The Ouelle River (in French: rivière Ouelle) is a tributary of the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. This river flows successively in the MRC of: The Ouelle River flows through the towns of Saint-Pacôme and Rivière-Ouelle in Québec and enters the Saint Lawrence River to the west of Rivière-Ouelle. There are waterfalls close to the village of Saint-Gabriel-de-Kamouraska. The main shock epicentre of the Charlevoix earthquake of 1663 is believed to have occurred along the Saint Lawrence River between the mouth of the Malbaie River on the north and the mouth of the Ouelle on the south.

Geography

The Ouelle river has its source in the Notre Dame Mountains east of the junction of Rang Terrebonne and the Rang-Terrebonne crossing. This source is located southwest of the village of Sainte-Perpétue, south of the village of Tourville and east of Lake Therrien. From its source, the Ouelle river flows for approximately 73 km, divided into the following segments: Upper part of the Ouelle river Intermediate part of the Ouelle river Lower part of the Ouelle river (segment of 26.3 km) The confluence of the river is located 7.3 km west of the center of the village of Saint-Pacôme, 6.4 km north of the center of the village of La Pocatière and 3.2 km north of the confluence of the Saint-Jean River (La Pocatière). The Ouelle River, which undergoes the tides of the middle St. Lawrence estuary for a short distance from its confluence, is canoeable. The area of its watershed totals 860 km. Its average flow rate is 10 m3/s, reaching 100 m3/s in April. The main tributaries of the Ouelle river are:

Toponymy

The toponym "R. Hoel" appears on a map designed by Jean Bourdon around 1641. This designation of origin honors Louis Houël, Sieur du Petit-Pré, controller of the saltworks of Brouage, member of the Compagnie des Cent-Associés and secretary to the king. Friend and protector of Samuel de Champlain, Houël wintered in Quebec (city) in 1640–1641. He was one of the main instigators of the Récollets coming to New France. The map drawn up by Jean Deshayes in 1695 bears the modern spelling “rivière Ouelle”. The toponym “rivière Ouelle” was formalized on December 5, 1968 by the Commission de toponymie du Québec.