Sault-au-Cochon is an
unorganized territory in the
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 ...
region of Quebec, Canada, 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 ...
. It is an unpopulated and undeveloped stretch of shoreline along the
Saint 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, connectin ...
that encompasses the promontory from Cape Tourmente to
Petite-Rivière-Saint-François
Petite-Rivière-Saint-François is a municipality in Quebec, Canada, along the Saint Lawrence River. It is considered the gateway to the Charlevoix region.
It is named after the Petite rivière Saint-François, and home to Le Massif ski resort. ...
.
History
The
Charlevoix Railway passes through the territory right along the Saint Lawrence River. The territory is named after a former rail stop on this line located about halfway between Cape Tourmente and
Baie-Saint-Paul
Baie-Saint-Paul ( 2011 Population 7,332; UA population 4,535) is a city in the Province of Quebec, Canada, on the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Baie-Saint-Paul is the seat of Charlevoix Regional County Municipality. The city is ...
, or about north-east of
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
(
). The stop is situated the mouth of a small stream that rushes down the steep slope of the promontory. In 1676 it was reported that the stream used to be called Gouffre ("Chasm") River but had been given the name Sault au Cochon since. This name comes from the presence of Porpoise and Beluga whale in the Saint Lawrence River that were formerly called ''cochons de mer'' ("sea pigs") in French. The name "Saut au Cochon" was used by Jean Deshayes on his map of 1695, and it was thereafter also applied to the surrounding interior lands that were not part of the seigneurial domain of the
Quebec Seminary.
The territory has been used for logging and it was home to a sawmill in the 1930s. A small section of
old-growth forest remains, some north-east of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré (
). It covers 62 hectares and is characterized by
Yellow birch
''Betula alleghaniensis'', the yellow birch, golden birch, or swamp birch, is a large tree and an important lumber species of birch native to northeastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the golden color of the tree's bark. In the pa ...
and
Sugar maple
''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the prim ...
, some of which are up to 320 years old and have a diameter of .
Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108
On September 9, 1949, a Canadian Pacific Air Lines
DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner
manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II.
It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...
, en route from L'Ancienne-Lorette to Baie-Comeau, exploded and crashed at Sault-au-Cochon, killing 23 persons (19 passengers and 4 crew members). It was the result of a homemade bomb made by Genereux Ruest, a watchmaker in Quebec who had placed it on board with the help of his sister Marguerite Ruest Pitre. The plot was hatched by one Albert Guay, a jeweler in Quebec who wanted to get rid of his wife Rita ( Morel), one of the passengers, and cash-in an insurance policy worth
CAD$
The Canadian dollar (currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can ...
10,000 ($ today). All three were found guilty and hanged in the early 1950s.
[
]
Demographics
Population trend:[Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census]
* Population in 2016: 0
* Population in 2011: 0
* Population in 2006: 0
* Population in 2001: 0
* Population in 1996: 0
* Population in 1991: 0
See also
* List of unorganized territories in Quebec
The following is a list of unincorporated areas (''territoires non organisés'') in Quebec.
There are no unorganized territories in the following administrative regions: Centre-du-Québec, Chaudière-Appalaches, Estrie, Laval, Montérégie, Mont ...
References
External links
{{authority control
Unorganized territories in Capitale-Nationale