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VIEWS FROM A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD
#27 - MONTREAL, CANADA
Size: 3" x 5"
Copyrighted: 1891
Lithographer: Joseph P. Knapp
Illustrations: Tobogganing; A Snow-Shoer; Ice Palace; Montreal from Mt.
Royal; A Tobogganist
Reverse - Text |
Left section:
GRIND
YOUR COFFEE AT HOME
Right section: |
MONTREAL, CANADA. |
Montreal, the chief seat
of commerce and principal port of
entry of the Dominion of Canada,
is built on an island about 30
miles in length and 7 in width,
at the confluence of the rivers
Ottawa and St. Lawrence. It
stands at the head of ocean
navigation, 160 miles above
Quebec, and at the foot of the
westward chain of water-courses
ending in the great lakes.
Montreal is built upon a series
of terraces, the former levels of
the river or of a more ancient
sea. Behind these rises Mt.
Royal, (from which the city gets
its name,) a mass of trap rock
thrown up through the surrounding
limestone strata, to a height of
700 feet above the level of the
river. On the northern side of
the mountain the Trenton
limestone, of which the city is
mainly built, crops out and is
there quarried for the purpose. |
The
French discoverers of the place
in 1535, named it Ville Marie, at
that time the site of an Indian
village called Hochelaga; (one of
the city suburbs is still known
by that name.) The upper portion
of the mountain--an area of 430
acres--is laid out as a public
park, with fine drives shaded by
well-grown trees. On the western
slope are both Roman Catholic and
Protestant cemeteries. From the
commanding site of this mountain,
the view on all sides, including
the wide expanse of the valley of
the St. Lawrence, is of great
beauty and variety. A well
cultivated and wooded country
watered by the two rivers,
stretches away on either hand,
bounded on the west by the lakes
of St. Louis and the Two
Mountains; on the distant horizon
by the Laurentian hills, the
Adirondacks and the Green
Mountains of Vermont. Immediately
below the Lachine Falls are the
Nun's and St Helen's Isles, the
latter rising 150 feet,
beautifully wooded and laid out
as a public park, while between
them the river is spanned by the
great Victoria Bridge, a
wonderful triumph of engineering
skill, composed of tubular iron
supported on 24 piers of solid
masonry, with terminal abutments
of the same, measuring 9,184 feet
in length. |
Est. Population, 233,000. |
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