The Grand lac Saint-François () is a freshwater body covering , in the administrative region of

Chaudière-Appalaches Chaudière-Appalaches (, ) is an administrative region in Quebec, Canada. It comprises most of what is historically known as the " Beauce" (; compare with the electoral district of Beauce). It is named for the Chaudière River and the Appalachia ...

, in southeastern

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. This water body is located in two

regional county municipality The term regional county municipality or RCM (, , MRC) is used in Quebec, Canada to refer to one of 87 county-like political entities. In some older English translations they were called county regional municipality. Regional county municipalit ...

: *

Le Granit Regional County Municipality Le Granit (, ) is a regional county municipality in the Estrie region of eastern Quebec, Canada. Located directly south of Quebec City, it borders the region of Chaudière-Appalaches, as well as the US states of New Hampshire New Hampshi ...

(MRC): in the municipalities of Lambton and Saint-Romain; *

Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality Les Appalaches () is a regional county municipality (RCM) in the Chaudière-Appalaches region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It was established in 1982 from parts of the historic counties of Beauce, Frontenac, Mégantic, and Wolfe. The coun ...

: in the municipalities of Sainte-Praxède,

Saint-Joseph-de-Coleraine Saint-Joseph-de-Coleraine () is a municipality in the Municipalité régionale de comté des Appalaches in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Chaudière-Appalaches region and the population is 2,018 as of 2009. It is named after Saint Joseph, fat ...

and

Adstock ''For the municipality in Quebec, see Adstock, Quebec'' Adstock is a village and civil parish about northwest of Winslow and southeast of Buckingham in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire. The 2001 Census recorded a parish popul ...

. This lake is located southeast of the city of

Thetford Mines Thetford Mines (; Canada 2021 Census population 26,072) is a city in south-central Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality. The city is located in the Appalachian Mountains, 187 km east-northeast of Mo ...

. It is the source of the

Saint-François River The Saint-François River (, ) is a right tributary of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada. Its source is Lake Saint-François in Chaudière-Appalaches, southeast of Thetford Mines. It flows southwest towards Sherbrooke, where it changes ...

. Much of the lake is surrounded by the

Frontenac National Park Frontenac National Park () is a 156.5 km2 provincial park in southeastern Quebec, Canada, created in 1987 and governed by Société des établissements de plein air du Québec. The park is located along Lac Saint-François roughly halfway be ...

. Located in a forest environment, this lake is one of the main attractions of Parc national de Frontenac. The resort is very dense on the north shore of Grand Lac Saint-François. The surface of this body of water is generally frozen from mid-November to the end of April; however, the period of safe traffic on the ice is usually from mid-December to the end of March.

Geography

This large lake in the Eastern Townships extends into the

and

. This body of water stretches in part in the Parc national de Frontenac. Grand lac Saint-François is supplied with water by: * south side: Red stream which passes north of Saint-Romain; * south-west side: Felton River which flows north; discharge of the lakes at Barbue, des Îles, Egan, "du Brochet", "des Atacas" and Équerre; discharge from Bear Lake. These waters flow into the Baie Sauvage; * west side: Marécage stream which flows into Giguère bay; * north side:

Ashberham River The Ashberham river (''in French: rivière Ashberham'') is a tributary of Grand lac Saint François which constitutes the head lake of the Saint-François River. The course of the Ashberham River crosses the territory of the municipality of Sai ...

; Rivière de l'Or in the municipality of

; * northeast side: Muskrat River; Petite rivière Muskrat; Couture brook. These streams flow into Musque Rats Bay; * east side: rivière aux Bluets; La Petite Rivière; outlet of Little Lambton Lake. This large lake is characterized by Baie Sauvage (7.5 km long) located to the southwest of the lake. It has several islands, bays and peninsulas. With an elongated shape covering 51 km², this lake stretches over more than 25 km; its width generally varies between 1.5 and 2.5 km. The maximum width of the lake is in the northern part, where the lake forms a long bay stretching southwest to the retaining dam located at the mouth. Grand lac Saint-François is the main head water body of the

. This river flows a priori for 10.7 km towards the southwest to join Lake Aylmer at

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creat ...

, which the current crosses to head south.

Toponymy

The name of the lake, which has the same origin as that of the river, evokes the memory of François de Lauson lord of La Citière whose land was limited by the river. In 1635, the Compagnie des Cent-Associés granted the seigneury of La Citière to his father Jean. This seigneury was bounded by this watercourse, as indicated in an act of 1638 signed by the governor of Montmagny. The Abénaqui s name the lake "Ônkobagak", which means "connected lake". Before 2007, the lake was called Lac Saint-François. It was renamed to avoid confusion with

Petit lac Saint-François (Ashberham) The Petit lac Saint-François (''in English: Little Lake Saint François'') is a lake located near the municipality of Saint-Joseph-de-Coleraine in the administrative region of Chaudière-Appalaches, in Quebec, in Canada. It receives the waters of ...

which is located 1.5 km northwest of it. In 1815, the vast territory where the lake is located was not yet surveyed as mentioned by

Joseph Bouchette Lt.-Colonel Joseph Bouchette (; May 14, 1774 – April 8, 1841) was the Canadian Surveyor-General of British North America. His book, ''Topographical Description of the Province of Lower Canada'' was published at London in 1815 and also translated ...

in his book “Description topographique du Bas-Canada”. He specifies that at least 12 townships around Lake Saint-François have not yet been surveyed and that the only details, verbal descriptions and drawings are approximate and come from Indian hunters and trappers who had crossed the territory which was still uninhabited; it specifies that there are two lakes connected by a river. Later, in 1917, the dam at the outlet of the lake will raise the level by 7 meters and increase the area to its present size. Petit lac Saint-François is located 1.5 km northwest of Grand lac Saint-François. Following the request of the riparian municipalities and in order to avoid confusion with other hydronyms using the name “Lac Saint-François”, on May 10, 2007, the name “Grand lac Saint-François” was changed. formalized by the

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (, ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicizing Québec's place names and their origins according to th ...

replacing the designation "Lac Saint-François".Source: "Names and places of Quebec", work of the Commission de toponymie du Québec, published in 1994, 1996 and 2006 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.

Geography

Toponymy

Notes and references

See also