Dumoine Plateau

The Dumoine Plateau lies in the Canadian Shield country of western Quebec, drained by the Dumoine River. The river rises in Machin Lake near La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve and flows almost due south for 129 kilometres to the Ottawa River near Rapides-des-Joachims. Its watershed covers 5,380 square kilometres, a large basin for so short a course, which means fast water and many steep rapids. Rock, conifer forest and small lakes make up the land, with few open fields.

The river long served travel as well as drainage. Algonquin people called it the Alder River, after the alders along its banks. Indigenous travellers from the Great Lakes used it as a northern route, portaging between lakes toward trading partners in the Mauricie, Quebec City and the Atlantic region and avoiding the Outaouais country and Montreal, where Iroquois raids were a danger. A French trading post stood at the river's mouth toward the end of French rule, and Fort Dumoine took over its trade around 1785; after 1800 the fort showed no further signs of activity.