page_title: Clay Belt
section_title: Promotion
hierarchical_section_title: Clay Belt / Promotion
caption_attribution_description: A map and accompanying text showing lands affected in 1927 Ontario initiative for migrating farmers from barren lands to the w:Clay Belt of w:Northern Ontario
context_page_description: The Clay Belt is a vast tract of fertile soil stretching between the Cochrane District in Ontario, and Abitibi County in Quebec, covering 180,000 square kilometres in total with 120,000 square kilometres of that in Ontario. It is generally subdivided into the Great Clay Belt to the north running eastward from Kapuskasing, past Lake Abitibi and on to Amos, and the V-shaped Lesser Clay Belt to its south, running from Englehart down to the Wabi River to the northern tip of Lake Timiskaming, and long the eastern side of Timiskaming and back up to Rouyn-Noranda. The Clay Belt is the result of the draining of the Glacial Lake Ojibway around 8,200 BP, whose lakebed sediment forms the modern landform. The Clay Belt is surrounded by the Canadian Shield, forming an island of "southern flatlands" in the midst of the hilly and rocky surroundings. Similar "glaciolacustrine deposits" dot the northern areas of Ontario, Quebec and Labrador.
context_section_description: The Canadian government encouraged immigrants to settle there as farmers during and after World War I. Governments of the day were mistakenly impressed with the agricultural potential of the Great Clay Belt. Under the Soldier Settlement Act, 1917 (shortly replaced by the Soldier Settlement Act, 1919) the Soldier Settlement Board established the Kapuskasing Soldier Colony to settle veterans that had returned from the Great War. Settlers received homesteads, grants and guaranteed loans and were paid for clearing their own land. But by 1920 only nine of more than a hundred original settlers remained. The farming consisted of some grains, mostly oats, and vegetables.
  The Ontario government also passed legislation in 1927 to enable the migration of farmers from barren lands in older parts of the Province, such as Haliburton County, to areas such as the Lesser Clay Belt through the exchange of land.
  In spite of numerous rocky outcrops some farming was successfully established within the Great Clay Belt, however, it proved to be impractical because of the short growing season. The clay soil is tremendously fertile, but long snowy winters coupled with unpredictable rainfall during the short growing season meant most farming yielded little.
caption: Graphic describing lands affected by The Forestry Act, 1927
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