The Souris River (; french: rivière Souris) or Mouse River (as it is alternatively known in the U.S., a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language wh ...

of its French name) is a river in central

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 ...

. It is about in length and drains about . It rises in the Yellow Grass Marshes north of

Weyburn Weyburn is the eleventh-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. The city has a population of 10,870. It is on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina and is north from the North Dakota border in the ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. It wanders south through

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

beyond

Minot Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...

to its most southern point at the city of Velva, and then back north into

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. The river passes through the communities of Melita,

Hartney Hartney is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality of Grassland within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held town status prior to January 1, 2015. It along the Souris River. Originally established in 1882, the community is nam ...

, Souris and Wawanesa and on to its confluence with the

Assiniboine River The Assiniboine River (''; french: Rivière Assiniboine'') is a river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River of the North, Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meand ...

near Treesbank, about southeast of

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

. The main tributaries which flow into the Souris in Manitoba are the Antler River, the Gainsborough, and Plum Creeks. At the end of the last ice age over 10,000 years ago the rapid draining of former Glacial Lake Regina eroded a large channel that is now occupied by the much smaller contemporary Souris River. Also, much of the drainage basin is fertile silt and clay deposited by another former glacial lake, Lake Souris.

Flow rates and flood potential

During the period from 1930 to 1941 severe drought conditions prevailed and

PFRA PFRA may refer to: * Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration * Professional Football Researchers Association * Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, see Consumer protection in the United Kingdom * pFra, a phospholipase involved in transmis ...

constructed four stock watering dams. In 1937 the Snyder and Ross Dams were built near Melita. In 1938 the Napinka Dam was built and the Hartney Dam was built in 1941. These were all stop log dams with a total capacity of . The Souris Dam was originally built in 1911 and was rebuilt in 1935. The Wawanesa Dam was completed in 1951 storing about of water. Most of the annual flow of the Souris River comes from snow melt and spring rains. The annual flow volume varies dramatically from in 1937 to in 1976. It is expected that the total runoff for 2011 at Wawanesa will exceed about a one in 500 year event. The average annual runoff is equivalent to 3 mm over the entire Souris River watershed.Archived data from Water Survey Canada Two large dams in Saskatchewan,

Rafferty Dam McDonald Lake, also known as Rafferty Reservoir, is a reservoir in south-east Saskatchewan, Canada. It was created when the Rafferty Dam was built on the Souris River in 1994. Before the dam was built that flooded the Souris Valley, McDonald L ...

and Grant Devine Dam were built, in part, to reduce flood peaks on the Souris River. In summer 2011, a historic flood affected much of the Souris River basin, overtopping levees and causing the evacuation of about 11,000 residents in Minot as well as significant damage to farmland and other property along the length of the river. The channel capacity of the river in Manitoba varies from about near the border, to about through Melita, to about near Lauder and near Hartney. North of Hartney the capacity increases to more than . The drop between the border and Hartney is only about .

Tributaries

* Long Creek * Short Creek *

Moose Mountain Creek Moose Mountain Creek is a river in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Its River source, source is the Chapleau Lakes near Montmartre, Saskatchewan, Montmartre and it is a tributary of the Souris River, ...

Des Lacs River The Des Lacs River is a river in central North America which flows through Saskatchewan and North Dakota. It originates in southeastern Saskatchewan and joins the Souris River, of which it is the primary tributary, in Burlington, North Dakota. N ...

*Livingston Creek * Wintering River * Deep River ** Little Deep Creek ***Spring Coulee ** Cut Bank Creek (North Dakota) ***North Lake **** Egg Creek *****

Hay Coulee Hay is Graminoid, grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, domestic goat, goats, and sheep, or ...

**** Buffalo Lodge Lake ***** South Egg Creek * Willow Creek ** Snake Creek (North Dakota) ** Oak Creek **Ox Creek *** Wolf Creek * Plum Creek (Manitoba), a river that drains Plum Lakes and

Oak Lake (Manitoba) Oak Lake is a lake in the south-western part of the Canadian province of Manitoba in a region called Westman. Oak Lake is a kettle lake and is an aquifer supplier for numerous nearby residential areas and farms. The lake is in the RM of Sift ...

into the Souris River **Stony Creek, flows into Maple Lake, which drains into Plum Lakes **

Pipestone Creek (Saskatchewan) Pipestone Creek is a river in the Souris River watershed. Its flow begins in south-eastern Saskatchewan, just south of the town of Grenfell and travels in a south-eastly direction into Manitoba in the Westman Region where it empties into Oak ...

