Starkey Hill is the highest point in
Puslinch Township,
southwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...
and is located southeast of
Guelph
Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. The property is currently owned by the
Grand River Conservation Authority
The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) is a conservation authority in Ontario, Canada. It operates under the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario. It is a corporate body, through which municipalities, landowners and other organization ...
and sports a 4 km (2½ mi) loop hiking trail. Parking and access to the trail is located off Arkell Rd., 1 km east of Watson Rd. & the village of
Arkell.
Starkey Hill is named after the Starkey family who moved to the area in 1833 from the United States and in 1849 purchased of land outside of Arkell.
In 1911, the Geodetic Survey of Canada created a triangulation station on the Starkey property. The tower was built of wood and stood 100 ft (30 m) with a 36×36 ft (11×11 m) base. The tower was located on the highest point of the property which is also the highest point in Puslinch township.
The purpose of the tower was for triangulation surveying. There were hundreds of towers constructed for this purpose in North America. Most of the work was done at night and lamps were placed in towers and sighted from ground locations.
The information gathered from this project formed the basis for topographic mapping used today.
These towers were not built as permanent structures, and therefore it came down before 1920. The wood from the tower was later used by the Starkey family to build an implement shed. The shed does not stand today.
This information was taken from the "Starkey Hill Interpretive Trail" brochure. For more information, contact the Grand River Conservation Authority.
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Hiking trails in Ontario
Geography of Guelph
Protected areas of Wellington County, Ontario
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