La Fontaine Claire

 

Cacona island, inhabited first, gave its name to the whole seigniory and this name was officialized on the occasion of the creation of the parish under the name of Saint-Georges de Kakouna.

Not very far from the Gros-Cacouna island lies a small cove where a stream falls.  Around 1766, fishermen installed close to the small hill built for themselves a fountain on one of the springs so they could draw clear water (eau Claire) from it. 

When ships drew along side to load salted fish (salmons and herrings) barrels, some fishermen, crew members took the opportunity to renew their supply of drinking water.  Trawlers and the navigators also made it a habit of stopping at  la Fontaine Claire.

This is how it came to be in this natural cove that the first pioneers came ashore and unloaded their furniture and effects needed to settle close by; and they were coming regularly to draw water by walking along the rock by the shore at the edge of their land.  This trail (passage) became, during the XVIIIe century, a common road (named today  rue de la Falaise and de la grève). 

The pioneers , faced with this constant traffic of people, named this site la Fontaine Claire.  Furthermore, in 1785, in a request addressed to the Bishop to be definitely attached to the parish of l'Isle Verte, the inhabitants chose that site as the territorial limit for a future parish.

Three years later, even after the refusal of that request by the religious authorities, some of them, like Michel Guéret, said Dumont, referred to themselves from Cacouna parish of l'ile Verte while one of his neighbour, Michel Ouelet, declared, in 1796, that he possessed a plot of land located in the parish of Saint-Patrice seigniory de Rivière du Loup on the first concession named la fontaine claire.

For more than a century, this said place, was commonly mentioned in notaries acts, on the occasion of boat sales or exchanges.  This name was also recognized by the officers of the government and itemized on different marine and land maps.

However, the construction of the first Cacouna pier (1891) speeded the abandon of the name because the methods of loading  were changing: loading/unloading of merchandises were no longer being done at the Kacouna cove, at the location named la Fontaine Claire, but at the pier by the same location:  furthermore, to draw water from that location was no longer necessary and usage of the fountain became a thing of the past..  Only the old writings stands witness and a rare few persons remembers to have been using it to quench their thirst.