CASTLE OF ICE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9420, 16 April 1909, Page 7

CASTLE OF ICE.

FAIRY SCENE AT WINTER CARNIVAL. Ottawa, February 36. - Montreal at the present moment is 'like Davos or St. Moritz magnified a hundredfold, writes a correspondent. It is a great, white, glistening oity, with the snow over everything —the miles of flat roofs, the domes and " spires of the churches/ the streets and their avenues of trees, . the vjo3-bonnd bt. Lawrence in front,tand the mountain that rises behind and is aptly named Mount . - Royal. 1 An ice castle has been built on Fletoher’s'Field, the -people’s playground at the foot of the mountain, and a winter carnival is in progress. One hundred and thirty, thousand blocks of ice, out from the rivers, were used in the construction of the castle, built up tier by tier, and all fashioned into a solid mass by the 'application of water, which froze as It is a structure of tiiree towers, joined by arches, and surrounded by • a-wall with a portcullis gate. The highest tower, in the centre, reaching np about 170 feet, is the King r Edward, and the two smaller towers which flank it are named the Queen Alexandra and Prince of Wales respectively. The castle looks in the daytime as though built of green glass, and with the white mountain for a background is a. • beautifulpicture. At night, when arc-lamps are suspended inside the transparent towers, and a myriad of lights outside, it is a fairy palace indeed. One hundred thousand people gathered the other n’ - ght to witness the storming of the ice castle by an army of snowehoers, who came over the mountain with torchlights and bombarded the castle with fireworks, while a .smaller force defended in the same fashion. It was a great spectacle, the castle spitting flame, the long lines of torchlights waving through the passes of the mountain, the sky lit with rockets, and the picturesque costumes of the snowshoers showing np in the glare. The Governor-General and Ladj Grey were present at the storming, and were much interested.