Lemieux, Ontario

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Lemieux is a ghost town in the Canadian province of Ontario, which was located on the shore of the South Nation River in the Prescott and Russell County township of South Plantagenet. The community was abandoned over a two-year period from 1989 to 1991, after soil testing revealed that the town was built on unstable Leda clay, a type of subsoil which can liquify under stress, and was consequently in danger of experiencing a landslide similar to the one that destroyed the town of Saint-Jean-Vianney, Quebec in 1971.

The decision to relocate the community's residents proved to be a wise one — on June 20, 1993, two years after the last remaining building at Lemieux was demolished, a landslide actually occurred at the former townsite.

1 History
2 Abandonment
3 Landslide
4 Aftermath
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Lemieux, a predominantly Franco-Ontarian settlement, was first established in 1850 as a mill town for lumber operations in the area, and later evolved into a farming community. A Roman Catholic parish church, Saint-Joseph-de-Lemieux, was established in 1891.

[edit] Abandonment

On May 16, 1971, just 12 days after the Saint-Jean-Vianney disaster, a smaller landslide occurred on the South Nation River 4.5 kilometres upstream from Lemieux.^[1] As a result, the South Nation Conservation Authority began a program of soil testing along the river to identify sites at risk.

In 1989, Lemieux was identified as a risk site, and after consultations with the township, the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources and the local residents, it was decided to relocate the residents to a safer area.^[2] Over the next two years, the residents were relocated to existing nearby communities at provincial government expense.^[3]

Buildings in the community were either relocated or demolished. The last building remaining in Lemieux, the Saint-Joseph church, was demolished on August 4, 1991.

[edit] Landslide

On June 20, 1993, two years after Lemieux was abandoned, heavy rains caused a retrogressive earthflow which destroyed 17 hectares of farmland at the town site. The scarp retreated 680 metres from the riverbank in less than an hour. An estimated 2.8 million cubic metres of sand, silt and liquefied clay collapsed into the river, which was dammed for several days by the debris.

A portion of Prescott and Russell County Road 16, the main road through the town, was also consumed by the landslide. However, there were no fatalities, as the site was no longer populated.

[edit] Aftermath

Direct and indirect costs related to the event were estimated at $12.5 million CAD.

The South Nation Conservation Authority began a revegetation program in 1994, seeding the landslide site with grasses, legumes and 7,600 trees to help stabilize the soil and reclaim the landslide scar as a wildlife habitat.^[4]

The government of Ontario erected a historical plaque at the site of Lemieux's former main street.^[5]