Last modified: 2019-12-08 by rob raeside
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The parish municipality of Saint-Léon-le-Grand (900 inhabitants, 75.9
km²)
Olivier
Touzeau, 54 November 2019
White flag with coat-of-arms
(see:
http://www.st-leon.com/municipalite/armoiries.html)
Olivier
Touzeau, 5 November 2019
The arms of Saint-Léon were designed by Odette Lemieux, winner of a public
contest.
The green and blue triangle on the shield's left part represent
the cultivated land and water. The central stairs represent the ever raising
progress; each step represents the perpetuation of traditions from generation to
generation.
The blue triangle on the shield's right part represents the
Saline springs, the watercourses, and freshwater.
The green triangle in the
shield's center and base represents agriculture, cattle-breeding (represented by
a farm), and sugar maple cultivation (represented by the two trees).
The
small yellow triangle in chief represents the light and the sun required for the
development of plants, animals and human beings. It also represents God's light.
The cross represents the spiritual and cultural contribution of the church and
of the religious communities.
The crossed chains represent human solidarity;
the crossing human chain converge to the church, where people coming from the
parish's four corners meet.
The shield is surmounted by the interlaced
initials of Saint-Léon, surrounded by wheat spikes meaning culture, bread, and
life.
http://www.st-leon.com/municipalite/armoiries.html
Municipal website
°The St. Leon mineral water was bottled and sold by successive companies. An
ad published in the "Gazette", 3 September 1910, presents a "rare native water",
deemed "curative and restorative in its action, keeping the human organs in a
perfect, healthy conditions". Bottled at St. Leon Springs, the water was sold
under the "Mirack" brand by the St. Leon Water Ltd. The ad claims that the
"original St. Leon" was established in 1881.
The St. Leon mineral water was
recommended in the "Quebec Daily Telegraph", 9 November 1885, by J.E. Bolduc,
Priest and Proctor of the Archiepiscopal Palace; the good priest, which
"suffered from dyspepsia and all the inconvenience arising therefrom for nearly
twenty years", was healed "by taking nearly a pint of it every morning, an hour
before breakfast".
According to another ad published in the "Quebec Daily
Mercury", 5 October 1901, "pure St. Leon water" was "the true antidote to
fevers", typhoid fever included. The ad conveniently mentions the discovery of
the role of bad water in the transmission of fever by Leigh Cannon in Assam,
some 15 years before.
The "Canadian Journal of Medicine and Surgery", 1908n,
reports that "St Leon Sante Salts are produced by evaporating the natural St.
Leon Sante Water". The process was targeted to travelers, who would transport
much more easily salts than bottles.
The St. Leon Springs hotel and
sanitarium was re-opened "under a new management" on 1 June 1889, as announced
on 22 May 1889 in the "Quebec Daily Telegraph". Presented as no less than "one
of the most delightful and agreeable summer resorts on the continent", the
hotel, "more attractive than ever", was connected to the Saline Springs Cure,
also owned by the St. Leon Mineral Water Co. At the time the hotel was directed
by Captain James K. Gilman (1828-1907).
The springs' fame subsequently
declined. In 1961, water was still bottled by Eau Minérale Naturelle St-Léon,
owned by Léopold Desrosiers. Exploitation ceased after the destruction of the
bottling factory by a blaze in December 1964. Located on a private property, the
mineral source still gushes forth.
https://gillesdouaire.org/2011/11/26/eau-minerale-naturelle-saint-leon-co/
Histoire du Québec, 26 November 2011
Ivan Sache, 16 November
2019