Whiteshell River

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Whiteshell River
Open view of Whiteshell River, to the left a rocky granite shore.jpg
Canada Manitoba relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
river mouth
Location
Provinces Ontario, Manitoba
Physical characteristics
Source Engineer Lake [1]
 • location Ontario
 • coordinates 49°43′20″N94°55′41″W / 49.72222°N 94.92806°W / 49.72222; -94.92806 [1]
 • elevation377 m (1,237 ft) [1]
Mouth Nutimik Lake [1]
 • location
 Manitoba
 • coordinates
 50°08′59″N95°39′52″W / 50.14972°N 95.66444°W / 50.14972; -95.66444 Coordinates: 50°08′59″N95°39′52″W / 50.14972°N 95.66444°W / 50.14972; -95.66444 [1]
 • elevation
270 m (890 ft) [1]
Basin features
Progression Winnipeg River→ Lake Winnipeg→ Nelson River→ Hudson Bay
Tributaries 
 • left
[1]
 • right
[1]
Waterbodies
[1]

The Whiteshell River is one of the major rivers in Whiteshell Provincial Park, in southeastern Manitoba, Canada, near the Ontario border. This river is close to some petroform sites that are about 2000 years old or older. The name "whiteshell" is in reference to the Meegis or cowry shells used by Ojibwa peoples in their ceremonies and teachings, especially the Midewiwin, and as recorded in their birch bark scrolls.

Contents

The river was used for thousands of years as a major canoe route by native peoples. The Winnipeg and Whiteshell Rivers are the only waterways to easily travel between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Superior. The copper culture period of about 4,000 years ago involved the trade of copper from the north shore of Lake Superior to the Whiteshell Provincial Park area and other areas now known as Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Manitoba also has prehistoric quartz mines to the far north, and evidence of ancient quartz mining also exists along the Winnipeg River area. Quartz, copper, and other minerals were used to make prehistoric arrow heads, tools, scrapers, spears, and artwork.

Whiteshell Provincial Park is still a popular area for wild rice harvesting, as it was for thousands of years. Today this river system area is popular for canoeing, hiking, swimming, fishing, boating, and many cottages are located along the lakes and rivers of the park.

The geography and geology of the area consists of Canadian Shield granite rock ridges, cliffs, boreal forest, bogs, and only one main road through the park. It is a very wild and pristine area with many deer, bear, wolves, coyotes, bald eagles, fox, cougars, lynx, and other wildlife.

Fish

Fish habitat in the river includes short areas of fast flowing water with rapids and small waterfalls, shallow and deep water lakes and slow flowing meanders through bogs. [2] The clear water supports beds of underwater vegetation. [2] . 61 of the 79 native fish species found in Manitoba are recorded from the Winnipeg River drainage basin of which the Whiteshell River is a part. [2] . Betula Lake, Jessica Lake, and Lone Island Lake are important traditional fishing areas for Manitoba First Nations peoples. [3] A marine glacial relict, the Deepwater sculpin is found in West Hawk Lake. [2] [4] The river and its lakes are popular with recreational anglers. More than 650 Master Angler awards have been made for documented trophy catches in the Whiteshell River including Black crappie, Brown trout (introduced) [2] , Bullhead, Goldeye, Lake sturgeon, Mooneye, Northern pike, Rainbow trout (introduced) [2] , Rock bass, Sauger, Smallmouth bass, Walleye, and Yellow perch. [5]

Bannock Point

Bannock Point is a rock ridge overlooking the place where the Rennie River flows into the Whiteshell River a short distance upstream from the place where the Whiteshell flows into the Winnipeg River. [6] A plaque installed in 1959 near PR 307 marks the significance of the boulder mosaics or petroforms near this location. [7] [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Lake of the Woods Lake on the United States–Canada border

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Tourism in Canada Overview of tourism in Canada

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Winnipeg River River in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario

The Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is 235 kilometres (146 mi) long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its watershed is 106,500 square kilometres (41,100 sq mi) in area, mainly in Canada. About 29,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi) of the watershed is in northern Minnesota, United States.

Petroform Human-made shapes and patterns of rocks placed on the ground

Petroforms, also known as boulder outlines or boulder mosaics, are human-made shapes and patterns made by lining up large rocks on the open ground, often on quite level areas. Petroforms in North America were originally made by various Native American and First Nation tribes, who used various terms to describe them. Petroforms can also include a rock cairn or inukshuk, an upright monolith slab, a medicine wheel, a fire pit, a desert kite, sculpted boulders, or simply rocks lined up or stacked for various reasons. Old World petroforms include the Carnac stones and many other megalithic monuments.

West Hawk Lake Lake in Manitoba, Western Canada

West Hawk Lake is a impact crater lake on the Whiteshell River located in the Whiteshell Provincial Park in southeastern Manitoba, Canada. The circular shape of the main body of the lake is due to the submerged West Hawk crater, caused by a meteor impact into an ancient rock bed composed of mostly granite. At 115 metres (377 ft), it is the deepest lake in Manitoba.

Pinawa Local government district in Manitoba, Canada

Pinawa is a local government district and small community of 1,331 residents located in southeastern Manitoba, Canada. It is 110 kilometres north-east of Winnipeg. The town is situated on the Canadian Shield within the western boundary of Whiteshell Provincial Park, which lies near the Manitoba-Ontario provincial boundary. Administratively, the town includes the surrounding area, and is officially the Local Government District of Pinawa. Except for a small eastern border with the unorganized area of the Eastman Region, it is surrounded by the Rural Municipalities of Lac du Bonnet to the north and Whitemouth to the south, but is independent of either one. The community lies on the north bank of the Winnipeg River in the southeastern part of the Local Government District.

