WITHIN REACH OF THE ST. LAWRENCE 31
the bank. From Prescott to Cobourg the journey was made by steamer.
"At that time," said Mr. Riddell, "William Weller ran a stage line from Kingston to Toronto. During the summer, while boats were running, there was little business for the stage, and the horses were turned out to pasture, but in winter the owners of horse transport did a capacity business.
"The first considerable influx from the old land began about 1820. Among the earliest arrivals from that quarter were the Coverts, .Jeffreys, Wades, Plews, Spears, Dales, McCormicks, Powells, and Rowes. When this migration was at its height in the thirties, Rice Lake Road was a stirring highway. Immigrants landed at Cobourg and were carried over the road to Sully on Rice Lake and from there by open boats to the country further north. Before the railway was built to Harwood on Rice Lake, large quantities of flour, lumber, and other sup-plies were hauled over the same road to Cobourg for shipment across Lake Ontario to the American market.
"The first store in Cobourg was built by Elias Jones in 1802. Mr. Jones later on built the first grist-mill in the township of Haldimand. The first wagon in the township was made by Elijah Buck about 1808. Oliver Stanton, born about the first year of the last century, is said to have been the first white child to see the light of day in Haldimand township.
"The first settlers in the township ground their corn by pounding it in a hollow stump or log, and such as had wheat were obliged to take