Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

pursues an undulating course roughly parallel to the St. Lawrence, and from thirty to one hundred miles distant from it, until it reaches the north entrance of the Bay of Chaleurs in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The States of the American Union which abut on this long and sinuous frontier, are Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and the British Province of New Brunswick.

The vast tract of country called the Province of Canada, has an area of about 340,000 square miles, 140,000 belonging to Upper Canada, and 200,000 to the lower division of the province. It lies wholly within the valley of the St. Lawrence, in which are included the most extensive and the grandest system of fresh water lakes in the world.

THE GREAT LAKES AND THE ST. LAWRENCE.

The bottom of Lake Superior is 600 feet below the level of the ocean, its mean surface is exactly 600 feet above it. With a length of 300 miles and a breadth of 140 miles, it comprises a water area of 32,000 square miles, and supposing its mean depth to be 600 feet, it contains 4,000 cubic miles of water. It is the grand head of the St. Lawrence, receiving the waters of many tributaries, and discharging them into Lake Huron by the St. Mary's River, with a fall of nearly 20 feet in half a mile, to overcome which, the most magnificent locks in the world have been constructed on the United States side, thus forming, with the Welland and the St. Lawrence canals, an uninterrupted communication with the sea, and enabling large vessels from any part of the world to penetrate one-third across the continent of America in its broadest part, or about 2,000 miles from its ocean boundary.

Lake Huron, the next fresh water sea in succession, has an area of 21,000 square miles, and, like its great feeder, Lake Superior, it is very deep, 1,000 feet in some places

having been measured. The great Manitoulin Island, (1,500 square miles in area,) with others belonging to the same chain, divide the lake into two portions, the northern part being called Georgian Bay. It receives numerous important tributaries on the north side, among which French River is the most interesting, in consequence of its being on the line of a proposed canal communication between the Ottawa and Lake Huron. The distance between Montreal and the mouth of French River is 430 miles, and of this distance 352 are naturally a good navigation; of the remaining 78 miles it would be necessary to canal 29 miles in order to complete the communication for steam vessels. These data are the result of careful governmental surveys, and are calculated for vessels of one thousand tons burthen. The cost of establishing this important communication is estimated at $12,057,680. The distance between Chicago and Montreal by the St. Lawrence is 1,348 miles, by the Ottawa and Huron Canal route 1,005 miles.

Lake St. Clair forms the connecting link between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, another magnificent sea of fresh water, 265 miles long and 50 broad on the average, with a depth of 120 feet. Its shores, particularly on the United States side, are the seats of numerous populous cities; its waves on the north shore wash the garden of Canada-the fertile western peninsula. The last of this great and magnificent chain is Lake Ontario, separated from Lake Erie by the Niagara River, in whose short and tumultuous course occurs the most stupendous cataract on the face of the globe. Before reaching Niagara Falls the river descends about 50 feet in less than a mile, over limestone rocks, and then plunges 165 feet perpendicularly. For seven miles more the torrent rushes through a narrow gorge, varying from 200 to 400 yards in width and 300 feet deep. It then emerges into a flat, open country, at Queenstown, and after a further

flow of about twelve miles, glides peacefully into Lake Ontario.

Lake Ontario is 180 miles long, 50 broad, 600 feet deep, and has an area of 6,300 square miles; it discharges its waters, together with those of the upper lakes, by the River St. Lawrence into the gulf of the same name. A few miles above Montreal, the Ottawa River comes in from the north, draining an area of 80,000 square miles. Below Montreal the St. Maurice debouches into the St. Lawrence at Three Rivers, drawing contributions from 22,000 square miles of timbered country. At Quebec the St. Lawrence is 1,314 yards wide, but the basin below the city is two miles. across, and three and three-quarters long. From this point the vast river goes on increasing in size as it swells onward toward the gulf, receiving numerous large tributaries, among which is the famous Saguenay, 250 feet deep where it joins the St. Lawrence, and above the point of junction. rence is not frozen over, but santly detaches ice from the shores, and such immense masses are kept in continual agitation by the flux and reflux, that navigation is totally impracticable during part of the winter season. Vessels from Europe pass up the great system of canals which render the St. Lawrence navigable for 2,030 miles, and land their passengers at Chicago without transshipment.

1,000 feet deep some distance Below Quebec the St. Lawthe force of the tides inces

The table on the following page shows a profile of this ship route from Anticosti, in the Estuary of the St. Lawrence, to Superior City:

[graphic]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »