The Rupert River is one of the largest rivers in Quebec, Canada. From its headwaters in Lake Mistassini, the largest natural lake in Quebec, it flows 600 kilometres (370 mi) west into Rupert Bay on James Bay. The Rupert drains an area of 43,400 square kilometres (16,800 sq mi). There is some extremely large whitewater on the river, but paddlers can avoid much of it by portage routes on the side. The most impressive falls, which cannot be avoided except by portaging, are the "Oatmeal Rapids" right at the James Bay Road (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 Rupert has long been an important river for the Cree of the area. 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.
Major tributaries of the Rupert are (in downstream order):
- Natastan River (Rivière Natastan)
- Lemare River (Rivière Lemare) - 1,290 km2 (500 sq mi) subbasin
- Marten River (Rivière à la Marte) - 4,505 km2 (1,739 sq mi) subbasin
- Nemiscau River (Rivière Nemiscau) - 3,015 km2 (1,164 sq mi) subbasin
Read more about Rupert River: History, Hydroelectric Development, Image Gallery
Famous quotes containing the word river:
“Every incident connected with the breaking up of the rivers and ponds and the settling of the weather is particularly interesting to us who live in a climate of so great extremes. When the warmer days come, they who dwell near the river hear the ice crack at night with a startling whoop as loud as artillery, as if its icy fetters were rent from end to end, and within a few days see it rapidly going out. So the alligator comes out of the mud with quakings of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)