Winisk
Winisk 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
- 53.78°, -86.96°
About Winisk
The Winisk River is a river in northern Ontario, Canada, that starts at Wunnummin Lake and flows east to Winisk Lake. From there it continues in a mostly northerly direction to Hudson Bay. The Winisk River is 475 kilometres (295 mi) long and has a drainage basin of 67,300 square kilometres (26,000 sq mi). The name is from Cree origin meaning "groundhog".
The river is remote and not accessible by road. Only a few isolated communities are along the river: Wunnumin Lake First Nation (on same lake), Webequie (on Winisk Lake) and Peawanuck, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from its end. It is characterized by strong currents and whitewater while flowing off the Canadian Shield into the Hudson Bay lowlands. Here the river becomes broad.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Winisk River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Winisk: Key Facts
| Length | 600 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 694 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 67,300 km² |
| Source | Wunnummin Lake |
| Mouth | Hudson Bay |
| Drainage system | Hudson Bay drainage basin |
| Tributaries | Asheweig River, Shamattawa River, Pipestone River |
Facts from Wikidata Q80350 (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
Winisk: Quick Answers
- Where is Winisk?
- Winisk is located in Canada, at 53.7757° N, 86.9589° W.
- Are there dams on the Winisk?
- No dam on the Winisk is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.