Rupert River (Rivière Rupert)
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Jamésie
Length	600 km (373 mi)
Watershed	43,400 km² (16,757 sq mi)
Source	Lake Mistassini
- coordinates	50°57′N 73°42′W / 50.95, -73.7
Mouth	James Bay
- location	Waskaganish
- coordinates	51°29′N 78°46′W / 51.483, -78.767

The Rupert River is one of the largest rivers in Quebec, Canada. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk Jamésie is a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE of Quebec. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. Lake Mistassini (in French Lac Mistassini) is the largest natural Lake by surface area in the province of Quebec, Canada, with a total surface James Bay (Baie James is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Waskaganish is a Cree village of about 2000 people on the south-east shore of James Bay in the municipality of Baie-James, Quebec, Canada. Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page From its headwaters in Lake Mistassini, the largest natural lake in Québec, it flows 600 kilometres (373 mi) west into Rupert Bay on James Bay. Lake Mistassini (in French Lac Mistassini) is the largest natural Lake by surface area in the province of Quebec, Canada, with a total surface James Bay (Baie James is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. The Rupert drains an area of 43,400 square kilometres (16,757 sq mi). To help compare Orders of magnitude of different geographical regions  Areas between 10000 km² and 100000 km² are listed here There is some extremely large whitewater on the river, but paddlers can avoid much of it by portage routes on the side. Portage refers to the practice of carrying a Canoe or other Boat over land to avoid an obstacle on the water route (such as Rapids or a Waterfall The most impressive falls, which cannot be avoided except by portaging, are the "Oatmeal Rapids" right at the Route de la Baie James (a set of cascades dropping 18 m (59 ft)) and "The Fours" near the end of the river (a 24 m (79 ft) drop). The Route de la Baie James (James Bay Road is a remote wilderness highway winding its way through the Canadian Shield in northwestern Quebec and reaches into the

The Rupert has long been an important river for the Cree of the area. Not to be confused with the Creek. Cree is an Exonym applied to various people indigenous to North America namely the Nehiyaw Nehithaw Nehilaw Every year, a group of Cree youth from the village of Waskaganish, at the mouth of the Rupert, travel up the river to Lake Nemiscau. Waskaganish is a Cree village of about 2000 people on the south-east shore of James Bay in the municipality of Baie-James, Quebec, Canada. Lake Nemiscau (in French Lac Nemiscau) is a Lake in north-western Quebec, Canada, on the Rupert River.

Major tributaries of the Rupert are the Marten River (Rivière à la Marte) and the Nemiscau River (Rivière Nemiscau). See also Marten River Ontario The Marten River is a short River in central Alberta.

History

In 1668, an expedition led by Médard des Groseilliers came to the mouth of the Rupert River in order to bypass French controlled areas along the St. Lawrence River and in doing so, trying to break the French hold on the fur trade. Médard Chouart des Groseilliers (1618 &ndash 1696 was a French explorer and Fur trader in Canada. Saint Lawrence River (in French: fleuve Saint-Laurent; Kahnawáˀkye in Tuscarora, Kaniatarowanenneh meaning big waterway The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal Fur. They named the river after the sponsor of the expedition, Prince Rupert. Rupert Count Palatine of the Rhine Duke of Bavaria (German Ruprecht Pfalzgraf bei Rhein Herzog von Bayern) commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, (17 A fort was established at the mouth of the river, which later became the trading post Rupert House, the oldest trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company. Waskaganish is a Cree village of about 2000 people on the south-east shore of James Bay in the municipality of Baie-James, Quebec, Canada. From then on, the Rupert River played a vital role in supplying inland trading posts (such as Nemiscau and Mistissini) with regular canoe brigades, right until the beginning of the twentieth century when supplies started to come from the south via rail and later road. Nemiscau is a semi-permanent Cree settlement in northern Quebec Canada on Lake Nemiscau. Not to be confused with Mistassini near Lac St-Jean see Dolbeau-Mistassini Quebec. The Fur brigade were convoys of Canadian Indian fur trappers who traveled between their home Trading posts and a larger HBC post in order to supply

While having lost its importance as a trade route, the Rupert River has long been a popular destination for recreational canoe camping and whitewater canoeing. Canoe camping (also known as canoe touring or canoe tripping) is a combination of Canoeing and Camping. Whitewater is formed in a Rapid, when a River 's gradient drops enough to disturb its Laminar flow and create Turbulence, i Canoeing is the activity of paddling a Canoe for the purpose of recreation (also called a float trip Sport, or transportation.

The Oatmeal Rapids on the Rupert River.

Hydroelectric development

The diversion of the headwaters of the Rupert River into the La Grande hydroelectric complex was authorized by the Governments of Quebec and Canada in late 2006 after undergoing joint environmental assessments by the Cree, Québec and Canadian authorities. The James Bay Project (in French projet de la Baie-James) refers to the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations on the La Grande River

This new project stems from a 2002 landmark agreement between the Government of Quebec and the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee), La Paix des braves (literally "Peace of the Brave") in which the two parties agreed to authorize the completion of a long-delayed hydroelectric project on the Eastmain River, just to the north of the Rupert River. A subsequent agreement in April 2004 put an end to all litigation between the two parties and opening the way to the joint environmental evaluation of the diversion of about 50% of the total water flow of the Rupert River (and 70% at the diversion point) northwards to the Eastmain River and into the La Grande hydrolectric watershed. The Grand Chief of the Crees, Matthew Mukash[1], elected in late 2005, opposed the Rupert diversion project, preferring the developpement of wind turbines in the region. A wind turbine is a rotating machine which converts the Kinetic energy in Wind into Mechanical energy.

Image gallery

Rupert River at the North Road

The Rupert River lookout

The Rupert River at the James Bay Road. The Route de la Baie James (James Bay Road is a remote wilderness highway winding its way through the Canadian Shield in northwestern Quebec and reaches into the

Close-up of the Oatmeal Rapids

External links

• The Rupert River website
• The James Bay Road website - the James Bay region of Quebec
• Save the Rupert
• Rupert Reverence
• The Rupert Hydroelectric Diversion (Hydro-Québec)
• Environmental assessment process and documents (Ministry of the Environment of Québec) (fr)
• Environmental assessment process and documents (Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency)
• Rezmutt's Flickr.com Rupert River Archive
• The Rupert River (YouTube Video)