Lac Saint-François
Lac Saint-François is located in Quebec
Lac Saint-François
Lac Saint-François
LocationLes Appalaches Regional County Municipality / Le Granit Regional County Municipality, Quebec
Coordinates45°53′55″N 71°09′28″W / 45.89861°N 71.15778°W / 45.89861; -71.15778
Primary outflowsSaint-François River
Basin countriesCanada
Surface area51 km2 (20 sq mi)

The Grand lac Saint-François is a freshwater body covering 51-square-kilometre (20 sq mi), in the administrative region of Chaudière-Appalaches, in southeastern Quebec, in Canada. This water body is located in two regional county municipality:

This lake is located southeast of the city of Thetford Mines. It is the source of the Saint-François River.

Much of the lake is surrounded by the Frontenac National Park. Located in a forest environment, this lake is one of the main attractions of Parc national de Frontenac. The resort is very dense on the north shore of Grand Lac Saint-François. The surface of this body of water is generally frozen from mid-November to the end of April; however, the period of safe traffic on the ice is usually from mid-December to the end of March.

Geography

This large lake in the Eastern Townships extends into the Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality and Le Granit Regional County Municipality. This body of water stretches in part in the Parc national de Frontenac.

Grand lac Saint-François is supplied with water by:

Grand lac Saint-François seen from the Rouge brook bridge on route 263 in Saint-Romain.

This large lake is characterized by Baie Sauvage (7.5 km long) located to the southwest of the lake. It has several islands, bays and peninsulas.[1]

With an elongated shape covering 51 km2, this lake stretches over more than 25 km; its width generally varies between 1.5 and 2.5 km. The maximum width of the lake is in the northern part, where the lake forms a long bay stretching southwest to the retaining dam located at the mouth. Grand lac Saint-François is the main head water body of the Saint-François River. This river flows a priori for 10.7 km towards the southwest to join Lake Aylmer at Disraeli, which the current crosses to head south.

Toponymy

The name of the lake, which has the same origin as that of the river, evokes the memory of François de Lauson lord of La Citière whose land was limited by the river. In 1635, the Compagnie des Cent-Associés granted the seigneury of La Citière to his father Jean. This seigneury was bounded by this watercourse, as indicated in an act of 1638 signed by the governor of Montmagny.

The Abénaqui s name the lake "Ônkobagak", which means "connected lake". Before 2007, the lake was called Lac Saint-François. It was renamed to avoid confusion with Petit lac Saint-François (Ashberham) which is located 1.5 km northwest of it.[2]

In 1815, the vast territory where the lake is located was not yet surveyed as mentioned by Joseph Bouchette in his book “Description topographique du Bas-Canada”. He specifies that at least 12 townships around Lake Saint-François have not yet been surveyed and that the only details, verbal descriptions and drawings are approximate and come from Indian hunters and trappers who had crossed the territory which was still uninhabited; it specifies that there are two lakes connected by a river. Later, in 1917, the dam at the outlet of the lake will raise the level by 7 meters and increase the area to its present size.

Barrage Jules-Allard at the large lake Saint-François in the 1980s. It is located in the municipality of Saint-Joseph-de-Coleraine. This dam has since been replaced. The St-François River begins here.

Petit lac Saint-François is located 1.5 km northwest of Grand lac Saint-François. Following the request of the riparian municipalities and in order to avoid confusion with other hydronyms using the name “Lac Saint-François”, on May 10, 2007, the name “Grand lac Saint-François” was changed. formalized by the Commission de toponymie du Québec replacing the designation "Lac Saint-François".[3]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Atlas of Canada from the Department of Natural Resources Canada - Features extracted from the geographic map, database and site instrumentation". Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  2. ↑ Commission de toponymie du Québec
  3. ↑ Source: "Names and places of Quebec", work of the Commission de toponymie du Québec, published in 1994, 1996 and 2006 in the form of a printed illustrated dictionary, and in that of a CD-ROM produced by the company Micro-Intel, in 1997, from this dictionary.

See also

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