Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/238

LEFT ST. LAWBENCE CAPE 194 ST. LOUIS through the chain of Great Lakes on leav- ing Lake Ontario, it flows N. E. t first through the beautiful district known as the Thousand Isles, from the number of islands large and small (in all about 1,- 500), which here vary its course, and then forms the wide expanses called Lakes St. Francis (just after quitting the United States boundary), St. Louis (just above Montreal Island), and St. Peter (a little above Three Rivers, between Montreal and Quebec). Below Quebec it forms a broad estuary, and it enters the Gulf of St. Lawrence by a mouth 26 miles wide, be- tween Point des Monts (Saguenay) and the Gaspe Peninsula. • Length from Lake Ontario to the Gulf 760 miles, to the W. point of Anticosti 1,034 miles. The height of Lake Ontario above sea-level is 246.6 feet of which the river descends 206.75 feet in the 348 miles above Montreal. Be- low Montreal accordingly, the total fall is about 40 feet, or about 1 foot in 10 miles, a rate presenting no difficulty for navigation; and since the construction of a ship canal, 27 Vz feet deep, through Lake St. Peter, the largest merchant ves- sels afloat have been able to reach that city in summer. In the stretches above Montreal the fall of the river-bed takes place in a succession of rapids, to avoid which canals have been constructed. These are in the ascending order the Lachine Canal, 8% miles long, with 5 locks, and a rise of 45 feet; Beauharnois Canal, 11*4 miles long, with 9 locks, and a rise of 82% feet; Cornwall Canal, 11 miles long, with 6 locks, and a rise of 48 feet; Farran's Point Canal, % miles long, with 1 lock, and a rise of 4 feet; Rapide Plat, 4 miles long, with 2 locks, and a rise of 11% feet; and Galops Canal, 7% miles long, with 3 locks, and a rise of 15% feet. The basin of the St. Lawrence is estimated to contain 297,000 square miles, of which 95,000 are covered with the waters of the Great Lakes. ST. LAWRENCE, CAPE, the N. pro- jection of Cape Breton Island which is a part of the province of Nova Scotia. It is about 100 miles long. ST. LAWRENCE, GULF OF. See Gulf of St. Lawrence. ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND, an island in Bering Sea which belongs to Alaska. It is inhabited by Eskimo. It is 100 miles long, 35 miles wide, and its altitude is 492 feet. ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY, a coeducational institution in Canton, N. Y. ; founded in 1858 under the auspices of the Universalist Church; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 58; students, 645; president, R. E. Sykes, D.D. ST. LOUIS, a port of entry, and chief city of Missouri; on the W. bank of the Mississippi river, 20 miles S. of the mouth of the Missouri. It is the sixth city in the United States in population, and the commercial metropolis of the Mississippi valley. The city is built on rising ground, comprising three terraces, the highest of which is 200 feet above the level of the river; area, 61 square miles; pop. (1910) 687,029; (1920) 772,897. Municipal Improvements. — The city owns an extensive waterworks system, with an average daily consumption of 101,810,000 gallons, erected at a cost of $33,000,000. The water is distributed through 1,040 miles of mains. There are in all 1,048 miles of streets, of which 947 miles are paved. The streets are lighted by gas and electricity at an annual cost of about $600,000. The average cost of the police department exceeds $2,411,000 per annum, and that of the fire depart- ment $1,308,300. The annual cost of main- taining the city government is about $17,900,000. The annual death rate aver- ages 16.76 per 1,000. Public Parks. — St. Louis has a park system which constitutes one of its most attractive features. . There are 70 parks and playgrounds, 100 municipal baseball grounds and soccer fields, 26 public play- grounds for children, 2 public golf links, 2 outdoor swimming pools (one being the largest of its kind in the world), a mu- nicipal open-air theater seating 9,300, summer free band concerts attended by an average of 460,000 each summer, and an annual playground festival. Notable Buildings. — The principal pub- lic buildings are the massive post-office and custom-house costing more than $6,500,000 ; the city hall, built at a cost of $2,000,000; the court house; the union railroad station; Railway Exchange; Boatmen's Bank; Central National Bank; Century; Chemical; Federal Reserve; In- ternational Life; Merchants' National Bank; Merchants' Exchange; Syndicate Trust; Title Guaranty. The Eads bridge { a massive struc- ture, was completed in 1874, at a cost of over $10,000,000. It consists of three spans, the center one being 520 feet long, and the other two 502 feet each. The piers upon which these spans rest are built of limestone carried down to bed rock. The main passage, for the accom- modation of pedestrians, is 54 feet wide, and below this are two lines of rail. The merchant's bridge, 3 miles N., was com- pleted in 1890, at a cost of $3,000,000. The latter is used exclusively for railroad traffic. A municipal free bridge, costing $6,250,000, spans the river. Trade and Manufactures. — The favor- able location of St. Louis in the heart of