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Concession road
In Upper and Lower Canada, concession roads were laid out by the colonial government through undeveloped Crown land to provide access to rows of newly surveyed lots intended for farming by new settlers. The land that comprised a row of lots that spanned the entire length of a new township was "conceded" by the Crown for this purpose (hence, a "concession of land"). Title to an unoccupied lot was awarded to an applicant in exchange for raising a house, performing roadwork and land clearance, and monetary payment. Concession roads and cross-cutting sidelines or sideroads were laid out in an orthogonal (rectangular or square) grid plan, often aligned so that concession roads ran (approximately) parallel to the north shore of Lake Ontario, or to the southern boundary line of a county.
Unlike previous American colonial practice, land in Ontario was surveyed first before being allocated to settlers.
The provision of road allowances was an advance over earlier survey systems which allocated no roadways. Waterloo township, for example, had no road allowances.
In some townships, the "line road" name (e.g., Ninth Line) was applied to the roads that elsewhere were called "concession roads", i.e., roads that ran between two adjacent concessions.
By one count, there were five major Ontario survey systems, with 166 variations, resulting in a "crazy quilt" of surveys. In many cases special colonization roads ran diagonally across the grid. Survey lines referenced back from the Great Lakes ran at different angles, forming triangles and other irregular shapes. Some townships had more than one survey. Holland, Nelson and Toronto Township (today Mississauga) are examples.
In a single-front survey, one of the earlier systems in use, lots were measured from one side of the concession to the other. Any errors in the survey became apparent at the road junctions, with the side roads being offset.Example Jogged Intersection in Single Front Township
This was refined to a double-front system, where lots were measured from the front of the concession to a midpoint, and then from the back of the concession to the midpoint. This makes the road junctions even, but any errors result in jogs at the midpoint of the side road. Example Even-Intersection Jogged-Sideroad in Double Front Township
As townships were established further away from the St Lawrence, other systems developed. In a common square grid layout known as a 1,000-Acre Sectional System, adjacent parallel roads were 100 chains or 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) apart, and arranged as ten 100-acre lots each 20 chains by 50 chains so that two consecutive concession roads and two consecutive side roads enclosed a square of 1,000 acres (4.0 km2).
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Concession road
In Upper and Lower Canada, concession roads were laid out by the colonial government through undeveloped Crown land to provide access to rows of newly surveyed lots intended for farming by new settlers. The land that comprised a row of lots that spanned the entire length of a new township was "conceded" by the Crown for this purpose (hence, a "concession of land"). Title to an unoccupied lot was awarded to an applicant in exchange for raising a house, performing roadwork and land clearance, and monetary payment. Concession roads and cross-cutting sidelines or sideroads were laid out in an orthogonal (rectangular or square) grid plan, often aligned so that concession roads ran (approximately) parallel to the north shore of Lake Ontario, or to the southern boundary line of a county.
Unlike previous American colonial practice, land in Ontario was surveyed first before being allocated to settlers.
The provision of road allowances was an advance over earlier survey systems which allocated no roadways. Waterloo township, for example, had no road allowances.
In some townships, the "line road" name (e.g., Ninth Line) was applied to the roads that elsewhere were called "concession roads", i.e., roads that ran between two adjacent concessions.
By one count, there were five major Ontario survey systems, with 166 variations, resulting in a "crazy quilt" of surveys. In many cases special colonization roads ran diagonally across the grid. Survey lines referenced back from the Great Lakes ran at different angles, forming triangles and other irregular shapes. Some townships had more than one survey. Holland, Nelson and Toronto Township (today Mississauga) are examples.
In a single-front survey, one of the earlier systems in use, lots were measured from one side of the concession to the other. Any errors in the survey became apparent at the road junctions, with the side roads being offset.Example Jogged Intersection in Single Front Township
This was refined to a double-front system, where lots were measured from the front of the concession to a midpoint, and then from the back of the concession to the midpoint. This makes the road junctions even, but any errors result in jogs at the midpoint of the side road. Example Even-Intersection Jogged-Sideroad in Double Front Township
As townships were established further away from the St Lawrence, other systems developed. In a common square grid layout known as a 1,000-Acre Sectional System, adjacent parallel roads were 100 chains or 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) apart, and arranged as ten 100-acre lots each 20 chains by 50 chains so that two consecutive concession roads and two consecutive side roads enclosed a square of 1,000 acres (4.0 km2).