Winnipeg
Winnipeg is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 50.37°, -95.46°
About Winnipeg
Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is 235 kilometres (146 mi) long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its watershed is 106,500 square kilometres (41,100 sq mi) in area, mainly in Canada. About 29,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi) of the watershed is in northern Minnesota, United States.
The Winnipeg River watershed was the southeasternmost portion of the land granted in 1670 to the Hudson's Bay Company. The portion in Canada corresponds roughly to the land deeded to Canada in Treaty 3, signed in 1873 by Her Majesty's treaty commissioners and the First Nation chiefs at Northwest Angle on the Lake of the Woods. The river's name means "murky water" in Cree.
This river route was used by natives for thousands of years before European contact. French and English colonists also began to use the river in order to reach First Nations for the fur trade, with trade interactions for hundreds of years. It is the only major water route between what is now Ontario and southern Manitoba that was easily navigable by canoe.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Winnipeg River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Winnipeg in Depth
Geography
The Winnipeg River watershed stretches to the height of land about 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Lake Superior.
Major modern communities along the banks of the Winnipeg River include Kenora, Minaki and Whitedog in Ontario; and Lac du Bonnet, Pinawa, Powerview, and Pine Falls, all in Manitoba. Whitedog is the home of the Wabaseemoong First Nation. The Sagkeeng First Nation is located near the mouth of the Winnipeg River and Pine Falls.
In Ontario, dams were built on the Winnipeg River at Kenora, exiting Lake of the Woods, and at Whitedog Falls. Power from the dams have supplied Kenora and a local pulp and paper mill, while local Anishinaabe populations have been negatively impacted by consequent environmental degradation.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Winnipeg River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Winnipeg: Key Facts
| Length | 298 km |
|---|---|
| Drainage basin | 135,800 km² |
| Source | Lake of the Woods |
| Mouth | Nelson River |
| Drainage system | Lake Winnipeg basin |
| Tributaries | Whiteshell River, Whitemouth River, Bird River, Black Sturgeon River, MacFarlane River, Maskwa River, English River, Lee River |
Facts from Wikidata Q1400022 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Winnipeg: Quick Answers
- Where is Winnipeg?
- Winnipeg is located in Canada and United States, at 50.3706° N, 95.4584° W.
- Are there dams on the Winnipeg?
- No dam on the Winnipeg is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.