| Fermont is a unique company mining town. The | | | | company town; not quite as much as Churchill Falls, but |
| company built a five to six story wall, over two - thirds | | | | close. The mine had a choice of closing one of its pits |
| of a mile in length to reduce the winds from the North. | | | | in 1985. They chose the one at Red Lake and |
| In this wall are apartments for over 600 people, a hotel | | | | bulldozed the town of Gagnon. The residents of |
| with 123 rooms, a commercial center with different | | | | Gagnon moved to Fermont. Fermont has no |
| stores, a recreation center with swimming pool, | | | | cemetery. When, or if, people die, they are buried |
| gymnasium, curling rink etc., the town school, hospital, | | | | somewhere else, usually from where they were born. |
| and city hall. | | | | Thursday, September 04, 2003 |
| At the tourist center we met the most delightful and | | | | We started driving down RTE 389 in PQ. We first |
| informative department of tourism representative, Julie | | | | passed Wright Mountain, the present iron mine for the |
| Marcotte. She not only represents Fermont, but also | | | | community. The site extends for miles. The road turns |
| Scheffering, hundreds of miles to the North. This was | | | | from paved to gravel and is that way until Gagnon. |
| once another prosperous mining town, but has been | | | | Gagnon, once a town built for 8,000 people, but only |
| closed for a number of years. The only access is by | | | | housing 4,500 in its prime was leveled in 1985. The only |
| rail or airplane. The most exciting activity there is the | | | | surviving edifices are the church bells (now in Fermont) |
| caribou hunt of the George River herd, one of the | | | | and the Arena now in Godbout. You know you have |
| largest in the world. She works with the aboriginal | | | | arrived when the pavement which started again at |
| people of two villages. One village speaks English and | | | | Red Lake now becomes a divided highway extending |
| their own language, while the other speaks French and | | | | about one mile with a sidewalk on one side. Nature has |
| their own language. Even being next door neighbors to | | | | taken over the rest of the land. I don’t know who |
| each other, they cannot communicate with each other. | | | | uses the sidewalk now. Perhaps, the three bears from |
| Even more ironic is that one tribe is filthy rich, while the | | | | Goldilocks fame, taking their daily stroll. |
| other is dirt poor. The rich ones signed the James Bay | | | | The road becomes gravel again for 176 K. It passes |
| Treaty many years ago. She is working with them, | | | | through the Groulx Mountains and by the second |
| trying to help them rediscover their identities. The | | | | largest meteor crater in the world, Manicouagan. The |
| elders forgot what they knew, the middle aged | | | | crater is thirty-six miles in diameter and has an island in |
| don’t care about anything but materialism, and the | | | | its center. The only way to view the entire crater is via |
| young want to learn but don’t know from whom | | | | airplane. Even climbing into the Groulx Mountains will |
| they can find the information. Julie is trying to give them | | | | give only a partial view of the crater. It is that huge. |
| proper direction. | | | | The water in the crater now is the reservoir for Manix |
| I wanted to get a picture of the town. To do so I had | | | | 5 of Hydro Quebec. The Johnson dam of Manix 5 is |
| to climb a 300+ foot hill, Mount Daviault, to get a | | | | one of the largest type in the world. Yet it does not |
| panoramic view. The climb was well worth the effort. | | | | produce even close the amount of power which the |
| Wild blueberries grew in abundance. Guess what we | | | | one at Churchill Falls produces. Once again the road |
| had for breakfast with our porridge? We stayed | | | | becomes paved until Baie Comeau. Along the way |
| overnight in the parking lot by the trail and saw an | | | | you also pass by Manix 3 (not visible from the road), |
| abbreviated version of the aurora borealis (northern | | | | and Manix 2, which we had previously toured a couple |
| lights) through the rain. | | | | of months ago. Tours of the mines and the power |
| Fermont has a very active Moose Lodge, over 600 | | | | plants end the Friday before Labor Day and the |
| members. I went there, but everyone there spoke only | | | | resume on June 24 of the next year. |
| French. Julie said that both she and her parents were | | | | We arrived at Baie Comeau at 5:30, filled Boss with |
| members and was very surprised that we were too. | | | | fuel at a bargain price of $0.69.9 per liter or $2.80 per |
| She said that they are very active and have events | | | | gallon. On the road we had just traveled, the price was |
| throughout the year, which are open to the entire | | | | just under $4.00 per gallon. In Newfoundland we |
| population. | | | | averaged about $3.40 per gallon. Fuel is very |
| I failed to mention that Fermont is predominantly a | | | | expensive up here. |