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The Laurentians Long known as the Laurentian Hills, the southern marches of the Canadian Shield in Quebec constitute a dissected and glaciated plateau of considerable relief. The southern border is a bold fault line scarp along which the harder Pre-cambrian rocks stand about one thousand feet higher than the less resistant Ordovician sedimentaries of the St. Lawrence Lowlands. A similar type of relief is found all along the edge of the Plateau from the Ottawa River to beyond the Saguenay a distance of 450 miles. River patterns and human settlements make it advisable to treat the Laurentians as three sub-regions. The Western Laurentians The western portion is the Ottawa Valley Region, "Le Nord de l'Outouais", including the counties of Pontiac, Gatineau, Hull and Papineau. It is a large area since these counties extend inland to the highest part of the plateau covering more than 13,700 square miles. The occupied area, however, is small; the organized municipalities take in 3,660 square miles but the settled area is not more than 2,000. Beside the Ottawa itself, the Gatineau and Lièvre provide corridors of settlement into the interior. Hull and Its Environs Facing Ottawa from the north bank of the river, Hull is the fifth city of Quebec. Within a radius of five miles, up the river to include Aylmer and down the river to include Gatineau. Further, it must be remembered that this Greater Hull is itself only part of an urban metropolis. This remarkable concentration of population is due, in the first place, to the physiography of the site and the forest resources of the interior. Below the vast expansion of Lake Deschênes the Ottawa tumbles over a series of barriers in Deschênes Rapids, Remic Rapids, Little Chaudière Rapids and the Chaudière Falls. Though preventing navigation between the lower Ottawa River and the lake, they have provided abundant water power. Four road and railway bridges link Hull with the Federal Capital. Entering the Ottawa just below Hull from the north, the Gatineau transports logs from the interior and also provides more power than this section of the Ottawa itself. The river terraces, about 50 feet above the water, offer ample room for urban expansion, industrial sites and transportation facilities. Founded in 1800 by Philemon Wright, an early "timber king", Hull and Ottawa were the chief centre of the square timber trade and the succeeding lumber trade during the 19th century and became an important site of the pulp and paper industry in the 20th century. Hull is much more of an industrial city than Ottawa. Two large paper mills, E. B. Eddy Company founded in 1851, and Canadian International Paper, located at Gatineau. Textile plants, largely specializing in woodmen's clothing,  while, amongst other industries a meat packing plant and a cement factory are most important. Street cars and busses carry hundreds of daily commuters across the river. Hull is thus a dormitory suburb of the Federal Capital. Transportation is important, both transcontinental railways serve the twin-cities and three branch lines radiate from Hull. Highways along both sides of the Ottawa and from the Gatineau Valley add to the traffic. The economic life of the whole region is focused upon Hull and Ottawa. Valley Settlements The Ottawa valley west of Aylmer is almost completely rural, containing a few villages of which Fort Coulonge is the largest. Its chief activity is lumbering. Shawville serves as a market centre for the agricultural district in Pontiac county. The Gatineau valley is a scenic tourist resort area containing Gatineau National Park. A railway and highway thread the valley, passing through Wakefield and Gracefield to Maniwaki. Situated 65 miles from Hull, this is a railway terminus and commercial centre. The highway branches in two directions, east to Mont Laurier and northwest to Senneterre through the great provincial park. The valley of the Lièvre River is parallel to the Gatineau and a few miles to the east. This river is also used for log driving and the production of power. It is followed by a highway which makes connection with the one previously mentioned. In the lower part of the valley are the towns of Buckingham and Masson containing a pulp mill and paper mill respectively. The mining of quartz and feldspar is also carried on in the neighbourhood. Another string of villages lies to the east along the Ottawa Valley served by the Canadian Pacific Railway and Quebec Highway Number 8. Thurso is a centre of hardwood utilization, making flooring and sewing machine cabinets. A logging railway extends inland for 30 miles, giving service also to a fairly good agricultural district. Papineauville, 36 miles east of Hull, is a small market centre for a dairy district and the point of departure for highway to the Central Laurentians. Montebello, four miles farther east, plays the same roles. Beside this village stands the Seigniory Club, one of the most exclusive resorts in Eastern Canada. The main hotel is built on the bank of the river while a score of villas and bungalows are spread over the whole Petite Nation Seigniory, a fishing and hunting paradise. The Central Laurentians The Central Laurentians extend from Argenteuil and Labelle counties in the southwest, to Portneuf and Quebec counties in the northeast. The region has a frontage of 150 miles along the edge of the plateau and an area of 24.000 square miles. Settlement, however, clusters along the southern border and in the main valleys. One-fifth of the region is in municipal units but only one-tenth is really occupied. There are two groups of towns worth