haliburton, which included Irwin's shares in the new Company. During the 1920's the Company sold the entire township of Bruton to the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario and proceeds from the sale allowed the Company to buy back from the bank the timber cutting rights previously licensed to Irwin.

During the depression, lumbering activities ceased once again, but as more roads were constructed, the region began to develop as a tourist and vacation area, and land sales began to increase. At the outbreak of World War II, lumbering activities intensified, and carried on into the post-war years. By the end of 1946, all of the land originally purchased by the Company had been sold. The Canadian Land and Immigration wound up its affairs, surrendered its charter, and ceased to exist.

Of the ten townships purchased by the Company, Longford was located in the County of Victoria , while the others were then a part of Peterborough County. These, along with other townships of Peterborough County, Victoria County and Nipissing District, were incorporated as the Municipality of Haliburton in 1874, which became Haliburton County. The Municipality of Dysart et al, include townships of Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt, Guilford, Harburn, Bruton, Havelock, Eyre and Clyde, formerly belonging to the Canadian Land and Emigration Company Limited.