History: Newspaper report May 2, 1968.
On May 1, 1968 the Morrison-Wedgewood Creeks diversion channel a $2.5 million flood control project in Oakville, Ontario, was well on the way to completion. Members of the Halton Region Conservation Authority were joined by Town of Oakville councillors for a tour of the project the previous week. The diversion collects water from four streams north of the QEW and diverts it into Sixteen Mile Creek just west of the Sixth Line. A two and a half mile concrete channel was created to collect the water beginning behind the Mack Truck plane at the Ninth Line and channels it westerly to the Sixteen. In places a valley 90 feet deep has been gorged out. The channel winds and twists across the land and runs under the Eighth, Seventh, (Trafalgar) and Sixth Line roads. All the officials who toured the diversion channel were impressed with the deep, sloping spillway west of the Sixth Line where the water enters the Sixteen near the Oakville Golf Club. Water rushes down the slope here at 40 miles an hour and its flow is slowed down by concrete piers before it finally reaches the creek.
As you head for the cache you will see where Munns Creek, (having flowed through the golf course), joins the diversion channel. After a rainfall the waterfall is impressive. Notice the reinforcements for the diversion channel as you approach the cache.
Going even further back consider the damage done to Oakville on Friday October 15, 1954 by Hurricane Hazel, when winds reached 115 km per hour and water levels under bridges rose to 5.5 metres. Sixth Line was impassable. The hurricane brought a long standing but previously ignored flooding problem in the Wedgewood and Morrison Creek areas south of the Iroquois Ridge to light. The creeks ran in shallow areas behind homes and easily overflowed their banks. In 1965 a plan was drawn up to divert storm waters to Sixteen Mile Creek via a channel requiring the expropriation of privately owned residential land west of the Sixth Line. After years of legal wrangling and construction the diversion system was completed in 1969.
Parking is available on Regency but please enter the trail at the gateway where the HRCA sign is. This is the only possible access to the trail.