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Section III., 1808. 
 
 3] 
 
 Tbanb. R. 8. C. 
 
 I. — ice Floods and Winter Navigation of the Lower St. Lawrence, 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO SECTION. 
 
 By T. C. Keeker, C.M.(f., C.E. 
 
 (Uciid May 25, IMW.) 
 
 The winter ice floods of tho St. Lawrence are diHtinguisluMi from 
 those produced by ice in other rivers more to the south, in that the latter 
 are the direct result ot thaw and rain throwing increasedquantity of water 
 into the stream while covered with ice, breaking this up and forming 
 dams with it upon the river bottom ; whereas those of the St. Lawrence 
 occur when there is the least water in tho river as well as less ice than at 
 a later period of the winter. The s|)ring floods arc generally higher, but 
 like tho winter ones are the direct result of ice, and are jiroduced in the 
 same manner but usually with a greatei- cjuiintit}- both of ice and water. 
 
 The St. Lawrence, flowing through such im|)0unding reservoirs as 
 the Hve great lakes, is not exi)osed to overflow from any excess of rain- 
 iV.'!. its range between high and low water being generally leas than one- 
 tenth of that of the Ohio, although its low water discharge is nearly 
 nineteen million cubic Teet per minute. Its ice floods only occur at three 
 points below each of the great rapids above and bcOow Lake St. Francis, 
 and below Lake St. Louis, and, with the exception of this last, are con- 
 tined to a short secticm of the river. 
 
 .Since 18.')2 water levels have been recorded at Montreal. Previous to 
 that year the only floods, the heighth of which have been determined, are 
 those of 1838, '40 and '41, The* earliest reference to this winter rise is thai; 
 of Pcre Barthi'-lemy Vincent, S..)., in 1()4."). when Maisonne\ive, the founder 
 of Montreal, on the threatened inundation of his newlv-erected canton- 
 ment resorted to ])rayer and pilgrimage to avert a disaster. This rise 
 was not near our flood level of to-day. From its expo.^ed position it must 
 have surt'ered from ice shoves at a later date. Since this we have news- 
 paper references to "floods" in 17!>1, '98, 1810, '2:i, ;«, "Mi, 'HH. '40, '4!, 
 '48, '(!1, '<i5, '(!9, '73, of which the heights of all previous to 1838 are un- 
 known. Few probably reached our flood level, and for the earlier ones 
 there was little ex})osed to damage. 
 
 The winter flood is the result of long-continued cold weather, which 
 while it diminishes the land water coming in, manufactures ice in the 
 greatest quantity, which a strong (turrent disposes of in such a way that, 
 without forming a dam, the ice so obstructs the flow as to cause a rise of 
 water which in some years becomes a flood. This occui-s in January, at 
 the coldest season of tho year, and, though inferior in height and extent 
 
 \l 
 
 -T*!^- ■jttr.i' 
 

 ^9f A'^6 
 
 4 KOYAL SOCIETY <»F CANADA 
 
 to the April ones which occur on the dopurturo of the ico, is more di»trc9»- 
 ing from the greater coldness both cf the weather iind the water. There 
 is an am iial winter rise, seldom less than ten feet above summer level, at 
 Montreal, but it does not becoiue a " Hood " until it exceeds twenty feet or 
 more. 
 
 The average rise on the taking over of the river in January is about 
 twelve feet, and the average rise on the deparluiv of the ice in April is 
 about fifteen feel, the increase in this average being due both to the all- 
 winter accumulation of ice, and the spring inroad ol water. 
 
 After floods in 1S38, 1840 and 1841 a revetment wall was constructed 
 by the Royal Engineers in front of the {irincipal part of the city, the top 
 of which was twenty-ono feet above summer level of harbour and wasHUjc 
 posed to be one foot higher than the liighest flood — but since its construc- 
 tion the river has gone over this eight times. The top of this wall is 
 known as " flood level " because, until the river rose above it, there was 
 no general inroad of water all along the line — although there were about 
 ten miles of streets inside it, which were about four feet lower than the 
 wall, and were flooded through the sewers. This condition continued 
 until 1887 when, after three floods in succession, (the second of which, 
 that of April, 1886, was the highest ever known), a temporary dyke was 
 built, in that year, upon the top of this revetment wall, upon the recom 
 mendation of a lioyal Commission which was appointed in 188(1 immedi- 
 ately after the second flood. There has been no flood since until March 
 of the present year, on which occasion this dyke prevented the flooding of 
 many miles of streets, up<m some of which the water would have stood 
 over six feet deep. 
 
 In the last sixty years there have been four winter floods, ranging 
 from one to two feet above flood level and eight spring floods — the last 
 being the one of this year. The highest of the spring floods, that of 1886, 
 went nearly six feet over the flood level, putting about ten feet of water 
 on the lowest streets. While floods have occurred at an average ijiierval 
 of five years, they have taken place as frequently as three years in suc- 
 cession, or with only an interval of one year between them, Moreover, 
 in this period of sixty years there have been intervals of eleven, twelve 
 and thirteen years without any flood. Partly owing to these long exemp- 
 tions no recent protection work was undertaken until the dyke was built 
 in connection with efficient pumping stations for throwing the sewer and 
 surface water over it, when all outlets into the river were closed. 
 
 The duration of a flood may be a few hours, or a week, or more. The 
 flood of 18;}8, which was the highest winter one i^corded, h>sted fourteen 
 days, but was probably less than half of this time above the " flood level," 
 which level was established by the revetment wall several yeai-s later. 
 
 Previous to 1850 all the recorded floods were winter ones, and then 
 followed an exemption from winter floods of thirty -eight years, until Janu- 
 
(krrfrk] 
 
 PRKSIDKNTIAL AI>I>ltES8 
 
 ary. 188(5. when the last winter one took jduee. Moreover, there hnn 
 never been a winter Hood recorded in December, althoutrh the river has 
 been elosed in that montli, nor a sprinj; one in Mnreh until this year, 
 jiltliouijh the rivor has been broken up and tlie ice has de|)arted in that 
 month. 
 
 There is a ditlei-enoe of ten to tifteen feet in the winter ri.se of tlift'er- 
 «nt ye:irs. The flood in April, 188»i, njse 27 feet above the summer level 
 of Montreal Harbour ; but there have been winters in whieh the jifieatest 
 rise did not exceed 12 feet above that level. The hij^hest sprinjjf rise above 
 ordinary low water was in Ajiril. 188(i, 27 feet. The lowest spring rise 
 was in Mandi, 1860, 10 feet. The liii^host winter rise was in January, 
 1838. 2.*!^ feet. The lowest winter rise was in Jainiary, 1S73, 10^ feet. 
 "Lowest water" has ^one four feot below "ordinary,' giving an extreme 
 range in the harbour of 31 feet. 
 
