The Saint-Maurice River , or the Saint-Maurice River, is one of the main tributaries of the St. Lawrence River , after the Ottawa and the Saguenay Rivers and drains an area of 42,735 km . It touches the Lake Saint John watershed to the north; the Nottaway River watershed, a major tributary of James Bay , to the northwest; and the southwestern tributaries of the Ottawa River. The Saint-Maurice River is located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec , Canada .
23-627: Grandes-Piles ( French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑ̃d pil] ) is a village municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada . Located in Radnor Township , this small village is located on a cliff at north of Grand-Mère , overlooking the Saint-Maurice River on the east bank. The village faces the village of Saint-Jean-des-Piles . Once annually ice bridge connecting
46-477: A few minor differences from that of ville . However it is moot since there are no longer any cities in existence. Dorval and Côte Saint-Luc had the status of city when they were amalgamated into Montreal on January 1, 2002 as part of the municipal reorganization in Quebec ; however, when re-constituted as independent municipalities on January 1, 2006, it was with the status of town ( French : ville ) (although
69-553: A population of 493 living in 258 of its 324 total private dwellings, a change of 18.8% from its 2016 population of 415 . With a land area of 116.97 km (45.16 sq mi), it had a population density of 4.2/km (10.9/sq mi) in 2021. Mother tongue: Grandes-Piles reserve several attractions for visitors on the East banks of the Saint-Maurice River : [REDACTED] Media related to Grandes-Piles at Wikimedia Commons Village municipality (Quebec) The following
92-889: Is a list of the types of local and supralocal territorial units in Quebec , Canada, including those used solely for statistical purposes, as defined by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy and compiled by the Institut de la statistique du Québec Not included are the urban agglomerations in Quebec , which, although they group together multiple municipalities, exercise only what are ordinarily local municipal powers. A list of local municipal units in Quebec by regional county municipality can be found at List of municipalities in Quebec . All municipalities (except cities), whether township, village, parish, or unspecified ones, are functionally and legally identical. The only difference
115-1058: Is also a different kind of submunicipal unit, unconstituted localities , which is defined and tracked not by the Quebec Ministry of Municipal Affairs but by Statistics Canada . Saint-Maurice River The main tributaries of the Saint-Maurice River are: Between Weymontachie and Trois-Rivières , the St-Maurice River has 27 tributaries identified as significant enough for downhill wood: Weymontachingue, Manouane , Little Rock, Little Flamand, Windigo , Flamand , Coucoucache, Grande Pierriche (Great Pierriche), Petite Pierriche (Little Pierriche), " La Trenche ", Vermillion , Croche , Rivière-au-Lait, Bostonnais , Little Bostonnais , Small Stream, Mountain, Caribou, Rivière-aux-Rats , Wessonneau , Little Batiscan River, l'Oiseau (Bird), Bête Puante (Beast Puante), Mattawin , Mekinac , River "au Lac des Pêches" and Shawinigan River . During
138-449: Is that the designation might serve to disambiguate between otherwise identically named municipalities, often neighbouring ones. Many such cases have had their names changed, or merged with the identically named nearby municipality since the 1950s, such as the former Township of Granby and City of Granby merging and becoming the Town of Granby in 2007. Municipalities are governed primarily by
161-565: The Code municipal du Québec (Municipal Code of Québec, R.S.Q. c. C-27.1), whereas cities and towns are governed by the Loi sur les cités et villes (Cities and Towns Act, R.S.Q. c. C-19) as well as (in the case of the older ones) various individual charters. The very largest communities in Quebec are colloquially called cities; however there are currently no municipalities under the province's current legal system classified as cities. Quebec's government uses
184-533: The "river that ends". Jacques Cartier named it "River Fouez" in honor of the House of Foix in 1535. However, this name was abandoned in the early 17th century to the name of "Three Rivers". Its current name was given in the early 18th century in reference to the "fief of Saint-Maurice", the common name of lordship on the west bank granted about 1668 to Maurice Poulin in La Fontaine, government prosecutor of Three Rivers. He
207-442: The 18th century, early fur traders travelled along the river. During the second half of the 19th century, logging became an important industry in the surrounding Mauricie region. For much of the 20th century, the river was used to transport logs to mills down river and it was, and still is, a major source of hydroelectric power. First communication channel in this region, the river was used by local Native Americans long before
230-548: The English term town as the translation for the French term ville , and township for canton . The least-populated towns in Quebec ( Barkmere , with a population of about 60, or L'Île-Dorval , with less than 10) are much smaller than the most populous municipalities of other types ( Saint-Charles-Borromée and Sainte-Sophie , each with populations of over 13,300). The title city ( French : cité code=C) still legally exists, with
