Old Stone Mill, Delta, Ontario

Maps of the Delta Area

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Lt. Gershom French's 1783 survey map\n\nThe map on the right was drawn in 1794 based on French's 1783 sketches and survey notes. \n\nWhile an interpretation of the river coming in from the west is generally said to be Witse Creek flowing from Charleston Lake, French's survey notes makes it more likely to be Plum Hollow Creek.\n\nThe triangles are French's overnight camp sites. The one after the Jones Falls portage is interpreted to be the head of Lower Beverley Lake, where the White Fish River (today's Morton Creek) met the lake. From there French wrote "Steered South 12 Degrees, E. about 4 miles where the Gananoncui received a River from the East." That's a fairly close match for Plum Hollow Creek which is 3.7 miles away from that spot. \n\nThe horizontal lines extending out from the water areas are traverse lines that French and his men did while investigating the quality of the land for settlement, the main purpose of this survey.\n\nFrench was following a long time indigenous travel route that connected the Ottawa River at Rideau Falls with the St. Lawrence River at Gananoque. He organized his party in Montreal and embarked on his journey in two birch bark canoes with “seven men of the Provincials, Two Canadians and an Indian as Guide.” The Provincials were men of the Provincial Corps of the British Army and the Canadians were French Canadians. The indigenous guide was key since they were exploring a route not previously surveyed by Europeans, but one that had been use for millennia as an indigenous travel way.\n\nTravel along this route, which includes Lower Beverley Lakes, dates back at least 9,000 years. Use by paleo indigenous peoples eventually became, prior to European arrival, native nations such as the Wendake-Nionwentsïo, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy), Missisauga, Anihinabewaki and Algonquin.\n\nA full transcription of French's survey can be found in "The Rideau Route" by Ken W. Watson, available as a free PDF download on Ken's Rideau Canal website: www.rideau-info.com\n\nThis maps is a crop from: "Communication with the St. Lawrence & Ottawa Rivers by the Rivers Petite Nation & Rideau", William Chewitt, 1794. Archives of Ontario, AO 1336
Annotated Section from Lewis Grant's 1795 Survey Map\n\nThe blue (original on the map) are the lakes and rivers Grant actually travelled. After taking a detour through Charleston Lake (he took a wrong turn), he proceeded as far north as Sand Lake.\n\nWith Abel Stevens petitioning the government to grant land to himself and the settlers he brought in, the government needed to survey in townships. Grant was tasked with this job, eventually in 1795/96 surveying Bastard Township.\n\nOn the map, we see "Stephens" written above the Upper Beverley Lakes and Plum Hollow Creek. The next map in this series has more details.\n\n"Sketch of the Ganonoque" by Lewis Grant, 17th June 1795, Archives of Ontario, AO 1532
Map of lots for Stevens' settlers by Lewis Grant c.1795\n\nThis shows the lots surveyed in for the Stevens' settlers on the upper reaches of Plum Hollow Creek. They arrived thre with their possessions on ox drawn wagons in February, 1794.\n\nMap from Archives of Ontario RG1-A-1-7 #7\n\nThe map also shows that Stevens is asking for 2,000 acres. He didn't receive that, but in June 1796 he received a grant for 700 acres over what is present day Delta.\n\nWe also see his initials "AS" [Abel Stevens] adjacent to the falls at Lyndhurst. In his 3rd petition to the government Stevens said he'd found iron there and asked the government for the water and mining rights. Stevens was not the discoverer of this iron, the first request for the mining rights came from Major Edward Jessup in 1784. The full details of this can be found on the History page of our website.\n\nAlso shown are the falls at Morton (White Fish Falls), the rapids at Delta and the two original Upper Beverley lakes.
Survey Map of Bastard Township\n\nThis is the original 1797 survey map with annotations over the years (i.e. railway line). See the next slide for a cleaned-up version showing the lakes.\n\nMap from Archives of Ontario


