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The Work of Our Hands Newport to Buffalo and Montreal and on to Upper Canada's most important wheat importer, Britain. Its spin-off effects throughout Upper Canada included stimulating the development of additional milling operations powered by the local creeks. As a result of these new economic opportunities, commercial milling operations in the Mount Pleasant area expanded to meet increased demand for wheat and other goods. In addition to the already established Perrin Mill, Elijah Haight arrived from Montreal in 1842 and commenced the local manufacture of textiles at Haight Mill, a carding mill powered by damming the Mount Pleasant Creek and thereby raising a sufficient head of water to develop power to operate the mill. Thomas Perrin, Jr. had expanded his operations by establishing a mill at Mount Vernon, and another mill was in operation east of the modern Cockshutt Road on the Mount Pleasant Creek. Haight did a large and lucrative business serving the local area, but not only for the wheat economy. The pond created by the dam was known as Haight's Pond and was celebrated throughout the district as a trout pond. It was also a swimming place for "the boys of the neighbourhood" who would gather on a Saturday evening after their week's toil on the farm in great numbers to refresh themselves in its cooling waters. That pond was later described as "so dear to the heart of many a Mount Pleasant boy." The Erie Canal also provided improved transportation to the area. Golden wheat harvests flowed from seemingly inexhaustible land. The wheat was hauled by rough roads to Burtch's Landing, now Newport, where the first steam boats on the Grand landed. These developments meant that farmers and merchants reached a certain state of affluence. Abraham Cooke became a sort of local merchant prince, and as William Sturgis noted to his brother John in an 1829 letter, "Thanks be to God for his mercies, we have very good times here now. Merchandise is very cheap and produce is a good price... this day David [his son] has gone to Ancaster with a load of wheat." Clearly the desolate days immediately after the war had passed, to be replaced with a prosperous economy and happy times. The prosperity brought by the opening of the Erie Canal also made local residents interested in a feeder link between the Welland Canal,