Incorporated into the Quebec Business Register on November 15, 1971, under the name
CLUB DE MOTOS NEIGE DE LA MAURICIE INC., and chaired by Gilles Mailhot, Jules Dupont, Secretary, and Richard Diamond, Treasurer, the
group of volunteers and their successors continued to work for the smooth running and development of the snowmobile industry in the
Mauricie region.
At the very beginning, trails ran from the Cabane to Hill to
Charrette, passing through Lac Gareau and Shawinigan.
In the first year, the
founders endorsed the Club for $ 10,000.00, and also received a $ 52,000.00 government grant to promote the sport of snowmobiling.With this money, a new groomer was purchased, and the Club started to apply for land use and clearing.
After
five years, the Club maintained 240 kilometers of trails with three groomers, and had 800 members. In 1984-85, during the economic
crisis, membership fell to 300 members. In the 2000s, on the other hand, there were about 1200 members.
At
first, all the accounting was done manually. With the arrival of Windows in the '90s, letters were written on Word Perfect, and accounting
on Simply Accounting. We must not forget the arrival of the GST and QST, the payroll system, and the annual projects that contributed
money to the Club.
During all these years, many presidents and volunteers have succeeded
to keep the Club in a good financial situation. Just think of Gilles Mailhot, Richard Diamond, Ghislain Lacerte, Louise Yergeau, Jacques
Lacroix, Luc Champagne, Jean-Claude Tessier, Francis Jacques, Serge Gelinas, Jean-Louis Grosleau, René Thibodeau and Louis Germainto name only those.
Formed as a Board of Directors comprised of a president, a secretary
and ten directors, the Club continued to grow, with good and bad seasons. Beginning with a few kilometers of trails maintained
roughly with the means of the edge, the territory grows over the years to travel 240 kilometers, then 290 kilometers since 2012.
What
makes the strength of a club is the involvement and the arms of its volunteers. The salary of the volunteers is the step in the back
of their peers and the satisfaction of participating in the success and development of the organization.
