Deleted:Naskaupi River

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The Naskaupi River is the second largest river in Labrador, Canada.[1] Its drainage basin lies north of that of Labrador's longest river, the Churchill River. Like the Churchill River, it drains into the western end of the estuary known as Lake Melville.[2]

"Nascaupee" native American by Frank Weston Benson (1921)

The Naskapi Native American peoples used the river to travel to Labrador. Several expeditions explored the river around the turn of the 19/20th century. Mina Benson, the widow of Leonidas Hubbard, who died on a failed 1903 expedition is noted as having made admirable observations during a successful 1905 expedition.[3]

The river's drainage basin is 4714 square kilometres.[4] The basin has no permanent inhabitants, and no roads. Just under half the area is covered by forest. Slightly more than one quarter of the area is covered by other vegetation. Approximately 17 percent is covered by lakes, rivers, or wetlands. The government of Newfoundland and Labrador classes the rest as "barren" or "unclassified".

When a series of 88 dikes were built, to establish the Smallwood reservoir, for the Churchill Falls Hydroelectric Project, water was diverted from the Naskaupi River to the Churchill River drainage basin.[4]

When First Nations trapper Louie Montague was an elder, his 2013 memoirs described his experience growing up on the river, and spending much of his working life working on the river.[5]

References

  1. Richard Clarke Davis (Ed) (1996). Lobsticks and Stone Cairns: Human Landmarks in the Arctic. University of Calgary Press. p. 286-288, 292. ISBN 1895176883. https://books.google.com/books?id=CKisKFb0YKYC&lpg=SL17-PA286&dq=mina%20benson%20hubbard&pg=PA292#v=onepage&q=mina%20benson%20hubbard&f=false. Retrieved 2015-02. 
  2. Karen Graham (2015-09-08). "The high human cost of 'clean' energy — We can't undo what's done". Digital Journal. http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/the-high-human-cost-of-clean-energy-we-can-t-undo-what-s-done/article/443259. Retrieved 2018-04-02. "Lake Melville is a saltwater extension of Hamilton Inlet on the Labrador coast, and is the largest estuary in the province, primarily draining the Churchill River and Naskaupi River watersheds." 
  3. "Mina Benson's iron will propelled trek across Labrador". The Labradorian. 2016-10-28. http://www.thelabradorian.ca/living/mina-bensons-iron-will-propelled-trek-across-labrador-92518/. Retrieved 2018-04-02. "She brought back the first maps of the Naskaupi and George River valleys, which were accepted by the American Geographical Society and the Geographical Society of Great Britain. She made notes on the flora and fauna of Labrador. She described in detail the great Labrador caribou migration and photographed the Naskaupi and Montagnais Indians who hunted the animals for their food and clothes." 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Water Quality Station Profile: Station # NF03PB0025". Newfoundland and Labrador. http://www.canal.gov.nl.ca/root/main/station_details_e.asp?envirodat=NF03PB0025. Retrieved 2018-04-03. "There are dykes at the headwaters of the Naskaupi River watershed on the Smallwood Reservoir. These dykes permanently divert water from the Naskaupi River to the Churchill River." 
  5. "Indigenous History Month: Featuring Indigenous memoirs at Memorial University Press". Memorial University Press. 2023-06-16. https://gazette.mun.ca/campus-and-community/indigenous-history-month/. 

Coordinates: 53°46′41″N 60°50′39″W / 53.7781°N 60.8441°W / 53.7781; -60.8441{{#coordinates:53.7781|-60.8441|type:river_region:CA-NL|||||| |primary |name= }}