, flows into Oak Lake ***Little Pipestone Creek ***Montgomery Creek *Jackson Creek *Graham Creek * Boundary Creek (North Dakota) *

Antler River The Antler River is located in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America's Great Plains in south-eastern Saskatchewan and south-western Manitoba in Canada in an area known as Palliser's Triangle. Its source is in Saskatchewan's Moose Mounta ...

* Gainsborough Creek

Cities along the river

Weyburn, Saskatchewan Weyburn is the eleventh-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. The city has a population of 10,870. It is on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina and is north from the North Dakota border in the United States. The n ...

Estevan, Saskatchewan Estevan is the eighth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History Th ...

* Roche Percee, Saskatchewan *

Oxbow, Saskatchewan Oxbow is a town in the southeast of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located on the Canadian Pacific Railway and on Provincial Highway 18. It is approximately 58 kilometers west of Saskatchewan's border with Manitoba and approximatel ...

Burlington, North Dakota Burlington is a city in Ward County, North Dakota, United States. It was founded in 1883, the third in a series that included two earlier settlements. Despite this, Burlington is still the oldest city in Ward County, as well as north-western and ...

Minot, North Dakota Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 20 ...

Velva, North Dakota Velva is a city in McHenry County, North Dakota, United States. Part of the Minot Micropolitan Statistical Area, it was founded in 1897 and the population was 1,086 at the 2020 census. Southeast of Minot, Velva is at the southernmost point of th ...

Towner, North Dakota Towner is a city in McHenry County, North Dakota. It is the county seat of McHenry County. The population was 479 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Minot Micropolitan Statistical Area. Towner was founded in 1886. History Towner ...

Westhope, North Dakota Westhope is a city in Bottineau County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 374 at the 2020 census. Westhope was founded in 1903 along a Great Northern Railway branch line that began in Rugby. The name was based on the slogan "Hope ...

Melita, Manitoba Melita () is a town located in the south-western corner of the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is surrounded by the Municipality of Two Borders and occupies a bend of the Souris River. Graham Creek runs along the west side of town and into ...

Souris, Manitoba Souris is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality of Souris – Glenwood within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held town status prior to January 1, 2015 (2016 population: 1,876). It is located within the municipality at ...

Wawanesa, Manitoba Wawanesa is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality of Oakland – Wawanesa within the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba that held village status before January 1, 2015. Wawanesa is considered to be ...

Rural Municipalities along the river

* Souris Valley No. 7, Saskatchewan *

Municipality of Grassland The Municipality of Grassland is a rural municipality (RM) in the Canadian province of Manitoba. History The RM was incorporated on January 1, 2015 via the amalgamation of the RMs of Cameron and Whitewater and the town of Hartney. It was form ...

* Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa

Bridges across the river

* Eastwood Park Bridge: NRHP-listed crossing in Minot, North Dakota * Elliott Bridge: NRHP-listed crossing in McHenry County, North Dakota * Westgaard Bridge: NRHP listed crossing in McHenry County, North Dakota

Fish species

Fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

species include

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samu ...

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus '' Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...

white sucker The white sucker (''Catostomus commersonii)'' is a species of freshwater cypriniform fish inhabiting the upper Midwest and Northeast in North America, but it is also found as far south as Georgia and as far west as New Mexico. The fish is commonl ...

black bullhead The black bullhead or black bullhead catfish (''Ameiurus melas'') is a species of bullhead catfish. Like other bullhead catfish, it has the ability to thrive in waters that are low in oxygen, brackish, turbid and/or very warm. It also has barbels ...

, goldeye,

brown bullhead The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (''Ame ...

, smallmouth bass, and

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments di ...

References

External links

*
USGS Canoeing Information

Rafferty and Alameda Dams

West Souris River Conservation District

Fish Species of Saskatchewan

{{authority control * Rivers of Manitoba Rivers of North Dakota Rivers of Saskatchewan International rivers of North America Bodies of water of Ward County, North Dakota Bodies of water of McHenry County, North Dakota Bodies of water of Bottineau County, North Dakota Tributaries of the Assiniboine River Tributaries of Hudson Bay