Taddle Creek 'lost river'
This naturalistic ravine park setting know as Philosopher's Walk was once host to Taddle Creek, which over time has become 'lost' to Toronto's citizens. Taddle Creek flowed south for approximately 6 km from its source area on the edge of the old Glacial Lake Iroquois shoreline near St. Clair Avenue where it joined the Don River as it entered Toronto harbour near the Distillery District. Water quality was maintained by natural vegetation covering the watershed and aquatic organisms in the stream course. Taddle Creek provided habitat for fish and wildlife and a gathering place for Toronto's early inhabitants, notable the Ojibway.
As a result of the damming of McCaul's Pond to the south, impeding the natural flow of Taddle Creek, and contamination that polluted the river and brought about the risk of typhus and other disease, the creek was buried south of College Street by the 1850's and north of Bloor Street by the 1870's. The old town of York had grown and the surrounding neighbourhoods had intensified, making an underground sanitation and sewage system a priority. The part of Taddle Creek remaining at the surface on University lands was diverted to this subterranean system and buried by 1884. The topography of this ravine remains as a tangible reminder of Taddle Creek, with the dips and valleys defining the original river banks and the walkway itself following much the same path as the 'lost river'.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.