Rivière des Boudreault (English: Boudreault's River) is a river in the municipality of Les Éboulements, in the Charlevoix Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Capitale-Nationale, Quebec, Canada. It is a tributary of the northwest shore of the St. Lawrence River.
Geography
The river originates from a small unidentified lake (elevation: 423 m) located in a forested area south of chemin du rang Sainte-Marie in Les Éboulements. It flows approximately 9.5 km with a total drop of 419 m before emptying into the Anse des Boudreault, on the northwest shore of the Baie des Éboulements, at the village of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive. Its mouth is located on the estuary of the St. Lawrence River.
The upper valley is accessible via chemin du rang Sainte-Marie, while the lower portion is served by chemin Saint-François, route du Fleuve, and rue Félix-Antoine-Savard. Forestry and agriculture are the main economic activities in the valley. The river's surface is generally frozen from early December to late March, with safe ice conditions typically from mid-December to mid-March. The spring flood occurs in March or April.
Toponymy
The toponym "Rivière des Boudreault" honors Clovis Boudreault, a pioneer of Les Éboulements, and his descendants who continue to reside in the area. Historically, a small hydroelectric plant operated at the foot of the cliff to supply local electricity. Upstream, near the hamlet of Blagousse, a man named Onésime Tremblay operated a carding mill in the early 20th century, which was later converted into a sawmill and then a broom factory.
Several historical variant names exist for this watercourse: Ruisseau du Moulin à Carde, Ruisseau de Blagousse, Ruisseau Osime, and Ruisseau Onésime. It was also erroneously called Ruisseau du Seigneur due to a location error. Rivière de la Pointe and Rivière de la Pointe des Éboulements are two other variant names.
The toponym "Rivière des Boudreault" was officially adopted on August 17, 1978, in the Place Names Bank of the Commission de toponymie du Québec. It is also listed in the Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB) under the unique identifier EIWKQ.
