There are two Portneuf Rivers that empty into St. Lawrence River in Quebec: one located between Quebec City and Trois-Rivières and a second located northeast of Tadoussac. Range lights were established near Portneuf River between Quebec City and Trois-Rivières in 1842, and a lighthouse was built near the other Portneuf River in 1873. The following information on the 1873 lighthouse, built on the east side of the Portneuf River, appeared in the Annual Report of the Department of Marine for that year:

A light-house has also been erected at Port Neuf, on the north shore of the Lower St. Lawrence. It is built on a pier, and the light is white fixed catoptric, containing three No. 1 circular burner-lamps, with 20-inch reflectors, and two mammoth flat-wick burner lamps with eighteen-inch reflectors, and it can be seen at about fifteen miles distance. It was put in operation about the 22nd October last, and will probably prove of great service to navigation in warning vessels from approaching too near the dangerous shoals which lie about a mile from the lighthouse. Mr. Zephirin Warren was appointed keeper on the 23rd of September last, at a salary of $200 per annum. The total cost of this light-house and apparatus in connection therewith, up to 31st December, 1873, was $3,714.29.

A vessel struck a shoal just offshore from the lighthouse the day before the light was first exhibited, punctuating the need for the lighthouse.

In 1875, the pier on which the lighthouse stood was replanked and enlarged, and a dwelling was added to the tower to house the keeper. Dorilas Tremblay was appointed keeper of Portneuf Lighthouse on Ferbuary 18, 1875, after Keeper Warren resigned, and the following year, his annual salary was raised from $250 to $350.

In November 1884, a storm carried away the station’s storehouse necessitating the construction of a new one the following year along with a breakwater to better protect the lighthouse.

Dorilas Tremblay looked after the light through 1902, and then Edmond Tremblay was appointed keeper on May 16, 1903.

In the fall of 1907, a storm damaged Portneuf Lighthouse. The agent for the Department of Marine telegraphed his superiors to report the matter on November 9, 1907, and the following Notice to Mariners was published:

Portneuf-en-bas lighthouse, on the north shore of the river St. Lawrence, at the east side of the mouth of Portneuf river, County of Saguenay, is reported damaged by a storm and it may become impracticable to show light from the tower. In this event a temporary fixed white light will be shown from a lantern hoisted on a pole.

In 1910, L. Bouchard of Portneuf-en-bas built a new wooden keeper’s dwelling under contract for $1,650, and work began on a three-section, skeletal tower that was completed the following year. The following Notice to Mariners provided information on this new light:

A new 4th order dioptric fixed white light, having petroleum vapor as an illuminant, has been established on the eastern side of the moth of the Portneuf River, northern shore of the St. Lawrence River.

The new light is exhibited 58 feet above high water from a skeleton steel tower, square in plan, with sloping sides, surmounted by an enclosed wooden watch room and octagonal iron lantern, located 816 feet 205° 30’ from the side of the old lighthouse, which has been taken down. The framework and lantern are painted red and the watch room white. The height of the structure from its base to the top of the ventilator on the lantern is 64 feet. The light is visible 13 miles.

R. Tremblay replaced Edmond Tremblay as keeper in 1919 and looked after the light through at least 1937. Light Lists show that the skeletal tower was in use through at least 1960, and it is believed to have been in use until 1971. Today, there is no navigational light at this location.

Keepers: Zephirin Warren (1873 – 1875), Dorilas Tremblay (1875 – 1902), Edmond Tremblay (1903 – 1919), R. Tremblay (1919 – at least 1937).

References

1. Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, various years.

No light exists at this location today.

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