Territories | Al Capone, Tessouat, Cadieux and the Baroness of Pontiac

Every corner of Quebec is full of stories that are as incredible as they are little-known. Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin is taking advantage of the beautiful weather to explore some of them. Today, he is restoring the Pontiac to its former glory.

The Pontiac, “forgotten flower, perched at the end of an interminable branch, Route 148”¹is perhaps one of the least known regions of Outaouais and Quebec. However, its history has everything it takes to make us want to visit it.

At the beginning of New France, this region located at the western end of Quebec played a crucial economic and military role. Two hours west of Gatineau is an island called “des Algoumequins” by Champlain, then Tessouat Island, then Petite île aux Allumettes^⁠2 and today Morrison Island. It is part of the municipality of L’Isle-aux-Allumettes.

A veritable fortress surrounded by rapids, the island allowed the Algonquins to lock the Ottawa River and impose tolls. They thus controlled the fastest route between the Pays d’en haut and those d’en bas^⁠3. In 1613, Tessouat le Borgne, an Algonquin chief who would for a time give his name to the island, blocked Champlain’s passage, who would have to wait until 1615 and go around Tessouat to be able to explore Huronia. Tessouat is a “remarkable forgotten man” whose story I recommend you read.^⁠4. All the great explorers and all the great war leaders who have traveled across North America have passed near its island: Champlain, Radisson, D’Iberville, La Vérendrye, des Groseilliers, etc. It makes you dream.

Those who wanted to bypass Tessouat instead set foot on the Rapides-des-Joachims peninsula, a village located further west, at the mouth of the Dumoine River. The Dumoine^⁠5one of the last wild, unharnessed rivers in Quebec, made it possible to bypass the kingdom of Tessouat from the north, by going back down the Noire or the Coulonge, and thus reach Montreal “for free”.

If you are interested in a stroll in the Outaouais, there is only one book, an extraordinary book, to know about. It lists all the heritage sites in the region and it reads like a novel: The other Outaouais – Heritage discovery guide, by Manon Leroux. The section on the Pontiac will compensate for the almost complete absence of promotion of the history of the place by local authorities. Almost everything you have just read, and what comes next, is taken from it.

The Other Outaouais – Heritage Discovery Guide

Manon Leroux

Piece by piece edition

400 pages

Albert Demers, born in 1910, is also a “remarkable forgotten” of L’Isle-aux-Allumettes. As a child, he got into the habit of sculpting forest animals and hunting scenes. Wealthy hunters became infatuated with his works and promoted them.

Al Capone, the famous gangster, owned a hunting lodge north of Rapides-des-Joachims. In 1930, he hired Demers to paint hunting scenes on the walls of his mansion in Chicago. A few years later, actor Clark Gable asked him to do the same thing. Demers, the son of a modest farmer, would make a living from his art^⁠6.

On the road to L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, you will necessarily pass through Portage-du-Fort. Spare a thought for Elsie Gibbons. In 1953, the villagers elected her mayor in her absence, without asking her opinion and unanimously. For them, this businesswoman was the only one with the talent necessary to solve the village’s problems. By accepting the challenge, she became the first female mayor in the history of Quebec.

A little further, west of Portage-du-Fort, at the entrance to the municipality of Île-du-Grand-Calumet, is a white cross, in the heart of the small Cadieux park, a site that recalls one of the beautiful stories of New France. Jean Cadieux was a coureur des bois, interpreter, married to an Algonquin woman. He is said to have sacrificed himself to save his friends and family from an Iroquois attack.^⁠7. The place of his death was long a site of pilgrimage for travelers who went to the Pays d’en haut. Before dying, he is said to have written a death song on a birch bark, the complaint of Cadieux. Alexandre Belliard set it to song^⁠8.

Further west, upstream from the village of Sheenboro, you will discover another place that I am sure you have never heard of: the Rocher-à-l’Oiseau site. It is one of the most important archaeological sites of rock paintings in North America! The rock, a 150-metre high wall, is dotted with some sixty paintings, stylized drawings several centuries old, executed in red ochre. The site is sacred to the Algonquins. Note that the paintings are not visible from the bank, they must be seen from the river. However, superb hiking trails are possible on the crest of the mountains that border it^⁠9 and reproductions of the paintings are visible on interpretive panels. The rock probably owes its name to the peregrine falcon, the “thunderbird”, the fastest bird in the world, which still nests there today.

I end this introduction to the Pontiac with a very living character: Jane Toller.

Sometimes nicknamed the Baroness of Fort-Coulonge^⁠10she has been the Warden of the MRC du Pontiac since 2017, and I had the honour of working with her. Before entering politics in the Pontiac, she was a city councillor in Toronto, where she even ran for mayor in 2006 (under the name Jane Pitfield, her husband’s surname). She is the great-great-granddaughter of George Bryson, a lumber baron who ruled the Pontiac in the late 19th century.^e century. The Brysons are the only lumber barons in the Ottawa region whose prestigious residences can still be seen. Thanks to the Baroness, it is possible to have access to them. In fact, she bought the family’s ancestral manor, the Spruceholme Inn^⁠11built in 1875, to make it a superb tourist lodge and conference center. Half-lodge, half-museum, the inn alone is worth the trip to the far west of Quebec.

1. Leroux, Manon. The Other Outaouais – Heritage Discovery GuidePiece by piece edition, 2012.

2. Read the text “Origins of the name L’Isle-aux-Allumettes” on the website of Right

3. At the time of New France, the expression “Pays d’en haut” covered a vast territory which could include, depending on the period and the author, the northwest of Quebec, the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, the Red River, etc. Today, it is used in Quebec to designate part of the Laurentians.

4. Listen to the episode “Remarkable Forgotten Ones – Tessouat known as the One-Eyed Man of the Island” on the Radio-Canada website

5. Read the column “The Adventures of Max and Jules” in the Right

6. Read the text “Albert Demers: an international artist from the Outaouais” on Raymond Ouimet’s website

7. Read the text “Lament of the Cross” on the website of Right

8. Listen Cadieux’s Complaint by Alexandre Belliard

9. Visit the Rocher-à-l’Oiseau page on the Outaouais Tourism website

10. Read the column “The Baroness of Fort-Coulonge” on the website of Right

11. Visit the Spruceholme Inn website