The Re-opening of the Trail

Over a decade ago, the white blazes of the Bruce Trail came north from Brimstone up the Credit River Valley on the remains of the old Dominion Road almost to Cataract, but then the slumping of the hillside forced the Trail to be rerouted, eliminating much of its most attractive features. Now because of the work of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the efforts of Bruce Trail volunteers, the former route is again open.

The valley of the east branch of the Credit River is rich in geological history and scenic beauty; it is also a fascinating introduction to nineteenth century rural development.  More than one hundred years ago, it was bustling with the activities of mills, quarries and railroads. Most of this is now gone, but the curious hiker rambling through the valley will discover the crumbling remains of a bygone era.

From the Forks of the Credit Road, the Trail heads north on the Dominion Road. As with most nineteenth century settlement roads, it followed the river valley upstream, linking Brimstone and Cataract. Some of the homes in Brimstone were built initially as cottages for the quarrymen who worked the operations that supplied much of the building stone for Toronto. The sandstone for both the old Toronto City Hall and the provincial Parliament Buildings came from the area.

Although the origins of the road are buried in history, its demise is not. On April 12, 1912, a massive spring flood wreaked havoc in the valley. The road upstream was washed out and the destruction was so great that it was never rebuilt; the old gravel track is all that remains today.

North of the picnic area and the open meadow where the white blazes used to turn uphill to the right, the main Trail now continues north, leading to the most spectacular sites in the valley.  Here is the evidence of the restoration work of the Ministry of Natural Resources in rebuilding the track of the Dominion Road.

After climbing uphill, you come to a spectacular vista of Church’s Falls. Now known as The Cataract, it has a drop of 14 m and a width of 9 m.

 It was this resource that was responsible for the development of the area.  In 1818, William Grant arrived, looking for gold.  Instead, near the falls he found a salt deposit, and started mining. Then he built a sawmill and called the community Gleniffer. Soon, however, it was abandoned.

The next development came in the  1850’s.  For one hundred dollars, Richard Church purchased a townsite and named his hamlet Church’s Falls.  Before long, a sawmill, a woolen mill and a grist mill were all in operation. He divided the townsite into 160 lots and named the streets after his children.

In the late 1870’s the Credit River Railroad came to the valley, and on its west bank the trains still run to Orangeville.  For years, there were four passenger trains a day, and in the 1880’s, it was the means by which the sandstone was transported to Toronto.

In 1881, after being destroyed by fire, the grist mill was rebuilt. This time it was three stories high and constructed from local stone hewn from directly beneath the falls.  But after a second fire in 1885, the mill was sold to John Deagle. He added two more storeys and initiated a lively but short-lived period of innovation and expansion.

With so much competition from other mills along the Credit, Deagle began experimenting with electricity. On November 2, 1899, the first power was generated over five miles of line, and Cataract’s streets blossomed with three experimental lights. An inventive genius, Deagle designed an entirely new generator, and business flourished.

The considerable accomplishment of these hydro pioneers is acknowledged by writer Ralph Beaumont in his book, Cataract and the Forks of the Credit.

Close to the old mill site is a plaque erected by the Niagara Escarpment Commission to explain the geological significance of the area. The grey sandstone and red shales of the older and underlying formation were deposited in ancient seas over 400 million years ago, and their contact marks the boundary between two geological time periods – the older Ordovician and the younger Silurian.

From here, the white blazes lead over two bridges that cross the river and then climbs to the rim of the valley. At the top, swing right and follow the wide path cut through the grasses. This route was part of the original Bruce Trail, opened in 1967. It leads all the way south to Puckering Lane where the white blazes turn to the east.

The reroute itself is only several kilometers in length, but its importance is the reopening of a key piece of the Escarpment, noted for its scenic beauty, its geology and its human history. Its attractions make the area even more of a treasure to be discovered along the Bruce Trail.