The Désert River (french: Rivière Désert) is a river in the Outaouais region of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. The river starts at Lake Désert and flows in a northeasterly direction. It turns south near the northern boundary of the municipality of Montcerf-Lytton, meandering for more than . It then straightens and from the confluence with the Aigle River, the river forms the boundary between Egan-Sud and

Kitigan Zibi Kitigan Zibi (also known as River Desert, and designated as Maniwaki 18 until 1994) is a First Nations reserve of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, an Algonquin band. It is situated near the confluence of the Désert and Gatineau Rivers ...

Reserve. Finally it turns east before draining into the Gatineau River at Maniwaki. It was named "Désert" (French for "

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

") due to a natural clearing or man-made vacant land along its banks near its mouth at the

Gatineau River The Gatineau River (french: Rivière Gatineau, ) is a river in western Quebec, Canada, which rises in lakes north of the Baskatong Reservoir and flows south to join the Ottawa River at the city of Gatineau, Quebec. The river is long and drains ...

. "Desert" in the sense of cleared terrain comes from the dialects of northwestern France. 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 div ...

built a trading post on this spot in 1838, followed by an Oblate mission in the 1840s, which formed into a settlement called Notre-Dame-du-Désert in 1849 (now known as

Maniwaki Maniwaki is a town located north of Gatineau and north-west of Montreal, in the province of Quebec, Canada. The town is situated on the Gatineau River, at the crossroads of Quebec Route 105, Route 105 and Quebec Route 107, Route 107, not far south ...

). The Désert River overflowed its banks and caused flooding in 1974, mid 1990's, and 2017, requiring evacuations in Maniwaki.

References

Tributaries of the Gatineau River Rivers of Outaouais {{Quebec-river-stub