La Belle Rivière (Lac Saint-Jean)

The Belle Rivière is a tributary of Lac Saint-Jean, flowing the unorganized territory of Belle-Rivière and in the municipalities of Hébertville and Saint-Gédéon, in the Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, in Quebec, Canada.

La Belle Rivière
Native nameRivière Couchepagane
Location
CountryCanada
ProvinceQuebec
RegionSaguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Regional County MunicipalityLac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality
MunicipalitiesBelle-Rivière, Saint-Gédéon
Physical characteristics
SourceLac de la Belle Rivière
 • locationBelle-Rivière
 • coordinates48.23639°N 71.71972°E / 48.23639; 71.71972
 • elevation346
MouthLac Saint-Jean
 • location
Saint-Gédéon
 • coordinates
48.46°N 71.78944°E / 48.46; 71.78944
 • elevation
101 m (331 ft)
Length33.8 km (21.0 mi)
Discharge 
 • locationSaint-Gédéon

The Belle Rivière valley is served by route 169, chemin du 3e rang, chemin du 2e rang, chemin du rang Caron, route des Savard, chemin du rang de la Belle-Rivière (north side of the river) and chemin du rang Sainte-Anne (south side). This valley is also served by some secondary forest roads, especially for forestry and recreational tourism activities.

Forestry and agriculture are the main economic activities in this valley; recreational tourism, second.

The surface of the Belle Rivière is usually frozen from the beginning of December to the end of March, however the safe circulation on the ice is generally made from mid-December to mid-March.

Geography

Taking its source from Lac de la Belle Rivière (48.23639°N 71.71972°W / 48.23639; -71.71972), this river is 33.8 km (21.0 mi) long. This river empties into Lac Saint-Jean at Saint-Gédéon.

The main watersheds neighboring the Belle Rivière are:

The La Belle Rivière rises at Lac de la Belle Rivière (length: 10.1 km (6.3 mi); altitude: 346 m (1,135 ft)) in the forest area. This source is located at:

From its source (lac de la Belle Rivière), the Belle Rivière flows over 33.8 km (21.0 mi) with a drop of 245 m (804 ft) entirely in the forest and agricultural zone, according to the following segments:

  • 9.2 km (5.7 mi) north-east, up to a stream (coming from the south);
  • 6.5 km (4.0 mi) northerly, curving northwest, to La Belle Rivière (coming from the southwest);
  • 12 km (7.5 mi) towards the north by entering agricultural land and zigzagging at the end of the segment, until the confluence of the rivière des Aulnaies (coming from the south-east);
  • 3.0 km (1.9 mi) north-west, up to a stream (coming from the east) which the area around the village Hébertville-Station;
  • 3.1 km (1.9 mi) west to its mouth.[1]

La Belle Rivière pours into the bottom of a bay on the eastern shore of lac Saint-Jean. This confluence is located at:

From the mouth of La Belle Rivière on the east shore of lac Saint-Jean, the current goes north on 15.4 km (9.6 mi) crossing this last lake, follows the course of the Saguenay River via La Petite Décharge on 172.3 km (107.1 mi) until Tadoussac where it merges with the Saint Lawrence estuary[1].

Toponymy

Its name comes from the montagnais "Mirochip8" which means "beautiful river"[2].

It has also previously been known as the Couchepagane River[3] Kushpahigan or [4] · [5].

The toponym "La Belle Rivière" was formalized on December 5, 1968, at the Place Names Bank of the Commission de toponymie du Québec [6].

Notes and references
  1. "Atlas of Canada from the Department of Natural Resources Canada - Characteristics extracted from the geographic map, the database and the instrumentation of the site". Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  2. Toponymy: La Belle Rivière
  3. Natural Resources Canada
  4. Report of Commissioners to explore the Saguenay
  5. The exploration of the Saguenay by J.-L. Normandin in 1732
  6. Commission de toponymie du Québec - Bank of Place Names - Toponym: "La Belle Rivière"
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See also
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