The Sinclair Road
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Ann (Goodall) Field, wife of Henry Field, at the front door of the Field homestead as it appeared in about 1904. Henry Field cleared part of the trail that would become the Sinclair Road from Walker Lake as far as his homestead in 1877. At Field’s Corners, one branch of the road continued north, and another was eventually extended east. (Barbara Paterson Collection)
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Unlike the preplanned and surveyed Bobcaygeon Road, the Sinclair Road wandered a fair bit as it moved north up across Sinclair Township. It was meant to follow the road allowances marked on John McAree’s survey, but instead it had to navigate around rocky outcrops and lakes, cross streams at their narrowest locations, and follow high or low ground to avoid steep hills. It went from clearing to clearing, as settlers opened a route to their homesteads.
The proposed route of the Sinclair Road, which would travel north from the East Road (now Highway 60) near Grassmere at Peninsula Lake (bottom left corner of the Sinclair Township), was initially contested among the earliest settlers, but an acceptable route was finally negotiated. There was already a rough road trail, on a 45-degree angle from lots settled by Bill Green, near Grassmere, and Thomas Fleming (Hugh Fleming’s father) up to Robert Walker’s land by 1874. It may have followed an early route of Indigenous hunters, used also by Bill Green to get to his trapper’s shanty at Bella and Rebecca Lakes. However, the trail used by these pre-survey settlers was not noted by McAree on his 1876 survey. From Walker’s land, Henry Field had, by 1878, roughed out the next mile and a half to his own lots at Pell Lake (Lots 15, Concessions 4 and 5).
That same year, tenders for the construction of Sinclair Road were advertised by the Province. Ten bids were received, with the contract being awarded to Bill Green in partnership with Robert Ballentine and John Anderson. They built three miles of road, where the road trail was, up to Henry Field’s north lot.These first three miles from the East Road to Field’s lots were completely uphill. This stretch would be hard on the horses which had to pull the wagons, and going downhill could result in runaways. Bill Green had also extended the road past the East Road, down to the shore of Peninsula Lake to the government dock, as, in the early days, supplies came from Bracebridge.
Edmund Garnet, who settled in 1877 (the same year as Henry Field) and the cluster of families on the north side of Bella Lake continued the road north through the Bahen lots (following the road allowance) before turning east over top of Benson Lake, swinging north with sections of corduroy road over low spots, and then east again over top of what is now known as Hutcheson Bay and crossing Rebecca Creek. Sinclair Road curved around the bay before swinging north as a hilly, winding route along the west side of Bella Lake and around the top of Crawford’s Bay, through the Garnet lot. Garnet’s was the first site of the Antioch Post Office, which was formed in 1882 (the same time as this stretch of road was completed) and later, the Antioch appointment of the Hillside Methodist Church.
Families such as the Russells, Parkers, and McBriens continued Sinclair Road north from Garnet’s lots, past Crown Lands, and across the East River, north to their lots near the top of the township. The road crossed through the river a little west of where the Sinclair Bridge stands today. The river was quite narrow and shallow in that spot at that time.
A couple of branches immediately formed from the Sinclair Road. There was a petition in 1879 from the settlers to have Sinclair Road travel directly east from Henry Field’s lots along the road allowance. The road that was eventually built was called the Sinclair-Finlayson Road, and it went from Field’s Corners eastwards to the Bobcaygeon road (and into Finlayson Township). Another road went straight north from the Bahen lots (above Field’s Corners) to just below the East River to serve settlers in that area. Sometimes referred to as the River Road, it had to navigate the several branches of Rebecca Creek.
Settlers had to devote two days (per 100 acres) a year to working on the government roads, or pay a tax. They also had to maintain their portion of the road as it passed along the edge or through their own lots. Many more trails or small roads connected the settlers with Sinclair Road and between the farms. By 1885, Sinclair Road had become known as Old Sinclair Road.
After many settlers had left due to the extreme hardships of farming the land, the Colonization Road Act of 1908 passed the responsibility of road construction and maintenance to the municipalities, and Old Sinclair Road became also known as the Colonization Road. Old Sinclair Road was used by lumber companies over the years from Crawford’s Bay and south (to Grassmere) and from the East River and north.
What Roads Follow the Old Sinclair Road Today?
The first section of Old Sinclair Road, from Grassmere to Field’s Corners, still exists today as Hillside Crescent (which no longer connects with the highway) and Limberlost Road (Muskoka Road 8) up to near where Hutcheson Road starts. The road is smoothed out a bit and made a little flatter.
The overgrown lane along the west side of Bella Lake was surveyed as a portion of the Old Sinclair Road in 1969, as a requirement for the subdivision of lots. It was opened as the Colonization Road in the early 1980s (the further section being surveyed in 1977). Renamed the Old Sinclair Road in 2020 by the Township of Lake of Bays, in recognition that the former name was disrespectful of Indigenous peoples, the road now terminates on the north side of Crawford Bay.
Old Sinclair Road picks up again, a little north of the Sinclair Bridge, on the East River, and briefly continues. It had been surveyed around 1974 when Fred Brook subdivided his lots. The survey shows the original road coming up from the river on a 45-degree angle before swinging northwards.
Many colonization roads are public roads and owned by the township. Roads in Sinclair Township have had various names, and sometimes even shared names. Over the years, they also shifted around on the way to their destinations.
Sources:
Barbara Paterson Papers.
Burgess, David, notes and surveys.
Mansell, Dick, “Rebecca and Sand Lakes, Sinclair Township, Muskoka,” map, 1937.
Mansell, W. Dan, Sunset Farm (Peterborough: asiOtus Natural Heritage Consultants, Barbara Paterson Papers and Mansell Heritage Series, 2012).
Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, Surveys and Engineering Division, “Roads of the Present Time in and Surrounding Algonquin Provincial Park” (map showing the colonization and current roads), 1946.
Ontario Forestry Map, 1939.
Paterson, Barbara, Ruth Lehman, and Robin Sharp, eds., Pioneer Memorial United Church: A Centennial History (Pioneer Memorial Church, 1992).