A Rich Land

L’épierrement (1987) (Rock removal), Thérèse Sauvageau.

The village might bear the name of Grondines today, but we mustn’t forget that when the first seigneuresses took possession of the land in 1646, the seigneury bore the evocative name of Saint-Charles-des-Roches (Saint-Charles-of-the-Rocks). What an apt name! One could say that the presence of rocks in the soil is one of the defining features of the territory.

So much so that each and every single farmer in the region has to deal with it. Every year, spring is synonymous with rock removal duty. For a long time now, rock removal has been an essential step to cultivating fields that were once so rocky that some remember being able to cross them by jumping from rock to rock.

Lady with her turkeys, circa 1930.

From Fields to… Peat Bogs

Mr. Louis Dolbec of Grondines, October 28, 1938.

But the land was still very generous. Inhabitants managed to live off the land profitably. In the second half of the 19th century, Grondines even became one of the county’s leading fruit producers.

Dairy production also developed over time. Through the years, butter and cheese factories opened, and later closed, their doors in the village. Grondines also has one resource whose extraction left little traces behind: peat.

Two children with their calves in Grondines, circa 1955.

In the early 1940s, the presence of peat on large tracts of land in the river lots attracted the attention of peat cutters. Over time, peat from Grondines found its way to Canadian and American markets. Guilbault Transport would be the main hauler of this resource.

Excerpt from Rapport géologique 31. La tourbe dans Québec : son origine, sa répartition et son emploi (1947).

Today, the Grondines landscape is rich in agricultural heritage, a testament not only to its past, but above all to the hard work of the people who have cared for it.

Oxen harnessed for field work, circa 1940.