mentioning, one in the southwest, the "Laurentians" of the Montrealers, and one in the northeast, called "Mauricie" by the citizens of Three Rivers. Laurentians Lachute as its name implies, grew up at the last fall on the North River. Its industries include a paper mill, a felt and wool mill and, more recently, a veneer plant. Brownsburg, three miles away has a large explosive and chemical products plant. The hilly exterior of Argenteuil county is a fine playground, but Lachute is more of an industrial than a resort town. Highway 11 is the main route from Montreal to the Laurentian resorts; leaving the lowlands it follows the valley of the North River. The gateway to this vacation land is St. Jerome a busy market and industrial centre. Here are found two paper mills, a large rubber goods factory, a woolen mill and many smaller plants. Northward along the highway are numerous resort villages such as Shawbridge, Ste. Adele with nearby Mont Rolland, the site of a pulpmill, and Val Morin. The first town is Ste. Agathe des Monts, 30 miles from St. Jerome, a peaceful and picturesque place, headquarters for a large resort region. St. Jovite, 20 miles further on, is a resort area near Mont Tremblant Provincial Park, a rugged wilderness area of 1,200 square miles. Trembling Mountain which gives its name to the Park, has an elevation of 3,750 feet. Mont Laurier is about 100 miles from St. Jerome. It is the terminus of the C.P.R. branch line and the starting point of highway 58 to Western Quebec. It is a lumbering and local commercial centre. Lying in the upper Lièvre Valley, Mont Laurier might perhaps have been included in the western section of the Laurentians, except that its road and railway connections link it more directly with Montreal rather than Hull. Mauricie Mauricie, the St. Maurice Valley, is very different. There is very little agriculture along the river, but the forest resources and the abundant water power have, during the present century, made it a region of large scale industrial development. Shawinigan Falls is the largest city. Located at the falls of the same name on the St. Maurice River, 20 miles from Three Rivers and 100 miles northeast of Montreal, it was but a small village in 1901, when a pulp and paper mill and an aluminum smelter were established. These pioneer industries have both expanded to employ about 800 workers each. Other large plants added since include a carbide factory, two chemical plants, one for explosives and a cotton textile plant. A very high proportion of the active population is engaged in manufacturing making it particularly susceptible to the effects of booms and depressions. It is a typical city in which outside capital has been applied to the utilization of both the natural resources of the land and the labour of the French Canadian population. Grand'Mère, three miles up the river looks much like Shawinigan Falls. A large pulp and paper mill was established here at the end of the 19th century and still provides employment for numerous workers. Woolens, shirts, knitting and shoe manufacturing now employ more people than the pulp and paper industry. Ten miles northeast of Grand'Mère, a former village, St. Tite has grown into a small town. It has been and still is an outfitting centre for woodsmen as well as a local farmers' market. La Tuque, 60 miles north of Grand'Mère, was put on the map in 1908 when a pulp mill was established on the local waterfall. Power plants at La Tuque and at Rapide Blanc, 20 miles up the river, La Tuque is on the Northern Transcontinental line of the C.N.R. and is the terminus of the St. Maurice Valley highway. It is the centre of forest exploitation on a large scale and is also a sportsmen's headquarters for hunting and fishing. The Eastern Laurentians Extending from Portneuf county to Charlevoix county where they abut onto the St. Lawrence, the Eastern Laurentian Plateau occupies 7,200 square miles, an area about as large as the Gaspé Peninsula. The settled portion is a narrow southern fringe of about 800 square miles although 1,600 square miles are included within the borders of the municipalities. The total population is about 47,000 of which only 30% is urban. Included in this region is the largest forest, fish and game preserve in the province, the Laurentides Provincial Park. With an area of 3,670 square miles it has a rugged surface, much of which is more than 3000 feet above sea level, and is well supplied with lakes and streams. The park is traversed by highway 54, from Quebec to Lake St. John. St. Raymond is located 30 miles northwest of Quebec, where the C.N.R. crosses the Ste. Anne River. Here a small paper mill was founded in 1900. Chute Panet supplies the power and the pulpwood comes partly from Desbiens in the Lake St. John district. Baie St. Paul, at the mouth of the Gouffre River in Charlevoix County, is amongst the older settlements in the country. Lumber was shipped from Baie St. Paul during the French period and the trade is still carried on. There is also some agriculture on the adjoining alluvial plain. It is a junction point in the provincial highway system; Route 15 continues along the north shore while Route 56 turns inland leading directly to Bagotville. Murray Bay (La Malbaie) is located in a similar cove at the mouth of Malbaie River about 90 miles northeast from Quebec. It is the end of steel on the C.N.R. branch line from Quebec and a port of call for coastal navigation. Richelieu Manor is a noted resort at nearby Pointe au Pic. A pulp and paper mill and other wood using industries give work to a few hundred people. The tourist trade is very active in the summer time. Home