Draft:Rigwash Valley

Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada, is home to a range of geographical and cultural features that have attracted tourists from Canada and internationally since its opening in 1936. The Rigwash Valley at the western entrance to the park., is with Cap Rouge the Acadian jewel of the park. The location of the Valley across the Chéticamp River and between the Atlantic Ocean and the Highlands plateau provides unique vistas. It has been and continues to be pictured in newspapers and magazines that promote tourism in the park. A good example is a circa 1910 postcard entitled “Looking back at the Rig Wash Valley”. The message on the back of the postcard reflects well how tourists have been impressed from the start by the valley: “Sat. This is a marvellous trip, travelling on roads 1800 ft. above sea level. I’ll go along the Cabot Trail to-morrow and stop at the Keltic Lodge. The roads are not very good but the scenery is something I’ll never forget.” The newspaper Le Canadien, in its edition of 26 Aug., 1963, displayed a picture of La Grande Falaise describing the Rigwash Valley as one of the enchanting sites of the Cabot Trail . Tourists are enticed to visit in all seasons with for example postcards labelled “Autumn reflections on Mélanie Lake on the spectacular Cabot Trail” . As soon as visitors have traveled through the village of Chéticamp and cross over the Chéticamp River, they are welcomed into the Rigwash Valley that makes up the first 20 kilometers of the Park’s Cabot Trail. On the right, the Park’s Discovery Center, the Day Activity Center and the Campground occupy the area first known as La Rigouèche or La Rigouèche à Besure and now as Rigwash a Besure. As the visitor continues on the Cabot Trail, on the left, is Le Buttereau, a 55 m high hill sloping into the ocean on one side and into the Rigwash valley on the other side. Not far along, the visitor notices Mélanie Pond with across, the rolling highland plateau of the Cape Breton Highlands reaching 365 m in elevation. The road continues along into what has been historically referred to as La Vallée à Bernard until one reaches La Grande Falaise, 200 m high. There, close to Rigwash Brook, was the small settlement now called Rigwash a Bernard. The Cabot Trail then crosses the Presqu’Ile lakes on its way to Cap Rouge.

Information panels provide the visitor hiking the Acadian trail or the Buttereau trails or traveling to La Bloc near Cap Rouge maps and basic information on the Rigwash Valley, historically Rigouèche à Bernard and the Rigouèche Brook. many Acadians in nearby Chéticamp remember well the historical toponym Rigouèche and will mention that it is believed to have originated from an unknown Mi’kmaq word. The Rigwash and Rigouèche toponyms have a complex history interpreted differently by different people.

Day Use Area of the Chéticamp Campground of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park at the entrance of the Rigwash Valley named La Rigouèche in recognition of the original toponym for the hamlet occupying that space in the past.

History of the Rigwash à Besure, Rigwash à Bernard and Rigwash Brook

The opening of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park transformed the access to the Rigwash Valley. The “Significant alterations and relocation of the original Cabot Trail can most easily be seen by comparing aerial photographs of the highway taken in 1936 and 1947” as found in the 1979 transportation report . The old Cabot Trail used to run along the Chéticamp sand bar crossing over the Buttereau bridge which was constructed in the 1880’s . A second bridge was several hundred feet up the river from the present bridge and led to a small village first known as La Rigouèche, La Rigouèche à Besure and finally Rigwash à Besure. “The original “Rigouèche” bridge was made of steel and it was rebuilt of wood. It is possible that 1934 was the date of its second destruction by ice after which it was rebuilt but saw little use after the establishment of the National Park and the subsequent relocation of the original residents of La Rigouèche outside the park boundaries” . Initially the Rigwash à Besure and the Valley was accessed by crossing the Rigouèche bridge over the Little River (Chéticamp River) 100 yards or so above the present Cabot Trail bridge. The extent of the territory occupied by the two hamlets is difficult to establish accurately because it evolved over time. The Geographic Names Board of Canada map shows the Rigwash a Besure as a rectangular territory on both sides of Robert Brook extending from the base of the mountain all the way up to the top of the mountain plateau. The map does not include the wide plain where the campground is now located at the base of the mountain. However, the four of the usual 6 or 8 houses making up the local Rigwash à Besure hamlets remaining at the opening of the park are shown occupying the plain close to Robert Brook and the Chéticamp river (la bloc ref panel). On the topographic map of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park 2012 shows that the Rigwash à Besure consisted of both the area located on either side of Robert Brook and the site of the present Chéticamp campground. The map of the land grants shows that parcels also were attributed both on the plain and up the mountain on both sides of the brooks . It is not surprising that permanent settlers would have preferred the plain and its arable land over the wooded harsh landscape of the mountainous ravine. Further As one exits the Rigwash à Besure and enters into the Valley proper, on the seaside, was the Buttereau hamlet, not visible from the valley. Across from this hamlet but in the valley is La Vallee à Bernard and La Rigwash à Bernard. The map provided by the Geographic Names Board of Canada shows the Rigouèche à Bernard as a narrow rectangle of land on the lower third of the inland mountain slope from Rigouèche Brook all the way across Mélanie Pond. The Geographical map pulls together the hamlet and the valley. However, the information panels at La Bloque, put up by les Amis du Plein Air from Chéticamp, locate the hamlet on the level land area at the base of the Grande Falaise known as La Source de la Montain. A spring (source) then located there for the community was destroyed by the construction of the Cape Breton Trail. The same information panels show the 3 houses remaining at the opening of the park clustered at the foot of La Grande Falaise, where a picnic area is now located, next to Rigwash Brook. The concentration of the residents in that area is consistent with the map of the land grants also showing a cluster of land parcels in that area with few if any in the Vallee à Bernard . The land grantees that became permanent hamlet settlers chose preferentially the flat arable land of the valley over the cliff side and the rugged slope of the highland mountains on either side.

