Pike River () is a tributary of

Lake Champlain Lake Champlain ( ; , ) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec. The cities of Burlington, Ve ...

(via

Missisquoi Bay Missisquoi Bay is a large extension in the northern part of Lake Champlain, at the East of the output of the latter in Richelieu River. It takes the form of a violin head, with the neck extending from the head of the lake and is about in diameter. ...

), flowing successively in: *

Franklin County, Vermont Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,946. Its county seat is the city of St. Albans. It borders the Canadian province of Quebec. The county was created in 1792 and o ...

, in northern

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

(United States); and * the municipalities of Frelighsburg, Stanbridge East,

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge, Pike River (the eponymous municipality) and Saint-Armand, in Brome-Missisquoi, in the administrative region of

Estrie Estrie () is an List of Quebec regions, administrative region of Quebec that comprises the Eastern Townships. ''Estrie'', a French neologism, was coined as a derivative of ''est'', "east". Originally settled by anglophones, today it is about 90 pe ...

, in the south of

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 ...

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. Besides the village areas, agriculture and forestry are the main economic activities in this valley. The river surface is generally frozen from mid-December to the end of March. Safe traffic on the ice is generally from late December to early March. The water level of the river varies with the seasons and the precipitation.

Geography

The stream's source is in Quebec on the south side of Mount Pinacle. After flowing into Vermont it receives the outflow of Lake Carmi and flows back into Quebec for the remainder of its course. The main town of the watershed is

but the municipalities of Saint-Armand, Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge, Saint-Ignace-de-Stanbridge, Pike River (the eponymous municipality) and Frelighsburg. Its course, about sixty kilometers long, oriented to the north, is mainly located in Quebec. More than 85% of its watershed, i.e. , is thus located on the territory of the Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality in the south of the Estrie. Riviere_aux_brochets

From Carmi Lake, the river flows north to the Canada-United States border. From the border, the river flows north to Selby Creek (coming from the northeast); then 1.4 km north-west to the village bridge at Frelighsburg. North of the border, the river crosses a series of falls and rapids) interspersed with long, slow-flowing sections, crossing Frelighsburg, Stanbridge East and

before leaving the Appalachians to reach the plain of St. Lawrence Lowlands. A series of close falls are contained by five dams. Further downstream, the course of the river becomes winding, making a long detour via Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge, then crossing the last rapids at Pike River to finish its course through swampy forests. The Pike River is a tributary of the northeast shore of

.Atlas of Canada from the Department of Natural Resources Canada - Characteristics extracted from the geographic map, the database and site instrumentation - accessed on = May 10, 2020.
/ref> The main watershed municipality is

but the municipalities of Saint-Armand, Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge, Saint-Ignace-de-Stanbridge, Pike River and Frelighsburg are also included.

Toponymy

Formerly, this river was designated by its English version "Pike River". The toponym "Rivière aux Brochets" was formalized on December 5, 1968, at the

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (, ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicizing Québec's place names and their origins according to th ...

.Commission de toponymie du Québec - Bank of place names - Toponym: "Rivière aux Brochets"
/ref>

Ecology

The mouth of Rivière-aux-Brochets is a biological reserve. Until the late 2000s, however, the water in the bay was stagnant and the bay was dying, contaminating large American portions of the lake confined by the numerous embankments of disused railways (Carry Bay, The Gut, Sandbar State Park, Allen Point.) When the new bridge opened on the American side between East Alburg and Lakewood, the old road on the dyke was partially demolished, which made it possible, during the spring breakup and during heavy rains, a certain flow of water to "Grand Lac Champlain" ( - from there). In September 2014, the UPA's media body "La Terre de chez nous" reported that blue-green algae was contaminating the Bedford water treatment plant. With global warming, this problem tends to become recurrent. It is likely to worsen as long as the flow remains slowed down by the railway rights-of-way or until it is evacuated artificially, for example by connecting the outlet of the McPhee stream (at the limit of Clarenceville and Venise-en-Quebec) with the South River further north, some away. This excavation could give rise to a small navigation channel to allow boaters to get to the Richelieu River without passing through the United States.

References

External links

pages.usherbrooke.ca/osmedal/Brochets.htm
{{in lang, fr Rivers of Montérégie Rivers of Vermont International rivers of North America Bodies of water of Franklin County, Vermont Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality

Geography

Toponymy

Ecology

See also

References

External links