City of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
When Robert Barber came to Canada, he helped to cut trees and 'carve the city of Guelph, Ontario out of the bush.'
Thomas Rolphe, wrote in 1836, concerning Guelph:
During the past year, no less than 16 frame and 2 brick houses made their appearance in our streets, and there are at present two large taverns in progress, a chapel, and seven or eight frame houses building or contracted for in the town, and building of all sorts and descriptions daily rising out of the wood, if I may use the expression, in the country. Almost the whole of the land that is at all available is disposed of, and is under cultivation and settled on, with the exception, I believe, of from two to 3,000 acres out of 48,000 which compose the township, with a large and daily increasing proportion of Town Lots, also disposed of and built upon. We have breweries and distilleries who give us the highest market price for our grain in cash. Stores, seven or eight in number, hotels, taverns, watchmaker, saddler, chairmaker, and mechanics of every description. This vicinity is greatly celebrated for the quantity and quality of Barley grown - and sleighs well laden with it are brought during the winter months to the respective breweries for sale.
In his History of Guelph, 1827-1927, Leo Albert Johnson writes: The years 1836-1838 dealt a staggering blow to Guelph's economy. First of all, the harvest of 1836 was almost entirely ruined by continuous rain which sprouted wheat in the sheaf and rotted crops in the ground. During the winter large quantities of flour had to be imported at greatly inflated prices. ( Johnson, Leo Albert, Guelph Historical Society. 1977)