Detecting the Old Hunt Camp & Stage Road!

[ANTIQUARIAN]

This lead came to me via a local resident who stopped by a field that I was detecting in the fall of 2016. We got to talking and he told me about the remains of an old hunting camp on his property which used to be owned by Samuel McLaughlin. (See picture of his home in Oshawa, Ontario) The site is located on the old Whitby to Port Perry stage coach road. It’s deep in the bush and now heavily overgrown, with the only evidence being a now collapsed field stone chimney.

When I arrived at the site on Thursday morning, I could immediately see it was going to be a challenge to detect as it was constructed on the side of a hill overlooking a stream. I can just imagine how this area might have look back in the early 1900’s, likely having recently been logged in the late 1800’s. The views up the valley and across the fields must’ve been spectacular!
I decided to walk the site looking for signs of other structures or indications of what they might have been doing here. I decided to follow a barely discernible path up the hill and discovered the foundations of another cabin. I feel this cabin might be later due to the poured concrete foundation which the cabin with the chimney does not have. I don’t think these cabins were used for family recreation, but for hunting and drinking with the boys. There were no finds of consequence to be made here except some early brass shotgun shells and a modern Swiss Army Knife. The cabin with the stone chimney looks to have been built in the early 1900’s and the site above sometime later, likely in the 1920’s.

“In 1852, a stage coach road was built by the Oshawa Road & Harbour Company, to improve a two mile stretch of roadway between Whitby and Port Perry. In 1853 C.S. Jewell began operating a daily stage line on this road. Due to the competition between two stage companies running this same road reduced the cost of travel to 20cents between Lake Ontario and Lake Scugog”.

“Samuel McLaughlin was born near Bowmanville in the hamlet of Enniskillen, Ontario, the son of Robert McLaughlin and Mary Smith. As a young man, he worked for a short time in a local hardware store, then in 1887 became an apprentice in the upholstery shop of his father's company, McLaughlin Carriage Works, which had opened in 1867 and at one time was the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire. In 1890, McLaughlin took a job at H. H. Babcock, an upholstery company in Watertown, New York. In 1892, McLaughlin and his brother George become junior partners in their father's company. In 1898, he married Adelaide Mowbray. With engines from William C. Durant of Buick, he produced the McLaughlin-Buick Model F, establishing The McLaughlin Motor Car Company, incorporated on November 20, 1907. In 1908, its first full year of operation, it produced 154 cars.

In 1910, he became a director of General Motors. He sold his Chevrolet company stock in 1918, becoming president of General Motors of Canada, which continued to sell cars under the McLaughlin-Buick brand until 1942. He retired in 1945, but remained chairman of the board until his death. He remained on the board of General Motors until the early 1960s, and was coincidentally replaced by Royal Bank of Canada president Earle McLaughlin, his first cousin once removed. His older brother, chemist John J. McLaughlin (1865-1914), founded the Canada Dry Company. After his brother's death in 1914, McLaughlin became president of this company briefly until it was sold around 1923”.

Thanks very much for looking,
Dave

 

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[Carolina Tom]

Very well done Dave. Thanks for the excellent post.

 

[against the wind]

Lots of good research and legwork. I'm sure that next Spring, you will get some more coil to the soil time.

 

[scruggs]

Good job...looks like a good site with a lot of history! Good luck with it!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Very well done Dave. Thanks for the excellent post.

Thanks very much Tom, good luck to you buddy!
Dave

Lots of good research and legwork. I'm sure that next Spring, you will get some more coil to the soil time.

Thank you ATW, I'm hoping for a mild spell over Christmas to get back!

Thanks for your support,
Dave

Good job...looks like a good site with a lot of history! Good luck with it!

Thanks very much Prospector, now I'm just trying to figure out where else these guys might've hung out or relaxed other then in the cabins.
The cabin located above the 'chimney cabin' had a porch surrounding it, as the footings are still in position.
The real problem is the amount of tin which seems to cover the entire site. I have been detecting with '0' discrimination, but still can't find anything non-ferrous here.
Dave

 

[vpnavy]

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Thank you Sir!