The Goulais River is a river in northern Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 which rises in the Algoma

Algoma District, Ontario

Algoma District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1858 comprising territory as far west as Minnesota...

 highlands and empties into Goulais Bay on eastern Lake Superior

Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...

 near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Sault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means "jump" or "rapids" in...

. It is one of the largest tributaries on the eastern lake, draining an area of approximately 2,000 km².

The river and its tributaries were used to transport logs to local sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

s during the second half of the 19th century. The Algoma Central Railway

Algoma Central Railway

The Algoma Central Railway is a railway in Northern Ontario that operates between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst, with a branch line to Michipicoten. The area served by the railway is sparsely populated, with few roads...

 travels up the river valley on its way to the Agawa

Agawa River

The Agawa River is a river in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada which empties into Agawa Bay on Lake Superior at the community of Agawa Bay, south of Wawa, Ontario.-History:...

 canyon.

At one time, the river was an important spawning area for 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...

. However, logging operations, fishing and the installation of an electric barrier to prevent sea lamprey

Sea lamprey

The sea lamprey is a parasitic lamprey found on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America, in the western Mediterranean Sea, and in the Great Lakes. It is brown, gray, or black on its back and white or gray on the underside and can grow up to 90 cm long. Sea lampreys prey on a wide...

s from travelling upstream (removed in 1960) have reduced sturgeon activity in the river.

The river is used for recreational canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

ing and kayak

Kayak

A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...

ing and the headwaters and parts of the river have been protected by provincial parks

Ontario Parks

Ontario Parks is the branch of the Ministry of Natural Resources that administers the provincial parks in Ontario, Canada. The Ontario Parks system covers over 78,000 square kilometres , about 10 percent of the province's surface area or the equivalent of an area approximately equal to Nova Scotia...

.

The river's name is thought to come from the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 word goulet or "narrow passage", which is also the source of the English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 words "gully

Gully

A gully is a landform created by running water, eroding sharply into soil, typically on a hillside. Gullies resemble large ditches or small valleys, but are metres to tens of metres in depth and width...

" and "gullet". The French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

called the area at the river's mouth Anse de la pêche or "Fish Inlet".
The Goulais River is a popular yellow pickeral fishing area. The river is also home to bass, brook trout, and other species.