Interesting post as always. I found the picture of the underground retention basin [1] interesting, I don’t believe I’ve seen it in any of your previous posts. I think there are a number of other interesting images that don’t appear elsewhere.

Do they appear in articles on other sites and blogs, or have you yet to write about these particular underground adventures?

[1] http://www.undermontreal.com/images/lg/mtl_bn_basin.jpg

Thanks again for your interesting perspective on the underside of Montreal.

Yeah, some of the photos that appear in the map were posted on a photoblog over the past couple of years with a minimal amount of writing.

There are quite a few other things I haven’t added to the map mainly because I’m not happy with the way the photos turned out. I’m hoping to re-visit a lot of those places, take better pictures, and then write about everything while it’s still fresh in my mind.

The retention basin you pointed out is connected to the Riviere St-Pierre sewer so hopefully I’ll be getting to that section in the next month or so.

There is a large diameter tunnel ( east west)below Bord du Lac (Pointe-Claire) near exit 51 off the hwy 20. I remember the excavation during the 1983 summertime. It is not on your map and I am not sure if it is not for the sewage system. The concrete building we called ‘the spinner’ is nearby though it is not used for that now.

Speaking of the west-island, if you keep going south on montée St-Charles in Beaconsfield, past Beaconsfield boulevard, you will end up at Lakeshore (where it actually ends). Don’t turn, and look under your feet. You’ll see an appetizing outlet on lake St-Louis.

/meesa guess it’s just a storm drain system output, but judging from the impressive size (on the order by 8×10, feet, that is), it’s not your garden variety culvert…

Ah, memories.

Back around 1972-74, I spent many summer days at my aunt’s in NDG, on Brillon near Décarie. They were replacing a water main. They dug-up Décarie from Monkland all the way to Côte-St-Antoine. The 3 footish concrete pipe was plugged by a steel cap on evenings when the workers left.

It wasn’t enough to keep the local hoodlums from wandering into the pipe and exploring it (never dared to go there — when you’re around 10, you don’t do those things but watch in awe). One night, they even locked a stray dog inside…

Jim: Yeah, the west island does have quite a few things and I’ll have to add them to the map for the storm drainage layer.

I’ve been inside the “spinner building” which I believe used to be a pumping station but now gets used by the local Kayak club for storage. The large diameter sewer you mentioned is probably the interceptor which I believe was constructed around that time.

Jean: The 8×10 storm drain that you mentioned is one that I’ve looked at but haven’t gone into yet- mostly because I don’t expect it to be all that interesting. It covers a portion of Ruisseau Saint-James and runs underneath Blvd St. Charles.

I always thought the spinner was like a cyclone in that the heavier stuff would settle to the bottom and the ‘cleaner fluids’ would either exit under pressure or be pumped back into lac st. Louis. (poohy louis). Now that all goes to the east end – which is OK with me. Is the Interceptor surface or sewage?

The interceptor generally takes in both, but out in Beaconsfield/Pointe Clarie/Dorval it’s probably only sewage.

Cool article. I grew up in C.S.L. in the 1970′s on Fairside Ave. My family moved to the luc in the 50′s and my father used to tell me about a creek widing around the Cote St Luc road area. From this map it seems a part of the Riviere St Pierre ran right behind my house.
From what I remember there was a dip in Parkhaven Park (Maimonedes) where water would collect from time to time. That indeed was the exact place on the map that the riviere flowed!

There was also a creek absolutely polluted that ran just north of the south end of the CP Yards following Wavell Road. Me and my friends used to hang out there all the time and drink beer and smoke cigs . I wasnt daring enough to go deep into the tunnel but I remember a friend of mine who did. From what I remember he said he managed to go a few hundred yards where it dropped sharply down as it ran under streets like Eldridge and Leger in the ‘Luc.’