Abitibi River
Abitibi River
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Abitibi River

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Abitibi River

The Abitibi River is a river in northeastern Ontario, Canada, which flows northwest from Lake Abitibi to join the Moose River which empties into James Bay. This river is 540 kilometres (340 mi) long, and descends 265 metres (869 ft). It is the ninth longest river in Ontario, Behind the Ottawa River (1,271km), St. Lawrence River (1.197km), Severn River (982km), Albany River (982km), Winnipeg River (813km), Attawapiskat River (748km), English River (615km) and Moose River(547km).

Abitibi is an Algonquin word meaning "halfway water", derived from abitah, which may be translated as "middle" or "halfway", and nipi, "water". Originally used by the French to designate a band of Algonquin Indians who lived near the lake, the name was descriptive of their location halfway between the trading posts on the Hudson Bay and those on the Ottawa River.

The river was an important fur trading route for the Hudson's Bay Company. From 1914 Until 2014, pulp and paper, centered in the town of Iroquois Falls, was an important industry in the heavily forested region through which it flows. The region also supports tourism and gold mining.

The Abitibi Canyon Generating Station is located on the river at Abitibi Canyon. The experience of surveying the river for the purposes of building this plant was the inspiration for folk singer Wade Hemsworth's "The Black Fly Song".

Description of river course (in downstream order):

A small portion of the river (from the outlet of Lake Abitibi to Couchching Falls) is protected in the Abitibi-De-Troyes Provincial Park. Until April 2005, this park included all the public lands stretching along the Abitibi River to Iroquois Falls, but most of these were deregulated because the significant amount of private land within the area that made the management of the waterway class provincial park difficult.

The Abitibi River is used extensively for the hydro-electric power generation. Power stations on the river are in downstream order:

Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Abitibi River at Wikimedia Commons

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