OUR HISTORY
The name TheWild Whale
We have immense respect for our ancestors and their bravery. Beluga fishing was practiced for 240 years in the municipality of Rivière-Ouelle, on the south shore of the river, as early as 1698. Taught by the Basques and the Aboriginals, lords and settlers practiced this activity from generation to generation. The first settlers quickly drew on the resources brought to them by the river in order to survive in this harsh and difficult country. The fat of this animal served them for lighting. Sometimes, hundreds of belugas were caught during the same night. A magnificent legend, which takes place around the place where fishing was done, tells us how the frenzied whales came to dissuade the settlers from practicing overfishing.
On May 21, 1929, the Lizotte family made an exceptional discovery in a fishery they owned in Rivière-Ouelle. She finds more than a hundred belugas there. The Minister of Colonization, Mines and Fisheries Hector Laferté (1885-1971) took the opportunity to have his photograph taken with Wilfrid Lebon (1877-1955) from the college of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, and Joseph Lizotte. While in Canada for a report on Quebec and the St. Lawrence River, journalist and photographer from National Geographic magazine Vincent Clarence Scott O'Connor took the opportunity to immortalize the event. One of these photographs will go around the world in the February 1, 1935 edition of this magazine.
Sources: Yves Hébert - Le Placouteux
https://www.leplacoteux.com/une-peche-miraculeuse-a-riviere-ouelle/
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Partygoers and frenzied whales
Since the founding of the village in 1608, the inhabitants of Rivière-Ouelle have hunted belugas. Since they had privileged access to Pointes-aux-Orignaux, they quickly made a fortune. One June 24, at the end of a particularly fruitful season, they had a huge party on the banks of the river with their friends from the neighboring villages. Around them lay the remains of hundreds of belugas that had been caught during a miraculous catch. Everyone was dancing and singing to the music. But, at the first light of morning, the strings of the violins began to twist, the voices of the singers to distort, and the melody gave way to a deafening buzz. An eerie fog, which looked like long hands, drifted up to the revelers who hurriedly got into their boats to get away from the shore. The waves raged over them and brought them back to shore. The fishermen got out of the water and began to run towards the nearest houses. Once in the shelter, they noticed that the water had brought the belugas back and that a hundred frenzied whales with fiery eyes were returning to the water!
