Montreal's longest-running real estate fiasco

Part One of a seven-part series
Almost from the time that farmer Jean-Baptiste Pépin built a homestead and raised seven children on the edge of the river in the eastern extremity of Montreal Island in the early 19th century, the Rivière-des-Prairies district’s vast uninhabited land has stoked many imaginations. 
It has also fattened many wallets. 
But within this real estate Klondike, one property owner has managed to lose millions of dollars multiple