Trace and Enhancement of Lewis Grant's 1797 Township of Bastard Map.\n\nThis is a direct trace of the township map (which is poor quality - see previous image), showing Grant's outlines of the lakes as well as the location of Stevens' mill on the south side of the creek.\n\nEvidence points to Stevens building two dams, the dam between the two sections of Upper Beverley Lake would have been done to simply impound more water, to extend the milling season. \n\nThe dam closest to Delta, which would have been at the head of the rapids, was designed to raise the water and channel it into a flume that led to the waterwheel of his sawmill.\n\nIn his survey notes, Grant attributes the mill to Abel’s cousin William Stevens. Sometime later, perhaps in about 1800, Stevens had a grist mill built. It was operated by Nicholas Mattice.
Map showing the pre-dam and present day outlines of Upper Beverley Lake
Section from a c.1815 map showing mill locations\n\nThis map shows the townships and mill locations along the Rideau Route (Ottawa River to Lake Ontario). In this section we can see the Old Stone Mill (Jones & Schofield) as well as Haskins' Mill (Morton), mislabelled as Hawkins. "Kilby" is Kitley Township.\n\nMap "No. 37 [Trent] & Rideau Communications” by ?, [1815], Library and Archives Canada, NMC 44765.
Section from Lt. Joshua Jebb's 1816 Map of the Rideau Route\n\nIn this map we can see Stone Mills (Delta) with 10 buildings shown. Another1816 account (Col. Cockburn) noted about 20 buildings in the area. \n\nWhite Fish Lake is Lower Beverley Lake and Small Lake or Mill Pond is Upper Beverley Lake. \n\nThe area of "Land Overflowed" on the left side of the map is today's Whitefish Lake. The land was overflowed due to Haskins' mill dam (c.1803-1805), located where the Parks Canada Dam at Morton is today.\n\nFurnace is Lyndhurst. Hodskiss' Inn was near the present day intersection of CR33 (Lyndhurst Road) and Highway 15.\n\nOf interest, is that Jebb examined two possible routes for the Rideau Canal, one through the Rideau Lakes, the route it follows today, and one by way of Irish Creek, which was his recommended route. The Irish Creek route would have taken the canal down Plum Hollow Creek, through Delta to Lower Beverley Lake and then up the White Fish River (a remnant of that today is Morton Creek) and from there down to the Cataraqui River and Kingston. His Irish Creek route was discounted by the next survey done by Samuel Clowes in 1823/24. If Jebb's recommended route had been followed, we'd have a Rideau Canal lock in the middle of Delta.\n\nDetails of Jebb's survey can be found in "The Rideau Route" by Ken W. Watson, available as a free PDF download on Ken's Rideau Canal website: www.rideau-info.com\n\nMap "Plan of the Water Communication from Kingston to the Grand River" by Lt. J. Jebb, July 8, 1816, Library and Archives Canada, NMC 21941 2/3.


Lt. J. Walpole's 1828 Road Map of Roads near the Rideau Canal\n\nThis map, which is not overly accurate, was a documentation of roads leading to the Rideau Canal, done for military defence purposes.\n\nStone Mills has recently been renamed Beverley and Walpole notes "Beverly is composed of about 30 houses".\n\nShortly after this map, in January 1830, the Upper Canada Legislature allocated money "to be expended on public highways and on the publicly travelled roads in the Province". This included £ 100 "on the road from Beverly in Bastard to the Isthmus [Newboro] in North Crosby."\n\nMap: Outline of the Country from Kingston to Olivers ferry along the route of the Rideau Canal, and from Kingston to Brockville, with the roads leading upon the canal from the St. Lawrence; accompanying a report of a reconnaissance made in pursuance of the orders of the Commissioners of Whom Lt. Gen'l. Sir James Kempt, K.C.B. etc. etc. etc. is President." by J. Walpole Lt. Royal Engineers 22 June 1828. Library and Archives Canada, NMC 11230
Section from an 1841 map showing roads.\n\nThis is a fairly accurate (for the period) map showing many of the roads in the region. We also see some of spots that were to become villages such as Furnace's Mill (Lyndhurst), Halladay's Corner (Elgin), Phillips Tavern (Philipsville) and Smiths Mills (Harlem).\n\nMap: Plan of the Country between the Rivers St. Lawrence & Ottawa and the Rideau Canal reconnoitred by order of His Excellency the Commander of the Forces & under the direction of Col. Oldfield K.H. Commg. Royl. Engr. in Canada 1841. by Hampden C.B. Moody, Lieut. Roy. Engineers. Library and Archives Canada, NMC 17853 (10 Sect)
Section from Walling's 1861-62 County Atlas\n\nWe now see the village as Delta, that name change from Beverley happened in 1857.\n\nWhile the water outlines of lakes isn't overly accurate, the road and lots are reasonably represented for the time period.
Village of Delta in 1861-62\n\nTThis was an inset in the 1861-62 county atlas by H.F. Walling. A few annotations have been added for clarity.\n\nNote the toll gate near the top of the map - travel on area roads wasn't free. Toll roads came into being in the 1830s and were phased out by the 1890s.\n\nIn 1837 an Act in the Provincial Legislature was passed "to raise a sum of money to Macadamize the roads leading from Brockville to Saint Francis, Charleston, Lyndhurst, Beverley and Portland in the District of Johnstown, and to authorize the erection of toll-gates on those roads." The tolls were initially intended to pay back the cost of that work and then subsequently to pay for the maintenance of those roads. That could be hit or miss depending on who was collecting the toll.


