Our Rice Lake holdings are featured in this issue of Archives News. Many include references to Indigenous Peoples of that area during the 19th century and early 20th. Our Trent Treasures column features a publication dated 1632 located in Special Collections: Les Voyages de la Novvelle France Occidentale, Dicte Canada, Faits par Le Sr. de Champlain (Paris: Chez Claude Collet, au Palais, en la Gallerie des Prisonniers, à l’Estoille d’Or, M DC XXX II).
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- Rice Lake was formed by glacial activity. The first people to settle near Rice Lake were the Mississaugas and, later, emigrants from Scotland, Ireland, Germany and America. Samuel de Champlain was the first European to see Rice Lake, which at that point was surrounded by forests. In 1793 a trading post was established by Jacob and Lawrence Herkimer at the mouth of the Otonabee River on Rice Lake. The next person to settle near Rice Lake was Charles Fothergill. In the 1800's the Natives started to harvest rice from the lake for trade. However it was not until 1818 when settlers were allowed to settle in the area of Rice Lake. Most of the business carried on at the Lake was trade and ferrying people across the Lake. Eventually farming took precedence as more and more settlers arrived. Communities such as Gore's Landing sprang up around the Lake with churches, schools, taverns, hotels and other businesses becoming established as well.
Source note(s)
- Taken from: Martin, Norma, Donna S. McGillis and Catherine Milne. Gore's Landing and the Rice Lake Plains. Cobourg: Haynes Printing, 1986.