[copyright 2017: Dennis M. Doiron]
Saint-Éleuthère
June 24. It is still raining this morning.
We left Roberval at seven o’clock in the morning. The rain continued to fall. Olivier Vien drove us by wagon to the train station. At seven-thirty, we arrived at Chambord-Jonction. It was overcast but nice. Almost eight hundred people live in the parish. At eleven o’clock in the forenoon, we were at Lac-Édouard. We stopped twenty minutes for lunch. It is a small village, and the summer residence of Monsieur Alfred Tremblay. At noon, we left Tuque-Jonction for Québec.
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Awaiting Permission to Publish the Photograph.
Click the link below to view the image.
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Saint-Alexandre, circa 1910-20?.
Collection numérique de Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) :
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had a baby that had just died. We found them very well-established and were warmly welcomed. Janvier Lamontagne arrived from Saint-Fortunat several days before to meet us.
Marie Demers Dumont, the daughter of Théodore et Philomene Lamontagne Demers, and Cyriac Dumont, with their son, Romeo Dumont.
Circa 1904.
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Circa 1904.
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June 25. Nice weather.
At eight o’clock, we left for the funeral of the young baby. We returned at ten o’clock and prepared a cup of tea. At eleven o’clock, we were on the road for Saint-Éleuthère. We had twenty miles to go by woods roads, which were in very bad repair. At two-forty five in the afternoon, we arrived at Saint-Éleuthère. At four o’clock, we went fishing, but wanting to make our names as fishermen, or rather to avoid showing that we failed to catch any fish, we bought fish from from a small boy. After supper, we wanted to make up for our poor showing in the morning by hunting for deer on the other side of the river. But it was the same story, we came back empty handed. At ten o’clock in the evening, the weather was very nice. We went to bed.
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Janvier Lamontagne, brother and brother-in-law of Henriette and Télesphore Demers.
Circa 1890-95.
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Janvier Lamontagne, brother and brother-in-law of Henriette and Télesphore Demers.
Circa 1890-95.
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June 26. Nice weather, but rather hot.
At eight o’clock in the afternoon. we left to hunt and fish again. We went as true “Sportsmen” - a good wagon pulled by two beautiful young horses and with a guide to carry our bag. At ten o’clock in the morning, we were at a portage. We placed our bag on the back of the guide. At eleven o’clock in the morning, we were at Lac la Roche. We rested. There were enough flies to bother an army, far more than necessary for the needs of a family. At one o’clock in the afternoon, we were at the outlet of the lake. There were no canoes and not many fish. There were some deer and ducks on the other side of the lake, but none of them were for us. It was another five cent tour. At seven o’clock, we returned to the house. The day
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has been beautiful. After supper, it was edifying to see us all asleep in our chairs.
June 29. Sunny and hot.
In the morning, we rested. At two in the afternoon, Joseph [Lamontagne, one of Henriette's brothers] harnessed his two horses and showed us the main places in the parish and village and the buildings of the railroad company. Yesterday, they started to transport the equipment needed for the construction of the railroad. The work has to start next week. Monday, Joseph brought some wagon loads into the woods. It was very hot. Joseph owns fourteen lots of land. He has sowed twenty-seven minots of seed. In the parish, there are twenty-two sawmills to make planks and shingles. At eleven in the evening, it was very hot, too hot to sleep.
Télesphore and Joseph Lamontagne, brothers of Henriette Demers.
Circa 1900-1905.
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Circa 1900-1905.
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June 28. Nice weather.
We left with ten of us in one wagon to go to high mass. They have a beautiful small village for
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a young parish. At four o’clock in the afternoon, we went to visit Lake Bigamouche [now, Lake Pohénégamook]. The pole at the border with Maine was ten feet from the lake and from the Saint-François River. I walked more than ten arpents on American territory. It is there that the government railroad tracks will run. The work has started. Joseph bought the land where the depot will be constructed. It has been hot all day. This evening, I am not doing well. I have back problems.
