The Abitibi River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

in northeastern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, which flows northwest from Lake Abitibi to join the Moose River which empties into James Bay. This river is long, and descends . It is the fifth longest river entirely in Ontario 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. The river was an important

fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mo ...

route for the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trade, fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake b ...

. Formerly, pulp and paper, centered on the town of Iroquois Falls, was an important industry in the heavily forested region through which it flows. The region also supports tourism and gold mining. 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 "The Blackfly Song" is a song by Wade Hemsworth, written in 1949, about being tormented by black flies while working in the wilds of Northern Ontario. It is an enduring classic of Canadian folk music, covered by a variety of other artists. A new v ...

Geography

Description of river course (in downstream order): * Begins as outlet from Lake Abitibi () * Extreme southern point () * Ansonville, Ontario () * Iroquois Falls, Ontario () * Crossed by Ontario Northland Railway () * Long Sault Rapids hydroelectric plant () * Confluence with the Black River () * Confluence with the Frederick House River () * Ontario Northland Railway crossing at

Island Falls Station, Ontario An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerry, skerries, cays or keys. An r ...

() *

Island Falls, Ontario An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerry, skerries, cays or keys. An r ...

() * Abitibi Canyon Generating Station near Fraserdale, Ontario () * Otter Rapids Generating Station () * Coral Rapids, Ontario () * Extreme western point () * Confluence with the Little Abitibi River () * Joins the Moose River () * Enters James Bay as part of the Moose River ()

Tributaries

* Little Abitibi River * Frederick House River * Black River

Protected areas

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.

Power generation

The Abitibi River is used extensively for the hydro-electric power generation. Power stations on the river are in downstream order:

References

External links