Madawaska River (Saint John)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Madawaska River in Quebec/New Brunswick. For other rivers named Madawaska, see Madawaska River.

The Madawaska River flows from Lake Témiscouata in Quebec to join the Saint John River at Edmundston, New Brunswick.

The river's name comes from the Algonquian word "Madoueskak", which means "land of the porcupine".

The river formed part of the Témiscouata Portage, a canoe and land route from the Bay of Fundy to the Saint Lawrence River dating from the late 17th century. A road, now Quebec Highway 185 and part of the Trans-Canada Highway, was built along this route in 1862. The Témiscouata Railway was built along the same route in 1886. In the early 20th century, timber and logs were floated down the river to New Brunswick.

The Petit Témis Interprovincial Linear Park, a cycling path which originates in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, follows the abandoned railway bed along this river from Cabano, Quebec to Edmundston.