Outaouais Heritage WebMagazine

Did you know that maple syrup is the oldest agricultural product in Quebec? It all began with the Indigenous peoples who called it “Sweet Water.” When spring returned and the maple sap was running the Indigenous peoples offered the boiled thickened syrup as a sacrifice to the Great Spirit. “Sugaring off” was largely a woman’s function in Iroquois communities. The men cut notches into tree trunks and small wooden troughs were stuck into the bark.

A tourist steam train runs between the city of Gatineau and the village of Wakefield for about eight months of the year, bringing visitors through the wooded hills and along the scenic Gatineau River.

Written in honour of the pioneers of Aylwin Township (now Kazabazua Township), Celebrating 150 Years begins in the 1830s with the lumber industries of Hamilton and Gilmour and official advice to settlers from His Majesty’s Agent at Quebec.