Saguenay River
The
Saguenay River (French:
rivière Saguenay) is a major
river of
Quebec,
Canada. It drains
Lac Saint-Jean in the
Laurentian Highlands, leaving at
Alma and running east, and passes at the city of
Saguenay. It drains into the
Saint Lawrence River at
Tadoussac.
The river has a very high flow rate and is bordered by steep
cliffs.
Tide waters flow upriver as far as
Chicoutimi (about 100 kilometres). Many
Beluga whales breed in the cold waters at its mouth, making Tadoussac a popular site for
whale watching. The confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence is protected by the
Saguenay - St. Lawrence Marine Park, one of Canada's
national parks.
It was an important trade route into the interior for the
First Nations people of the area, and during the
French colonization of the Americas was a major route for the
fur trade. Tadoussac, France's first trading post in Canada, was established in
1600. The river takes its name from the legendary
Kingdom of Saguenay and is the namesake of
Saguenay Herald at the
Canadian Heraldic Authority.
The river was exploited for the
logging and
pulp and paper industries beginning in the
19th century, and is also used for
hydroelectricity generation, both for commercial power and to operate an
aluminum smelter at
Arvida.
Severe flooding of its tributary rivers from
July 18-
21,
1996, devastated the region and proved one of Canada's costliest natural disasters. [
1]
*
List of Quebec rivers*
List of Canadian national parks*
Canadian Council for Geographic Education page with a series of articles on the history of the Saguenay River.
