A local archaeology group is hoping returns from a survey done on June 8 on a new site in Quyon might hold clues to the region’s past.

For the past few years the Friends of Chats Falls and Archéo-Pontiac have jointly hosted public digs at a site at Pointe-à-l’Indienne, a small peninsula that sticks out into the Ottawa River just upriver of Quyon where the groups invited community members and schoolchildren to participate in hands-on history.

On June 7 and 8, the groups chose to sink their spades into new ground, hosting their first-ever archaeological dig on the old Quyon fairgrounds, surveying 23 different places across the site.

“Given the anniversary of the official foundation of Quyon, there was an interest to see if there could be an archaeological site in the community that could be the place where public archaeology could be done in September,” said Jean-Luc Pilon, a professional archaeologist volunteering as a counselor with the project.

According to historian Maude Lambert, the land was donated in the 1910s by the family of Philemon Wright to the Quyon Agricultural Society, and was the site of the annual agricultural fair from 1920 until 2001.

Buildings were constructed to shelter the animals and the exhibitioners alike, including two stables for cows, three more for horses, a refreshments counter, and a half-mile racetrack for the horse races.

“These were among the most popular in the entire Ottawa Valley, and the updates done to the exhibition grounds over the years made it into one of the most beautiful rural parks in the region,” Lambert said.

Pilon said the dig revealed visibly different layers in the soil that line up with some of the grounds’ uses over the years.

“Every time someone pulls out a picture of the Quyon fairgrounds, you’re probably going to be seeing different uses that would have modified the landscape [ . . . ] and we see that in some of the test pits,” he said.

He said the dig yielded up to 150 individual pieces of artifacts, including fragments of bottles, metal, nails, bones, a 22-inch pipe, and the bones from several beef roasts. But without a full analysis it is hard to say exactly how old the artifacts are and what they might reveal.

Over the summer, the artifacts will be dated and analyzed, at which point the group will decide if it is worth returning to the site for a more formal dig.

“There’s a range of objects that really have to be looked at and considered. We have to look at the soils that they were contained in and consider what processes might have produced those soils before I can really suggest viable options,” he said.

‘Where two rivers meet’

Lambert said she is hoping the site will offer new insights into the lives of the early European settlers of Quyon, about which she said very little is known, as well as about the pre-contact history of the site since it is not known how long the site had been used prior to European contact.

“It’s where the two rivers meet and not far from the Portage des Chats, so there is always a potential that the site was used by the First Nations [ . . . ] Some ancient archaeological discoveries have been made recently across the river in the Fitzroy Harbour park,” she said.

Members of Archéo-Pontiac believe there might in fact be a wealth of artifacts from throughout history buried somewhere in or near the village, in part because of its location at the confluence of the Ottawa and Quyon rivers.

“If you’re going there to fish, it’s also a place where you can gather plants and medicines and all sorts of other resources,” said Audrey Lapointe, organizer of the Archéo-Pontiac digs who specializes in pre-contact history.

And the Quyon river gives you access to the hinterlands further away, so it’s a point of access for transportation and communication.”

Besides Pointe-à-l’Indienne, a site known to have been home to a trading post later taken over by the Hudson’s Bay Company, Quyon also played an important role in the industrial history of the Ottawa Valley. It became a hub for the lumber industry with the establishment of the Egan mill in 1846, as well as several other mills that fueled the local economy.

“There’s also the quay that has been there since the end of the 19th century, so we know that there have been different kinds of activities,” said Lapointe.

“At the beginning of the 20th century Quyon was really a thriving municipality where there was a lot of money [and] a lot of investment because of the wood industry.”

One thing the group has been hoping to find for several years is one of the homes of Ottawa Valley lumber baron Philemon Wright, which is believed to have stood somewhere near the water near the site of the old fairgrounds.

“We know that [for] Philemon Wright, in and around 1830, there is a house being built, and there’s probably barns and outbuildings associated with that,” said Pilon, who added that local historian Michael McBane had the idea four years ago.

He noted this was only one of the reasons the group chose that particular location for the dig. “I’m not looking for the Holy Grail,” he said. “Our intention last weekend was to learn about the archaeological resources that may or may not exist in this park.”

Lapointe, a teacher at Vallée-des-Voyageurs Elementary School in Luskville, said for her the discoveries are important, especially on the 150th anniversary of the village.

“It’s such a great opportunity to make a chance to maybe find something. For me, the fact that it’s Philemon Wright’s house, it’s not that important, it’s just that we could find a colonial site,” she said.

But she said it’s also important for her to get kids involved in history by doing digs like these.

“How do you make the kids love the heritage? Bring them to do archaeology. My first-year students know the word ‘artifact,’ so my job is done.”

That’s why, come September, she is hoping Archéo-Pontiac can return to the fairgrounds site to see what it can dig up – Philemon Wright homestead or not.

“The questions in suspense is, are we going back to Indian Point to continue to reveal the site of the Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, or are we going to the municipal park in Quyon?”