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A single gunshot on Saturday night, October 6, 1894, shattered Toronto’s prevailing sense of peace and security. That gunshot took the life of Frank Westwood, a respectable young man from one of the city’s most prominent families. This unprecedented attack produced a feeling of hysteria throughout Toronto and baffled the municipal police forces. The mystery was even referred to Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. However, even the Great Detective could not solve the Westwood murder.

LIMITED TIME OFFER Canada is packed with intriguing places for travel where heritage and landscape interact to create stories that fire our imagination. Scattered across the land are incredible tales of human life over the centuries.

Farming in the Canadian backwoods in the late 1800s was a prospect that enticed many young Englishmen to cross the Atlantic. One such fellow was Frederick de la Fosse, whose well-meaning uncle paid £100 per annum for his young nephew to serve as a farm pupil in the northern reaches of Muskoka.

The Canada Company was responsible for the opening and settling of over two million acres of land in Upper Canada. Author Robert C. Lee focuses his attention on the extensive parcel of land on the shores of Lake Huron that became known as the Huron Tract. His comprehensive research explores the underlying forces leading to the formation of the Company, the intriguing mix of people charged with responsibilities for the Company and the overall impact of its operations, leading to its present-day legacy.

A Gentleman of Substance covers the remarkable life of John Redpath. Born to humble circumstances in Scotland in 1796, he emigrated to Canada in 1816 to become a stonemason in Montreal. By 1818 he had his own building and contracting firm and was working on the Lachine Canal as well as much construction and restoration work on buildings in Montreal. His work on the Rideau Canal, as contracted by Colonel John By, established his business reputation, while his leadership within the Presbyterian Church stabilized his position in the community.

Parry Sound, at the mouth of the Seguin River on Georgian Bay, traces its history back to William Beatty Jr. and the purchase of timber rights. From the heyday of lumbering, through mining ventures, the period of Prohibition, the arrival of the railway and the impact of the Great Wars, the unfolding years are all accompanied by an intriguing mixture of colourful personalities, politics and scandal. The story of this growing community has a richness that few Ontario towns can match.

"To thousands of young people, emigration has been the golden bridge by which they have passed from an apparently hopeless childhood to lives of useful service and assured comfort, in this new land." - Mr. G. Bogue Smart, Inspector of British Immigrant Children and Receiving Homes, 1915 Many thousands of Canadians are descended from young immigrants transported to Canada from 1833 to 1939. Author Marjorie Kohli has meticulously documented the incredible story of the removal of thousands of "waifs and strays" and young men and women, primarily from the UK and Ireland.

The story of Winnie, the real Canadian bear that captured the heart of Christopher, son of A.A. Milne, and became immortalized in the Winnie the Pooh stories, is told against the backdrop of the First World War. In August 1914, a Canadian soldier and veterinarian named Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, en route to a training camp in Quebec, purchased a black bear cub in White River, Ontario, which he named Winnipeg.

Belfast, Prince Edward Island, founded in August 1803, owes its existence to Lord Selkirk. Its bicentennial is a timely reminder of Selkirk’s work in Canada, which extended beyond Belfast to Baldoon (later Wallaceburg) in Ontario, as well as to Red River, the precursor to Winnipeg. Aptly named "The Silver Chief" by the five Indian chiefs with whom he negotiated a land treaty at Red River, the fifth Earl of Selkirk spent an immense fortune in helping Scottish Highlanders relocate themselves in Canada.

In the 1880s the provincial government sent out teams of land surveyors to explore the northern Ontario hinterland. By rail, canoe and on foot they and their crews cut through the forests and across streams, establishing the boundaries for townships in preparation for settlement. Alexander Herkes Telfer was a member of the party led by the Haliburton surveyor Alexander Niven, who was responsible for running the lines for seven townships around the head of Lake Temiskaming. The child of Scottish immigrants who settled in Scarborough, Ontario, A.H.