The Gouault River is a tributary of the west shore of

Matagami Lake Lake Matagami is a lake in Jamésie, in Nord-du-Québec, in Quebec, in Canada. It is located just north-northeast of the town of Matagami. Geography Located in a marshy area of northern Quebec, the lake created by the meeting of the rivers All ...

which empties into the

Nottaway River The Nottaway River is a river in Quebec, Canada. The river drains Lake Matagami and travels north-west before emptying into Rupert Bay at the south end of James Bay. Its drainage basin is and has a mean discharge of 1190 m³/s (1556 yd³/s). It ...

via

Soscumica Lake Soscumica Lake is a lake of the southern portion of Eeyou Istchee James Bay (municipality), in the administrative region of Nord-du-Québec, in the province of in south-western Quebec, Canada. The southern part of Lake Soscumica extends into Mille ...

. The Gouault River flows in the municipality of

Eeyou Istchee Baie-James (municipality) Eeyou Istchee James Bay (french: Eeyou Istchee Baie-James, cr, ᐄᔨᔨᐤ ᐊᔅᒌ ᒉᐃᒥᔅ ᐯᐃ, italic=no ) is a local municipality in the (TE) in administrative region of . Located to the east of James Bay, Eeyou Istchee James Ba ...

, in the administrative region of

Nord-du-Québec Nord-du-Québec (; en, Northern Quebec) is the largest, but the least populous, of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada. With nearly of land area, and very extensive lakes and rivers, it covers much of the Labrador Peninsula ...

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 ...

, the

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The R1027 bridge spans the Gouault River about south of its confluence with

. From the bridge, this road runs along the west bank of the Gouault River and the

; then it goes further north to reach the territories east of

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 par ...

. The Gouault River flows entirely in forest and marsh areas, southwest of

. The surface of the river is usually frozen from the beginning of December to the end of April.

Geography

The hydrographic slopes near the Gouault River are: * north side: Bouchier Lake, Soscumica Lake, Deux-Lacs River, Natchiowatchouan River,

; * east side:

Allard River The Allard River is a tributary of the West shore of Lake Matagami which empties into the Nottaway River. The Allard River flows in the municipality of Eeyou Istchee Baie-James (municipality) in the Nord-du-Québec administrative region, in Quebec, ...

, Bell River; * south side:

, River of the Bear,

Adam River The Adam River is a river on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, flowing north into the Johnstone Strait , image = Pacific Ranges over Johnstone Strait.jpg , image_size = 250px , alt = , ...

Harricana River The Harricana River (french: Rivière Harricana) (also known as Harricanaw River) is a river in western Quebec and northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is long, has a drainage area of , and has a mean discharge of . While 80% of its drainage area is ...

; * west side:

Grasset Lake Grasset Lake is a freshwater body of the southern part of Baie-James, Eeyou Istchee James Bay (municipality), in the administrative region of Nord-du-Québec, in the provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, in Canada. This lake co ...

, Samson River,

, Kitchigama River. The upper part of the river (upstream of MacIvor Lake) drains a large swamp area between

and

. From its source (crossing of two brook streams), the Gouault River flows over according to the following segments: * northeasterly by collecting the waters of two creeks on the right and two creeks on the left, to the west bank of MacIvor Lake; * easterly crossing MacIvor Lake (length: ; altitude: ); * northeasterly to the outlet of Wabassi Lake (from the south); * northeasterly to the west shore of

. The mouth of the Gouault River is located at: * north-west of downtown

Matagami Matagami (, ) is a small town in Quebec, Canada. It is located north of Amos, on Matagami Lake, at the northern terminus of Route 109 and the start of the James Bay Road (French: ''Route de la Baie James''). It is enclaved within the local mu ...

; * south-east of the confluence of the

with

Rupert Bay Rupert Bay is a large bay located on the south-east shore of James Bay, in Canada. Although the coast is part of the province of Quebec, the waters of the bay are under jurisdiction of Nunavut Territory. Geography This bay has a width of 16 ...

(connected to

); * north-west of

Lebel-sur-Quévillon Lebel-sur-Quévillon is a city in the Canadian province of Quebec, located on Route 113 in the Jamésie region. It is located approximately 88 kilometres north of Senneterre and approximately 200 kilometres southwest of Chibougamau. It is surroun ...

; * east of the

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 Ca ...

border.

Toponymy

In 1936, the federal topographic map entitled Waswanipi indicated the hydronym "MacIvor River" for this river. The following year, the Geographical Survey of Quebec formalizes this hydronym under "MacIvor River". The MacIvor designation, provided by the geologist Jérôme H. Rémick, evokes the life of a trapper who frequent this region. The name "MacIvor River" would be associated with the name of Mount MacIvor located 3 km southwest of the lake of the same name. The

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 ...

, for their part, call the Nedawaka River, meaning the river to fetch what to live. Finally, in 1965, the Quebec Geography Commission officially adopted the "Rivière Gouault" toponym. The term Gouault is a family name of French origin. At that time, it was common to name or rename places in northern Quebec after characters from

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

. It is not unreasonable to believe that this hydronym evokes the Jesuit and apothecary brother Gaspard Gouault, who practiced his profession in

in the 17th century. The toponym "Gouault river" was formalized on December 5, 1968, at the

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (English: ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicize Québec's place names and their origins according ...

.Commission de toponymie du Quebec - Bank of Place Names - Toponym: "Gouault River"
/ref>

Geography

Toponymy

Notes and references

See also