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President Pierre-Paul Morin of the Longueuil-Québec Stake loves reading his scriptures just outside his work office, where Québec City’s Château Frontenac and Citadelle provide the backdrop and the St. Lawrence River bubbles with history.

Established as a fur-trading post by Samuel de Champlain on July 3, 1608, Québec City, Québec, Canada, is marking its 400th birthday with a year-long celebration.

Just as Americans flocked to Jamestown, Virginia, USA, in 2007 to commemorate the arrival of the original English colonists, Québec is expecting numerous tourists to gather to this picturesque city of medieval design, and Québec’s Latter-day Saints plan to welcome visitors to a handful of their own commemorative events.

“I love the city as I get to know it better, and all of our children, none of whom were born here, have appreciated its beauties and advantages,” said President Morin, whose family previously lived three hours north in Chicoutimi. “When we first arrived, (my daughter) Hélène commented that . . . she felt like a tourist all year round.”

Profiting from its strategic location on the lengthy St. Lawrence, which leads to the Great Lakes, Québec City served as a jumping-off point for early explorers of the North American continent.

French Canadian mountain men in the eighteenth century left their marks on the American landscape. In the United States cities such as Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and the Dalles in Oregon bear French names that reflect the courage and pioneering efforts of those early explorers.

Toussaint Charbonneau is one of the more well-known Québec explorers. He and his native wife, Sacajawea, guided the Lewis and Clark expedition. Two other Québec explorers influenced Utah history. The city of Provo, Provo River, and Provo Canyon are named after Etienne Provost (1785–1850), one of the first Europeans to see the Great Salt Lake. The city of Ogden is named after Peter Skene Ogden (1794–1854), who also studied the Great Salt Lake and the Weber River years before Brigham Young gazed over the desert valley. 

The journals and reports of these two voyageurs from the St. Lawrence Valley were a great resource to Mormon leaders as the Saints left Nauvoo for the protection of the Rocky Mountains.

In 1969, the Church established its first branch, consisting of 20 people, in Québec City. By 2006, membership had grown to nearly 10,000 in the whole province, with a total of 31 branches and wards. Also in 2006, the city saw the building of its first meetinghouse and the addition of a student branch.

To learn more about Church pioneers and the contributions of Etienne Provost and Peter Skene Ogden explore the Church History Web site, which includes online access to the LDS Church Periodical Index and limited access to journals and other manuscripts.