The Abitibi River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

in northeastern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, which flows northwest from

Lake Abitibi Lake Abitibi (french: Lac Abitibi, oj, Aabitibiiwi-zaaga’igan) is a shallow lake in northeastern Ontario and western Quebec, Canada. The lake, which lies within the vast Clay Belt, is separated in two distinct portions by a short narrows, ma ...

to join the Moose River which empties into

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost pa ...

. This river is long, and descends . It is the fifth longest river entirely in Ontario Abitibi is an

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

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 The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most ...

route for the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

. Formerly, pulp and paper, centered on the town of

Iroquois Falls Iroquois Falls is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, with a population of 4,537 at the 2016 census. The town centre lies 11 km east of Hwy 11 on the banks of the Abitibi River, west of Lake Abitibi. Timmins, one of the largest cities in ...

, 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 Abitibi Canyon Generating Station is a hydroelectric power plant owned by Ontario Power Generation on the Abitibi River. The station is located 80 km north of Smooth Rock Falls, within Pitt Township in Northern Unorganized Cochrane Distric ...

is located on the river at

Abitibi Canyon Abitibi Canyon was a community on the Abitibi River in northeastern Ontario, Canada. Abitibi Canyon was part of Northern Unorganized Cochrane District, in Cochrane District. It was located northeast of Fraserdale. History The construction of t ...

. The experience of surveying the river for the purposes of building this plant was the inspiration for folk singer

Wade Hemsworth Albert Wade Hemsworth (October 23, 1916 – January 19, 2002) was a Canadian folk singer and songwriter.Alan Hustak, "Canadian composer dies at 85". ''Calgary Herald'', January 20, 2002. Although he was not a prolific composer, having writt ...

's " The Black Fly Song".

Geography

Description of river course (in downstream order): * Begins as outlet from

() * Extreme southern point () * Ansonville, Ontario () *

Iroquois Falls, Ontario Iroquois Falls is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, with a population of 4,537 at the 2016 census. The town centre lies 11 km east of Hwy 11 on the banks of the Abitibi River, west of Lake Abitibi. Timmins, one of the largest cities in ...

() * Crossed by Ontario Northland Railway () * Long Sault Rapids hydroelectric plant () * Confluence with the Black River () * Confluence with the

Frederick House River The Frederick House River is a river in the James Bay and Moose River drainage basins in Cochrane District in northeastern Ontario, Canada. It flows from Night Hawk Lake in the city of Timmins to its mouth at the Abitibi River in Cochrane, Un ...

() * Ontario Northland Railway crossing at Island Falls Station, Ontario () * Island Falls, Ontario () *

near

Fraserdale, Ontario Fraserdale is an unincorporated place and railroad point in Unorganized Cochrane, North Part in Cochrane District, Northern Ontario, Canada. It is located north of Timmins along the Ontario Northland Railway. The community/ train stop was name ...

() * Otter Rapids Generating Station () * Coral Rapids, Ontario () * Extreme western point () * Confluence with the Little Abitibi River () * Joins the Moose River () * Enters

as part of the Moose River ()

Tributaries

* Little Abitibi River *

* Black River

Protected areas

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

, 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.

Power generation

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

References

External links