 The winter floods are caused '>y the accumulation of floating ice 
 during continued severe weather extending fnMu November into the New 
 Year. This ice descends the river until it is arrested b}' the ice bridge 
 which forms with the first severe frost at Lake St. Peter, and some of it 
 may come from many miles above Montreal, but after Lake St. Louis is 
 closed above Lachine it is all produced in the river below. 
 
 The winter level of Lake St. I'eter is four to five feet higher than the 
 summer one, while the river below is open ; but when the liver is closed 
 tlown to the Platon the lake is raised seven or eight feet above summer 
 level. 
 
 The ice "takes" in November in the bays and along shores and ox- 
 tends outwards to the edge of the channel, which never freezes over (on 
 account of the strength of its current), but remains open down to the ije 
 bridge until it is covered over by the floating ice which extends the ice 
 bridge u|i stream all the way to the Lachine Rapids. The bay and shore 
 ice of varying width and thickness due to the weather and the stage of 
 flow in the river, and often miles in length, is pried off from its shore 
 attachment by the rising water caused by the packing which is going on 
 at the ice bridge and swings out into the channel where it is carrieil down, 
 as bridge material, and is broken up against the solid ice barrier, forced 
 under and tilted on edge, giving a ragged outline to the bridge both in air 
 and water. The sujiply of this bordage ice varies with the weatlier, and 
 the bays and shores may furnish more than one crop of it before the ice 
 bridge is completed. A mild week or two arrests the advance of the 
 ice bridge for want of material, and new bordage ice may form on a 
 higher level and be again dislodged and drawn into the channel. 
 
 In 1886 the ice bridge took at Nicolet, the lower end of Lake St. 
 Peter, on 4th of December, and the lake was covered to Stone Island (20 
 miles above) in thirty hours. It reached Sorel, .seven miles further on, on 
 the 6th in fourteen hours ; Verchi^res, 23 miles above, on the IHh inst, in 
 
 ^Zc^Hllt 
 
ROYAL S0( IKTY OK CANADA 
 
 78 hours. After five days' tlinw it rcftchccl V^an'mu-n on Kith, ninu niiluH 
 in s«v«!n dnys. Tho upwunl inurch to I.on^uo Tointo, Hcvon niileH, wuh 
 nmdclin two days of cold weather. Mihl weather lollowed and the next 
 lour miles, to IIoclielajLja, was covered in eleven days, on the liDth. In the 
 ne.xl two days tho channel was tilled up to the loot td' llie Laeliiiie Hapids, 
 a distance of over ton niiles. Thus the whole of tho river channel, for 55 
 miles al)OVc Lake St. Peter, was covered over with drift ice in ahout three 
 weeks. 
 
 When the ice hrid^e isahove Lon^ue Pointe and ii|i)iroucliin^ Iloche- 
 laga it requires more time and hn<l>^e material to huild up suHicient 
 ohstruction so as to force uj) the- river level and flood out the rapids he- 
 tween lloiholaf^a and the Laprairie hasin. which have ahout nine feet fall 
 in three miles. This narrower and shallower section opposite Montreal 
 cannot retain as much of the ice-pack as the sections ahove and below it, 
 and therefore tlie current St. Mary (immediately helow Montreal harhour) 
 and the Sault Nornuind (immediat«'ly aliove it) comhine their forces to 
 drive all the ice they receive as far as possible below them until they have 
 produced a pack, which by raising the river level will enlarge their own 
 dimensions, wlien they become fjuieted down and covered over in common 
 with slower sections of the river. It is in the strui,'gle to maintain sulH- 
 cient water-way, in this quarter, above, opposite to, and below the city 
 that those great convulsive otlorts of tho inver, commonl}- called " shoves,'" 
 take place. These may drive some obstructing mass entirely out of the 
 river, or force a greater one into the channel, suddeidy throttling its 
 waterway and producing a rapid rise, which may become a Hood. The 
 greater rise opposite Montreal is doubtless due to tho greater fall in the 
 river hero than anywhere else below the Lachine Kapids, and to its otlorts 
 to adjust itself to the winter conditions of slower current in a wiiler and 
 deeper channel. 
 
 The sjiring Hoods are |)roduced in the same manner as the winter 
 ones, but owe their usually greater height to the greater (juantity of ico 
 at the end of the winter and to the adtlilional quantity of water from the 
 land. There is no ice gorge or dam resting on the bottom in either case, 
 although there is enormous ice congestion above and below Motitreal and 
 some )>artial dams in shoal water inshore may be temporaril} formed by 
 one shove, and as rapidly ojecteil from their site by another. Large 
 quantities of ice are driven ashore above the water line and there left be- 
 hind by the river — which remain until melted in f-itu — or are thrown 
 into the water where, as on the wharfs or elsewhere, they obstruct access 
 to the river. 
 
 The wonderful rapidity of the rise caused by a "shove " in a groat 
 river like the St. Lawi-ence was shown in April, 1887. belbro the dyke was 
 constructed, when the water, which stood one foot bolow flood level, rose 
 5 feet 5 inches in one hour and twenty minutes (G5 inches in 80 minutes). 
 
[kbbpkr] 
 
 PRESIDKNTIAL ADDktESH 
 
 about j^ incli per miniitu. A hUovu upon thu Huino day uhovi' tli(> Victoria 
 Hridgu drove a Hhotit of ice upon tlio Blopin^ laaHomy nC tlif tihuttuunt, 
 strikin^r toloj^raph wires which wtu'o placed seventy feet uliove low water 
 mark. At Longueuil, where the water vose twenty feet ahovc suninier 
 level, it poured into the village, carrying huge blocks of ice which dealt 
 destruction to houses, telegraphs, fences, etc., and rose five feet in ton 
 minutes in thi' waterworks station, Tht' most rapid rise recorded is that 
 of April 14th, 185)(!. three feci in ten minutes — one foot in one and a-third 
 minutes. 
 
 Hefore the revetment wall was constructed these shoves drove the 
 ice-fields u]* the sloping iteach to such a height beyond top bank that 
 they broke by their own weight and jiilcd a mnipart of ice thiny H-et 
 high in front ol'the buildings they could not reach and out ol which the 
 territied inmates escaped (on this ice) by the third story windows. Un- 
 protecteci stone Ituildings on the river bank were levelled to the ground, 
 and in lH23a whole family of five were crushed to death in their chanty, 
 upon which the ice piled fourteen I'eet high. l'i.x])oseil stone warehouses 
 were simply and cheaply protected by stout poles slanting from them 
 which Mirned the ice upward until it broke and pileil itself as a pnilcction 
 wall in front. 
 
