Churchill Falls
Churchill Falls | |
---|---|
Grand Falls | |
Location | Labrador |
Coordinates | 53°35′39.44″N 64°18′28.05″W / 53.5942889°N 64.3077917°W[1] |
Type | Segmented Block |
Total height | 74.7 m (245 ft) |
Watercourse | Churchill River |
Average flow rate | 6 m3/s (210 cu ft/s)[2] |
Churchill Falls is a 245 ft (74.7 m) high waterfall on the Churchill River in Labrador, Canada. Formerly counted among the most impressive natural features of Canada, the diversion of the river for the Churchill Falls Generating Station has cut off almost all of the falls' former flow, leaving a small stream winding through its old bed and trickling down the rocks.
Names
History
The falls were a significant landmark for local Indigenous peoples. The Innu believed that to look on these awe-inspiring falls meant death[4] and maintained a strong taboo against visiting into the early 20th century.[7]
In 1839, a team led by Scoto-Canadian trader
Fifty years later, the unmapped falls were sought as part of an 1891 scientific expedition to Labrador consisting of alumni and faculty from Bowdoin College in Maine. On July 26 a four-man party embarked in canoes heading westward from the expedition's schooner Julia Decker, but injury forced two of them to turn back. Austin Cary and Dennis Cole continued onward; after a 300-mile (480 km) trek they reached the falls by foot on August 13.[8][9][10] They named the canyon at the foot of the falls "Bowdoin Canyon", after their alma mater. They also named a nearby peak Mount Hyde,[11] after Bowdoin president William DeWitt Hyde.[12]
In 1894, Albert Peter Low of Canada's Geological Survey reached the falls.[13]
Plans were made as early as 1915 to divert the river above the falls for
Legacy
The nearby company town of Churchill Falls is named for the falls.
See also
References
- ^ "GeoNames Query - Churchill Falls: Query Record Details". Natural Resources Canada. Government of Canada. 2008-11-09. Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
- ^ "Churchill Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada - World Waterfall Database". www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
- Guelph: Torstar.
- ^ a b James Marsh (2010). "Churchill Falls". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
- ^ Low (1896), p. 142–3.
- Guelph: Torstar.
- ^ a b Bryant, Henry Grier (1892), A Journey to the Grand Falls of Labrador, Philadelphia: Geographical Society of Philadelphia.
- ^ "Higher than Niagara" (PDF). The New York Times. September 12, 1891. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
- ^ Cilley, Jonathan. Bowdoin Boys in Labrador. Rockland Publishing Company.
- ^ Ostrofsky, Kathryn (April 16, 2004). "Discovery and Disaster: Arctic Adventurers Reach Rapids". The Bowdoin Orient. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
- ^ "Mount Hyde · Newfoundland and Labrador A0R 1A0, Canada". Mount Hyde · Newfoundland and Labrador A0R 1A0, Canada. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ College, Bates. "Muskie Congressional Record: Maine Forester Cary". abacus.bates.edu. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
- ^ Low (1896), p. 6.
- ^ "Water will be released over Churchill Falls for 4th time in about 30 years". CBC. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
Bibliography
- Low, Albert Peter (1896), Report on Explorations in the Labrador Peninsula along the East Main, Koksoak, Hamilton, Manicuagan, and Portions of Other Rivers in 1892-93-94-95, Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa: S.E. Dawson.
External links
- Churchill Falls travel guide from Wikivoyage