Section of the Rigwash Valley opening on La Grande Falaise and the Atlantic Ocean seen from the Highlands plateau. Gilles Boiteau

Rigouèche à Besure – Charles Chiasson dit Bichoure

Besure is the nickname of one of the individuals granted land in the area that became known as Rigwash à Besure. The land north of the Chéticamp River traversed by Indian Brook and Robert Brook was granted in the mid 1800’s to a number of Acadian families. Genealogical records of some of the inhabitants of La Rigouèche suggest that the nickname Besure refer to a Charles (dit Bichoure) Chiasson, born in 1806 (MyHeritage website). Charles was one of the many members of the Chiasson family(ies) such as Lubin, Joseph, John, etc. who received land grants at that location. Charles Bichoure Chaisson married to Aubeline Aucoin in 1836 had a son named David, born in 1844. David Chaisson married to Suzanne (Muise) in 1870 had a son named Georges (MyHeritage website), who according to an Information panel at La Bloc in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, was one of the 6 remaining residents of the Rigouèche a Besure at the creation of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in 1936.

The Besure nickname is likely the Anglicized form of the Acadian nickname Bichoure. Contrary to the genealogical data, the Geographic Names Board of Canada attributes the nickname "Besure" to a Mr. Muise from the area and its combination of the English words "be" and "sure " . The nickname Bichoure remains in use among Acadians today. The minister of Transportation in the New Brunswick 2025 government, Charles Chiasson bears the nickname Bichoure and a Bichoure street can be found at the center of Chéticamp.

Rigwash a Bernard – Bernard Muis

The Bernard in Rigwash à Bernard refers to a Bernard Muis. The Muis surname soon became Muise and the family became an important one in the area of that mountain slope (Charles D. Roach, Chéticamp Genealogy Centre).

According to Wikitree, Bernard Mius (born 1822) and Euphemie LeFort had a son, Simeon Muise (1851-1938), married to Luce Deveau. The map of the land grants in the mid 1800’s shows a lot granted to a Simeon Muise . In the 1921 census, Simeon (born 1851) and his wife, Lucy lived in the household of their son, John Muise (Sophique Muise). In 1936 at the inception of the national park , one John à Simeon à Bernard Muise inhabited Lot # 22, one of the three lots making up the rigouèche . An information panel at La Bloc, shows a picture of John à Simeon à Bernard Muise living at the foot of La Source de la Montain in 1936.

Rigwash Brook also known as Jérome Brook – Who was Jérome?

