RG 021(A) MOISIE AREA, SAGUENAY COUNTY PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, CANADA Department of Mines 1lunuur;~Llr .luni~bhan IfUÜINNIIS, ,I/iuixl.r ,1.-fl. 111" I':HNF:. /)rpMll-Jlinixn.r DIVISION OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS I. W. JONES, Chief GEOLOGICAL REPORT 21 MOISIE AREA SAGUENAY COUNTY by Carl Faessler. I~,~,:;~, np•-„r~:,~,...,, (1! .,,;1malr`-,,,pir:,:~ QUEBEC REDEMPTI PARADIS PRINTER TO HIS MAJESTY THE RING 1945 .esses na SERVICE DOCv; ENTATION TECHNIQUE i MOISIE AREA, SAGUENAY COUNTY by Carl Faessler TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 3 Location and area 3 Previous work 3 Base-map and acknowledgments 3 Population 4 Hunting and fishing 5 Lumbering 5 Farming 5 PHYS I OGRAPHY 6 The Champlain plain 6 The Laurentide plateau 6 The Laurentian foothills 7 Rivers 7 GENERAL GEOLOGY 7 Table of formations 8 Grenville series 8 Granitic gneiss series 9 Morin series 10 Diabase dykes 11 Quaternary 11 ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 12 Titaniferous iron (ilmenite) 12 Moisie black sands 12 BIBLIOGRAPHY 14 MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS Map No. 600 - Moisie area, Saguenay county (in pocket) PLATES (At end of volume) Plate I Moisie river, near Grand Mercier river. District between Moisie and Matamec river; Charlotte lake. MOISIE AREA, SAGUENAY COUNTY (1) by Carl Faessler INTRODUCTION Location and Area In 1939, the writer mapped for the Quebec Department of Mines an area extending easterly along the north shore of the St- Lawrence river from Des Rapides river to longitude 66°00' West and for a distance inland of fifteen to twenty miles, or to one mile south of 50030' North latitude. The area examined, totalling about 275 square miles, includes part of the townships of Letellier and Moisie, Saguenay county. This work was a continuation of the programme of geo- logically mapping the north shore of the St-Lawrence which had com- menced in 1929 at Tadoussac and which in the previous season had reached Des Rapides river (1). Previous Work Few geologists had previously visited the area. H.Y. Hind (2), of Trinity College, Toronto, carried out explorations a- long Moisie river in 1862. James Richardson (3), of the Geological Survey, mapped the geology along this and adjacent sections of the north shore during the years 1866-69, but did not proceed far in- land. Count Henri de Puyjalon (4) made similar explorations in 1880-81. T. Sterry Hunt (5), P.E. Dulieux (6), and J. Obalski (7) have reported on the occurrence and exploitation of the magnetite- bearing 'black sands' along the coast near Moisie river, to which further reference is made on a later page. Base Map and Acknowledgments The base-map from. which the geological map accompany- ing this report was prepared was furnished by the Quebec Department of Lands and Forests. In addition to the writer, the field party included W.C. Howells, graduate student at McGill University, assistant; Philippe L'Homme, of Ecole Polytechnique, student assistant; Walter Giasson and Germain Bois, packers, and Willie Bourgeois, cook, all of Sept-Iles. All carried out their duties efficiently. The writer takes this opportunity of recording his cor- dial thanks to Mr. Robert Ross, Mayor of Sept-Iles, to Mr. E. Mur- phy, Manager of the Adams Fishing Club, and to Mr. A. Levesque, Guardian at Matamec, for many services rendered the party. (x) Translated from the French. (1) Numbers within brackets refer to Bibliography, at end of re- port. - 4 - Population There are but two villages along this section of the north shore of the St-Lawrence, Sept-Iles and Moisie. Sept-Iles, about 320 miles below Quebec city, is one of the principal centres on the north shore. It was formerly the site of the provisional bishopric of the Gulf of St-Lawrence, which was transferred to havre-St-Pierre, 120 miles downstream, after the archbishop's residence was destroyed by fire in 1917. The village is seventy-five miles almost due north of Ste-Anne-des- Monts, on the south shore of the St-Lawrence. It has a white popu- lation of about 650 (approximately 120 families), and adjacent is an Indian reservation on which about sixty families of Montagnais live. Together with Moisie, it forms the municipality of St-Joseph- de-Letellier. Sept-Iles is the most easterly port of call on the north shore for the regular summer boat service between the north shore and Matane and Rimouski, on the south shore. Buildings in the village include a church, parsonage, school, branch of a bank, post office, and telegraph office. There are also several fair sized stores, boarding houses, and a. resident doctor. Direct telephone service with Clarke City, Ste-Marguerite, Moisie, and