The municipality consists of the hamlet of Carroll and the village of Waltham, both near the Ottawa River between Chichester and Mansfield-et-Pontefract, about west of Fort-Coulonge. Quebec Route 148 connects Waltham to Allumettes Island and Pembroke, Ontario. Its territory, with a maximum elevation of just over, is sparsely populated, the majority of the population living along or near the Ottawa River. The northern portion is a vast extended tract of undeveloped land, dotted with lakes, such as Findlay, Landon, Gagnon, and Caughlin, which are popular for fishing.
History
The name Waltham, mentioned on the Gale and Duberger map of 1795, comes from a place on the River Lea in Essex, England, named Waltham Abbey. In 1849, the Waltham Township was formed. In 1859, it was officially reorganized into a township municipality, also named Waltham, and its first mayor was John T. Coghlan. In 1869, the Bryson Township was annexed, creating the United Township Municipality of Waltham-et-Bryson. The name Bryson comes from George Bryson Sr., influential logging merchant, and mayor of Mansfield-et-Pontefract. In 1888, the railroad from Fort-Coulonge to Waltham was completed but not until August 27, 1894, was the railroad opened by the Pontiac Pacific Junction Railway Company. Four years later, in 1898, a post office was established, called Waltham Station. In 1937, a hydroelectricgenerating station and dam were built across the Noire River just north of Waltham village, forming a reservoir called Robinson Lake. In 1959, rail service to Waltham is discontinued, and in 1984 the railline was removed and later turned into the Cycloparc PPJbike path stretching from Bristol, Quebec, to Pembroke, Ontario. In 1997, Waltham-et-Bryson is reorganized into the Municipality of Waltham. In 2007, The wood drying kilns at the town's lumberyard caught fire. In 2009, Waltham celebrated its 150th birthday.
1996 UFO Landing
On March 19, 1996, a UFO was reported to have landed in the town's lumberyard. "According to Hector Brochu, a witness of the event, he watched the object, which was described as a diamond shape, 2-1/2 feet high and 2 feet wide, fall to the ground like a feather. It made no noise whatsoever, and was very shiny, as if made of foil. There were no markings whatsoever. The object had what appeared to be a "bulb of mercury" hanging from it. When Brochu got within 10 feet of the object, which he was going to bring home for his daughter, the object rose into the air and remained in a fixed position approximately 150' in the air. Brochu, who ran when the object rose into the air, is 60 years old. The object had landed in a lumber yard. Brochu was able to get 8 people who all saw the object, which remained stationary for about 10 minutes and then left and landed again in what witnesses described as Alouette Island in the Ottawa River."
