Aguasabon River

The Aguasabon River /ˌɑːɡwəˈsɑːbən/ is a river in Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. The river originates at Chorus Lake and empties into Lake Superior near the community of Terrace Bay. When the Canadian Pacific Railway was being built 1882-1885, the river was known as the Black River at mileage 857 miles from Montreal, not to be confused with the Black River near Heron Bay.^[1]

Aguasabon River
Mouth of the Aguasabon River at Terrace Bay
Location of the mouth of the Aguasabon River in Ontario
Location
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
District	Thunder Bay
Physical characteristics
Source	Chorus Lake
• coordinates	49°14′12″N 87°09′43″W
• elevation	395 m (1,296 ft)
Mouth	Lake Superior
• location	Terrace Bay
• coordinates	48°46′22″N 87°07′00″W
• elevation	180 m (590 ft)
Length	70 km (43 mi)
Basin features
River system	Great Lakes Basin

The Aguasabon is 70 kilometres (43 mi) in length, and plunges down 30 metres (98 ft) at the Aguasabon Falls. The river follows fractures in the 2.6 billion-year-old bedrock, and the exposed rock is granodiorite.^[2]

Aguasabon station

Aguasabon Gorge and Falls

Aguasabon Station is a dam and two unit hydroelectric power plant run by Ontario Power Generation.^[3] It generates power to support a Kimberly-Clark pulp and paper plant at Terrace Bay.

In 1945, the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario began preliminary survey work for a planned hydroelectric facility in the Terrace Bay area. Construction commenced in 1946 and the facility began operating in 1948. The development required five million hours of labour, a network of access roads, and the erection of 25 buildings including staff housing, a hospital, administration office, pump house, machine shops and laundry. The dam enlarged Hays Lake to five hundred times its original size, and forced the relocation of Ontario Highway 17, requiring a new bridge be constructed.^[2] As part of the project, the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario diverted the headwaters of the Kenogami River to flow south into Long Lake and into the Aguasabon River system to Lake Superior, rather than flowing north towards Hudson Bay via the Albany River.

See also

• List of Ontario rivers

References

1. Omer Lavallee, Van Horne's Road (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1974), page 297.
2. "Aguasabon Falls and Gorge". Terrace-Bay.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
3. Ontario Power Generation Aguasabon Station Archived October 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 October 2007.

• "Aguasabon River". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
• "Toporama - Topographic Map Sheets 42D14, 42E3, 42E6". Atlas of Canada. Natural Resources Canada. Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2010-06-13.

External links

• Media related to Aguasabon River at Wikimedia Commons
• Township of Terrace Bay Aguasabon Falls Page
• Ontario Power Generation - Aguasabon Station