 The illustrations of ice "shoves" in front of Montreal aic the more 
 liberal because they have ceased since the completion of the guard pier 
 — a long and narrow artiticial island placed in the middle of the river 
 opposite the harbour, and is intended to allow the erection of permanent 
 warehouses upon the wharfs. In this connection it is to be remembered 
 that the temporary dyke was completed before the guard pier was com- 
 menced. 
 
 On the break-up and departure of the ice during the great t1nod of 
 April, 18S(i, when the water in Montreal harbour rose twenty-seven feet 
 above the summer level, the ice obstructions below Ilochelaga u:a\c way 
 so suddenly before the pressure caused by this great head, that the ice- 
 laden flood-wave, which started at twenty-seven feet, drojjped three feet 
 in the first mile and to twenty feet at Longue Pointe, which elevation it 
 maintained for a distance of thirty miles, and reached Sorel with a height 
 of sixteen feet above summer level. This wave started from Montreal 
 about noon and reached iSofcl (forty-tive miles distant) at 10.1(0 p.m. the 
 same day, flooding in its course, with ice and water, the banks on both 
 sides of the St. Lawrence wherever they were not above this flood- wave 
 level. 
 
 It was to the packing of these leagues of bordage ice covered often 
 with snow, and always in evidence when passing down the channel, that 
 the winter rise of the water wa.s attributed. Little attention was given 
 to patches and streams of lead-coloured slush-ice almost even with the. sur- 
 face and only visible near the shore which sometimes, especially in very 
 
 •♦««... 
 
ROYAL HCK'IETY OF CANADA 
 
 cold wuutiu')', waH puHHiti^ down ; utid was probably conmdorod only 
 M ci'tnt'Utinjf niiitoi-iul for tho ice bridj^o. Moroovor, troni the lact 
 tliul wlii'ii tho river attains itH hi^flioHt winter lovol (wliich is after it 
 in completely ioe-covei-ed and alter a tinal ••Hhovo" or a flood) it alinoHt 
 imiuediulely begins to tall, it was supposed that •herealtor no furtlier 
 addition to the ice pack below the city did or could take phu-e 
 
 The Lachine liapids an(i about five miles of the rivor above, as far as 
 Lake St. Lcmis, are o|»en water throughout the winter. It was known 
 that ill this tjuiirtcr large quantitioH of frazil and anchor ice wore pro- 
 duced in tho coldest weatlier, and sent ovtM' tho rapids, but it was 
 supposed that this material was arrested in the wide water below the 
 rapIdH, whore ice dams wore known to form an<l '■ shoves" to take place 
 ♦luring the winter. 
 
 The Uoyal ('oniraission of lS8fi,' with n view to ascertain tho cause 
 and. if possible, suggest a remedy for the fioo Is at Montreal, carried out 
 an extensive and careful survey of tho ice. embracing two wintein, muns- 
 uring the thickness of ice and depth of water over more than twenty miles 
 below the Jiachine Rapids. They i'ound that while there was everywhere 
 in the channel a varying quantity of water underneath tho ice, in many 
 places there was a much greater depth of ice than water, and this Ibrm- 
 ing no part of the solid covering of the river or broken liordage ice, but 
 " frazil " or anchcjr ice clinging to the underside «d' the surface ice and 
 extending downward in some cases nearly forty feet below the surface ol' 
 tho river. These " dependencies " formed a series of inverted shoals which, 
 without causing abrupt elevation at any ))oint, so reduced the waterway 
 ami increased the friction in the closed channel as to comjiel a I'isc of tho 
 rivei' all along the line in order to obtain greater velocity for its water 
 and more room for its ice. This increased velocity extended tho range of 
 travel of anchor ico under the surface covering. It was seen thi-ough 
 air-holes in the ico passing down opposite Montreal, throughout the 
 winter; having travei-sed the length of Laprairie ImMn without having 
 been arrested by friction and frost, as sooner or later lakes place lower 
 down. 
 
 The Koyal Commission of 188(J established the lad that this anchor 
 ice was not only the principal factor, but in their judgment the sole cause 
 of the Hoods at Montreal ; that is, that while a winter rise of the river 
 might be produced every 3'ear by the snow-laden solid ice float ed down, it 
 would never reach flood dimensions without the aid of this anchor ice 
 manufactured above the city and passing down into cold storage Iwlow it, 
 where it is out of the reach of any change of temperature. 
 
 ' This commission was compo.sed of tlie following ciiigin<-er.s ; Thos. C. Kcefer, 
 Ottawii, chairiiian ; Henry F. Perley, Ottawa, cliief engineer Pultlic Works; Jolin 
 Kennedy, Montreal, cliief engineer Harbour CommisHion ; Percival St. Ueorge, 
 Montreal, citv engineer. 
 
[EBKKKKl rUKsIUKNTlAl- .M>I>UKSS 9 
 
 In tlio liii|iniinu luiHin, iiliovu Viftoriti liridi^o. tlu>r<> was roiiiiil iiiot-u 
 nrK'lioi' ii-o tliiiti wutur. lU'low Montroul, hutWftMi IhIc Uoiidotiriil liOiif^iiu 
 Poinio, th« quuntity wan oqual t<» tin* wuUt, wliilc Ik«1\vi>i>ii IhIo Itonilu 
 ami tins Victoria Hiiiii,'c. wIhtc iluTf is a sumiiikt tall of iiiiw f«'t>( in tin' 
 river. tliciT \va."« thirty \>vr icnl ol aiichoi' ire ami ."^I'venty per cfiil of 
 wuttii'. ill ihoHi' iH'ivuiitage- no aicoiini i.n takon of tho sojiil Hurfuctt 
 oovi'i-iiij; ol tin* rivor. 
 
 Tlu' (Millie iiifaHtins of anchor ice in March wore : 
 
 Ciilii"' YiiriN. 
 
 Victoria HrKlni- III l,)uliln«' KapicU, iiiiilii»r iw 17l,:fJ><.Lll(l 
 
 •■ Mf Hdiiii.'. '• " I:i.lll.:t.V. 
 
