There are no tricks to this puzzle, you’ll just need to figure out the correct answers to the multiple choice questions below.
Solution is N 43 AB.CDE W 079 FG.HIJ
Choose your answer and use the corresponding number for the coordinates.
I’ll start you off with a little bit geography.
A: The City of Hamilton is situated at the west end of Lake Ontario, on Burlington Bay. It is roughly equidistant from Toronto and the American border. Which answer is the best estimate of that distance?
3 = 52km 2 = 61km 1 = 67km 0 = 73km 4 = America? Didn’t we defeat them over 200 years ago in the battle of 1812?
B: Our city’s namesake, George Hamilton, purchased a house and 257 acres of land in the small village then known as Head of the Lake. He rapidly laid out the town site by delineating roadways and selling parcels of his estate to newcomers. In March the following year, it was chosen as the administrative seat of the newly created Gore District and renamed in honour of its leading patron. What year did George Hamilton make this land purchase?
9 = 1784 7 = 1799 6 = 1807 4 = 1815 2 = 1819
C: The Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) may be known to you as the organization that operates bus service throughout the city. When it first started it offered the public horse-drawn transportation. What year did that service begin?
9 = 1809 8 = 1835 7 = 1874 6 = 1895 5 = 1899
D: Not until researching for this puzzle did I know that the first telephone exchange in the British Empire was opened in Hamilton by Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. What year did he open that landmark exchange?
1 = 1878 3 = 1890 5 = 1899 7 = 1903 9 = 1910
E: The city's population growth has often paralleled its economic cycles. After the Great Western Railway plan failed in 1857, Hamilton’s population shrunk over the following seven years. How large was estimated drop in population?
2 = <5% 4 = 5 to 10% 6 = 15 to 20% 8 = 20 to 25% 0 = 30 to 35%
F: Did you know that Hamilton used to have a National Hockey League team called the Tigers? Maybe we will again someday! The term ‘Original Six’ that we refer to today is actually a bit of a misnomer. There were several teams in the NHL that came and went prior to the Original Six were established. What year did Hamilton’s NHL team cease to exist?
3 = 1920 5 = 1925 6 = 1934 7 = 1941 9 = Hamilton? The Leafs have been a lost cause since 1967
G: Now one of the continents busiest highways, the QEW from Hamilton to Toronto opened two years prior to the section from Hamilton to Niagara. For this latter opening, the Queen actually visited Canada to officially open it. What year did the section to Toronto open?
2 = 1937 4 = 1942 6 = 1959 8 = 1963 0 = The QEW is a HIGHway?
H: Hamilton is home to the oldest foot race (i.e. running race) in North America. The Around the Bay Road Race was started in 1894 by Hamilton Herald newspaper and cigar store owner Billy Carroll. What is the current distance of that race in kilometers?
4 = 5km 2 = 10km 0 = 30km 1 = 42km 3 = People run all the way around the Burlington Bay?!? Yikes!
I: The population of Hamilton has grown considerably since it was incorporated in 1846. It’s most recent jump in population came in 2001 when, as part of the reorganization of municipal governments in Ontario, the boundaries of the city were enlarged to include much of the surrounding suburban and rural area, including the former towns of Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough and Stoney Creek, and the former township of Glanbrook. The population tally from the following year (2002) was 490,268 and in 2011 it was 519,949.
What was the official population of Hamilton at the time it was incorporated?
7 = 6,832 6 =10,248 5 = 19,096 4 = 26,716 3 = 35,009
J: McMaster University wasn’t always in Hamilton. It was founded in Toronto in 1887 through a merger of Toronto Baptist College with Woodstock College. Due to a lack of adequate facilities in Toronto and a gift of land available in Hamilton, McMaster relocated to our city. What year did that happen?
9 = 1899 3 = 1924 1 = 1930 4 = 1948 7 = 1971