The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ice breaks and dangerous conditions in Saskatoon, Medicine Hat and elsewhere. At least one bridge in Saskatoon was destroyed by ice carried by the river. The construction of the Gardiner Dam in the 1960s, however, lessened the power of the river by diverting a substantial portion of the South Saskatchewan's natural flow into the Qu'Appelle River. By the 1980s many permanent sandbars had formed due to the lowering of the level of the river.
From the headwaters of the Bow River, the South Saskatchewan flows for 1,392 kilometres (865 mi). At its mouth at Saskatchewan River Forks, it has an average discharge of 280 m³/s, and has a watershed of 146,100 square kilometres (56,400 sq mi), 1,800 of which are in Montana in the USA, and 144,300 square kilometres (55,700 sq mi) in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Read more about South Saskatchewan River: Course, Tributaries, Islands, Fish Species
Famous quotes containing the words south and/or river:
“We have heard all of our lives how, after the Civil War was over, the South went back to straighten itself out and make a living again. It was for many years a voiceless part of the government. The balance of power moved away from it—to the north and the east. The problems of the north and the east became the big problem of the country and nobody paid much attention to the economic unbalance the South had left as its only choice.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“It is impossible to step into the same river twice.”
—Heraclitus (c. 535–475 B.C.)