The Skootamatta River is a 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 the Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...

 drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 in Hastings

Hastings County, Ontario

Hastings County is located in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is The Cheese Capital of Canada. Geographically, it is located on the border of Eastern Ontario and Central Ontario. The population was 125,915 in 2001 and grew to 130,474 in the 2006 Canada Census...

 and Lennox and Addington

Lennox and Addington County, Ontario

Lennox and Addington County, Ontario is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. The county seat is Greater Napanee. It is located in the subregion of Southern Ontario named Eastern Ontario.It includes the following municipalities:...

 Counties in 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....

, 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...

. It flows from Joeperry Lake to join the Moira River

Moira River

The Moira River is a river in Hastings County in eastern Ontario, Canada. It travels from its source in the centre of the county to the county seat Belleville and is named after Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Earl of Moira.-Course:...

 in Tweed

Tweed, Ontario

Tweed is a municipality and a village located in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, in Hastings County.The Municipality of Tweed is an amalgamated municipality comprising the former Village of Tweed and the former Townships of Hungerford and Elzevir & Grimsthorpe...

. The river's name is thought to come from Ojibwa

Ojibwe language

Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...

 words meaning "burnt shoreline".

Course

The river begins at Joeperry Lake

Joeperry Lake

Joeperry Lake is a lake in the Lake Ontario drainage basin in Addington Highlands, Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada. The lake is about northwest of Cloyne and is within Bon Echo Provincial Park....

 in Bon Echo Provincial Park

Bon Echo Provincial Park

Bon Echo Provincial Park is a provincial park in South Central Ontario north of Kaladar, Ontario, approximately 6 km north of Cloyne.Bon Echo features several lakes, including part of Mazinaw Lake, the second-deepest lake in Ontario...

 in Addington Highlands

Addington Highlands, Ontario

Addington Highlands is a township in central eastern Ontario, Canada, in the County of Lennox and Addington.Bon Echo Provincial Park is for the most part located in the township.-Communities:...

, Lennox and Addington County

Lennox and Addington County, Ontario

Lennox and Addington County, Ontario is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. The county seat is Greater Napanee. It is located in the subregion of Southern Ontario named Eastern Ontario.It includes the following municipalities:...

, northwest of Cloyne

Cloyne, Ontario

Cloyne is a small village in the township of Addington Highlands, Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Ontario Highway 41 about by road north of Kaladar at the crossroads of Highway 41 with Ontario Highway 7, with the settlements of Bishop Corners and Northbrook in...

, at an elevation of 315 metres (1,033 ft). It flows south, taking in the right tributary Rainy Creek

Rainy Creek (Lennox and Addington County, Ontario)

Rainy Creek is a creek in the Moira River and Lake Ontario drainage basins in Addington Highlands, Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada.-Course:...

, and reaches Pearson Lake

Pearson Lake (Lennox and Addington County, Ontario)

Pearson Lake is a lake in the Moira River and Lake Ontario drainage basins in Addington Highlands, Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada. The lake is about northwest of the community of Cloyne and is within Bon Echo Provincial Park....

. The river continues south and empties into Skootamatta Lake

Skootamatta Lake

Skootamatta Lake is a lake in the Lake Ontario drainage basin in Addington Highlands, Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada. It is west of Cloyne, and Bon Echo Provincial Park is located just to the north. The lake's name is thought to come from Ojibwa words meaning "burnt...

 at an elevation of 289 metres (948 ft). The right tributary Killer Creek

Killer Creek (Ontario)

Killer Creek is a creek in the Moira River and Lake Ontario drainage basins in Addington Highlands, Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada.-Course:...

 joins at the lake. It flows south over Skootamatta Dam, continues south and reaches Slave Lake at an elevation of 277 metres (909 ft). It continues south over a small dam, takes in the right tributary Partridge Creek

Partridge Creek (Ontario)

Partridge Creek is a creek in the Moira River and Lake Ontario drainage basins in Hastings and Lennox and Addington Counties, Ontario, Canada.-Course:...

, and arrives in the community of Flinton

Flinton, Ontario

Flinton is a small, unincorporated village in the township of Addington Highlands in Ontario, Canada. Presently about 250 people call it their home. Billa Flint was the founder of Flinton. The Skootamatta River falls were used to power the many mills....

. The Skootamatta River then flows over Flinton Dam, heads southwest, passes into Hastings County and takes in the left tributary Flinton Creek

Flinton Creek

Flinton Creek is a creek in the Moira River and Lake Ontario drainage basins in Hastings and Lennox and Addington Counties in Ontario, Canada.-Course:...

 at an elevation of 188 metres (617 ft). The river continues south, takes in the left tributary Little Skootamatta Creek

Little Skootamatta Creek

Little Skootamatta Creek is a creek in the Moira River and Lake Ontario drainage basins in Hastings and Lennox and Addington Counties in Ontario, Canada...

 at an elevation of 179 metres (587 ft), and turns west just north of Highway 7

Highway 7 (Ontario)

King's Highway 7, commonly referred to as Highway 7 and historically as the Northern Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario...

. The river takes in the right tributary Elzevir Creek

Elzevir Creek

Elzevir Creek is a creek in the Moira River and Lake Ontario drainage basins in Tweed, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada.-Course:Elzevir Creek begins at an unnamed lake, about west of the community of Flinton, at an elevation of...

, heads southwest under the highway at Actinolite

Actinolite, Ontario

Actinolite is a community on the Skootamatta River in eastern Ontario. It is in the Municipality of Tweed, in Hastings County, on Highway 37 just south of Highway 7 and north of Tweed....

 and runs parallel to Highway 37

Highway 37 (Ontario)

King's Highway 37, commonly referred to as Highway 37, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its northern terminus is at Highway 7 in Actinolite , and its southern terminus was formerly at Highway 62 in Belleville; however, in 1998 the terminus was...

. It reaches its mouth at the Moira River, at an elevation of 152 metres (499 ft), which flows into the Bay of Quinte

Bay of Quinte

The Bay of Quinte is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

 on Lake Ontario.

History

Until 1908, the river was used to transport logs to 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 in the Belleville

Belleville, Ontario

Belleville is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...

 area. At one time, there was a small hydroelectric station on the river near Slave Lake which generated power for a nearby gold mine.

Tributaries

• Elzevir Creek
• Little Skootamatta Creek (left)
• Flinton Creek (left)
• Partridge Creek (right)
• Skootamatta Lake
  • Killer Creek
• Rainy Creek

Culture

The river is mentioned several times in Michael Ondaatje's

Michael Ondaatje

Philip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...

 novel The English Patient

The English Patient

The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje. The story deals with the gradually revealed histories of a critically burned English accented Hungarian man, his Canadian nurse, a Canadian-Italian thief, and an Indian sapper in the British Army as they live out...

as a place where Hana, one of the novel's main characters, once lived.