Group Archives | The rivers of Prairies and Mille Iles: regional development

Row, Row, Row your Boat!

In 1998, the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles was recognized as a museum by the provincial Ministry of Culture, Communications and Status of Women. This recognition followed the creation […]

A Cruise Close to Home

There were many business opportunities on our rivers. Some promoters even had the original idea of offering guided tours of the Des Prairies River. This photograph features a […]

An Outing on the River

Boat-building technology developed extensively in the 20th century. Pleasure boaters no longer had to row to enjoy the water—they just had to start their outboard motors! With this […]

1, 2, 3, Go!

When we talk about how rivers are used, we usually think about summer. But for decades, people were eager for winter to come so they could take advantage […]

Plage-Laval, from Beach to Municipality in Four Years!

The western part of the parish of Sainte-Rose was mostly farmland until the 1920s. Real estate development in the region began in the early 20th century with resort […]

An Old Technology That Lasted

With our modern views of transportation, it is hard to imagine that crossing a river could cost money. Until the second half of the 20th century, bridges and […]

Everyone at Work

Winter was rough for many residents. Many of them applied to be day labourers for ice-cutting companies. This gave them some extra income to tide them over the […]

Cutting Ice

One of the flagship ice-cutting companies in our region was Glacières Sainte-Rose. It was run by the Bastien and Ouimet families. One of these entrepreneurs was Joseph Ouimet, […]

Raftsmen on the River

More information about raftsmen can be found in popular histories than official documents. That’s not surprising, since their occupation existed before photography was even invented! This watercolour was […]