Qu'Appelle River

Qu'Appelle River
The Red River drainage basin, with the Qu'Appelle River highlighted
Origin	Lake Diefenbaker
Mouth	Assiniboine River
Basin countries	Canada
Length	430 km (267 mi)[1]
Source elevation	550 m (1,804 ft)
Mouth elevation	400 m (1,312 ft)

The Qu'Appelle River (pronounced /kəˈpɛl/) 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 Mosiac Potash Mine at Belle Plaine;
• the four Fishing Lakes (Pasqua, Echo, Mission, and Katepwa Lakes) to the northeast of Regina; and,
• farther downstream, to the north of Grenfell and Broadview: Crooked Lake and Round Lake.

Echo Creek, arising immediately north of the town of Qu'Appelle and draining into the Qu'Appelle Valley at Fort Qu'Appelle

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 emphasize E. Pauline Johnson's "legend of the Qu'Appelle Valley" (see below); as yet this has not taken any authentic hold.

Assorted tributary coulees drain into the Qu'Appelle Valley at various junctures along it course, notably Echo Creek immediately upriver from Fort Qu'Appelle, and Last Oak, north of Grenfell and Broadview, in the past the locus of an extremely successful aboriginal-managed ski resort.

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.

History

Lebret, Qu'Appelle Valley 1921

In 1787, the North West Company established a fur trading post at Fort Espérance on the lower river. After it was abandoned in 1819, the Hudson's Bay Company established a post at Fort Qu'Appelle in 1852 immediately adjacent to the site of what became the town of the same name.

B-Say-Tah Point on Echo Lake in the Qu'Appelle Valley, a popular holiday resort and commuter community for Reginans since the 1880s.

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 North West 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). Pauline Johnson, the half-Mohawk poet, whose "work was well received by critics and was popular with the public during her lifetime, but faded into obscurity after her death,"^[2] and 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 evidently fictional nature, it is the trumped-up romantic version that holds sway today.

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 Golf Course to the north of Broadview, some 80 miles east of Regina

Fort Qu'Appelle, circa 1910

• 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.
• 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 /ˈkaɪoʊt/). The easternmost slopes contain bur oaks, the only natural occurrence of oak trees in Saskatchewan.^[3]

Famous people

• James Henderson, the pre-eminent first generation Saskatchewan artist, spent the latter part of his life in Fort Qu'Appelle, painting valley landscapes and aboriginal portraits until his death in 1951.
• Famous ice hockey player Eddie Shore was born in Fort Qu'Appelle.
• The folksinger and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie 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.

See also

• List of Saskatchewan rivers
• Qu'Appelle

Notes

External links

• University of Saskatchewan. Qu'Appelle Valley views

Gallery

Qu'Appelle Valley near Cutarm, 1910

Echo Lake

Buffalo Pound Lake