Lake Midsummer\'s Day

See also: Lake-Saint-Jean

the lake Midsummer's Day impresses by its vastness. Its imposing character gives him the aspect of an inland sea. Surrounded by solid masses mountainous and girdled by fertile arable lands, this water level presents a medium of life where nature Marie harmoniously with the human factors.

NOTE: The area is written Lake-Saint-Jean whereas the stretch of water is written lake Midsummer's Day . The nuance of the punctuation is subtle but important.

Geography/Hydrology

Except for the large hydroelectric tanks, the lake Midsummer's Day is the 3rd more big lake of the Quebec (43,8 km by 24 km or 1.041 km square) after the Lac Mistassini and the Lac with Water Claire. As comparison, the lake Midsummer's Day is as broad as the river the St. Lawrence with the height of Tadoussac. It was called Piékouagami (not very deep lake) by the Amerindian nation montagnaise which gathered on these banks to spend the hot season there. Located upstream river Saguenay, the lake Midsummer's Day is fed by several catchment areas of which those of the river Péribonka (the most important basin in term of flow), the Rivière Ashuapmushuan, the Small-Péribonka Rivière, the Rivière Mistassibi, the Mistassini, the Rivière with the Rats, the Rivière Ticouapé, the Rivière Ouiatchouane, the Rivière Couchepaganiche and the Rivière Métabetchouane. Several of these rivers take their source in the north of the area of the Saguenay-Lake-Saint-Jean. During the spring rising, the variations of the level of water of the lake Midsummer's Day are important. It are especially influenced by the flow of the principal tributaries which are the rivers Péribonka, Mistassini and Ashuapmushuan.

History

After the last glaciation, the cast iron of the glaciers caused the appearance of vast stretch of water called the sea of Laflamme connected directly to the river the St. Lawrence. The banks of this salt water sea were located at the foot of the mount Lake-Green in the south, then with Lamarche and Saint-Ludger-with-Milot in north. With the wire of time, water was withdrawn to form the lake which one knows today. Several fish species and of plants adapted to the fresh water and are still present today of which the ouananiche or Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ), the épinoche with three spines ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ), the Atlantic poulamon ( Microgadus tomcod ), the ammophilous one with short ligula ( Ammophila breveligulata ), the tomenteuse hudsonie ( Hudsonia tomentosa ) and peas of sea ( Lathyrus maritimus ).

Named Piékouagami (of piékoua and gami which means flat lake ) by the nation of the Porc-Épic which lived its banks, the lake was known of the French in 1544 but was explored by its last only about 1645 by the explorer missionary Jesuit Jean de Quen. Started from Tadoussac in country Montagnais, it joined the camping of the Porcupine to the mouth of the Métabéchouane river.

The construction of the stopping of Isle-Malignant of Alma by the company Alcan considerably increased the level of water of the lake in 1926. Several colonists established on the banks as for example those of the old municipality of Jeanne d' Arc saw their grounds and their drinkable water reserve reduced to nothing. The municipality of Péribonka thus inherited several colonists who had in certain cases to cross their house on pile on other side of the river. These people tried in vain continuations against the company Alcan with an aim of being made compensate financially. This history is the subject of an special attention in the center of interpretation of the National park of the Point-Taillon located at the North-East of the lake Midsummer's Day.

The erosion of the banks of the lake Midsummer's Day is an main issue. Between 1950 and 1960, whereas the banks are used by an activity of holiday in full expansion, Alcan decides to undertake the first stabilization to reduce erosion of it. One thus takes sand at the bottom it lake to redeposit it on the strongly eroded banks. At the end of the Seventies, one again stabilizes them while extending from the gravel covered with sand for better a protection. However, the intensive use of the beaches at entertaining ends makes increasingly imperative the need for protecting the banks more. Starting from 1986, Alcan undertakes a vast program of bank stabilization. In ten years, work adding up 52 million dollars will be carried out on 107 km of banks. That represents nearly 25% of the total of the 436 km banks indexed around the lake Midsummer's Day, its tributaries and the Great Discharge.

Today

The lake Midsummer's Day fascine by the beauty of its landscapes and the richness of its environment. It constitutes a medium of life marked by the great diversity of the activities that one practices there as by the importance of the resources that one draws there. With the image of a planet, he exerts an unperceivable attraction force on his entourage.