 InIc Uiinili- III l.iiMKiit' I'oinlr. " " .. |.'i,li:t,tl7 
 
 Then" was tlircc tinicH a.s iiiiicli iiiuhor ice ahove Victoria Ilriiljje a.s 
 between it uml LonjjiU' I'ointe. iail, ihoiiijh ahove the city, it may play a 
 v«ry important part in the sprini; tlooil liy cornini;<lown upon a hlocku'lc 
 below it. ami thus lorcc the river above llooil level. 
 
 'file primipal i>ncUim; of tlie ice cxtemls over iwi-nly mile> ol' river 
 below the Luohine Jiapids, or as far as Vureiines. In this mileai^e the 
 '• tield,' or solid surlace ice amounts to about one hundred million eubie 
 yards, tiie frazil or anchor ice to ."iS^ million, while the clear water is 4iI7 
 millions of cubic Viinh. Tlu' anclior-icc. bein.tj more than double that ol 
 any other kind, wairanis tlu' conclusion tiiat it i> ihe eau.se of the lloodH. 
 
 The followim; are the lu-ighlH above U)w water at which the river 
 stood when it closed in December. iSSd, and before it rose for the break- 
 up in I he end of March, 1.S87 : — 
 
 Sorel 
 
 D.-u 
 
 1 ft. 
 
 10 '• 
 
 11 " 
 11 " 
 
 ir, '• 
 
 Hi " 
 9 " 
 
 2 in. 
 
 .") " 
 
 !) •' 
 
 11 '• 
 
 I) " 
 
 Ml 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 il 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 ircl 
 ft. 
 
 1 1 
 
 .') ill. 
 
 Vercht'roH 
 
 X^areiiMOH 
 
 1 " 
 
 5 '■ 
 
 
 jlitc 
 
 (1 " 
 
 Iloeht'laga 
 
 
 2 " 
 
 
 •' 
 
 4 " 
 
 
 
 
 The rirto at Sord in face of the fall between it and Montreal Wii.-< due 
 to an ice bridge at the l^latoii. That at La])rairiu was cuu.sed by winter 
 flow of anchor-ice over tiij Lachine Rapitls. 
 
 A.\(MioR Ice. 
 
 Ice which can lir.st form ujion or attach itself to the bottom of a rivcr, 
 sometimes to such an extent as to raise the surface level, and, when 
 driven from this position by temperature changos, arise, move »lown and 
 
I 
 
 lO 
 
 KOYAL S01I/\Y OF CANADA 
 
 pass out of HJght and there attach itself to the frozen top of the river 
 where it can defy the winter changes of temperature and maintain it« 
 position urrtil it is carried otf with its floating andiorage by the iireak-up 
 in si>ring, is what lias to he roci<oned with as the chief factor in tlu' win- 
 ter floods of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 ' Much has been written about anciior ice. without settling the ques- 
 tion as to how it forms upon, and why it arises from, a river bottom. Our 
 Tninsactions contain three papers in which it is tlcalt witli. In Dr. Kobert 
 Bell's paper, in Trans, of 188(i, Section 111., page 85. he describes it as 
 " forming as a spongy mass in cold weather on the stones in the bottom 
 " of open rajiids, in brooks and rivers, and sometimes under the open 
 '• water which is often found at the outlet of lakes. In clear weather it 
 " gathers abundantly aroinid the boulders, and when these rest on other 
 " stones, and have only a narrow base of support, they are sometimes 
 " buoyed u]» by their icy envelope and floated or rolled away bj- the 
 " force of the current. Moulders of consitlerable weight have been known 
 " to be lifted by these means." 
 
 " When the weather becomes milder, ar flw sinj orcreast, the frazil 
 " rises to the surface and floats off like a mixture of snow and water. 
 '• Although the water may remain ojjen beneath bridges, or overhanging 
 '• rocks and Ir.rge tir trees, frazil is not observed to form in such 
 " situations.'' 
 
 The late Dr. Sterry Hunt (he says) attrib<ited the fornuition to terres- 
 trial radiation and as analogous to the formation of hoar frost in clear 
 weather, and Dr. Bell continues : " In rapids the suiging and churning 
 " motion would carr}' down the coldest water from the surface probably 
 " charged with multitudes of fine ice crystals and throw it against the 
 " stones on the bottom." 
 
 The above description (without the italics) is. I believe, correct, and 
 I would only supplement it in one or two ]iarticulars. 
 
 1. The greater formation of anchor-ice both in area and thickness is 
 often in the deeper o]»en water above the rapids. In the shallower rapids 
 it forms and rises more frequently, and in less severe frosts, probably be- 
 cause radiation is more ra])id and sun })enetrati()n greater in shoal than in 
 deep watei', and from the more rapid How of the ice-cold water chilling 
 the stony bottom. In long-continued, extremely cold spells of several 
 days' duration it nuiy grow, in a rapid, to a very considerable depth and 
 form a dam, raising the whole water surface. When this gives way we 
 are not able to say whether it has yielded before the increased head of 
 water, or from the relaxation of its hold ujjon mother earth, which fol- 
 lows a change of temperature. 
 
 2. It has been known to continue for days and nights on the bottom 
 and attain great thickness, without a clear sky overhead, but with the 
 thermometer always below zero. Fahr. 
 
[KBEFIi:!:] 
 
 TKESIDENTIAL AODRESS 
 
 11 
 
 : 
 
 3. Tlio vorv liu'i^o houklors which iire pii-kod ott'tlie shoal« Itclow tlic 
 ra])idHiui(l dropped in the shij) chaiuu'l lieU)\v Montreul arc lifted (I believe) 
 by anehor-ieo lodj^ed under the surlaeo-ice. By the sudden, and ol'ten 
 considerable, elevation of the tield-ico to which it is attached, (which may 
 bo caused by a -shove'' before the river '' takes" in .laiuiary). the whole 
 may l)0 driven u])on or over a boulder shoal, and settle down with the 
 failin<r water eiivolopini^ a boulder with its saturated slush, out of whicli 
 all water is e.Kprossed, by downwanl pressure ot the surface-ice, duriiiij 
 the wintei' fall of river level, and thus form a solid mass. These icy 
 •' islands'' are seen as •' hummocks " after the winter k>wcrin<i;of the river, 
 when the compressed anchor-ice beneath holds u]> the surlace-ice much 
 above the water level. When the wlude ticld is litlcd by thes|>rin<;- rise 
 of water the boulder accom]ianii's it (a mere pebldc in pr<)|)ortion to the 
 size and lilting ])0wer of acres of ice perhaps twenty feet thick in .some 
 places) and is dropped as soon as warmer water in the river releases it 
 from its icy matrix. 
 
