The Cascapedia River begins as two fast flowing streams high in the Shick Shock Mountains. The river born of these two branches flows over a series of falls and through narrow, rocky passages, and continues on through the broad valley of Cascapedia-St. Jules. It flows over a distance of 139 kilometres (87 miles) before emptying into the Bay of Chaleurs.
“Such a beautiful country is not an accident. God must have created this wonderful wilderness, where all is happiness, all is peace.”
Fishing on the Grand Cascapedia by Edmund W. Davis, 1904.
A gun shot was fired on the morning of June 19, 1908. The sound must have disturbed the tranquil stillness of a morning on the Cascapedia River.
The fabled Grand Cascapedia River is known by most fishermen for its large Atlantic salmon that are sometimes called the Cascapedia Giants. This is a place where fishing stories are told and the dreams of catching an Atlantic salmon come to life when one finally gets to throw a fishing line across its waters. The history of the Cascapedia tells the tale of a destination that was chosen by ardent fishermen who were fortunate enough to secure the right to fish this magnificent stream.
The Kempffer Cultural and Interpretation Centre's permanent exhibition, through eight themes and more than 150 artefacts, retraces the history of New Carlisle, from the arrival of the loyalist pioneers up to and including World War II. During this diversified and original exhibition, visitors can take advantage of this little municipality's richness from the past and get a better sense of the local distinguishing features.
A New Beginning
--July 3, 2019.
In honour of the 125th anniversary of "Megantic Outlaw" Donald Morrison's death, QAHN is pleased to re-issue the following short article on the response to Morrison's arrest by the Scottish community of the Eastern Townships.
Business account books or ledgers from the 19th and early twentieth centuries are a valuable resource for the study of rural history. Historians have used account books to reveal their subjects’ community through the markets they operated in, the people they dealt with, and the goods they produced and consumed. The time that went into creating these ledgers reveals the importance of the daily relationships they recorded.
From the earliest times, nomadic Algonquin families canoed the Gatineau River, and in the 17th century fur traders arrived to do business with the Indigenous hunters. More permanent settlements began with the logging boom in the early 1800s, bringing both employment and development, and soon immigrant families moved in to take up land grants offered by the government.
Pointe-au Père, which is now a part of the City of Rimouski, has served as one of Canada's most important centres for aid to maritime navigation since the mid-1800s.
When married and still living in Montreal, Mother [Mary Ann Swift Wickham] took us children to St. Lambert when ill in summer. She boarded at an inn on the riverbank kept by the Irvings and known as Irving’s Hotel. This was then a roadhouse, where farmers passing to market in the city by ferry, or ice-bridge, stopped to refresh themselves. St. Lambert air was thought to cure “summer complaint” a cause of great infant mortality in those days. The sufferer was rowed upon the river. However, the fresh milk obtainable was more likely the cause of improvement.
