The Maitland River is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in Huron County, Perth County and Wellington County in

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario (census population 2,796,367 in 2021) is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula, bounded by Lake Huron (includ ...

, Canada. Shows the course of the river highlighted on a topographic map. The river is in the

Great Lakes Basin The Great Lakes Basin consists of the Great Lakes and the surrounding lands of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada, whose di ...

and empties into

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

at the town of Goderich. It is long, and is named after Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

from 1818 to 1828. It was formerly known as the Menesetung River.

Course

The river begins in

geographic Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

Arthur Township in the municipality of Wellington North, Wellington County. It flows west into the municipality of Minto and its main centre, the community of Harriston, with its triple junction of

Ontario Highway 9 King's Highway 9, commonly referred to as Highway 9, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Highway 9 has been divided into two segments since January 1, 1998, when the segment between Harriston and ...

Ontario Highway 23 King's Highway 23, commonly referred to as Highway 23, is a Ontario Provincial Highway Network, provincially maintained highway in the Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. The route travels from Ontario Highway 7, Highway 7 east o ...

and

Ontario Highway 89 King's Highway 89, commonly referred to as Highway 89, is an east–west provincially maintained highway in the south central portion of the Canadian province of Ontario, stretching from the junction of Highway 9 and Highway 23 ...

. The river continues west into the municipality of Howick, Huron County, where it passes over two small dams, at Gorrie (maintained by the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority) and at

Wroxeter Wroxeter ( ) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, in the Shropshire district, in the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It is beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury. In 1961 the ...

(maintained by the community), passes through the municipality of Morris-Turnberry, and reaches the community of Wingham in the municipality of North Huron, where it passes over a dam and takes in the left tributary Middle Maitland River. The river then turns southwest and enters the municipality of

Ashfield–Colborne–Wawanosh The Township of Ashfield–Colborne–Wawanosh is a municipality in Huron County, Ontario, Canada. It was formed as an amalgamation of the former Ashfield, Colborne and West Wawanosh townships in 2001, in an Ontario-wide local government restruc ...

. From the community of Auburn to Goderich, the river forms the boundary between Ashfield–Colborne–Wawanosh and the municipality of Central Huron. The river continues southwest, takes in the left tributary South Maitland River, turns northwest, and reaches its mouth at Lake Huron at the town of Goderich.

Natural history

The lower Maitland (to Wingham) has a trout and

salmon run A salmon run is an annual fish migration event where many salmonid species, which are typically hatched in fresh water and live most of their adult life downstream in the ocean, swim back against the stream to the upper reaches of rivers to s ...

, and is home to several

species at risk As of November 2024, the List of Wildlife Species at Risk has more than 600 entries for Canadian wildlife species considered at varying risks of extinction, including 301 classified as endangered species, 147 threatened species, 200 special conc ...

including queen snake, wavy-rayed lampmussel and

butternut tree ''Juglans cinerea'', commonly known as butternut or white walnut,Snow, Charles Henry ''The Principal Species of Wood: Their Characteristic Properties'' 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1908. p. 56. is a species of walnut native to the e ...

, as well as several Carolinian forest species, including bitternut hickory,

American sycamore ''Platanus occidentalis'', also known as American sycamore, American planetree, western plane, occidental plane, buttonwood, and water beech, is a species of ''Platanus'' native to the eastern and central United States, the mountains of northeast ...

, summer grape and green dragon.

Tributaries

*Cemetery Creek (left) *Sharpes Creek (right) *Hopkins Creek (left) *South Maitland River (left) *Blyth Brook (left) *Belgrave Creek (left) *Middle Maitland River (left) *Little Maitland River *Lakelet Creek (right) *Salem Creek (right)

References

Sources

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External links