Nelson
Nelson is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 56.33°, -95.51°
About Nelson
The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The river drains Lake Winnipeg and runs 644 kilometres (400 mi) before it ends in Hudson Bay near Port Nelson. Its full length (including the Saskatchewan River and Bow River) is 2,575 kilometres (1,600 mi), it has mean discharge of 2,370 cubic metres per second (84,000 cu ft/s), and has a drainage basin of 1,072,300 square kilometres (414,000 sq mi), of which 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 sq mi) is in the United States.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Nelson River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Nelson in Depth
Geography
The Nelson River flows into Playgreen Lake from Lake Winnipeg then flows from two channels into Cross Lake. The east channel and the Jack River flow from the southeast portion of the lake into Little Playgreen Lake then the Nelson east channel continues in a northerly direction passing through Pipestone Lake on its way to Cross Lake. The west channel flows out of the north ends of Playgreen Lake, Kiskittogisu Lake and Kiskitto Lake into Cross Lake at the Manitoba Hydro's Jenpeg Generating Station and Dam. From Cross Lake it flows through Sipiwesk Lake, Split Lake and Stephens Lake on its way to the Hudson Bay.
Since it drains Lake Winnipeg, it is the last part of the large Saskatchewan River system, as well as that of the Red River and Winnipeg River.
History
The river was named by Sir Thomas Button, a Welsh explorer from St. Lythans, Glamorganshire, who wintered at its mouth in 1612, after Robert Nelson, a ship's master who died there. At that time, the Cree people who lived along its banks called it Powinigow or Powinini-gow, which may have meant "the Rapid Strangers' river". The area was fought over for the fur trade, though the Hayes River, whose mouth is near the Nelson's, became the main route inland.
Competition over the fur trade drove multiple attempts to establish trading posts at the mouth of the Nelson over a number of years. One 1670 expedition organized by the newly-chartered Hudson's Bay Company and guided by the French fur trader and adventurer Pierre-Esprit Radisson successfully reached the Nelson estuary.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Nelson River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Nelson: Key Facts
| Length | 644 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 2,800 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 1,093,442 km² |
| Source | Lake Winnipeg |
| Mouth | Hudson Bay |
| Drainage system | Nelson river basin |
| Tributaries | Burntwood River, Echimamish River, Boots Creek, Leslie Creek, Limestone River, Weir River, Grass River, Angling River |
Facts from Wikidata Q3292 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Nelson: Quick Answers
- Where is Nelson?
- Nelson is located in Canada, at 56.3255° N, 95.5056° W.
- Are there dams on the Nelson?
- No dam on the Nelson is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.