In 1669 Rene-Robert de Cavelier de La Salle set out on the first of his many journeys of exploration intent on reaching the Ohio River, finding a way to the Southern Sea and thereby the route to China. Accompanied by the Sulpician missionaries Dollier and Gallinee, he left Montreal in July and reached Burlington Bay at the head of Lake Ontario two months later. La Salle continued inland to Tinaouataoua, a Seneca hamlet midway between present-day Dundas and Brantford, where he met Adrien Jolliet, an explorer returning from a mission to the Great Lakes. La Salle decided not to proceed westward and returned to Montreal by 1670. Burlington is located at the western end of Lake Ontario, lying between the north shore of the lake and the Niagara Escarpment, north of Hamilton. Before pioneer settlement in the 19th century, the area was covered by old-growth forest and was home to various First Nations peoples. In 1792, John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, named the western end of Lake Ontario "Burlington Bay" after the town of Bridlington in Yorkshire, England. Land beside the bay was deeded to Captain Joseph Brant at the turn of the nineteenth century. With the completion of the local survey after the War of 1812, the land was opened for settlement. Early farmers prospered because of the fertile soil and moderate temperatures. Lumber from the surrounding forests was a thriving business. In the latter half of the 19th century, local farmers switched to fruit and vegetable production. The first peaches grown in Canada were cultivated in the Grindstone Creek watershed in the south-west part of the city. Hamilton Harbour, the western end of Lake Ontario, is bounded on its western shore by a large sandbar. A canal bisecting the sandbar allows ships access to Hamilton Harbour. The Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway, part of the Queen Elizabeth Way, and the Canal Lift Bridge allow access over the canal. The leading industrial sectors are food processing, packaging, electronics, motor vehicle/transportation, business services, chemical/pharmaceutical and environmental. Burlington is home to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which has the world's largest lilac collection.