Moose Mountain Creek 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 ...

. Its

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is the Chapleau Lakes near

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

and it is a tributary of the

Souris River The Souris River (; ) or Mouse River (as it is alternatively known in the U.S., a translation of its French name) is a river in central North America. Approximately in length, it drains about in Canada and the United States. Rising in sout ...

, which, in turn, is a tributary of the

Assiniboine River The Assiniboine River ( ; ) is a long river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked ...

. The whole system is part of the Red River watershed, which is part of 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 ...

and in a region called the

Prairie Pothole Region The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is an expansive area of the northern Great Plains that contains thousands of shallow wetlands known as potholes. These potholes are the result of glacier activity in the Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin gl ...

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, which extends throughout three Canadian provinces and five

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s. It is also within

Palliser's Triangle Palliser's Triangle (), or the Palliser Triangle, is a semi-arid steppe occupying a substantial portion of the Western Canadian Canadian Prairies, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, within the Great Plains region. While initially determined to be ...

and the

Great Plains ecoregion The ecology of the Great Plains is diverse, largely owing to their great size. Differences in rainfall, elevation, and latitude create a variety of habitats including short-grass prairie, short grass, mixed-grass prairie, mixed grass, and tall-gras ...

. The entirety of Moose Mountain Creek is in Census Division No. 1. The river passes through two

Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve () or First Nations reserve () is defined by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." ...

s, Ocean Man and Pheasant Rump, and eight

rural municipalities A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipalities in Canada, a type of municipal status in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, a ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, Golden West,

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; (March 9, 1768October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the Territorial evolution of the United States, expansion of the United States onto Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, Brock, Moose Mountain, Moose Creek, and

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

. While there are no

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along the banks of the river, there are four within two kilometres of its banks: Montmartre,

Kisbey Kisbey ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Brock No. 64 and Census Division No. 1. The village took its name from Richard Claude Kisbey (d. 1941), an Irish immigrant who ...

Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santi ...

, and

Oxbow __NOTOC__ An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or wikt:bullock, bullock. A bow pin holds it in place. The term "oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meand ...

. The original location of Carlyle, NW 26-07-03 W2, was located near confluence of Moose Mountain, Swift, and Morrison Creeks. Moose Mountain Creek flows generally in a south-easterly direction, starting north-west of

Moose Mountain Upland Moose Mountain Upland, Moose Mountain Uplands, or commonly Moose Mountain, is a hilly plateau located in the south-east corner of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan, that covers an area of about . The u ...

and ending up at the Souris River near Oxbow. The western and southern regions of Moose Mountain fall within the river's watershed, which is part of the Upper Souris watershed. The northern most point of Moose Mountain Creek's watershed is near McLean, which is only away from Saskatchewan's capital, Regina. There are two major dams along the river. The first one is Moose Mountain Dam and the second is

Grant Devine Dam The Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', is an embankment dam located in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan near Alameda, Saskatchewan, Alameda and Oxbow, Saskatchewan, Oxbow. It was constructed ...

, both of which created large reservoirs along the course. Both reservoirs have parks; Lost Horse Hills is on Moose Mountain Lake and Moose Creek Regional Park is on Grant Devine Reservoir.

Course

The Chapleau Lakes are a chain of two lakes that run diagonally in a valley north to east. The northern most of the two lakes is the source of Moose Mountain Creek. From the outflow of that lake near Highway 48 and Highway 606, the river travels in a south-easterly direction until passes through the Saint Clair National Wildlife Area and Highway 711. From there, it empties into Moose Mountain Lake, which is a man-made reservoir. Moose Mountain Dam, which was built in 1937, is at the south-east corner of the lake, near Lost Horse Hill. From there, the river continues to flow south-east through Ocean Man Indian Reserve then Pheasant Rump Indian Reserve until it crosses

Highway 13 The following roads may be referred to as Route 13 or Highway 13. For a list of roads named A13, see List of A13 roads. International * AH13, Asian Highway 13 * European route E13 * European route E013 Afghanistan *The Kabul–Behsud Highwa ...

