The 2008 Meeting of the Gagne-Bellavance Family Association was held at the Hotel Clarion in Quebec City on September 19-21, 2008.  This year is the 400th anniversary of the City of Quebec. As soon as pictures and text are available, they will be posted here. Below are notes from last year’s meeting.

 

 

2007 Meeting notes by Jean-Yves Bellavance, including photographs

 

Here is a summary of the meeting of the Association of the Families Gagné-Bellavance held at the St. Antoine Hermitage on Lac Bouchette in Quebec on September 7 - 9, 2007.

 

The Hermitage St. Antoine is a retreat facility whose rector is Father Michael Gagne, OFM Cap., a Capuchin Franciscan Friar. Some members stayed at nearby motels. All meals and meetings were held at the Hermitage.

 

Father Michael Gagne, O.F.M.Cap.

 

We thank Mr. Martin Gagné and all the volunteers who accommodated us at this marvelous pilgrimage site. The registration began on Friday September 7, with the meeting held on the following day.

 

                   President (standing) Guyane Bellavance    Archivist: Jean-Yves Bellavance

 

 

The general meeting, envisaged by the statutes, began at 10:00 A.M. on Saturday. Nine of the ten members of the board of directors attended as 41 people signed the attendance sheet. At the time of the assembly, the members present accepted the modified official report of the 2006 gathering as well as the financial statement for the period of July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007.

 

Then the president, Guyane Bellavance, gave a report on the activities which happened during the last year. After the elections which will take place in the administration of Association, there remain two positions available.

 

To finish the assembly, some people asked for precise details on the 2008 gathering which will take place with the Hotel Clarion in Quebec City on September 19-20, 2008. Once details become available, they will be posted on both of the Web Sites of Association.

 

In the afternoon, some members took a tour of the Hermitage which is celebrating 100 years in 2007. Others went to tour a nearby abandoned town called Val-Jalbert. This town was once the site of a thriving wood pulp mill, using wood from the nearby forests.  When cheaper means of pulp-making were invented, the entire operation suddenly went bankrupt in 1927 during the Great Depression.

 

In 1901 a forestry entrepreneur from Lac-Bouchette, Damase Jalbert, decided to build a pulp mill at the foot of the Ouiatchouan Falls along with the first houses of what would become the village of Val-Jalbert.

 

After the death of its founder in 1904, the company fell under American control, and three years later was taken over by the Chicoutimi Pulp Company, with Julien-Édouard-Alfred Dubuc at the helm. The industrial complex and the village then began to expand rapidly. Mr. Dubuc proceeded with the expansion of the pulp mill and the addition of several houses in the village to accommodate the newly arrived workers and their families. This work was done according to a well-established urban plan and all the commodities found in villages of the era could be found in the village: electricity, aqueducts, and indoor washrooms.

 

From 1907 to 1924, Val-Jalbert prospered. However, after this period, serious financial problems arose, causing the final closure of the factory on August 13, 1927. Suddenly, the two hundred workers and their families found themselves jobless and forced to leave the village. Abandoned and then closed to public access, the working-class village died.

 

Located on Highway 169, between Chambord town and city of Roberval, it can be visited in the summer, with camping facilities but closed in winter.

 

It is now an abandoned village turned into a tourist attraction with falls higher than Niagara Falls. It has some houses that you can visit and some houses that you cannot visit because they are falling down. You can go see the Lac St-Jean view from the top of the mountain. You will have to climb 751 stairs to go there or pay an extra 3 dollars to sit and go up in a chair lift.

 

This “company town” even had a Catholic church, convent and school on site. Some buildings are being restored as a historical site. It is now owned by the government of Quebec.

 

A lecture was given after supper by a historian about a group of men who conspired to exploit the forest resources.

 

On Sunday morning, a Mass was concelebrated by Father Michael Gagne and Father John Gagnier and other priests at the main church of the Hermitage. A delicious brunch followed the Mass.

 

Mass at the Marian Chapel: Center: Fr. Michael Gagne, O.F.M. Cap.

Left: Fr. John F. Gagnier, Diocese of Rochester, NY

Exterior View of Marian Chapel, Franciscan Friary located at left

Hotel of the Grotto, where meeting took place

Gagne-Bellavance banner at left near porch

A Sunday brunch concluded the weekend’s activities