OLIPHANT ~ Ontario CANADA
Posted by: 
Jake39
N 44° 43.751 W 081° 16.722
17T E 477930 N 4952904
A former fishing village located on the Bruce Peninsula named after the commissioned surveyor Lawrence Oliphant.
Waymark Code: WM8QHB
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 05/03/2010
Views: 62
The Person
Laurence Oliphant, 1829—88 author of, "Piccadilly", only child of Sir Anthony Oliphant and his wife Maria, daughter of Colonel Campbell of the 72nd Highlanders, was born at Capetown South Africa in 1829.
Oliphant acted as Secretary to Lord Elgin during the negotiation at Washington of the reciprocity treaty with Canada. The treaty "floated through on champagne" was signed in June, and Oliphant then accompanied Lord Elgin to Quebec.He was soon appointed "Superintendent of Indian Affairs", and made a journey to Lake Superior and back by the Mississippi and Chicago, described soon afterwards in "Minnesota and the Far West" in 1855.
In 1854 the Governor-General Lord Elgin sent his new Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs for Canada from Quebec to arrange another treaty with the "Indians" Although he was only 25 years old, Lawrence Oliphant was already an experienced lawyer,authour and world traveller.
The village was named after him.
Some quotations from this site
The Village:
Originally the town plot of Oliphant, surveyed by Charles Rankin, contained a 1,000 acres, the same size as Wiarton, but was later resurveyed and the fishing islands were then excluded and given to the crown. In later years many of the lots were turned into farmland.
The average price per acre was 18 shillings 6 pence.
In 1884 the first school was built in Oliphant. There were 2 churches, a store, a nearby sawmill and of course a fish pickling plant with a contract for 5 thousand barrels of salted fish for Detroit.
West 81-16.878
Early notes indicated that: "The catches of whitefish and herring were so large as to be almost unbelievable" *
Being the water was too shallow for a deep harbour and the fishing industry in rapid decline the hope of making this area a business center was soon abandoned. To-day the area is a summer retreat for many who have 'cottaged' here since childhood and some have decided to retire here.
West 81° - 16.878
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