Port Credit 175 Years

	The Town of Port Credit celebrates its 175th Anniversary (1835-2010)
	by Richard Collins
	The Credit river is the backbone of the City of Mississauga and the very heart and soul of the town of Port Credit. The name was bestowed upon the still waters by a French fur dealer who met with the Ojibwa fur trappers early each spring. Translated literally it’s the “River of Advance Payment”, but that doesn’t quite have a ring to it, does it? Today we call it the Credit River. A village grew at the mouth of this river. Of course, the harbour took the prime riverfront real estate, but over generations the suburbs stretched out along Lakeshore Road, and later, the trolley line. The early industries settled by the lakeside to mold clay, grind corn and refine oil. But despite the village’s growth, the heartbeat of Port Credit was still the river. Today, the library, the arena, the post office and the oldest school (appropriately called “Riverside”) still look out upon the Credit. The river will be centre stage on July 1 when Port Credit celebrates 175 years of community pride at Memorial Park, and again on the weekend of July 17 and 18 at Saddington Park for the Maanjidowin Native Pow Wow and Métis Rendezvous. ‘Maanjidowin’ is Ojibwa for “the gathering.” How fitting that the event should take place beside the river where two divergent cultures managed to overcome their differences to barter in good faith. The first gathering was a simple business arrangement between a contractor and a supplier. The French wanted furs. The Mississauga had experience obtaining them. In payment, the Mississauga asked for firearms and other devices made of iron (which the Mississauga could not make - lacking resources for ore). Rifles and iron traps could increase the potential catch, so the French realized it was in their best interest to pay the Mississauga in advance, or “au crédite.” Each spring the deal went down at the mouth of the Riviere au Crédite. Boucher de la Brocque christened the river in 1668 – the first fur trader to give the river a name. That’s because he was also a cartographer. Boucher’s boss, René-Robert Cavelier–Sieur de La Salle had been sent by his boss, Louis XIV to map New France to improve the network of beaver pelt trade routes. In a series of events that takes a great deal of explanation, the Riviere au Crédite ended up in the hands of George III, and with the change came a revised name – the “River Credit” - ultimately the more common “Credit River” (or if you live here, just “The Credit”). The fur trappers of the Mississauga nation had their own name for the river. It was also based on their business arrangement with the Sun King’s coureur-des-bois. They called the river Mis-sin-ni-ke. In Ojibwa that means “the trusting river.” The Mississauga chose that name to honour the fact that the French considered them dependable and honest businessmen. To the Mississauga, the trust was more valuable than the iron tools. Beavers had been hunted nearly to extinction in Upper Canada by the time Samuel Wilmot arrived in 1806 to survey the “Mississauga Purchase” for settlement. Under the entrepreneurial British, the Credit became the industrial backbone of the region. By the 1820s, mills had been erected in Erindale, Streetsville, Meadowvale and Churchville. The flour and sawn lumber from these mills was floated down the river to the busy harbour at Port Credit where the wealth of the interior was transferred to lake boats. As fast as the timber could be cut, the river choked in sawdust. Streetsville tanneries let their acrid waste loose into the river. Quinipenon, the chief of the Credit Mississauga warned local settlers that “by washing with sope . . . the fish refuse coming into the river”. Atlantic salmon – once a staple food of the Mississauga people – was last recorded in the Credit in 1897. The Credit Mississauga band had sold the last of its once-sacred land long before that. Meanwhile, the salmon famine has passed. Since 1990, the Ministry of Natural Resources has turned back the clock by restocking the river. Now, over 30 species thrive in the Credit River. The harbour has also come to life again with visitors by land and by water. When renovations to the library and arena are completed later this year, Port Credit will become an even more popular attraction for people across Mississauga. The Credit is, after all, the very backbone of this city. GL