Don River (Ontario)

Don River to the Don Valley Parkway running parallel

The Don River (French Rivière Don ) is a 38 km long river in Ontario, Canada, whose headwaters originate in the moraine of the Oak Ridges and flow through the cities of Richmond Hill, Vaughan and Markham and the discharges according to their confluence in Toronto in Lake Ontario.

The river was named by Governor John Graves Simcoe after the River Don in South Yorkshire. The Don River has an average discharge of 4 m / s and has a catchment area of ​​approximately 360 km ². His left-side tributaries are Castle Frank Brook and Taylor - Massey Creek, his right side is the German Mills Creek. During the last ice age 12,000 ago created a canyon Don Valley, runs through the river. Based on the size of the Don Valley leads the Don River with a little water, which was accelerated as a result of urbanization in Toronto. Along the Don Valley leads the eponymous Don Valley Parkway, an inner-city highway that leads north to Highway 401 at Highway 404. Due to the geological nature of the river bed in the gorge the water can rise during heavy rainfalls within three hours by 2 m. Hurricane Hazel in 1954 allowed the outflow of 4 to 1700 m³ / s increase.