1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Winnipeg (lake and river)

WINNIPEG, a lake and river of Canada. The lake is in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Keewatin, and is situated between 50° 20′ and 53° 50′ N. and 96° 20′ and 99° 15′ W. It covers an area of 8555 sq. m., is at an altitude of 710 ft. above the sea, is 260 m. long, 25 to 60 m. wide, and contains several large islands, including Reindeer (70 sq. m.) and Big Island (60 sq. m.). It is shallow, being nowhere more than 70 ft. in depth, and in consequence extremely stormy and dangerous. It abounds in fish, its white fish being especially celebrated. Its shores are low and on the south extremely marshy. The principal affluent rivers are: Red river, from the south; Winnipeg, Bloodvein, Berens and Poplar from the east; and the Dauphin and Saskatchewan from the west. It receives the surplus waters of lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis, and discharges by the river Nelson into Hudson Bay. The river Winnipeg rises near Savanne station in 48° 47′ N. and 89° 57′ W., and flows in a westerly direction under the names of Savanne, Seine, and Rainy rivers to the Lake of the Woods; issuing thence as the Winnipeg, it flows N.W. with an exceedingly tortuous and turbulent course to the lake of the same name. It is navigable from the foot of the Lake of the Woods to the head of Rainy lake—with a short portage at Fort Frances falls—a distance of 208 m. Its principal tributary is English river.