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24-823: The Notikewin River is a tributary of the Peace River in northern Alberta , Canada . The Notikewin Provincial Park is established at the mouth of the river. The name derives from nôtinikewin (ᓅᑎᓂᑫᐃᐧᐣ), the Cree word for "battle". The name is shared with the settlement of Notikewin , and is lent to the Notikewin Member , a stratigraphical unit of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin . The Notikewin River originates in

48-796: A smallpox epidemic decimated the Cree. The Treaty of the Peace was celebrated by the smoking of a ceremonial pipe . The treaty made the Peace River a border, with the Dane-zaa to the North and the Cree to the South. In 1794, a fur trading post was built on the Peace River at Fort St. John ; it was the first settlement established on the British Columbia mainland by Europeans. The rich soils of

72-677: A billion litres of slurry poured into the Plante and Apetowun Creeks. The plume of waste products then joined the Athabasca River, travelling downstream for a month before settling in Lake Athabasca near Fort Chipewyan , over 500 kilometres (310 mi) away. The Lake Athabasca Sand Dunes , the largest active sand dunes in the world north of 58°, are adjacent to the southern shore in Saskatchewan. The dunes were designated

96-471: Is 1,923 kilometres (1,195 mi) long (from the head of Finlay River to Lake Athabasca). It drains an area of approximately 302,500 square kilometres (116,800 sq mi). At Peace Point, where it drains in the Slave River , it has an annual discharge of 68.2 billion cubic metres (55.3 million acre-feet). A large man-made lake, Williston Lake , has been formed on the upper reaches by

120-564: Is 283 kilometres (176 mi) long, has a maximum width of 50 kilometres (31 mi), and a maximum depth of 124 metres (407 ft), and holds 204 cubic kilometres (49 cu mi) of water, making it the largest and one of the deepest lakes in both Alberta and Saskatchewan (nearby Tazin Lake is deeper), and the eighth largest in Canada. Water flows northward from the lake via the Slave River and Mackenzie River systems, eventually reaching

144-589: Is crossed by the Mackenzie Highway and Railink Mackenzie Northern Railway . The settlement of Notikewin is situated immediately north of Manning. The river continues north-east through the Peace Country , receiving the waters of Stowe Creek, Soldar Creek and Hotchkiss River. It continues north-east between Highway 741 and Highway 692 , where the Meikle River and Gravina Creek merge into

168-733: Is in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake is 26% in Alberta and 74% in Saskatchewan. The lake is fed by the Athabasca River and other rivers, and its water flows northward via the Slave River to the Mackenzie River system, eventually reaching the Arctic Ocean . The name in the Woods Cree language originally referred only to

192-479: The Arctic Ocean . Fort Chipewyan , one of the oldest European settlements in Alberta, is on the western shore of the lake, where the Rivière des Rochers drains the lake and flows toward Slave River , beginning its northward journey along the eastern boundary of Wood Buffalo National Park . The eastern section of the lake narrows to a width of about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) near the community of Fond du Lac on

216-648: The Clear Hills of northern Alberta , north of Worsley , at an elevation of 1,055 meters (3,461 ft). It flows in east and north-east, along the southern slopes of the Halverson Ridge, where it receives the waters from the Square Creek and Alleman Creek. It turns east and receives waters from the Rambling Creek, Lovet Creek and Jim Creek. It flows through the town of Manning , where it

240-680: The North West Company established a fur trading post at the river's junction with the Boyer River . In 1792 and 1793, the explorer Alexander Mackenzie travelled up the river to the Continental Divide . Mackenzie referred to the river as Unjegah , from the Dane-zaa meaning "large river." The decades of hostilities between the Dane-zaa and the Cree , (in which the Cree dominated the Dane-zaa), ended in 1781 when

264-525: The Peace–Athabasca Delta formed by the confluence of the Peace and Athabasca rivers at the southwest corner of the lake. Prior to 1789, Sir Alexander Mackenzie explored the lake. In 1791, Philip Turnor , cartographer for the Hudson's Bay Company , wrote in his journal, "low swampy ground on the South side with a few willows growing upon it, from which the Lake in general takes its name Athapison in

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288-641: The Vermilion Chutes , near Fort Vermilion . The first steam-powered vessel to navigate the Peace River was the Grahame , a Hudson's Bay Company vessel built at Fort Chipewyan , on Lake Athabasca . Brothers of the Oblate Order of Mary Immaculate built the St. Charles to navigate the upper reaches of the River, from Fort Vermilion to Hudson's Hope . Approximately a dozen vessels were to navigate

312-567: The Peace River valley in Alberta have been producing wheat crops since the late 19th century. In the early 21st century, the BC Grain Producers Association was researching the productivity of wheat and other grain crops near Dawson Creek . The Peace River region is also an important centre of oil and natural gas production. There are also pulp and paper plants along the river in Alberta and British Columbia. The Peace River has two navigable sections, separated by

