The Holland Marsh

The Holland Marsh

Attractions

By: Rebecca Reid

The Holland Marsh has a history as rich as its soil.

The land was first used as a footpath by the Iroquois and Huron peoples travelling from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay. European settlers then used it as a place for fishing and hunting. By 1900, grasses from the marsh were being used to stuff mattresses by the Bradford Mattress Factory.

In the 1920s, Professor William Day of the Ontario Agricultural College had the wetland drained to find out if vegetables could grow under the mud. This proved successful and a few years later, impressed with the area, John Snor, Canada's representative for the Netherlands Emigration Foundation, helped relocate several Dutch families to the marsh. This was the beginning of the hamlet of Ansnorveldt, a part of King Township.

Dutch farmers soon followed. By the mid-1930s, the marsh had transformed into one of the finest farming locales in Ontario.

Ironically, the territory was named not after its early settlers, but after Major S. Holland, the Surveyor General of Upper Canada from more than a hundred years previous, in 1793.

In 1954, Hurricane Hazel ripped through, leaving the marsh flooded and devastating that season's economy. This resulted in up to $10,000,000 in losses and more than 1,000 people homeless. This natural disaster however, not only forced the farmers to modernize their businesses, but also enriched the soil with high mineral content, and 1955's crop was plentiful.

Today the 7,000-acre Holland Marsh stretching along the Holland River is still a vital force in Ontario's economy. Carrots, onions, and many other crops are sold locally as well as exported as far away as Venezuela. The past few years have also brought an influx of ethnic crops such as bok choy to meet global demands.

As with most things, time and other factors take their toll. The Holland Marsh is slowly losing nutrients and organic black soil. It is now part of The Greenbelt - a 1.8 million-acre expanse of protected land around the Greater Toronto Area and Golden Horseshoe - ensuring that future generations will be able to enjoy its agricultural beauty.

All content contained in this or any other yorkregion.com website including but not limited to textual, audio, video and any graphics are copyright 2000-2008 Metroland Media Group Ltd. and can not be used in any part without expressed written permission, with the exception of content in the yorkregion.com Pen & Pixel section, which requires the written consent of the authors.