Lucrative Tidelands

River shoreline at Grondines, 2022.

In the 19th century, the St. Lawrence River was a major route for barges and schooners transporting goods. These vessels were often built in villages along the river. Grondines was no exception and was in fact a shipbuilding hub in the region: between 1810 and 1874, two thirds of the vessels over 100 tons built in Portneuf County came from Grondines.

Shipbuilding, circa 1900.

Today, these barges, sloops and schooners are nowhere to be seen. As in many shipbuilding communities, “once a ship is in the water, little or no trace of construction activities is left behind. [1] ”. With their temporary infrastructure gone, these shipyards are now nothing more than memories.

Grondines wharf, 1990.

In addition to being a major supplier of “large coasting trade ships between 1845 and 1875,” [2] Grondines is the birthplace of no less than 37% of the county’s sailors. The village wharf also served as a landing point for merchandise bound for neighbouring parishes and further north. But trade is a two-way process: goods also left Grondines through the wharf!

Trading

Towards the end of the 19th century, the banks of the river were transformed into an open quarry. Stone was extracted and loaded into schooners moored along the shore. The stone was used to make limestone and, later, was incorporated into macadam for road construction. Émile Houde, a local contractor specialized in paving, also used the stone extracted here.

Loading sailboats from the quarry at Grondines, circa 1910.

The Grondines Stone Brick & Lime Co. was not the only company to occupy the banks of the river. In 1928, a cannery founded by agronomist Jean-Charles Magnan opened its doors. This cooperative produced around 100,000 cans of tomatoes, tomato juice and beans in a single year. Despite the ups and downs of the market, the cannery remained in operation until 1949, when it was destroyed by fire.

Grondines canning cooperative, 1930.