page_title: Heber Down Conservation Area
section_title: Cultural history
hierarchical_section_title: Heber Down Conservation Area / Cultural history
caption_attribution_description: English: Abutments and piers of the old railway bridge along Devil's Den Trail at Heber Down Conservation Area
context_page_description: Heber Down Conservation Area is located in Whitby, Ontario and is owned and operated by Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority. It is located within the Lynde Creek drainage basin; it is a part of the provincially significant Heber Down Wetland Complex. The area is composed of two types of broad terrain units: a valley formed by the creek and the Glacial Lake Iroquois beach. The area provides such recreational activities as hiking, mountain biking, picnicking, and fishing.
context_section_description: In the late 19th and early 20th century, a deep gully, incising the area, was used by horse thieves as a layover. Local inhabitants interpreted the noises produced by the thieves and horses in a superstitious way: they assumed that the Devil was holding court there. Hence, the gully was named Devil's Den.
  During the 1910s, the Canadian Northern Railway constructed a new line to provide passenger service from Toronto to Trenton. A bridge over the Devil's Den was completed in March 1910. While the bridge itself has been demolished, remains of cement abutments and piers that served as a foundation of the bridge can still be found in the area.
caption: Abandoned railway bridge abutment along Devil's Den Trail.
exif: {"Image Software": "Picasa", "Image ExifOffset": "46", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "88"}