La Grande River (, ; ; both meaning "great river") is a river in northwestern

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, rising in the highlands of the north-central part of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

and flowing roughly west to its drainage at

James Bay James Bay (, ; ) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. It borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is politically part of Nunavut. Its largest island is Akimiski Island. Numerous waterways of the ...

. It is the second-longest river in the province, surpassed only by the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

. Originally, the La Grande River drained an area of , and had a mean discharge of . Since the 1980s, when

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

development diverted the

Eastmain Eastmain (; ) is a Cree community located on the east coast of James Bay at the mouth of the Eastmain River, Quebec, Canada. It is a small coastal Cree village with a population of 924 people in the 2021 Canadian Census up from 866 people at ...

and Caniapiscau rivers into the La Grande, its total catchment area has increased to about , with its mean discharge being more than . In November 2009, the

Rupert River The Rupert River is a river in Quebec, Canada. From its headwaters in Lake Mistassini, the largest natural lake in Quebec, it flows west into Rupert Bay on James Bay. The Rupert drains an area of . There is some extremely large whitewater on ...

was also (partially) diverted, adding another to the basin. At one time, the La Grande was known as the "Fort George River". 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 ...

operated a

trading Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market. Traders generally negotiate throu ...

post on the river, at Big River House, between 1803 and 1824. In 1837, a larger trading post was established at Fort George, on an island at the mouth of the river. In the early 20th century, this trading post became a village as 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 ...

s of the James Bay region abandoned their nomadic way of life and settled nearby. The modern Cree village of

Chisasibi Chisasibi (; meaning Great River) is a village and Classification of municipalities in Quebec#Aboriginal local municipal units, Cree reserved land (TC) on the eastern shore of James Bay, in Eeyou Istchee, an equivalent territory (ET) in Nord-d ...

, which replaced Fort George in 1980, is situated on the southern shore of the La Grande River, several kilometers to the East.

Tributaries

Significant tributaries of La Grande River include: *Kanaaupscow River *

Sakami River Sakami is a small town in northern Quebec, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into ...

Eastmain River The Eastmain River, formerly written East Main, is a river in west central Quebec. It rises in central Quebec and flows west to James Bay, draining an area of . The First Nations Cree village of Eastmain is located beside the mouth. Name Eastm ...

(diverted) ***Opinaca River ***

(diverted) *Rivière de Pontois **Rivière de la Corvette * Laforge River ** Caniapiscau River (diverted)

Hydro-electric development

The river has been extensively developed as a source of

power by

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

, starting in 1974. An area of was flooded and almost all of the flow of the Eastmain River and approximately 70% of the flows of the Rupert River were diverted into the La Grande watershed. The following generating stations are on the La Grande River and its tributaries in upstream order: * La-Grande-1 (LG-1) * Robert-Bourassa * La Grande-2A (LG-2A) * La Grande-3 (LG-3) * La Grande-4 (LG-4) * Laforge-1 (LF-1) * Laforge-2 (LF-2) * Brisay * Eastmain-1 As a result of the development projects, the

people of the region lost some parts of their traditional hunting and trapping territories (about 10% of the hunting and trapping territories used by the Cree of Chisasibi). Organic mercury levels increased in the fish, which forms an important part of their diet, as the organic material trapped by the rising waters in the new reservoirs began to filter into the food chain. Careful follow-up by Cree health authorities since the 1980s has been largely successful. The authorities continue to promote the regular consumption of fish, with the notable exception of the predatory species living in the reservoirs, which still show high levels of mercury.

Climate

References

External links

Hydro-Québec's La Grande ComplexThe Grand River at LG-1 (YouTube Video)
{{Authority control Rivers of Nord-du-Québec James Bay Project Tributaries of James Bay

Tributaries

Hydro-electric development

Climate

See also

References

External links