1897 Insurance Map of Delta by C.E. Goad - Part 1 of 2\n\nThe legend for this map is the upper right. This map has 4 outlined sections.\n\nNote that at this time, Delta has 3 street names for what is today King Street (CR 42). To the north of the bridge was Stephen Street which continued north along today's Daytown Road. In the middle, in front of the Jubilee Block to the fairgrounds was Main Street. To the south was King Street.\n\nAt some point in the 20th century, it was all named King Street.\n\nMap from Library and Archives Canada, NMC9397
1897 Insurance Map of Delta by C.E. Goad - Part 2 of 2\n\nOn this sheet we see downtown Delta. The Jubilee Block is shown as being under construction when the village was surveyed in September 1897.\n\nThe Burnt Ruins next to it are the remains of the Omer Brown store, originally built by Walter Denaut. It burned down when the Singleton Block burned down in 1896.\n\nMap from Library and Archives Canada, NMC9397
Simplified Map showing the configuration of Stevens' Mill and the Old Stone Mill\n\nStevens original sawmill (c.1796) was on the east side of the original stream. This map shows the likely configuration based on typical dam and mill construction of the era.\n\nA dam was placed at the head of the rapids with the mill at or a distance from the base. This gave the maximum head (vertical amount of water). A flume directed water to the waterwheel of the mill. A headgate in the dam at the head of the flume controlled the water flow.\n\nAs a very heavy stone building, the mill had to be built on a bedrock foundation. The Old Stone Mill was built on the closest bedrock to the north of the original stream channel. The edge of the bedrock is only 6 feet from the south wall of the mill.\n\nDue to its location away from the original stream channel, an artificial water channel leading to the mill was created using pry bars and black powder blasting in 1810-11. The material excavated for the new channel was used to fill in the old channel.\n\nThe mill had a stoplog dam at the head of the bywash (water bypass) and a headgate at the entrance to the millrace (through a buffer wall), leading to the waterwheel which was inside the mill. A sawmill was built adjacent to the mill.
Diagram showing the location of the mills against present day streets.\n\nStevens original c.1796 sawmill is shown on a 1797 map as being on the south side of the creek. If at the base of the original rapids, then its general location would be under King Street or Millstream Park.\n\nStevens later (c.1800) had a grist mill built, most likely adjacent to his sawmill. Both mills needed to be at the base of the rapids to maximize the hydraulic head. The grist mill could have been powered by the sawmill's waterwheel, or it could have had its own.\n\nThe Old Stone Mill was built on bedrock about 40m to the north of the original Stevens' mills.


Simplied Geology Map of the Delta Area.\n\nThe Precambrian rocks are part of the Frontenac Axis, the eroded remains of a large mountain range that formed 900 million years ago. The original rocks that formed those mountains are 1.03 to 1.35 billion years old.\n\nOverlying those rocks are younger, 460 to 520 million year old, flat lying sedimentary rocks; sandstone and dolomite.\n\nThe stones used to build the Old Stone Mill are potsdam sandstone with the corner pieces made from local crystalline limestone (aka marble). \n\nMap based on the 1964 Ontario Ministry of Mines Map #2054 compiled by D.F. Hewitt in 1960-61.
Topographic Map of Delta\n\nThis map shows the topography of the Delta area.\n\nUpper Beverley Lake is dam raised by about 9 feet over the pre-dam (1796) era. Lower Beverley Lake is dam raised by about 5 feet over its pre-dam (c.1801) era.
Section from NTS 31C/09 (then just called No.100) - 1927\n\nThis map was produced by the Department of National Defence in 1927. It was based on surveys done in 1926 and air photos taken by the R.C.A.F. in 1925. \n\nWestport Sheet No.100 - published at 1:63,360 (one inch to one mile) scale.
Section from NTS 31C/09 - 1949\n\nThis map is a second edition of the sheet with a switch to a UTM grid (from just lat and long) and the NTS numbering system now identifying this as NTS 31C/09 (Westport Map Sheet).\n\nIt retains the 1:63,360 (one inch to one mile) scale.


Section from NTS 31C/09 - 1969\n\nThis is a modern NTS map, now at a metric 1:50,000 scale. The change from 1:63,360 (one inch to one mile) to 1:50:000 happened in the early 1950s.\n\nProduced, 1965, by the Surveys and Mapping Branch, Department of Energy Mines and Resources, from aerial photographs taken in 1964. Field Surveys 1964. Printed in 1969.
Section from NTS 31C/09 - 1994\n\nProduced by the Canada Centre for Mapping, Department of Energy Mines and Resources. Information current as of 1989. Published in 1994.
Section from NTS 31C/09 - 2010\n\nProduced on December 21, 2010, by the Centre for Topographic Information, Natural Resources Canada. The validity of the data in this map rages from 1989 for buildings to 2010 for boundaries and toponymy.
Ontario Base Map from Ontario Make A Topographic Map, 2025
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