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Hamilton
 Hamilton, the second city of Ontario, with a population of 504,559, in the city proper, and 692,911 in the "greater city", according to the 2006 census, is located on Hamilton Harbour at the head of Lake Ontario. It is sometimes called the "Pittsburgh of Canada" in recognition of the fact that it is the foremost centre of the primary iron and steel industry. It is the fifth city of Canada in terms of population and third in terms of industrial output. County seat of Wentworth county, it might almost also be called the regional capital of the Niagara Peninsula.
History
The first settlers on the site of Hamilton were two United Empire Loyalists, Robert Land and Richard Beasley who took up land in 1778. Burlington Heights was an important base during the war of 1812. The actual founder of the village was George Hamilton, who, in 1813, laid out his farm in town lots and named the streets after the members of his family. He also donated three parks, one of which, Gore Park, is still the centre of the city. The village was incorporated in 1816, in 1833 it became a town and, in 1846, achieved the status of a city. Its early growth was slow, being overshadowed by the earlier town of Dundas, which, in addition to the Desjardins canal joining it to Lake Ontario, had important roads leading to London, Waterloo and Guelph, important trade centres in the interior. The real growth of Hamilton dates from the building of the railways in the 1850's.
The Harbour
The harbour is now much more important than it formerly was. It is a landlocked bay, about 10 square miles in area, separated from Lake Ontario by Hamilton Beach, a sand and gravel strip four miles long and two to three hundred yards in width. Over it pass a railway and a highway which actually serve to by-pass the city. From end to end it is now solidly lined with cottages. The harbour must constantly be dredged in order to accommodate large ships, and access to Lake Ontario is by way of a concrete lined canal. The harbour has a frontage of over four miles, available for docks and industrial sites. Since the building of the new Welland Canal, Hamilton's harbour has assumed much greater significance.
The City Site
Hamilton lies upon a gently sloping plain of lacustrine sediments, about two and a half miles in width, between the harbour and the Niagara Escarpment, which rises abruptly over 250 feet and is known as "the mountain". Toward the west the plain is broken by some rather difficult ravines while, to the east, it reaches unbroken into the fruit growing lands of the Niagara Peninsula. While sufficiently large for the early city, this site is proving too small for modern Hamilton which is stretching both east and west and, even to some extent, climbing the "mountain" to the south. The site of the early city was determined by the fact that all eastwest traffic must pass this narrow plain, while all traffic from the north was restricted to the very much narrower Burlington Heights, the old bar across the head of Lake Iroquois.
The Urban Landscape
There are few cities so easy to study because, from various vantage points on the "mountain", the whole city can be seen. The old city centre, where James crosses both King and Main Streets, is now a cluster of tall office buildings, about which are grouped hotels, theatres and shops of all kinds. The whole waterfront is given over to industry and there is also an industrial section west of the city centre. The whole lower part of the city plain, flanking the industries, is occupied by the homes of the workers, while the upper portion, just under the mountain, is the section in which the wealthy and middle class homes are found.
On top of the mountain, modest homes are found again. It is interesting to note that Hamilton has grown so far eastward that a new business and shopping centre has sprung up along Ottawa Street to serve the east end. To the west beyond the creek valley, a new, almost detached suburb of Westdale has grown up. Here, also, is located McMaster University on the level terrace overlooking the Dundas Marsh, which has been set aside as a wild life preserve. The city pattern has some irregularities, mainly due to the location of the railways and their attraction of industries. Particularly noticeable is the position of the line to Buffalo which cuts through the residential district under the mountain.
More praiseworthy has been the treatment accorded Burlington Heights. The railways are happily at the base of the ridge. The crest is followed by a broad thoroughfare flanked by well preserved old cemeteries, a national historical site dating from 1812, well kept parks and, at the northern entrance to the city, the slopes of the old gravel ridge have been transformed into a rock garden.
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