Power Plant and Maison Alix-Bail
A dike, a new bridge, and a dam
Two vestiges of a bygone era located either side of the bridge, next to the Rapide-de-l’Orignal. The perfect place to build a dam and a power plant. This is what residents of Mont-Laurier did when businessman and real estate developer Jean-Baptiste Reid, eager for power production, invited them to create the Laurentian Water and Power Company.
The plant became operational in 1912. The dike bridge was added in 1925 and the company had the privilege of supplying power to the municipality for 10 years. Abandoned for years, the plant was restored and started up again in the late 1980s by a private producer. The electricity it generates is currently sold to the nationalized Hydro-Québec.
The first house in the village
Behind the dam and the power plant is the Maison Alix-Bail. This post-and-plank building, assembled using dovetail joints, is a classic example of some of the first colonial buildings built out of wood, which was readily available and inexpensive at the time.
Solime Alix, the eldest of lots of children, built it in 1889 with the help of Adolphe Bail, for his family. He used the ground floor as a general store and a post office, now disappeared, that was expanded in 1925.
The town of Mont-Laurier is part of the Route du Lièvre Rouge, a tourist circuit developed by the Société d'Histoire et de Généalogie des Hautes-Laurentides.