Cochrane
The train to Moosonee leaves Cochrane (⬀) four days a week - the station is also a restaurant and hotel.
The Northern store is a fixture in communities across the north - you can get everything from yoghurt to snowmobiles in any of their 122 locations. They are the remnants of the Northwest Company which was a competitor to HBC until in 1821 when they were forced to merge after the Pemmican war (⬀).
Moose Factory
The larger town of Moose Factory (⬀) is on an island directly off shore from Moosonee and dates back to 1673. This was the second Hudson Bay Company post after Rupert House (now Waskaganish ⬀) on the east side of the bay. There is supposed to be an hourly ferry but it’s not running so instead there is a water-taxi stand at the local dock - $20.00 a crossing and it’s speedy.
St. Thomas’ Anglican (⬀) was built by HBC in 1885 - it’s in dire need of some TLC. The nearby Centennial park contains a number of HBC buildings dating back to 1850.
Leave Moosonee on a rainy Thursday - back to Cochrane, overnight, and head east into Quebec and then north to the start of the Billy Diamond highway.
Billy Diamond Highway
The Billy Diamond (⬀) highway (aka James Bay road) was opened in 1974 to service the James Bay hydroelectric project. In runs 620 km due north from Matagami (⬀) to Radisson (⬀) with only one stop along the way. To accomodate the huge trucks bringing up the pieces of the dams the road is built to withstand loads of 300 tons and so doesn’t heave or crack and it has mostly gentle curves and hills with wide shoulders (reader: this means good for motorcycling). It is named for Billy Diamond (⬀) who was the Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees during the dispute with the government over the impact of James Bay project.
381 km of bliss - no potholes, tar snakes, cracks, gravel, stop lights or traffic. Scenery, not so much.
Relais Routier
The truck stop at kilometer 381 Is the only place to get gas in the entire 620 km highway and has everything - it runs 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
From Relais Routier it’s 240 km north to Radisson QC - one of the few stops along this section:
It’s a short walk from the campground into town.
Adam who was up from the States to commune with the foxes.
Chisasibi
In 1803 HBC established Fort George on the north shore of La Grande river and then in 1837 it was moved to the largest island in the mouth of the river where it remained until the mid-1970s. The James Bay project resulted in increased river flow and erosion and as a result the community was moved to the south shore in 1981. Approximately 2000 people and 200 homes were moved to the new site (about 100 km due east of Radisson) which was renamed Chisasibi (⬀).
The Catholic church was one of the buildings put on a barge and moved from Fort George island to Chisasibi.
The Chisasibi heritage and cultural center (⬀).
La Grande-1
On the way to Chisasibi is the LG-1 power generating station (⬀) which opened in 1995 and generates 1436 MW of electricity.
La Grande-2
Just outside the town of Radisson is the Robert Bourassa (⬀) generating station (aka LG-2) which opened in 1979. It has 16 turbines and generates 5,616 MW of power and is the world’s largest underground station. The tour is mind-numbing - the cavern is 137m underground and 493m long by 22 m wide by 45 m high. No cameras are allowed inside so here is a pic from a guide book which gives an idea of the space. This is the upper floor and there is a lower floor (where the rotors and big spinning magnets are) of equal height. The far end shows one of two cranes which can travel the entire length supported on the ledges hewn from the rock.
They’re replacing the rotors and storing the old ones out back until they get trucked south.
A view of an original control panel which is now likely running on a laptop.
The Giant’s Staircase is the overflow valve for the reservoir behind the hill at back - if LG-2 and/or LG-2A have a failure and water builds up to dangerous levels then the 8 gates seen at the top will open and allow the water to drain spill back to the river at lower left. The stairs cause turbulence which reduces the kinetic energy of the moving water. Each step is approx 10 meters high and about the size of two football fields. The next scheduled test is in 2030 when they open all 8 gates and let ‘er rip.
A view from the top where you can see the outflow to the La Grande river.
La Grande-2A
There is a huge reseervoir behind LG-2 and so in 1991 they opened La-Grande 2A right next door which added an additional 2,106 MW of power. Combined with LG-2, these two dams account for more than 20% of Hydro-Quebec’s installed capacity. The photo is from on top of the reservoir looking at the intakes of the station.
Lodgings at Relais Routier on the trip south.
Hope you got enough gas.
Then south through Quebec and down highway 105 which is a fun ride that twists along beside the Gatineau river and then into Ottawa and head on home.