A Voyage of Discovery

The Honourable Édouard Masson, having heard tell of a large lake where colonists from Sainte-Adèle had trekked through the forest of that part of Terrebonne county to settle sometime around 1862-1863, decided in the spring of 1864 that he would set off to find this area and establish a new village.

After overcoming numerous difficulties, the group, led by the area’s first settlers, emerged from the forest and saw a clearing at the foot of the mountain. Jean-Baptiste Raymond raised his cap and exclaimed, “My friends, my friends, it’s the lake!”

Moved by the beauty of the surroundings, the group made camp and spent the night. The next morning, they agreed upon a name: Lac Masson. The Honourable Masson announced that he intended to found a village and prompted the men to clear several acres of forestland to make room for the first dwellings.

By the end of the summer of 1866, several small houses had been built on the shore of Lac Masson, giving rise to what would become the parish of the municipality of Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson.

Names of some of the first settlers include: Auguste Laporte, Dominique Chartier Senior, Jean-Baptiste Raymond, Thadée Miron, Léon Lalande, Jean-Baptiste Gauthier, Georges Lefebvre, Théophile Deslauriers, Georges Cardinal, Eusèbe Dorion Senior, André Brisebois, Eusèbe Lajeunesse.
More colonists arrived later in the spring of 1866: Charles Lajeunesse, teacher; Félix Lacasse, blacksmith; Georges Cloutier; Georges Guénette, hotelier; Labrie Carrière and Moïse Charrette.