[7] The railway engineers ran the line along the well-drained rocky shoreline of the river, staying safely above the level of spring floods.

[12] A map of the Ecological regions of Quebec shows the river rising and flowing south through the eastern spruce/moss domain of the boreal zone.

[15] The floor of the MacDonald River valley is filled with terraced deltaic deposits formed by sedimentation in front of a decaying glacier.

[17] One section of the lower river valley has many ridges and old meander arms, with crescent shaped sandbars covered with alders.

[7] The MacDonald River cascade is associated with a glacial lock, or riegel, an area where the rock was more resistant to the movement of the glaciers.

[1] The Chute MacDonald can be reached from Baie-Comeau by taking 138 east to Port-Cartier, then turning north on Shelter Bay road.

[20] Fly fishing for 1-2 salmon was allowed from July to September in the section from the footbridge down to Lake Quatre Lieues.

The Port-Cartier-Sept-Îles Wildlife Sanctuary has developed trails along the river that lead from cottages to the Chute MacDonald.

This consists mostly of black spruce and balsam fir trees that are over 200 years old and have not been seriously affected by fire, insects, windstorms or logging.

The hunting area is about 150 square kilometres (58 sq mi) with hardwood forests about 50 years old and mature spruce.