The countryside and commerce around Norway.

"The township of YORK is bounded on the east by the township of Scarborough; on the north by Vaughan; on the west by Etobicoke, and a small portion of Toronto Gore; and on the south by Lake Ontario. ... The City of Toronto is situated in the south of the township, on the Bay of Toronto; and ther are eight grist and thirty-five saw mills in the township.

Population in 1842, 5,720

Ratable property in the township, 82,682 pounds.

There were shipped at the Humber during the year 1845; flour(54,625 barrels), potash (84 b.), pork (127 b.), Timothy seed (8 b.), bran (60 tons), lumber-sawed (20,000 feet), wollen cloths (1600 pounds), pot barley (58 b.), buckwheat flour (3 b.), peas (48 b.)" [Smith, William: Canadian Gazetteer, p 225]

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"Settlers are coming in from the states yearly, and those townships (Cramahe, Haldimand, and Hamilton) promise a rapid increase of settlements." ...

"On arriving at the township of Hope you find excellent mills, and from thence there is a portage to Rice lake. From this place you pass by the fronts of Clarke, Darlington, and Whitby; and coming to Pickering, you meet with an excellent salmon and sturgeon fishery, at the river called Duffin's creek, which is generally open, and large enough to receive boats at most seasons of the year. In those townships are found good land in abundance, and pine-timber in plenty. There are saw-mills in the neighbourhood, affording an easy opportunity to settlers, to get boards, etc for building. After leaving the township of Pickering you pass under the highlands of Scarbourough, and arrive at the township of York. Scarborough is a township much admired, the land in general not only good, but so contiguous to the seat of government, that its value is greater than in the places last described." [Boulton: Sketch of His Majesty's Province (1805), p40-41 ]

About Thomas Smith and family circa 1837

The Gazetteer of British North America, 1873, lists Norway as a "post-village in York county Ontario, 4 1/2 miles from Toronto. It contains 1 store, 1 hotel and a brewery. Pop. 80"

The village grew around the Norway steam mills established in 1837. The Smith family were the owners and operators of the store and hotel. According to George Walton's City of Toronto and Home District Commercial Directory for 1837, Thomas Smith was "living in York Township". Another early record (Inhabitants of Toronto, Ontario 1850: Norman Crowder) lists Thomas Smith as the occupant (owner) of the Norway Steam Saw-Mills Inn. The April 15th edition of the Ontario Register had a death notice for Ann Smith, age 17, who died at the residence of her father, Norway Steam Saw Mill. "(Norway 1854)... known originally as Benlamond, developed around another of those infuriating toll houses. James Smith. the toll keeper, also had time to operate a store and the Norway House Hotel." [Toronto's Lost Villages, Ron Brown]

[Ontario Census 1861] Thomas is described as a "tavern keeper". James is also living in the building described as "two stories; 1/2 acre of land, $5000 invested; 2000 gallons of liquer valued at $1500 consumed per year. The remarks column states: English Church cost $500 contains about 100 sittings.

After 1820 the population of York exploded. The amount of lumber exported from the district was negligible, yet the number of sawmills in the area increased rapidly throughout the decade. By 1830 practiaclally the entire output of 106 mills was being consumed within the local market. [ Acheson, T.W. "The Nature and Structure of York Commerce in the 1820s" Journal of Canadian History, December 1969.]

The picture above is the Don Valley looking southwest to the city of York. Two coaches are depicted passing in the road. The buildings could be some of the hundreds of taverns that dotted the route. The caption reads: "The stage service between (Montreal and Toronto) was a weekly one; and with the allowance of twenty pounds of luggage one could secure a seat on the lumbering vehicle for the sum of eighteen dollars. The incoming mail from Lower Canada used to be advertised in the Gazette, and the annual arriveal of postal matter from England was and event in the life of the infant settlement." [Picturesque Canada, 1882]

...another road nearer the lake, known as Kingston Road, became the main highway. Along this road a weekly stage-coach line began winter service in 1817, taking from two to four days to make the trip between York and Kingston. By the early 1830's there wea daily, and somewhat faster, service all year round. [Craig: Upper Canada-The Formative Years, p148]

(1832) Sixteen toll gates were now dotted on the roads of the county. Doubt exists as to the exact location of some of these toll bars but is was difficult in their day to dodge them. The government made a practice of leasing the toll privileges to contractors who undertook to keep the roads in repair.... Thus came to York County after 1835 its era of toll gates, stage coaches and wayside taverns. A tavern sign was swinging every mile or so along a travelled road and the keeper of a well conducted house was providing a necessary public service. He offered stabling to a tired team and lodging to a farmer belated on his long journey. On a day in September, 1836, over two hundred teams stopped to water at a trough by the stoop of a tavern at Thornhill; and it was thought mannenrs for a teamster to pay two pence refreshing himself at the bar.

Most of the tavern keepers of this period were Old Countrymen, many of them of the Anglican and Presbyterian persuasion, and some of them were religious minded. Public religious services were held in taverns in York County. Police magistrates held court in these comfortable places, and for years after 1850 six of the township councils of York held their meetings in taverns. [Settlement of York County: Mitchell, J.]

Steam Engine Manufactories in York "a laudable competition has been entered into, not only amongst those who are engaged in the building of the numerouos steam-boats with which our navigable waters are daily becoming more splendidly supplied, .... but also for the purpose of domestic manufactures."... "from Mr. Perry's superior Steam Engine Factory we took a turn down to a steam Saw Mill, recently erected near the Windmill for the purpose of examining its engine... The rage for Steam Saw Mills may be said to have commenced in right earnest in this neighbourhood. ... It had a high pressure engine of 20 horsepower and could easily be converted to a gristmill."[YORK, Colonial Advocate, July 4-11, 1833]