Canada: QUEBEC: End of the Deep Water

For 400 years, the majestic Saguenay River defaulted on its promise. Jacques Cartier was fooled by the Indians' tales of a great kingdom in its valley, and of another empire beyond that, rich in silver & gold, diamonds & rubies. Explorers soon found that this icy, inky tributary of the St. Lawrence was no Northwest Passage: it was navigable for only 80 miles. Above the Indian village of Chicoutimi, "the end of the deep water," the river ran white and turbulent—and, it seemed, useless—from Lake St. John.

But it was in those 30...

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