During his tour of prospecting for a "free grant" location, in the month of May, 1849, Thomas Adair stood on the "Clay Banks''" overlooking the present site of Walkerton, late one afternoon as the sun was declining in the west, viewing, as he has since expressed it, the most beautiful landscape he ever beheld. The valley beneath him contained many wild cherry and plum trees, then robed white with blossoms, and whose perfume ladened the air with rich sweetness. In every direction hill and vale were covered by an expanse of primeval forest, shining bright in its coat of verdure fresh from the hand of spring. The sun as it sank lightened up, or cast in deep shade, the masses of foliage, and projected long shadows over the flashing waters of the Saugeen, making a combination of sylvan loveliness so enchanting that Mr. Adair ever spoke of it with enthusiasm, while Kenneth Kemp, a staid, unimpassioned Scot, his sole companion, after silently contemplating the lovely prospect, vented his feelings by saying, "Eh mon, if Eden was anything like this, what a fool Adam was to eat the apple." |