ST LEONARDS 



ST LOUIS 



91 



in the shallow parts of the river, 300 feet wide and 

 27J deep, which permits the passage up to Mon- 

 treal of vessels of 4000 tons burden. Between 

 Lake Ontario and Montreal there are several 

 rapids, which, however, may be all avoided by 

 means of canals that have been constructed at a 

 very great expense. At about two-thirds of the 

 distance from Lake Ontario to the city of Montreal 

 the intersection of the parallel of 45 determines 

 the point where the St Lawrence, after having teen 

 an international boundary from the head, or nearly 

 so, of Lake Superior, becomes exclusively Canadian. 

 Immediately above the island of Montreal the St 

 Lawrence is joined by its principal auxiliary, the 

 Ottawa (800 miles), from the north-west ; and a 

 little more than half-way between this confluence 

 and Three Rivers, the highest point of tidal in- 

 fluence, the Richelieu from the south brings in the 

 tribute of Lake Champlain. Other principal tribu- 

 taries are the St Maurice (400 miles), the Saguenay 

 (100), and the Batiscan (50). The width of the 

 St Lawrence varies from less than 1 to 4 miles ; 

 the estuary at its mouth is above 100 miles across. 

 During winter the river is frozen over and naviga- 

 tion closed. For map, see CANADA. 



The GULF OF ST LAWRENCE, a western inlet of 

 the North Atlantic, washes Newfoundland, Quebec, 

 New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. It has three 

 communications with the ocean the Strait of Belle- 

 isle, between Newfoundland and Labrador; the Gut 

 of Canso, between the island of Cape Breton and 

 the peninsula of Nova Scotia; and a far wider 

 passage than either, with the island of St Paul in 

 the middle, between Cape Breton and Newfound- 

 land ; while in the opposite direction it narrows, at 

 the west end of Anticosti, into the estuary of the 

 St Lawrence River. Besides Anticosti, St Paul's, 

 and Prince Edward's, already mentioned, this arm 

 of the sea contains very many clusters of islands, 

 which are rendered more dangerous to shipping by 

 the thickness of the fogs and the uncertainty of 

 the currents. Both the Gulf and River of St 

 Lawrence are celebrated for the productiveness of 

 their fisheries. See QUEBEC. 



St Leonards. See HASTINGS. 



St Lft, a town of Normandy, dept. Manche, is 

 built on a rocky elevation on the right bank of 

 the Vire, 60 miles by rail SE. of Cherbourg. A St 

 L6, Bishop of Coutances, built a church here in 

 the 6th century ; but the place was destroyed by 

 the Normans in 888, and, having been rebuilt, 

 taken by the English in 1346 and 1417. Note- 

 worthy are the beautiful churches of Sainte- 

 Croix, founded in 805, and Notre Dame (15th 

 century). Cloth, ribbons, and laces are manufac- 

 tured, and wool is spun. The astronomer Leverrier 

 was born here in 181 1. Pop. 10,327. 



St Louis, fourth city of the United States in 

 population, the commercial metropolis of the Mis- 

 sissippi valley, and principal city c,, wrlgbt ten , ism, . U d 

 of the state of Missouri, is situ- iwo in the u.s. by J. B. 

 ated on the west bank of the """" <*p7- 

 Mississippi River, 21 miles S. of the mouth of the 

 Missouri, and by rail 1108 WSW. of New York, 

 2434 E. of San Francisco, and 696 N. of New 

 Orleans. On February 15, 1764, Pierre Laclede 

 Liguest, head of the Louisiana Fur Company, 

 established a trading-post on the present site of 

 St Louis, giving it the name which it still bears 

 in honour of Louis IX. of France. In 1768 the 

 Spaniards took formal possession of Upper Louis- 

 iana, but the settlement was governed by a French 

 captain, St Ange de Bellerive, until 1770, when 

 Don Pedro Piernas was made lieutenant-governor 

 and military commandant, with headquarters at 

 St Louis. In 1800 the village again became a part 

 of the French possessions, and in 1803 passed into 



the hands of the United States. The population 

 of the settlement in 1799 was 795 ; in 1810, one 

 year after the town was incorporated, it had 

 increased to 1400, in 1820 to 4928, and in 1840 to 

 16,469, while by 1844 it had grown to 34, 140. Pop. 

