Water Highway

The Ottawa River was an important part of the river route leading west in the days of the fur trade. It was also used to transport logs in the days of the lumber barons. It still provides hydro-electric power to both Ontario and Quebec. The Ottawa River flows into the Saint Laurence River by way of Lake of Two Mountains near Montréal. The Ottawa River forms part of the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Québec.

The explorer Samuel de Champlain named the Rideau (curtain) and Chaudiére (cauldron) falls. The name "Ottawa" is derived from the native word "Odawa" which was the original name for the Algonquin nation; it means "place of meeting and trading”.

Following the time of the glaciers, the Champlain Sea, a shallow inland arm of the ocean, occupied parts of the current Ottawa River valley.

Related Links

• Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board
• Gatineau Park
• Ontario's Mississippi Rivers - one drains into the Ottawa
• Algonquin Park
• Cobb's Lake Creek
• Champlain Sea:
  • Glacial History - University of Vermont
  • Paleoceanography
  • Geological History
  • Paleoecology
  • Fossils - U of Calgary
• Seven Generations of the Nations Capital - Ottawa River