Chicoutimi (of Shkoutimeou, which means until where water is deep, in the language Innue Montagnais) is a district of the town of Saguenay, with the Quebec (Canada). Administrative and financial center of the city, Chicoutimi is the district more populated with its 67.556 inhabitants (60 008 in the territory of the old city) in 2005. The city is located at the junction of the Rivière Chicoutimi and the Rivière Saguenay. Its inhabitants are called Chicoutimiens and Chicoutimiennes.

In the past the Agglomeration more populated area of the Saguenay-Lake-Saint-Jean, Chicoutimi is located at surroundings 200 kilometers in the north of the town of Quebec, at 100 kilometers of the mouth of the Saguenay and at 60 kilometers of the Lake-St-Jean.

At the beginning of the XXe century, the city carried the nickname of “Queen of North” due to its septentrional position and its importance growing in the Quebec of the time.

Geography

The territory of Chicoutimi

In the past delimited by Jonquière in the west, the Bay in the east, Laterrière in the south and Canton-Tremblay in north, the territory of the town of Chicoutimi covered a surface of 156,9 km ² before municipal fusions of 2001. Resulting itself from a fusion with the old municipalities of Chicoutimi-North and River-of-Mill, the current territory of Chicoutimi extends in the plates from the basins from the Rivière Chicoutimi and from the Mill in periphery. The center of the city, escarpé on the banks north and south of the most Western vestiges of the fjord of Saguenay, goes down to the river and forms a small valley on each bank, in the south, downstream from the Rivière Chicoutimi to form the district of the Basin and in north to form the hollow in which the center of Chicoutimi-North is found surrounded by districts in height.

Divisions of the territory (Districts of the city)

Relief

Located in a known zone strongly depressed under the name of the low-grounds of Saguenay, between the plate of Laurentides and the Plate of Labrador, the territory of Chicoutimi presents an abrupt relief. Relief of the east city mainly made up of microreliefs worked out by an intense gullying of the deposits of the Gulf of Laflamme and solid composition of the Canadian Shield. Dug mainly by the rivers and brooks and undergoing at the same time the disalignments combined of the valley of the estuary of Saguenay and a transverse rise having for more high summit the Mount Holy-Claire, the city is in a steepsided valley characterized by rectilinear changes of incline which were often caused by old landslides.

The very broken relief which surrounds the center town of Chicoutimi affects the unevenness of certain streets when one tries to reach the districts more in height of the city. Several of the slopes of the city are most abrupt of Canada and comparable are escarpées with of the world. The coast of the street St-Leon and the coast St-Angel, which separate the district from the Basin of that of the Coast of the reserve, have angle of unevenness of almost 18 degrees, which very classify them close to the street Baldwin de Dunedin, in New Zealand, member elect of the world records for his 19 degrees. Other streets of the downtown area of Chicoutimi have the characteristic to have a very strong slope while being very achalendées. The streets St-Family, Bégin (with the height of the street Jacques-Cartier and Price), Labrecque, Maltese, the Fountain, Morin and Holy-Anne belong to these abrupt and attended streets.

Hydrography

River Saguenay

The river Saguenay, in the territory of Chicoutimi, is marked by its passage of the estuary to the fjord. The depth and the size of the river vary enormously with the approach of the city but remains navigable until the Dubuc bridges and St-Anne which marks the end of maritime circulation. The banks of Saguenay with Chicoutimi, in continuity with the fjord, remain very abrupt in North and adopt a relief in plate in the South. The principal affluents of Saguenay, on the territory of Chicoutimi, are the Rivière Chicoutimi, the River-of-Mill and the River-with-rats.

The influence of the immense water surface which the Saguenay represents, as well as the corridor which the fjord represents, make of banks of Saguenay a place sometimes very windy and which generates fog in the downtown area and the districts in the neighborhoods.

The direction of the river Saguenay, which would go normally from the Lake-St-Jean towards the St-Laurent (Direction Is), depends on the tides from 3 to 6 meters which it undergoes and which changes it direction while letting enter the water of the river the Fjord (Western Direction). The tides also allow the circulation of the ships to the port area and to the club of yacht of the city.

