The Maheu River flows through the municipalities of

Saint-Pierre-de-l'Île-d'Orléans Saint-Pierre-de-l'Île-d'Orléans is a municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada, part of the L'Île-d'Orléans Regional County Municipality. It is situated on the west side of Orléans Island, and accessible by Quebec Rout ...

Saint-Laurent-de-l'Île-d'Orléans Saint-Laurent-de-l'Île-d'Orléans () is a municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada, part of the L'Île-d'Orléans Regional County Municipality. It is situated on the south side of Orléans Island. Prior to June 6, 1998 ...

and

Saint-Jean-de-l'Île-d'Orléans Saint-Jean-de-l'Île-d'Orléans is a municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada. It is part of the L'Île-d'Orléans Regional County Municipality, on the southeastern side of Île d'Orléans. Prior to April 5, 2003, it was k ...

, in the

L'Île-d'Orléans Regional County Municipality L'Île-d'Orléans is a regional county municipality in central Quebec, Canada, in the Capitale-Nationale region. Its seat is Sainte-Famille-de-l'Île-d'Orléans. The population in the 2016 census was 7,082 people. The RCM consists solely of th ...

, 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 ...

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

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 lower part of this small valley is served by Chemin Royale ( route 368) which runs along the southeast shore of

Île d'Orléans Île d'Orléans (; en, Island of Orleans) is an island located in the Saint Lawrence River about east of downtown Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It was one of the first parts of the province to be colonized by the French, and a large percentage ...

. Forestry is the main economic activity in the upper part of this valley; and agriculture in the lower part. The surface of the Maheu River is generally frozen from the beginning of December until the end of March; however, safe circulation on the ice is generally done from mid-December to mid-March. The water level of the river varies with the seasons and the precipitation; the spring flood occurs in March or April.

Geography

The Maheu river originates in a forest area at the mouth of a very small unidentified lake (length: less than a hundred meters; altitude: ), in

. This source is located a hundred meters southwest of the Route des Prêtres, southeast of the village centre of Saint-Pierre-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, southeast of the

Chenal de l'Île d'Orléans The chenal de l'Île d'Orléans (''English: Orléans Island Channel'') is a channel of the St. Lawrence River, flowing in the administrative region of Capitale-Nationale, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. This channel is formed by the Île ...

and northeast of the shore of

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

(

chenal des Grands Voiliers The Chenal des Grands Voiliers (''English: channel of tall sailships'') is a channel of the St. Lawrence River, between Île d'Orléans and the south shore of Quebec, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. On the southeast shore of Île d'Orléans, ...

).Poirier, J. (1962)
La toponymie de l'Ile d'Orléans
''Cahiers de géographie du Québec'', 6(12), 183–199S. From this source, the course of the Maheu river descends on , with a drop of , according to the following segments: * north-east in a forest zone in

, first by crossing the Route des Prêtres, by collecting a stream (coming from the southwest), to a bend in the river corresponding to a stream (coming from the north); * first towards the east in the forest zone by entering

, towards the east by entering the agricultural zone , by bending to the north and collecting a stream (coming from the south) before entering

, up to a bend in the river; * towards the south-east in the agricultural zone by forming a loop towards the east, then crossing a series of rapids until its mouth.Atlas of Canada - Department of Natural Resources Canada - Maheu River - Distance and altitude measurements established from the application of site measurements.
/ref> The Maheu river flows at the bottom of the Rade Maheu in

, that is to the limit of

(northeast side) and

(southwest side). This harbour is spanned a hundred meters further by the route 368 bridge. This harbour whose sandstone of about at low tide, is attached to

Chenal des Grands Voiliers The Chenal des Grands Voiliers (''English: channel of tall sailships'') is a channel of the St. Lawrence River, between Île d'Orléans and the south shore of Quebec, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. On the southeast shore of Île d'Orléans, ...

whose width is at this location and is crossed by the

Toponymy

The toponymic designation "river Maheu" evokes the memory of René Maheu, pilot on the river, whose concession was granted to him in 1651. Originally from Paris, Maheu was nephew of the first pioneer of

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

, Louis Hébert. René Maheu was present in

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17t ...

in 1610 and 1612; a first concession in New France was granted to him in 1637. René Maheu married May 23, 1648 in La Rochelle, in France, to Marguerite Courivault (Corriveau). Following the death in 1661 of the pioneer Maheu, his fiefdom was passed on to his son Jean-Paul Maheu. Marguerite Corriveau was appointed tutor of the minor children of René Maheu (Maheust). According to a plan of 1659, the Maheu fief included the watercourse designated "Saint-Louis river" on Île d'Orléans. Formerly, this river drained a swamp locally designated "Lac à Maheu". In 1689, the lake at Maheu and the river of the same name appear on a geographical plan. Due to the digging of streams, this marsh has dried up throughout history, and this toponym has disappeared from geographic maps. Thus, the name of the owner of the fief has supplanted that of "Saint-Louis river" in popular usage. The toponym "Rivière Maheu" was formalized on December 5, 1968 at the Place Names Bank of the Commission de toponymie du Québec.Commission de toponymie du Québec - Bank of Place Names - Toponym: Rivière Maheu - Accessed June 8, 2020
/ref>

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maheu, river Rivers of Capitale-Nationale L'Île-d'Orléans Regional County Municipality

Geography

Toponymy

See also

Notes and references