Île Bigras is the largest of the four

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s that make up the Îles-Laval

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

in the Rivière des Prairies in Quebec. They all are part of the city of

Laval Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...

since 1965. The Île Bigras was named in 1817 as ''Île Amesse'', after the name of its owner, Louis Amesse (other more recent maps have also shown the names ''Île Boiret'' and ''Île Boisvert''). The island was bought in 1890 by Émilien Bigras, who gave it his name. He was also the owner of the three other islands of the archipelago:

Île Pariseau Île Pariseau is a small island located in the Rivière des Prairies across the river from Île Bizard and Montreal Island. The island is part of Îles Laval which is linked to Île Jésus ( Sainte Dorothée, Laval), Quebec, Canada C ...

, Île Verte and Île Ronde. Thanks to the

Deux-Montagnes Deux-Montagnes is a suburban municipality in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the north shore of the Rivière des Mille Îles where it flows out of Lake of Two Mountains (''Lac des Deux Montagnes''). It is part of the Deux-Montagnes Regional Coun ...

commuter train line and its station, the island is less than 30 minutes from

Downtown Montreal Downtown Montreal ( French: ''Centre-Ville de Montréal'') is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The district is situated on the southernmost slope of Mount Royal, and occupies the western portion of the borough of Vil ...

and Central Station. It is also less than a quarter-hour from the

seasonal A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

reaction ferry A reaction ferry is a cable ferry that uses the reaction of the current of a river against a fixed tether to propel the vessel across the water. Such ferries operate faster and more effectively in rivers with strong currents. Some reaction ferri ...

that connects

Île Bizard Île Bizard is an island near the Island of Montreal in the Hochelaga Archipelago region. History Historically named Île Bonaventure, by 1723 it had come to be named Île Bizard, after Jacques Bizard, to whom it was conceded as a fief in 1678, ...

with Laval-sur-le-Lac. A park and ride at the station can accommodate several cars.

External links

Map of Île Bigras (Laval)

External links

See also