Aumond is a

township municipality A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canada ...

in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, located within

La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau (, ''The Valley of the Gatineau'') is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of western Quebec, Canada. The seat is in Gracefield. It was incorporated on January 1, 1983 and was named for its location str ...

. The township is named after Colonel Joseph-Ignace Aumond (1810–1879), a native of

l'Assomption L'Assomption () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the L'Assomption River. It is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of L'Assomption. It is located on the outer fringes of the Montreal urban area. ...

, who was one of the major timber merchants of the Ottawa Valley in the nineteenth century. His operations were particularly along the Gatineau, and even went as far as

Lake Timiskaming Lake Timiskaming or Lake Temiskaming (, ) is a large freshwater lake on the Provinces and territories of Canada, provincial boundary between Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The lake, which forms part of the Ottawa River, is in length and covers ...

History

The history of Aumond dates back to mid-nineteenth century when Joseph-Ignace Aumond began logging in the area. In 1861, the parish of Sainte-Famille d'Aumond and Aumond Township were proclaimed, and in 1877 the township municipality was established. Jos Bertrand, Cyrille Monette, and Édouard Goulet were its first mayors. The first chapel was built in 1870. In 1862, Oblate priests built the first

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

on the Joseph River, a tributary of the Gatineau River, in order to saw wood from the rich surrounding forests. A few months later, they built a flour mill adjacent to the first mill. At the outset, these mills were powered by a

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous b ...

which was replaced at the beginning of the twentieth century, by a

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

that, from 1929 onwards, also provided electricity to the villagers. Destroyed by flames, these mills were rebuilt and remained active until 1989. Today, the municipality of Aumond revives its history by the redevelopment of the ''Moulin des Pères'' site in the heart of the village.

Geography

The township is on the eastern shores of the

Gatineau River The Gatineau River (, ) is a river in western Quebec, Canada, which rises in lakes north of the Baskatong Reservoir and flows south to join the Ottawa River at the city of Gatineau, Quebec. The river is long and drains an area of . Toponomy Ac ...

along Route 107. The topography of the township is fairly rough, rising from above sea level, near the hamlet of Val-Émard, to . Numerous lakes surround the town, including Lac des Pins, Lac Murray, Lac Saint-Joseph, and Lac Joseph. Aumond village itself is located on the banks of the Joseph River () which was also named after Joseph-Ignace Aumond. Other communities within the township are Val-Émard and Saint-Cajétan.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Aumond had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Mother tongue (2021): * English as first language: 8% * French as first language: 90% * English and French as first language: 2.6% * Other as first language: 0%

Government

Local government

List of former mayors: * Léger Duchesne (1981–1985, 1989–1999) * Joseph Bénard (1999–2005) * Jean Giasson (2005–?) * Germain St-Amour (?–2009) * Denis Charron (2009–2017) * Alphée Moreau (2017–2022) * Mario Langevin (2022–present)

References

External links

MRC de La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau: Aumond
{{authority control Township municipalities in Quebec Incorporated places in Outaouais Populated places established in the 19th century