Department of Highways Surveys Marker - Cumnock Tract East ON - Canadian Benchmarks on Waymarking.com

This is an ONTARIO DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS SURVEYs - #57. It is a metal disc mounted to a cement foundation of some sort. Generally they are small but could have a significant substructure within the ground. The marker is in very good shape with some minor damage to the cement foundation. It consists of a raised cement foundation - about 12" high by 3" square - with an embedded metal disc about 1.5" in diameter. The metal disc reads "+ ONTARIO DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS SURVEYs #57 + 5 years imprisonment for removal".


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Historically Highway 6 @ Cumnock ON

King's Highway 6 is a major trunk highway which traverses the entire width of Southern Ontario from Port Dover on Lake Erie to Tobermory, at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. The highway also has a discontinuous northern section which extends from South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island northerly to Espanola. The highway passes through a predominantly rural area, occasionally passing through some cities and small towns. 
Prior to the development of the King's Highway, one of the early pioneer trails ran from Guelph to Owen Sound.  It was generally called the "Owen Sound Road".  One of the stopping places along this trail was at the location of Cumnock - Highway 6 and Wellington County 17.  There was much glee over the commencement, in June 1851, of a weekly stagecoach between Guelph and Owen Sound via Elora, Fergus and Arthur. 
Shortly after, Scottish immigrant James Samson with his partner, John Muir, built the Red Lion Hotel in 1852.  Samson 'went back to Scotland several times to bring back wives to Cumnock'.   Later, the partners split and Muir opened his own hotel and named it the British Hotel in competition with Samson.  Samson added a store to his growing list of business and opened the town’s first post office naming it after Cumnock in Scotland.  The Wellington Grey and Bruce Railway built a line through Cumnock in 1871, and a station was built there."   The village grew to include a blacksmith, a cheese factory, a shoemaker, a flax mill, a sawmill, a wagon maker and a small number of houses.  As the railroads came through the area, traffic along the roads dwindled and the town began to decline."
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Unique Designation: 1 ONTARIO DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS SURVEYS Marker Type: Concrete/Metal Post Condition: Good

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