Grade by Grade
A. Heritage and Identity · Communities in Canada, 1780–1850

Why Build Here? How Settlements Grew

A3.3 A2.3 A2.4About 35 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can explain how physical features like water, soil and land shaped where people settled.
  • I can explain how trading posts grew along First Nations trade routes.
  • I can explain how mills, roads, churches and stores helped a community grow.
  • I can use a map to choose a good place for a settlement and explain why.

Words to know

settlement
A place where people live and build homes, like a village or a town.
physical features
The natural parts of a place: rivers, lakes, hills, soil, forests and rocks.
fertile soil
Rich soil where crops grow well.
trading post
A place where people met to trade goods, like furs for metal pots or cloth.
grist mill
A mill that grinds grain, like wheat, into flour. Its big stones were turned by water power.
sawmill
A mill that cuts logs into boards for building.
canal
A waterway built by people so boats can travel where a river can't go, like around a waterfall.

If you were choosing...

Imagine it is 1810. Your family is going to build a new home in Upper Canada. Where would you build? Near a river? On a hill? In a swamp? Far from everyone?

People in the past asked these questions too. Their answers decided where villages and towns grew. Many of those villages are towns and cities today!

Physical features: water, soil and land

  • Water was the most important thing. People needed it for drinking, cooking, washing and animals. Lakes and rivers were also the main roads: canoes and boats could carry people and heavy goods. And fast-moving water, like a waterfall, could power a mill.
  • Fertile soil: farm families looked for rich, flat land where crops would grow well. Much of southern Upper Canada had good soil. Farther north, on the rocky Canadian Shield, farming was much harder, so fewer farms were built there.
  • Forests gave wood for houses, fences and fires, but they also had to be cleared before farming.

Trading posts: built on First Nations knowledge

Long before settlers came, First Nations had trade routes: canoe routes along rivers and lakes, with portages (paths where you carry the canoe around rapids or between lakes). They traded with other nations over long distances.

When the fur trade began, Europeans built trading posts in places where First Nations already travelled and met. They needed First Nations guides, maps, canoes and knowledge to find their way.

Examples: Fort William (at today's Thunder Bay, on Lake Superior), Moose Factory (near James Bay) and Sault Ste. Marie. Some trading posts grew into towns.

Goods and services help communities grow

Once a few families settled in a place, other things followed:

  • A grist mill to grind wheat into flour, and a sawmill to cut logs into boards. Mills needed running water, so they were built by rivers and waterfalls. Farmers came from far away to use the mill, so a village often grew around it.
  • A general store sold things families couldn't make, like tea, salt, nails, cloth and tools.
  • A blacksmith made and fixed metal tools, and put shoes on horses.
  • A church brought people together, and a school taught children.
  • Roads, like Yonge Street and Dundas Street in Upper Canada, connected settlements. Canals, like the Welland Canal (1829) and the Rideau Canal (1832), let boats go around waterfalls and rapids. The town of Bytown grew up beside the Rideau Canal. Today it is Ottawa!
A wooden grist mill with a large water wheel turned by water from a stream, at a heritage village today.
Mills needed running water to turn their wheels, so they were built beside rivers and waterfalls. Villages often grew up around them. AI-generated image
churchmillblacksmithstoreschool
A village around a mill. The blue river powers the mill. A road crosses the river. The church, store, blacksmith and school are close by. The green squares are farm fields.

Why most towns are near water

Look at a map of Ontario today. Toronto, Kingston, Hamilton, Ottawa, Windsor, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie are all beside water. That is because of choices people made long ago!

Worked example

Let's choose the best place for a settlement

A settler family in 1815 has three choices:

  • Place A: flat land with dark, rich soil, beside a river with a small waterfall.
  • Place B: a rocky hill, far from any water.
  • Place C: a wet swamp beside a lake, with lots of mosquitoes.

Which is best? Explain.

