La Bostonnais

La Bostonnais is a forest municipality located in Haute-Batiscanie and Haute-Mauricie, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, in the agglomeration of La Tuque, in Mauricie, in Quebec, Canada. This picturesque community on the Canadian Shield has an area of where 635 people reside.

The centre of the village of La Bostonnais is about 15 km with the centre of the village of La Tuque by Quebec Route 155. Besides La Tuque, the municipality of La Bostonnais borders on the east side to the municipality of Lac-Édouard.

Economy
Forestry has been the main engine of economic activity since the middle of the 19th century.

History
The toponym "La Bostonnais" evokes the name of Jean-Baptiste Bostonnais, an American from Boston who came to join the Abenakis. His patronymic becomes the toponymic designation of this municipality of Haute-Mauricie.

On the sidelines of the considerable forest exploitation effort in Haute-Mauricie since the middle of the 19th century, new parishes are opening up to colonization. The canton of Bourgeoys opens to colonization in 1871; nevertheless, the mission of Saint-Jean Bosco de La Bostonnais was only made official in 1946. It would become a parish in 1948.

The civil establishment of La Bostonnais was formalized in 1987. It merged with La Tuque in 2003 as part of the major municipal restructuring; nevertheless, following a public referendum, the municipality of La Bostonnais was reconstituted in 2006 according to the limits of its former territory, however coming under the agglomeration of La Tuque.

The municipality of La Bostonnais is distinguished by its two covered bridges built in 1946 spanning the Bostonnais River: These two bridges had been the subject of repairs to the elements of the deck and the structural systems from August to October 2008. These two covered bridges are located 5 minutes apart (or 6.5 km) by Quebec Route 155; or 7 minutes by rang Sud-Est which runs along the eastern part of the Bostonnais River.
 * Thiffault Bridge, at rang Sud-Est;
 * Ducharme Bridge, on rue de l'Église.

Geography
Most of its territory is part of the hydrographic slope of the Saint-Maurice river; while about 15% of the territory (eastern part) is part of Batiscania.

The Bostonnais River crosses the territory from northeast to southwest. The Stewart River has its source in Bourgeoys Lake in the southeastern part of municipal territory.

A small part of the territory of La Bostonnais is administered by the ZEC Borgia (to the north) and by the ZEC de la Bessonne (to the south-east).

The shape of the territory resembles a trapezoid, the west side of which is shorter. The main lakes in this area are: Lac Bourgeoys, Lac à l'Ours (resort), Lac Brochet, Lac aux Dorés, Lac à Varin and Lac du Boom.

Get in
The village of La Bostonnais is accessible by road, snowmobile and all terrain vehicles.

By car

 * From Montreal (. Time: 3 hr 17 min. Take highway 40 (north shore) eastbound, to Trois-Rivières; take Highway 55 (northbound) to Grand-Mère, which becomes Quebec Route 155 after crossing the Saint-Maurice River bridge; take Quebec Route 155, bypass the village of La Tuque, up to rue de l'Église in La Bostonnais; take rue de l'Église (direction East), cross the Ducharme covered bridge; take rang Sud-Est (south-west direction), to the village of La Bostonnais.
 * From Quebec City (. Time: 3 hr 55 min. Take highway 40 westbound to Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, then take route 159 through the villages of Saint-Prosper-de-Champlain, Saint-Stanislas, Saint-Séverin, Saint-Tite and Saint-Roch-de-Mékinac; take Quebec Route 155, bypass the village of La Tuque, up to rue de l'Église in La Bostonnais; take rue de l'Église (direction East), cross the Ducharme covered bridge; take rang Sud-Est (south-west direction), to the village of La Bostonnais.