With the passing of years, the residences built in edge of the lake Midsummer's Day became less and less accessible to the people with average revenue. The cost of the residences climbed out of arrow. In 1983, the global value of the 4.300 bordering properties was of 199 million dollars. In 1995, this value reached the 278 million. At each year, the beaches and the camp-sites around the lake Midsummer's Day accommodate thousands of campers and bathers during the summer season. The water level is transformed then into a true seaside resort with water being able to reach a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius lasting the heats days of the summer. The followers of the bathe benefit from a water of very good quality in the lake Midsummer's Day. Indeed, the bacteriological quality of its water largely improved since 1977. Thus, among the eleven beaches located in the portion is lake, the number of classified beaches " excellentes" from 45% in 1977 passed to 100% in 1992. This improvement is due to a better management of the manures by the agricultural companies, with the introduction of treatment plants of water in several municipalities, with the establishment of a new regulation as for the rejection of certain toxic substances (BPC and hydrocarbons) by paper industries and with the complete stop of the floatation of wood. Water of the lake Midsummer's Day thus does not present today more any sign of degradation.

The lake Midsummer's Day is the framework of one of the greatest competitions of stroke of endurance in the world: The International Crossed of the Lake Midsummer's Day. This competition is regarded by certain as the Everest of the fresh water swimmers. The swimmers of the 4 corners of the world leave Saturday morning the municipal quay of Péribonka to arrive in the afternoon after 32 kilometers at the municipal quay of Roberval. The record of all times was carried out in 2000 by French Stephan Lecat at the time of the international crossed 46e. It succeeded in traversing the distance of 32 km in a 6 hours time 22 minutes and 48 seconds. At last century, a large fire was propagated in the northern forest dominating the circumferences of the lake Midsummer's Day. This major fire shaved almost completely the forest starting from Saint-Félicien to the borders of Saint-Anne-in-Chicoutimi now Chicoutimi-North. The cornflowers or bilberries or bilberry with narrow sheets, first species of éricacées which push after a fire with the lake Midsummer's Day, became dominant in the landscape a few years after the fire. During more than one century, the cornflowers were thus present in the food and the environment of the majority of the jeannoises families. That was worth with the inhabitants of the lake Midsummer's Day to be called familiarly " bleuets" by the people of the other areas of the Quebec. The municipality of Dolbeau-Mistassini deserved besides the title of World Capital of the Cornflower. At each year, at the beginning of August, it is held there a festival which puts at the honor this delicious blue small fruit. Compared to their exceptional antioxydant properties, the cornflowers are very snuffed by the world population. Several private bleuetières were moved in on the territory girdling the lake. The human activities in bond with the culture of the cornflowers generate important economic consequences for the area of the Saguenay-Lake-Saint-Jean.

It is possible to carry out the turn of the lake Midsummer's Day to bicycle by borrowing the Véloroute of the Cornflowers, a course of 256 km.

Municipalities of the Lake-Saint-Jean

The under-area of the lake Midsummer's Day account four towns of small and average scale:

  • Alma (fusion of Saint-Heart-of-Marie, Isle-Malignant, Delisle and Alma)

  • Dolbeau-Mistassini (fusion of Saint-Michel-of-Mistassini, Saint-Jean-of-Dolbeau and Holy-Marguerite-Marie)
  • Saint-Félicien (fusion of Saint-Method and Saint-Félicien)
  • Roberval

It also counts many municipalities:

Beaches of the Lake Midsummer's Day

Here the list of the various beaches found on the banks of the lake:

  • Vauvert

  • Beach Belley
  • Point-Taillon
  • St-Gédéon

Annual festivals and Events

  • the Rise celebrates of it (at the beginning of August)

  • the Festival of the Cornflower of Dolbeau-Mistassini (at the beginning of August)
  • the Festival Western of Dolbeau-Mistassini (mid-July)
  • the Festivities of the International Crossing of the Lake Midsummer's Day in Roberval (at the end of July)
  • With Water Péribonka (at the end of July)
  • the Festival of Gourgane d' Albanel (at the beginning of August)
  • the Festival of the Truck-driver of Gilded (at the end of June)
  • the Festival of the Cowboy of Chambord
  • the Festirame of Alma (at the beginning of July)
  • the Agricultural Exposure of Saint-Félicien (at the beginning of August)
  • the Drôle of Weekend of Alma (mid-August)
  • TamTam Macadam of Alma (fine of August, biennial edition, at the odd years)
  • the Festival of the Logger of Our-Lady-to-Lorette
  • Greedy Festivals of the Saguenay-Lake-Saint-Jean, Alma - Delisle Sector (at the end of August)
  • the Festival of the Tales and Legends of the Saguenay-Lake-Saint-Jean with Dolbeau-Mistassini
  • Crowned Blues of Alma (at the beginning of September)
  • Rockfest d' Alma (at the end of June)

References

Random links:Chronology of explorations | Huron port | Falko Krismayr | The Night of August 3rd | Tryon Reakirt | Amatol