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What Wonderful Grist!

Watercolour painting of the Du Crochet Mill in Saint-François-de-Sales. It is a large white building with a brown roof located beside a river.

Du Crochet Mill in Laval-des-Rapides, watercolour by J.-A. Paquette, circa 1930

Reference: Société d’histoire et de généalogie de l’Île Jésus, C009, Fonds Vincent Paquette

When the Du Crochet Mill was built in what is today Laval-des-Rapides, the entire economic hub of the island moved with it.

In fact, the Saint-François-de-Sales mill was the only one operating on the island until 1768. It became the most productive mill owned by the Séminaire de Québec.

While peas were the main commodity produced in 1719, wheat became the real currency exchanged with Montreal merchants.