Peribonka River
Encyclopedia
The Peribonka River is a river in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean is a region in Quebec, Canada. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region...

 area in Quebec, Canada. It is 451 kilometres (280.2 mi) long and drains an area of 28200 square kilometres (10,888.1 sq mi). It drains into Lac Saint-Jean
Lac Saint-Jean
Lac Saint-Jean is a large, relatively shallow lake in south-central Quebec, Canada, in the Laurentian Highlands. It is situated 206 kilometres north of the Saint Lawrence River, into which it drains via the Saguenay River. It covers an area of 1003 km² Lac Saint-Jean is a large, relatively...

 at Pointe-Taillon National Park
Pointe-Taillon National Park
Pointe-Taillon National Park is a national park of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shore of Lac Saint-Jean, northwest of Saguenay, Quebec. The park covers an area of 92,2 km² has as a 45km cycling network....

 and is the largest tributary of this lake. The town of Péribonka
Péribonka, Quebec
Péribonka is a municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec, located in the Maria-Chapdelaine Regional County Municipality. It is situated at the mouth of the Peribonka River where it forms a bay on the north shore of Lac Saint-Jean....

 is located on the north shore of Lac St-Jean at the river's mouth.

The name is derived from the Montagnais
Innu-aimun
Innu-aimun or Montagnais is an Algonquian language spoken by over 11,000 people, called the Innu, in Labrador and Quebec in Eastern Canada...

 word pelipaukau, meaning "river digging through the sand" or "where there is moving sand".

Geography

The Peribonka River springs a short distance west of the Otish Mountains in a swampy area on the granite and muskeg
Muskeg
Muskeg is an acidic soil type common in Arctic and boreal areas, although it is found in other northern climates as well. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland but muskeg is the standard term in Western Canada and Alaska, while 'bog' is common elsewhere. The term is of Cree origin, maskek...

 of the Canadian Shield
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...

. From there it flows south until Lamarche
Lamarche, Quebec
-Demographics:Population trend:* Population in 2006: 562 * Population in 2001: 527* Population in 1996: 564* Population in 1991: 562Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 224 Mother tongue:...

, forming the boundary between the Maria-Chapdelaine
Maria-Chapdelaine Regional County Municipality, Quebec
Maria-Chapdelaine is a Regional County Municipality in northeastern Quebec, Canada. Its seat is in Dolbeau-Mistassini. The RCM runs from Lac Saint-Jean in the south to the deep interior of northern Quebec in the north...

 and Le Fjord-du-Saguenay
Le Fjord-du-Saguenay Regional County Municipality, Quebec
Le Fjord-du-Saguenay is a Regional County Municipality in northeastern Quebec, Canada in the region of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. The seat is in the City of Saguenay which is actually a separate census division. The RCM is named for the fjord part of the Saguenay River, protruding out of the...

 Regional Counties. From Lamarche, it flows west to Lac Saint-Jean. Its basin of 28200 square kilometres (10,888.1 sq mi) comprises about one-third of the entire Saguenay River
Saguenay River
The Saguenay River is a major river of Quebec, Canada.It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east, and passes the city of Saguenay. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River at Tadoussac....

 basin.

Tributaries

The major tributaries of the Peribonka are (in upstream order):
  • Little Peribonka River
  • Alex River
  • Brûlée River

  • Serpent River
    • Étienniche River
  • Brodeuse River
  • Lake Peribonka
    • Carp River (à la Carpe)
  • Saint-Onge River
  • Cocoumenen River
  • Bonnard River
    • Modeste River
  • Grande Loutre River
    • Michel River
    • Courtois River
  • Épervanche River
  • East Peribonka River

History

Historically the Innu
Innu
The Innu are the indigenous inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan , which comprises most of the northeastern portions of the provinces of Quebec and some western portions of Labrador...

 indigenous people
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 lived in this area and traveled the river by canoe. By the second half of the 17th century, the river was used by Europeans as an access route to James Bay
James Bay
James Bay is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean. James Bay borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario; islands within the bay are part of Nunavut...

. The first official reference to the river is from April 16, 1679, in the Register of missions, stating "juxtà fluvium Perib8ka ad lacum Peok8agami" (near the river Peribouka at Lake Peokouagami (old name of Lac Saint-Jean)) priest François de Crespieul baptized two children. In October of that year, after investigating the state of English positions on Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...

, Louis Jolliet
Louis Jolliet
Louis Jolliet , also known as Louis Joliet, was a French Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America...

 returned to Quebec City via this route and called it Périboca in his manuscript. The spelling changed to Periboaka on Laura's map of 1731 and Periboac on Nicolas Bellin's map of 1755. In 1825, Pascal Taché
Pascal Taché
Pascal Taché, , was the son of Jean Taché, a successful merchant and trader and the patriarch of this important Canadian family....

 identified it as Péribonka and subsequently this name, together with Peribonca, came in general use.

While trappers and traders made relatively little use of the Peribonka in the 17th and 18th centuries, the river gained importance in the 19th century. Logging camps were established within its watershed and the river was used to drive logs
Log driving
Log driving is a means of log transport which makes use of a river's current to move floating tree trunks downstream to sawmills and pulp mills.It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Europe and North America...

 downstream, and starting in 1887, the first colonizers settled near its mouth.

In 1928, the Peribonka River overflowed its banks and flooded several villages. Major development came in the 1940s when Alcan
Alcan
Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal. It was created on November 15, 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., and Canadian company Alcan Inc. On the same date, Alcan Inc. was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc..Rio...

, a leading aluminum producer, needed adequate hydro-electric power supply. From 1941 to 1943, the Chute-des-Passes Dam was built at the south end of Lake Péribonka that became a vast reservoir. This was followed by two other dams were built downstream: the Chute-du-Diable from 1950 to 1952, and Chute-à-la-Savane from 1951 to 1953.

The classic novel Maria Chapdelaine
Maria Chapdelaine
Maria Chapdelaine is a novel written in 1913 by the French writer Louis Hémon, who was then residing in Quebec.-Adaptations:The novel has had three film adaptations, two French and one Québécois: in 1934, by Julien Duvivier, with Madeleine Renaud , and Jean Gabin , partly filmed in Péribonka; in...

by French writer Louis Hémon
Louis Hémon
Louis Hémon , was a francophone writer best known for his novel Maria Chapdelaine.- Biography :He was born in Brest, France. In Paris, where he resided with his family, he was enrolled in the Montaigne and Louis-le-Grand secondary schools...

 is set on the shores of the Peribonka River.

Hydroelectric development

There are 4 hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

 power stations on the Peribonka River, 3 of which privately belong to Alcan
Alcan
Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal. It was created on November 15, 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., and Canadian company Alcan Inc. On the same date, Alcan Inc. was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc..Rio...

 aluminum smelter:
  • Chute-du-Diable - built in 1952, 240 MW
  • Chute-à-la-Savane - built in 1953, 231 MW
  • Chute-des-Passes - built in 1959, 854 MW


The fourth, the Peribonka Power Station, built and operated by Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. Based in Montreal, the company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec....

, is directly upstream from the confluence with the Manouane River. It was completed on March 9, 2008, and has a capacity of 385 MW. The dam is 80 metres (262.5 ft) high and 700 metres (2,296.6 ft) long, creating a reservoir with an area of 32 square kilometres (12.4 sq mi).
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