Meadow River is a river in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

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 ...

. The river's source is Meadow Lake, which is the lake adjacent to the city of Meadow Lake. The river and its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

are in the transition zone between the

boreal forest Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by pinophyta, coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. I ...

and

prairies Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

ecozones of Canada Canada has 20 major ecosystems—ecozones, comprising 15 terrestrial units and 5 marine units. These ecozones are further subdivided into 53 ecoprovinces, 194 ecoregions, and 1,027 ecodistricts. These form the country's ecological land classi ...

. Meadow River's mouth is at Beaver River, which flows northward into

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" ...

, a lake along the course of the Churchill River, which is a major river in the

Hudson Bay drainage basin The Hudson Bay drainage basin is the drainage basin in northern North America where surface water empties into the Hudson Bay and adjoining waters. Spanning an area of about and with a mean discharge of about , the basin is almost entirely wi ...

. The first European to explore the river was a Hudson's Bay employee named

Peter Fidler Peter Fidler (16 August 1769 – 17 December 1822) was a British surveyor, map-maker, fur trader and explorer who had a long career in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in what later became Canada. He was born in Bolsover, Derbyshir ...

. In 1799 he had come down the Beaver River and travelled up Meadow River to Meadow Lake while mapping and exploring the region. Near the lake's shore where the river flows out, near the present day city of Meadow Lake, he built a log fort that he named Bolsover House, after his home town of

Bolsover Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is from Sheffield, from Nottingham and from Derby. It is the main town in the Bolsover district. The civil parish for the town is c ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The fort lasted one season before being abandoned and relocated to nearby Green Lake House.

Description

Meadow River begins at the north-west corner of Meadow Lake, on the eastern side of the city of Meadow Lake. From there, it heads north past

Highway 55 The following highways are numbered 55: International * European route E55 * Arab Mashreq International Road Network, Arab Mashreq route M55 Argentina * Provincial Route 55 (San Luis), San Luis Provincial Route 55 Australia * Carnarvon Highw ...

in a northward direction through Flying Dust First Nation. About north of the Indian reserve, the river turns north-east and crosses Highway 903 en route to Beaver River. Meadow River meets Beaver River on the eastern side of Island Hill. The majority of the drainage basin of Meadow River flows first north into Meadow Lake from the Meadow Lake Escarpment before flowing into Meadow River. Some of the lake's tributaries include Nolin Creek, Chitek River, Lavigne River, and Alcott Creek. Meadow Lake itself is an oval shaped, shallow lake (just over deep) that is the remnants of Glacial Meadow Lake, which was a

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

that covered the region near the end of the last ice age over 10,000 years ago.

Fish species

Commonly found fish species in the river include

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 ...

and

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 ...

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Saskatchewan Tributaries of Hudson Bay Meadow Lake No. 588, Saskatchewan Division No. 17, Saskatchewan

Description

Fish species

See also

References