The Duffins Creek watershed includes 192 archaeological sites tracked using the
Borden System. These sites represent both
indigenous peoples and early European settlers.
Projectile points of "Hi-Lo" style have been discovered at four Late
Paleo-Indian (10000-7000 BCE) sites in the Duffins Creek watershed. Around
Lake Ontario, the indigenous peoples have been commonly associated with the lake shore, which fluctuated because of the melting glaciers. At the end of the
Last Glacial Period, the Duffins Creek met Lake Ontario at a point located 10-20 m below the present surface level. So, any evidence of indigenous activity at the mouth of the Duffins Creek would be under water now. Scattered remains of
chert (
flint) tools and
flakes have been discovered at several inland sites dated to the
Archaic period (7000 BCE-1000 BCE). Detailed excavations have not been carried out at these sites, so little information is available about the pre-historic residents of the area. Several sites dated to the early and middle
Woodland period (1000 BCE-700 CE) exist along the Duffins Creek, but not much research has been done on them. The sites from the Late Woodland period (700-1651 CE) indicate the existence of permanent villages that were occupied for 5-30 years. Some of the
Iroquoian villages were 3-10 acres in size, and featured
longhouses and
palisades. The largest site from this period in the Duffins Creek watershed is the
Draper Site, which was excavated during the 1970s for the proposed
Pickering Airport. In the mid-17th century, the
Iroquois people
displaced the
Petun and the
Wendat (Huron) from what is now
southern Ontario. The Iroquois
Seneca people established river-side villages in nearby areas, such as
Ganatsekwyagon on
Rouge and
Teiaiagon on
Humber. However, the Duffins Creek was not as attractive for building a settlement, because a
sand bar at its mouth prevented boats from entering it. Moreover, it was
navigable for
canoes only for 6 km upstream. When the Europeans arrived in present-day Ajax, at least one
Ojibwe family resided in area, as attested by Arthur Field. This family lived at the east edge of the Duffins Creek marshes until the mid-19th century. Unlike the Rouge River watershed, where a
well-established trail ran along the stream, the Duffins Creek watershed remained largely ignored by the early European visitors in the area. In 1670,
French missionaries from Ganatsekwyagon reached the Duffins Creek, but did not settle there. In the 1770s, Mike Duffin, an Irish fur trader, became the first person of European descent to settle in the Duffins Creek area. He built a cabin on the east side of the Creek, north of a trail that later became the
Kingston Road. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Duffins Creek was navigable as far up as Kingston Road. Later, the water flow decreased as a result of construction of mill dams and clearing of forests for farming. The dams also cut off the salmon from their spawning grounds.
Pickering Village, a settlement initially known as "Duffins Creek", developed along the stream, in what is now Ajax. The first mill in the new settlement was established in 1810 by
Timothy Rogers on the banks of Duffins Creek. At the time of Rogers's arrival, thousands of salmon from
Lake Ontario came to the Duffins Creek. By the time of his death in 1834, the salmon had practically disappeared from the stream. The growth of
Pickering Township (which included Pickering Village) was slow compared to the other parts of Greater Toronto Area, because much of the land was held by
absentee landlords (such as the
Smith family), or held as
Crown and
Clergy reserves. Apart from Pickering Village, several other communities developed in the Duffins Creek watershed in the early 19th century: •
Magnolia (California Corners), in present-day Markham, centred on the intersection of 10th Concession Line (now Reesor Road) and 18th Avenue (now Elgin Mills Road East) • Stouffersville (later
Stouffville), in present-day Whitchurch-Stoufville, located at the intersection of Stoufville Creek and the 9th Concession •
Bloomington, in present-day Whitchurch-Stoufville, north of Stouffville •
Glasgow,
Goodwood and
Glen Major; in present-day south-west
Uxbridge •
Whitevale,
Brougham,
Green River,
Claremont,
Altona,
Greenwood, and Balsam; in present-day Pickering During 1825-1900, population of the Duffins Creek watershed increased substantially because of growth in farming and other businesses. After 1850s, several smaller communities declined as people migrated to larger centres located along the
Grand Trunk Railway. Pickering Village and Stoufville, where several mills had earlier been established and which were now accessible by railway, emerged as the major population centres of the area. The community around the
DIL munitions plant evolved into the town of Ajax in the mid-20th century. The northern part of the Duffins Creek watershed did not develop as rapidly as other watersheds in the Greater Toronto area, because the Government of Canada marked a large portion of land for the proposed
Pickering Airport. == Course ==