 (1850) 74, 439 ;( 1870) 310,864; (1890) 451,770; (1900) 

 575,238. 



St Louis is built upon three gently sloping ter- 

 races, the summit of the third being 200 feet above 

 and 4 miles W. of the river. Beyond this point for 

 miles the country is almost perfectly level. The 

 city has a river frontage of 19 miles ; its greatest 

 width is 6 "62 miles, audits area 62 sq. m. The 

 streets in the old part of the city are narrow, but 

 all those west of Third street, three blocks from 

 the river, are broad and straight. St Louis has 

 (1897) 483 miles of paved streets and alleys. The 

 sewerage system is excellent, the length of the pub- 

 lic and private sewers being 416 miles. The streets 

 are sprinkled by the city government, 10,000,000 

 gallons of water being used each day for this pur- 

 pose. The water-supply is taken from the Missis- 

 sippi River by works which cost $8,000,000, to which 

 an extension costing .$4,000,000, and doubling the 

 capacity, is ( 1897) nearly completed. St Louis has 

 seventeen parks containing 2268 acres, the largest 

 and most noted of them being Forest Park ( 1372 

 acres ) and Tower Grove Park ( 267 acres ) , the latter, 

 with the botanical garden, being a gift to the city 

 by Henry Shaw the philanthropist, and claimed to 

 be one of the most beautiful in the world. 



The chief public buildings and institutions are 

 the Four Courts, court-house, city hospital, insane 

 asylum, women's hospital, the custom-house and 

 post-office (which cost over $5,000,000), the Mer- 

 chants' Exchange, the Exposition Building (which 

 covers two blocks and cost $900,000), Mercantile 

 Library (68,000 vols.), and new Public School Li- 

 brary ( 102,1 14 vols.). The Exposition, which is one 

 of the features of St Louis, is open for forty days 

 each autumn. 



The city owns 124 school buildings and 69 kinder- 

 garten structures, and the school property is valued 

 at $4,239,394. The number of pupils in 1890 was 

 70,428, and teachers 1465. The schools are governed 

 by a president and board of directors elected by 

 the people. The expenditures for the public schools 

 average $1 ,500,000 annually. There are 95 parochial 

 schools, 65 of them Roman Catholic, 27 Lutheran, 

 and 3 Hebrew. The Washington and St Louis 

 universities, and the Christian Brothers and Con- 

 cordia colleges are the leading advanced educational 

 institutions ; but there are numerous academies and 

 colleges of lower grade, besides two law schools, 

 nine medical colleges, a school for nurses, a school 

 of midwifery, and a college of pharmacy. St Louis 

 contains 314 churches, representing almost every 

 Christian denomination, and the value of church 

 property is appraised at $6,700,000. There are pub- 

 lished in the city five English and four German 

 daily newspapers. 



Twenty railroads enter St Louis, the terminus of 

 all being the new Union Station (1895), one of the 

 largest and finest railway stations in the world. 

 The Mississippi at St Louis is spanned by two 

 bridges. The older of these, the Eads, was opened 

 for traffic 4th July 1874, and cost $6,536,730. It 

 consists of three spans, the central being 520 feet 

 in the clear, and the two side spans 502 feet each. 

 It is a railroad, foot, and wagon bridge, and con- 

 nects with the Union Depdt by a tunnel one mile 

 long under the city. The Merchants' Bridge, a 

 railroad bridge, was commenced January 24, 1889, 

 and was completed and opened for traffic May 3, 

 1890. It is constructed of steel, and is 2420 feet 

 long, including approaches. 



During 1806, 11,434,881 tons of freight were 

 received in St Louis by rail and river, and 5,973, 13S 