the Adams fishing club is available. Sept-Iles bay, and its chain of islands, forms a safe, natural harbour for boats of any size. In the bay are two wharfs, that of Clarke City on the west shore, and that of Sept- Iles on the east shore. At low tide, however, the latter will not accommodate boats drawing more Phan fifteen feet, owing to its pro- ximity to the bank of clay and large boulders that, with a width up to two miles, encloses the bay in the form of a crescent, extend- ing from Post point, near the village of Sept-Iles, to the isthmus leading to Marconi peninsula, near the Clarke City wharf. This clay bank is exposed at low tide. It would, however, be easy to build a wharf in deep water at Pointe-aux-Basques, two miles south- east of the existing one at Sept-Iles. The channels between the islands of the archipelago are very deep and form natural shelters which are much appreciated by those navigating along this section of the north shore. Sept-Iles is primarily a hunting and fishing centre. To a lesser degree, the packing and shipping of fish, lum- bering, and farming, are carried on. A certain number of tourists come every summer for game fishing. The village of Moisie is on the west bank of the estuary of Moisie river, 13 miles east of Sept-Iles. The two vil- lages are linked by a wagon road and a telephone line. The white population of Moisie is about 200, and there are also about fifty families of Montagnais, belonging to the Sept-Iles reservation. There is no wharf at Moisie. The sand banks of the river extend about two miles out into the St-Lawrence and pre- vent vessels from coming up to the village from the open gulf. To reach the village, it is necessary for them to enter the river, but the channel is narrow and often impassable, especially when the wind is onshore. As a landing place for aircraft, however, the - 5 - wide sheet of calm water which forms the estuary of Moisie river is ideal. As a consequence, Moisie is the base for aircraft serving the mining and lumbering interests of the interior of Canadian and Newfoundland Labrador. It serves as the airport for Sept-Iles. At Moisie there is a chapel served by the parish priest from Sept.Iles, a post office, a telegraph office, and a local telephone exchange. Mail reaches the village twice a week via Sept-Iles, where it is put ashore from the boats which, in summer, connect the north shore directly with Quebec and Montreal. In Moisie, as in Sept-Iles, hunting and fishing are the principal sources of revenue. Hunting is carried on chiefly by the Indians, fishing by the whites. The Adams Fishing Club on Moisie river provides considerable employment for several weeks each summer. Hunting and Fishing The Indians of Sept-Iles and Moisie leave for their hunting grounds after August 15th, most of them ascending Moisie river. They return the following May or June by the same river or by the Ste-Marguerite, west of Sept-Iles, or, more rarely, by one of the other rivers. The annual revenue from the fur trade is estimated at $100,000 (8). Fishing is the principal occupation of the people of this part of the north shore. There was formerly a factory near the Clarke City wharf where fish refuse was treated, especial- ly that of whales harpooned in the gulf, but this plant was des- troyed by fire several years ago. The fishing is chiefly for her- ring, halibut, mackerel, salmon, and cod. The Provincial Govern- ment has erected a refrigerating plant at Sept-Iles for packing and shipping fish. From here, frozen fish (especially salmon) are shipped to Canadian and American markets and even to London (Eng- land). For the most part, the salmon shipped is the catch of members of the Adams Fishing Club. This Club is eight miles by road upstream from Moisie village, the cottages and other buildings being on a terrace on the east side o.f the river. It is possible to reach the Club by water this stretch of the river being navigable. However, this route is rarely used since the building of a good road which con- nects the Club with both Moisie and Sept-Iles. The latter village, because of its facilities, Iras become the base of operations for the club. This is the largest fishing club in the whole Gulf of St-Lawrence region. Most of the members are Americans. Lumbering No systematic logging is done in this region, but the Gulf Pulp and Paper Company operates a pulp mill at Clarke City, nine miles west of Sept-Iles bay, which employs a consider- able number of the residents of Sept-Iles. The wood is cut in the valley of Ste-Marguerite river. There is also timber of good quality, mostly spruce, along Des Rapides river, but the turbulent character of the stream makes its exploitation almost impossible.