190 Canadian Record of. Science. 



The Pleistocene of Montreal and the Ottawa 

 Valley from a Railway Carriage. 1 



By J. S. Bi'chan, K.C., B.C.L. 



The purpose of this paper is to give an illustration of 

 what may be seen and observed on even so commonplace 

 an occasion as a Railway journey from one place to 

 another. 



In carrying out this purpose, I have endeavoured to 

 avoid any reference to detail or anything but what can be 

 seen and observed in the ordinary course of such a 

 journey. 



Setting out from Montreal from the Bonaventure 

 Station of the Grand Trunk Railway, we see but little of 

 the natural features of the country until we reach St. 

 Henry Station, the line being shut in by buildings on 

 both sides. From St. Henry we observe that the line 

 passes through a valley which is bounded on the Western 

 side by a steep bluff about one hundred (100) feet in 

 height, the top of which is level and presents a straight 

 line to the view, and which extends almost the whole 

 distance to Lachine, where it rises in a more gradual 

 ascent. 



The Eastern side is bounded by a hill considerably 

 lower, and except in some places less abrupt than the 

 West, but its appearance has evidently been somewhat 

 changed by the excavation of the Lachine Canal close to 

 the foot of the hill and by the large banks of earth from 

 the Canal piled on its Western side. 



The width of the valley is about half a mile, and its 

 hoor, which is almost perfectly level, is composed of a 

 deep black soil, on which are the famous celery fields of 

 Montreal. 



In this valley are a single and a double line of steam 



1 Read before the Natural History Society of Montreal, February 29th, 1904. 



