S 048(A) UNGAVA BAY - UNGAVA PENINSULA UNGAVA BAY-UNGAVA PENINSULA by ROBERT BERGERON Published for the PROVINCE OF QUEBEC DEPARTMENT OF MINES QUEBEC, P.Q. Ungava Bay Ungava Peninsula by ROBERT BERGERON Published for the PROVINCE OF QUEBEC DEPARTMENT OF MINES QUEBEC, P.Q. INDEX MAP C. Smith NORTHERN QUEBEC ungav Scale in Miles Bay 100 0 100 200 Scale in Miles HUDSON BAY Ham /Hen inlet ✓a mes Bay Lake Mistassini C'l 1 Chibougomau '::;6u/f of 'Rouyn-Norandô Murdochville SALISBURY ~ .• Si. Lawrence Lnke 7 mis koming NOTTINGHAM L QUEBEC S` .l •Thetford Mollira Q Mines C. Wolstenhol mew BIG I. C. Weggs lvugivik S Cape Smith-Wakeham Boy Belt F-1 Sugluk T Douglas Esker L. ) Kovik o Har. Wehom RESOLUTION a Little P NEW QUEBE Bo Y Q ~~ cit RiVer (.CRATER Cope Hopes C. Smith Kingwa L. Advance Nantais ~c. Koartoc AKPATO Klo.tr Port Burwell4 Lake OTTAWA Payne Ba a ISLANDS PaYne R. Hopes Advance Bay Leaf Rom oh 8 *Port Harrison N Hebron c Hudson â 0 O B (.3 y Lake R '1 ErJandso n % Mint n Lake -0 ( uNoin ForT McKenzie Richmond Gulf Clearwater o' Lake = Great-Whale -River U E gP E —55 ° c• P Attikamagen C. Jones Lake Schefferville• 75° GEOGRAPHICAL BRANCH. DEPT. OF M. & T.S. 1958 A map of Northern Quebec, showing the Ungava Peninsula. The area under Newfoundland's jurisdiction is known as the Coast of Labrador. Opposite:—Probably the most interesting topographical feature of the Ungava Peninsula is the New Quebec crater, shown here. The lake filling its depression has a diameter of 9,100 feet. Inset is a vertical photograph of the crater. Photographs by Henry Koro and Air Laurentides 4 Ungava Bay Ungava Peninsula b y ROBERT BERGERON A NOTABLE EVENT in the history of the Eskimos living along the Atlantic coast Canadian mining was the discovery and referred to their brothers living along the shore development of iron ore in the Schefferville of Ungava Bay as the "far away" ones. The area*. This led to exploration and prospecting name Ungava was later given to the bay and to campaigns in numerous other parts of the a poorly defined but large part of Labrador. Labrador Peninsula, and particularly in the Prior to 191e, Ungava was a district of the area south and west of Ungava Bay. This area Northwest Territories, established by the — its history, human and animal life, and Canadian Government in 1895. It comprised mineral resources — is reviewed briefly in this the land within the Province of Quebec north article. of latitude fifty-two degrees. When annexed to Before describing the country, we must try Quebec, its name was changed to New Quebec. to dissipate some of the existing confusion The spur west of Ungava Bay was named regarding the names Labrador, Ungava, and "Ungava Peninsula" by It. J. Flaherty, "the New Quebec. Study of ancient geographical maps, particularly those of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, shows that to travellers and sailors of those times the word Labrador meant a peninsula in the northeastern part of the North American continent roughly based on a line connecting James Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Ungava is an Eskimo word meaning "far away". The origin of the word is not definitely known as yet. But it is logical to suppose that 7rn Ore Galore, by J. A. Betty, Can. Geog. Journal, Vol. XLII, No. 1 pp. 2-21, January 1951; and Knob Lake on Canada's New Frontier, by W. G. Rosa, Can. Geog. Journal, Vol. LIV, No. 6, pp. 238-245, June 1957. UNGAVA BAY—UNGAVA PENINSULA father of the documentary film" and the maker undulating plateau rising 1,000 to x,000 feet of the film Nanook of the North, who made two above sea level; many of the highest points are traverses across the peninsula in 1912. The between Wakeham Bay and Douglas Harbour. expression has been used by many explorers Within the peninsula, two ranges of hills rise since and deserves to be retained. That part of some 1,000 feet above the level of the sur- the Labrador Peninsula which falls under New- rounding ground. They are the Cape Smith foundland's jurisdiction is properly called the Range, northwest of the Chukotat River which Coast of Labrador. flows into Hudson Bay, and the Povungnituk Range immediately south of the Little Povun- General Features of the Area gnituk River in the north-central part of the Physiographically, the Labrador Peninsula is peninsula. The most interesting topographical a peneplain; that is, a land-form worn down by feature within this area is the New Quebec erosion to a nearly flat or broadly undulating crater, which has been considered to be of plain. Since its formation, the peneplain has meteoric origin; its exterior