The 'Mississippi River' is a tributary of the
Ottawa River in eastern
Ontario in
Canada. It is 169 km (100 mi) in length from its source in Upper Mazinaw Lake, has a drainage area of 3750 km², and has a mean discharge of 40 m³/s (''source: Atlas of Canada''). It rises east of the
Kawartha lakes and flows northeast through Crotch, Dalhousie, and Mississippi Lakes, past
Carleton Place, through the municipality of
Mississippi Mills and the town of Almonte, then north to join the Ottawa River just east of
Arnprior.
Tributaries include the:
★
Clyde River
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Indian River
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Fall River
The river originally powered textile mills. Today, it provides
hydroelectric power.
The Purdon Conservation Area, a wetland in this river's watershed, contains Canada's largest native colony of
showy lady slipper orchids, some 16,000 plants.
The origin of the river's name is something of a mystery; although its current spelling may be derived from that of its much larger American cousin, it is most certainly a corruption of a different native name, as the translation 'great water' would not apply to a relatively minor tributary of the Ottawa, definitely the largest river in the area. Instead, the name may originate from "''Mazinaa[bikinigan]-ziibi''", Algonquian for '[painted] image river', referring to the
pictographs found on
Mazinaw Lake, though this is by no means proven.
See also
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Carleton Place, Ontario
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List of Ontario rivers
External links
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Mississippi Valley Conservation