Gatineau River

Gatineau River

The Gatineau River is a river in western Quebec, Canada, which rises in lakes north of the Baskatong Reservoir and flows south to join the Ottawa River at the city of Gatineau, Quebec. The river is 386 km (240 miles) long and drains an area of 23,700 km².

While it has been said that the river's name comes from Nicolas Gatineau, a fur trader who is said to have drowned in the river in 1683, the local Indian tribe, the Algonquin Anicinabek, assert that the name comes from their language. The name they give the river is "Te-nagàdino-zìbi", which means "The River that Stops [One's Journey] ".

Interestingly, the geography of the area was altered with the construction of the Baskatong Reservoir, and it is still possible to travel upstream on the Gatineau and reach a point where a small portage will bring you to the headwaters of the Ottawa River. The Ottawa River then flows northwest and turns south where it eventually flows more easterly and connects with the Gatineau.

The river flows through the communities of:
* Maniwaki
* Low
* Wakefield
* Chelsea
* Gatineau

A covered wooden bridge over the river at Wakefield, built in 1915, was destroyed by arson in 1984, but has been rebuilt.

The Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield Railway, a tourist steam train follows the old train route up the Gatineau valley to Wakefield.

History

This river was an important transportation corridor for native people of the region and early explorers. On June 4, 1613, Samuel de Champlain passed here while travelling on the Ottawa River to L'Isle-aux-Allumettes. He wrote:

He noted this "river coming from the north" but did not give its name.

According to the "Bulletin des recherches historiques" (1895), the land-surveyor Noël Beaupré wrote an official report on the river on February 3, 1721, but without naming it, leaving it unclear if its current name was in use in the 18th century.

In 1783, in a report to the governor Frederick Haldimand, lieutenant David Jones called the river by the name "River Lettinoe". According to Lucien Brault (History of Pointe-Gatineau, 1948), this would be the first written reference to the name Gatineau. On the charts of his account from 1830, but recalling events from the beginning of the 19th century, the traveller and fur trader Jean-Baptiste Perrault called the river "nàgàtinong" or "àgatinung".

On a plan of the Rideau Canal, drawn by lieutenant-colonel John By in 1831, the river is called "Gatteno". Finally, "R. Gatineau" appears on the chart of William Henderson in 1831, and on the one of Thomas Guesses, in 1861.

This name recollects the memory of a fur trader from the 17th century, Nicolas Gatineau or Gastineau. Inhabitant of Trois-Rivières, he had traded near a river located between the Ottawa and Saint-Maurice Rivers, which was then customarily called river of Gatineau. But according to Raymond Douville, at the end of the 17th century Louis (1674-1750) and Jean-Baptiste (1671-1750), sons of Nicolas, established a trading post, or just a supply post, on a point located at the mouth of the river, site of the future Point-Gatineau. Therefore the toponym given to the river is more likely a credit to the Gatineau sons than to Nicolas. [Commission de toponymie du Québec]

From the 19th century up until the second half of the 20th century, the river was used to transport logs to sawmills near the mouth of the river. Philemon Wright and his descendants played an important role in the development of the lumber industry in the Gatineau valley. In more recent times, with declining quality in the forests of the region, logs are used for pulp and paper.

The river has been extensively dammed and is an important source of hydroelectric power. In the spring of 1974, there was extensive flooding along the Gatineau.

Tributaries

Tributaries of the Gatineau River include:
*La Pêche River
*Kazabazua River
**Picanoc River
*Rivière Désert
**Rivière de l'Aigle (Eagle River)
*Rivière d'Argent
*Notawassi River
*Choaurt River
**Rivière du Canot
***Bazin River
***Rivière aux Bleuts
**Fortier River
*Wapus River
*Gens de Terre River
**Belinge River

References

External links

* [http://collections.ic.gc.ca/gatineau/ Gatineau River]
* [http://www.gatineau.org/ Festival d'eau vive de la Haute-Gatineau] - A festival dedicated to the preservation of rivers.

ee also

*List of Quebec rivers


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Gatineau River — ▪ river, Quebec, Canada French  Rivière Gatineau        river in Outaouais region, southwestern Quebec province, Canada. The river rises in a chain of lakes north of Baskatong Reservoir and flows generally southward for 240 miles (390 km) to join …   Universalium

  • Gatineau River — Gatineau River, Nebenfluß des Ottawa (s.d.), mündet unterhalb der kanadischen Hauptstadt, mit starker Wasserkraft und umfangreicher Holzflößerei …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Gatineau Park — ( fr. Parc de la Gatineau) is a park near Gatineau, Québec, Canada, just north of Ottawa, Ontario. Administered by the federal National Capital Commission, the park forms a 363 km² triangle west of the Gatineau River, whose circumference is 179.2 …   Wikipedia

  • Gatineau (disambiguation) — Gatineau can mean:*Gatineau, a city in Quebec, Canada *Gatineau (electoral district), a federal riding in the city of Gatineau, Quebec *Gatineau (provincial electoral district), a provincial riding in the city of Gatineau, Quebec and the Upper… …   Wikipedia

  • Gatineau — Ansicht von Gatineau Lage in Québec …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Gatineau — This article is about the Canadian city. For other uses, see Gatineau (disambiguation). Gatineau   City   City of Gatineau Ville de Gatineau …   Wikipedia

  • Gatineau — /gat n oh /; Fr. /gann tee noh /, n. a city in S Quebec, in E Canada, near Hull. 74,988. * * * ▪ Quebec, Canada  city, Outaouais region, southwestern Quebec province, Canada. It is situated on the north bank of the Ottawa River, opposite Ottawa,… …   Universalium

  • Gatineau Privilege — The Gatineau Privilege referred to a monopoly introduced to limit the cutting of timber along the Gatineau River in Lower Canada from 1832 to 1843.Quotas were established for each participant and no other timber companies were allowed to cut wood …   Wikipedia

  • Gatineau Power Company — was an electricity generation and distribution company in Quebec, Canada. [cite news|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B15F63F5B167A93C3A9178BD95F4C8285F9 scp=1 sq=Gatineau%20Power st=cse|title=BIG GATINEAU PLANT WILL START… …   Wikipedia

  • River Redhorse — Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”