June 29. Nice weather, but I am still not feeling very well.
Joseph left with four cargo wagons for the railroad. He filled three hundred pounds in each wagon. As I wasn’t feeling well, I spent the morning in bed. In the afternoon, I went fishing. At seven o’clock in the evening, Joseph returned. They made deliveries of only three miles. Four men and four horses are sleeping in the camp. The day has been very
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hot, and this evening it is overcast. We had a glass of gin and sang like the good old days.
June 30. Still nice weather and hot, but at ten in the morning, the sky was full of clouds, and at noon, the rain arrived. It remained overcast until seven o’clock in the evening.
The government employees for the construction of the railroad arrived today at eight o’clock in the evening. We relaxed all day. This evening, the weather turned clear and it was colder.
July 1. The weather is very nice.
We left Saint-Éleuthère at eight o’clock in the morning to return to Saint-Alexandre. It was necessary for us to again go twenty miles. The way is long, fifteen miles through the woods. It is very hot and the mosquitoes attack our horse with a devouring hunger. I believe these are “killer” mosquitoes.
At twelve-thirty, we arrived at Cyriac Dumont’s house, but he is not there. He went to the flour mill.
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After having rested a little, we went to visit his land which appears very good. We saw lowlands and hills and some small plateaus of young trees here and there.
At six o’clock in the evening, they brought their herd of cows into the barnyard. They own sixteen excellent cows. After supper, we took in some fresh air at the doorway until ten o’clock.
July 2. It is a beautiful sunny day.
At eight o’clock in the morning, we reached the Saint Lawrence River. We saw three large capes in the river, which were without doubt islands. We followed the river on foot for two hours. We walked along a good part of the length of the road on which there are many summer residences that probably belong to Americans. We saw only English names written on the cottages. From there, we arrived at the center of the city.
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Awaiting Permission to Publish the Photograph.
Click the link below to view the image.
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Collection numérique de Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) :
Ferry from Rivière du Loup to Murray Bay.
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After procuring provisions at a store for our lunch, we went to a small woods nearby to eat our lunch in the field, a real picnic. Our trip, however, was marred by a small incident. Henriette lost her overcoat along the route. At seven o’clock in the evening, we returned to the house. The weather was overcast at Saint-Alexandre.
July 3. The weather is very nice.
Janvier left to return to Saint-Fortunat. We drove him back to the train station. At nine-forty-five in the morning, he left Saint-Alexandre to return to Saint-Fortunat. At noon, we left to fish on the Riviere du Loup. The fishing was very good, we caught several types of fish. The day was beautiful. We returned at six o’clock in the evening.
July 4. Nice, hot day.
We left Saint-Alexandre at eight-fifteen in the morning. At ten minutes after ten o’clock, we were at the train station where we took the first train for Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière to visit Madame Alphonse Dechene. She received us with much friendship, or to better say it, as though we were grandparents. We had lunch with her.
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We would have liked to prolong our visit since there was so much more to talk about, but our time was limited and it was necessary to leave.
Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, circa 1910-20.
Collection numérique de Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) :
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After visiting the pretty village of Sainte-Anne, we left at three in the afternoon for Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies to visit with Monsieur George Lizotte, the grocer from Sanford who has a private residence at Saint-Roch. Monsieur Lizotte possesses a magnificent residence near the Saint Lawrence River. We were received with open arms. After lunch, we went for a tour by wagon to visit the birthplaces of Monsieur and Madame Lizotte. We had a very nice day. We met a Monsieur Senechal formerly of Sanford. At eleven-thirty in the evening, it is raining.
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July 5. It rained all night.
This morning a retreat begins in the parish preached by the Reverend Redemptorist Fathers. At nine o’clock, we attended high mass, followed by the sermon. The weather remained overcast throughout the morning. After lunch, one of the fathers came to speak with us on the veranda. At seven o’clock in the evening, there was the sermon and the greeting of the Holy Sacrament. There was a strong rain storm during the ceremony. At eleven-twenty, we retire to our room.
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