> so.. who came up with metric first? Separating out Ontario's land into counties, townships, concessions and lots was started by Governor Simcoe's men between 1793 and 1798. The metric system was introduced in France after the Revolution in 1789. Given a war between France and the rest of Europe, language differences, and distances over which communication had to travel, .... it's amazing, n'est-ce pas? /cheers Pat -----Original Message----- From: can-ont-simcoe-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:can-ont-simcoe-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Don King Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2007 2:11 PM To: can-ont-simcoe@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CAN-ONT-SIMCOE] Measures & chains & acres,lumbermen and farmers Just one piece more about chains. They were carried around in a box by the lowly surveyor's assistant. The box was wide enough to hold a link. The links were carefully stacked into the box one along side the next. The box was long enough to hold 10 links, which then made one 'perch' in the box. The chain continued to fold into the box perch by perch. The box was tall enuff to hold 10 perches. Thus one hundred links per chain, or 10 perchs per chain. An acre can be one chain wide by 10 chains long. (or 2 x 5 or whatever). Doesn't this sound 'metric'? Well 100 chains = 1.25 miles = 2000 meters. so.. who came up with metric first? In Ontario farms were laid out 10 lots per 1000 acres. (metric/) In the York region these 1000 acres were 100 chains by 100 chains (ie 2 km along the concession and 2 km from the baseline to the 5th sideroad, etc) In Peel they were laid out 150 chains (3 km) from baseline to 5th side road and 66 chains (1.33 km) along the concession. In others they might be 200 chains by 50 chains. In Toronto (Old York) the concession roads parallel the lake shore (Queen, St.Clair, Eglinton) and the side roads ran north/south. These were Bathurst (5th sideroad W of Yonge St), Dufferin (10th), Keele (15th), and Jane (20th). Eglinton was the baseline for York Township. Lawrence was the 5th line N of Eglinton, Wilson (10th) Shepherd (15th) Finch (20th). Steeles is the baseline for King Township. This explains why there is a jog in the road at Eglinton as you moved into York twp which was surveyed differently at a different time. Since Magnetic North has been drifting, this may explain why Keele north of Eglinton is sloped eastward relative to its direction south of Eglinton ???. (I don't quite believe this statement) Enuff? Don ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CAN-ONT-SIMCOE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message