Daniel Fowler

“ One great peculiarity about Canada is, that for three or four months out of the year the climate makes our roads for us. Then we discard wheels and slide along on skates. It is a moot point whether the pathmaster’s jurisdiction extends into that wintry province. There is a perpetual schism between those who hold that he has a right to call out the men to “bush” roads across the ice, or to break a track through heavy drifts, and those who contest that doctrine. ”

“ I had still clinging about me the traditions of the old country, and had not yet learned the golden Canadian lesson, that a man cannot degrade himself by any act that is not in itself discreditable. Would to Heaven that the converse of the maxim held good here also, that every dishonest and disreputable act were visited with the disgrace it deserves! There is not the most distant approach to it. In that respect, Canadian society is rotten to its very inmost core. ”

“ I should have as much thought of working upon the roads, when I first came to Canada, as of throwing myself into the lake. When I caught sight of those young men working on the roads among a miscellaneous lot of common-looking people, a sensation of awkwardness came over me on their account. ”

“ When, in his rounds, he flushes one covey, another is sure to settle down in the place he has left. And so it goes on—a playful see saw of evasion. The pathmaster, in virtue of his office, is exempt from work himself, but he is by far the hardest-worked man on the ground, for all that. ”

“ Some of the roads in the township in which I live are of the latter class; others, which have certainly been opened for thirty years or more, are yet scarcely passable at certain seasons.
In the making and repairing of roads in Canada, tithe is taken in kind. Every man is rated, not for so much money, but for so many days’ work, in proportion to the amount of his assessment. Every adult, not assessed at all, or not at a higher rate than two days, must furnish two days’ work. ”

“ Money is a scarce article. The kind of work to be performed is very rough, and the mutual assistance of a gang of men working together is frequently necessary, as in the removal of large trees, rocks, or the like. Besides, the machinery for having the labour performed by contract for money is not yet in good working order. ”

“ They will be “clayed” after a while, but labour is awanting as yet, and the net-work of roots makes the road, for a time, almost impassable except on foot.
Such is, and such may readily be understood to be, the rude beginning of roads in a new country.
Bit by bit, matters mend. One settler, by opening up a possibility of getting at his own lot, helps a neighbour to reach his. Inhabitants multiply; more assistance is obtainable; a gradual and never-ceasing process goes on ”

“ When he may have to carry on his back, or drag on a hand sleigh, for twenty miles, a single bag of wheat to be ground, he is not very nice about the road he takes, so that it is the easiest he can find. In course of time the cattle play their part. They strike out a course for themselves, and follow it until it becomes a beaten path. From this cause it arose, says the erudite Knickerbocker, that the streets of old New York were so crooked, being originally built along the cattle-tracks.
But roads, practicable for an ox-sled at least, must be made before long. Trees must be cut down ”

“ The shoemaker must go ultra crepidam for once; the tailor must straighten his legs and descend from his perch; even the schoolmaster must leave his blackboard a carte noire, and dismiss his urchins to their own devices. ”

“ None but an experienced backwoodsman could hope to unravel their seeming tangle. Nothing could be imagined more confusing. Settlers are lost in the woods within a quarter of a mile of their shanty, in the very spot which becomes, before long, one of the fields surrounding their dwelling. ”

“ It may readily be imagined what sort of road this must make, until it becomes, by slow degrees, ground and pounded down. The striking out of a footpath across a newly-ploughed field may give some remote approach to it. ”

“ The best escape out of such a contrétemps is by an impromptu exhibition of that facile, happy-go-lucky throw-off which those men generally most possess, who have least of anything else. Soon after I came to the colony I was introduced, at the house of a friend, to two young men who had lately emigrated like myself. ”

“ These last say that such work is thrown away; that there is nothing to show for it; that, if people want the roads broken, they may turn out and do it. No doubt they may. I am an old Canadian, but it is a point upon which I can give no decision. ”

“ It is common to carry gravel from any place where it can be got to any other where it is wanted. Half a dozen men will be shovelling into a waggon the smallest load with which the remnant of shame that may remain to the driver will permit him to start. ”

“ Good roads are for the advantage of the community at large, and, if these persons have no vehicles, they benefit indirectly. Perhaps it comes rather hard upon the hired labourer, who has to forfeit two days’ wages. ”

“ No more departure is made from this plan than convenience or necessity may dictate. When the boundary-line of a township is irregular, from its geographical conformation, a straight line is struck, and the “broken front” is parcelled out according to circumstances. ”