SECTION IL. 1886. 7] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 
IITI.— Historical Record of the St. Maurice Forges, the Oldest Active Blast-Furnace on 
the Continent of America. By F.C. WuRTELE, Librarian of the Quebec Literary 
and Historical Society. 
(Communicated by Dr. George Stewart, May 26, 1886.) 
The St. Maurice Forges are situated on the River St. Maurice, about nine miles north- 
west of the town of Three Rivers, in the county of St. Maurice, province of Quebec. The 
establishment of the post of Trois Rivieres was made in the year 1617, because it was 
found desirable by the French authorities at Quebec to have a central trading port on the 
St. Lawrence, midway between Quebec and Montreal. It is on record that in 1617 
Champlain and Father Joseph sailed for France, after sending Father Jean d’Olbeau and 
Brother Pacifique Duplessis to the post of Trois Rivières. ‘‘ Metaberoutin” was the Indian 
name for the River St. Maurice, and when the French navigators arrived at its mouth 
they found three large channels formed by two extensive islands, and exclaimed, “ Voila, 
trois rivières ; ” thus, from that circumstance, the post was named “Trois Rivières,” or 
“Three Rivers.” 
Many narratives and historical facts are found in the “ Relations des Jesuites,” and in 
old French manuscripts, from which the following brief account is taken of a trip made 
in 1635 from Quebec to Trois Rivières, by Buteux and Paul le Jeune, Jesuit Fathers of the 
Mission de la Conception :—‘‘ On September 8th, 1635, we arrived at Trois Rivières. It is 
an agreeable place of residence; the soil is sandy, and at certain seasons the fishing is 
very lucrative. An Indian would occasionally bring back several sturgeons in his canoe, 
the smallest of which would be six feet in length. There is also a large quantity of other 
kinds of excellent fish. The French have called this place ‘Trois Riviéres,’ because a very 
fine river here falls into the St. Lawrence by three different channels. This division is 
caused by several small islands, which stop the outlet of this river, which is called by the 
Indians Metaberoutin. The country between Quebec and this new settlement, which I 
shall in future call ‘ La Résidence de la Conception,’ appéared to me to be very pleas- 
antly situated; it is drained by a number of rivers and small streams which flow at 
intervals of distance into the St. Lawrence, that king of rivers, which, even at thirty 
leagues from Quebec, is two to three thousand yards wide.” 
Jacques Buteux and Jean de Quen resided at Trois Riviéres, in 1641, when de 
Champfleur was governor of that place. 
Colbert, the prime minister of Louis XIV, sought to discover some new means of 
increasing the prosperity of New France, and was particularly anxious to discover iron 
ore, which, from information he had received, was very abundant. In August, 1666, he 
sent Sieur de la Tesserie to Bay St. Paul, where he discovered an iron mine which appeared 
to be rich. In 1665, de Courcelles was appointed governor, and Talon, the intendant of 
New France. The latter, in 1667, by Colbert’s orders, caused some explorations to be 
made, and on his return to France in 1668, he succeeded in obtaining the sanction of 
