Ponteix began in 1908, when Father Albert-Marie Royer, a priest from the Auvergne region of France, established a parish and hamlet called Notre-Dame d'Auvergne north of Notukeu Creek. Five years later, the Canadian Pacific Railway laid track south of the creek, and the townsite was moved there. After the move, the community took the name Ponteix, after Father Royer's former parish in France, Le Ponteix, in the commune of Aydat.
The parish remains at the heart of the town's story. The present Notre Dame d'Auvergne Catholic Church, built of brick and concrete in 1929, has twin steeples and holds a large wood carving of the Pieta. The statue came to Canada in 1909 and was saved when the 1916 church was destroyed by fire in 1923. A 1954 description says the oak carving was made in France over four hundred years ago.
Today Ponteix is also known for the plesiosaur found nearby in the early 1990s. In 1995 townspeople and Ponteix school students marked the discovery with a plesiosaur statue, filling it with small keepsakes and cement and painting it in a ceremony. The Notukeu Heritage Museum displays prehistoric artifacts, and Notukeu Regional Park, founded in 1964 beside the creek, offers camping, golf, a spray park and a swimming pool.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Ponteix” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.