ogan was named in honour of Hart Logan, a director of the Canada Company, and first opened for settlement in 1830. In January of this year a survey of one concession was made; a further portion in 1832; the whole being completed in 1835. It contains 53,551 acres, all available for agriculture. Adjoining the Huron road its surface is undulating, becoming level as it extends northwards. In some sections, lying northeast and northwest, great swamps existed, whose density and dismal aspect seemed to defy every effort at improvement. In these swamps the river Thames has its source, and they were long thought to be irreclaimable. They have of late years, however, been cleared, drained, and largely brought under cultivation, affording a means of subsistence to progressive agriculturalists, where a few years ago existence seemed impossible.

This township may be considered highly favoured in comparison with those further north in the county. It had an advantage in the Huron road being opened at an early date; the first railway also extended along the whole front of the municipality. Fifty years ago such means of transit were of more consequence than now. To-day good roads exist everywhere, rendering transportation of farm products not a great difficulty. In these early days swamps, crossways, streams without bridges, long dreary stretches of forest without human habitation, slow progress with the oxen and sled, rendered a short journey a great undertaking. If the product of his few stumpy acres was small, it involved a task in its removal perhaps as difficult as any the pioneer had to overcome.

By constructing the Logan road in 1857-8, great relief was afforded those settlers who had penetrated deep into the woods. From east, west, and north they directed their steps to this great road, until a stream of traffic passed over it every day as great in volume as that over any highway in this county. Good roads exist now in almost every section of Logan. Material for road construction is not plentiful throughout, although in many sections a good supply is available.

Agriculture has attained a high standard, all those methods being adopted which have led to enhanced profits and a diminution of labour in farm life. A system of mixed farming has been carried on in preference to specialism. In some sections dairying has been successfully carried on for many years; in other portions, and I believe those the greatest, different methods have been followed. Notwithstanding that dairying has been profitable in other municipalities, it is not amongst a number of our farmers a popular branch of farming industry. The exacting routine and close attention necessary to its successful prosecution is not pleasing to the average agriculturist. Skill is not wanting. The dairy cow is a complex animal, and any carelessness or neglect, even of a temporary character, or to a slight degree, is distinctly and unerringly marked by a diminution in her product. In soils, therefore, well adapted to mixed farming, a slight departure from any duty demanded by the work on hand is not followed so closely by a corresponding retribution as it assuredly is with the dairy cow. Where agriculture is skillfully carried on, profits from any system will be found about equal in a given period of time. This being so, those methods adopted in farm management will always be such as to realize a maximum of profit from a minimum of labour.

Logan has a mixed population of English, Irish, Scotch, and German. In certain sections, either one or other of these nationalities predominate. In the district surrounding Brodbagen all are German. At this point were located such families as Schultz, Pushelbury, Hildebricbt, Kraukopf, Brodhagen, Rock, Jacob, and Eckmire. North and west of the Logan road are Scotch. Here we find Moffatt, Smith, Lawson, Campbell, Harvey, McPherson, and Stewart. In the west centre are those of Irish extraction - Regan, DeCoursey, Hickey, Cleary, Connelly, Keyes, Hagarty, Lynch, Murphy, and Trainor. South, and nearer Mitchell, is a mixed population, without a great preponderance of any one nationality.

At what time the first settler came to Logan it would be difficult to say. Previous to 1841 little improvement had been made, and that in the neighbourhood of Mitchell. When a municipal council was established in McKillop in 1841, Logan was so inconsiderable that it was not represented. In 1842 it had become so important as to be attached to McKillop for municipal purposes.

A few settlers were scattered along the Huron road between 1830 and 1840, but were so isolated from each other that no government had been instituted till 1842. In 1844 Logan had 134 inhabitants, nearly all in Mitchell, and only 49 acres under cultivation. In 1850 its population had increased to 603, including Mitchell, with 900 acres under cultivation.