The New Student's Reference Work/Montreal

Mont′real″, in Quebec, Canada, is the commercial metropolis of all British America. It stands at the head of sea-going navigation and at the foot of the St. Lawrence canal-system and of Ottawa River. The Canadian Pacific directly links Ontario and the western provinces to Montreal. It is the western terminus of the Intercolonial Railway system. The Grand Trunk makes Montreal its chief center. Every Canadian industry (sugar-refining, iron-works, cotton-mills, car-shops, bridge-works), is represented in Montreal. The two large universities, McGill and Laval, (q. v.) are located here; it also has numerous smaller colleges. Its church architecture is said to thebe the finest on the continent. The McGill buildings also attract attention. The situation of Montreal lying on Mount Royal and along the river is most picturesque. Population with suburbs 466,000. The city is noted for its hospitals and their perfect equipment. Montreal is the home of scores of millionaires, not a few of whom are patrons of art, owning valuable paintings and generous towards educational and charitable objects. The population is mixed, the French predominating, and yet to a wonderful extent harmony and good feeling prevail. The deepening of the St. Lawrence (q. v.) at great cost by the government placed Montreal at the head of ocean navigation. The Dominion canals between Montreal and Lake Superior are the Lachine, Soulanges, Cornwall, Farrans Point, Rapide Plat, Glops, Murray, Welland and Sault Ste. Marie. (See articles.) Their aggregate length is 73 miles; total lockage (or height directly overcome by locks) 551 feet. The number of locks through which a vessel would pass in its passage from Montreal at the head of ocean navigation to the head of Lake Superior is 48. Soulanges Canal takes the place of Beauharnais Canal. Communication between Lakes Superior and Huron is obtained by means of the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal and also by the St. Marys Falls Canal, situated on the United States side of the River St. Mary. Both these canals are free from toll. See St. Lawrence River.