1845: Surveyors
"[The blackflies were] exceedingly bad, so much so that one of the men gave up work in the evening." ~ James McNaughton, Public Land Surveyor, 1847
Growing demand for timber prompted government surveys of the Bonnechere as early as 1838. However, James McNaughton began the task in earnest in 1847 in order to formalize timber limits claimed by pioneer lumbermen such as Alexander MacDonnell.
By the 1870s and ’80s there was strong pressure on the Canadian government to open up these lands for settlers, so surveyors were again sent in, this time to map lot and township boundaries.
