Part 2: Lac Saint-Jean and La Doré

[copyright 2017: Dennis M. Doiron]

June 8.

We left Sainte-Anne at five-thirty for Québec. We arrived at seven and left for Lac Saint-Jean at eight-fifteen. The weather was very clear and hot. At nine-thirty, we went by Saint-Raymond, a beautiful village of almost one hundred houses, a steam sawmill, and a pretty train station.

At two in the afternoon, we arrived at Lac-Édouard, a village which has a sawmill and about fifty houses. We stopped twenty minutes at the depot for lunch.  We saw a lot of mountains and wilderness. At six-thirty in the afternoon, we arrived in Roberval at Ferdinand Brassard´s home. The village is very beautiful at first sight, but it is not possible to use the telephone from Québec to Roberval, a distance of eighty-nine miles. At eight o'clock in the evening, I succeeded in calling Télesphore.

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Awaiting Permission to Publish the Photograph.

Click the link below to view the image.

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Lac Saint-Jean at Roberval, circa 1900-10.

Collection numérique de Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) : http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/6398
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Today is election day, there is a lot of excitement everywhere. We took a walk to the wharf and met several people, especially the winners, who had warmed themselves with liquor. They shouldn’t be blamed, they've swallowed too much cheap liquor. At the wharf, I spoke to the owner of the boat. We returned to the hotel at nine o'clock in the evening. We went to our room, but it was too hot to sleep.

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June 9. This morning the weather is beautiful again, but overcast.

We left the hotel at eleven-thirty in the morning to take the boat. We heard heated discussions about politics all morning. Six rather fully loaded boats left the wharf at one o’clock in the afternoon. The wind was cold. Our boat was filled with fruits and had five passengers for Saint-Félicien. At five o'clock in the afternoon, Télesphore was waiting for us on the wharf with his wagon. We left from there to go to La Doré [known as Notre-Dame-de-la-Doré before 1983], where he lives.

In going through Saint-Félicien, we came across the “Triomphe.” Saint-Félicien is a beautiful village, and we saw some very beautiful meadows. At eight o’clock in the evening, we arrived at La Doré. We found it more developed than we had expected. The woods are poor-looking, but the land is truly good. We met Télesphore Demers, our nephew. He came to spend the evening with us until ten o’clock in the evening. After that, we each went to our rooms.

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June 10. At five-thirty in the morning, the weather is clear but cold.

We visited our son Télesphore’s property. It is in rather good shape and has a good country store attached to the house. At seven in the morning, we attended mass. The outside of the church is in good shape, but the interior is not finished. The church was started twenty years ago.

Back row: Leo Biron, Regina Demers (daughter of Télesphore, Jr, and Lucienne Deschenes Demers), Henriette Lamontagne Demers, Télesphore Demers, Jr, and Télesphore Demers. Sr. Front row: Marie Deschenes (sister of Lucienne), and Lydia Demers (daughter of Télesphore and Lucienne) . Circa 1915-20, location unknown.

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I shook hands with several old settlers of La Doré, the messieurs Paré, Belanger and Coulombe. We walked until nine-fifteen in the morning and visited the least developed areas. At one o'clock in the afternoon, we went fishing only five minutes from the house. We caught three and three-quarter pounds of trout. One of the fish broke our line, but we immediately caught it again. It still had the hook in its jaw. At four-thirty in the afternoon, we returned and hurried to fire up the stoves to fry the fish for supper.

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After supper, at six o'clock in the evening, we worked on repairing the sidewalk of the store. At ten o'clock in the evening, we went to bed.

June 11. It is overcast and cold this morning.

We continued to work on the sidewalk until noon. After that we left to go fishing. At two in the afternoon, we arrived at the river. The fishing was bountiful. We made a good supper of trout at the home of Télesphore Demers, my nephew. The weather was very hot all afternoon, but in the evening it cooled a bit.

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We spent the evening and night at my nephew’s. Let me make a little comment here. The beautiful country of Lac Saint-Jean is pleasant to visit, but I find the “cabinet d’aisances” are not comfortable. They are behind the barns, out in the open, and are covered only with the beautiful blue sky.

June 12. It is very hot this morning, with a bright sun.

We took in the fresh air in the shade. At two in the afternoon, we walked to a sawmill. At seven in the evening, we returned to Télesphore’s, and at nine our trunk arrived at La Doré.

June 13. It is very sunny and hot again.

This morning at seven o’clock we attended mass, and at ten o'clock we were again on our way to go fishing. Afterwards we went to see some farm fields. We saw very beautiful meadows

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of clover and the first flowers of the season. The weather continued to be hot and mosquitos fought among themselves for our old skin. They are very bothersome.

We saw an old bachelor in an an ancient wagon made in the workshop of Grandfather Adam and pulled by an ox harnessed like a horse. We saw a large forest fire in Saint-Prime which was about fifteen to twenty miles away. At nine in the evening, we still saw the light of the fire. At ten o'clock in the evening, we took to our room. Télesphore and Lucienne were still working.

June 14. The weather is again nice.

