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rampart
(usually plural) Northwest
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
1n.
a high, precipitous stretch of river bank, as found on either side of a steep gorge; also, the gorge itself.
Quotations
1851
Tuesday 17th. Yesterday and today we have been passing through what they call the ramparts--rocks and steep banks along the river. . . .
1910
Cast high on a rampart by a thrust of the waters lay the stern half of their canoe. . . .
1940
. . . after forty miles more came to the ramparts, a large canyon or gorge where for seven miles the river flows between perpendicular cliffs of limestone from one hundred to two hundred feet high. The channel is very deep here--three hundred feet in places.
2n.
Ramparts, the name given locally to several such gorges.
Quotations
1910
The Ramparts is "a local name employed by the traders to designate a contracted walled valley or canon." (The term has been applied to similar conditions on the Mackenzie, the Yukon and the Porcupine.)
1929
The Company moved up the Porcupine river to the Ramparts.
1965
The scenery till well down near the Ramparts [Mackenzie R.] is dull. . . .
3n.
the precipitous terrain adjacent to such gorges.
Quotations
1942
Born of ramparts in the Rockies, silver-capped with ancient snows,/ Melting glaciers there are feeding the mighty Fraser as it grows.
1958
Into the brooding hills known as the Lower Ramparts, where the river channels were gathered into a single rustling gorge.