Western Railway, as well as a change of southern terminus to Guelph, to connect to the Great Western's Galt and Guelph Railway. Construction began at Fergus in 1867, and it was formally leased by the Great Western in 1869. The line slowly marched northwest through the late 1860s and early 1870s, reaching Palmerston around 1871. The final stretch of the line, from Harriston to Southampton, was subsidized by the provincial government at $2,000 per mile; it is this final stretch which would later become the CN Southampton Subdivision. The full line to Southampton finally opened on December 7, 1872. The line would survive repeated mergers over the next fifty years: first, the Great Western's acquisition by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1882, then the consolidation of numerous railways into the Canadian National Railways (CNR) system in the early 1920s. The CNR managed the former Wellington, Grey and Bruce mainline using its division and subdivision system, with the section from Harriston Junction to Southampton being known as the Southampton Subdivision. The CN Stratford-to-Southampton passenger service was converted to Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) in 1958. The CN passenger timetable for 1960–61 shows a fragmented network of mostly six-day-a-week Railiner services in the area, with six round trips per week between Palmerston and Southampton, requiring a transfer at Palmerston to travel further. Regular passenger service on the line disappeared by 1970. Around this time, the Douglas Point Spur was constructed, branching off the main Southampton Subdivision line at Port Elgin. It was primarily used for transporting fuel oil from Sarnia to the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station at Douglas Point. CN abandoned the former WG&B mainline in stages throughout the 1980s, beginning with the oldest section running from Fergus to Palmerston; the Southampton Subdivision from Harriston Junction to Southampton was abandoned in 1988, including the Douglas Point Spur. Historical timeline, 1848–1904 Although specific dates vary depending on the source, the following are excerpted from a reliable source, History of the County of Bruce, Ontario, Canada, by Norman Robertson, published in 1906. 1848: The first settlement by Capt. John Spence and William Kennedy, 1851: First post-office, known as Saugeen, opens. 1852: First school opens in the village. 1853: First manufacturing industry was a steam sawmill. 1857: Denny's grist mill is already operating; he would add a grist mill in 1857, a sawmill in 1859 and a woolen mill in 1865. 1857: The village has