The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-02-05
CANADA WINTER SPORTS.
An Indianian at Montreal, and His
Impressions of the Carnival
a Greatly Overcrowded City and Discomfort
Generally-The Ice Palace, and Other
Attractions of the Carnival

In conversation at the dinner table of one
of the Montreal hotels a gentleman from
New York "spoke his mind concerning the
carnival of winter sports, after this fashion:
81 think that one endures an amount of cold,
suffering and discomfort out OF all proper
ton to the pleasure derived from what he
Sees" Doubtless thar would have been the
verdict of nine out of every ten citizens of
Indiana could they have been at the chief
city OF Canada during the gala week that
closed last Friday. was only there short
time, but quite long enough to make several
discoveries. First, that while one
can muffle up and pass to and
from business during the Canadian winter
with degree of comfort that
is nearly surprising when the low average
thermometer is taken into consideration, that
it is quite a different thing to walk or ride
about great city to see sights and search for
places of amusement and events of public
interest Secondly, | found that the presence
of the great river on all sides of the city,
that adds so much to its comfort and beauty
In the summer has the opposite effect in the
winter, and that Montreal at this season is
brooke, that are nestled among the hills and
in the neighborhood of the mountains. A
third discovery was that while Montreal has
good hotels, and one very elegant one, the
Windsor, yet its accommodations for lodging
comfortably and feeding well vast gather
ing of English-speaking people are by no
means equal to the demands of an occasion
like the recent carnival of winter sports.
So overcrowded were the hotels that
many people were forced to sit up all night,
and in some of the principal ones sitting
room could not be obtained. The single
night that passed in the city was glad to
accept the offer of chance to sleep on an
old lounge that was two feet too short for
me, in one OF the halls at the Canada Hotel,
and did not succeed in getting that good an
opening for rest until l had paid hackman
an exborbitant price for driving me to
several other hotels in the vain search for
lodging. The three principal days of the
carnival were bitterly cold not the coolest
of the season. but much too cold for anyone
except fur-clad Canadian, Injured to the
rigors of the climate to greatly enjoy out
door sport.
THE ICE PALACE
The ice palace on Dominion square was
the great center of attraction, and
1t was the novelty of that
structure that attracted the larger portion of
those who came from distance. This palace
was advertised to be magnificent structure
ninety feet square, with central tower 100
feet in height and towers at the corners
zach fifty feet In neigirt bat whtn it came
TO the actnal work of building the crystalline
structure, it was found that it would be I'M
safe to either make the stories so high or the
towers so lofty as had been intended. This
necessary abbreviation in dimensions caused
the place to be disappointment TO many
visitors. Standing as it did, directly oppo-
site the great Windsor Hotel, it presented in
contrast with that fine building a low
and insignificant appearance, 1t was an ex-
ceedingly pretty toy, however, reminding
one. if the sense of cold and discomfort
could have been hanished of those fairy
palaces that figures in children's stories. 1t
was constructed of blocks of crystal-clear
ice, probably two by four feet in size The
plan OF the building was such as to produce
the finest effect with the smallest amount OF
labor, and it is said that the builders took
the contract for its construction at 81 600
which certainly seems small enough for the
rost of structure that has been the subject
of so much talk. The upper parts of the
towers were made of light boards and COW
cred with small boughs of hemlock, the in
tense green of the foliage con-
ttasting pleasantly with the clear
transparent white of the ice
Of the main building On Wednesday even
ing at the Inauguration the scene was one of
lndescribable beauty and elegance. The ice
i; toI al vi,
lights in the interior. The openings were
covered with red and blue cloth, and the
light shining through these multiplied the
Iolors in the ice while the blocks with which
the walls were constructed glittered and
flashed and changed colors as If the whole
Structure had been built of immense dia-
monds. Presently coored lights were used
in the Interior changing with great
rapidity Red, blue, green, violet, car
mine and then pure white again, pro-
ducing effects of such bewildering
beauty that no pen can describe them.
While all this was going on, 500 uniformed
snow -shoers arrived with their torches, and,
In addition each provided with large num-
Der of various colored lights, Roman candles,
etc These they lighted and threw up inces-
sanity, making such streams of fire OF varied
colors in among the arches and over the
shining palace of ice that it appeared as if a
strange and wonderful conilagration were
going on, and one excited lady cried out,
f'Seel see! the ice palace is on trel the ice
palace is on fre!' All this time the most
beautiful rockets were being thrown up from
eligible positions, bursting high over the
heads of the excited multitude with the finest
effect.
THE OTHER ATTRACTIONS.
After this came the march of the snow
shoe clubs, with their torches, through the
principal streets and up Mount Royal. The
effect of the torches winding in and out
among the pines and hemlocks of the noun
tain was never exceeded by anything in the
! torch light line that has occurred in Amer
lea. Thursday night was given up to the