Lachute

Lachute is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of Mirabel International Airport. It is located on Autoroute 50, at the junctions of Quebec Provincial Highways Route 148, Route 158 and Secondary Highways 327 and 329.It is the seat of Argenteuil Regional County Municipality, and is served by the Lachute Airport.Its major industries include paper mills and lumber. The population of this town is about 12,000 people.HistoryOriginally in the seventeenth century, "La Chute" identified a cataract or falls on the North River located about 24km upstream from its confluence with the Ottawa River. In 1753, Antoine Brunet became the first francophone to settle in Lachute temporarily. In 1796, Jedediah Lane, from Jericho, Vermont, bought several thousand acres of land on both sides of the North River, where Lachute is today. That same year, Hezekiah Clark and his family, also of Jericho, settled near the falls on the North River, followed by Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution. Two years later, the population of The Chute Settlement consisted of five families.