Black’s Rock
In the nineteenth century, the Government of Upper Canada/Canada West/Ontario assumed that practically all land would become farmland. Though agricultural immigration proceeded relatively quickly in townships close to Lake Ontario, it stalled at the fringe of the Canadian Shield. The Bobcaygeon Road was the first colonization road intended to open up this country, reaching the Burnt River in 1858—a site that would become Kinmount.
As the Crown was trying to encourage immigration, about twenty veterans and their families were given free grants along the road. Generally, these soldiers had survived at least 30 years in the British Army, so they were typically over the age of 50. Sergeant Major John Black was among these immigrants, settling just north of Kinmount. He held the highest rank of any non-commissioned officer—it would have been unusual for more senior officers to take up free forested lots north of Kinmount. Few of these soldiers lasted long, but the Black family was an exception, and they would become the namesake of the prominent granite outcropping on their property.
The Victoria Railway was completed to Haliburton in 1878, skirting the Burnt River much of the way. Just north of Kinmount, Black’s Rock dropped precipitously to the water, which was initially overcome by building along the shore, but since runoff from the heights above caused the line to ice, a rock cut was needed. Looking carefully at the face of Black’s Rock, evidence of the blasting can still be seen, and some of the boulders removed now sit on riverbank. Black’s Rock became one of the attractions on the Victoria Railway, promoted with postcards in the twentieth century.
Having a rail connection made it feasible for Fenelon Falls’ Henry Greene and John A. Ellis to build a large sawmill just north of the landmark on the Burnt River in the 1880s on Lot A-3. In that era of river driving, a large proportion of the district’s sawlogs floated down the Burnt River—so it was a convenient location. After the mill closed, the lot became an asparagus farm, and has since become a subdivision.
In the late 1970s, CN Rail decided to close the northern section of the Victoria Railway, citing a washout at Black’s Rock. Local rumours circulated that this was simply an excuse. It was the end of the line for railways, as passenger service had long since stopped and the Victoria Railway was losing money on freight. In the 1990s, it would be reborn as the Victoria Rail Trail. Black’s Rock remains a beautiful site to stop and see the Burnt River, while appreciating the massive stone and the conifers that it supports.