Rigwash Brook is located next to la Grande Falaise flowing down La Montain à Jérome into la Rigwash à Bernard and eventually into the ocean after crossing the Cabot Trail. Initially known as Rigouèche Brook, a name change to Jérome Brook was recommended by the Geographic Names Board of Canada after reviewing information from 1937 interviews . Another change from Jérome Brook to Rigwash Brook was recommended by the same board on the basis of 1953 and 1974 interviews . Who was Jérome remains a mystery. According to the Geographic Names Board of Canada who were investigating the place names in the park in 1974 discovered that the newspaper, Le Courrier, referred to the brook as Rigewesh, a spelling midway between Rigouèche and Rigwash. Their interviews established that the name Rigwash Brook was generally used instead of Jérome Brook by the local population, that Rigwash or Rigewesh was a generic name used only in this region, and could not be found in any dictionary or writings. Toponymic Designation of the Rigwash Valley In Canada, the Geographic Names Board of Canada in collaboration with provinces and territories is responsible for the official designation of sites. Today, in Nova Scotia, the valley at the entrance of the park is officially referred to as La Rigwash. The valley in the official database is made up of Rigwash à Besure, Rigwash à Bernard, , and Rigwash Brook. The government of Nova Scotia official list of place names also favours Rigwash . According to this site , the latest designation date for all three was June 13, 1975. Rigwash Brook was initially known as Ruisseau a Jérome, changed officially to Jerome Brook on Nov. 2, 1937 and to its present name in 1975 . According to Aucoin, very few Acadians at the time of colonization were literate and spoke English. Common belief is that Acadians transcribed a Micmac term for the area as Rigouèche. I n turn, the officials, mostly Anglophones, would have transcribed the Acadian La Rigouèche as best they could by Rigwash. In time, the toponym Rigwash and the common word rigwash have both been claimed by English and French speaking people. The linguistic affiliation of rigwash and Rigwash varies within the population and even among officials. The Glossary of Generic Terms in Canada’s Geographical Names defines the term rigwash as a French feminine noun used in Nova Scotia as a synonym of ravin in French and ravine in English . Ravine is defined as a deep and narrow, V-shaped depression on a slope (versant). The elongated depression usually allows for a stream to flow through. In Termium Plus, rigwash is considered the French equivalent of the English term ravine. The term rigouèche does not exist in this linguistic data bank. They indicate that a ravine is usually larger than a gulch, but smaller than a valley. The Rigwash à Bernard is given as an example. The word rigwash is not found in any standard dictionary including Webster’s 3rd New International Dictionary, the Dictionary of Cape Breton English by Davey and McKinnon, or the Oxford English Dictionary. The term is unique to this area and its exact definition or usage is unknown . Some locals consider "rigwash" a sort of alluvial deposit caused by erosion of the high hills by brooks . There is no clear indication of when the term rigwash was first used. The earliest printed English usage of Rigwash is on postcards ~1910-1930 and in early 20th-century tourist literature. Multiple vintage-postcard listings and postcard-collection sites show items titled “The Rig Wash” / “Rigwash” (Cabot Trail /Cape Breton). Parks Canada and related promotional brochures (1950s era reproductions and later) describe the Cabot Trail area using Rig Wash in English and La Rigouèche in French. It was mentioned in the Canada Gazette of April 22, 1953, in relation to fishing regulations in Presqu’Ile Lake and Rigwash Lake, Cape Breton Highlands Park . There is no official Rigwash Lake toponym at present. The English form Rigwash is found in many issues of the Cape Breton’s Magazine such as issue 69, 1995. This confirms continued local usage. In 1975, rigwash was adopted as the official toponym for Rigwash Brook, Rigwash à Bernard, and Rigwash à Besure. This is reflected in the Topographic Data of Canada database, Canvec Series, where rigwash is used as English and French toponym without any mention of Rigouèche. It is interesting that the 2012 topographic map of Cape Breton Highlands National Park, published by Parks Canada, and also based on the Canvec Database, continues to use the toponym Rigouèche for all 3 locations with no mention of Rigwash. It seems that Parks Canada chose to retain the historical name for these features of the area whereas the Geographic Names Board of Canada chose common usage over historical terminology. Also, the pavilion for the day-use area of the Parks Canada Chéticamp campground named La Rigouèche reminds visitors of the hamlet that used to occupy the same area prior to the creation of the park.

