The Sydney River is a short river located in

Cape Breton County Cape Breton County is one of eighteen counties in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located on Cape Breton Island. From 1879 to 1995, the area of the county excluded from towns and cities was incorporated as the Municipality of th ...

, Nova Scotia, Canada. Historically, it was also referred to as the Spanish River from the 18th century

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 ...

name for its estuary, Baie d’Espagnols. It separates the communities of Coxheath and Westmount, on the north bank of the river, from

Howie Centre Howie Centre is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Cape Breton Regional Municipality (often referred to as simply "CBRM") is the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's second large ...

Sydney River The Sydney River is a short river located in Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Historically, it was also referred to as the Spanish River from the 18th century Early modern France, French name for its estua ...

, and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

on the south and east banks. Sydney River rises in

Blacketts Lake Blacketts Lake is a lake and community in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town is in the Sydney River watershed, of which the lake forms the headwaters. The lake (and its tributary rivers) is home to the northernmost k ...

and runs to its mouth, between the Westmount shore near Amelia Point and Battery Point on the Sydney shore, at the South Arm of Sydney Harbour, draining a

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of 140 km south of the crest of the Coxheath Hills. The river is an estuary for the last below the " Sysco Dam" in the community of

. The dam was constructed in 1902, converting the stretch of river immediately above the dam from a tidal estuary to a freshwater

reservoir lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the World Ocean, oce ...

. Its watershed contains more than 2000 homes. The Sydney River valley is glacial with thick deposits,

kame A kame, or ''knob'', is a glacial landform, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the g ...

eskers An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Ameri ...

and outwash gravels creating a series of shallow lakes connected by narrow channels. This low valley was a traditional canoe

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 ...

used by the Mi'kmaq for travelling between Sydney Harbour and the East Bay of Bras d'Or Lake. The river is one of only two Canadian watersheds with a known population of the

yellow lampmussel ''Lampsilis cariosa'', the yellow lampmussel, is a species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels. Its natural habitat is rivers. Distribution and conservation status This species is fo ...

. The lampmussel is found above the dam constructed in 1902, which increased the area of freshwater habitat suitable for lampmussel in the watershed.

References

{{authority control Landforms of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Rivers of Nova Scotia Landforms of Cape Breton County

See also

References