(Courfesy P.E.I. Public Archives.)

Location, Geography and Climate

Souris enjoys one of the most attractive and spec- tacular settings of any community in Prince Edward Island. The traveller approaching the town from the west sees it from the crest of a hill spread out below him under a big sky and embraced by the arms of Colville Bay and Souris River. To his left on the highest point of land in the town is one of Prince Edward Island's largest churches, St. Mary’s, built of native Island sandstone, and on the right, dominating red cliffs that jut out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is the white tower of Souris lighthouse. In the foreground a sandy beach curves towards the narrow mouth of the river where a bridge welcomes the traveller to the town. The town faces south; to the north the land rises in gentle undulations to the horizon, presenting a varied landscape of farmers’ fields and wooded stands of spruce and hardwoods.

Souris is built mostly of timber frame construction. Brightly painted buildings climb from the precarious edge of the bank that rims the harbour to the ridge that marks the town limits inland. It is a busy place, with traf- fic passing along the main, all-weather, highway - some of it to the Magdalene Islands ferry dock near the breakwater, and some to the Main Street business dis- trict. In summer there are usually bodies splashing or sunning at the beach, and others digging clams on the mud flats exposed on the river side of the bridge at low tide.

The main business of Souris is with the sea. Sometimes when the atmospheric conditions permit the smell of fish pervades the town. No one complains, for it is the smell of prosperity. More attractive to the eye than this aroma to the nose is the constant traffic in and out of

the harbour of trawlers, draggers and Cape Island boats - and the daily arrival and departure of the SS Lucy Maud Montgomery on the Magdalene Islands run. Other ships come to load pulp logs, mostly for the paper mill near Pictou on the Nova Scotia mainland.

Souris is located on the southern shore of the penin- sula that forms the northeastern extremity of Prince Edward Island. Fifty two miles (96 km) distant is the provincial capital, Charlottetown. Only one other town, Montague, exceeds Souris in size east of Charlottetown, and it is 30 miles (50 km) to the south west. The highways linking Souris with these centres are good straight roads; a section of one of them, the road linking Souris and Montague, was rebuilt in 1980 in reinforced concrete. Despite the distances road communications between Souris and the rest of the province are fast and con- venient.

Its southern and seaward location provides Souris with a reasonably mild climate. Continental pressure systems come from the west, and are moderated and humidified by the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The salt ocean air delays the onset of winter, and mitigates its effects when it comes. On the other hand, there is in winter some snow flurry activity when moist ocean air crosses the land. In February the coldest temperatures are recorded, averaging -8.1 degrees Celsius. In the summer temp- eratures are comfortable, and the days are warm and sunny. In both summer and winter spectacular sunsets are the rule rather than the exception. There is an average annual precipitation of 36 inches (900 mm), half of it in the months of May to October.

Because Souris is a seaside place, the inhabitants keep a close eye on the weather, and are wise in reading its signs of change. Farmers and fishermen are well sup-