about half-way between Forget and

, where it takes a more easterly route. It's around this area, west, south, and east of Kisbey, that the river's course flattens out creating a broad

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

. Dykes and culverts were built south of Kisbey to protect the village and control the river's flow. South of Forget, there were also culverts and other flood control measures built to control surface water before it reaches the river. From south of Kisbey, the river roughly parallels Highway 13 towards Arcola where it leaves the floodplain and flows into a valley, the Moose Mountain Creek Spillway. It continues east until it crosses Highway 9, at which point it takes a more southerly route and flows into a Grant Devine Reservoir. In 1994, the Alameda Dam was built along Moose Mountain Creek's course, near the point where it meets the

, creating a large reservoir called Alameda Reservoir. In 2017, the name of the reservoir and dam were changed to Grant Devine Dam and Grant Devine Reservoir, in honour of the

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

of Saskatchewan who was responsible for its construction,

Grant Devine Donald Grant Devine (born July 5, 1944) is a Canadian politician who served as the 11th premier of Saskatchewan from 1982 to 1991. He led the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan from 1979 to 1992 and is one of only two leaders of that ...

. Moose Mountain Creek is the primary inflow and outflow of the reservoir and meets the Souris River about three miles south of the dam in the Souris River Valley, near the town of

Moose Mountain Creek Spillway

Moose Mountain Creek Spillway is a valley that was formed during the last ice age as the path taken by melting glacial waters between two glacial lobes, the Weyburn Lobe and the Moose Mountain Lobe, en route to the Souris Spillway. On the southern side of Moose Mountain Upland, in the interlobate area, a short lived

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 ...

named Lake Arcola formed along the current path of Moose Mountain Creek. Glacial

moraines A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

can be found throughout the area.

Tributaries

* Gooseberry Lake, via a creek that flows into Moose Mountain Lake. *Wolf Creek, starts on the north-west side of Moose Mountain Upland and heads west. Then it turns sharply south before Highway 47 and crosses Highway 711 near Corning. Wolf Creek meets up with James Creek and Moose Mountain Creek downstream from Moose Mountain Dam. **James Creek, starts on the north-west side of Moose Mountain Upland, on the north side of Highway 711. From there, it travels south-west until it meets up with Wolf Creek. *Crooked Creek, starts on the south side of Moose Mountain Upland and flows south across Highway 13 and past Arcola and on to Moose Mountain Creek. *Swift Creek, starts at Big Marsh Lake on the White Bear Indian Reserve and flows south, west of Carlyle, and meets up with Moose Mountain Creek just upstream from where Morrison Creek meets it. *Morrison Creek, also starts on the White Bear Indian Reserve near Ess Lake. From there it heads south to Carlyle where it runs along the west side of town though West Park and on to Moose Mountain Creek. *Cowper Creek, starts on the south-east side of Moose Mountain Upland and flows south towards Manor then south-west where it joins Moose Mountain Creek. *Shepherd Creek, starts on the plains west of Moose Mountain Creek where it flows west until it crosses Highway 9 then it drops south and flows into Grant Devine Reservoir. File:Wolf Creek Saskatchewan.jpg, Dried up Wolf Creek west of Corning File:Swift Creek 01.jpg, Swift Creek, south of Carlyle (about 2 miles north of the original location of Carlyle before it moved to its present location in 1900) File:Trestle over Morrison Creek.jpg, Trestle over Morrison Creek, south-west of Carlyle File:Shepherd Creek.jpg, Shepherd Creek

Saint Clair National Wildlife Area

Saint Clair National Wildlife Area () is one of 27 Prairie National Wildlife Areas in Saskatchewan. The park is at the northern end of Moose Mountain Lake, on the north side of Highway 711, about three miles west of the Highway 47 and 711 intersection. Moose Mountain Creek cuts through the park from the north-east to the south-west corner at which point it goes under Highway 711 and into the lake. It is about one square mile in size and sits in the valley at the confluence of Moose Mountain and an unnamed creek that comes in from the west.

References

External links