Everything about Red River Of The North totally explained
The
Red River (
French:
rivière Rouge) is a
North American river. Formed by the confluence of the
Bois de Sioux and
Otter Tail rivers in the
United States, it flows northward through the
Red River Valley and forms the border between the
U.S. states of
Minnesota and
North Dakota before continuing on into
Manitoba,
Canada. At its mouth the river flows into
Lake Winnipeg. The Red River flows through several major urban areas along its path including
Fargo-Moorhead and
Greater Grand Forks in the United States and
Winnipeg in Canada. The Red is about long. The US portion is long and the Canadian portion is . The river falls on its trip to
Lake Winnipeg where it spreads into the vast deltaic wetland known as Netley Marsh. In the United States, the Red River is sometimes called the
Red River of the North which helps to distinguish it from the other
Red River which is a
tributary of the
Mississippi River that forms part of the border between
Texas and
Oklahoma. In Canada, the Red has been designated as a
Canadian Heritage River.
Geography
Along its course, the Red River flows across the flat, fertile flood plain of the ancient glacial
Lake Agassiz. The Red River forms at
Wahpeton, North Dakota and
Breckenridge, Minnesota, passes through
Fargo, North Dakota/
Moorhead, Minnesota and
Grand Forks, North Dakota/
East Grand Forks, Minnesota, and then continues on to the province of
Manitoba in Canada. Manitoba's capital —
Winnipeg — is at the Red's confluence with the
Assiniboine River. The Red then flows further north before draining into
Lake Winnipeg which is part of the
Hudson Bay watershed.
History
Originally part of
Rupert's Land, the Red was a key river in the early settlement of
Canada, a centre of the
fur trade and the
Métis people, and the site of the
Red River Colony — the primary city of which eventually became
Winnipeg,
Manitoba.
The River is well known for flooding in spring due to snow runoff, and has been a topic of "paleoflood" study. Although only three major floods are generally talked about since Europeans have settled in the area, in 1826, 1950 and 1997, there have been many other floods of equal size and even larger ones that can be studied due to their effects on the local landforms.
1950 flood
On
May 8,
1950 the Red River reached its highest level since 1861. Eight
dikes protecting Winnipeg gave way and flooded much of the city, turning of farmland into an enormous lake. The city turned to the
Canadian Army and the
Red Cross for help, and nearly 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes and businesses. Four of eleven bridges in the city were destroyed, and damage was estimated at between $600 million and $1 billion.
As a result of the floods, a flood control project was started to ensure the same would never happen again. The
Red River Floodway was cause for some derision at the time, as it seemed massively overbuilt and was the largest earth-moving project in the world at the time. The project was completed under-budget, and has been used for at least some flood control twenty times in the thirty-seven years from its completion to 2006. The Floodway has saved an estimated $10 billion (CAD) in flood damages.
1997 flood
In
April 1997, the Red River rapidly swelled and eventually caused widespread
flooding. Damages to the city of
Grand Forks, North Dakota totaled
US$2 billion and resulted in the largest civilian evacuation in the United States since the burning of Atlanta during the Civil War. In Winnipeg, the Floodway diverted most of the floodwaters around the city, although the surrounding area and some parts of the city were flooded, causing
C$500 million in damage. In
April 2006, another large flood caused the
Gretna, Manitoba border crossing to close as the water levels rose considerably.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Red River Of The North'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://red_river_of_the_north.totallyexplained.com">Red River of the North Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
