Kakabeka Falls is a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

on the

Kaministiquia River The Kaministiquia River is a river which flows into western Lake Superior at the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. ''Kaministiquia'' (''Gaa-ministigweyaa'') is an Ojibwe word meaning "where a stream flows in island" due to two large islands (McKellar ...

, located beside the village of Kakabeka Falls in the municipality of

Oliver Paipoonge Oliver Paipoonge is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located directly west of the city of Thunder Bay. The municipality was formed on January 1, 1998, with the amalgamation of the former Township of Oliver and Township of Paipoon ...

, Ontario, west of the city of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

. The falls have a drop of , cascading into a gorge carved out of the

Precambrian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

meltwater Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater can be ...

following the

last glacial maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eur ...

. Because of its size and ease of access, it has been consequently nicknamed "the Niagara of the North". The rock face of the falls and the

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

s along the gorge are composed primarily of unstable shale, and are eroding. These rocks host sensitive

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

, and contain some of the oldest

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

in existence, some 1.6 billion years of age. Due to the fragile rock, going into the gorge below the falls is prohibited. The name "Kakabeka" comes from the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

word ''gakaabikaa'' "waterfall over a cliff" (^{help

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Help may refer to:

Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Help'' (2010 film), a Bollywood horror film
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]}).

Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park

Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, established in 1955, covers and is managed by Ontario Parks. It surrounds the falls and extends along the Kaministiquia River, which was used centuries ago by

voyageurs The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ' ...

, who were the first Europeans to overwinter annually in

northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Provi ...

. They used the Kaministiquia River as a major route to the northwest, with a mountain

portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

around the falls. A hotel with terrace which was once located on the edge of the gorge was removed after the park's creation. It included a round restaurant that once overlooked the falls, and in winter would get covered in a thick layer of ice from the spray of the falls. The park has two campgrounds with 169 campsites, 90 of which have electricity. The park maintains of hiking on six trails, and offers

cross-country ski Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

trails in the winter. A small

Natural Heritage Education {{Unreferenced, date=January 2008 Natural Heritage Education is an educational program offered by Ontario Parks in some provincial parks in Ontario, Canada. It is designed to provide education focusing on the natural and cultural heritage of the ...

program is operated within the park in the summer, and offers daily interpretive programs, guided hikes, and a visitor centre.

Legend of Green Mantle

The Legend of Green Mantle is about an

chief who upon hearing news of an imminent attack from the

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

tribe instructs his daughter, Princess Green Mantle, to devise a plan to protect her people. She enters the Sioux camp along the Kaministiquia River and, pretending to be lost, she bargains with them to spare her life if she will bring them to her father's camp. Placed at the head of the

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

, she instead leads herself and the Sioux warriors over the falls to their deaths, sparing her tribe from the attack. The legend claims that one can see Green Mantle when looking into the mist of Kakabeka Falls, a monument to the princess that gave her life to save her people. Other versions of the legend say she came across the Sioux herself, and later jumped out of the canoe ahead of the falls and swam to shore, leaving the Sioux to go over the falls, then ran back to the camp to warn her people.

Kakabeka Falls in art

The most famous painting featuring the falls, painted by

Lucius Richard O'Brien Lucius Richard O'Brien (or L. R. O'Brien as he was known) (15 August 1832 – 13 December 1899) was an influential 19th-century Canadian oil and watercolour landscape artist. Life and career Lucius O'Brien was born in Shanty Bay, Upper ...

in 1882, is held by the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

Frances Anne Hopkins Frances Anne Hopkins (February 2, 1838 – March 5, 1919) was a British painter. She was the third of Frederick William Beechey's five children. In 1858, she married a Hudson's Bay Company official, Edward Hopkins, whose work took him to Nor ...

, whose historic paintings are well known for her portrayal of Canadian life, painted the portage around the falls in 1877. Her painting, "The Red River Expedition at Kakabeka Falls, Ontario", depicts the Red River Expedition of 1870 portaging around the falls on its way to the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hud ...

to interdict

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...

References

External links

*
Firstpeople.us - Princess of the Mist: The legend of Princess Green MantleNational Gallery of Canada - Lucius R. O'Brien - Kakabeka Falls, Kamanistiquia River (1882)
{{Authority control Kaministiquia River Landforms of Thunder Bay District Portages in Canada Waterfalls of Ontario Canadian folklore Tourist attractions in Thunder Bay District Protected areas of Thunder Bay District

Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park

Legend of Green Mantle

Kakabeka Falls in art

See also

References

External links