I will try this topic again and try to stay on the topic this time.
As I said , I went to the Red Deer River bank to check on some flowers. I began thinking of the river system and how huge it is. What's the history of one drop of water running by me? Does it make it all the way to Hudson Bay or does it get stopped in some farmer's field.
The Red Deer River is part of a large river system. The Red Deer River comes out of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and from beginning to end is 724 km (450 mi). Many little streams join together. By the time it gets to Red Deer it's a fairly large river. It ends when it joins the south Saskatchewan River at the Saskatchewan border. The South Saskatchewan river started when the Bow River and Old Man river joined to make the south Saskatchewan river.
The South Saskatchewan river runs 550 km (346 mi) until it joins the North Saskatchewan River 25 Km east of Prince Albert. It then becomes the Saskatchewan river which flows into the north end of Lake Winnipeg. The Nelson River then takes the Lake Winnipeg water 644km (400mi) northeast where it empties into the Hudson Bay.
So how long does it take that little drop of water to make all those miles?
In the days of the fur trade, paddlers went all the way to Hudson Bay with the current and than came all the way back against the current in one summer!
It's hard to believe the size of this system which runs across three provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
