Lake Quatre Lieues

The name Quatre Lieues refers to the location of the lake, which is four leagues, or 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) to the west of Shelter Bay, Quebec.[1]

Lake Quatre Lieues is in the unorganized territory of Lac-Walker in the Sept-Rivières Regional County Municipality of the Côte-Nord administrative region of Quebec.[1] It is in the extreme south of the proposed Lake Walker National Park.[2] The MacDonald River flows through the northern end of Lake Quatre Lieues and continues east to join the Aux Rochers River to the south of Lake Walker.[3] The lake is about 116 metres (381 ft) above sea level.[4]

The northern part of the lake is 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) long and 390 metres (1,280 ft) wide.[5] It lies in a slender lacustrine basin 5.2 kilometres (3.2 mi) long by 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide with bays and sandbanks, an extension of the Lake Walker basin. The surrounding terraces are formed of sandy materials of deltaic origin.[6] These deposits were laid down during glacial decay in the Holocene.[7] The southern extension forms a narrow and winding basin 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) long cut into the plateau.[5]

The Cartier Railway owned by ArcelorMittal runs along the northeast shore of the lake before turning west along the MacDonald River valley.[8] The railway links the Mont Wright iron mine near Fermont to Port-Cartier.[5]

NASA images indicate that the lake is in a region mostly covered in coniferous forests.[9] The district is in the boreal climate zone under the Köppen climate classification.[10] A map of the Ecological regions of Quebec places the lake in the 6J-T ecological subregion, part of the eastern spruce/moss domain of the boreal zone.[11] The average annual temperature in the region is 0 °C (32 °F). The warmest month is July, when the average temperature is 16 °C (61 °F) and the coldest is January with an average of −17 °C (1 °F).[12] Average annual rainfall is 1,014 millimetres (39.9 in), of which 361.5 millimetres (14.23 in) falls as snow.[6]

The lake is a magnificent place for relaxation, fishing, hunting and boating.[5] The Port-Cartier–Sept-Îles Wildlife Reserve offers chalet rentals for hunting and fishing in the Quatre-lieues area. The hunting area is about 150 square kilometres (58 sq mi) with hardwood forests about 50 years old and mature spruce.[13] In 2013 fishing for atlantic salmon was prohibited. Angling or fly fishing for other species was allowed from 11 May 2012 to 3 September 2012.[14]