The Heart River is a river in

northern Alberta Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the cent ...

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 ...

. It is a major tributary of the

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

. The motto of the village of

Nampa, Alberta Nampa is a village in northern Alberta, Canada. It is south of the Town of Peace River on Highway 2. Heart River crosses the Highway 2 just north of community. Canadian National Railway owned railway traverses the village. Nampa is an Indigen ...

is ''A Place close to the Heart'', a reference to the river flowing through the community.

Course

The Heart River originates in

Northern Sunrise County Northern Sunrise County is a municipal district in northern Alberta, Canada. Located in Census Division 17, its municipal office is located east of the Town of Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, at an elevation of . It flows north through an unnamed lake, then turns westwards as it heads through Harmon Valley Park. It receives the waters from the Harmon Valley Creek as it passes by the settlement of Harmon Valley, then turns south. Up until this point, it is the North Heart River as differentiated from the South Heart River. It receives the waters of Bearhead Creek (also carrying waters from the Benjamin Creek from the east), then turns again westward. It is paralleled by the

Mackenzie Northern Railway The Mackenzie Northern Railway is a Canadian railway operating in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. It is the northernmost trackage of the contiguous North American railway network. Since being purchased by CN in 2006, it has been official ...

as it passes by the hamlet of

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

and through the village of

Nampa The Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) is the national news agency of the Namibia, Republic of Namibia. It was founded in 1987 under the name Namibia Press Association as a SWAPO partisan press agency, and resuscitated after Namibian War of Independence ...

. Heart River then receives Myrtle Creek, which is flowing north just east of the village of Nampa. It is crossed by Highway 2, then continues westwards by the hamlet of Marie-Reine, then turns north and flows through a deep canyon through the Greene Valley Provincial Park. It then empties in the

, immediately downstream from the

Smoky River The Smoky River is a river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a major tributary of the Peace River. The descriptive name refers to the presence of "smouldering beds of coal in the riverbank" noted by the Cree Indians. It drains an area of . Fro ...

mouth, at an elevation of , within the

town limits. Heart River drains an area of approximately . The watershed can be categorized into three major sub-basins: the North Heart River whose drainage area is about 830 km²; Bearhead Creek including Benjamin Creek whose drainage area is about 773 km² and Myrtle Creek including the Nampa South Drainage Project whose drainage area is 201 km².

Tributaries

*Harmon Valley Creek *Bearhead Creek **Benjamin Creek *Myrtle Creek

References

{{authority control Rivers of Alberta

Course

Tributaries

See also

References