Date Published:
July 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Gatineau River

Gatineau river, a tributary of the Ottawa river which rises in Abitibi county, Quebec, and flows south for 230 miles until it empties into the Ottawa near Hull. It is named after Nicolas Gatineau, a fur-trader who came to Canada in 1649, and died about 1683: the theory has been advanced that he was drowned in this river, and that it was named after him for this reason. For many years the river was a highway of the lumber traffic; and vast quantities of logs were floated down its stream annually. It is navigable by canoes for three-fourths of its distance, but is interrupted by a number of considerable falls, which develop important water-powers.

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., p. 12.