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NATURAL RESOURCES OF QUEBEC
The next important works constructed and operated under supervision
of the commission are the Gouin dam on the St. Maurice river, and the
Mercier dam on the Gatineau river. The Gouin dam was constructed
between 1915 and 1917 to form a reservoir 300 square miles in extent with
a storage capacity of 160 billion cubic feet. Its use has increased the flow
of the lower power reach of the St. Maurice from a natural minimum flow
of 6,000 c.f.s. to a regulated minimum of about 16,000 c.f.s. The Mercier
dam, completed in 1927, forms a reservoir with an area of 115 square
miles, and will impound about one hundred billion cubic feet. By means
of it the low flow of the lower Gatineau will be increased from about 2,100
‘0 somewhat greater than 9,000 c.f.s.
Reservoirs have also been constructed by the commission on the St.
Francois, Ste. Anne de Beaupré and Métis rivers and on lake Kénogami.
Charges are levied for the stored waters in proportion to the benefits
received, and from an expenditure of about $9,000,000 on completed works,
the province now receives an annual revenue in excess of $525.000.
Leases of Water-powers Belonging to the Crown.—In Quebec
‘he Minister of Lands and Forests is charged with the control and manage-
ment of the provincial water-powers, in which he is assisted by the hydraulic
service of his department. The right to the use of a provincial water-
power is as a general rule granted in the form of an emphyteutic lease
which specifies the conditions of development and use; although small
and unimportant power sites are in some cases sold outright.
When the Minister of Lands and Forest decides to lease a water-
power site, for which he has reason to believe there is a public demand,
an announcement is made in the Official Gazette and in the principal
newspapers of the province to that effect, giving the main conditions under
which the site will be leased, and inviting tenders or bids at public auction.
The tenders or bids are usually in the form of the amount which the
applicant offers as an annual rental for the Crown lands to be occupied,
in excess of the upset rental price advertised, the other conditions of the
lease being fixed in advance. When the site is to be used in connection
with a timber: limit for mill purposes, the rental for the power site is some-
times also fixed in advance and the element of competition is confined
to the bids received for the timber on the berth leased along with the power
cite.
The following are the principal conditions contained in the standard
form. of water-nower lease —
1. The term of the lease, which varies from twenty to ninety-nine years.
The most usual term is seventy-five vears.
