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 TREASURE ISLAND: Unexplored canyons, cliffs and caves await discovery on Anticosti. -- Photos by Andrew Mair |
For a chocolate magnate, it was one sweet deal.
Known as the Chocolate King, France's Henri Menier had too much time and too much money on his hands back in 1885, so he sent his emissary around the globe looking for a suitable island paradise to use as a private game reserve.
He found it on Anticosti, a little-known and scarcely visited island at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec.
The island had been in private hands since the 1670s when it was awarded as a fiefdom to explorer Louis Jolliet, before ownership was tossed back and forth between Quebec and Newfoundland.
When Menier came across it in 1895, he was able to scoop it up for a mere $125,000, a land deal probably only surpassed by the 1626 purchase of Manhattan for $24.
He was astounded by what he was able to purchase. Larger by half than Prince Edward Island and 17 times bigger than Ile de Montreal, Anticosti is almost 8,000 sq. km of pristine wilderness: 222 km long and 50 km wide in some spots.
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Its name derives from the French's literal assertion that it was impossible to land a boat on its coastline, because of a treacherous limestone reef that extends up to a kilometre into the St. Lawrence all around the island. More than 400 ships found this out the hard way, the last one foundering onto the reef in a storm in 1982.
Menier had a vision for his tract of wilderness. He spent millions establishing a fishing and farming commune on the island.
About 300 souls took up residence in the village he created called, not surprisingly, Port Menier. Moved once due to bad harbour conditions, the village residents had a code of conduct they had to adhere to, including no hunting or sport fishing, no alcohol and no gambling.
In return, Menier provided what was, for its time, one of the most modern communities in the world. Railways were built, electricity lit every home and street, and unemployment remained steady at zero percent. Roads were torn through the bush to transport Menier and his elite guests to fishing and hunting sites, and he built a mansion near the village that cost only $5,000 more than he paid for the entire island.
But Menier must have been bored quickly by his experiment in building Utopia. He only stayed in the mansion twice and only visited the island six times.
Despite this, his presence is felt everywhere on Anticosti, most notably through his single-handed alteration of the ecosystem.
In order for his rich pals to be ensured of a good spot of adventure, Menier imported a host of species onto his island.
He went to great expense to bring over beaver to build ponds and dam rivers, frogs to inhabit the ponds and provide food for the fish and bears he shipped over. He added reindeer, caribou, elk, moose, rabbits and even buffalo. His most expensive feat was to round up 220 whitetail deer and drop them into the habitat.
Those deer are now his legacy. Most of the species he imported didn't survive through the first half of the last century, largely because the deer managed to expand exponentially and eat all the food. Today, there are 125,000 ancestors of the Menier 220.
Menier died in 1913 not realizing what he had wrought. The deer have stripped the landscape of much of the plant life, with the exception of spruce trees, which they find unpalatable.
As a result, there is not enough food and about a sixth of the deer population do not make it through each harsh Anticosti winter. Another 5,000 are bagged by hunters in the annual cull.
Biologists estimate the sustainable population of deer is about 80,000, so the loss of 25,000 animals a year is still too low by half. As a result, the deer are smaller and smarter than their mainland cousins.
In Port Menier itself, there are deer that know a good thing when they find it. Many are permanent residents, finding safety in the no-hunting rules within the town limits.
They are also far tamer than their woodland brethren, feeding on handouts from back doors and having their pictures taken with tourists in exchange for apples on the front porch of the town's lodge.
Anticosti is more than just a hunter's dream locale. It is a treasure trove of fossils; a hiker's paradise, with trails leading down the fantastic Vaureal Canyon to a waterfall that is higher than Niagara; it is every fisherman's fondest wish, as the Jupiter River positively bulges with salmon; and it is a sea kayaker's haven, with whales spouting offshore and imposing limestone cliffs providing a dramatic backdrop to adventures on the water. The island is dotted with virtually unexplored caves and dozens of canoe routes, mountain bike trails and secluded campgrounds.
Since 1999, the Quebec government's parks administrative arm, SEPAQ, has been quietly turning the island - much of which is designated a provincial park - into a first-rate tourist destination. New lodges along the coast invite travellers to experience the wilderness alongside luxury accommodation and dining.
Rooms can be had year-round at a variety of lodges, including the one at Port Carelton, which is set high on a cliff with a lighthouse for a neighbour.
Gourmet meals and week-long packages can be purchased that include airfare from Quebec, Montreal, Gaspe or a short 20-minute flight from nearby Havre Sainte-Pierre on the Lower North Shore. Packages begin at $679 per person plus air and taxes.
SEPAQ will provide guided tours of the island, and the staff is well-versed in the extensive lore of the region. They relish telling the tale of the unfortunate passengers and crew of the Granicus, a ship carrying Irish immigrants, which was blown onto the reef in the winter of 1828 on the eastern side of the island. While most of the castaways lived through the winter on supplies from the ship, deliverance was too late.
The following spring, the crew of a passing ship discovered body parts in cooking pots and another half-dozen bodies were hung up like meat in another building. Sitting in a chair was the recently deceased body of a man. Despite having died from an unknown ailment, he was evidently well fed.
Today, it is easier to get a good meal on Anticosti.
It is a little disconcerting, however, to be at the lodge in Port Menier feeding and petting a friendly deer on a quiet evening, only to enter the restaurant and find emblazoned on the menu board, the featured special of the evening: Venison.
Oh, and some fine French chocolates for dessert.
BOTTOM LINE
MORE INFORMATION: For details on travel to Anticosti Island, contact 1-800-463-0863 or sepaq.com. For more on Quebec, contact Quebec Tourism at bonjour quebec.com/anglais or call 1-877-BONJOUR.