Tay replaced it at some time during the arrival of many Scottish settlers after the founding of the Perth Military Settlement in 1816, doubtless in reference to the River Tay in Scotland. The new name was already clearly established during the construction of numerous mills on the river in the 1820s, and the Tay Canal in the 1830s. Mills on the Tay, the Tay Canal, and more broadly the resultant access to the Rideau Canal system provided important commercial connections from Frontenac and Lanark Counties to Ottawa and markets beyond, in particular for logging. Dams on the upper Tay created lakes (e.g. Bobs Lake) that were reservoirs of water for the Rideau Canal at the time, and are important to cottagers and seasonal residents today. Following municipal amalgamation in Ontario in 1998, the river has provided its name to the municipality of Tay Valley, Ontario, even though the municipality neither wholly contains, nor is wholly contained by, the Tay River watershed. See also List of rivers of Ontario References Sources External links Tay River Watershed - Watershed Planning (Rideau Valley Conservation Authority) Friends of the Tay Watershed Rivers of Lanark County