Travel Destinations
 
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South Central Ontario
 City Skyline Including Cn Tower in the Evening, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Photographic Print Rainford, Roy 9 in. x 12 in. Buy at AllPosters.com Framed Mounted South Central Ontario is the area that lies between Lake Ontario and the Canadian Shield. It is an area of no great relief; the highest points, with an elevation of 1200-1300 feet, are found along the Interlobate Moraine which forms the water divide between the tributaries of Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay. With the exception of the rougher parts of the moraine and the areas of shallow soil along the northern border, Central Ontario consists of good agricultural land. General crop and livestock farming was formerly the rule throughout the area, but a great deal of it is now included in the Toronto milk shed or in the smaller ones supplying the other cities. Along the shore of Lake Ontario where the frost-free season is longer and where, also, sandy loam soils are found, there is a belt in which orchards and canning crops are important.
Mention might also be made of the specialized truck crop section in the Holland Marsh about 32 miles north of Toronto. Holland Marsh is a shallow southward extension of the Lake Simcoe basin which through the centuries has become filled with peat. Drainage was begun in the 1920's, but for a number of years little land was cleared. Beginning about 1935 a colony of Dutch gardeners was established on the marsh.
These have been joined by others until in 1950 about 500 families had over 6,000 acres under cultivation. The main crops are celery, onions and carrots. The old village of Bradford has been stimulated to new growth; large storage and packing houses have been built along the railway and highway. Besides the produce trucked directly to Toronto, over 1,000 refrigerator cars are loaded per season for distant points such as Winnipeg, Montreal, Halifax, St. John's and, in some seasons, to U.S. cities as well.
The influence of Lake Ontario as a means of transportation is indicated by the string of lakeside towns and cities. Only Toronto, however, has grown into an important modern port. Away from the lake shore, there are a number of small or medium sized towns but only Peterborough has reached the status of a manufacturing city.
South Central Ontario might almost be called the Toronto region since that city is now the most important factor in it. The concentration of roads and railways upon Toronto is a marked feature of the transportation map. Within 30 miles of Toronto one finds that all the small villages have become dormitory suburbs of the city with many people commuting daily by bus or private automobile. Commuting by rail is also common especially along the lake shore to the southwest where special suburban services have been provided for many years.
Not only in the older villages, however, but almost anywhere at random, small holdings and residential subdivisions are springing up in all the neighbouring townships which have been very slow to adopt any plan of development. Another important feature of the rural landscape of the Toronto region is the prevalence of country estates of city business men. Some of these consist mainly of large houses and extensive ornamental grounds while others are large, well equipped farms specializing in the breeding of purebred stock.
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