ALMA

city, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, south-central Quebec province, Canada, on Alma Island and both banks of the Saguenay River, an outlet of Lac-Saint-Jean (Lake St. John) 140 miles (230 km) north of Quebec city. The city was mainly an agricultural community until after 1923, when the large le-Maligne hydroelectric power project was developed. Alma's economy now largely depends on aluminum and paper processing and granite quarrying. Founded in 1867 as Saint-Joseph-d'Alma, the settlement was chartered as a village in 1917 and as a town in 1924. In 1954 its name was shortened to Alma. It absorbed adjacent Naudville, Riverbend, and sle-Maligne in 1962. In 1976 a new city of Alma was created from the amalgamation of the old city of Alma and the neighbouring Saint-Joseph-d'Alma. Inc. city, 1958. Pop. (1991) 25,910. city, Gratiot county, central Michigan, U.S., on the Pine River, some 50 miles (80 km) north of Lansing. Founded in 1853, it is in the heart of an agricultural area producing beans, corn (maize), and sugar beets. Light industry and petroleum and sugar-beet refining are of economic importance. The city is the seat of Alma College (founded 1886) and the Michigan Masonic Home. Inc. village, 1872; city, 1905. Pop. (1990) 9,034.