[2] In 1928, the SWPC acquired water rights on six of the seven sites that could be developed for power generation on the upper Saint-Maurice River, upstream of Grand-Mère.

[3] Under its agreement with the Government of Quebec, the SWPC had pledged to start construction of a facility with a minimum power rating of 75 MW (100,000 hp) by 1930, for a planned commissioning in 1933.

The project was relatively complex for the time, and in particular required the movement of a 50 km (31 mi) section of the railway of Canadian National, which passed through the land due to be flooded by the reservoir of the plant.

The production cost was due to become lower after the installation of the last two generating units (the central being meant to accommodate six, with a combined capacity of 180 MW (240,000 hp)).

The Shawinigan Journal, the internal newspaper of the SWPC, revealed in its November 1945 edition that company executives feared that a collapse of the Gouin dam could cause the destruction of downstream plants used to support the war effort.

The best pigeons of the SWPC could make the trip between the two sites - 120 km (75 mi) apart as the crow flies - in 75 minutes, which represents an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

[8] Following the end of the war, and due to the creation of Hydro-Québec in 1944, the SWPC was confined to a smaller territory at a time where demand was rapidly increasing.

[11] The village also had an inn of 13 rooms, an Elementary School which offered instruction in French and English, two churches (Catholic and Protestant), a General Store, a filtration plant and a medical clinic.

In 1969, the decision to control the plant remotely from La Tuque, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) downstream, was taken by Hydro-Québec, resulting in the village being dismantled in 1974, to the dismay of workers who spent their career there.

The company then invoked the increased accessibility to the site, the preference of employees for life in an urban environment and annual savings of $C450,000 to justify the abandonment of the village.

[14] Since automation, hydro development is visited weekly by a team of a dozen workers responsible for maintenance of the plant and the three auxiliary dams in Manowan.

[15] The power station installed on the roof of the plant was upgraded in 2007 to accommodate a new transmission line built at a cost of CA$104.5 million dollars.

[16] Sixty kilometres (37 mi) long and consisting of guyed towers, a line 230 kV delivers electricity to new Chute-Allard and Rapides-des-Coeurs,[17] upstream, to the position of beeches in Shawinigan and the consumer markets of southern Quebec.