Gatineau River

Gatineau River
Rivière Gatineau
The upper Gatineau River
Country Canada
Province Quebec
Region Outaouais
Source Unnamed wilderness
 - location near boundary between Outaouais and Mauricie regions
Mouth Ottawa River
 - location City of Gatineau
 - coordinates 45°27′15″N 75°41′42″W / 45.45417°N 75.69500°W / 45.45417; -75.69500Coordinates: 45°27′15″N 75°41′42″W / 45.45417°N 75.69500°W / 45.45417; -75.69500
Length 386 km (240 mi) [1]
Basin 23,724 km2 (9,160 sq mi) [1]
Discharge for Paugan Power Station
 - average 350 m3/s (12,360 cu ft/s) [1]
Map of the Ottawa River drainage basin with the Gatineau River

The Gatineau River (French: Rivière Gatineau, French pronunciation: ​[gatino]) 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 (239.8 mi) long and drains an area of 23,700 km².

While it has been said that the river's name comes from Nicolas Gastineau dit Duplessis (note spelling of his name) a fur trader, there is no evidence that he ever actually had been there and no truth to the myth that he drowned in the river. The Anishinàbemowin names of the river are said to be "Tenagàdino zìbi" or Tenàgàdin Zibi, or Tenàgàtino Sipi. which means "The River of the Wedge", the wedge being the high land that pinches the river where Tenàgàdino Zibi meets Kitigan Zibi (Desert River). This is sourced directly from Stephen McGregor and Joan Tenasco, elders of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation.

Geography

Draveurs Bridge (highway 50-route 148) crossing Gatineau River (view upstream on october 7, 2018 from Jacques-Cartier street).

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:

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

History

Exploration and naming

Gatineau River near Farrellton, circa 1930

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:

We passed near a river coming from the north, where a people called "Algoumequins" can be found, which drains into the great St-Lawrence River, three leagues downstream from the Saint-Louis Falls, makes an island of nearly forty leagues, and which is not large but filled with an indefinite number of falls which are very difficult to pass. Sometimes, these people use this river to avoid meeting their enemies, knowing that they will not seek them in such difficult accessible places.

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 General Frederick Haldimand, lieutenant David Jones called the river by the name "River Lettinoe" but this may have been a simple transcription error, that turned the handwritten 'G' into an 'L'. A closer look at the original document should confirm that suspicion but it resides in the National Archives of the UK.. 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.

According to Benjamin Sulte, historian, the river's name supposedly recollects the memory of a fur trader from the 17th century, Nicolas Gatineau but Sulte got it very wrong: the man's name was Gastineau dit Duplessis and he was an inhabitant of Trois-Rivières, where he lived & died. According to historian Raymond Douville, who relied heavily on Sulte's account, at the end of the 17th century the sons of Nicolas, Louis (1674-1750) and Jean-Baptiste (1671-1750), established a trading post or just a supply post on a point located at the mouth of the river, giving their name to the site of the future Pointe-Gatineau; Douville provides no sources for the claim. However, the Hudson Bay Company's meticulous records makes no mention of a trading post there. Therefore, the toponym given to the river by the Quebec Government based on this claim is suspect.[2]

Economic uses

Chelsea Hydroelectric Station and dam

From the 19th century until 1991, 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 were used for pulp and paper.

The river has been extensively dammed and is an important source of hydroelectric power. In 1925, three hydroelectric dams were constructed along the lower Gatineau River, making them one of the biggest economic and industrial projects in the region's history. These are now known today as the Paugan, Chelsea and Rapides-Farmers Hydroelectric Stations (Centrale Paugan, Centrale Chelsea and Centrale Rapides-Farmers). The stations are located within the municipalities of Low, Cantley and Gatineau.[3]

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

J. E. H. MacDonald, Logs on the Gatineu, 1915. Remai Modern Art Gallery of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon

In 1915, Canadian artist and member of the Group of Seven J. E. H. MacDonald would depicted logging operations on the river is his painting, Logs on the Gatineau.[4]

Flooding

In the spring of 1974, there was extensive flooding along the Gatineau.

View of Lady-Aberdeen bridge on Gatineau River, seen from left bank (Jacques-Cartier street) in Gatineau on october 7, 2018.

Tributaries

Major tributaries of the Gatineau River in upstream order are:[5]

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Henderson, Rick (2016), Walking in the Footsteps of Philemon Wright., Gatineau, Quebec: Dadson Lane Productions, ISBN 978-1-365-57649-2
  1. 1 2 3 Ottawa Gatineau Watershed Atlas - Gatineau River Watershed Profile
  2. ↑ Commission de toponymie du Québec
  3. ↑ "Chelsea and Farmers Hydroelectric Dams". Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  4. ↑ Silcox, David P. (2011). The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson. Richmond Hill: Firefly Books. pp. 211, 256. ISBN 978-1554078851.
  5. ↑ Atlas of Canada
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