Historical and linguistic origins of the original toponym Rigouèche

The time of introduction of the historical toponym La Rigouèche in Nova Scotia is unknown. The word also exists as a common noun which is likely to have preceded the introduction of the place name Rigouèche. Common noun origin for proper nouns is far more frequent than toponymic origin for common words. The word rigouèche, is found in only a few dictionaries, particularly regional ones Some of the definitions given for the common word align with the general belief that the Rigwash toponym represents a fertile band of land deposited between slopes such as a valley. The common word rigouèche but spelled rigouaiche, is mentioned as early as 1909 in Le parler populaire des Canadiens français by Narcisse-E. Dionne. It is defined as Rigouaiche, n. f. Premières voies digestives, depuis la bouche jusqu’à l'estomac. Ex. Je me suis brûlé la rigouaiche en buvant du café trop chaud. It’s important to note here that this dictionary includes words of multiple origins including Acadian origin that are in common use in families. It should be noted here that both rigouèche and rigouaiche did not appear in the earlier Glossaire franco-canadien by Oscar Dunn (1880) or in the Dictionnaire canadien-français by Sylva Clapin (1894). The most extensive definition of the word rigouèche (n.f.) appears in Glossaire du Parler Français au Canada in 1930 : 1. Échine – backbone and figuratively submission or resignation. 2. Réprimande (Reprimand) 3. Digestive tract/ throat. Although the glossary applies only to the “Bas Canada” (Québec province) territory, Acadian words that had found their way into the Québec language are said to have been included. The multiple meanings attributed to it suggest that the word had or had been in relatively frequent use at least regionally and was worth bringing along as Acadians resettled in Quebec. It also indicates that the word was introduced in Quebec between 1850, earliest date of colonization, and 1930 glossary date of publication. The definitions provided in the glossary are also probably the closest to the Mi’kmaq word it is said to have originated from. The common name rigouèche can be found as recently as 1980 in the Dictionnaire de la langue québécoise by Léandre Bergeron, where it is defined as: Rigouèche n.f. — Échine. — Tube digestif. Se faire lever la rigouèche — Se faire réprimander. Around the same time period, rigouèche does not appear in the Acadian dictionary by Cormier , but the word riguêche, close to rigouèche, sometimes written, rigouache, does appear and is defined as a strip of land such as a strip of hay left standing after mowing. Riguêche was first recorded in the late 1980s in south western Nova Scotia The Commission de Toponymie du Québec defines La Rigouèche as an Acadian regional toponym used in Chéticamp, Nova Scotia to designate a valley or ravine . It is interesting to note that La Rigouèche was one of the coup-de-coeur of The Commission de Toponymie du Quebec in 2016 .

Possible Mi’kmaq Origin

La Rigouèche, according to Aucoin and many others is a transcription of a Mi’kmaq word that nobody has ever attempted to translate. The Acadian language, based largely on the French language of the 17th century, adopted some Mi’kmaq terms as early as the 17th century . Linguistic exchanges between Mi’kmaq and Acadians would have been most common where Mi’kmaq settlements existed in proximity to Acadian settlements . While there are no Mi'kmaq communities living directly in Chéticamp, the area was historically a Mi'kmaq hunting ground, and the broader Cape Breton Island (Unama'ki) has a significant and long-standing Mi'kmaq presence. The Mi’kmaq inspired terms were used more frequently at the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century . They fell out of favour in the second half of the 20th century . The common belief that the toponym Rigouèche is a transcription of a Mi’kmaq word comes from the existence of a number of Acadian place names and common words that originate with the Mi’kmaq words which have the ouèche suffix.

For example, Maligaouèche, a small Cape Breton peninsula, west of Louisburg, is an example of a place name with suffix, ouèche . The name of the tidal river Missaquash in Nova Scotia, also spelled Mesagouèche, , is another example of a toponym coming from the Mi’kmaq language. The toponym Rigouèche, itself, is not found in any aboriginal dictionary including the Ta’n Weji sqalia’tiek Miꞌkmaw Place Names Digital Atlas that catalogues some 1,500 traditional Miꞌkmaw names. However, the common word rigouèche, does appear in the Dictionnaire du Français Acadien by Cormier , and is defined as “Lisière de terrain” (rigouache is a rare form). Brun also defines rigouèche as lisière étroite de terrain méchant dans la forêt and sexe de la femme. Rigouèche is used in the local Acadian vernacular as well as in print (1, 2) as a slang word referring to female external genitalia. Many Amerindian terms have been adopted in the Acadian language, such as: balamechcoueche or bonhommecouceche (marmotte, woodchuck), cacagoueche, coucougoueche (hibou, owl), kakigoueche, cocoueche, machecoueche (raton laveur, raccoon), mawgouêches (huards a gorge rousse, red-throated loons) . The oueche Acadian terms were first recorded around the mid 1900a but confirmed in Mi’kmaq towards the end of the 19th century. According to Cormier , groundhog, bonhommecouèche, was first recorded in 1946 and under its variant bomqueche since 1895. It was confirmed in Mi’kmaq as moonumkweck towards the end of the 19th century and muhumgwej at the end of the 20th century. The entry for owl , coucougouèche, was first recorded in 1947. It was confirmed in Mi’kmaq as kookoogwes towards the end of the 19th century. The entry for raccoon ,20th, mascouèche, was first recorded in 1916 and can also be found under the variants machecouèche and marchouèche. It was confirmed in Mi’kmaq as amalchoogwech towards the end of the 19th century and as marchouèche at the beginning of the century. Suffixes in Mi’kmaq words have a strong influence on their meaning. The sound, oueche, in Acadian transcriptions corresponds to a range of Mi’kmaq suffixes such as, gweis, gwes, gwech, kwetz, and gwej. Because of the Mi’kmaq oral tradition and regional differences, the spelling of the suffixes that Acadians were exposed to is difficult or impossible to determine. It is interesting to note that the same Acadianized word can correspond to Mi’kmaq words with different suffixes depending on the source. For example, a loon, Acadianized mawgouèche is mah-gweis in The Mi'kmaw Bestiary and gwimu in the online Mi’kmaq English Dictionary . In the same manner, a racoon Acadianized mascouèche is amalchoogwech in the Bestiary and amaljuwej in the online Mi’kmaq English Dictionary. On the basis of linguistics, the suffix “gwej” in Mi’kmaq is the most likely one to have sounded like “ouèche” to French colonizers of Cape Breton. On the basis of linguistics, again, “gwej” is considered “a replicating doer”. For example, the term for woodchuck is mulumgwej where the -gwej suffix has something to do with the two entrances they always have to their home, which the initial part, mulum, implies . In the case of rigouèche, it could indicate the meeting of 2 ravines, 2 brooks or the slopes of 2 mountains forming a valley or a narrow band of arable land with forest on either side .

