The Maitland 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 wate ...

in Huron County, Perth County and Wellington County in

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...

, Canada. Shows the course of the river highlighted on a topographic map. The river is in the

Great Lakes Basin The Great Lakes Basin consists of the Great Lakes and the surrounding lands of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada, whose dir ...

and empties into

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

at the town of Goderich. It is long, and is named after Sir

Peregrine Maitland General Sir Peregrine Maitland, GCB (6 July 1777 – 30 May 1854) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. He also was a first-class cricketer from 1798 to 1808 and an early advocate for the establishment of what would become the Canadi ...

, Lieutenant-Governor of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

from 1818 to 1828. It was formerly known as the Menesetung River.

Course

The river begins in

geographic Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

Arthur Township in the municipality of

Wellington North Wellington North was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1953. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act, 1867 which divided the County of Well ...

, Wellington County. It flows west into the municipality of

Minto Minto may refer to: Places Antarctica *Mount Minto (Antarctica) Australia *Minto, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Minto railway station * Minto County, Western Australia * Parish of Minto, New South Wales Canada * Minto City, British C ...

and its main centre, the community of Harriston, with its triple junction of Ontario Highway 9,

Ontario Highway 23 King's Highway 23, commonly referred to as Highway 23, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The route travels from Highway 7 east of Elginfield north to Highway 9 and Highway 89 i ...

and

Ontario Highway 89 King's Highway 89, commonly referred to as Highway 89, is an east–west provincially maintained highway in the south central portion of the Canadian province of Ontario, stretching from the junction of Highway 9 and Highway 23 ...

. The river continues west into the municipality of Howick, Huron County, where it passes over two small dams, at Gorrie (maintained by the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority) and at

Wroxeter Wroxeter is a village in Shropshire, England, which forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury. ''Viroconium Cornoviorum'', the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was sited ...

(maintained by the community), passes through the municipality of

Morris-Turnberry The Municipality of Morris-Turnberry is a municipality in Huron County, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the north portion of Huron County, near the Bruce County border, southeast of Wingham. It was formed as an amalgamation of the former Morri ...

, and reaches the community of Wingham in the municipality of

North Huron The Township of North Huron is a municipality in Huron County, Ontario, Canada. It was formed in 2001 when the Ontario government imposed amalgamation on municipalities throughout the province. Specifically, the former township of East Wawanosh wa ...

, where it passes over a dam and takes in the left tributary Middle Maitland River. The river then turns southwest and enters the municipality of

Ashfield–Colborne–Wawanosh The Township of Ashfield–Colborne–Wawanosh is a municipality in Huron County, Ontario, Canada. It was formed as an amalgamation of the former Ashfield, Colborne and West Wawanosh townships in 2001, in an Ontario-wide local government restruct ...

. From the community of Auburn to Goderich, the river forms the boundary between Ashfield–Colborne–Wawanosh and the municipality of

Central Huron Central Huron is a township in western Ontario, Canada, in Huron County. It is situated on Lake Huron between the Maitland River and the Bayfield River. History The Municipality of Central Huron was formed on January 1, 2001, when the Town of ...

. The river continues southwest, takes in the left tributary South Maitland River, turns northwest, and reaches its mouth at Lake Huron at the town of Goderich.

Black hole

Near the end of black hole road, east of Goderich there is a "black hole" in the river. It has caused drownings in the past and the depth is approximately six metres as found by sonar. The location is .

Natural history

Canoeing on the Maitland River, Ontario (1906)

The lower Maitland (to Wingham) has a trout and

salmon run ''Salmon Run'' is a 1982 video game for the Atari 8-bit family created by Bill Williams and distributed via the Atari Program Exchange. ''Salmon Run'' was the first game in Williams's career, followed by a string of successes noted for their o ...

, and is home to several

species at risk The List of Wildlife Species at Risk currently has more than 800 entries for Canadian wild life species considered vulnerable; including 363 classified as endangered species, —190 threatened species, —235 special concern, and 22 extirpated ( ...

including

queen snake The queen snake (''Regina septemvittata'') is a species of nonvenomous semiaquatic snake, a member of the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to North America. Common names ''R. septemvittata'' is known by many c ...

wavy-rayed lampmussel ''Lampsilis fasciola'', the wavy-rayed lampmussel, is a species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels. Appearance and description The wavy-rayed lampmussel is a relatively small mussel ...

and

butternut tree ''Juglans cinerea'', commonly known as butternut or white walnut,Snow, Charles Henry ''The Principal Species of Wood: Their Characteristic Properties'' 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1908. p. 56. is a species of walnut native to the e ...

, as well as several Carolinian forest species, including bitternut hickory,

American sycamore ''Platanus occidentalis'', also known as American sycamore, American planetree, western plane, occidental plane, buttonwood, and water beech, is a species of ''Platanus'' native to the eastern and central United States, the mountains of northeas ...

, summer grape and green dragon.

Tributaries

*Cemetery Creek (left) *Sharpes Creek (right) *Hopkins Creek (left) *South Maitland River (left) *Blyth Brook (left) *Belgrave Creek (left) *Middle Maitland River (left) *Little Maitland River *Lakelet Creek (right) *Salem Creek (right)

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
{{Authority control Rivers of Huron County, Ontario Rivers of Perth County, Ontario Rivers of Wellington County, Ontario Tributaries of Lake Huron