Baie-Comeau

Baie-Comeau (2011 city population 22,113; CA population 28,789) is a city located approximately 420 kilometres (260 mi) north-east of Quebec City in the Côte-Nord region of the province of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River near the mouth of the Manicouagan River, and is the seat of Manicouagan Regional County Municipality.

There are two urban area population centres within the city limits: Baie-Comeau proper, with a population of 9,917, and Hauterive, with a population of 11,844, as of the Canada 2011 Census.

The city is named after the adjacent Comeau Bay, which is named in honour of Napoléon-Alexandre Comeau, a Québécois naturalist.

Former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney is a native of the town.

History

The oldest part of Baie-Comeau is the area known as Vieux-Poste (Old Post) near the mouth of the Amédée River where in 1889, the Saint-Eugène-de-Manicouagan Mission was founded by Eudists. In 1898, the first sawmill in the Côte-Nord region was built there by the brothers Damase and Henri Jalbert, but it closed in 1907 after their timber stock was swept into the St. Lawrence. In 1916, Route 138 was extended to Saint-Eugène-de-Manicouagan and in 1929, its post office opened with the English name of Comeau Bay (gallicized in 1936).

Baie Comeau (ship, 2013)

The Baie Comeau was the fourth and last lake freighter in Canada Steamship Lines Trillium class. Like her sister ships, the Baie St. Paul, the Thunder Bay, and the Whitefish Bay she was built in China.

She left China on June 30, 2013, arrived in Montreal on August 24. In an inaugural salute to the completion of its first voyage, carrying cargo, Claude Dumais, CSL's vice president of technical operations, presented Christine Brisson, mayor of Baie-Comeau, with an 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) model of the vessel, which will be displayed in the city's municipal offices.

The Quebec & Ontario Transportation Company launched an earlier vessel named the Baie Comeau in 1954.

References