Abitibi River
| Abitibi River | |
|---|---|
| File:Abitibi River.JPG Abitibi River at Iroquois Falls | |
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| Etymology | Algonquin language |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| District | Cochrane |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Lake Abitibi |
| • location | 38 km east of Iroquois Falls |
| • coordinates | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. |
| Mouth | Moose River |
• location | 30 km SSW from Moosonee |
• coordinates | Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| Length | 540 km (340 mi) [1] |
| Basin size | 29,500 km2 (11,400 sq mi)[1] |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Black River, Frederick House River, North Driftwood River |
| • right | Sucker River, Little Abitibi River |
The Abitibi River is a river in northeastern Ontario, Canada, which flows northwest from Lake Abitibi to join the Moose River which empties into James Bay. This river is 540 kilometres (340 mi) long, and descends 265 metres (869 ft).[2] It is the ninth longest river in Ontario, Behind the Ottawa River (1,271km), St. Lawrence River (1.197km), Severn River (982km), Albany River (982km), Winnipeg River (813km), Attawapiskat River (748km), English River (615km) and Moose River(547km).
Abitibi is an Algonquin word meaning "halfway water", derived from abitah, which may be translated as "middle" or "halfway", and nipi, "water". Originally used by the French to designate a band of Algonquin Indians who lived near the lake, the name was descriptive of their location halfway between the trading posts on the Hudson Bay and those on the Ottawa River.[2][3]
The river was an important fur trading route for the Hudson's Bay Company. From 1914 Until 2014, pulp and paper, centered in the town of Iroquois Falls, was an important industry in the heavily forested region through which it flows.[2] The region also supports tourism and gold mining.[2]
The Abitibi Canyon Generating Station is located on the river at Abitibi Canyon. The experience of surveying the river for the purposes of building this plant was the inspiration for folk singer Wade Hemsworth's "The Black Fly Song".
Geography
[edit | edit source]Description of river course (in downstream order):
- Begins as outlet from Lake Abitibi (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Extreme southern point (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Ansonville, Ontario (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Iroquois Falls, Ontario (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Crossed by Ontario Northland Railway (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Long Sault Rapids hydroelectric plant (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Confluence with the Black River (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Confluence with the Frederick House River (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Ontario Northland Railway crossing at Island Falls Station, Ontario (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Island Falls, Ontario (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Abitibi Canyon Generating Station near Fraserdale, Ontario (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Otter Rapids Generating Station (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Coral Rapids, Ontario (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Extreme western point (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Confluence with the Little Abitibi River (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Joins the Moose River (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
- Enters James Bay as part of the Moose River (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)
Tributaries
[edit | edit source]- Little Abitibi River
- Frederick House River
- Black River
- Mistango River
- Marathon Creek
- Edwards Creek
- Meadow Creek
Protected areas
[edit | edit source]A small portion of the river (from the outlet of Lake Abitibi to Couchching Falls) is protected in the Abitibi-De-Troyes Provincial Park. Until April 2005, this park included all the public lands stretching along the Abitibi River to Iroquois Falls, but most of these were deregulated because the significant amount of private land within the area that made the management of the waterway class provincial park difficult.[4]
Power generation
[edit | edit source]
The Abitibi River is used extensively for the hydro-electric power generation. Power stations on the river are in downstream order:
| Installation | Capacity | Head | Year built | Operator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twin Falls | 27.5 MW | 17 m (56 ft) | 1922 | H2O Power | 5 vertical Francis turbines[5] |
| Iroquois Falls | 29.7 MW | 13 m (43 ft) | 1914 (rebuilt 2003) | H2O Power | 9 vertical Saxo Kaplan, 3 horizontal double Francis turbines[6] |
| Long Sault Rapids | 16 MW | 9 m (30 ft) | 1998 | Algonquin Power Systems | Run-of-the-river |
| Island Falls | 44.3 MW | 19 m (62 ft) | 1925 | H2O Power | 4 vertical Francis turbines[7] |
| Abitibi Canyon | 345 MW | 1933 | Ontario Power Generation | 5x 68.8 MW Francis turbines | |
| Peter Sutherland Sr. | 28 MW | 2017 | Ontario Power Generation | actually on New Post Creek[8] | |
| Otter Rapids | 180 MW | 1961 | Ontario Power Generation | 4x 45 MW turbines |
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Atlas of Canada Archived 2007-04-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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External links
[edit | edit source]Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons
