The government made treaties with the Hurons in 1798, 1815, and 1818 to gain land to the north and west of Lake Simcoe and then made grants to military veterans. In 1840, the government bought extra land from the First Nations and laid out the settlement of Orillia. The population in 1846 was about 200. The settlement had a church, a post office, four stores, three taverns, a tannery, two blacksmiths, four shoemakers, a tailor, and two furniture makers. A grist mill could be found about a mile away.