Aguasabon River

Aguasabon River
River
Aguasabon Gorge and Falls near Terrace Bay
Country Canada
Province Ontario
District Thunder Bay
Part of Great Lakes Basin
Source Chorus Lake
 - elevation 395 m (1,296 ft)
 - coordinates 49°14′12″N 87°09′43″W / 49.23667°N 87.16194°W
Mouth Lake Superior
 - location Terrace Bay
 - elevation 180 m (591 ft)
 - coordinates 48°46′22″N 87°07′00″W / 48.77278°N 87.11667°WCoordinates: 48°46′22″N 87°07′00″W / 48.77278°N 87.11667°W
Length 70 km (43 mi)
Location of the mouth of the Aguasabon River in Ontario

The Aguasabon River /ˌɑːɡwəˈsɑːbɨn/ is a river in Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. The river originates at Chorus Lake and empties into Lake Superior near the community of Terrace Bay.

The Aguasabon is 70 kilometres (43 mi) in length, and plunges down 30 metres (98 ft) at the Aguasabon Falls. The river follows fractures in the 2.6 billion-year-old bedrock, and the exposed rock is granodiorite.[1]

Aguasabon station

Aguasabon Station is a dam and two unit hydroelectric power plant run by Ontario Power Generation.[2] It generates power to support a Kimberly-Clark pulp and paper plant at Terrace Bay.

In 1945, the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario began preliminary survey work for a planned hydroelectric facility in the Terrace Bay area. Construction commenced in 1946 and the facility began operating in 1948. The development required five million hours of labour, a network of access roads, and the erection of 25 buildings including staff housing, a hospital, administration office, pump house, machine shops and laundry. The dam enlarged Hays Lake to five hundred times its original size, and forced the relocation of Ontario Highway 17, requiring a new bridge be constructed.[1] As part of the project, the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario diverted the headwaters of the Kenogami River to flow south into Long Lake and into the Aguasabon River system to Lake Superior, rather than flowing north towards Hudson Bay via the Albany River.

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Aguasabon Falls and Gorge". Terrace-Bay.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  2. Ontario Power Generation Aguasabon Station. Retrieved 17 October 2007.

External links