Kingston News (Kingston, ON), Dec. 19, 1844

p.3 The Rond Eau, in the Western District, has been declared a free Port of Entry and Clearance, in lieu of Antrim, by proclamation of His Excellency the Governor-General.

p.2

Melancholy Loss of Life Near Goderich, on Lake Huron.

The late calamitous gales have inflicted upon the hitherto happy community of Goderich the heaviest bereavement it has encountered since its settlement, some seventeen years ago, in the loss of the little sloop, Huron Chief, on board of which were William Fisher Gooding, J.P. the owner his brother-in-law, Mr. Ronald Good, and Mr. Isaac G. Clark, shipbuilder.

This party left the Harbor of Goderich, on Wednesday the 30th October, on a voyage of benevolence, to assist in getting off the American Schooner, Mary of Saginaw, then stranded at the Bay De Dor, about 40 miles north of Goderich, and having succeeded in their enterprise, the Schooner returned in safety to Goderich, on the afternoon of the 11th November, leaving the Huron Chief all well, to follow next day, with part of the cargo and tackle used in the rescue of the Mary.

On the night of Tuesday, the 12th, it blew a violent gale, when the sloop is supposed to have foundered on the rocks, at Four Mile Point, and then drifted northward. But no tidings of their return appearing up to the 14th, serious apprehensions for their safety began to be entertained. On the following morning, a boat was dispatched up the lake to reconnoitre, when, melancholy to relate, the sloop was found, about six miles from port, on shore, with the greater part of her cargo strewed around. Patrols of anxious friends have daily perambulated the beach ever since, but up to the present time (29th November), none of the bodies have yet been given up by the relentless lake, although tools and wearing apparel belonging to the sufferers are daily washed ashore. The pale mantle of winter is now enshrouding the dark waters of the Huron, and the hourly falling snow destroys the anxious hope of paying the last tribute of sepulture to the lamented dead.

Mr. Gooding was the first settler in the Huron Tract - arriving in it in 1827. Possessed of great personal energy and industry, he delighted in deeds of active benevolence, and was eminently adorned with social virtues - an affectionate husband and father - a kind master and sincere friend - whose memory will be long endeared to his bereaved wife, six children, and aged parents, and by an extensive circle of sorrowing friends.

Mr. Gooding's brother-in-law, Mr. Ronald Good, who has shared his untimely fate, was unmarried, but has left a widowed mother and many relatives to deplore this double loss in the same family; Mr. Good's three sisters being married - the eldest to Mr. Gooding, and two others to brothers of the deceased.

Mr. Isaac G. Clark - a highly deserving mechanic, originally from Nova Scotia - has left a wife and eight young infant children to bewail their irreparable loss. [Toronto Colonist]

p.3 Traffic On The Oswego Canal - facts and figures on tolls.