The Churchill River is a major river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 and Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. From the head of the Churchill Lake it is 1,609 km long. It was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...

 and governor of the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 from 1685 to 1691. The Cree

Cree

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

 name for the river is Missinipi, meaning "big waters".

Located entirely within the Canadian Shield

Canadian Shield

The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...

, its source is in Central-East Alberta (Beaver Lake (Alberta)

Beaver Lake (Alberta)

Beaver Lake is a lake in Alberta, Canada. It is located just southeast of the hamlet of Lac La Biche, Alberta. It is the source of Beaver River ....

, Beaver River (Canada)

Beaver River (Canada)

Beaver River is a large river in east-central Alberta and central Saskatchewan, Canada.Beaver River has a catchment area of 14,500 km2 in Alberta, where it drains the lake system in Lac La Biche County...

, Sand River (Alberta)

Sand River (Alberta)

Sand River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It is a major tributary of the Beaver River.-Course:The river originates in a system of lakes in northern Alberta, between Winefred Lake and Cold Lake and at an elevation of . From there it flows generally towards the south and west...

, Cold Lake

Cold Lake (Alberta)

Cold Lake is a large lake in Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. The lake straddles the Alberta/Saskatchewan border, and has a water area of . It is also one of the deepest lakes in Alberta with a maximum depth of . It has around 24 known species of fish in it and is a major ice fishing lake...

, Winefred River), which flow into a series of lakes in Saskatchewan (Churchill Lake

Churchill Lake

Churchill Lake is a glacial lake of Saskatchewan, Canada. It lies east of Peter Pond Lake, near the village of Buffalo Narrows in northwestern Saskatchewan...

, Peter Pond Lake

Peter Pond Lake

Peter Pond Lake is a glacial lake in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located in northwestern Saskatchewan in the Boreal Forest and Canadian Shield within the Churchill River drainage basin. It was on the fur trade route to the Methye Portage which connected eastern Canada to the MacKenzie River area....

, Lac Île-à-la-Crosse). The main tributary, the Beaver River (Canada)

Beaver River (Canada)

Beaver River is a large river in east-central Alberta and central Saskatchewan, Canada.Beaver River has a catchment area of 14,500 km2 in Alberta, where it drains the lake system in Lac La Biche County...

, joins at Lac Île-à-la-Crosse. Nistowiak Falls

Nistowiak Falls

Nistowiak Falls, at , is one of the highest waterfalls in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. The falls are on the Rapid River, which flows north from Iskwatikan Lake into Nistowiak Lake on the Churchill River. Nistowiak is a Cree word referring to the convergence of waters.The closest access is...

 — the tallest falls in Saskatchewan — are on the Rapid River

Rapid River (Churchill River)

The Rapid River is a short river in central Saskatchewan, Canada, about east of the community of Stanley Mission. It is part of the Churchill River drainage basin...

, which flows north, out of Lac la Ronge

Lac la Ronge

Lac la Ronge is a glacial lake in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the fifth largest lake in the province.It is approximately 250 km north of Prince Albert, on the edge of the Canadian Shield. La Ronge, Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge First Nation are on the west shore. The lake is a popular...

 into Nistowiak Lake on the Churchill just north of La Ronge

La Ronge, Saskatchewan

La Ronge is a community of about 2,700 people in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada, 250 km north of Prince Albert. There are an additional 2,000 people living in the Lac La Ronge First Nation bordering the town, and another 1,000 people living in the neighbouring community of Air Ronge...

.

A large amount of flow of the Churchill River after Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

 - Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 border comes from the Reindeer River, which flows from Wollaston

Wollaston Lake

Wollaston Lake is located in northeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. With a surface area of 2286 km² , it is the largest lake in the world that drains naturally in two directions...

 and Reindeer

Reindeer Lake

Reindeer Lake is a lake in Western Canada located on the border between northeastern Saskatchewan and northwestern Manitoba, with the majority in Saskatchewan. The name of the lake appears to be a translation of the Algonquian name...

 lakes. Flow from Reindeer Lake is regulated by the Whitesand Dam. From there, the Churchill River flows east through a series of lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

s (Highrock, Granville, Southern Indian and Gauer), then flows via a diversion for hydro-electric generation into the Nelson River

Nelson River

The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its full length is , it has mean discharge of , and has a drainage basin of , of which is in the United States...

