Conférence : Jos-Montferrand

Jos Montferrand, king of the Outaouais forests or pillar

of taverns?

Speaker: Michel Prévost,

D.U., President of the Société d'histoire de l'Outaouais

The Outaouais is privileged to be associated with a legendary figure whose fame extends far beyond the region's borders: Jos Montferrand (1802-1864). This giant of our folklore spent half his life here, drawn by the forestry industry. He was a lumberjack, land clearing man, log driver, site foreman and cage master. This talk demystifies Montferrand and explores the different facets of this larger-than-life man. Learn about his exploits, including the famous battle on Union Bridge (des Chaudières), where he single-handedly defeated more than 150 Irish Shiners. Finally, we'll show that there are still many traces of him in our folklore, place names and monuments.