The Seguin 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 w ...

Parry Sound District Parry Sound District is a Census divisions of Canada, census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its boundaries are District Municipality of Muskoka, District of Muskoka to the south, the Sudbury District to the north-northwest, the Fre ...

central Ontario Central Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario that lies between Georgian Bay and the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The population of the region was 1,123,307 in 2016; however, this number does not in ...

, Canada that empties into

Parry Sound Parry Sound is a sound or bay of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, in Ontario, Canada. It is highly irregularly shaped with many deep bays and islands. Killbear Provincial Park is located on the large peninsula that separates the sound from Georgian B ...

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

, Lake Huron at the town of

. The river's name comes from the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

word ''ziigwan'', meaning "spring".

Course

The Seguin River begins at Horn Lake near the community of Bear Lake in the municipality of

McMurrich/Monteith McMurrich/Monteith is a municipality and census subdivision in the Almaguin Highlands region of Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada. The municipality was formed in 1998 through an amalgamation of the former Township of McMurrich and the eastern ...

. It is joined by a tributary off of Bear lake, then turns southwest and enters the township of Seguin, flows through Upper Fry Lake and Lower Fry Lake and passes north over a series of waterfalls near the community of

Seguin Falls Seguin Falls is a ghost town and unincorporated place on the Nipissing Colonization Road in the township of Seguin, Parry Sound District in northeastern Ontario, Canada. History The portion of the Nipissing Road at Seguin Falls was opened to wi ...

, at which point it is crossed by the former path of the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway, now the recreational Seguin Trail rail trail. The river turns again southwest into Isabella Lake where it takes in the left tributary Little Seguin River. It continues southwest over the Serpent Rapids, the Indian Rapids and the Hab Rapids, passes into the township of McDougall, and takes in the right tributary Manitouwabing River. The Seguin continues through Mountain Chute to reach Mill Lake in the town of Parry Sound, where it takes in the left tributary Haines Creek, heads under

Ontario Highway 400 King's Highway 400, commonly referred to as Highway400, historically as the Toronto–Barrie Highway, and colloquially as the400, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking the city of Toronto in the urban and agricultura ...

then over Mill Lake Dam, and takes in the right tributary Darlington's Creek. It then flows under a low bridge carrying the Canadian National Railway main line, over the Cascade Street Dam and Cascade Street Generating Station, over the Trestle Dam, under the high Parry Sound CPR Trestle that carries the Canadian Pacific Railway, and reaches its mouth at Parry Sound. In addition to the already named towns, townships and municipalities in Parry Sound District, portions of the Seguin River

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

lie in the township McKellar, Parry Sound District, and less than 1% lies in the

geographic township The term township, in Canada, is generally the district or area associated with a town. The specific use of the term to describe political subdivisions has varied by country, usually to describe a local rural or semirural government within the co ...

of Cardwell, part of the township of

Muskoka Lakes The Township of Muskoka Lakes is a municipality of the District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. It has a year-round population of 6,588. The municipal offices are located in Port Carling. History The area now covered by the township ...

Muskoka District The District Municipality of Muskoka, more generally referred to as the District of Muskoka or Muskoka, is a regional municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Muskoka extends from Georgian Bay in the west, to the northern tip of Lake Couchiching ...

History

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

built at the mouth of the river in 1857 was one of the first industries in the area, and which later led to the founding of the town of Parry Sound. The river was also used to float down the logs cut in the forests upstream.

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

legend

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

learned to skate on the frozen river.

Natural history

The Seguin River Conservation Reserve is located on the river at the mouth of the Manitouwabing River. It protects upland forest, steep cliff and

metavolcanic Metavolcanic rock is volcanic rock that shows signs of having experienced metamorphism. In other words, the rock was originally produced by a volcano, either as lava or tephra. The rock was then subjected to high pressure, high temperature or both ...

bedrock

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...

ping landscapes.

Tributaries

*Darlington's Creek (right) *Haines Creek (left) *Manitoubwabing River (right) *Little Seguin River (left)

References

Sources