Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/149

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QUEBEC (CiTT) 141 menade, has an obelisk erected in 1828 to the memory of Wolfe and Montcalm. The Chal- mers church, the Wesleyan church (in the flamboyant style), and the chapel of the gray sisters are good specimens of Gothic church architecture. The marine hospital, built after the model of the temple of the Muses on the banks of the Ilissus, the archbishop's palace, the parliament buildings, the theatre, the city hall, and the university buildings are worthy of notice. The St. Lawrence is about three quarters of a mile (1,314 yards) wide oppo- site Cape Diamond, but the mouth of the St. Charles forms with it a magnificent basin near- ly 4 m. long and 3 m. wide. The beautiful island of Orleans and the shores of Point Levi shut in this basin on the northeast and east. The depth of the water is about 28 fathoms. The ordinary tide is 17 or 18 ft. at new and full moon ; but the spring tides attain a height of 23 or 24 ft. The harbor is safe and com- modious, and the largest vessels can lie at the wharves. In the latter part of December the river is closed by ice, and navigation ceases till the latter part of April, when the ice usu- ally disappears very suddenly. There are two regular lines of transatlantic steamers, running weekly between Quebec, Liverpool, and Glas- gow, and one fortnightly line between Quebec and London. There are also weekly steamers for the gulf ports, steamers for the Saguenay almost daily in the summer months, and semi- weekly for the stations intermediate between Quebec and Three Rivers, besides several fer- ries. Quebec, next to Montreal, is the most important centre of maritime commerce in British North America. It is one of the largest lumber and timber markets on the American continent. The principal imports are woollen, cotton, and silk goods, iron, hardware, coal, and salt. The exports consist chiefly of ships, lumber, and grain. The ships built at Que- bec are renowned for their beauty, solidity, and sailing qualities. Much the larger portion of the commerce is with Great Britain. The value of imports in 1860 was $3,358,676; of exports, $7,271,959. The value of imports and exports for the four years ending June 30, 1874, was as follows : YEARS. Imports. Exports. 1871... $0.277.370 $12.683,904 1872 7,532.221 11.931,077 1873 6 846 976 12 587 276 1874 7 422 063 12,746,305 The number of entrances during the last named year was 983, tonnage 790,361, of which 533, tonnage 381,032, were in ballast ; of clearances, 846, tonnage 671,386 ; number of vessels built, 52, tonnage 21,065. The number of vessels belonging to the port on June 1, 1874, was 801, with an aggregate tonnage of 100,564. Ac- cording to the census of 1871, the amount of capital invested in manufactures was $2,870,- 638; number of hands employed, 7,250; amount of yearly wages, $1,459,279 ; value of raw ma- terials, $4,771,459; total value of products, $8,449,752. The principal articles of manufac- ture are boots and shoes, saw-mill products, ships, bakery products, furniture, foundery products and machinery, refined sugar, India- rubber goods, rope and twine, clothing, cooper- age, carriages, ale and beer, furs and hats, sash, doors, and blinds, soap and candles, and tobac- co. There are three banks with an aggregate paid-up capital on Sept. 30, 1874, of $6,307,- 205; circulation, $3,044,719; deposits, $8,614,- 438; specie and Dominion notes, $1,623,750; discount, $14,603,747. Quebec returns three members to the Dominion house of commons, and three to the provincial legislature. It is divided into eight wards, and is governed by a mayor, eight aldermen, and 18 councillors. It is the seat of a Protestant bishop and a Roman Catholic archbishop, and has 19 churches and a synagogue. The chief benevolent institu- tions are : the H6tel-Dieu, with its convent and hospital, founded in 1639 by the duchess d'Aiguillon, and in 1875 comprising 45 sisters of the Sacred Blood of Dieppe, 80 beds for pa- tients of every creed and nationality, and min- istering gratuitously to 10,000 patients yearly; the general hospital, with convent and halls for incurable patients, founded at a personal expense of 100,000 crowns by Bishop de Saint- Valier in 1693 ; the hospital of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a branch of the general hospital, opened Sept. 8, 1873 ; the convent of the sisters of charity, or gray sisters, founded in 1848 by Archbishop Turgeon, combining an asylum for the aged and infirm poor, an orphanage, and a free industrial school for 1,000 pupils, the whole supported by private industry and charity ; the house of the Good Shepherd, a reformatory for the fallen, a conservatory for exposed girls, and a school for 500 pupils, established in 1850, supported during the first year by the guild of St. Vincent de Paul, and at present almost entirely self-supporting with the aid of pri- vate charity. Connected with the medical school of the Laval university are* the mater- nity hospital and the dispensary, the former founded in 1852 by the Rev. Joseph Auclair, aided by Mile. M6thivier, a poor seamstress (who has also opened a private lying-in asyr lum, now governed by herself) ; the latter es- tablished in February, 1866, also by .Father Auclair and the seminary of Quebec, and ex- clusively supported by them with the aid of private charity, and a grant of $500 from the legislature toward the hospital. Both afford assistance to all applicants without exception. The maternity hospital is under the charge of the sisters of the Good Shepherd, and the dis- pensary under that of the sisters of charity. There are also the St. Bridget's asylum, con- nected with St. Patrick's Roman Catholic church, and the ladies' Protestant home, the latter providing for old men and young unpro- tected girls. The marine hospital, on the bank of the St. Charles, near the general hospital,