Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Village de L'Or Bleu

Recently when we were in Quebec, we bought some bottle water, and I was interested to see where the source was.  It's from St. Mathieu d'Harricana.  Now that's a good Quebec name.  Most of the small towns and villages in Quebec are St. Something, a reflection of the strong influence of the Catholic church for so many years.  The "Harricana" is Algonquin for "biscuit", referring to the biscuit shaped pebbles found in the river that flows through the village. There have always been close ties between the Francophone and the Native populations especially in the northern parts of the provinces, and St. Mathieu is almost as far north as you can go on a road in Quebec.  Go out your back door in St. Mathieu and point north, and the next stop is Hudson's Bay, and after that, the North Pole.  The water comes from an esker formation left behind by glaciers . A large deposit of sand was left behind by the glacier, and as rainwater and snowmelt move through it today, impurities are filtered out. The taste of the water reminds me of the spring water that you get in the Laurentian Mts. north of Montreal. Water that is a treat to drink. The motto of St. Mathieu is Village de L'Or Bleu, village of blue gold.

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