Churchill River Basin in Canada

Otter Rapids (Sask.), view south from Churchill River Bridge of lower half of the rapids

The Churchill River (French: Rivière Churchill^[1]) is a major river in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. From the head of the Churchill Lake it is 1,609 km long.^[2] It was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1685 to 1691. The Cree name for the river is Missinipi, meaning "big waters".^[3]

Entirely within the Canadian Shield, its source is in Central-East Alberta (Beaver Lake, Beaver River, Sand River, Cold Lake, Winefred River), which flow into into a series of lakes in Saskatchewan (Churchill, Peter Pond, Île-à-la-Crosse). The main tributary, the Beaver River, joins at Lac Île-à-la-Crosse. Nistowiak Falls - the tallest falls in Saskatchewan - flows north into the Churchill just north of La Ronge, Saskatchewan. A large amount of flow of the Churchill River after Manitoba - Saskatchewan border comes from the Reindeer River, which flows from Wollaston and Reindeer lakes. Flow from Reindeer Lake is regulated by the Whitesand Dam. From there, the Churchill River flows east through a series of lakes (Highrock, Granville, Southern Indian and Gauer), then flows via a diversion for hydro-electric generation into the Nelson River (60% of flow) into Button Bay inlet on Hudson Bay at Churchill, Manitoba.^[4]

The Churchill formed a major part of the "voyageur highway" in the 17th to 19th centuries after Dene people showed Peter Pond the Methye Portage which connects the Hudson Bay watershed with the Clearwater - Athabasca - McKenzie rivers which flow to the Arctic Ocean ^[5]. The Churchill contains the largest waterfall in the province of Saskatchean at Nistowiak Falls.

For information on canoeing the Saskatchewan portion of the Churchill RIver, see the books Canoeing the Churchill: A Practical Guide to the Historic Voyageur Highway by Greg Marchildon & Sid Robinson, Northern Saskatchewan Canoe Trips: A Guide to Fifteen Wilderness Rivers by Laurel Archer, and "Documented Saskatchewan Canoe Routes", Canoe Saskatchewan.

References

External links

• Saskatchewan's Churchill River, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
• Saskatchewan Documented Canoe Routes, Canoe Saskatchewan website

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