'I Had Been Introduced, At Saratoga, To The
Superintendent Of This Line, Colonel Schlatter, By Mr. Van Ransellaer,
Of The Saratoga And Washington Line.
Both these gentlemen were very
polite, and gave me orders to pass over their railways when I pleased.
The Ogdensburgh line extends from Rouse's Point to Ogdensburgh, near
the head of Lake Ontario.
It forms, with other lines, a complete system
from Boston and New York to Lake Ontario, and has many difficult and
extensive works in its course.
"From Rouse's Point we took the Champlain and St. Lawrence line, opened
two days ago, and at Isle aux Noix passed into British-American
territory, and heard the old French patois of the 'habitans' of that
locality, from the mouths of a crowd of curious people awaiting the
arrival of the train. At La Prairie we joined the ferry boat, an
immense vessel as usual, and dropped down the St. Lawrence for nine
miles, to Montreal, where I got to bed at Donnegana's hotel, at one
o'clock on Tuesday morning, desperately tired.
"Montreal is a flourishing town of 50,000 inhabitants. It is built upon
an island formed by the confluence of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa.
The 'island' belonged to the Catholic priesthood of the place, who
still exercise rights over it similar to those of the 'lords' in cases
of English copyholds, and who obtain an annual revenue of some
30,000l. or 40,000l. from it. The city was founded about
250 years ago, and has still many of the features of a French town,
though the improvements of the last twenty years, by obliterating
single story and wooden houses from the best quarters, have altered its
character.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 329 of 492
Words from 90937 to 91221
of 136421