 (60% of flow), and the rest flows as the Churchill River into Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...

 at Churchill, Manitoba

Churchill, Manitoba

Churchill is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname "Polar Bear Capital of the World" that has helped its growing tourism industry.-History:A variety of nomadic...

.

The Churchill formed a major part of the "voyageur highway" in the 17th to 19th centuries after Dene

Dene

The Dene are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people" . The term "Dene" has two usages...

 people showed Peter Pond

Peter Pond

Peter Pond was born in Milford, Connecticut. He was a soldier with a Connecticut regiment, a fur trader, a founding member of the North West Company, an explorer and a cartographer.-Biography:...

 the Methye Portage

Methye Portage

The Methye Portage or Portage La Loche in northwestern Saskatchewan was one of the most important portages in the old fur-trade route across Canada. It connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east to the Atlantic. It was reached by Peter Pond in 1778 and abandoned in 1883 when...

 which connects the Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...

 watershed with the Clearwater

Clearwater River (Saskatchewan)

Clearwater River is the name of a river in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.-Course:The Clearwater River totals 295 kilometres in length and rises in northwestern Saskatchewan in the northern forest region of the Precambrian Shield. From its headwaters at Broach Lake it flows...

 – Athabasca

Athabasca River

The Athabasca River originates from the Columbia Glacier of the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada...

 – MacKenzie

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

 rivers which flow to the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

. See Canadian Canoe Routes (early)

Canadian canoe routes (early)

This article covers the water routes used by early explorers of Canada with special emphasis on the fur trade.-Canada and Siberia:Both Canada and Siberia were explored mainly by river. Both countries have many navigable rivers with short portages between them. There are no serious barriers to canoe...

.

Fish Species

The Churchill also contains fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 species including: walleye

Walleye

Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...

, sauger

Sauger

The sauger is a freshwater perciform fish of the family Percidae which resembles its close relative the walleye. They are members of the largest vertebrate order, Perciforms. They are the most migratory percid species in North America. Saugers obtain two dorsal fins, the first is spiny and the...

, yellow perch

Yellow perch

The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...

, northern pike

Northern Pike

The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...

, lake trout

Lake trout

Lake trout is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, lake char , touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, they can also be variously known as siscowet, paperbellies and leans...

, lake whitefish

Lake whitefish

The lake whitefish , also called the Sault whitefish or gizzard fish, is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. A valuable commercial fish, they are also...

, cisco

Cisco (fish)

The ciscoes are salmonid fish of the genus Coregonus that differ from other members of the genus in having upper and lower jaws of approximately equal length and high gillraker counts...

, white sucker

White Sucker

The White Sucker is a bottom-feeding freshwater fish inhabiting North America from Labrador in the north to Georgia and New Mexico in the south. It is a long, round-bodied fish with a dark green, grey, copper, brown, or black back and sides and a light underbelly. When fullgrown, it is between 12...

, shorthead redhorse

Shorthead redhorse

-Introduction:The Shorthead Redhorse is a wide-ranging species in North America that needs to be monitored throughout its range. The Shorthead Redhorse is native to central and eastern North America. However, its range has expanded to include areas like the Hudson estuary and Grayson County, Texas...

, longnose sucker

Longnose sucker

The longnose sucker, Catostomus catostomus, is a freshwater species of fish inhabiting cold, clear waters in North America from northern USA to the top of the continent. In addition, it is one of two species of sucker to inhabit Asia, specifically the rivers of eastern Siberia...

, lake sturgeon

Lake sturgeon

The lake sturgeon is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 20 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is an evolutionarily ancient bottomfeeder with a partly cartilaginous skeleton and skin bearing rows of bony plates...

 and burbot

Burbot

The burbot is the only gadiform fish inhabiting freshwaters. It is also known as mariah, the lawyer, and eelpout. It is closely related to the marine common ling and the cusk...

.

See also

• List of longest rivers of Canada
• List of rivers of Manitoba
• List of rivers of Saskatchewan

External links

• Saskatchewan's Churchill River, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
• Saskatchewan Documented Canoe Routes, Canoe Saskatchewan website
• http://www.publications.gov.sk.ca/details.cfm?p=11115 Fish Species of Saskatchwan
• http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/churchill_river.html Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan