1905J A Landslide on the Lievre River 185 



eye witness of the whole of the scene, and at the time of our visit 

 it was believed that his mind was permanently unbalanced by what 

 he saw. Alexandre Clement, standing on the threshold of his front 

 door, saw the slow and deliberate differential movement of the 

 huge blocks of land, which tilted his barns, smashing many of the 

 timbers and boards in the commotion. (Plate V, Fig. 2.) On the 

 opposite side of a large crevasse, which he saw open slowly 

 almost at his feet, a huge block of land appeared to rise to a 

 height of perhaps twenty or more feet. Subsequent examination 

 shows this to have been an optical illusion, for in reality, this 

 land which appeared to rise, remained practically stationary, 

 while, on the other hand, the portion on which his house rested, 

 slowly sank from 20 to 30 feet below its original level. In 

 addition, the whole farm and adjoining district seemed to him 

 to be slowly, but surely, moving towards the river and, 

 after what appeared an eternity, the whole commotion sub- 

 sided. So gradual and uniform was the motion in the vicinity 

 of Clement's house, that a glass of water, which was filled 

 and standing on the ledge of the front window, was still in 

 the same condition, when the landslide was complete. The water 

 in the well, which was about 12 feet deep also remained at its 

 normal level, showing that no crack was formed in this part of the 

 block of land. 



Such landslides are by no means ot infrequent occurrence 

 along the banks of rivers which flow through similar clay flats, 

 but, for the most part, only small areas, in the more immediate 

 vicinity of the river, are affected. Several landslides have, how- 

 ever, occurred, within the last sixty-five years, along some of the 

 tributaries of the St. Lawrence river, which were of such magni- 

 tude, and attended with such direful results, as to warrant special 

 examinations being made, with a view not only of determining 

 the extent and nature of the damage inflicted, but also, if possible, 

 to reach a definite conclusion as to the causes which bring about 

 such wholesale and profound disturbance of areas, hitherto con- 

 sidered more than ordinarily secure and solid. 



The first landslide in the Province of Quebec of which 

 we have any record occurred on the Maskinong6 river in 1840, 