 4. It is not only •' in the rajiids." but everywhere where there is open 
 water in the river, that the colder surface water is carried to ilu; bottom. 
 Anchor-ice has been found at least two feet in dejith on the bottom in 
 over twenty feet of water in the river above the Lachine Rapids. This 
 is only durini;; the severest weather. Although the temperature of the 
 water may not descend perce]itibh' below the freezing |)ninl, whilu that 
 of the air is over twenty below zero, it is undei' the.se circumstances this 
 deep river bottom jiroduces anchor-ice, and when this ice rises, as it does 
 in floes of considerable size, it tloes so with decided force fi'om such a 
 depth, projecting its toji into the air and falling back wlih a hissing sound 
 due to the ra])id drainage of its above-water portion. It is also known 
 that at the time of this formation u])on the river bottom the flowing 
 water is loaded with tine ice crystals (to the formation of which, 1 thiidv, 
 the cold surface-air is a nei-cssary factor) and as these are carried to the 
 bottom the presumption is that they are ))icked up by a condition of i-ivei- 
 bottom which does not e.xist at other times which, if not actually frozen, 
 has this power of attraction for these passing ci-ystals by which alone. I 
 believe, anchor-ice is formed. Whether the river bottom is frozen by 
 radiation into space or into an intensely cold atmosphere at the surface 
 of the water, or whether this is produced by the continued friction of 
 an icodaden current of the coldest }K)ssible water, the result is the same 
 and is fortunately limited to short and infrequent periods of .severe 
 winters. 
 
 After the spring break-up, when large masses of ice are driven ashore 
 by the final '"shove." ice floes have been found on the beach partly com- 
 jiosed of several feet of anchor ice to the liottom of which frozen gravi'l 
 was attached. 
 
 In the last two volumes of the Transactions of tliis society an 
 important contribution to this question was made by .Mr. Howard 
 
12 
 
 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
 
 T. l^ariK'H. of Mcfiill Univorsity, whoso experiincrils in ilu^ I.;i(liiiii> 
 Jtupids and clsewhi'ro, upon tlje teinpenitiirc of ainhoi- ice ami iis 
 suiToiindiTijjjs with a (litfereiitial phitiiiiim tljorinoinctcr weiv ilio fir^t 
 of their kind. Mr. Barnos aswrtainod that aiudior ice a|i|iarcntly 
 grows upon dark-'-oloun-d rocks easier than upon liiflit -colon red ones. 
 He adopts radiation as the cause of formation and siiow- iliat tiie 
 tlicrnioinetor -'when loft undisturbed was cooled hy radiation iielow 
 '• the teniperaturo of the surrounding; water, so that ice toi?ned on 
 "the stem.'' but he considei-s it ••doubtful whetlier frazil could lie- 
 '• come att^iched to the bottom ]irevious to the formation //( situ of 
 ■' a layer of irrovmd ice. " If a pi-evious frozen bottom is conceded the 
 doubt would be whether frazil would attach itself to ihi-^ — or oidy to ice 
 previously formed in situ — that is. ice wliicdi has grown u])on the bottom 
 as a subaqueous j)lant, to be increased in size by accretions from passing 
 frazil, spicuhe, or crystals. If these spicuhc attach themselves to thcNtoiu-s 
 of a rajiid. as they appear to do, the inference is that they lay the t'ounda- 
 tion of the anchor ice and build it up in the deeper water whenever 
 extreme weather (and jjrobably extreme radiation as the result nf it} 
 brings the liottom into a sutticiently cold or •' mai;iu'tic ' condition to 
 attract ami hold the passitig ice cry.stals. I have seen the river below the 
 Lachine Rapids wlien the thermometer was twenty below zero so thick 
 with ice spicuhe that their resistance to the paddle could be frit, and 
 when this paddle was withdrawn, the needle-like spicida- sfoin/ out iit 
 right itD'/lcs to it. attached only by the point, like iron tilings to a niagnet. 
 
 In smaller shallow streams tlic growth is rapid and .someiinu's such 
 as to drive the stream out of its banks. In Scottish Imrns it may be seen 
 on the bottom in shallow water, except under the ar'hes of a bridge ; 
 and a passing cloud has lieen known to cause it to rise, jiresumabiy by ar- 
 resting radiation for tlie moment. But in the colder climate of Canada I 
 have been prevented from re-crossing a stream which I had forded a few 
 days before by its i)eing tille<l up with at K-ast four feet of anchor ice. 
 There was no bridge in reach, and it would have been dangerous to have 
 attemptetl to ride thrtuigh. It is (juite conceivable that anchor ice can 
 drive a river out of its bet! — cause a winter overflow and the opening of a 
 new cliaunel around a rapid. This possibility may account for some of 
 the ••ancient channels," •• lost channels," and •'high water channels ' to 
 be found in the immediate vicinity of some cataracts, chutes, and rapids. 
 
 The accumulation, in the deeji water at the liead of Lake St. Louis, 
 of iinchor-ice which is nuinufactured in the sixteen miles of rajiid wiiter 
 between Lakes St. Krancis and St. Louis, attained in li-iS? a (ie|)th of 
 eighty-tive feet below the surface-ice, forming a lianging dam, which in 
 severe winters drives a ])ortion of the St. Lawrence water into the Lake 
 of Two Mountains (a part of the Ottawa river), sending the blue-green 
 water of the former to mix with, or rather disjjlace, the amber-brown of 
 the latter in tlie branches of the Ottawa wiiich flow behind Montreal. 
 
[keefek] 
 
 I'KK8II)KNTIAI> ADDRESS 
 
 13 
 
 ail 
 fa 
 of 
 to 
 Is. 
 lis, 
 
 of 
 
 in 
 
 iko 
 
 0011 
 
 of 
 
 In January. 1857, tho St. Lawronco, above iho Lacliiiic liapiils. was 
 raised four foot in a low iiours liy an aiiohor ici' dam upon tlioM' ra|pid>, 
 and an anchor ico growlli of sovorai foot, in dupth on tlio bolloni in tlio 
 open water above tlio raj)ids, when it overflowed tbe aquoduet of tbe 
 •Montreal Water Worivs ; a few foot inoi-e would iiave overflowed all tbe 
 river bank down to .Montreal. 
 
