The Sainte-Marguerite Bay is a body of water located on the

Saguenay River __NOTOC__ The Saguenay River (, ) is a major river of Quebec, Canada. It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. ...

, at the confluence of the Sainte-Marguerite, in the municipality of Sacré-Cœur, in the

regional county municipality The term regional county municipality or RCM (, , MRC) is used in Quebec, Canada to refer to one of 87 county-like political entities. In some older English translations they were called county regional municipality. Regional county municipalit ...

(RCM) of La Haute-Côte-Nord, in the administrative region of

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (Region 09) (, ; ) is an List of regions of Quebec, administrative region of Quebec, on the Quebec-Labrador peninsula, Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, Canada. The region runs along the St. Lawrence River and then the Gulf of St. Lawrence, ...

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Geography

The Sainte-Marguerite Bay is located on the left bank of the

, 25 km (by river) upstream from the

Tadoussac Tadoussac () is a village municipality in La Haute-Côte-Nord RCM (Regional County Municipality), on the north shore of the maritime section of the estuary of St. Lawrence river, in Côte-Nord region, Quebec, Canada. Geography Tadoussac is ...

ferry. The bay lies opposite ''Cap de l'Anse au Cheval'' (on the south shore of the Saguenay River). With a length of 2.7 km and a width of 1.3 km, the bay extends in an east-west direction. The entrance to the bay is located between two 320 m-high rocky capes, including Cap Sainte-Marguerite (on the south side). The area known as “Bay Mill” is located on the southeast side of the bay. Sainte-Marguerite Bay is characterized by stony, sandy shoals that appear at low tide. The riverbed crosses these shoals.

Toponymy

Explorer

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; 13 August 1574#Fichier]For a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see #Ritch, RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December ...

was the first to officially name the Sainte-Marguerite River in 1603 during an exploratory voyage. The name of the bay is derived from name from the river. The toponym “Sainte-Marguerite Bay” appears on the map of Albert Township, drawn up shortly after 1883.Source: "''Noms et lieux du Québec,''" a work by 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 ...

, published in 1994 and 1996 as a printed illustrated dictionary, and in 1997 as a CD-ROM produced by Micro-Intel, based on this dictionary. The toponym “Sainte-Marguerite Bay” was officialized on December 5, 1968, in the Place Name Bank of the ''

''.

History

Settlement around Sainte-Marguerite Bay began in 1840. A large sawmill was built at the site known as Bay Mill. The area's economy developed through forestry, agriculture, fishing, and recreational tourism. The bay is known for salmon and trout fishing. The bay is also a nursery for the St. Lawrence beluga whale herd.

Notes

References

{{Portal, Lakes, Canada, Rivers Bays of Quebec La Haute-Côte-Nord Regional County Municipality