A shaft underneath Bridge Street once used for dumping snow into the sewers.

Perhaps the most interesting underground features in the Montreal area are found within the old sewers built during the mid to late 1800s. Usually constructed entirely of brick and of sizes up to 9’ in diameter, they often appear to be steeped in history in a way that newer concrete sewers just can’t compare to. They have a warmer and organic quality to them as well that I tend to appreciate. Where concrete sewer systems can feel like cold modernist pieces of architecture, the brick ones seem more like inviting Victorian homes.

A good example of these characteristics can be found within the Point St. Charles Collector. As its name implies, this sewer was responsible for the drainage of the eastern half of Point St. Charles. (The western half was serviced by another sewer that I first started to explore in this entry). The sewer was also responsible for a portion of the neighbourhood once known as Victoriatown. Given that so little from this area can still be found at street level, it’s of some comfort that at least its sewer system can still be found and explored today.

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With no rain in the immediate forecast,  nel58 and I decided to re-visit a sewer that we had first entered two summers ago. We had to leave at the time because the air quality didn’t seem all that great.  I had sort of forgotten about it after getting distracted by a handful of other things around the city. Last night it was considerably fresher. Well, as fresh as a sewer can get, I suppose.  It didn’t smell like rotten eggs this time so that was good enough for us.

This was taken towards the end of the Point St-Charles Collector, near the intersection of Mill and Riverside in the area once known as Goose Village. It’s an old one; built between 1864 and 1866 when the city was beginning to develop a systematic drainage plan. Of course  it’s had its share alterations over the years, such as the side-pipe in the above photo which had to be patched up with concrete. Other sections have been walled off or filled in with rubble containing a fair amount of old glass and pieces of pottery.

More photos, maps, and historical stuff to follow soon. In the meantime, click the photo above for the larger version and (hopefully) enjoy.

Brick and ceramic tile block transition near the intersection of rue D'Argenson and Centre

Here’s a nice little find from the other night inside one of the older brick sewers running below Rue D’argenson in Point St. Charles. I had originally hoped to see something interesting where the sewer passes underneath the Lachine Canal and towards Rue St. Jacques. That ended up being a letdown with nothing but a dead-end chamber near the Canal’s edge not even worth photographing. Making our way in the opposite direction, we came across something uncommon for Montreal: a 150 meter section constructed using clay tile blocks.

It’s questionable as to why the transition occurs, but it’s possible that the brick sewer was initially laid during the late 1800s and the tile section  later during the early 1900s when the streets south of rue Centre began to fill in a bit more.  The sewer likely discharged into Riviere St-Pierre just ahead of the portion that had been converted into an open tailrace channel for the City’s Waterworks system. From that point everything would have been whisked away to Verdun and out to the St. Lawrence.

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