Map of the Water Power of the Rivière du Nord, Village of Saint-Jérôme

Not long after arriving in Saint-Jérôme, Curé Labelle began working closely with local leaders to make the town the hub of the surrounding region. Since the Rivière du Nord was the main driving force of the local economy in the 1870s, a study of the river’s water power was conducted. To attract potential investors, industrial development was promoted by offering certain advantages. Here is what was printed in a major Montreal newspaper of the day, La Minerve, on Friday, April 17, 1874: “We are authorized by Mr. P. R. T. de Montigny, of Saint-Jérôme, to say that he is offering water power, free of charge, in the village of Saint-Jérôme, to those who would like to make use of it for industrial purposes, throughout the year. This is too generous an offer for American and Canadian newspapers not to report it to their readers.” This advertising campaign would not have an immediate impact, but gradually small industries began to appear along the shores of the Rivière du Nord. The offer was later enhanced and, in the early 1880s, manufacturers such as Jean-Baptiste Rolland (of the Rolland Paper Company) and the cousins André Silfrid Delisle and Wilbrod Delisle (of the Delisle pulp mill) built major industrial facilities along the river in exchange for multiyear tax holidays.