Today, the Holland Marsh is famed for its vegetable production. However, the first harvests here were not of potatoes, carrots, onions, or garlic. Instead, it was a wild grass known as marsh hay.
When the first settlers arrived, the Holland Marsh looked nothing like arable farmland. The cultivated fields of black soil are the result of 20th-century human engineering. In its original form, the marsh was a landscape of swamp and brackish ponds and beaver meadow atop mud so deep it could swallow a man. Sunlight was filtered by a dark, tangled forest of tamarack, alder, cedar and shrubs.
The wetlands were fed by the Holland River, a slow-moving and sometimes almost stagnant waterway that ran about 29 kilometres from its source near Schomberg before emptying into Lake Simcoe. Lake Simcoe essentially acted as a reservoir for the Holland Marsh during dry periods, ensuring the soil always remained thick with moisture.
To the early settlers of the area, the marsh was economically useless. One couldn’t farm the quagmire-like soil, and the trees were of limited value for timber even if they could somehow have been extracted. Wild game and fish were the only resources harvested from the region for decades.
Things changed suddenly in the 1880s, when it became apparent the marsh held a resource that was previously unappreciated. Marsh hay, also known as swamp grass or seagrass, grew extensively through the water-ladened meadows.
Growing to a height of three feet, the wild grass has a rough texture like sandpaper. It was discovered the resilient nature of the grass made it an ideal packing material for chinaware, glassware, and other fragile items. In addition, it was found damp marsh hay could be twisted into rope and, when dry, would keep its ‘curl.’ The curled hay was ideal for stuffing inexpensive mattresses. Suddenly, the Holland Marsh had economic value, and enterprising locals sought to take advantage.
Harvesting marsh hay became a thriving industry in the area. The hay was cut initially by hand with a scythe and carried out on a man’s shoulders. It was a time-consuming and laborious activity. Later, however, things improved immeasurably when someone hit upon the idea of securing snowshoe-like rectangular wooden pads, called ‘boots,’ to horses’ hooves. This allowed horses to operate in the marsh, pulling sleds and mowers.
The hay was shipped via barge to docks at Bradford or Holland Landing and then taken to Toronto. The business grew from modest beginnings in the 1880s to a peak in 1914, when as much as 12,000 acres of marsh hay was being harvested along the Holland River.
By the 1920s, marsh hay harvesting was dying out as an industry as better alternatives for mattress stuffing and packing material became available.
Today, few are aware marsh hay was ever a commodity.