The water quality of the Saguenay, with the height of Chicoutimi, summer recognized a long time like unsuitable with consumption and very bad quality. Polluted at the beginning by paper industries of the Chicoutimi river and River-with-sands, its poor quality was especially caused by the rejections of the immense industrial complex of the Alcan in Arvida and by the sewers of the town of Chicoutimi which were jettaient there. With a better management of the pollution of Alcan with Arvida and the installation of a factory of purification by the town of Chicoutimi, water quality largely improved in the Nineties.

This inland waterway helped much with the urban development which, at the beginning, profited from a wearing of goods and passengers and from a cross-piece between two banks. With the development of better means of communication until the city and the arrival of the first bridge, the port of Chicoutimi, which was installed on an artificial prolongation of bank of the Saguenay, was used especially for the fossil reception of the fuels by the river until the end of the Eighties. The port area became an entertaining zone and a gathering place public in 1992. Today only the pleasure boats and the small boats of cruising go to the city.

Two bridges cross the river to the height of Chicoutimi

  • Pont of Holy-Anne (pedestrians and cyclists)
  • Pont Dubuc (motor vehicle traffic)

Chicoutimi river

See also: River Chicoutimi

River of the Mill (Langevin)

See also: River-of-Mill (River)

River with the Rats

The river with the Rats is a channeled river. It begins close to the centers to purchases on the Talbot boulevard, passes very close to the Rosary-Gauthier park, under the Jean-Béliveau park and is thrown in Saguenay at the level of the street Hotel-of-city.

Climate

See also: Climate of Saguenay

History

Amerindian occupation

The territory of Chicoutimi would have been attended, at the beginning, by the tribes Montagnaises of the Saguenay. The tribe of Chicoutimiens, which was wandering in the area of the Saguenay, quite front the arrival of Europeans, borrowed the bearings from the accesses of the Rivière Chicoutimi, to go to the Lac Kénogami then to the Lake-Saint-Jean (Lake Piekouagami at the time). The current site of the city, which marks the end of navigation on the Saguenay, was used as meeting place for these tribes. There be also a presence iroquoienne, 3 millenium before our era, with the junction of the River Chicoutimi and the Saguenay.

XVIème and XVIIème century

Discovered territory

So that a first explorer poses the foot on the current territory of Chicoutimi it will be necessary to await the Père Jean Dequen, which, at the request of the tributes of the Lake Piekouagami (Lac Midsummer's Day) reached of a epidemic devastator, will borrow the Rivière Chicoutimi to reach the Lac Kénogami then the Lac Midsummer's Day of the 11 to the July 16th 1647.

In May 1652, the epidemic perdure always and forces the establishment of a mission with the Lac Midsummer's Day by the Jésuites which take the same road as the Père Jean Dequen to go to destination. According to their accounts, because the epidemic made important devastations, several Amerindian burials strewed banks with the Saguenay. The missionaries will take this road until in 1671 to come to assistance of the tributes victims of the epidemic and the war against the Iroquois.

The first mention of the name Chicoutimi would go up at that time. In the year 1661, one could read in the Relation of the Father Gabriel Bruillet and Claude Dablond:

“Cheg8timi, remarkable place to be the term of the beautiful navigation and the beginning of the bearings”

Station of draft on the Chicoutimi river

Following the marketing of the territory of the Field-of-Roy the by the with Tadoussac in 1652 Deals, of the tradesmen build a house with the mouth of the Rivière Chicoutimi with an aim of making of it a station of draft in 1671. The father of Crépieul, a Jesuit, comes to visit the site between 1673 and 1674 and notes the Amerindian presence of 200 agglomerated around the station with an aim of selling their fur skins to with it.

