The Little Whale River (french: Petite rivière de la Baleine; cr, Wâpamekustûss, italic=yes) is a river in

Nunavik Nunavik (; ; iu, ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the I ...

, Quebec, Canada. With an area of , it is ranked as the 35th largest river basin in Quebec. The

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

named a segment of the Little Whale River near its mouth as ''Wâpamekustus'', which is similar to what Isbister noted in 1740. The

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

call it ''Qilalugarsiuviup Kuunga'', which means "river or place where beluga is hunted". Its name has often been wrongly translated into French as ''Rivière de la Petite Baleine''.

History

Poste de North Bluff Petite riviere de la Baleine 1878

In the records of 1740 kept by Joseph Isbister of the Eastmain Post, there is reference to a river called ''Wapameg-Us-Sosh'' (meaning White Whale River), where a multitude of

beluga The beluga whale (/bɪˈluːɡə/) (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the wh ...

is found. It mentions that the river is located a short distance south of the Gulph (that is

Richmond Gulf Lake Tasiujaq (french: lac Tasiujaq; iu, Tasiujaq, script=Latn (which resembles a lake)) is a large triangular-shaped inland bay located on east side of Hudson Bay just above 56th parallel north in Quebec, Canada. It was formerly known as Richmo ...

or Lac Guillaume-Delisle in French). The English name of the river was first recorded in 1744 in the

logbook A logbook (or log book) is a record used to record states, events, or conditions applicable to complex machines or the personnel who operate them. Logbooks are commonly associated with the operation of aircraft, nuclear plants, particle accelera ...

s of

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 ...

employees Thomas Mitchell and John Longland, while exploring the bay's coast. On July 29, Mitchell made mention of Little White Whale River. Traces of copper were found on the Little Whale River in the mid 18th century. A house was built on that river for miners and a small whaling operation, but the mine produced nothing of value.

Arthur Silver Morton Arthur Silver Morton (1870–1945) was a Canadian historian, archivist, and academic. Born in Iere Village, Trinidad, on 16 May 1870, Morton studied at the University of Edinburgh before moving to Canada to become a Presbyterian minister.

, "A History of Western Canada", no date but some time after 1937, page 229 From 1853 to 1890, the Hudson's Bay Company operated a trading post, named after the river, at its mouth.Hudson's Bay Company Archives
/ref> Some time during this period, a group of

came to the Little Whale River Post, found it occupied only by a boy, plundered the post and carried off the boy, who was later murdered. The post, now known as Jiaviniup Narsanga, has long been abandoned.

References

External links

Little Whale River Expedition 2005
{{Authority control Rivers of Nord-du-Québec Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Tributaries of Hudson Bay Nunavik

History

See also

References

External links