Fort-Coulonge
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Fort Coulonge () is a village in the
Pontiac Regional County Municipality Pontiac () is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. Campbell's Bay is the county seat. It should not be confused with the municipality of Pontiac, which is located in the neighbouring Les Collines-de-l'Outaoua ...
in western
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, ...
, Canada, at the mouth of the
Coulonge River The Coulonge River (; ) is a predominantly wilderness river in western Quebec, Canada. A popular river for whitewater canoeing enthusiasts, it is often grouped together with the Dumoine River, Dumoine and Noire River (Ottawa River tributary), Noi ...
. It is the
francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...
centre of the otherwise largely (57%)
anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...
Pontiac MRC, with 79.6% listing French as their mother tongue in the
Canada 2006 Census The 2006 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The following census was the 2011 census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897. This count was lower ...
. Fort-Coulonge is known for the
Félix-Gabriel-Marchand Bridge Félix-Gabriel-Marchand Bridge is a covered bridge in the Township of Mansfield-et-Pontefract, Quebec, Canada, that crosses the Coulonge River near Fort-Coulonge. Constructed in 1898, this 148.66-metre-long bridge is the longest covered bridg ...
, Quebec's longest covered bridge which is actually in neighbouring
Mansfield-et-Pontefract Mansfield-et-Pontefract is a municipality in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality of western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Ottawa River, northwest of Gatineau. It is the most populated municipality in the Pontiac Regional County Muni ...
.


History

In the late 17th century the site was occupied, perhaps intermittently, by members of the d'Ailleboust family, who used "sieur de Coulonge" as a title. Accounts differ: the
Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (, ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicizing Québec's place names and their origins according to th ...
mentions Nicholas d'Ailleboust de Manthet, who wintered in that location in 1694; Elizabeth Browne Losey says it was founded by the d'Ailleboust family 'as early as 1650'. With the fall of
New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...
it was abandoned. In 1784, the site was re-occupied when the
North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...
built a fort, named Fort Coulonge. When the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
took over in 1821 it continued to be supplied from Montreal. Until 1828 it was the head trading post on the
Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...
. The post engaged in farming, as well as trading with the indigenous
Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...
and
Algonquins The Algonquin people are an Indigenous people who now live in Eastern Canada and parts of the United States. They speak the Algonquin language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely ...
. After 1830, as the area became more settled, it became more like a general store. The post's farm was sold in 1844. In 1855 the surviving store was sold to Thomas Taylor, its last clerk. The buildings were still standing in 1873 but by 1892 they had burned down.Elizabeth Browne Losey, "Let Them be Remembered:The Story of the Fur Trade Forts", 1999. The trading post became the village of Fort-Coulonge situated several kilometres down river, when in 1843, the region's first sawmill was built by George Bryson Sr. This was the impetus that led to permanent settlement and the formation of the village. Two year later in 1845, the mission of Saint-Pierre-de-Fort-Coulonge was established, followed by the Presbyterian parish of St. Andrews in 1863. Its post office opened in 1853. By the mid 1860s, the town had a population of about 500. The first wooden chapel was built in 1873. It was destroyed by fire and replaced by a brick church in 1884. In 1886, the
Pontiac Pacific Junction Railway Cycloparc PPJ is a rail trail located in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Pontiac Regional County Municipality in Quebec, Canada. The PPJ traverses of hills and riverfront and enables hikers and cyclists to tour through points of ...
reached Fort-Coulonge. Fort-Coulonge became a municipality in 1888 when it separated from the Township Municipality of Mansfield.
John Bryson John Edgar Bryson (July 24, 1943 – May 13, 2025) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He served as United States Secretary of Commerce from 2011 until 2012, the 37th person to hold the post since its establishment in 1913. He ...
, son of George Bryson, was the first mayor. The lumber industry continued to drive the growth of Fort-Coulonge in the 1890s and early 20th century. The many logging camps in the Ottawa Valley created a big demand for accommodation in the town; by the 1890s there were at least 5 hotels. The town's mills produced thousands of feet of cut lumber, as well as
pulp wood Pulpwood can be defined as timber that is ground and processed into a fibrous pulp. It is a versatile natural resource commonly used for paper-making but also made into low-grade wood and used for chips, energy, pellets, and engineered products. ...
. In passenger rail service to Fort-Coulonge ended in 1958, and cargo traffic ended in 1977.


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 ...
, Fort-Coulonge 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.


Local government

List of former mayors: * Hector Jr Soucie (1968–1999) * Raymond Durocher (1999–2017) * Gaston Allard (2017–2020) * Debbie Laporte (interim 2020) * Christine Francoeur (2021–present)


See also

*
Coulonge Chutes The Coulonge Chutes (in French: ''Chutes Coulonge'') is a non-profit recreation park and historical exhibition area operating in Mansfield-et-Pontefract, in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality of western Quebec, Canada. Its main attraction ...
* Cycloparc PPJ - former railway now converted into a bike path * Esprit Lodge - white water
rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...
training and certification. *
List of anglophone communities in Quebec This is a list of anglophone communities in the Canadian province of Quebec. Municipalities with a high percentage of English-speakers in Quebec are listed. The provincial average of Quebecers whose mother tongue is English is 7.6%, with a tot ...
*
List of village municipalities in Quebec This is the list of communities in Quebec that have the legal status of village municipalities (''village'', code=VL) as defined by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy. This does not include Cree villages (code=VC), N ...


References


External links


Fort-Coulonge
(official site; English version)
CHIP-FM Radio

Elections Canada Results - 39th General Election (2006)

Director General of Quebec Elections

Official Transport Quebec Road Map
{{authority control Incorporated places in Outaouais Villages in Quebec Hudson's Bay Company forts North West Company forts Populated places on the Ottawa River