A treaty of 1836 gave the Ojibway the Bruce Peninsula as a reserve but pushed them out of a huge tract of land. These former hunting grounds were designated crown land. The area was called the “Queen’s Bush”, because of the large forest cover, and to differentiate it from other blocks of land taken up by private entrepreneurs such as the Canada Company. The private holdings were mainly for speculative purses, and land was therefore much more expensive, and usually closer to the hub of new Canada. By 1847, the population of Upper Canada had grown so much that the demand for good arable land resulted in the opening of the “Queen’s Bush”, by British Parliament Order-in-Council. “Free Grants” of land were offered to those who built mills or settled before 1850 when Bruce County came into being. Land classed as “school lands” were typically sold for $2 per acre and the rest of the crown land sold for an average of $1.50 per acre. Over the next 50 years there would be a huge influx of pioneers to the “Queen’s Bush”.
A treaty of 1836 gave the Ojibway the Bruce Peninsula as a reserve but pushed them out of a huge tract of land. These former hunting grounds were designated crown land. The area was called the “Queen’s Bush”, because of the large forest cover, and to differentiate it from other blocks of land taken up by private entrepreneurs such as the Canada Company. The private holdings were mainly for speculative purses, and land was therefore much more expensive, and usually closer to the hub of new Canada. By 1847, the population of Upper Canada had grown so much that the demand for good arable land resulted in the opening of the “Queen’s Bush”, by British Parliament Order-in-Council. “Free Grants” of land were offered to those who built mills or settled before 1850 when Bruce County came into being. Land classed as “school lands” were typically sold for $2 per acre and the rest of the crown land sold for an average of $1.50 per acre. Over the next 50 years there would be a huge influx of pioneers to the “Queen’s Bush”.