The Churchill River () is a major river in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

and

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, Canada. From the head of the Churchill Lake it is long. It was named after

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough General (United Kingdom), General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was a Briti ...

and governor of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

from 1685 to 1691. The

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

name for the river is ''Missinipi'', meaning "big waters". The

Denesuline The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene group of Indigenous Canadian people belonging to the Athabaskan language family, whose ancest ...

name for the river is ''des nëdhë́'', meaning "Great River". The river is located entirely within the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

. The drainage basin includes a number of lakes in Central-East Alberta which flow into a series of lakes in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The main tributary, Beaver River, joins at

Lac Île-à-la-Crosse Lac Île-à-la-Crosse is a Y-shaped lake in the north-central region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan along the course of the Churchill River (Hudson Bay), Churchill River. At the centre of the "Y" ...

. Nistowiak Falls — the tallest falls in Saskatchewan — are on the Rapid River, which flows north out of

Lac la Ronge Lac la Ronge is a glacial lake in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is the fifth largest lake in the province and is approximately north of Prince Albert, on the edge of the Canadian Shield. La Ronge, Air Ronge, and the Lac La Ronge F ...

into Nistowiak Lake on the Churchill just north of

La Ronge La Ronge is a List of municipalities in Saskatchewan, northern town in the boreal forest of Canada, boreal forest of Saskatchewan, Canada. The town is also the namesake of the larger #Population centre, La Ronge population centre, the largest ...

. A large amount of flow of the Churchill River after the Manitoba — Saskatchewan border comes from the

Reindeer River The Klondike River () is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada that gave its name to the Klondike Gold Rush and the Klondike region of the Yukon Territory. The Klondike River rises in the Ogilvie Mountains and flows into the Yukon River at ...

, which flows from Wollaston and

Reindeer Lake Reindeer Lake is a large lake in Western Canada located on the border between north-eastern Saskatchewan and north-western Manitoba, with the majority in Saskatchewan. The name of the lake appears to be a translation of the Algonquian name. ...

s. Flow from Reindeer Lake is regulated by the

Whitesand Dam The Whitesand Dam lies on the Reindeer River in Saskatchewan, a tributary of the Churchill River. It regulates the outflow from Reindeer Lake. The dam was built in 1942, as a way of regulating flows to Island Falls dam and hydropower statio ...

. From there, the Churchill River flows east through a series of lakes (Highrock, Granville,

Southern Indian South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

and Gauer), then flows via a diversion for hydro-electric generation into the

Nelson River The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. The river drains Lake Winnipeg and runs before it ends in Hudson Bay near Port Nelson, Manitoba, Port Nels ...

(60% of flow), and the rest flows as the Churchill River into

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a subarctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leadi ...

(see also

Nelson River Hydroelectric Project The Nelson River Hydroelectric Project refers to the construction of a series of dams and hydroelectric power plants on the Nelson River in Northern Manitoba, Canada. The project began to take shape in the late 1950s, with the planning and constr ...

History

The Churchill formed a major part of the "

voyageur Voyageurs (; ) were 18th- and 19th-century French people, French and later French Canadians and others who transported furs by canoe at the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, i ...

highway" in the 18th to 20th centuries after

Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

people showed

Peter Pond Peter Pond (January 18, 1739 – 1807) was an American explorer, cartographer, merchant and soldier who was a founding member of the North West Company and the Beaver Club. Though he was born and died in Milford, Connecticut, most of his li ...

the

Methye Portage The Methye Portage or Portage La Loche in northwestern Saskatchewan was one of the most important portages in the old North American fur trade, fur trade route across Canada. The portage connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east ...

which connects the

watershed with the Clearwater — Athabasca —

Mackenzie Mackenzie, Mckenzie, MacKenzie, or McKenzie may refer to: People * Mackenzie (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Mackenzie (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Clan Mackenzie, a Sc ...

rivers which flow to the Arctic Ocean. See

Canadian Canoe Routes (early) This article covers the water based Canadian canoe routes used by History of Canada, early explorers of Canada with special emphasis on North American fur trade, the fur trade. Introduction European exploration of the Canadian interior was pri ...

Fish species

The Churchill is also home of several fish species including:

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

sauger The sauger (''Sander canadensis'') is a freshwater perciform fish of the family Percidae that resembles its close relative, the walleye. The species is a member of the largest vertebrate order, the Perciformes.Jaeger, Matthew. 2004. Montana's ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater Salvelinus, char living mainly in lakes in Northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, laker, and grey trout. In Lake Sup ...

lake whitefish The lake whitefish (''Coregonus clupeaformis'') is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. The lake white ...

cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

white sucker The white sucker (''Catostomus commersonii'') is a species of freshwater cypriniform fish inhabiting the upper Midwest and Northeast in North America, but it is also found as far south as Georgia and as far west as New Mexico. The fish is common ...

shorthead redhorse The shorthead redhorse (''Moxostoma macrolepidotum'') is a wide-ranging species in North America. The shorthead redhorse is native to central and eastern North America. However, its range has expanded to include areas like the Hudson estuary and ...

longnose sucker The longnose sucker (''Catostomus catostomus'') is a species of cypriniform freshwater fish in the family Catostomidae. It is native to North America from the northern United States to the top of the continent. It is also found in Russia in riv ...

lake sturgeon The lake sturgeon (''Huso fulvescens''), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of 27 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder and has a partly cartilaginous skele ...

, and

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota''), also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of ...

Hydroelectric developments

Island Falls

The only operating hydroelectric generating station on the Churchill River is Island Falls, with a capacity of 111

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s (MW). The purpose of the Whitesand Dam mentioned above is to control the amount of water flowing through Island Falls, since the generating station is downstream of the Reindeer River fork.

Wintego Hydroelectric Project

In the 1970s, SaskPower was considering building another hydroelectric station on the Churchill River called Wintego. This station would have been located about downstream of the Reindeer River forks, and upstream of Island Falls. The project was expected to cost $338 million (equivalent to $1.3 billion in 2020), including transmission and roads, and the capacity of the station would have been 300 MW. The cost estimate assumes a 50-year lifespan, but the lifespans of SaskPower's other hydroelectric stations have been proven to be much longer (such as 90 years for Island Falls). Construction of Wintego would also enable the output of Island Falls to increase by 70 MW, and this benefit is not included in the cost estimate above.

Other Saskatchewan

Two other potential hydroelectric developments between the Reindeer River Fork and Island Falls are the Iskwatam Generating Station and the Pita Generating Station, with unknown MW capacities.

Manitoba

In Manitoba, the Bonald and Granville Falls generating stations could produce 110 MW and 120 MW, respectively.

Gallery

Image:Churchill Lake at Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan 2.JPG , Churchill Lake viewed from

Buffalo Narrows Buffalo Narrows () is a northern village in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a community of 1,110 people. Located at the "Narrows" between Peter Pond Lake and Churchill Lake, tourism and resource extraction (logging, fishing) are its main economic ...

Image:Upper_falls-sm.jpg , View of upper Nistowiak Falls File:Mouth of the Churchill River at Hudson Bay (7461042054).jpg, Mouth of the Churchill River at Hudson Bay File:Weißwal 2-1999.jpg, Watching belugas is a popular attraction at the river mouth

References

External links

Saskatchewan's Churchill River, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20151103002043/http://www.publications.gov.sk.ca/details.cfm?p=11115 Fish Species of Saskatchewan
Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
{{Authority control Rivers of Northern Manitoba Rivers of Saskatchewan Churchill, Manitoba Tributaries of Hudson Bay