Goulbourn Twp Survey 1817

29 Aug 2015
  continued from entry 23 Aug 2015
  "When they arrived again at Goulbourn to continue their survey,
one whole week had passed, and John Ryder decided to start on
the seventh line rather than travel another day to continue at the
place where they had stopped the week before.
  Battling swamps, mosquitoes, heat, discontent and even hunger,
the men finally finished the seventy line. By then, their supplies
had dwindled to nothing, and they were obliged to travel to Perth
once again for rations. On the way back to Goulbourn several
days later, a severe storm surprised them on the 26th of October.
  John Ryder notes in his diary:
Oct. 26, The Sabbath. A stormy day of rain, hail and snow...
Oct. 27, We could not proceed, the storm continuing too
desperate; went about two miles; my bread and flour were very
much injured, that I was obliged to stop or lose the whole on
account of my provisions being wet...
Oct. 28, Cleared off and proceeded to N.W. Angle of the 8th
concession of Goulbourn township...
  When they arrived there, they found that a fellow surveyor by
the name of  Benjamin Ecuyer, meanwhile, had surveyed and
laid out in lots the entire eighth line.
  On the 29th of October, they reached the ninth line, planted a
wooden post at the place where the general store at Ashton now
stands, and again proceeded on a course of North 54 degrees East,
planting posts every 990 feet and making allowance for a 66 foot
roadway every five lots. (See sketch)" Will be added when I learn
how to do it. Next entry 5/6 Sept.