 Tho lio^-al Coininission of 1^8(1 oaine to the eonelusion thai the only 
 remedy for iee floods was by redueing the quantity of lee which descended 
 below the Laehine Rajtids by moans of a boom su|)portod by ))iers across 
 tbe foot of Lake St. Louis; or iiy I'otarding tlio formation of the ico 
 bridge as long as possible, Imt as both would lie o.\ peri men ts tin v advisid 
 as the only certain protection for Montreal tho construction of tho d\-ke 
 which has been, this year, the means of preventing a flood. The cost of 
 ])ior.s and boom for i^ake St. Louis was estimated at ?fTO,(IOO. This lake, 
 after having been frozen over, sometimes breaks up in a winter thaw 
 with an easterl}- gale, when all its ice may descend below ; it also ma\-. 
 before it is closed in its channel, have its bordage ice broken off by wiml 
 wnd sea and sent below Montreal. The value of a boom in ari'osting 
 floating ico and in causing ice to take in a current whore freezing over 
 would be ilelayed until the eoldo.st weather, or not fake place at all. has 
 been proved by expoiience on the Ottawa Ifiver. where an ice bridge is 
 formed b}' tho lumbermen with tho aid of a boom in jiositions where it 
 could not otherwise be obtained. 
 
 The fitting up of some harbour tugs as ice-breakers was authorized by 
 the (lovornment, late in 1885, for tho purjioso of preventing the formation 
 of the ico bridge, and passing the floating ice into tide water, but the tugs 
 were frozen in before they could be {(repared for this winter work : and 
 the third flood in succession hUving taken place after this, the dyke was 
 constniofod as tho only certain protection before another winter could 
 form an ice bridge or threaten a flood. Notwithstanding their rocoiiimen- 
 dation of the temporary dyke, as securing protection, the Commissioners 
 e.Kpros.sed the opinion that this experiment should yet be made on account 
 of its bearing on the (|uostioii of tho pennaneiit dyke at .Montreal, as well 
 as its effect on the parishes so often flooded below that city. 
 
 An experiment was made in March, 1887, in view of a threatened 
 flood (which took place in the following month) in order to asci-rtain tho 
 po.ssibility of loosening an ico blocKade bj" means of ex})losives. ivght 
 hundred holes were made and over two tons of explosives (chiefly dualine; 
 were fired about ten feet below the surface. The experiment (wiiich cost 
 nearly $2.5(10) was a failure, chiefly, us it is believed, in consequence of 
 the great depth of frazil under the surface, cushioning and preventing the 
 transmission of a blow to the surface iee. 
 
14 
 
 ROYAL f?OtIETY OF CANADA 
 
 Winter Naviuation. 
 
 The recoinniendiUioii of the Flood Comlni^si()n in 18S6. whii-li was 
 approved by the (iovornmetit of the day Imt could not then be curried 
 out, was that the liarbour tugrt should be titled out as " ice-breakers" — at 
 an estimated cost of about one thousand dollars each, and employed to 
 prevent the formation of the ice bridge at Luke St. Peter, us long as pos- 
 sible, or as long as necessary to reduce the ice pack below Montreal, and 
 thus remove all danger of u flood, ilud it been carried out and |)roved 
 successful u dyke might not have been considered necessary. The greater 
 value of an open channel (if only for hall the winter) is that it would 
 protect all the river below tlie Jjachine l{apids from boih winter and 
 spring ice tloods— whereas tiie dyke is a local jirotection work the cost of 
 which was unimportant in proportion to its value to Montreal. 
 
 The winter open channel below Montreal was then suggested as a 
 remedy for flood jjrotection onl}-, but was so important in the opinion of 
 the Eoj'al Commission that, even after the completion of the dyke, they 
 advised that this experiment should yet be made. No action has since 
 been taken in this direction, but, as the temporary dyke is over ten year.-j 
 old, and nothing bus yet been done toward a ]iermunent one in fi'ont of 
 the harbour, — nor is probable before ut leust another year— it would be 
 well worth the cost that such an experiment us that propo.sed and sanc- 
 tioned in 188<) should be mude, in the coming winter, not only as an 
 element of flood ])rotection but of winter navigation, or for extending the 
 navigation season into the winter. 
 
 It is in this view that 1 have devoted so nmcli space to the ice ])he- 
 nomena in this section, There is every reason to believe that if the de- 
 scending ice could pass freely into tide-vviiter, as it does over the Lachine 
 Rapids, the channel from thence to Lake St. I'eter (or at least that jmrt 
 of it below Victoria Bridge) would remuin as open and undergo as little 
 change of level us the five miles between those rupids und Lake St. Louis. 
 It has been shown that this channel below Montreal doe'> not freeze over 
 as does the St. Lawrence above Prescott, but is covered with drift ice from 
 above. That it would not freeze over if this drift ice passed on to tide- 
 water we have a guarantee in the winter conditions where the St. Law- 
 rence does not freeze over, and is not covered with dritt ice and vvheie the 
 surface inclination and strength of current is less. The live miles above 
 the Long Sault Rapids, between Dickinson Landini' and Furran's Point, is 
 generally open water, although in severe winters it may be covered by 
 drift ice from above, wliich may l)e stopped by an ice-bridge jjurposely 
 floated out from the shore in order to reach Croil's Island. It has a rate 
 of inclination of six-tenths of a foot in the whole distance, or one and 
 one-tifth inch per mile. The surface inclination below Montreal is 
 greater than this in tlie 5(» miles to Lake St. Peter, and therefore, if an 
 
[kuefer] 
 
 PRESIDENII.M. ADDRESS 
 
 18 
 
 ico bridge were provontod from forming, and the descending ice from 
 stojiping, an ojien cluinnel would be ihe result. 
 
 In the winter of 1885-6 the ice did not stop in the channel anywhere 
 below Three Rivers — and if the shij) channel through Lake St. Peter and 
 the Sorel islands had then been kept open the descending ice woiihl most 
 probably have all passed into tide-water. Apparently the only ditliculty 
 would be in Lake St. Peter, where the broken ico might bo hold in by a 
 strong wind for some time, but as there is a current of about one mile per 
 hour through this channel it would tunm be emptied of its ico. if the lat- 
 ter were kept broken. 
 
 It would be necessary lo prevent the formation of an ice bridge below 
 Q'hree liivers if the channel is to be kept ojien for navigation ; but this, 
 on account of the tide, should lie a less difficult undertaking than with the 
 channel in Lake St. Peter. The (iiand Trunk liailwaj- has for many 
 yeare maintained a winter ferry at (Quebec, which has been occasionally 
 interrujjted by an ice bridge, only, as I believe, for lack of any attempt to 
 prevent the formation of one. Occupied with their constant service, they 
 have been unable to pay attention to what bus been going on above 
 or below thenx. It is a case of ' jinnripu's obsta '' ; to be stifled, like a tire, 
 at the first inception. 
 
