, photo = Colline de Québec.jpg , photo_width = 260px , photo_alt = , photo_caption = View from

Anse-au-Foulon Anse au Foulon ( en, Fuller's Handle) is a small cove in Quebec, Canada. It was located about one and one-half miles above Quebec City, in the formerly independent town of Sillery, Quebec City, Sillery, until 1 January 2002, as part of the 2000– ...

, with

Cap Diamant Cap Diamant (English: Cape Diamond) is a cape on an edge of the Promontory of Quebec and on which Quebec City is located, formed by the confluence of a bend in the St. Lawrence River to the south and east, and the much smaller Saint-Charles River t ...

to the east , map_image = Quebec Hill TopoMap.svg , map_width = 300px , map_caption =

Topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but historic ...

of the Promontory of Quebec , relief = , label = , label_position = , mark = , marker_size = , location =

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada , coordinates = , coordinates_ref = , range = , part_of = , water_bodies = , elevation_m = , elevation_ref = , surface_elevation_m = , surface_elevation_ref = , highest_point = Sainte-Foy Summit , highest_elevation = , highest_coords = , length = , width = , area = , depth = , drop = , formed_by = , geology =

Schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

, age = , orogeny = Appalachian , volcanic_arc/belt = , volcanic_arc = , volcanic_belt = , volcanic_field = , eruption = , last_eruption = , topo = , operator = , designation = , website = , embedded = In

, the term promontory of Quebec refers to the area on which is built the upper part of the borough of

La Cité-Limoilou La Cité-Limoilou is the central borough of Quebec City, the oldest (in terms of architecture), and the most populous, comprising 21.85% of the city's total population. As an administrative division, it is very new, having only been formed on ...

, including

Old Quebec Old Quebec (french: Vieux-Québec) is a historic neighbourhood of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Comprising the Upper Town (french: Haute-Ville) and Lower Town (french: Basse-Ville), the area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Administratively, Old ...

(where the promontory is referred to as

). This area covers the eastern half of a larger

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

attested in French as ''colline'' or even ''plate-forme de Québec'' (Quebec hill). The western portion of this plateau is occupied by upper

Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge is a borough of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The borough was created on November 1, 2009, Although the southern slope is very steep, it was climbed by British soldiers at nighttime in September 1759, so they could take the French by surprise (who were probably expecting Wolfe's troops to arrive through a more convenient path) and engage in the decisive

Battle of the Plains of Abraham The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec (french: Bataille des Plaines d'Abraham, Première bataille de Québec), was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War (referred to as the French and Indian War to describe ...

. Its escarpments were historically a challenge for the authorities because of the risk of

rockfall A rockfall or rock-fallWhittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984. . is a quantity/sheets of rock that has fallen freely from a cliff face. The term is also used for collapse of rock from roof or walls of min ...

and the ways of travelling between upper and lower town. Nowadays, roads, a free escalator (named ''du Faubourg''), the

Old Quebec Funicular The Old Quebec Funicular (french: Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec) is a funicular railway in the Old Quebec neighbourhood of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It links the Haute-Ville (Upper Town) at Dufferin Terrace to the Basse-Ville (Lower Town) at R ...

, and 20 stairs with an official

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

connect downtown with its upper counterpart. All of the stairs are within the borough of La Cité-Limoilou. The longest, ''escalier du Cap-Blanc'' (398 steps), was designed in wood by noted architect

Charles Baillairgé Charles Baillairgé (29 September 1826 – 10 May 1906) was an architect, land surveyor, civil engineer, and an author. He was from a long line of sculptors, painters, and architects that began with his great grandfather, Jean Baillairgé. He wa ...

in 1868 (although renovated many times since then) and is the only one that truly goes to the top of the hill, to the south of the

Plains of Abraham The Plains of Abraham (french: Plaines d'Abraham) is a historic area within the Battlefields Park in Quebec City, Quebec, anada. It was established on 17 March 1908. The land is the site of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which took place ...

