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East Holland River

Ontario river stubsRivers of the Regional Municipality of York

The East Holland River is a river in Ontario, Canada that is part of the Holland River watershed that empties into Cook's Bay in Lake Simcoe. The headwaters of the East Holland River rise in the Oak Ridges Moraine. The river runs generally north from the town of Newmarket, and through Holland Landing where it joins up with the West Holland River. A map of the Holland River watershed published by the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority shows tributaries to the East Holland River include Sharon Creek, Bogart Creek, Tannery Creek (from Aurora, Ontario), Western Creek (from the west side of Newmarket), and Weslie Creek. A dam on the East Holland River in Newmarket maintains a man-made lake called Fairy Lake, originally a millpond, but now used for recreation. There has been a dam at this site since 1801. The current dam was damaged, albeit not severely, by Hurricane Hazel in 1954. Musselman Lake in Whitchurch-Stouffville feeds a creek that runs along Vandorf Sideroad and into Weslie Creek. Despite concerns of a lack of water, construction of several locks was started along the river between Newmarket and Holland Landing as part of a 'Holland River Canal' that would have joined Newmarket to the Trent-Severn Waterway. There is one lock in each of those places along with another at Rogers Reservoir in East Gwillimbury. Rogers Reservoir and Fairy Lake in Newmarket were to act as reservoirs for the canal waters. There were two swing bridges built in East Gwillimbury; one on Green Lane and the other on Main Street North (Concession 2). Both have been replaced by permanent structures. On Green Lane the road now runs slightly to the south and a pedestrian bridge crosses the old structure. There is also a quayside at Davis Drive in Newmarket. The canal works were abandoned early in the 20th century without ever being completed. The upper limit of navigation on the East Holland River remains at River Drive Park, about 2 km downstream from Holland Landing.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article East Holland River (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

East Holland River
McKenzie Drive, East Gwillimbury

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N 44.10505 ° E -79.49943 °
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McKenzie Drive

McKenzie Drive
L9N 1H5 East Gwillimbury
Ontario, Canada
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Newmarket Canal
Newmarket Canal

The Newmarket Canal, officially known but rarely referred to as the Holland River Division, is an abandoned barge canal project in Newmarket, Ontario. With a total length of about 10 miles (16 km), it was supposed to connect the town to the Trent–Severn Waterway via the East Holland River and Lake Simcoe. Construction was almost complete when work was abandoned, and the three completed pound Locks, a swing bridge and a turning basin remain largely intact to this day. The project was originally presented as a way to avoid paying increasing rates on the Northern Railway of Canada, which threatened to make business in Newmarket uncompetitive. The economic arguments for the canal were highly debatable, as the exit of the Waterway in Trenton was over 170 kilometres (110 mi) east of Toronto, while Newmarket was only 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the city. Moreover, predicted traffic was very low, perhaps 60 tons a day in total, enough to fill two or three barges at most. From the start, the real impetus for the project was a way to bring federal money to the riding of York North, which was held by powerful Liberal member William Mulock. That it was a patronage project was clear to all, and it was under constant attack in the press and the House of Commons. As construction started in 1908, measurements showed there was too little water to keep the system operating at a reasonable rate through the summer months. From then on it was heaped with scorn in the press and became the butt of jokes and nicknames, including "Mulock's Madness".The canal was one of the many examples of what the Conservative Party of Canada characterized as out-of-control spending on the part of the ruling Liberals. Their success in the 1911 federal election brought Robert Borden to power and changes at the top of the Department of Railways and Canals. They quickly placed a hold on ongoing construction, and a few weeks later, ended construction outright. Today, locals refer to it as "The Ghost Canal".