Anticosti Island
Anticosti Island is a large, but largely unpopulated island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.[2] It is currently part of the Province of Quebec, although, at times, it was part of Newfoundland. The island is slightly smaller than Puerto Rico.[1]
The shoals surrounding the Island have represented serious navigational dangers, and its coast is lined with lighthouses.
History
Jolliet
The French King gave the explorer Louis Jolliet the seigneurship of the island in 1680 as a reward for discovering the Mississippi.[1][3] However, there is no record he made any efforts to exploit his gift.
1881 famine
The failure of the local fishery, in 1881, resulted in a local famine, that required aid from the Government of Quebec.[4]
Ownership by the Menier family
Henri Menier, a citizen of France, bought the Island, in 1895, for $125,000, with ambitious development plans.[5][1][2] Port Menier, a community of approximately 200 individuals, and the island's only remaining settlement, is named after him.
the New York Times reported Menier built new port facilities, lumber mills, canneries, a fleet of support vessels, and a railroad.[1] They also reported "The Quebec Government gave him cordial support in ejecting the undesirables who had squatted on the island..." Menier, they said, recruited "law-abiding and thrifty French Canadian families" as his new settlers. In its obituary of him, in 1913, the New York Times reported Menier's careful selection of settlers had meant there had been no crime, on the island, and thus no need for Police.
The island had relatively few species of mammals native to it.[2] Menier, in an attempt to turn the island into a destination for hunters, tried to introduce to it species hunters targetted.[1] His attempts to introduce some species, like American Bison were not successful. His introduction of deer, from the mainland, was so successful that, in 1941, the deer population was estimated at 100,000.[6]
Menier's brother Gaston inherited the Island, and sold it, in July 1926, for $6 million dollars, to the Wayagamac Pulp and Paper company.[7][8] In 1958 one reporter described how deer were so plentiful hunters could confidently wait to shoot the largest bucks, and ignore does and less mature males.[9]
1938 ownership bid from Nazi Germany
A consortium of German companies, backed by the German government, negotiated purchase with the timber company that then owned the island, in late 1937.[10] The proposed purchase triggered opposition, and the Quebec government barred the sale, and the export of forest products, from the island.[11]
Geography
The island's tallest peak is approximately 1000 foot (304.8 m) tall.[2] The island's peaks are part of the Appalachian Mountain chain.
rough work
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 M. Menier's Anticosti experiment, New York Times, 1913-09-10, p. 8. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Nelson Bryant. Outdoors: Still Life and Wildlife on Lush Anticosti, New York Times, 1989-11-27, p. C9. Retrieved on 2022-08-07. “Situated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Quebec's North Shore and the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula, Anticosti is 140 miles long and 35 miles wide, with a maximum altitude of about 1,000 feet.”
- ↑ Red Smith. Assault with a deadly flyrod, New York Times, 1967-07-30, p. 15. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.
- ↑ Famine on Anticosti Island, New York Times, 1881-10-06. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.
- ↑ ANTICOSTI SOLD TO FRENCHMEN: A Large and Valuable Island of the Quebec Province Syndicated, New York Times, 1895-04-25, p. 5. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.
- ↑ Raymond R. Camp. Wood, Field and Stream, New York Times, 1941-10-08, p. 33. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.
- ↑ All of Anticosti sold; French Senator, It Is Said, Will Use Part of Proceeds to Aid Franc, New York Times, 1926-05-12, p. 10. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.
- ↑ Confirms Anticosti Pulp Deal, New York Times, 1926-07-20. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.
- ↑ John W. Randoph. Wood, Field and Stream: Horn of Plenty Is Found in Anticosti, but Hunter Wants to Play Hiawatha, New York Times, 1958-10-15, p. 54. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.
- ↑ CANADA ENDS SURVEY OF ANTICOSTI ISLAND; Defense Value Studied as German Option to Buy Is Held Up, New York Times, 1938-08-16, p. 7. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.
- ↑ BARS PULPWOOD FOR REICH; Quebec Decision Spikes German Plan to Get Anticosti, New York Times, 1938-04-14. Retrieved on 2022-08-07.