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 640 ONTARIO Of the Baptists, 10,231 were Freewill Baptists and 11,438 Tunkers; of the Methodists, 286,- 911 were Wesleyans, 92,198 Episcopal, 24,045 Primitive, 30,889 New Connection, and 18,225 Bible Christians; of the Presbyterians, 63,167 were connected with the church of Scotland. Among denominations not named in the table were Adventists, 1,449; Christian Brethren, 1,513 ; Plymouth Brethren, 1,689 ; Christian Conference, 11,881; Congregationalists, 12,- 858; Evangelical Association, 4,522 ; Quakers, 7,106; Swedenborgians, 779; Unitarians, 1,088 ; Universalists, 1,722. The French pen- etrated this region in the early part of the 17th century, and established some trading posts ; but it did not begin to be perma- nently settled till toward the close of the 18th century. In 1763, with the rest of Canada, it passed into the hands of the British. In 1774 the newly acquired territory was organ- ized as the province of Quebec. In 1791 it was divided into two provinces, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, and in 1841 these were reunited as the province of Canada. Upon the organization of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, they were again separated, and Upper Canada became the province of Ontario. An elective assembly was granted to the provinces in 1791, and in 1841 responsible government was introduced. The only important disturb- ances of the peace of the province have been the war of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States and the Canadian rebellion of 1837. See " Geological Survey of Canada : Report of Progress from its Commencement to 1863 " (Montreal, 1863 ; with atlas, Mon- treal, 1865). ONTARIO, a county of the province of On- tario, Canada, on the N. shore of Lake On- tario ; area, 859 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 45,890, of whom 19,290 were of English, 12,098 of Irish, 9,976 of Scotch, 1,723 of German, and 1,418 of Dutch origin or descent. It is bounded N. W. by Lake Simcoe, and is watered by sev- eral small streams. It is traversed by the Grand Trunk, the Toronto and Nipissing, the Mid- Capital, Whitby. ONTARIO, Lake, the lowest and smallest of the chain of five great lakes of the northern United States and Canada. The name is In- dian, meaning beautiful. The lake extends E. and W. about 180 m., having a mean breadth of 35 m., and a depth supposed to average about 500 ft. The elevation of its surface above tide being 231 ft., its bottom is about as far below the level of the ocean as its surface is above it. The area of the lake is computed at 6,300 sq. m., 3,300 sq. m. less than that of Lake Erie, the next larger lake. The boundary line be- tween the United States and Canada runs through the central portion of Lake Ontario, from the mouth of the Niagara river to the outlet in the extreme N. E. corner. This is the St. Lawrence river, which, commencing at this point, pursues a course of nearly 800 m. to the gulf of St. Lawrence. From the head of the river the coast of Lake Ontario on its E. and S. sides as far as Niagara river belongs to the state of New York ; thence 50 m. further W. along the S. coast, and E. along the N. side to the St. Lawrence river, the lake is bounded by Ontario, Canada. By reason of its great depth Lake Ontario is much less disturbed by storms than Lake Erie, and its navigation is also much less obstructed by ice. In the severest winters the boats continue their trips across, and are rarely interrupted by ice. When once chilled, the water slowly recovers a warmer tempera- ture ; and even in the middle of May for two successive years, 1837 and 1838, it has been found that the temperature of the water a little below the surface in the central portion of the lake was only from 36 to 38, while near the American shore it was from 52 to 68, and at the same times at Cobourg on the Canadian side from 48 to 51. Prof. 0. Dewey, by whom these observations are recorded in the " Ameri- can Journal of Science," supposed that the accumulation of ice in Lake Erie, which fre- quently does not disappear till some time in May, serves to retain the low temperature of the water, particularly along the course of the main current through the central part of Lake Ontario. The effect of this is to retard the approach of spring; but opposite causes op- erate in the autumn to check the advance of winter. The same observer has recorded the measures of the varying level of the lake from the year 1845 to 1859, made at the mouth of the Genesee by order of the government. From these it appears that there is no periodi- cal rise and fall, and the variations are depen- dent on very regular and adequate causes of supply and drain. The range of rise and fall is 54 inches, the maximum elevation during the years of the observation being in February and the minimum in August. The effect of long continued rains or of long droughts in certain years is observed in the occurrence of the highest or lowest water out of the usual seasons. The country around Lake Ontario is in general fertile and well populated by agri- cultural, manufacturing, and commercial com- munities. On the N. side the surface rises grad- ually from the lake shore and spreads out in broad plains. From the St. Lawrence river two thirds of the way to the W. extremity of the lake these are underlaid by the lower Silu- rian limestones, from which the soil derives its fertility. These rocks near Toronto pass be- neath the group of the Hudson river slates, and these then occupy the surface nearly to Bur- lington. The red shales and sandstones of the Medina group succeed, and a narrow belt of this formation borders the lake on its W. and S. sides. At Oswego the lower formations begin to reappear, and their outcrops are suc- cessively passed over along the E. extremity of the lake. The formations which underlie the lake and form its bottom, over the N. half at least, are no doubt these lower limestones slo-
 * land, and the Whitby and Port Perry railways.