The Manicouagan or Manicuagan River, often clipped to Manic, is a river in

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (, ; ; land area ) is the second-largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec. It covers much of the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence past Tadous ...

region of

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 ...

, Canada. The river originates in the

Manicouagan Reservoir Manicouagan Reservoir (also Lake Manicouagan) is an annular lake in central Quebec, Canada, covering an area of . The lake island in its centre is known as René-Levasseur Island, and its highest point is Mount Babel. The structure was created ...

and flows approximately south, emptying into 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, connectin ...

near

Baie-Comeau Baie-Comeau (; 2021 city population 20,687; CA population 26,643) is a city located approximately north-east of Quebec City in the Côte-Nord region of the province of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River nea ...

. The reservoir, also known as Lake Manicouagan, lies within the remnant of an ancient eroded

impact crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters ...

(

astrobleme An impact structure is a generally circular or craterlike geologic structure of deformed bedrock or sediment produced by impact on a planetary surface, whatever the stage of erosion of the structure. In contrast, an impact crater is the sur ...

). It was formed following the impact of a diameter

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

which excavated a crater originally about wide, although erosion and deposition of sediments have since reduced the visible diameter to about . The

Manicouagan impact structure Manicouagan Reservoir (also Lake Manicouagan) is an annular lake in central Quebec, Canada, covering an area of . The lake island in its centre is known as René-Levasseur Island, and its highest point is Mount Babel. The structure was created ...

is the sixth-largest confirmed impact crater known on earth.

Name

The river's name is believed to come from a Montagnais name meaning "Place where

Tree Bark Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines, and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and cons ...

is Found". However the

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 ...

Betsiamites Betsiamites may refer to: * the Betsiamites River in Quebec, * the Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", Engl ...

call it ''Menukuanistuk Shipu'', meaning "River of the Cup".

Tributaries

The major tributaries of the Manicouagan River are in upstream order: * Toulnustouc River ** Isoukustouc River ** Fontmarais River * Lemay River *

Mouchalagane River The Mouchalagane River (french: Rivière Mouchalagane) is a river in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It feeds the Manicouagan Reservoir. Hydrology The Mouchalagane river is in the unorganized territory of Rivière-Mouchalagane, in the ...

Seignelay River The Seignelay River (french: Rivière Seignelay) is a river of the Côte-Nord region of Quebec. Location The Seignelay River Rises to the south of Lac Vallard. It flows through the unorganized territory of Rivière-Mouchalagane in Caniapiscau, Q ...

** Hart Jaune River ** Themines River **

Petite Riviere Manicouagan Vincent Aycocho, or better known as Petite is a Filipino actor, comedian, singer and TV show host. He is known for as a Filipino comedian in ''Comedy Bar (Philippine TV series), Comedy Bar'', Punch line and Clowns, together with their other cele ...

History

At the end of August 1535,

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier ( , also , , ; br, Jakez Karter; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French-Breton maritime explorer for France. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of th ...

, while sailing south, noted the mouth of this large river but gave it no name. In June 1664, Jesuit

Henri Nouvel Henri Nouvel (1621 or 1624 in Pezenas, Herault (France) – between October 1701 and October 1702 at the St. Francis Xavier Mission near Baie des Puants) was a Jesuit priest who spent forty years as a missionary to Native American communities ...

was the first

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

to travel upstream of the "Grand Manikouaganistikou River that the French call ''rivière Noire'' because of its depth". The next year, he "returned to the mouth of the Manicoüagan in June." The river's spelling has remained fairly constant from then on. In the early 1950s, the Manicouagan River attracted

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States. It was established by the ...

's attention for

hydro-electric 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 ...

development because of the deep and fast running waters. In 1956, a dam was built at the mouth of Lake Sainte-Anne to regulate the Toulnustouc River, the main left tributary that empties in the Manicouagan between the Manic-2 and Manic-3 dams. Four years later, the main construction work began on the dams and power stations of the Manicouagan River and its neighbor to the west, the Outardes River. By 1978, this project, with a total power supply 4672 MW, was completed.

Hydro-electric dams

There are a number of hydroelectric power plants on the Manicouagan, part of the Manic-Outardes Project:Ministry of Natural Resources of Quebec and Hydro-Québec * McCormick generating station - 335 MW, owned by

and

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

. * Manic 1 generating station - 184 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec. *

Jean-Lesage generating station The Jean-Lesage generating station, (French: Centrale Jean-Lesage) formerly known as Manic-2, is a dam located 22 km from Baie-Comeau built on Manicouagan River in Quebec, Canada. It was constructed between 1961 and 1967. On June 22, 2010, t ...

, formerly Manic-2 Power Station - 1024 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec. * René-Lévesque generating station, formerly Manic-3 Power Station - 1244 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec. * Manic 4 - Abandoned project * Daniel-Johnson Dam: ** Manic-5 generating station - 1592 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec. ** Manic-5-PA generating station - 1064 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec.

References

External links

*
Hydro-Québec Manicouagan map
{{Authority control Manicouagan-Outardes hydroelectric project Rivers of Côte-Nord Tributaries of the Saint Lawrence River