diameter is 11,500 been tilted so that a high escarpment borders feet. The diameter of the lake filling the the Atlantic Ocean and Hudson Strait, and depression is 9,100 feet and the average height from this escarpment the plateau surface of the rim above the lake is 400 feet. The slopes gently toward the west and southwest. altitude of the rim is about 300 feet above the A major exception to this generality is a surrounding ground. The inside slope ap- U-shaped area around Ungava Bay, wherein the surface slopes northward toward the sea. proaches forty-five degrees. Many islands are found along the northern The coastline of Ungava Bay is generally low. coast of Ungava Peninsula. This coast is It rises here and there into hills with a maxi- irregular and relatively steep at many points mum elevation of 500 feet. The littoral is between Cape Wolstenholme and Cape Hopes jagged in many places and has many small Advance. The coast is followed inland by an rocky islands, but it usually consists of stretches An Eskimo cairn made of quartzite- hematite flagstones. Aubert de la Rue ~~T ~►~-~ :7•4 : ^.. .^r s+y _,~~;"=~:~~ 6 t-'w„6,- a .~ _.F :- k •~T . ~•~S.~L~'. it •.f'J~•I Above:—The air base built at Fort Chino by the United States was closed in 1948, but some of the buildings and an air strip are still in use. In the back- ground is the Kok- soak liver. Aubert de la Rue Left—The typical aspect of the tundra in the interior of the Ungava Peninsula. Aubert de la Rue 7 UNGAVA BAY—UNGAVA PENINSULA of clay strewn with large erratic boulders. Tidal teristic of the climate of the northern part of variations are considerable, being up to fifty- Quebec is its great instability. Weather changes four feet, the highest in the world, at Leaf are frequent, and although the annual precipi- Bay. The major indentations of the coastline tation is only about twenty inches, very few are the estuaries of the largest rivers, which are summer days are without a drizzle of rain. The fiords. These are not as majestic as the fiords of thermal variations are also great in summer, Norway, as the plateau in which they are with temperatures above 90° Fahrenheit being incised does not rise above 600 feet. recorded almost every year in the Fort Chimo area. Climate, Flora and Fauna The vegetation of this northern part of This territory has but two seasons — winter Quebec is characterized by the tundra, com- and summer — and summer lasts little more monly called the Barren Lands. The southern than the months of July and August. Around limit of the tundra proper is a sinuous line Fort Chimo, the lakes are generally free of ice between latitudes 58° and 59°. This line passes about 25 June; in the northern part of Ungava a few miles north of Fort Chimo. The tundra is Peninsula, about 10 July. characterized by large areas carpeted mainly Most of the snow melts during the first two with moss and lichen. In addition, there are weeks in June, but many patches remain until sedges, flowering and bushy plants and, as in the middle of August and some remain through- the river valleys opening on Hudson Strait, a out the year. Regular, nightly frosts start about few stunted willows and alders. the first week in September in the vicinity of Game is not plentiful. Caribou, so precious Fort Chimo. Here, also, this is about the time to the Indian and Eskimo populations, once of the first snow-fall. The climatic conditions thrived in very large numbers in this territory, are slightly different south of Hudson Strait, but have almost completely disappeared in the where at Esker Lake in 1957 the first snow-fall last few decades. Several reasons have been was recorded on 13 August. The main charac- brought forward to explain this disappearance, A group of prefabricated huts at Esker Lake, central base of operation for the companies working in the Cape Smith-Wakeham Bay area. Henry Koro An Eskimo family from Sugluk. The man was working for a mining company at Esker Lake in the summer of 2957. Henry Koro but the main reasons seem to be forest fires and extreme abundance during the summer months inconsiderate slaughter by Indians and Eski- all over the territory. mos. During the winter, the Eskimos capture white or polar foxes and arctic hares. They also Population hunt seals and kill a few polar bears along the There are about one hundred permanent coast of Hudson Strait. Flocks of white white residents in the area. They include partridge, ducks and Canada geese inhabit the Hudson's Bay Company personnel, mission- territory, and various sea birds dwell along the aries, employees of aviation companies and coasts.