Views along the finger of the Saguenay River that gave La Baie its name, and the miniature islet called... L'Îlet. The name of this body of water? La Baie des Ha! Ha!. (This is the only time I'm permitted to put a period after an exclamation point.) The generally accepted etymology is that a "ha-ha" is an old French term for a blocked way, insinuating that something blocked the path of further settlement, perhaps the Canadian Shield. (The Saguenay River is the only reason there's any development this far north at all.) If that's the case, the term "ha-ha" may have later changed to imply laughter once the archaic definition died out. I still like to think the etymology began with laughter, maybe the sound of a flock of unusual geese or one of the explorers laughing when the other said this would be a good spot to settle. Baie des Ha! Ha! is fed by Rivière des Ha! Ha!, and there are two other Ha! Ha! names around the province.


Port-Alfred was its own town until 1976, then was forcibly merged with neighboring Bagotville to create La Baie, which was then merged into Saguenay at the end of 2001. Soon, this will all be part of Montréal. Anyway, this is the old Port-Alfred town hall, which may still serve some government functions, seen heading east on QC Route 170 (2nd St./Rue).


A block past the town hall is St-Édouard Church, originally serving Port-Alfred and now one piece of Saguenay's Catholic patchwork.


Have another church, St-François-Xavier Cathedral, looking east up the hill from downtown Chicoutimi. The building behind it is now full of condos, but was once a girls' boarding school named Soeurs du Bon-Pasteur.


The Chicoutimi River dam, on the south side of Rue Price (QC Route 372). My eye is drawn to all the water coming out of one of the four races, even though the rightmost gate is in the same position with no flow, and the other two gates have some flow despite the gates being up. What are the gates for, then?


Visible from there, Sacré-Coeur Church.


Two views along the Saguenay River, the first looking north toward the Canton-Tremblay neighborhood of Chicoutimi, the second looking west as I head toward Jonquière (also part of Saguenay).


Église (Church) Ste-Thérèse, at Boulevards Saguenay (QC Route 372) and Mellon in the eastern reaches of Jonquière.


One last church, Ste-Cécile, at the west end of Boulevard Saguenay.

Saguenay Roads
Back to Québec Non-Roads
Back to Non-Roads main page