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MONTREAL
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MONTREAL , a See also:city of the Dominion of See also:Canada, its leading seat of See also:commerce and See also:principal See also:port of entry, as well as the centre of many of its important See also:industries. It is situated on the See also:south-See also:east of the See also:island of Montreal, at the confluence of the See also:Ottawa and St See also:Lawrence See also:rivers, in the See also:county of Hochelaga and See also:province of See also:Quebec. The See also:observatory in the grounds of McGill University, in the city, has been determined to be in 450 30' 17" N. See also:lat., and 730 34' 40.05" W. See also:long. The city holds a See also:fine position at the See also:head of ocean See also:navigation, nearly a thousand See also:miles inland, and at the See also:foot of the See also:great See also:system of rivers, lakes and canals upon which the commerce of the interior is carried to the See also:Atlantic seaboard. The See also:ship channel below Montreal permits the passage of ocean vessels See also:drawing 30 ft. at See also:low See also:water. The deepening of the channel, largely due to the initiative of Montreal merchants, was begun in 1844 by the See also:government of Canada. The See also:work was transferred to the See also:Harbour Commissioners of Montreal in x85o. The See also:depth of the channel was then 11 ft. Fifteen years later it had gradually been increased to 20 ft.; and in 1888, when the work was taken over by the Dominion government, the depth was 27 ft. 6 in. The See also:Lachine See also:canal,with the See also:chain of artificial waterways that succeeded it, opened the way for the See also:shipping of the Great Lakes. The first sod in the digging of the Lachine canal was turned in See also:July 1821 by See also: The same public-spirited See also:merchant presided in See also:April of the following See also:year at the preliminary See also:meeting which led to the formation of the See also:committee of See also:trade, itself the forerunner of Montreal's indispensable See also:board of trade. Even before the See also:close of the See also:French regime in Canada efforts had been made to cut a canal across the island of Montreal, and M.de Catalogne succeeded in See also:building a waterway practicable for the canoes of the See also:fur-traders. The more ambitious canal commenced in 1821 was completed four years later, at a cost of $440,000. Before its completion, however, the increasing See also:draught of inland shipping made it practically useless, and in 1843 work was begun on an enlargement. Since then the canal has been repeatedly deepened, to keep See also:pace with the requirements of See also:lake shipping, until to-See also:day a 14-ft. channel is available. In the meantime the See also:rival method of See also:rail transportation was taking shape, and in 1836 the first See also:Canadian railway was opened, between Laprairie, opposite Montreal and St Johns, in the, eastern townships. In 1848 a second railway, from Longueuil to St Hyacinthe, was opened; both these projects owing their existence to the enterprise of Montreal citizens. The broad St Lawrence, however, still See also:lay between the city and the outside See also:world. In 1854 work was commenced upon the famous See also:Victoria tubular See also:bridge, designed by See also:Robert See also:Stephenson and A. M. See also:Ross. The bridge was opened by See also: In 1898 it was replaced by the Victoria See also:Jubilee bridge, built on the piers of the old bridge. At the foot of Lake St See also: The British government See also:purchased it for military purposes, and it still contains a See also:battery of guns and See also:barracks, the latter tenantless, since the island has been loaned to the city for use as a public park.
The city is substantially built, See also:grey limestone, quarried from the mountain, predominating in the public and many of the private edifices. On the south of the See also:Place d'Armes, a small enclosure covering the site of an ancient burying-ground, stands the See also:parish See also: At the See also:base are a series of bas-reliefs setting forth See also:historical incidents connected with the early See also:history of the See also:town. The See also:monument is the work of a Canadian sculptor, Louis Philippe See also:Hebert, C.M.G. The See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:cathedral of St James stands upon Dominion Square. It is an almost exact See also:reproduction, reduced to one-half the See also:scale, of St See also:Peter's at See also:Rome. The building, projected by the See also:late See also:Archbishop See also:Bourget to replace the old church on St See also:Denis See also:street destroyed in the great See also:fire of 1852, was begun in 1868. On the See also:west of the square stand the See also:Windsor Street station of the Canadian Pacific railway; St See also:George's (See also:Anglican) church, which possesses a fine See also:chime of bells; and the Windsor Hotel. A statue of See also:Sir John See also:Macdonald occupies the centre of the square. Close to the historic Bonsecours See also:Market stands the church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours, founded by See also:Sister See also:Marguerite See also:Bourgeois in 1673 as a See also:sanctuary for a miraculous statue of the Virgin. The See also:original church was burned in 1754, and the See also:present building, erected in 1771, an example of See also:Norman See also:architecture transplanted to the New World, narrowly escaped destruction to make See also:room for a railway station. Curiously enough, it remained for a number of See also:English Protestants to secure the preservation of this relic of the French See also:period. Jacques See also:Cartier Square, adjoining Bonsecours Market, is notable for its See also:column and statue of See also:Nelson, erected in 18o8. As the Roman Catholic cathedral owes its existence to the See also:energy and See also:enthusiasm of Archbishop Bourget, so See also:Christ Church cathedral must always be associated with the name of the first See also:resident Anglican See also:bishop of Montreal, Dr Fulford. The church is a fine example of the Early English See also:style of architecture. Beside it stands a memorial of Bishop Fulford, modelled after the famous See also:Martyr's Memorial at See also:Oxford. The mixture of races and See also:creeds, which is so striking a characteristic of Montreal See also:life, has not only endowed the city with many beautiful churches, but also with varieties of philanthropic institutions. Each of