The lac Jacques-Cartier, main source of the

Jacques-Cartier River The Jacques-Cartier River is a river in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is 161 km long and its source is Jacques-Cartier Lake in Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, and flows in a predominantly southern direction before ending in the Saint Lawr ...

, is a glacial lake located in the

Laurentides Wildlife Reserve Réserve faunique des Laurentides (), also known by its former name of parc des Laurentides, is a wildlife reserve in Quebec, Canada, located between Quebec City and the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region. This reserve is part of the network of ...

, about 90 km to the north of the city of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, in the unorganized territory of Lac-Jacques-Cartier, in the

La Côte-de-Beaupré Regional County Municipality La Côte-de-Beaupré is a regional county municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada. The seat is Château-Richer. Its most populous community is the municipality of Boischatel. Subdivisions There are 11 subdivisions within ...

, in the administrative region of

Capitale-Nationale Capitale-Nationale (; en, National Capital region) is one of the 17 administrative regions of Quebec. It is anchored by the provincial capital, Quebec City, and is largely coextensive with that city's metropolitan area. It has a land area of 18,7 ...

, in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The area around the lake is served by the route 175 which passes on the west shore, for the needs of forestry and recreational tourism activities.Open Street Map - Accessed February 5, 2019
/ref> Forestry is the main economic activity in this sector; recreational tourism, second. The surface of Lake Jacques-Cartier is usually frozen from the beginning of December to the end of March, however the safe circulation on the ice is generally made from mid-December to mid-March.

Geography

The main hydrographic slopes near Lac Jacques-Cartier are: * north side:

Pikauba River The Pikauba River is a tributary of Kenogami Lake, flowing in the province of Quebec in Canada, in the administrative regions of: * Capitale-Nationale: in the unorganized territory of Lac-Pikauba, in the Charlevoix Regional County Municipality; * ...

, Lac des Pas Perdus, Verchères Lake, Jacqueline Lake, Franchère Lake; * east side:

Montmorency River The Montmorency River is a tributary of North-East bank of St. Lawrence river, flowing in the administrative region of Capitale-Nationale, in the province of Quebec, Canada. The course of the river successively crosses the regional county municip ...

, Malbaie River, Malbaie Lake, Neiges Lake,

rivière du Gouffre The rivière du Gouffre (''English: Pit Cave River'') is a tributary of the left bank of the Saint-Laurent river, flowing into the Capitale-Nationale administrative region, Quebec (Canada). This watercourse flows through Regional County Municip ...

, rivière à la Loutre ; * south side:

, Sept-Îles Lake,

, Jacques-Cartier North-West River, Sautauriski River; * west side: Beauséjour lake, Launières River, Banville lake. The lake is located in the unorganized territory of Lac-Jacques-Cartier. The

Nadreau Lake The Nadreau Lake is a freshwater body located in the unorganized territory of Lac-Jacques-Cartier, in the La Côte-de-Beaupré Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Capitale-Nationale, in the province of Quebec, in Canada ...

constitutes the head water body of the

. This lake receives the waters on the west side of two small lakes: Plamondon lake (altitude: ) and an unnamed lake (). Lake Nadreau discharges 180 m north into Lake Grandpré (altitude: 847 m). The latter empties westwards into "Petit Pré lake" (440 m long; altitude: 838 m). From the mouth of "Lac Petit Pré", the

flows 15.6 km northwest in the county of Montmorency to reach Lake Jacques-Cartier. Lake Jacques-Cartier, 9.2 km long, 1.8 km wide on average and 69 m deep, is the largest lake in the

. At an altitude of approximately 795 m, it borders, to the east, Mont Camille-Pouliot (). At its southern end is a hydroelectric

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

, built in 1922. Between the lake and the mountain, pass boulevard Talbot(or route 175), same as a highway

rest area A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway serv ...

called L'Étape.

Attractions

In this lake, you can fish for gray trout (

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...

). There is also the "Petit lac Jacques-Cartier" (). This is why we have long talked about the Great Jacques-Cartier Lake to distinguish it from the Small.Toponymy: Lac Jacques-Cartier
/ref>

Galerie

File:Lac Jacques Cartier.jpg, Viewpoint on the lake along Route 175 File:2016-11 Lac Jacques-Cartier 01.jpg, Jacques-Cartier Lake at sunrise

Toponymy

Jacques Cartier (Saint-Malo, France, 1491 – Saint-Malo, 1557), explorer and navigator, made three trips to

between 1534 and 1542. He ventured to the New World in 1534, charged by François I to find gold and a passage to Asia. He explored the

Anticosti Island ; moe, Notiskuan; mic, Natigostec , sobriquet = , image_name = RiviereHuileAnticosti.jpg , image_caption = Salmon fisherman on Rivière à l'Huile , image_map ...

, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and, on July 24, he erected a cross in the bay of Gaspé as a sign of 'appropriation of the premises. During his second journey, in 1535, Cartier went up the St. Lawrence River to Hochelaga (Montreal) and spent a difficult winter in Stadaconé (Quebec). Finally, in 1541, under the orders of Roberval, Cartier attempted to establish the first French colony in America. It attaches to the mouth of the Cap-Rouge river which it names Charlesbourg-Royal. Cartier left the colony in June 1542, while Roberval was on his way to

. They meet in Newfoundland, and Cartier chooses to return to

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

. First cartographer of the St. Lawrence, he recognized that the gold and diamonds found turned out to be iron pyrite and quartz.Source: Quebec names and places, work by the Commission de toponymie du Québec, published in 1994 and 1996 in the form of a printed illustrated dictionary, and in that of a CD-ROM produced by the company Micro-Intel, in 1997, from this dictionary. The toponym "lac Jacques-Cartier" was formalized on December 5, 1968, by the Commission de toponymie du Québec.

Geography

Attractions

Galerie

Toponymy

Notes and references

See also