Boom and Bust in a Mining Village: The Sad Fate of Roc-d’Or Boom and Bust in a Mining Village: The Sad Fate of Roc-d’Or Société d'histoire de Malartic
In this interview, Thérèse Legault-Richard shares an anecdote about what happened at Roc-d’Or pharmacy. Mrs. Thérèse Legault-Richard: “There was a pharmacy too. And I remember, because my sister had […]
Established in 1940, this “patent medicine” shop belonged to Roger Gauthier and was located on the west side of the main street. It was essentially a pharmacy that […]
This Shell gas station belonged to Noël Blanchette and Jean-Marie Gauthier. It opened in 1936 at the very beginning of Roc-d’Or in the most commercial part of the […]
The workforce was very mobile throughout the region. In fact, far from their roots, workers did not often settle down. Several Roc-d’Or inhabitants offered room-and-board services. A Finn […]
Identified as “Israelites”, a couple in their fifties and their 16-year-old daughter lived in Roc-d’Or starting in 1938. In the 1941 census, more than 200 Northwestern Quebeckers report […]
Quick and easy to put up, log cabins were also inexpensive. They were convenient while the owner built a house with lumber or insured his permanent settlement in […]
Roc-d’Or is not limited to a collection of rustic cabins. There were several buildings of quality. In fact, some of the houses moved to Malartic are still standing […]
The vast majority of newcomers to the mining camp had no choice but to settle in Roc-d’Or. Their families could not stay in the bunkhouses (barrack-like dormitories near […]
The beginnings of the village are unclear, but there was a definite increase in the population in the spring of 1936. The first concrete evidence of Roc-d’Or to […]
Living in these poorly-insulated houses must have been tough. Insects, especially the infamous mosquitoes, swarmed in summer and winters were worthy of Siberia. For many inhabitants, small cast […]
Besides its unflattering nickname of “Putainville”, Roc-d’Or had several appellations. One of them was Paris Valley. Was it due to its effervescent character or a reference to one […]
At the beginning, one named G. St-Louis owned at least part of the claims at Roc-d’Or. This changed in 1936, with an amendment to the Mining Act. Buildings […]