. On the northern flank of the promontory, where a majority of stairs are found, the highest portion is not steep enough to warrant their need up there. Hence, the second longest is the ''Franciscains'', with 177 steps going up to the neighborhood of Montcalm ( ''fr''). The shortest real public stair is the ''Quai-du-Roi'' in the Petit Champlain quarter, which has 30 (anti-slip) steps. Eboulement Quebec Qc vers 1890

53 rockfalls, causing 88 fatalities, 70 injuries and the destruction of 20 houses, have been recorded since 1775. Two events were notable: the rockslide of 1841 (32 deaths) and the rockslide of 1889 (35 deaths), and both seem to have been caused by faulty infrastructure. In 1889, a drain from the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

of the Quebec Citadelle became clogged. The water leaked through a small fracture in the rock but the pressure became too high which led to an implosion in the stone. Mitigation measures such as net fences were however implemented during the 20th century, which drastically reduced the number of incidents.

Geography of the Quebec hill

The plateau, which includes the promontory of Quebec, is long, and has its maximum width in the west () while the historical and eastern extremity averages . The highest point is located at the centre-west of the hill, in the former city of Sainte-Foy (). Overall, it is bounded to the northeast by the Saint-Charles River and to the south by the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

. In the vicinity of the

, just west of

() of altitude), the slopes are notable for containing white-cedars growing directly on the rock. This area is called "Cap-Blanc" ( ''fr'') (White Cape), which is possibly a translation of a descriptive

Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...

toponym. Before the 20th century, there were less trees on this

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

, as rockfalls were more frequent, so the greyish colour of the rock was more apparent. Its neutral tint also contrasted with the reddish minerals covering the slopes of the southwestern extremity of the hill, in the locality already named Cap-Rouge (Red Cape). Geologically, the Quebec hill is a

nappe In geology, a nappe or thrust sheet is a large sheetlike body of rock (geology), rock that has been moved more than or above a thrust fault from its original position. Nappes form in compressional tectonic settings like continental collision z ...

of the

Appalachian mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

as well as its only intrusion on the north side of the Saint Lawrence River. On the northern side of the plateau, runs the Logan's Fault ( ''fr''), a prominent area of inactive

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. If ...

ing first documented by William Logan, and marking the boundary between the geologic provinces of the Appalachian and of the

Saint Lawrence Lowlands In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

. The western side of the plateau is mostly made of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...

, while towards Old Quebec the eastern half rests on stony

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

. In the early days of the colony, these schist stones were used as

building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rock (geology), rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materia ...

but this eventually stopped as they were considered to be of poor quality. Sandstone from the hill at Sillery was then used, but also

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

from

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

in nearby Beauport,

Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré is a town in La Côte-de-Beaupré Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada, along the Saint Lawrence River, north-east of Quebec City. The population was 2,803 according to the Canada 2006 Census. Major religious l ...

and

Saint-Marc-des-Carrières Saint-Marc-des-Carrières is a town in Quebec, Canada, part of Portneuf Regional County Municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region. The place has earned the title of Rock Capital of Portneuf County because of its rock quarries that have playe ...

. Beneath the plateau, the substrate is mostly made of

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

and

pebble A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules ( in diameter) and smaller than cobbles ( in diameter). A rock made predominant ...

s originating from the retreat of the post-glacial

Champlain Sea The Champlain Sea (french: Mer de Champlain) was a prehistoric inlet of the Atlantic Ocean into the North American continent, created by the retreating ice sheets during the closure of the last glacial period. The inlet once included lands in ...

Gallery

Escalier des Glacis 18.jpg, A rockfall net behind ''des Glacis'' stairs. WPQc-226 Boulevard Laurentien (A73) - Sud.JPG, Southward view from Autoroute 73. Escalier du Faubourg - 01.jpg, ''du Faubourg'' escalator and stairs. Autoroute Charest.jpg, Autoroute 440 runs along the northern flank of the hill.

References

{{reflist Landforms of Quebec City