Wakefield City Map Poster

About Wakefield

The Gatineau River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. It drains Lac des Chats, which straddles the border between the two provinces, into Lake Timiskaming. The river flows through many lakes in its course including Lake La Pêche (French for "the fish") from which it takes its name. La Pêche is a municipality located on Route 148 at kilometre 535 of Autoroute 5 southwest of Wakefield and northwest of Maniwaki near where that road meets Highway 105 to Ottawa-Gatineau (Ontario). The village was named after nearby Lac la Peche ("Lake la Peche"), meaning "Fish lake". In 1855, Scottish immigrants settled here; they had been recruited by lumber baron John Rudolphus Booth who owned large tracts around this area at that time. They were followed by Irish settlers who arrived in 1861 as part of an effort to populate Upper Canada with Protestants following unrest during the Rebellions Of 1837–1838 [1].