Chats Falls (in French: ''Chute des Chats'', meaning "Cat Falls") were a set of
waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...
Quyon, Quebec
Quyon is a village that is part of Pontiac, Quebec, in the Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais Regional County Municipality (MRC des Collines).
History
Already the site of the Sainte-Marie Mission, the village was founded in 1848 by John Egan, a lum ...
, Canada. A hydroelectric generating station is now located here, owned and operated jointly by Hydro-Québec and
Ontario Power Generation
Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) is a Crown corporation and "government business enterprise" that is responsible for approximately half of the electricity generation in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is wholly owned by the governmen ...
. It lies within the cities of
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
Prior to the construction of the dam and power generating station, the Chats Falls was a waterfall with a 10.7 meter (35 feet) drop in the river, and consisted of a series of chutes running from what is now the eastern end of the dam all the way to the westernmost corner of Pontiac Bay (). In their natural state the Chats Falls were a tourist attraction. In the years leading up to World War One it was fairly common to see large steam boats (paddle wheelers) heading up river with their decks full of sightseers.
In 1786, a homestead was built on what is known today as Indian Point on the northern end of Pontiac Bay. In 1800 this property was taken over by the
XY Company
The XY Company also known as the New North West Company was a joint-stock fur trading enterprise based in Montreal that conducted business chiefly in the Canadian Northwest between 1798 and 1804. North West Company in 1804, and then the
Hudson’s Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
in 1821, when these two companies merged. The HBC operated a small trading post, which closed in 1837.
Horse railway
In 1847, the Union Rail Road was established at Chats Falls. Passengers were treated to a horse-drawn railroad trip of through the dense forest skirting the rough waters. While the roof sheltered passengers from rain and sun, the sides were open to mosquitoes, which brought complaints from many of the river travelers.
In 1853, James Poole, editor of The Carleton Place Herald, wrote about the Chats Falls horse railway:
Generating station
Construction on a
run-of-river
Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amo ...
generating station and dam began in 1929 and was completed in 1932, destroying the falls and creating
Lac des Chats
Lac des Chats (English: Lake of Cats), commonly known as Chats Lake, is a lake on the Ottawa River that forms the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec (Canada). It is formed by the Chats Falls Dam and serves as the reservoir for t ...
reservoir behind the dam. The powerhouse is in the middle of the Ottawa River on the Ontario/Quebec border.
On March 2, 1953, a fire started in the morning, burning for 7 hours and destroying 2 generators and the building's roof. The station went completely down when the cables were damaged. Two of the eight generating units were brought back into operation the following day and another four units brought on-line the following week. In all, $2 million in damage was done.
The power station has 8 turbines (4 managed by Ontario Power Generation and 4 managed by Hydro-Québec) with a head of 16.16 meter (53 feet), generating a total of 79 MW.
See also
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List of crossings of the Ottawa River
This is a list of bridges, dams, and ferries on the Ottawa River, proceeding stream upwards from the Saint Lawrence River, with the year in which they were opened.
Crossings
Between the Saint Lawrence River and the Lake of Two Mountains
A ...