Forges du Saint-Maurice Company is established
Forges on the St. Maurice River, George Seton. Library and Archives Canada, 1953-75-11
1730
By 1670, the regime in New France was aware that rich iron ore deposits were located near present-day Trois-Rivières. In 1730, Forges du Saint-Maurice was established. It was the second company to be granted a monopoly to exploit the deposit (the first company failed). By 1738, the site was producing bar iron for the French navy, as well as a variety of domestic products for inhabitants of the colony. The Forges, source of Canada’s first heavy industry, would continue to churn out iron until it closed in the late 1800s.
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