336-861: The Rockies, it nowadays flows into Dinosaur Lake, a reservoir for the Peace Canyon Dam . After the dams, the river flows east into Alberta and then continues north and east into the Peace-Athabasca Delta in Wood Buffalo National Park , at the western end of Lake Athabasca. Water from the delta flows into the Slave River east of Peace Point and reaches the Arctic Ocean via the Great Slave Lake and Mackenzie River . Communities located directly on

360-564: The Southern Cree tongue which signifies open country such as lakes with willows and grass growing about them". Peter Fidler originally recorded the name for the river in 1790 as the Great Arabuska . By 1801, the name had gained a closer spelling to the current name—Athapaskow Lake. By 1820, George Simpson referred to both the lake and the river as "Athabasca". The lake covers 7,850 square kilometres (3,030 sq mi),

384-742: The construction of the W. A. C. Bennett Dam for hydroelectric power generation. Prior to its flooding, the confluence of the Finlay and Parsnip Rivers at Finlay Forks was distinct. A half mile east of that location were the half-mile long Finlay Rapids and a further seven miles east is the Peace Pass , which separates the Muskwa Ranges and the Hart Ranges of the Canadian Rockies . The only river cutting completely through

408-471: The northern shore resulted in the birth of Uranium City, Saskatchewan , which was home to mine workers and their families. While the last mine closed in the 1980s, the effects of mining operations had already heavily contaminated the northern shores. The large oil sands mining nearby is suspected to have added to the current pollution levels in the lake. On October   31, 2013, one of Obed Mountain coal mine 's pits failed, and from between 600 million to

432-896: The northern shore then continues to its most easterly point at the mouth of the Fond du Lac River. Fidler Point on the north shore of Lake Athabasca is named for Peter Fidler , a surveyor and map maker for the Hudson's Bay Company . Along with other lakes such as the Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake , Lake Athabasca is a remnant of the vast Glacial Lake McConnell . Tributaries of Lake Athabasca include (going clockwise); Fond du Lac River, Otherside River, Helmer Creek, MacFarlane River, Archibald River, William River, Ennuyeuse Creek, Dumville Creek, Debussac Creek, Jackfish Creek, Claussen Creek, Old Fort River, Crown Creek, Athabasca River, Colin River, Oldman River, Bulyea River, Grease River and Robillard River. Uranium and gold mining along

456-398: The river banks, among them Beaver Ranch 163 , John D'Or Prairie 215 , Fox Lake 162 , Peace Point 222 and Devil's Gate 220 . Tributaries of the Peace River include: Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca ( / ˌ æ θ ə ˈ b æ s k ə / ATH -ə- BASK -ə ; French: lac Athabasca ; from Woods Cree: ᐊᖬᐸᐢᑳᐤ aðapaskāw , "[where] there are plants one after another")

480-515: The river include: Many provincial parks and wildland reserves are established on the river, such as Butler Ridge Provincial Park , Taylor Landing Provincial Park , Beatton River Provincial Park , Peace River Corridor Provincial Park in British Columbia and Dunvegan Provincial Park , Dunvegan West Wildland Provincial Park , Peace River Wildland Provincial Park , Greene Valley Provincial Park , Notikewin Provincial Park , Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta. A few Indian reserves are also on

504-672: The river, east of Hawk Hills. The river turns east, enters the Notikewin Provincial Park and finally empties into the Peace River at an elevation of 275 meters (902 ft). Peace River (Canada) The regions along the river are the traditional home of the Dane-zaa people , called the Beaver by the Europeans. The fur trader Peter Pond is believed to have visited the river in 1785. In 1788 Charles Boyer of

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528-464: The river. Most of the early vessels were wood-burning steamships, fueled by wood cut from the river's shore. The last cargo vessel was the Watson's Lake , retired in 1952. Hydroelectric development began on the Peace River in 1968 and continues to be an important source of renewable energy for British Columbia's main electricity provider, BC Hydro . The river’s first dam, the W. A. C. Bennett Dam ,

552-409: The upstream dams and generate additional electrical capacity to meet British Columbia's growing demand for green energy and reduce the carbon footprint of residents. As of 2020 both the Alberta government and private producers were studying the possibility of hydroelectric development on the Alberta stretch of the river with one run-of-the-river project currently being proposed. ( MW ) This river

576-436: Was completed in 1968 and is British Columbia's largest dam and the third-largest hydroelectric facility in Canada. It supplies over 30% of British Columbia's total power demand. Engineers took advantage of the W. A. C. Bennet Dam's large reservoir storage to further develop the river with the Peace Canyon Dam opened in 1980. The Site C dam is under construction and scheduled to be finished in 2025; it will further benefit from

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