The Ganaraska River is a
river in
Northumberland County and the
Regional Municipality of Durham in
Southern Ontario, Canada.
It is part of the
Great Lakes Basin, and is a tributary of
Lake Ontario, which it reaches at the central community of the municipality of
Port Hope. The river's name is thought to be derived from ''
Ganaraske'', the Cayuga name for the
village this Iroquoian nation had established in this area in 1779.
Together with other nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, they had migrated from New York, forced to cede their homelands because of having allied with the British in the American Revolutionary War. The Crown provided additional lands to the Iroquois peoples, including what is now called the
Six Nations of the Grand River
Six Nations (or Six Nations of the Grand River, french: Réserve des Six Nations, see, Ye:i’ Níónöëdzage:h) is demographically the largest First Nations reserve in Canada. As of the end of 2017, it has a total of 27,276 members, 12,848 of w ...
reserve.
Later the Crown granted land here to
United Empire Loyalists, in compensation for their losses in the Northeast colonies, especially New York. They were the first European Americans to settle here in any number.
Course
The river begins on the
Oak Ridges Moraine in the Ganaraska Forest in the municipality of
Clarington
Clarington (2021 population 101,427) is a lower-tier municipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham in Ontario, Canada. It was incorporated in 1973 as the town of Newcastle with the merging of the town of Bowmanville, the Village of Newcastl ...
, about southeast of the junction of
Ontario Highway 35 and
Ontario Highway 115. It flows southeast past the community of Kendal, takes in the left tributary North Ganaraska River, and turns south to its mouth on the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Watershed
Portions of the Ganaraska River
drainage basin of extend into the City of
Kawartha Lakes; the Township of
Cavan–Monaghan
Cavan Monaghan (known as Cavan-Millbrook-North Monaghan until 2007) is a township in Peterborough County in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, southwest of the city of Peterborough.
History
The original townships of Cavan and Monaghan were survey ...
,
Peterborough County; and the Township of
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
, Northumberland County.
Natural history
There have been major conservation efforts in recent years.
It attracts anglers for
salmon and
trout. The Ganaraska River Fishway, a
fish ladder, allows
rainbow trout
The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...
to travel up river to
spawn.
Flood of 1980
The river had a flood in 1980, that caused considerable damage to the Port Hope downtown area.
See also
*
Ganaraska Region Ganaraska Region is a region located in Ontario, Canada, stretching along the shore of Lake Ontario for approximately and about wide. It contains watersheds, covering an area of from Wilmot Creek in Clarington to eastside of Cobourg and from the ...
*
List of Ontario rivers
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority''Float Your Fanny'' official website
{{Authority control
Rivers of Northumberland County, Ontario
Rivers of the Regional Municipality of Durham
Tributaries of Lake Ontario
Rivers with fish ladders