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Fermont
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<p>Fermont is a mining city in <a href="/facts/C%C3%B4te-Nord/oKYCEo7G">Côte-Nord</a> region, <a href="/facts/Quebec/4hhNvb4t">Quebec</a>, Canada, near the <a href="/facts/Newfoundland_and_Labrador%E2%80%93Quebec_border/yuv8AvMk">Quebec-Labrador border</a> about 23 kilometres (14 mi) from <a href="/facts/Labrador_City/5PljQrK3">Labrador City</a> on <a href="/facts/Quebec_Route_389/v1HYc5sz">Route 389</a>, which connects to the <a href="/facts/Trans-Labrador_Highway/GCdTY7ee">Trans-Labrador Highway</a> (Newfoundland and Labrador Route 500). It is the seat of the <a href="/facts/Caniapiscau_Regional_County_Municipality/XS8ksCbV">Regional County Municipality of Caniapiscau</a>. </p><p>The city is located about 565 km (351 mi) from <a href="/facts/Baie-Comeau/6c2CYIla">Baie-Comeau</a>, about 867 km (539 mi) from <a href="/facts/Saguenay,_Quebec/roSK9cnu">Saguenay</a>, and about 1,000 km (621 mi) from <a href="/facts/Quebec_City/l8pftRQK">Quebec City</a>. </p><p>Fermont (French contraction of "<i>Fer Mont</i>", meaning "Iron Mountain") was founded as a <a href="/facts/Company_town/fcQbCyrI">company town</a> in the early 1970s to exploit rich iron ore deposits from <a href="/facts/Mont_Wright,_Quebec/z5Nl4XbB">Mont Wright</a>, which is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) to the west. </p><p>The town is notable for the huge self-contained structure containing apartments, stores, schools, bars, a hotel, restaurants, a supermarket and swimming pool; the large building shelters a community of smaller apartment buildings and homes on its <a href="/facts/Windward_and_leeward/7LebHsNX">leeward side</a>. Popularly known as The Wall (<i>Le Mur</i>), the structure was designed to be a windscreen to the rest of the town. It permits residents (other than mine workers) to never leave the building during the long winter, which usually lasts about seven months. The town, designed by <a href="/facts/Maurice_Desnoyers/E5ysCd7m">Maurice Desnoyers</a> and Norbert Schoenauer, was inspired by similar projects in Sweden designed by <a href="/facts/Ralph_Erskine_(architect)/lafGYdPg">Ralph Erskine</a>, notably that of <a href="/facts/Svappavaara/wHVrruH0">Svappavaara</a>, an iron mining town in <a href="/facts/Sweden/u3qC7lyj">Sweden</a>. The building measures 1.3 kilometres (4,300 ft) long and stands 15 metres (49 ft) high. </p>