the several See also:national societies—St George's, St See also:Andrew's, St See also:Patrick's, and that of the French-Canadian See also:patron See also:saint, St See also:Jean See also:Baptiste, to mention no others—looks after the welfare of its own adherents. Of the several hospitals, the most See also:venerable is the Hotel Dieu, founded in 1644 by Mme de See also:Bouillon, a French See also:lady of high rank. The original building, in the early days of Ville Marie, stood without the fort, and was fortified to withstand the attacks of the See also:Iroquois. The site is now covered by a See also:block of warehouses on St Paul Street. The present buildings, completed in 1861, contain both a See also:hospital and nunnery. The Order of the Grey Nuns, founded by a Canadian lady, Mme d'Youville, in 1737, cares for hundreds of foundlings and aged and infirm See also:people in the great hospital in See also:Guy Street. The Montreal See also:General hospital was founded in 1819 by public subscriptions, and the Royal Victoria hospital is a monument to the generosity of See also:Lord Strathcona and Lord Mount-See also:Stephen. Besides these should be mentioned the Notre Dame, the Western and the See also:Children's Memorial hospitals. See also:Separate hospitals for contagious diseases are maintained both by the Roman Catholics and Protestants. Montreal provides for the See also:education of its See also:young people through two distinct systems of public See also:schools; one for Roman Catholics, the other for Protestants, each governed by a board of commissioners. The schools are maintained by an See also:annual tax based upon the See also:assessment, two-fifths of r % being levied upon the See also:Protestant section of the community for the support of the Protestant schools, and one-See also:quarter of , % upon the Catholics for their schools. Unlike the neighbouring provinces of See also:Ontario, Quebec makes no See also:provision for a See also:state university. But James McGill (1744–1813) See also:left See also:property, valued at the time of his See also:death at £30,000, for the See also:foundation of a university, one See also:college of which was to See also:bear his name. A royal See also:charter conferring university See also:powers was obtained in 1821. During early years slow progress was made, but with the See also:appointment of Sir See also: The French university of See also:Laval, the See also:chief seat of which is in the city of Quebec, also maintains a See also:branch at Montreal, established in 1877. It embraces the faculties of arts, law, medicine and See also:theology, the latter conducted through the Seminary of St Sulpice. The college library has been enriched by a rare collection of Canadian books and See also:manuscripts, bequeathed by See also:Judge Louis See also:Francois Georges Baby (1834–1906), of Montreal. The medical school, which now occupies a portion of the university building, formerly held its sessions in the historic See also:Chateau de Ramesay, built by the See also:Chevalier de Ramesay, See also:governor of Montreal, in 1704, and occupied after the See also:conquest by the British See also:governors of Canada, until the stoning of Lord See also:Elgin and the burning of the See also:Parliament Buildings in 1849 brought about the removal of the seat of government from Montreal. The Chateau de Ramesay is now the fitting See also:home of a public collection of historic relics. Of other educational institutions in the city the most important is St See also:Mary's College, founded in 1848 by the See also:Jesuits, and removed to the present building in 1855. The archives boast a notable collection of early Canadian manuscripts, upon which See also:Francis See also:Parkman See also:drew in preparing his histories of New See also:France.
Montreal's position as the chief See also:doorway of the outgoing and incoming trade of the Dominion is largely due to the foresight of her great merchants. With the See also:gradual opening up of means of communication by land and water, and the development of her. facilities for handling the exports and imports of the See also:country, the city has increased rapidly in importance, until to day one-third of the imports of the Dominion come through Montreal, and nearly 30 % of the exports. In shipments of See also:grain Montreal has outstripped all her rivals on the See also:continent except New York and New See also: Montreal is governed by a See also:mayor and 36 aldermen, elected every two years. The city returns 5 members to the Dominion See also:House of See also:Commons and 6 to the Provincial Legislature of Quebec. The See also:population of Montreal, according to.the See also:census of 19o1, was 266,826. With the suburbs, it was estimated in 1907 at over 405,000, about three-fifths French. The history of the town is steeped in See also:romance. From that first remarkable See also:scene, so graphically described by Francis Parkman, when, on the 18th of May 1642, Maisonneuve and his little See also:band of religious enthusiasts landed upon the spot where the Montreal See also:Custom House now stands, and planted, in the words of the saintly See also:Dumont, a grain of See also:mustard See also:seed destined to overshadow the land,-the history of the town was to be intimately associated with missionary enterprise and such missionary heroism as the world has rarely seen. Montreal began as a religious See also:colony, but its very situation, on the See also:outer confines of See also:civilization and at the See also:door of the Iroquois country, forced it to become a military See also:settlement, a fortified town with a military See also:garrison. Similarly its position, even then .an ideal one from a commercial point of view, made it the dominating centre of the fur-trade. For a See also:hundred years after its foundation these three influences held sway, more or less mutually antagonistic, the streets of Montreal presenting an animated picture of sombre priests, and jovial soldiers, See also:savage hunters in their native finery and more than half-savage fur traders. Within another hundred years, although both priests and soldiers were still to be seen on her streets, they had become but atoms in a larger and more varied population. The fur trader of New France, merged after the conquest in the fur trader of the North West See also:Company—which had its origin in Montreal—remained for a time the one picturesque survival of earlier and more romantic days. Finally, he too disappeared in the multiform and strenuous life of the See also:modern city. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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