  1. Think about water: A has a river; B has no water nearby; C has a lake but the ground is swampy.
  2. Think about soil: A has rich, flat soil for crops. B is rocky. C is too wet to farm.
  3. Think about services: A's waterfall could power a mill, which would bring other families and a village.
  4. B would be very hard: carrying water every day, and crops wouldn't grow well. C would be hard to build on, and wet places can bring sickness.

Place A is best: it has water for drinking and travel, fertile soil for crops, and a waterfall that could power a mill.

Place APlace BPlace Criver witha waterfallrich, flat soilWater: yesGood soil: yesMill power: yesrocky, no waterWater: noGood soil: noMill power: nolakewet swampWater: yes, but swampyGood soil: noMill power: no
The three places side by side. Only Place A has water, good soil and a waterfall to power a mill.
Worked example

Let's read the village map

Look at the village picture. Why is the mill right beside the river? Why are the store and the church close to the road?

  1. The mill needs moving water to turn its wheel and grind grain or saw logs. So it must be beside the river.
  2. The store and church are used by everyone. Being near the road makes them easy to reach for families coming from farms.
  3. The farm fields are on the outside, where there is more space.

The mill is by the river because it needs water power. The store and church are on the road so everyone can get to them easily.

Just for fun

Fun fact: Ottawa was once called Bytown, after Colonel John By, who built the Rideau Canal. It was renamed Ottawa in 1855. "Bytown" sounds like a place you go to buy things!

Hands-on activity

Plan your own 1820 village

You need: a big piece of paper and crayons or markers.

  1. Draw a river (or a lake) first. Remember: this is the most important feature!
  2. Draw where you would put the mill. (Hint: it needs moving water.)
  3. Add a road, a general store, a blacksmith, a church and a school.
  4. Draw farms with fields around the village.
  5. Give your village a name. Many Ontario places were named after a mill, a river or a person.
  6. Explain your map to a grown-up: "I put the ___ here because ___."

Think about it: Whose land is your village on? Add a note about the First Nation whose territory it is.

Your turn

1

Why was water so important for a settlement? Give two reasons.

2

What does a grist mill do?

3

Why were mills built beside rivers?

4

What is fertile soil?

5

Why did Europeans build trading posts where First Nations already travelled?

6

Name one canal built in this period.

7

Bytown grew up beside the Rideau Canal. What is it called today?

More practice: warm-up

1

What does a sawmill do?

2

What did a blacksmith make or fix?

3

Name a trading post on Lake Superior.

4

Is it easier to farm on rocky land or flat, rich land?

5

What is a portage?

More practice: on your own

1

Why were there fewer farms on the Canadian Shield?

2

How did a mill help a village grow?

3

Why was a general store important?

4

Why are most big cities in Ontario beside water?

5

What problem did canals solve?

Challenge

1

Look at a map of Ontario. Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie were both trading posts. What physical feature do they have in common, and why did it matter for the fur trade?

2

A settler says: "I found this great river route all by myself!" Why might this not be true?

3

A new mill opens in 1820. Predict three things that might happen to the area around it over the next 20 years.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

What was the most important feature for choosing where to settle?

2.

A grist mill...

3.

Mills were built beside rivers because...

4.

Trading posts were often built...

5.

Which place would be best for a farm settlement in 1815?

6.

Which town grew up beside the Rideau Canal?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Physical features (access to water, fertile soil, topography) and available goods and services (mills, stores, churches, roads, canals) shaped where settlements grew and how community life developed. Trading posts were placed along First Nations trade routes and relied on First Nations knowledge.

How to help at home:

  • Look at a map of your own area: is there a river? Was there a mill? Many Ontario place names include "Mills" or "Falls".
  • Visit a heritage mill or pioneer village (many operate seasonally).
  • When travelling, point out how roads and towns follow rivers and lakeshores.

Common difficulties:

  • Explaining "why": encourage complete "because" sentences linking a feature to a need ("near water because the mill needs water power").
  • Grist vs. sawmill: grist = grain; saw = logs.
  • Seeing settlement only as progress: every new village also meant less land and forest for the First Nations who used it. The challenge questions raise this.