HomeMy WebLinkAbout561"Article copied from the News Advertiser, July 3, 1974, page 35.
Bird Sanctuary Bequest Altered
Arthur Percy was a Pickering bachelor farmer with three loves — not wine,
women and song — but his cattle, a 110-acre bush in what is now part of the Greenwood
Conservation Area and the trees.
Prior to his death in July, 1956, he made out a will, in which he bequeathed the Gully
Hundred (the ""bush"" as it was locally known), to the now defunct County of Ontario as a
bird sanctuary.
Now, the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority plan to use the bush
and other land for the proposed $2.7 million dam and reservoir that would be named after
Arthur Percy.
Ajax Councillor Henry Westney, who owns a farm on the Westney Road, a mile from the
former Percy farm on Church Street, says:
""To cut the number of trees that would have to be removed and flood the anticipated area
as present plans call for, would be breaking a trust and defeating the purpose of the
bequest.""
The mammoth flood control project on the east branch of Duffin's Creek three miles north
of Pickering Village has yet to receive approval from Ajax or Durham Region councils.
However, the federal and provincial governments have already approved the dam-reservoir
as part of the conservation authority's overall flood control program.
Westney explained that Percy hoped the bush would be preserved and it was for this
reason he left it to the county.
Later, the county turned the bush over to the then Rouge, Duffins, Highland Creek,
Petticoat Conservation Association for one dollar and then over to the present M.T.R.C.A.
""In its present state I would venture to say his (Percy's) hope has been fulfilled,""
said Westney.
He said Percy — 73, when he died — had received offers to purchase the bush and
although he could have used the money he kept the bush because he liked the trees so
much.
""My uncle had a sawmill and on different occasions tried to purchase some of the mature
trees but the only trees Percy allowed cut were the dead ones,"" said Westney.
He recalled that Arthur Percy lived very close to nature and had an almost uncanny ability of
predicting the weather.
""I might add, with considerably more accuracy than some of our present so-called
meteorological experts,"" said Westney. ""He died as he would have wanted to,
with his boots on..-found by the neighbors among his Shorthorn cattle, with a halter in his
hand.""
Percy lived with his sister on his Pickering farm.
Westney said he understands the worst flooding in the area, at least since 1892,
was during Hurricane Hazel in 1954.
He said there was no loss of life or extensive property damage and that the west branch of
Duffin's Creek suffered more, due to the Whitevale Dam giving out.
The councillor also recalled another instance when a little over 5 1/ 2inches of rain fell,
in a period slightly over 12 hours, in August, 1972.
""There was no problem in the Duffins Creek watercourse,"" he said. ""
The problems were along the highways at the underpasses where the storm sewers were
not adequate to cope with the surface run-off.
"