A journey into the gone virginity of Montreal island

Here is how I imagine how would have look like a lot if not most of Montreal island shore line in the spring of 1642 (fondation of Montreal). Spring 2011 in the Montreal area is very wet and rivers around Montreal either flood or are at record highs. But nothing is wrong around Montreal island. This is because the water levels of the gigantic Ottawa and St-Lawrence rivers that embraces the Island of Montreal are highly regulated. Here are some pictures taken from a tiny river that flows down the Island of Montreal into Deux-Montagnes Lake (end of the Ottawa river) in Pierrefond area that is probably 10X larger than normal. The flooding of trees around its banks is probably a snapshot of what would have look like the shore line around the Island of Montreal EVERY spring before the arrival of dams.

This one is more for the artsy look because of the reflexion in the water. No flooding observed here !

Monstrous ivy like this one sarcophaging a tree must have been every where near the water front in the settlers years. It would have been probably impossible to walk through the woods ounce the waters back to normal on the Island shore line.