The ferry is part of Quebec Route 138 which is the main land link to Sept-Îles along the Côte-Nord.

Baie-Sainte-Catherine has the reputation of being the location of the historic meeting on May 27, 1603, between François Gravé Du Pont and Samuel de Champlain and the leaders of three Indian nations with whom they concluded an agreement that opened the Saint Lawrence River to French explorers.

[4] On the stormy evening of November 27, 1686, the ship La Catherine went aground and sank in the bay at the mouth of the Saguenay River.

At some uncertain point in time, "Saint" was added, following the former widespread practice in Quebec of sanctifying toponyms.

In 1843, William Price built a sawmill at the first falls on Canards River, that operated some ten years.