Starkey Hill is the highest point in Puslinch Township

Puslinch, Ontario

Puslinch is a township in south-central Ontario, Canada, in the County of Wellington south of Guelph. The area is rich in natural gas resources. The main source of production is agricultural, bottling and mining. Mining has been dominant throughout the county. About half of the township is...

, southwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, centred on the city of London. It extends north to south from the Bruce Peninsula on Lake Huron to the Lake Erie shoreline, and east to south-west roughly from Guelph to Windsor. The region had a population...

 and is located southeast of Guelph

Guelph

Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. The property is currently owned by the Grand River Conservation Authority

Grand River Conservation Authority

The Grand River Conservation Authority is a conservation authority in Ontario, Canada. It operates under the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario...

 and sports a 4 km (2½ mi) loop hiking trail. Parking and access to the trail is located off Arkell Rd., 1 km east of Watson Rd. & the village of Arkell.

Starkey Hill is named after the Starkey family who moved to the area in 1933 from the United States and in 1949 purchased 100 acres (40.5 ha) of land outside of Arkell.

In 1911, the Geodetic Survey of Canada created a triangulation station on the Starkey property. The tower was built of wood and stood 100 ft (30 m) with a 36×36 ft (11×11 m) base. The tower was located on the highest point of the property which is also the highest point in Puslinch township.

The purpose of the tower was for triangulation surveying. There were hundreds of towers constructed for this purpose in North America. Most of the work was done at night and lamps were placed in towers and sighted from ground locations.

The information gathered from this project formed the basis for topographic mapping used today.

These towers were not built as permanent structures, and therefore it came down before 1920. The wood from the tower was later used by the Starkey family to build an implement shed. The shed does not stand today.

This information was taken from the "Starkey Hill Interpretive Trail" brochure. For more information, contact the Grand River Conservation Authority.