Some people believe the city was named after
Donnacona, a 16th-century
St. Lawrence Iroquois chief who was taken to
France. The chieftain lived further down-river in
Stadacona. It was actually named after the first
paper mill erected at the mouth of the
Jacques-Cartier River, The Donnacona Paper Ltd. It was located where the Jacques-Cartier River meets the
St. Lawrence River. The local paper mill played a key role in creating and quickly developing the local settlement to the point of making Donnacona the most populous urban town in
Portneuf County. Economic difficulties affected the lumber and
pulp and paper industry and the local factory was sold a number of times. In 2007,
Bowater had a debt of $7 billion and merged with
Abitibi-Consolidated. The merger was to sell off Abitibi's assets and close its mills for liquidity to settle Bowater's debt. It closed in January 2008. It had employed 240 people manufacturing of 230,000 tonnes per annum of commercial grade paper. The demolition was scheduled to take 12 to 14 months. For three years, the town unsuccessfully tried to find an entrepreneur to restart the industry. Demolition began in March 2011. Prior to the chartering of Donnacona as a town in 1915, the area was named Pointe-aux-Écureuils. A
New France Seigneurie existed under the name of Les Écureuils as a surrounding rural
parish municipality prior to its final merge with Donnacona in 1967. ==Geography==