Tuesday, October 1, 2019, Saguenay, Quebec, CN
Saguenay
Founded as a French colonial trading post and bolstered by
the fur trade, Saguenay is one of southern Quebec’s most cosmopolitan
cities. It con-sists of three
boroughs: Jonquiere, Chicoutimi, and La
Baie. Once neighboring towns, they were
merged to form the present-day city in 2002, during the initiative that
restructured the province’s munic-ipalities.
Except for some Inuit and Cree villages, there are no towns due north
between Saguenay and the Arctic. Like so
many Canadian cities founded amid woodland, Saguenay grew its pulp and paper
trade with the late 19th century arrival of the Canadian National
Railway. Since then, this resilient town
has recovered from a great fire, a land-slide, and a flood.
Saguenay Highlights & Crafts
On today's shore excursion we learned how the stunning Saguenary Fjord has shaped this scenic
region and visited with some local crafts people. We rode with our guide through
the picturesque La Baie, stopping at the Fjord Museum. Here, we learned how
the fjord was so dramatically chiseled into the Laurentian Mountains. Next, we passed the Ha! Ha! Pyramid, a monument to the great flood of 1996, as we continued on to Le Chevrier du Nord, a small family-owned goat farm, and learned how our
hosts produce mohair wool. Our final stop was the home of local barber and
painter Arthur Villeneuve, located in the historic pulp mill. We enjoyed time to
browse the impressive frescoes that cover almost every square inch of his home.
JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF THE SAGUENAY FJORD
Come aboard the Navis for a unique technological experience! Journey into the heart of the Saguenay Fjord and see its formation and evolution through aerial and underwater images. 
Seats in the Fjord Museum simulating seats on a future space ship/underwater vehicle. We had a "tour" of the surrounding terrain and waters of the fjords.
Flower bed in front of Fjord Museum.
Church across from fjord museum.
We arrived at the goat farm and started our tour in the barn. Male and female goats are kept in separate pens and pastures. The goats are sheered twice a year, not all at the same times.
Our second stop at the goat farm was in the processing room.
The Saguenay flood was a series of flash floods on July 19 and 20, 1996 that hit the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. It was the biggest overland flood in 20th-century Canadian history.
Problems started after two weeks of constant rain, which severely engorged soils, rivers, and reservoirs. The Saguenay region is a geo-logical graben, which increased the effect of the sudden massive rains of July 19, 1996. In two days, rainfall accumulated that was "equivalent to the volume of water that tumbles over Niagara Falls in four weeks."
Over 8 feet of water flooded parts of Chicoutimi and La Baie, completely leveling an entire neighborhood. More than 16,000 people were evacuated. The official death toll was seven, but other sources cite ten. Estimates reach CA$1.5 billion in damages, a cost made greater by the disaster's occurrence at the height of the tourist season. Post-flood enquiries discovered that the network of dikes and dams protecting the city of Chicoutimi was poorly maintained. In the end, 488 homes were destroyed, 1,230 damaged, and 16,000 people evacuated from the entire area. An additional ten persons died in the mudslides produced by the incredible rain.
A small white house, "The little white house" stood nearly unharmed in Chicoutimi while torrents of water rushed in every side, and it became the symbol of surviving the flood. It was owned Mme Jeanne d'Arc Lavoie-Genest. With its foundation still highly exposed after the flooding, it has been preserved in Saguenay as a historical park and museum commemorating the flood.
An unexpected effect of the flood was to cover the heavily contaminated sedi-ments at the bottom of the Saguenay and Ha! Ha! Rivers with 3.9 to 19.7 inches of new, relatively clean sediments. Because of this, research has shown that the old sediments are no longer a threat to ecosystems and the river will not have to be dredged and treated to control contamination.
The Ha! Ha! Pyramid is a contemporary art monument commemorating the Saguenay flood of 1996. Located in the district of La Baie in Saguenay, Quebec, the pyramid was named after the nearby Ha! Ha! River. Conceived as a form of therapy to help residents recover from the traumatic events of the flood, it is covered in 3,000 yield signs, based on the similarity of the French words for "to yield" and "to help each other." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha!_Ha!_Pyramid
History:
The neighborhood of Grande-Baie suffered heavy damage from the flood of 1996. Ten people died and between 12,000 to 16,000 residents were displaced. Some 500 to 800 buildings were destroyed, more than 1,200 damaged, and damage estimates ranged from CN$300-700 million.
The project was therefore seen as a form of therapy to help residents recover from the traumatic events of the flood, and to revitalize the area by adding a new tourist and artistic attraction. A group of local citizens formed The Restoration Committee of Ha! Ha!, put forward the idea for a new art installation, and requested help from local artist Jean-Jules Soucy. Soucy submitted a contemporary design that would express both "originality and a sense of humor."
We stopped at an old pulp mill where Arthur Villeneuve's home is displayed in- side. He was a self taught barber; at age 47 and after 1950, Villeneuve concen-trated solely on painting. By 1978 he had painted 2,800 canvasses. Conserva- tive estimates place his final output at 3,000 paintings. His works range in area from a few square inches to his "favorite" format of 30" x 40" to several slightly larger works. In 1978 a 30" x 40" painting would be "given away" for the price of $50 (CND), while today a similar work regularly sells in the thousands for a few pictures of his house (we were not permitted to take our own).
Early in his second marriage Arthur began experimenting with drawing, collages, and sheet metal sculptures. Among these last there remains an elaborate clock, a ship, and a lighthouse, each of which images would become prominencolos themes in his later platte peinture. But his most famous early work is the house he bought at 669 rue Taché which he nearly completely covered, inside and out, with his first paintings.
This sudden urgency on Arthur's behalf to become an artist was attributed by him to a revelation he had in 1946. This decisive moment occurred during the homily at Sunday mass, in which the priest quoted from a letter of Pope Pius XII. The purpose of the letter was to exhort the faithful to make full use of their talents. Arthur believed that he had, until then, left his artistic ability untouched, and returned home to set about developing his gift.
Arthur began painting frescoes on the outside of his house in April, 1957. Still working as a barber, he painted 100 hours per week for 23 months, until he had covered the front facade, the rear, all the interior walls and ceilings, and even the windows of his house.
Because he was entirely self-taught and completely out of contact with his contemporaries in the painting world, Arthur was and is classed among those who practiced naive art or primitive art.
Picture our tour guide shared with us about winter ice houses. These are brought to the bay early each January for three winter months. They are held up by four feet of ice on the salt water bay! The owners can drive their cars right onto the ice. Ice fishing is a big winter activity by Saguenay residents.
Our tour guide, Eric, explaining the Saguenay flag. The 4 colors used represent the 4 elements of the richness of Saguenay: The green is for the forest and is placed on the top to show its ancient; the yellow is for the agriculture and is placed at the bottom like the ground that provides it; the grey is for its industry displayed as a cross to signify its exploitation and distribution role; the red is for the population putting the labor for the other elements. Its gray cross represents the aluminum, which is an important part of their industry.
Perhaps a last picture of the brilliant fall colors as we will head south in the morning.
Our cruise ship required the aid of two tug boats to pull it against extremely strong winds pushing it against the dock; normally its side thrusters can push us away so we can be on our way.
Tomorrow is a sea day, after six days full of shore excursions. We will arrive at Gaspe Thursday morning to go on an excursion. Following will be another sea day before we arrive at Halifax Saturday.
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