Natural Heritage
Ottawa River
The history of Pontiac is interwoven with that of the Ottawa River, a majestic watercourse that springs from Lake Temiscaming and flows into the St. Lawrence River.
Early in the 17th Century, Algonquin and Huron fur traders used this main navigation artery to access a vast territory and, for many more years, the Ottawa remained the only east-west transportation route.
The French were the first Europeans to travel up the Ottawa for the purpose of fur trading. Soon after they arrived, conflicts arose among native peoples.
Following the conquest, American immigrants propelled the Outaouais into the logging business. It soon reached Pontiac where the Ottawa and its tributaries, mainly the Coulonge River, played a key role in the logging industry. In the spring, immense timber rafts were floated to the cities of Ottawa and Quebec.
Loggers created entire villages such as Nickabeau. Towns grew where tributaries met the Ottawa such as at Waltham and, at the mouth of the Coulonge River, Fort-Coulonge became the forestry capital of Pontiac.
Chutes Coulonge
The history of the log drive is retold today at the Chutes Coulonge, a spectacular natural tourist site also featuring an aerial park complete with zip lines and via ferrata. This site has a connection to Bryson House in Mansfield, residence of the lumber baron George Bryson Sr., precursor of the forest industry in Pontiac. He had a 915 metre long log slide built to bypass a natural obstacle, the Coulonge falls. George Bryson also left his mark in the village of Fort-Coulonge, accessed via the covered Marchand bridge facing Bryson House, where he had three large stone houses built for his children on the west end of Principale street.
Oiseau Rock
Oiseau Rock (Rocher-à-l'oiseau), is a sheer rock face that rises sharply, approximately 150m, from the Ottawa River. It is recognized as an archaeological site (CaGh-2) of great importance given the presence of native pictographs. Leading Québec rock art specialist, Daniel Arsenault, has described Oiseau Rock as a “historical jewel of unfathomable importance for the Outaouais region, not to mention the entire province of Québec.” Given the great quantity of pictographs, which may exceed 60, as well as the variety of subjects and forms depicted, Oiseau Rock may represent one of the most important rock art sites in all of North America.
Historical accounts from such notable figures as Gabriel Sagard, Paul Le Jeune and the Chevalier de Troye, going all the way back to 1626, recount how natives regarded the site as a sacred place. They told the Europeans that the rock was once a man that changed to rock as he lifted his arms to the sky. They believed that the Rock could grant a successful voyage and therefore made offerings by placing tobacco directly into one of the cracks in the rock surface or by attaching a bag of tobacco to an arrow that was shot towards the top of the cliff.
During the 1800’s, Oiseau Rock become an attraction for Ottawa Valley settlers who travelled the Ottawa River on steam ships, such as the S.S. Oiseau that carried passengers and cargo between Pembroke and Rapides-des-Joachims. The Rock continues to attract visitors to this day. Boaters, canoers and kayakers alight on a beach located a few hundred meters to the east of Oiseau Rock, where they picnic and enjoy the short hike (1 km) up to the summit of the Rock. There they can take in a magnificent view of the Ottawa River, the Ontario shoreline, or swim in the small natural lake located near the summit.
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