History

During the 18th century, trappers and fur traders scoured the lakes and rivers hunting and trading beautiful pelts with the Natives in exchange for trinkets.

At the turn of the 19th century, forestry companies discovered the immense natural resources of the surrounding mountains. Huge pine trees, several centuries old were cut down and shipped to England for use by the British Navy and later sent south of the border to build the cities of Boston and New York. The forest of Mont-Tremblant supplied the American pulp & paper industry until 1930.

Colonization

As of 1850, Irish and Scottish immigrants began moving up in droves from the Ottawa Valley to settle in Arundel County and as far north as the Mont Tremblant area.

In an effort to stop the "Growing threat of the presence of Anglo-Saxon Protestants..." and to try to forestay the huge loss of French Canadian families to the factories in New England, Father Antoine Labelle (pictured), visionary and fiery curate of St. Jerome, undertook a program of colonization in the northern regions. He dreamed of a territory mainly populated with French Canadian Roman Catholics as far as Manitoba!

Between 1872 and 1890, from Ste. Agathe to Mont-Laurier, Father Labelle opened twenty-nine counties and twenty parishes, including those of St. Jovite and St. Faustin in 1879. Altogether more than five thousand French speaking people settled in the surrounding river valleys. Life was harsh. Away from their families for eight months of the year, most men were lumbering in the bitter cold of winter and spring logging in dangerous conditions for only a few cents a day!

Le P'tit train du Nord

Without the existence of proper roads, only a rail line from Montreal could ensure the survival of these newly settled communities. Furthermore, Father Labelle was passionately convinced that the train would forge the way for the development of tourism for "the big city people".

In spite of widespread apathy and opposition, Father Labelle's intense lobbying to provincial and federal politicians eventually won out. In the meantime, the poor settlers in St. Jovite had to wait some twelve years before hearing the first whistling of the P'tit train du Nord in December 1892.

The vision grows

At the turn of the 20th century, the choice of the Mont-Tremblant Region as a summer playground increased in popularity. Guesthouses, inns and hotels sprouted up all around. The surrounding forest, the pure mountain air and the striking beauty of the scenery drew wealthy Mountrealers, as well as Americans and Europeans.

In 1907, the Wheeler family, who had emigrated from the States in 1894, founded Gray Rocks Inn, which soon became a leader in the tourism industry in the Laurentians and throughout Canada . As one of the first year-round resorts, it offered an array of seasonal outdoor sporting activities, introducing the vacation package concept.

1924: Gray Rocks Air Service (which later became Wheeler Airline) was granted the first commercial aviation licence in Canada. Located next to the inn, it offered fishing and hunting trips to the interior regions of the North. Another first: bush flying took off!

Gray Rocks would be the magnet for skiing buffs for years to come. Every weekend during the 1920's and 30's, the ski train, le "P'tit Train du Nord", would bring a cavalcade of spirited young men and women seeking the thrills of adventure. Accompanied by the legendary Jackrabbit Johannsen, the more adventurous members of the Red Birds Ski Club of Montreal would take off cross-country skiing early in the morning, climb Mont Tremblant (on skis!) and bushwhack down through the forest, returning to the warm fire in the lodge at the end of the day.

In 1936, Joe Ryan, a young eccentric American millionnaire was so taken by the scenery at the summit of Mont Tremblant that he decided to build "the biggest ski centre in the East." Three years later, with the indispensable backing of the parish priest Father Deslauriers and the enthusiastic participation of local residents, Joe Ryan's dream became a reality. Mont Tremblant Lodge was inaugurated and the ski resort proved to be an immediate success, particularly with the upper crust of American society.

With the onset of the 1950's booming postwar economy, the automobile and a higher standard of living that allowed for more leisure activity, the Laurentians became the playground for middle-class Montrealers and suburbanites.

1991 brought winds of change! Intrawest, the biggest Canadian promoter of alpine resorts announced a significant investment that dramatically thrust the Mont Tremblant Resort into the 21st century.

The intuition and vision of Father Labelle and Joe Ryan paid off. Today, Mont-Tremblant is without a doubt a first-class international vacation destination year-round!