Nitchequon () is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

that was an inland

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

of 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 ...

in the remote geographic centre of Quebec, Canada. It is believed to have operated during 1816–22, 1825 and 1834–1943.

History

Historically, there was a community of

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

inhabiting Nitchequon as well as some

Naskapi The Naskapi (Nascapi, Naskapee, Nascapee) are an Indigenous people of the Subarctic native to the historical region St'aschinuw (ᒋᑦ ᐊᔅᒋᓄᐤ, meaning 'our Clusivity, nclusiveland'), which was located in present day northern Qu ...

residents. The Hudson Bay Company used Nitchequon as a stop or

along the fur-trader routes. French-Canadian canoe voyageurs (brigades) would stop at Nitchequon to exchange furs for supplies. However, due to its remote location and the fact it was the Hudson's Bay Company's farthest trading post, it was not cost-effective for the Hudson's Bay Company to continue running it. As a result, it closed in 1943. The Hudson's Bay Company re-opened the Nitchequon trade post around 1950, using air transport instead of canoe brigades. However, it was closed again around the 1960s it is believed, and most Cree residents moved to

Mistissini Mistissini ( meaning Big Rock) is a Cree town located in the south-east corner of the largest natural lake in Quebec, Lake Mistassini. The town is inside the boundaries of the Baie-James Municipality and is the second largest Cree community ...

Geography

Nitchequon is located on Lac Nichicun in a remote area of Quebec. The elevation is . Historically, this area was part of Labrador.

Climate

As is typical for its region, Nitchequon has a harsh

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfc''), with mild, wet summers strongly cooled by the frigid, low-salinity

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

and the

Labrador Current The Labrador Current is a cold current in the North Atlantic Ocean which flows from the Arctic Ocean south along the coast of Labrador and passes around Newfoundland, continuing south along the east coast of Canada near Nova Scotia. Near Nova Sco ...

to the east, and severe, extremely snowy winters chilled by the freezing of the shallow Hudson Bay and prevailing winds from the Arctic and the

Greenland Ice Sheet The Greenland ice sheet is an ice sheet which forms the second largest body of ice in the world. It is an average of thick and over thick at its maximum. It is almost long in a north–south direction, with a maximum width of at a latitude ...

. The influence of the

Icelandic Low The Icelandic Low is a semi-permanent centre of low atmospheric pressure found between Iceland and southern Greenland and extending in the Northern Hemisphere winter into the Barents Sea. In the summer, it weakens and splits into two centres, one ...

makes precipitation very high for a subarctic climate, especially in the summer.

Current status

In 1986, the Canadian government closed the weather station. Today, Nitchequon is a ghost town.

References

External links

Ottertooth - Nitchequon
Ghost towns in Quebec {{Canada-ghost-town-stub