The Moisie River is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...
in eastern
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 thirte ...
. Known as the
Nahanni of the East, it is a wild river of North
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
It has been proposed to protect the river with the
Moisie River Aquatic Reserve.
Course
The Moisie River basin lies between the basins of the
Rapides River to the west and the
Matamec River to the east.
It covers an area of .
The Moisie flows south from
Lake Opocopa near the
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
border to the north shore of the
Saint Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
east of
Sept-Îles, Quebec. The town of
Moisie is located at its mouth. The river is in length. The length calculated from most commonly used starting point of
canoe trips,
bridge of
highway 389 over
Pékans River (at
) is 373 km.
Moisie tributaries include:
[
* Aux Pékans River
** Carheil River (via Pékans)
* Nipissis River
* Caopacho River
* Ouapetec River
* Joseph River
]
Name
The river's name may originate from a French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
word ''moisie'' meaning "moldy" .[ But this is not certain and other hypotheses exist.]
The Mishta-shipiunnu ("Innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
from the Moisie River") call it ''Mishta-shipu'' ("Great River"; ''mishau'' - ″big, great″ and ''shipu'' - ″river").
As they have done for thousands of years, they continue to use the river to reach their northern hunting and fishing grounds. Large parts of the river were also protected by private fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...
clubs. There were recent attempts to develop hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
projects on the Moisie. However, in 2003, the Quebec government
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 thirteen p ...
protected a large part of the river's watershed as an aquatic reserve. This prevents activities such as logging, mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
and power projects, but permits traditional uses such as hunting and fly-fishing.
Environment
A map of the Ecological regions of Quebec
The Ecological regions of Quebec are regions with specific types of vegetation and climates as defined by the Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks.
Given the size of this huge province, there is wide variation from the temperate deciduou ...
shows the river's tributary, the Rivière aux Pékans, rising to the northwest of Fermont
Fermont () is a town in northeastern Quebec, Canada, near the Quebec-Labrador border about from Labrador City on Route 389, which connects to the Trans-Labrador Highway (Newfoundland and Labrador Route 500). It is the seat of the Regional Cou ...
just west of the Spruce/lichen domain of the boreal zone, and flowing south through the eastern spruce/moss domain.
The last section of the Moisie River flows through the Fir/white birch domain of the boreal zone.
This river is the most important spawning
Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...
ground for the Atlantic Salmon
The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...
in eastern North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
Usage
The Moisie River is popular with experienced canoeists concerning its whitewater
Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...
. It flows through a deep valley of glacial
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...
origin. The width of the valley varies considerably, at the spout of the river the valley is very narrow, and wider in areas that are not obstructed by rapids. The views of mountains and cliffs cause it to be used for canoe camping
Canoe camping, also known as touring, tripping or expedition canoeing, is a combination of canoeing and camping. Like backpacking, canoe campers carry enough with them to travel and camp for several days, but do so via a canoe or kayak.
Descrip ...
.[ The Quebec North Shore & Labrador Railway follows the lower section of the Moisie River and provides access to the Quebec-Labrador plateau from which canoeists can reach its headwaters. Because of its remote proximity, there are very few access points to the river and if an accident were to occur with a canoeist the most common form of salvation is by floatplane. Yet in still, because of the narrow valley some canoeist much travel kilometres until they can reach a spot for a plane to land. The Railway crosses the river at the last whitewater rapid on the river, which is also the largest, and most well known. These rapids have been named train tracks because of their close proximity to the Railway above. There was a forest fire in the Summer of 2014 which destroyed a lot of the ecosystem surrounding the river and made it unsafe for campers and canoeists to explore and venture. The Moisie River is very remote and has very few inhabitants. You can see few cabins along the river.
]
See also
*List of Quebec rivers
This is a list of rivers of Quebec. Quebec has about:
*one million lakes of which 62279 have a toponymic designation (a name), plus 218 artificial lakes;
*15228 watercourses with an official toponymic designation, including 12094 streams and 3134 ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Sept-Îles, Quebec
Rivers of Côte-Nord