Ottawa River

Catchment area of ​​the Ottawa River

Ottawa - Bonnechere Graben

The Chaudière - suspension bridge from Ottawa to Hull, 1845

The Ottawa River ( Rivière des Outaouais French, English Ottawa River ) is a left tributary of the St. Lawrence River.

On the majority of its length it forms the border between the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The river is 1271 km long, its catchment area has 146,000 km ². It rises in the Laurentian Mountains and flows in Montreal in the St. Lawrence River.

Geography

The source of the river is 430 m above sea Lac Capimitchigama in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, approximately 280 kilometers northwest of Montreal. Then the Ottawa flows westward through the sparsely populated region Abitibi- Témiscamingue and it happened several lakes. When Timiskamingsee it reaches the border of Ontario and turns south.

After the confluence of the Mattawa of Ottawa now flows in a southeasterly direction and takes another major tributaries. Two large river islands mark the beginning of the densely populated lower reaches, the Isle of Allumettes (190 km ²) and Île de Grand Calumet (132 km ²). The cities of Ottawa and Gatineau to the right on the left side of the river form an agglomeration with over one million inhabitants. In Ottawa, the Rideau Canal branches off, leading to Kingston on Lake Ontario.

Then the Ottawa River continues to flow to the east and becomes increasingly wider until it finally west of the Île de Montréal in the Lac des Deux Montagnes opens. Four river arms writhe then by the Hochelaga Archipelago. Two of them within a few miles to the south Lac Saint -Louis, and thus on a direct path to the St. Lawrence River. Two more are significantly longer: the Rivière des Mille Îles and of the Rivière des Prairies flowing northeastward and form the Île Jésus, on which lies the city of Laval. On the northern tip of the Ile de Montréal, they flock together and lead shortly afterwards also in the St. Lawrence River.

Geology

The Ottawa River is located in the Ottawa - Bonnechere Graben, a grave breach that formed in the Mesozoic Era 175 million years ago and extends to the Nipissingsee. After the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the Ice Age, the valley was of an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, the Champlain Sea, flooded. In clay deposits from that time fossil remains have been found of marine life.

Sediments resulted in some areas of poor drainage and the formation of large Moore. In addition, large clay deposits, which are known as Leda clay formed. This clay is extremely unstable, resulting in heavy rain to numerous landslides. For example, in 1993 the ground slipped under Lemieux (Ontario) in the South Nation River away (the place had been evacuated two years earlier as a precaution ).

History

The river was an important trade route for various tribes of the Algonquian, who called him Kitchissippi ( " Great River "). One of the tribes settled on the strategic Isle of Allumettes and put a Wegzoll by. Was probably Étienne Brûlé in 1610, the first Europeans who traveled the river. Three years later, Samuel de Champlain, who reached the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron through the Ottawa and Mattawa and the so established one of the major routes for the fur trade in North America.

As you realized the importance of the upper course of the St. Lawrence River until later, the Ottawa and the lower reaches of the St. Lawrence River in the early decades as Rivière du Canada ( " Canada River " ) together were known. Later it was called the River Grande Rivière or even Grande Rivière des Algonquin ( " Great River of the Algonquian "). End of the 17th century controlled the Ottawa intermediate trade on the river. Although they moved further west on Lake Huron itself, her name prevailed as the name of the river.

The French began to colonize the valley until about 1740, the British fifty years later, on the south side. 1800 Hull (now part of Gatineau ) founded on the Ottawa River and in the valleys, a thriving forestry developed. 1832, the river was connected with the construction of the Rideau Canal with Lake Ontario. From the canal-side village Bytown, the City of Ottawa, which in 1857 declared the capital of Canada developed. From about 1900, the agriculture supplanted the lumbering, 1920 was the first hydroelectric power plant.

Hydroelectric power plants and dams

Along the Ottawa River there are several hydroelectric plants and dams, the Hydro-Québec (HQ), Ontario Power Generation ( OPG), Public Works and Government Services Canada ( PWGSC ) and the Ministère du Développement durable, de l' Environnement et des Parcs ( MDDEP ) are operated.

At the upper reaches in the downstream direction are:

For the hydropower plant Première - Chute Hydro-Québec offers guided tours.

In the lower reaches in the downstream direction are:

The generators 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the hydroelectric plant Chute -des- chats ( with a capacity of 96 MW ) are operated by Ontario Power Generation. The generators 6, 7, 8 and 9 with a total capacity of 92 MW are operated by Hydro-Québec.

Are located at the dam Barrage de Hull -2 Ottawa in the two hydropower plants Chaudiere No. 2 and No. Chaudiere. 4 These were replaced in the early 2000s and operated by Energy Ottawa Inc..

For the Carillon hydroelectric power plant, Hydro-Québec offers guided tours.