At eight o'clock, the parishioners started to arrive for mass like one sees everywhere in Canada, the wagons full of people.  After the mass, there was an auction of a small pig for the souls of purgatory. This brings us back to the real Canada. We saw the forest fire five miles from here. The smoke hid the sun from time to time. At two o'clock in the afternoon, there was a file of Indians in three wagons which paraded through the village. During the afternoon we went on a visit three miles from the village and saw nicely levelled fields and beautiful meadows of clover.

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Télesphore Demers, my nephew, as well as a couple of friends came to pass the evening with us. When they left at nine o’clock in the evening, it was raining. At ten o’clock, we put ourselves to bed.

June 15. Overcast. We see small puddles of water here and there on the roads.

Télesphore went to the sawmill to look for a maypole to erect at his door for the opening of the forty hours. At eight o’clock in the morning we inaugurated it. At nine o’clock in the forenoon, we attended the high mass, after which the forty hours began. There was a sermon by the Bishop in the afternoon. We went to visit the Blessed Sacrament, and at seven o’clock in the evening there was a prayer and greeting to the Blessed Sacrament.

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June 16. The weather is very cold this morning.

We had to put on our overcoats to go to church for mass. All the farmers arrived frozen and entered the church for a bit of warmth by the fire. The church was full. At ten o’clock, the last of the wagons left. The weather warmed up a bit.

At noon, my wife had a sore foot, and by two o’clock in the afternoon she had a lot of difficulty walking. At four o’clock in the afternoon, she was a little better, and at nine o’clock in the evening, she was rather well.

June 17. The weather is clear and cold.

We attended the closing of the forty hours. After leaving the church I shook hands with an old settler, Monsieur Paquette, who was born at Saint-Étienne. He has traveled much and loves to talk. We talked for a long time together. At two o’clock in the afternoon, I practiced my occupation. I nailed wooden shingles to a woodshed. The weather is overcast and is warming up.

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June 18. Nice weather, clear with a strong northeast wind.

At seven o’clock in the morning, I attended a mass like I have never heard. During the afternoon, I continued to shingle the woodshed. At one o’clock in the afternoon, we went to the sawmill to cut waste wood for the stove, and at six o’clock in the evening, we returned. The weather has been nice all day long, but there were still strong winds.

June 19. The weather is overcast and hot.

At seven-thirty in the morning, we attended an anniversary service for a young woman in the parish. At eight-thirty, we had a heavy rainstorm, and at ten o’clock, the weather cleared up. We saw the sun from time to time. We went to make a visit to the rectory. I paid three dollars for a mass ordered by Madame P. Richard of Sanford, Maine. Beginning at one-thirty and until five o’clock in the evening, there was a pouring rain with a bit of thunder. Seeing that the weather was favorable for taking a rest, I went to lie down for several minutes. I don’t know whether or not it was the thunder that kept me from sleeping, but I only slept for three and a half hours!

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After six o’clock in the evening, several small showers came from time to time.

June 20. The weather is misty, but at six o’clock, a very hot sun showed itself but hid occasionally.

At ten-twenty, I finished my work shingling the woodshed, and we began the preparations for the procession - decorations, pine tree, and small fir trees to mark the roadway. At six in the evening, we received two letters, one coming from Sanford, Maine, and the other from Saint-Fortunat.

June 21. Cloudy weather.

We attended the high mass, which was followed outside by the procession.

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At noon, we decided to leave the next day for Saint-Éleuthère. We sent our trunk there from Roberval. At two o’clock in the afternoon, Télesphore Demers who resides at the sawmill, came to find us to make a last visit. We went to visit Alfred Théberge’s property [note, Alfred is the husband of Télephore's niece Eugénie Demers, a daughter of Honoré Demers], which is magnificent to gaze upon. In the evening we celebrated with la tire au sucre d’érable [maple syrup taffy] and with card playing. It was midnight when we thought about going to bed for the night.

June 22. It is nice and clear with strong winds.

At noon, we left Notre-Dame-de-la-Doré to go to Roberval. At four o’clock we arrived at Saint-Félicien, and at six o’clock we arrived at Saint-Prime. We saw beautiful gardens and a pretty village. They are building a magnificent church of field stones. At seven-twenty in the evening, we arrived at Madame Louis Moreau’s, formerly Madame Hyacinthe Vien.

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They received us like grandparents. During the evening, we talked about several things. We recalled the time that she stayed with us in Sanford. She spoke to us about the inheritance of her small boy, Olivier Vien. We talked until midnight, after that we went to sleep.

June 23. Nice weather.

Madame Moreau caused us to miss the train because she did not inform us of the change to the departure time. The train leaves Roberval at seven, instead of at eight-forty. We visited the land of Monsieur Moreau. It’s very nice to see such beautiful land. In the afternoon, we visited the Blue Point Indian Reservation. It is the most beautiful point in Roberval.

At four in the afternoon, Télesphore left us to return to La-Doré. At six in the evening, the weather was overcast. It was raining at nine o’clock in the evening.

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