80 F, C. WURTELE ON 
On October 15th, 1736, Peter Poulin, Louise de Boulanger, his wife, and his brother, 
Michel Poulin, a priest, sold the fief and seigniory of St. Maurice, which was necessary for 
working the mines, to a new company, composed of Francois Etienne Cugnet, Pierre 
Francois Taschereau, Olivier de Vezain, Jacques Simonet and Ignace Gamelin, for 6,000 
livres, with no terms, so long as they paid them 300 livres a year. 
The King, by an order in council on April 22nd, 1737, empowered the above partner- 
ship, called Cugnet and Company, or “ La Compagnie des Forges,” to work the forges, 
and advanced them the sum of 100,000 livres, claiming no rent or dues of any kind. As 
the original grant of land to the widow Poulin, in 1676, viz., one league frontage on 
River St. Maurice by two leagues inland, was not now deemed sufficient, Hocquart, the 
intendant, on September 12th, 1737, conceded to Cugnet and Company the fief of St. 
Etienne, because they represented themselves as being in want of wood, and that if they 
were forced to buy it from the habitants, or farmers, they would have to pay ruinous 
prices for it. This is the first time that the forges were properly worked, and in 1739, a 
skilled artisan was brought from France, who possessed a knowledge of the different 
branches of manufacturing wrought and cast iron, combined with a competent skill in 
working mines. Some few years later, in 1740, Cugnet and Company, having exhausted 
their capital in erecting furnaces, smelting houses, workshops and other buildings, were 
forced to return their charter to the “Gouvernement de Trois Rivières,” and on May 
1st, 1743, the King ordered the forges to be reunited to the royal domain, and an attempt 
was made with some success to carry on the works on account of, and in the name of, the 
King. Skilled workmen came from France, who repaired the furnaces and built the 
walloon hearth, which has been in use ever since and is still visible. 
Prof. Peter Kalm, in his travels through New France, stopped at Trois Riviéres on 
August 3rd, 1749, and visited the Forges, fully describing them in his “Travels into North 
America,” published in London, in 1771. He remarked that ‘there are here many officers 
and overseers, who have very good houses built on purpose for them. It is agreed on all 
hands, that the revenues of the iron works do not pay the expenses which the king must 
every year be at in maintaining them. They lay the fault on the bad state of population, 
and say that the few inhabitants in the country have enough to do with agriculture, and 
that it, therefore, costs great trouble and large sums to get a sufficient number of workmen. 
But however plausible this may appear, it is yet surprising that the king should be a loser 
in carrying on this work, for the ore is easily broken, very near the iron works and very 
fusible. The iron is good and can be very conveniently dispersed over the country. These 
are, moreover, the only iron works in the country, from which everybody must supply him- 
self with iron tools, and what other iron he wants. But the officers and servants belonging 
to the iron works appear to be in yery affluent circumstances.” 
Bigot was appointed intendant at Quebec, in 1748. In 1752 he recommended 
Franquet, who had been sent from France as royal inspector of fortifications, to visit 
the St. Maurice Forges, which he did, and gave an interesting account in a manuscript, 
still extant, of his reception at the “ big house,” or “ La Grande Maison des Forges,” 
and of the working of the concern. The following is an extract :—“ M. Bigot, intendant 
of New France, who resides at Quebec, had recommended me to visit the St. Maurice 
Forges, as the establishment was extensive, and as he had no doubt that I should be 
pleased to be in a position to give an account of it. By stopping at Trois Rivières, T 
