Introduction
Municipality in Quebec, CanadaLes BergeronnesMunicipalityGrandes-BergeronnesLocation within La Haute-Côte-Nord RCMLes BergeronnesLocation in Côte-Nord region of QuebecCoordinates: 48°15′N 69°33′W / 48.250°N 69.550°W / 48.250; -69.550CountryCanadaProvinceQuebecRegionCôte-NordRCMLa Haute-Côte-NordSettled1845ConstitutedDecember 29, 1999Government • MayorNathalie Ross • Federal ridingCôte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan • Prov. ridingRené-LévesqueArea • Total289.16 km2 (111.65 sq mi) • Land268.77 km2 (103.77 sq mi)Population (2021) • Total619 • Density2.3/km2 (6.0/sq mi) • Pop (2016-21) 6.4% • Dwellings319Time zoneUTC−05:00 (EST) • Summer (DST)UTC−04:00 (EDT)Postal code(s)G0T 1G0Area codes418 and 581Highways R-138Websitebergeronnes.com
Les Bergeronnes (French pronunciation: [le bɛʁʒəʁɔn]) is a municipality in the Côte-Nord region of the province of Quebec in Canada. The municipality includes the communities of Grandes-Bergeronnes, Petites-Bergeronnes and Bon-Désir.
History
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The Bon-Désir trading post[edit]
Bay of Bon Desir
After the continental glacier withdrawal 8,000 years ago, Indigenous Canadians spent the summer along the Saint Lawrence River bank in the Bergeronnes territory. Archeological excavations found several layers of whale and seal skinning tools. From the 16th to 18th century, First Nations and the Basques hunted seals in Pipounapi cove whose meaning is "Here, it does not freeze." In 1653, the surrounding territory was conceded to Lord Robert Giffard de Moncel by the governor of New France. Remains of two ovens used to collect grease for lighting were found. The first one, with double burner, was built in the late 16th century. Jesuit Evangelist Pierre Laure settled there in 1721. The following year, a chapel and a house were erected. A plot about the fact that too many religious activities - there was a daily public prayer - left no time for First Nations to hunt, led to the abandonment of the mission in 1725.
In 1730, the Barragory brothers erected a whaling station and built the second oven with triple burner. Due to the lack of profit, this station was abandoned in 1773. In the absence of real development, the domain went back as Domain of the King.
At the time of Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield hydrographic survey around 1830, all that remained was the cellar of the house with its stone fireplace, hence the reference to Cave Cove on the map while Bon-Désir was moved three miles further west. Seals hunting went on for some times. In 1847, 136 seals were killed there.
On August 10, 1864, a landslide took off a large section of the squatters road (now part of the Morillon hiking trail). On April 11, 1896, another landslide moved down 500 acres on a two miles length strip of farmland with a dozen houses.
Settlement[edit]
During his visits in 1603 and 1626, Samuel de Champlain refers to two rivers under the names "Bergeronnette" and "Bergeronnes". It was long thought that he mistook the local larks for wagtails ("Bergeronnettes" in French). However, the name place is formed from the word "bank" and the radical "raa", widely used in Europe to denote heights. The name is probably a reference to the height of the bank.
The first homes gathered around mills. A first one was built in Petites-Bergeronnes in 1844. A sawmill and a flour mill were erected in 1845 on the Beaulieu River, a tributary with the river-Bas-de-Soie, of the Bergeronnes river at the site that will become the heart of the parish. A third mill was built in 1846 at Bon-Désir.
In 1856 a road costing $5,391.02 provides a link to Tadoussac to the west and Escoumins to the east. Until then, settlers had to carry their grain on their backs through the woods. The population reaches 200.
In 1852 the first chapel, dedicated to St. Zoe, served a little over thirty families living in the logging or agriculture. This chapel was destroyed in 1858 and rebuilt in 1869. Shortly after in the middle of the 19th century, Mission of Sainte-Zoé was founded and became a parish in 1889 receiving its first resident pastor, Arthur Guay. The actual church was built in 1912 at a cost of $28,000.
In 1874, the Bergeronnes Township was proclaimed, and in 1898, Township Municipality of Bergeronnes was formed. In 1929, the village centre on the Big Bergeronnes River separated from the township and became the Village Municipality of Grandes-Bergeronnes.
In 1918, from mid-October to mid-November, Spanish flu spread through the Saint Lawrence River north shore region: up to 46 percent of the population became infected. Bergeronnes had 976 people at this time, and 26 died from influenza.
The economic crisis of the 1930s led to the closing of wood mills. Having no land on which to fall back in expectation of better days, dozens of families left the village and accepted offers of the Ministry of Colonization to settle, around 1931, in Sainte-Thérèse-de-Colombier.
On December 29, 1999, the village and township were merged again to form the new Municipality of Les Bergeronnes.