Kakabeka Falls

The Kakabeka Falls are about 40 m high waterfalls in Kaministiquia River in the Canadian province of Ontario. This makes them the highest waterfalls in the north of the province. They form the core of the Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, located 32 km west of Thunder Bay, but includes a 5 km area. The park was created in 1955.

The name comes from the language of the Anishinabe ( gakaabikaa ), meaning " thundering water ", according to the Ojibway dictionary "fall off a cliff ." Kakabeka plays a major role in the legends of the Anishinabe. Thus, the Indian Green Mantle, daughter of the chief Ogama Eagle, sacrificed at the age of 17 years for their tribe. When Sioux from the south attacked the Anishinabe, they fell into their hands. The Sioux wanted to try a surprise attack across the river, and they forced Greenmantle, to lead them. This led the canoe fleet at the Kakabeka Falls, so that the attacker falling to their deaths. A little later the remaining Sioux in the Battle of the Welcome Islands were finally beaten.

The river digs at this point by rocks that are up to 1.6 billion years old. It was used early on for trade, so to bypass the waterfall already a 1349 m long portage for the canoes was, who found the first European explorers in the 17th century. Pierre -Jacques Payen de Noyan 1688 was the first who sailed up the river, which was the French at least since 1681 known. It was the river with its 13 portages and a gradient of almost 200 m to 56 km a rather difficult route, but they rested the region around Lake Superior to the west of Canada. 1870 introduced the " Red River Expedition", with 1200 soldiers with the help of several hundred voyageurs and around 1,000 boats to be used against the Métis, over the Portage to the Kakabeka Falls.