Eastman Region

Eastern Manitoba, or the Eastman Region, is an informal geographic region of the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is bounded on the north by the Winnipeg River and Lake Winnipeg, on the east by the Manitoba-Ontario border, on the south by the Canada–US border, and on the west by the Red River.

Beausejour, Manitoba Town in Manitoba, Canada

Beausejour is a town in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is 46 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, just west of the Canadian Shield and Whiteshell Provincial Park. The French name Beauséjour [beau + séjour] means "beautiful stay". The town is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Brokenhead. Originally known as Stony Prairie, Beausejour was named in 1877 by Mrs H.W.D. Armstrong, wife of a government railway surveyor, when a telegraph office was installed there to serve settlers along the nearby Brokenhead River.

Whiteshell Provincial Park Provincial park in Manitoba, Canada

Whiteshell Provincial Park is a 2,721 km2 park centrally located in Canada in the province of Manitoba. It is found in the southeast region of the province along the Manitoba-Ontario boundary, approximately 130 km east of the city of Winnipeg. The park is located in the Canadian Shield region and has many rivers, remote lakes, boreal forest and bare granite ridges. It has rare archeological sites of petroforms on flat granite ridges. The park is used year-round for nature-oriented recreation activities.

Deepwater sculpin Species of fish

The deepwater sculpin is a freshwater sculpin that inhabits the bottoms of cold, deep freshwater lakes of northern North America. Its distribution ranges from the Great Bear Lake of Canada to the Great Lakes. It is a designated at-risk fish species in Canada, protected as a species of Special Concern under Canada's Species at Risk Act.

Atikaki Provincial Park is a wilderness park in Manitoba, Canada located east of Lake Winnipeg along the Ontario boundary in the Canadian Shield. The area of Atikaki Provincial Park is 3,981 km2. Atikaki Provincial Park is north of Nopiming Provincial Park and borders the Woodland Caribou Provincial Park in Ontario.

History of Manitoba History of Canadian province of Manitoba

The history of Manitoba covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. When European fur traders first travelled to the area present-day Manitoba, they developed trade networks with several First Nations. European fur traders in the area during the late-17th century, with the French under Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye set up several trading post forts. In 1670, Britain declared sovereignty over the watershed of Hudson's Bay, known as Rupert's Land; with the Hudson's Bay Company granted a commercial monopoly over the territory.

Falcon Lake is an unincorporated urban centre at the western end of Falcon Lake situated in the southeasternmost section of the Whiteshell Provincial Park in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is the major entry point to the Whiteshell from the Trans-Canada Highway. Three provincially operated campgrounds, Falcon Creek, Falcon Beach and Falcon Lakeshore, picnic areas, a swimming beach and adjacent public boat launch, several cottage lot divisions and numerous tourist services make the community a favored entrance point to the provincial park. In 2003, 40% of park visitors entered the park at the Falcon Lake checkpoint.

Caddy Lake is a lake on the Whiteshell River in south-eastern Manitoba, Canada near the Manitoba–Ontario border. McGillivray Creek drains into the lake on its west side.It is within Whiteshell Provincial Park near West Hawk Lake. The lake has a surface area of about 300 hectares and a maximum depth of 5.7 metres (19 ft).

Midwestern Canadian Shield forests Taiga ecoregion of Canada

The Midwestern Canadian Shield forests ecoregion, in the Taiga and Boreal forests Biome, are of northern Canada.

Western Great Lakes forests Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion in Canada and the United States

The Western Great Lakes forests is a terrestrial ecoregion as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. It is within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome of North America. It is found in northern areas of the United States' states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in southern areas of the Canadian province of Manitoba and northwestern areas of the province of Ontario.

Provincial Road 307 is a provincial road in the eastern part of the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is part of the La Vérendrye Trail in eastern Manitoba and lies mostly within Whiteshell Provincial Park.

The La Vérendrye Trail is a series of highways in the Canadian province of Manitoba commemorating the oldest waterway fur-trading route in the province. It is named after Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, an explorer and fur-trader who is often credited as being the first European to visit what is now southern Manitoba.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "The Atlas of Canada - Toporama". Canada.ca. Natural Resources Canada, Government of Canada. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stewart, Kenneth W.; Watkinson, Douglas A. (2004). Freshwater Fishes of Manitoba. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. ISBN   9780887556784.
  3. ↑ "TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE & LAND USE STUDY For the WR-1 Nuclear Reactor In Situ Decommissioning Project api migizik pii pa giiot when eagles call Black River First Nation, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, & Hollow Water First Nation Final Report" (PDF). November 5, 2019. p. 29. Retrieved 27 June 2022. Several lakes in the Whiteshell were also key fishing areas including Lone Island Lake, Betula Lake, and Jessica Lake.
  4. ↑ Murray, L.; Papst, M. H.; Reist, J. D. (2003). "First Record of the Deepwater Sculpin, Myoxocephalus thompsonii, from George Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park, Manitoba". The Canadian Field-Naturalist. pp. 642–644. doi:10.22621/cfn.v117i4.815 . Retrieved 27 June 2022. The only other Manitoba lakes with known populations of Deepwater Sculpin are Lake Athapapuskow and West Hawk Lake.
  5. ↑ "Master Angler Record Book". anglers.travelmanitoba.com. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  6. 1 2 Ledohowski, Ed; Goldsborough, Gordon. "Historic Sites of Manitoba: Boulder Mosaics / Bannock Point Petroforms (Whiteshell Provincial Park)". www.mhs.mb.ca. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  7. ↑ "Provincial Plaques: Boulder Mosaics". www.gov.mb.ca. Historic Resources Branch, Government of Manitoba. Retrieved 28 June 2022.


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