Worth Travelling Miles to See: Diary of a Survey Trip to Lake Temiskaming, 1886

In the 1880s the provincial government sent out teams of land surveyors to explore the northern Ontario hinterland. By rail, canoe and on foot they and their crews cut through the forests and across streams, establishing the boundaries for townships in preparation for settlement. Alexander Herkes Telfer was a member of the party led by the Haliburton surveyor Alexander Niven, who was responsible for running the lines for seven townships around the head of Lake Temiskaming. The child of Scottish immigrants who settled in Scarborough, Ontario, A H Telfer logged his experiences in a personal diary, revealing a love of new frontiers and adventure that the hardships of life could not diminish. His vivid account provides interesting details of early surveying methods and of the lives of some intrepid early settlers in this wild but beautiful land. An introduction and annotations by the editor and early photographs of the upper Ottawa/Lake Temiskaming area complement the diary and create a historical context.