 Ice I'illEAKERS. 
 
 ThoStriiits of Mackinaw, Lake Michigan, and the f'ity of Duluth, 
 Lake Superior, are in the same latitude as the St. Lawrence below Mont- 
 real, and being farther from tide-water, have at least as severe a climate. 
 Ice foruis three feet thick in the harbour of Duluth, and a channel ia 
 broken and kejit ojien by a steel tug, SO feet long, 18 feet beam, with an 
 engine 20 inches by 20 inches, and a cutaway forefoot to get on top of the 
 ice and break it down. 
 
 At the Straits of Mackinaw large and powerful steam car-ferry 
 steamers, (^specially constructed for the service, maintain a railway ferry 
 eight miles long from dock to dock throughout the winter. The ice here 
 usually forms in Lake Michigan, and if- blown into the straitsand blocked 
 against islands in Lake Huron — and closes the straits for about four 
 months. The thickness of ice ranges from two to four feet, according to 
 the amount of zero weather during the winter. The car-ferrj' steamer 
 readily breaks through ice which is two feet thick at a speed of eight 
 miles per hour ; and has to contend with " windrows '' of ice formed 
 by floes driven in from the lake and ])iled upon each other, sometimes 
 twenty live to thirty feet thick — which may also be grounded at the har- 
 bour entrance. I'hese are worked through by the aid of a bow i)ropeller, 
 which is reversed and throws a current from the wheel into the pack, 
 tearing it apart. The ice is crushed by the spoon-shaped prow of the 
 
 ^^a*«»' 
 
16 
 
 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
 
 boat riding uiioii it, and iH caught by tho current ol Ibrward wheel and 
 [)a«scd under the side ice and boat, which breaks a cliannel ten feet wider 
 than licrself. The forward screw forces the broken ice away from the 
 bows of t lie boat, which is hold uji to this work by the stern propeller, 
 which last has double the power of the forward one. 
 
 The first ice-breaker wliich succeedetl in maintaining a car-ferry 
 through the ice across the Straits of Mackinaw was tho '"St. Ignace," 
 i)uilt in l.*^8II. Her dimensions are 2150 x 50 x 24, draught, light, 14^ feet, 
 loaded Itih feet. Her engines are ;j,000 horse }iower. and she has two 
 propellers. She carries ten forty-ton cars, and is 1.200 gross tons. 
 
 The '• Ste. Marie" was atlded in 18l»3. She is 302 x 5U x 24. with 
 1,357 gross tons. Forwani propeller 10^ feel diameter, after one 12^ feet. 
 
 The hulls of these are wood sheathed with .steel. The rear propeller 
 has double the power of the forward one. 
 
 There are other winter car-ferries on Lak* Michigan, one over fifty 
 and another over sixty miles in length, which break their way in and out 
 of harbours through ice over two feet tliick, and contend with windrowed 
 ice five to ten feet thick in the open lake. 
 
 The car-ferry steamer ••Pere Marquette." running across LakeMidn- 
 gan, between Manitowoc and Lu(iiiigtf)n (f>',', miles) is 350 feet long by 56 
 feet wide, has four tracks, carrying thirty cars with 1,350 tons, besides 200 
 tons coal. She draws 14 feet and has twin screw 11 feet in diameter, giv- 
 ing a speed of 13 knots per hour. Weight of stwl in her liull, 2,700 tons. 
 Her horse power is 3,500. 
 
 An ice-breaking steamer recently built for liussia, in Denmark, is re- 
 ported to have gone at a rate of three knots per hour through ice from 
 two to four feet thick ; she is intended for the harbour of Vladivostock. 
 
 Eussia is now building, in England, a gigantic ice-crusher, at a cost 
 of $875,000, for maintaining winter navigation from the 15altic to Cron- 
 stadt and St. Petersburgh, and summer navigation in the Kara Sea in 
 order to reach Northern Siberia. This boat will have 1(1,000 hoi-se- 
 power, 5,000 tons coal capacity, double bottom and double skins, three 
 feet apart, with four sets of engines working the forward and aft 
 propellers. 
 
 A winter ferry lias been maintained between Prince Edward Island 
 and the mainland, with, for short j)eri()ds. more or less ditiiculty, and 
 another winter ferry in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has connected the rail- 
 way system of Newfoundland with that of Canada during the last winter 
 by a boat built for tlie route in Scotland. 
 
 It is at least doubtful if anywhere in the St. Lawrence greater diffi- 
 culties would be encountered than those which have been so successfully 
 overcome, for the last nine years, on Lakes Michigan and Superior, whi-re 
 there is no assistance from current or tide to carry off the broken ice. 
 
[KKKKKli] 
 
 I'RESIDKNIIAL ADDRESS 
 
 17 
 
 Tiio Mu.st vjiliuihli' whoat in tl.o world is grown npon the Ciuuuliun 
 pniinos— |,i,t i,t 1 1,0 irivutost distance IVom its market, and is barely har- 
 vested to escai.c the frost. It needs, therefore, from its remoteness the 
 .i:reate.>t (cononi.v in transportation, and from its !ate arrival at .Montreal 
 the lon<,'esi possible extension oi' navigation from that .seaport. The early 
 eloMUg of the St. Lawrenee has been given as a reason why 75 jjercent of 
 our Manitoba wheat was exported from Xew York last year and oidy 25 
 per eent from .Montreal. Whether this is eorreet or not, there can be no 
 (litlerenee of opinion as to the importance to Canada of an e.xtension of the 
 length of the .season of navigation, if oidy for one month, and also as to 
 the value of the earliest po.s.^ible reopening of navigation in the spring, 
 whieh W(mld iollow a diminished iee-pack. 
 
 The winter navigation of the Lower St. Lawrence is, in these days of 
 steel and quadiiiple expansion, practicable ; and we cannot say how soon 
 It may be jtrotitable or necessary. It may be found more so than tho 
 summer navigation of llud.son Strait.s, which we have been (and are still) 
 investigating, and where a summer ice-tighter may bo as necessary as in 
 the Kara Sea. 
 
 An o])en channel in winter would prevent the flooding of i)arishes be- 
 low .Montreal and would bo invaluable for defence, or in case of inter- 
 rujition to transit from United States seaports. 
 
 The experiment, if made at all, should be carried out with a sufficient 
 number of ice-breakers and coal stations to secure a thorough test under 
 the most unfavourable conditions of weather, so that with the experience 
 gained the minimum number and the most efficient plan of boat for the 
 purpose may be ascertained. 
 