The station of draft becomes officially the chief town of the network of trade of the furs in the Field-of-Roy the in 1676. One also decides to place a mission under the patronage of Saint François-Xavier in a Chapelle close to the station which will be refitted. The permanent construction of the installations (the increased station, the vault and the warehouse) begins under the administration from Charle Bazire, the July 24th of the same year to finish, two months later, the September 27th. Built on a monticule of Granite at the entry of the River Chicoutimi, the station and the Chapelle accommodate more than 400 hunters in June 1677 for a religious ceremony.

In the field of the productivity, one speaks almost about a milked of Chicoutimi . Supplied with the Amerindian villages of the Lac Kénogami, the station of produced Chicoutimi alone more fur skins that all the remainder of the Canada joined together in 1684.

XVIIIème century

Decline of the Trade of the furs

Surchasse Amerindian which empties the territory of its fauna and the economic context involves the station of draft of Chicoutimi in a quarter century of decline (1698 - 1715). Since the pacification of the Iroquois, several roads towards the west had opened and the station stagnated under a bad administration and by the presence of Corruption.

So that the station reappears, it will be necessary to await the arrival of the Père Laure in 1720. This last will take again possession of the places in the middle of the debris and the drunk Amerindians. The Père Laure fixed his residence in at it 1725 and lived there until its death in 1738. It gave again with the station of Chicoutimi its noble letters.

In 1739, the Père Clade Godefroy Coquart takes the changing and ensures the service until in 1765. The station of Chicoutimi will become again thrives until the end of the French mode.

Under the English mode

Following the defeat on the Flat of Abraham, to Quebec, and the capitulation of Montreal, the News-France falls under English domination. The treated of Paris comes to confirm the statute of the colony.

The regime change does not assign really the missionaries until the arrival of the Imprudent on Saguenay in front of the station of draft. The fur skins are searched by the English soldiers like spoils of war and those will on the spot maintain soldiers for a few years.

The September 20th 1762, two merchants of Quebec, Thomas Dunn and John Gray rent the exploitation of hunting and fishing on the territory of Saguenay. Will join them William Grant in 1763 and Richard Murray in 1764.

With dimensions one of the administration of the mission of Chicoutimi, the Père of the Brush will be the last Jésuite to serve the station full-time. Following its death, in 1782, the secular priests will be of passage only a few weeks per year on the territory. This situation will perdurera until in 1845.

After the foundation

Founded in 1842 by Peter McLeod (Wire) with the expiry of the lease of the Company of Hudson Bay which prohibited colonization, the town of Chicoutimi develops especially at the beginning of the 20th century like industrial town with the pulpery. Starting from the crisis of the years 1930, the vocation of the city changes to become especially commercial and administrative.

In 2002, the city amalgamates with its neighbors to become the town of Saguenay.

