Charles Dickens sails Lake Ontario

On holiday in North America in 1842, 30 year old Charles Darwin entered Canada at Niagara Falls and after visiting the attraction, headed to Queenston to catch the boat to Toronto. He described the city as neat and clean but being flat, had not much scenery. On May 6, the author boarded the nearly new steamer "City of Toronto" on its regular run to Kingston. The boat left at noon, and the steamer stopped at Port Hope and in Cobourg to take on a load of flour. 
Dickens, in his writings, described Cobourg as "a cheerful, thriving little town".  Of Kingston, then the capital of Canada he was much less complimentary. Having spent less than a week in Ontario, he headed down river to Montreal, never to return.

Steamer City of Toronto 
Toronto Archives