Drummond/North Elmsley is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in eastern

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, in

Lanark County Lanark County is a county and Census divisions of Canada, census division located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is Perth, Ontario, Perth, which was first settled in 1816Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth ...

. It is situated on the north shore of the

Rideau River The Rideau River (, ) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writing by Samuel de Champl ...

between the town of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and the town of

Smiths Falls Smiths Falls is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada, southwest of Ottawa. As of the 2021 census it has a population of 9,254. It is in the Census division for Lanark County, but is administratively separated from the county. The Rideau Canal ...

. It is a predominantly rural municipality. The township offices are located in the hamlet of Port Elmsley.

History

The township was formed on January 1, 1998, through the merger of Drummond Township and North Elmsley Township.

Geography

Communities

The township comprises the communities of Armstrong Corners, Balderson, Beveridge Locks, Cook's Shore, Craig Shore, Drummond Centre, Ebbs Shore, Elmgrove, Ferguson Falls, Glenview, Innisville, McCreary's Shore, McCulloughs Landing, McNaughton Shore, Port Elmsley, Prestonvale, Richardson, Rideau Ferry, Robertson's Shore and Wayside.

Ecology

The most common landscape is gently rolling

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

, predominantly

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

. The valleys often have clay or sand deposits from events near the end of the last ice age. At one point near the end of the last ice age, the

Champlain Sea The Champlain Sea () was a prehistoric inlet of the Atlantic Ocean into the North American continent, created by the retreating ice sheets during the closure of the last glacial period. The inlet once included lands in what are now the Canadi ...

flooded the Ottawa valley as far inland as what is now the town of Perth. West of Perth along Highway 7 one can see a remnant of this clay plain. An old shoreline of the Champlain Sea crosses Highway 7 near Ramsay Concession 2 before winding south into Drummond/North Elmsley. North of Perth, this clay plain is occupied by the huge Blueberry Marsh. The hard rock and thin soil produced distinctive deciduous forests dominated by maple, oak, beech, ash and pine. Southern trees like hickory and butternut are less common. Wetter areas have elm, silver maple and white cedar. Hemlock was much more common in the past, but logging for bark used in tanning has much depleted this species. Only a few large hemlock stands remain, although there are many scattered trees through the remaining forests. Natural forest fires from lightning created some fire barrens in the southern parts of the township. Generally speaking, settlers cleared the deeper pockets of soil, and the clay plains. This produced the distinctive landscape with fields surrounded by forested uplands. The stone piles along the edge of the field illustrate the labour involved in creating agricultural land here. The many outcrops of Canadian shield in fields are also a reminder of just how close to the surface bed rock remains. The

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

and the

have extensive areas of wetland. The less flooded areas tend to have silver maple swamp, while lower on the shoreline are marshes and aquatic plants. One of the largest wetlands is the Innisville wetland, a provincially significant wetland that formed upstream from Mississippi Lake. Other wetlands include the Tay Marsh (south of Perth) and The Swale (near Smiths Falls). Both rivers are popular with canoeists and naturalists. Smaller wetlands occur throughout the county; many are produced by beavers. Beaver ponds are an important as they provide habitat for a great many kinds of species, including frogs, turtles, otters, muskrats and migratory waterfowl. Beaver ponds provide a cycle of flooding, from shallow water through to

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...

, and most phases of pond ecology can be seen driving the township roads. Owing to its location—the combination of two large rivers, wetlands and forests—the county has a rich array of wildlife, and wildlife viewing is a popular activity. Significant animal species include the black rat snake (now officially renamed the Gray ratsnake by experts on this species) and the

Blanding's turtle Blanding's turtle (''Emydoidea blandingii)'' is a species of semi-aquatic turtle of the Family (biology), family Emydidae. This species is native to central and eastern parts of Canada and the United States. It is considered to be an endangered s ...

Climate

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Drummond/North Elmsley had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Places of interest

* Port Elmsley Drive-In theatre

Transportation

The north-south

Ontario Highway 7 King's Highway 7, commonly referred to as Highway 7 (abbreviated as Hwy 7) and historically as the Northern Highway, is a Ontario Provincial Highway Network, provincially maintained highway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian pro ...

passes through the township from

towards

Carleton Place Carleton Place is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in Lanark County, about west of downtown Ottawa. It is located at the crossroads of Highway 15 and Highway 7, halfway between the towns of Perth, Almonte, Smiths Falls, and the nation's capi ...

. The east-west County Road 43 goes between

and

. The Rideau Trail passes through the township twice, between Smiths Falls and Perth and to the south of Perth.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drummond North Elmsley Township municipalities in Ontario Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Municipalities in Lanark County