 Sec. III. 1898. 2 
 
 
F 
 
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 o 
 
 [19] 
 
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®7". LAWRENOE. 
 
 'WO LAGHINE. 
 
 <^MAS CHALONEB. 
 
 
 osL'r. 
 
PLAN OF RIVER ST. LAWRENCE, POINTE DU LAC TO LACHINE, 
 
 According to Admiralty Chart No. 2830 b. 
 
 I 
 
 S,oao 10,000 
 
 NitoTal Scale = 10,000 feet per inch EbSb^m^Bi^mSE 
 
 130,000 
 
 .V>,ooo 
 
 -J 
 
 40,000 
 
 50,000 English 
 
 iilirllllMr I iiUdii.ryi 
 
 Prairies Rn^r* 
 
 ,f "" 
 
 Soundings in Fathoms reduced to tk* ordinaiy low waUr level of Summer. Figures on the land thtvi the height in feet above the river. 
 
 NO TIDE. 
 
 SHIP CHANNEL with mileage frcm Levis Graving Dock and elevations (abemt approximate mean ua level, determined by R. Steckel, at Quebec, 18S0 to 1SS2.) 
 of the low water datum level, proposed for the reduction of soundings so as to indicate the minimum depths that may be safely counted on for 
 navigation purposes in the ship channel-vindicated by heavy black line. 
 
 \ 
 
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 4 
 
T 
 
 PLAN No. 
 
■■RTHIBRVII 
 
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 OONTRKOOIUR 
 
 PROFILE OF SHIP CHANNEL. 
 
 Minimum width, SOOfMt. 
 
 Horizontal Scale, ' -gooob °' 3P'°°° f*** P^r inch. 
 
 Vertical 
 
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Qeodetic Levelling, 
 water levels river st. lawrence, 
 
 QUEBEC TO MONTREAL AND LAOHINE. 
 
 R. STECKEL. 
 
 Engineer in Charqe. 
 
 CHAS CHALONER. DEL't. 
 
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Ideal Profile, from Gross Sections taken, shewing uniformity of free water way under all 
 conditions of breadth and depth of River and disposition of its Frasil. 
 
 Nuns Island 
 
 LAOHINB RAPtDS 
 
 Orrr Oxrum 
 
 to Ft. om SiUL. 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 60 Feet below City datum. 
 
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DIAGRAM SHOWiNQ DiSTRtBUTION OF FRASIL AND Ri 
 
 Iff If? 
 
 O • => J 
 
 VICTORIA BRIDGE 
 
 LONGITUDINAL 
 HOOHELAGA 
 
 3EGTION 
 
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 \SiL AND REMAININQ FREE WATER WAY. MARCH 15^»- 1887. 
 
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 LONQUE-POINTB 
 
 POINTE'A UX-TREMBLES 
 
PLAN No. 2 
 
 V 
 
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 A^iiom ii %»:r.M^. 
 
 SGALES OF DIAGRAM 
 
 horizontal:— 4000 feet to an Inch. 
 VERTICAL: — Cross sectional areas 
 of Frasil and free water way are plotted 
 under Ice at 200,000 Sg. ft. to an Inch. 
 
 X-TREMBLEQ 
 
 VARBNNE3 
 
 HORIZONTAL 
 VERTICAL 
 
 aOALES OF LONGITUDINAL SEOTIONS. 
 
 4000 feet to an Inch. 
 20 " " *' " 
 
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 St. LAMBERT 
 
 MONTREi 
 
 CROSS SECTION S 
 
 LACHINE R 
 
 Low water — At 
 depth of I y ft. 
 Canal, or ii ft. 
 
Montreal Flood Commission, 
 
 SECTION SHOWING FRASIL, ICE AND SNO-W, 
 
 LACHINE RAPIDS TO VICTORIA BRIDGE, 
 
 "vvriiTTinie, of 1886-7. 
 
 PL/\A 
 
 SCA 
 
 Low water — At the stage of assumed low water, there is a 
 depth of 17 ft. on the lower sill of old Lock No. i Lachine 
 Canal, or 11 ft. on the flats of Lake St. Peter. 
 
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 MONTBtAL LITHO.CDITD 
 
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Low water — At the stage of assumed low water, there is a 
 depth of 17ft. on the lower sill of old Lock No. i Lachine 
 Canal or 11 ft. on the flats of Lake St. Peter. 
 
 CROSS 
 
 LONQUe 
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 Key Plan-Scale 6000 -i 
 
Montreal Flood Commission, 
 
 CROSS SECTION SHOWING FRASIL, ICK AND SNOW, 
 
 HOCHELAGA to LONGUE POINTE 
 
 ^W^IIsTTEJie OF 1886-7. 
 
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Montreal Flood Commission, 
 
 CROSS SECTION SHO^?VING FRASIL, ICE St SNOW, 
 
 VARENNES TO VERCHERES- 
 
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 Montreal Flood 
 
 LAKE ST. I 
 
 MARCH, 16 
 
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 Scale, 12000 feet to an inch. 
 
iL Flood Commission, 
 
 ^Xj jLNTi OK/OSS SEonoisrs. 
 
 ^KE ST. LOUIS, 
 
 MARCH. 1887. 
 
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LONGITUDINA 
 
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 SECTION 
 
 SGALe»i HORIZONTAL. 2000 Ft. TO AN INCH 
 
 ^^^'-^^Wertioal 40 " " " 
 
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 SOALES{»ORiZONTAL 
 
 400 Ft. to an INCH 
 
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 84 
 
 97 
 
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 93 
 
 96 
 
 99 
 
 102 
 
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 114- 
 
 117 
 
ITAL 2000 FT. TO AN INCH 
 
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 40 
 
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 123 
 
 129 
 
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 PORTNEUF 
 
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PLAN No. 7 
 
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 Blue indicates the state 
 Soundings are in black. 
 Shore lines and soundinl 
 
 LACHEVROTIERE 
 
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 10 
 
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 mmAMiLm 
 
 htdtcates the state of ice on the 8th. April, i88y. 
 ings are in black. Depths are in feet at 'low water. 
 I lines and soundings traced from Bayfield's charts. 
 
 12 .000 ft. 
 
 Montreal Flood Commiss 
 
 PROORESS DIAORAM 
 
 CONDITION OP THE ICE 
 RIVER ST. LAWRENCE, 
 
 SPRING OF 1887. 
 
Commission 
 lAORAM 
 
 ^ THE ICE 
 
 ■a 
 
 W^RENCE 
 
 1887. 
 
 PORTNEUF 
 
 
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 PORTNEUF