Possible European Origin

A European origin for the word and place name Rigouèche is also possible. There is a long history of interactions between Europeans and Acadians. The Chéticamp area of Cape Breton Island was occasionally visited in the 18th century by Basque and Breton fishermen . In the 1770’s, Jersey Island fishermen started to settle on Chéticamp Island. According to Aucoin , Acadians may have been attracted by this potential market and started to settle in Chéticamp around 1785. The Acadians officially extended their settlement North of Little River (now Chéticamp River) towards La Rigouèche and Cap Rouge in 1821 . A park information panel at La Bloc displays a 1936 map of the area with the new Cabot Trail Road. Thirty-five Acadian families occupied the land between La Rigouèche and Le Ruisseau Sauteux (not far from Ruisseau Lazare/Corney Brook). Some families had already left but 3 remained in Rigouèche à Bernard, beside Ruisseau à Jérome and 6 in Rigouèche à Besure beside Ruisseau Robert. Pioneer residents cleared the forests between mountains and steep cliffs to make arable land for crops, cereals, and livestock . In spite of the important role played by aboriginal peoples in the survival and development of the French community in Acadia during colonization, few of their words have been integrated into the Acadian language . Cormier states that only 3% of the Acadianisms originate from aboriginal languages, the 2 language systems having nothing in common. In fact, the French colonizers found it so difficult to understand the indigenous language that borrowed words were so transformed that it is frequently difficult to retrace their Mi’kmaq origins . Elsewhere, colonizers like the Jesuits, for example, recorded the Indigenous words they heard in their numerous documents, but they wrote them phonetically. These writings are now useful for reconstructing oral Indigenous languages, such as that of the Huron people of Loretteville, Quebec. Although a term like Rigouèche might represent the sound of the original Mi’kmaq word, it could be difficult or impossible to reconstruct the spelling or infer the meaning even for those with a good knowledge of the Indigenous language. Etymologically, the structure of the name “La Rigouèche” suggests a French Acadian origin, reflecting the region’s historical French-speaking settlers. One can see French patterns like “La -eche” or “La -euse”, although the precise components are unclear. It is consistent with localized toponyms in Acadian-influenced areas. Also, “La Rigouèche” follows a distinctly French grammatical form. The definite article “La” is not part of Mi’kmaw syntax.

Exportation of the Cape Breton toponym La Rigouèche to the Province of Quebec

While the toponym Rigouèche is no longer recognized officially in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the Commission de Toponymie du Quebec continues to recognize the toponym La Rigouèche. It describes it as a peatland on the island of Petit Mécatina on the north shore of Quebec . It is described as a small bowl with 30 m high sides. Acadian families settled on the Québec North Shore as early as the 1850s. Over the next half century, many of the Acadian families recruited from the deportees seeking better fishing grounds or escaping conflict settled from Kegaska to Havre-Saint-Pierre. Acadians integrated into Quebec but carried their language and traditions with them. It is probably during that period that Acadians recognized a familiar site and named it La Rigouèche. The area topography is not unlike that of the Valley in Cape Breton (Google maps). The presence of peat land could also have been a factor. Although peatland is not common in the Rigwash Valley, similar landscapes can be found in the upper section of the Robert Brook land grants referred to as the Lacs des Plees Ferrees. Plees refers to peat land and in general open areas with little or no vegetation in the highlands. (https://usito.usherbrooke.ca/d%C3%A9finitions/pl%C3%A9e ) It is the only location in Canada where the toponym La Rigouèche is recognized officially.