So Now What?

The Stumping Bee

After the logs had been cleared away and turned to ashes, this still left the matter of the stumps, and though the first crops were usually planted around them, allowing them to rot away; eventually many had to be pulled, especially those with towns and cities built around them. Stumps had become so bothersome in Old York (Toronto) that the government there passed the Stump Act, to get the job done; which was a series of punishments for various minor crimes and offenses.

For example, any person found intoxicated might be sentenced to the task of eradicating a certain number of stumps, which usually sobered them up pretty quickly.  This proved to be so successful that other localities no longer stumped by the stumps, implemented their own penal system to clean up the streets. In the Niagra Canada Constellation, dated January 4, 1800; under the heading "Stump Loyalty":  "The Stump Law, although framed for the particular benefit of York, meets with such universal approbation that it is expected considerable exertion will be made to extend it through the province.  Its beneficial influence has been proven at Chippawa, even during the late extremely frosty days, where it has been enforced on several without mercy, and in every instance on those whose law knowledge was too circumscribed, or who found it in vain to plead the jurisdiction or limitations of the act, and, submitting to the hard sentence, dug through the frozen earth singing 'Come all you joyful topers Come follow, follow me' ". However, without the benefit (or curse) of any official act, the settler had to find other ways to clear the stumps from his homestead; which naturally resulted in the "Stumping Bee".  Various methods were used; some being chopped out, and others dragged out by oxen after chains had been fastened around the chief roots.  Those too solidly entrenched to be chopped or pulled, had to be burned or blasted.  In some districts a stumping-machine, composed of a few screws fastened to a framework, was used; with the aid of oxen or horses.

These enterprising Western Pioneers decided to make the most of their 12 foot wide stump, by turning it into a dance floor. (The Pioneers J.M. Careless)

A few of the more affluent, could afford to hire labourers for the job.  Philemon Wright, in his 1832 An Account of The First Settlement of the Township of Hull ; describes stumping activities at his settlement:  "In 1815,  I employed some men in taking out the small stumps and roots, and levelling of the roughest places, as the roots began to decay according to the size of the stumps.  Beech and rock maple stumps are much more easily taken out after the seventh year; pine, elm, basswood, and hemlock are less liable to rot, and therefore require about fifteen years before they can be taken out, especially those of the largest size. Every season I set apart a certain number of days, and take from two to six pair of oxen, harnessed with strong chains, which are fastened round the stumps and drawn up, collected together into piles, and burnt upon the ground."

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