253-708: The St. Maurice are the property of Hydro-Québec . In 1996, the Saint-Maurice River was the last river in Quebec to stop the transportation of timber by flotation. For nearly 150 years, companies in forestry have used the current of the river and its tributaries for timber transportation. Before being stacked on the ice in Upper-Mauricie , logs were identified in order to be recovered downstream where baunes were implemented, including Grandes-Piles , in Grand-Mère , Shawinigan or Trois-Rivières . Each spring, an army of loggers cleaned
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#1732905990756276-465: The arrival of Europeans on the spot. Early explorations by religious conversion in pain and trappers in search of furs for the trade, it was one of the primary routes of rivers in Quebec. Several municipalities have been established on its banks, thereby taking advantage of its hydroelectric power where the falls were high enough to install a dam integration an electrical generating station. Among other cities, La Tuque , Shawinigan and Trois-Rivières are
299-559: The best known, and are themselves located along the Route 155 which connects the St. Lawrence River to Lake St. John . The original name of the river was "Métabéroutin", the name given by Algonquin , which means "discharge of the wind" and in turn, the Attikameks of Haute-Mauricie still call " Sipi Tapiskwan ", the "river of the threaded needle". The Abenaki the call the river "Madôbaladenitekw" or
322-526: The indigenous Americans to grind grain. It may also refer to the stack of stratums , horizontal sedimentary layers that are exposed in this part of the Mauricie . It is twinned with the city of Clamecy, Nièvre in France since 1996. The first settlers of Grandes-Piles arrived circa 1850 and were drawn to the area because of the large stands of white and red pine. In 1852, the Norcross & Philips Company obtained
345-425: The logging rights there. From 1852 to 1855, the Saint-Maurice River from La Tuque to Trois-Rivières was dredged and prepared for log driving , and Grandes-Piles became the gateway to lumberjacks and log drivers. In 1878, the village's first sawmill was built, followed by an industrial boom which led to the construction of a railway between Trois-Rivières and Grandes-Piles. In 1882, the post office opened. In 1885,
368-456: The municipal government of Dorval still uses the name Cité de Dorval). Prior to January 1, 1995, the code for municipalité was not M but rather SD ( sans désignation ; that is, unqualified municipality). Prior to 2004, there was a single code, TR, to cover the modern-day TC and TK. When the distinction between TC and TK was introduced, it was made retroactive to 1984, date of the federal Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Act (S.C. 1984, c. 18). There
391-415: The river banks for delivering timbers which were hung on the shores, bays, rocks or in riparian wood. The loggers sorted the timbers for relaunching them into the water for redirecting them to Pulp paper plant downstream. In the last 174 kilometers (108 miles), between Trois-Rivières and La Tuque , the experts found 42 fish species frequenting the river. The density of fish biomass is generally low, which
414-572: The road to Saint-Jacques-des-Piles was built. In 1966, Saint-Jacques-des-Piles was renamed to Grandes-Piles, and in 1988, it changed its status to Village Municipality. In 1997, the Compagnie de flottage du St-Maurice, the company responsible for log driving on the Saint-Maurice, ceased operations and the industrial waterfront of Grandes-Piles was reclaimed for tourism. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Grandes-Piles had
437-470: The three following rivers: Archange Lake is on the border of Grandes-Piles and Sainte-Thècle . The name of Grandes-Piles (literally "large piles") has uncertain origin. One of the best-known but false explanations is that it referred to a stack of logs entanglement on the rocks of the Saint-Maurice that inspired the early settlers. Another explanation claims that it referred to the large rocks used by
460-466: The two villages were built from December to March. The northwestern part of the municipality faces the La Mauricie National Park , located on the west bank of the Saint-Maurice River . This town was the birthplace of the floating timber in Mauricie , which stopped in 1996 after 150 years. Grandes-Piles proved to be a historic landmark in the forestry industry. Since 1996, the reopening of
483-522: The village was incorporated as the Parish Municipality of Saint-Jacques-des-Piles, named in honour of Jacques Buteux . At that time, it was the main transportation hub for the interior areas of the Mauricie since it was located at the head of navigation on the Saint-Maurice, and had warehouses and rail access. In 1890, 14 coal furnaces were installed and iron was produced in the town until 1920. In 1925,
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#1732905990756506-405: The waterway free of floating logs, the Saint-Maurice River offers to boaters a large choice for water sports and a paradise for sailing. In winter, the frozen river and snowy cliffs and forest become a huge area for winter sports. Boating is generally done well between the dam of Grand-Mère and the dam of La Tuque , especially when the water is high. The lakes of the municipal flow into one of
529-538: Was the owner of some property along the river in the 17th century. The name "St. Maurice" is attested for the first time in a judgment dated 1723 and definitely supplanted the "Three Rivers" between 1730 and 1740. The river gave its name to the administrative region of Mauricie . Communities on the river include, from the mouth of the river: Order from downstream ( Trois-Rivières ) toward upstream: Territory of Shawinigan Territory of La Tuque Order from downstream ( Trois-Rivières ) to upstream: All plants on
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