Qu'Appelle River

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The Red River drainage basin, with the Qu'Appelle River highlighted

The Qu'Appelle River is a Canadian river that flows 430 km east from Lake Diefenbaker in southwestern Saskatchewan to join the Assiniboine River in Manitoba.

The river flows into several other lakes of significance in southeast Saskatchewan, including:

Buffalo Pound Lake to the northwest of Regina, created by damming the Qu'Appelle River in 1956, which supplies water to Regina, Moose Jaw, and the Kalium Chemicals Potash Mine at Belle Plaine;
the four Fishing Lakes, Pasqua, Echo, Mission, and Katepwa to the northeast of Regina; and,
farther downstream, to the north of Grenfell and Broadview, Crooked Lake and Round Lake.

In recent years, there has been some local civic-booster agitation to re-name the Fishing Lakes as the Calling Lakes, so as further to emphasise E. Pauline Johnson's "legend of the Qu'Appelle Valley" (see below); as yet this has not taken any authentic hold.

Last Mountain Lake, also known as Long Lake, the largest natural lake in southern Saskatchewan (Lake Diefenbaker is larger but is a reservoir behind the Gardiner and Qu'Appelle River Dams), drains into the Qu'Appelle near the town of Craven.

1 History
2 Recreation and environment
3 Famous people
4 See also
5 External links
6 Gallery

[edit] History

Lebret, Qu'Appelle Valley 1921

In 1787, the Northwest Company established a fur trading post at Fort Espérance on the lower river. After it was abandoned in 1819, the Hudson Bay Company established a post at Fort Qu'Appelle immediately adjacent to the site of what became the town of the same name.

The Qu'Appelle River and Valley derive their name from a Cree legend of a spirit that travels up and down it. The aboriginal people told the Northwest Company trader Daniel Harmon in 1804 that they often heard the voice of a human being calling, "Kâ-têpwêt?", meaning "Who is calling?" ("Qui appelle?" in French). They would respond, and the call would echo back (there is a strong echo phenomenon at Lebret). E. Pauline Johnson, the half-Mohawk poet, who made speaking tours of Canada, the United States, and England between 1892 and 1909, learned of the legend and elaborated upon it with Victorian sentiment. In her version, a young Cree swain heard his name while crossing one of the lakes and replied, "Who calls?" Only his echo could be heard (hence Echo Lake), and he realized it had been his bride-to-be calling out his name at the instant of her death. Despite its evident bogusness, it is the trumped-up romantic version that holds sway today.

[edit] Recreation and environment

Qu'Appelle River, Fort Qu'Appelle, circa 1910

In addition to the popularity of its lakes as summer recreational locales, the valley also contains popular venues for winter sports including the following:

White Track ski resort on Buffalo Pound Lake
Mission Ridge Winter Park, a popular skiing and snowboarding destination on the south shore of Mission Lake immediately adjacent to Fort Qu'Appelle
Last Oak ski resort to the north of Broadview, some 80 miles east of Regina
Hang gliding (and, less often, paragliding) from the valley slopes, especially in the Crooked Lake and Round Lake regions. In this area the valley is up to 450 feet deep and a mile wide, allowing for strong, smooth airflow up the side of the valley and ample landing areas on top and down in the valley, and providing a strong upward component of wind as it flows over the (in some places) optimally rounded valley edge, allowing pilots to soar in the "ridge lift" for many hours at a time. Pilots commonly travel from Manitoba and Alberta and of course other locations in Saskatchewan to fly this natural wonder of the Prairies.

Fort Qu'Appelle, Assiniboia, circa 1900

The river valley contains relatively undisturbed grassland and coulees which provide habitat for native plant and animal species, such as the Loggerhead Shrike and the coyote (locally pronounced [ˈkaɪ.jot]).

[edit] Famous people

Famous ice hockey player Eddie Shore was born in Fort Qu'Appelle. Nineteen-sixties folksinger and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie (who wrote the protest song "Universal Soldier," has been a regular performer on the U.S. version of "Sesame Street" and is an Officer of the Order of Canada) was born on the Piapot Cree reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley. One of her songs is entitled "Qu'appelle Valley, Saskatchewan". Noted Canadian jurist and singer Graeme Mitchell grew up at Fort San and received his high school education in Fort Qu'Appelle.