Taltson River
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The Taltson River is a roughly river in the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
of
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 the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
that drains into the
Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada (after Great Bear Lake), List of lakes by depth, the deepest lake in North America at , and the List of lakes by area, tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It ...
. There are three
hydroelectric power 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 ...
control structures on the river, and one power station.


Name

The river was formerly known as the Copper Indian River in reference to the
Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...
known as the
Yellowknives The Yellowknives, Yellow Knives, Copper Indians, Red Knives or T'atsaot'ine (Wíílíídeh dialect: ''Tetsǫ́t'ınę'') are indigenous peoples in Canada, indigenous peoples of Canada, one of the five main groups of the First Nations in Canada, F ...
or Copper Indians. The name is derived from ''Tatsan'' which means "scum of water" and is an expression for copper. A 1918 government source says the name means "between high rocks". Other names formerly used include Copper Indian, Rocher, Rock, T'altsan and Yellow Knife.


Basin

The Taltson River basin has a subhumid, high boreal ecoclimate. Summer are typically cool and winters are very cold. The basin covers about in the region between
Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca ( ; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , " herethere are plants one after another") is in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake is ...
and
Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada (after Great Bear Lake), List of lakes by depth, the deepest lake in North America at , and the List of lakes by area, tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It ...
. It contains a complex of interconnected lakes that drain first in a southwest direction and then northward into the Slave River lowland zone. The Tazin River is a major tributary. There are three hydroelectric control structures in the basin, at Nonacho Lake, Tazin Lake and Twin Gorges. Sub-catchment areas are:


Course

The Taltson River rises near a series of lakes, including Coventry Lake and Dymond Lake in the northeast of the basin. It flows north to McArthur Lake, then west to Gray Lake, an arm of Nonacho Lake. Nonacho Lake is the largest lake in the river basin. It discharges to the Taltson River directly via the Nonacho Dam and indirectly via the Tronka Chua Gap, Tronka Chua Lake and Thekulthili Lake to rejoin the river at Lady Grey Lake. From Nonacho Lake to the Twin Gorges Forebay the river flows through a series of lakes, low-gradient reaches, rapids and waterfalls. Often there is just a short section of rapids between the outflow of one lake and the backwaters of the next lake. Taltson Lake, King Lake and Lady Grey Lakes are the larger lakes in this section. Below the outflow of Lady Grey Lake, about from Nonacho Lake, the river flows to the Twin Gorges Forebay, passing through several smaller lakes such as Benna Thy Lake but generally with a more standard river course. It is joined in this section by the Tazin River, its largest tributary. There is a hydroelectric generating plant at the Twin Gorges Forebay, from where the water flows over Elsie Falls and then for to Tsu Lake over a series of rapids and through the Nende Chute, a narrow gorge, before entering Tsu Lake. The Konth River drains from the northeast into Tsu Lake. The average flow from 1960 to 1995, measured at a gauge at Tsu Lake Dam, was . The drainage area above the dam is about . Downstream of Tsu Lake the river runs north for to Great Slave Lake through Deskenatlata Lake. It receives the outflows of the Rutledge River and Tethul River in this stretch. Rocher River, on the east bank of the lower Taltson River, was originally a trading post of 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 ...
. It had a school, but that was burned down in 1958, and the trading post closed in 1963. The government put pressure on the residents to move to Fort Resolution. The river enters the southern shore of Great Slave Lake at the western end of the Simpson Island chain.


Hydroelectricity

A dam on Tazin Lake diverts most of the water to the Charlot River system where it drives hydroelectric facilities that feed the Saskatchewan power grid. The Taltson dam was built in 1966 to supply power to the lead-zinc mine at Pine Point. The Taltson Hydro plant is about north of Fort Smith on the Taltson River at Twin Gorges Forebay. An 18 MW hydro unit with a 300 kW emergency standby diesel generator provides power via of transmission lines to Fort Smith, Hay River, Hay River Reserve, Fort Resolution and
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. Flooding below the dam has been blamed on the power plant. However, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) states that the operation is similar to a run-of-river generation facility and has minimal impact on the river's natural flow. High water flows upstream of the dam will cause high flows downstream. In 2007 the Dezé Energy Corporation presented a proposal to expand the Taltson River hydroelectric capacity with a new 36 MW hydroelectric plant at Twin Gorges Forebay to increase total capacity there to 54 MW, and to build a transmission line to carry power via Taltson Lake and Noncho Lake to the north of Great Slave Lake. The project would also involve construction of a new control structure and rock-cut discharge canal beside the Nonacho rock-fill dam.


See also

* List of rivers of the Northwest Territories * Taltson River Airport


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * {{authority control Rivers of the Northwest Territories