Marie lives in Bellerive, a district located west of the canal. The wooden houses are small, narrow and usually two storeys high. As a majority of the city's inhabitants are workers, most sections of Valleyfield are similar to this one. Maries' house is the square frame one in the foreground. There is a living room and kitchen on the first floor and four bedrooms on the second. In the summer, the family has a garden in the backyard and at one point they owned chickens and a cow. It is not uncommon for city dwellers to keep animals. Far in the distance looms the smoke stack of the cotton mill. Notice that the streets are not paved and that the sidewalks are made of wood.