Line of time

  • 1676 Establishment of the Christian mission and the station of draft
  • 1842 Construction of the mill of Peter McLeod
  • August 24th 1842 Foundation of the town of Chicoutimi
  • January 19th 1845 Blessing of a vault of the east coast of the River Langevin (River-of-Mill) Called Saint-Name-of-Jesus. First intended for the “white”.
  • 1855 Designation of Chicoutimi like chief town
  • 1866 First cross service of between Chicoutimi and Holy-Anne.
  • 1878 Chicoutimi becomes the seat of évêché
  • 1880 Début of appearances of the street names Racine, Jacques-Cartier, Price, Bossé
  • 1883 the Protection service against the fire east creates
  • 1887 the Progrès of Saguenay sees the day
  • 1896 Création of the Company of pulp of Chicoutimi
  • 1898 Construction of a mechanical factory of paste and production (pulpery)
  • 1898 Construction of the hotel Château Saguenay
  • 1902 Construction of the town hall, demolished in 1932 to yield its place to the current one
  • 1903 Creation of the Parish Sacred Heart by évêché the
  • 1905 Inauguration of the church of the Parish Sacred Heart
  • June 24th 1912 Large Fire of Chicoutimi (destroyed downtown area)
  • 1930 Erection with the statute of city
  • 1933 Construction and inauguration of the Bridge of St-Anne at the cost of: 800000$ (replacing the Cross )
  • 1946 Début of the construction of the Talbot boulevard connecting Chicoutimi to Quebec
  • 1949 Entrée of Saguenéens de Chicoutimi the LHSQ
  • 1951 complete and official Ouverture of the boulevard Talbot
  • 1963 Ouverture of the television broadcast station CJPM-TV
  • 1967 the government institute CÉGEP of Chicoutimi
  • 1968 Construction of place of Saguenay (shopping mall)
  • 1968 Début of the building work of the bridge Dubuc
  • 1969 Construction of the university of Quebec in Chicoutimi (UQAC )
  • 1972 Inauguration of the bridge Dubuc
  • 1972 hostess City of the plays of summer of Quebec
  • 1973 Creation of a campus of the University of Quebec
  • 1973 Construction of Place of the Kingdom (Shopping mall)
  • 1973 Entered of Saguenéens de Chicoutimi the LHJMQ
  • 1976 Fusion in only one agglomeration of the towns of Chicoutimi-North, of River-of-Mill, Parish of Chicoutimi and Chicoutimi
  • 1980 Violent sets fire to which bursts in Place of Saguenay (Shopping mall)
  • 1983 the Plays of Canada take place with Chicoutimi
  • 1988 an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 strikes Saguenay
  • 1992 Inauguration of the installations of the port area and celebration of the 150e birthday of foundation of the city.
  • 1996 Flood of Saguenay.
  • 2002 the city becomes a district because of the fusion of the cities of Saguenay.

Municipal policy

Current representatives

  • Mayor: Jean Tremblay

  • President of district: Jacques Fort
  • District 9: Jean-Yves Provencher
  • District 10: Carl Savard
  • District 11: Marina Larouche
  • District 12: Marcel Jean
  • District 13: Jacques Cleary
  • District 14: Denis Dahl
  • District 15: Jacques Fort
  • Distruct 16: Luc Blackburn
  • Appointed provincial: Stephan Bédard
  • Appointed federal: Robert Bouchard
  • Minister responsible for the area: Claude Béchard

Mayors of the municipality of Chicoutimi (1855 - 2001) and of the town of Saguenay (2001 - Date)

Canton of Chicoutimi

Not-Built-in village of Chicoutimi

Built-in village of Chicoutimi

Town of Chicoutimi

Town of Saguenay

Demography

Population

The town of Chicoutimi counted during fusion 60.008 inhabitants, of which;
  • 98% has the French as native tongue
  • 0,7% have the English as native tongue
  • 0,3% have the French and the English as native tongue
  • 0,6% have a native tongue other than the French and the English like native tongue.

Religion

Évêché

Sources: Statistical Canada, census 2001

Historic buildings and other important sites

  • Cathédrale of Chicoutimi
  • Center of technologies of aluminum
  • Cégep de Chicoutimi
  • the p' tite White House (the house remained drawn up and resisted torrential precipitations of the flood of 1996. It became a symbol of the drama which struck the regional community this year. See it video of the house at the time of the flood;
  • Bridge of St-Anne
  • Pulperie de Chicoutimi
  • Cross of St-Anne
  • Town hall
  • harbor Installations
  • University of Quebec with Chicoutimi (UQAC)
  • Factory Alcan Laterrière
  • Center Georges-Vézina

Sports and leisures

Sporting teams

Football

  • the Gallic ones of Chicoutimi
  • Broncos de Chicoutimi

Hockey

Sports events

  • Plays of Quebec during the summer 1972.
  • Saguenéens de Chicoutimi of founded LHJMQ in 1973.
  • world Championship junior in 1978.
  • Brier Labatt in February 1988.
  • Tournament of the Cut memorial in May 1988.
  • World cups of short speed skating tracks into 2002,2004 and 2006

Chicoutimiens famous

Twinning

See too

External bond

  • Internet site of the town of Saguenay

  • Old port of Chicoutimi

Random links:Gerald Merceron | Bunting with white cap | Uberto Foglietta | Pentagonal Orthobirotonde | François Ignace Schaal

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