The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows into the Hudson Bay via Lake Winnipeg and the Nelson River.
The Saskatchewan River system is the largest shared between the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Its watershed includes most of southern and central Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Course The North Saskatchewan River has a length of , and a drainage area of . At its end point at Saskatchewan River Forks it has a mean discharge of . The yearly discharge at the Alberta–Saskatchewan border is more than .Alberta Environment - Alberta river basins
The river begins above at the toe of the Saskatchewan Glacier in the Columbia Icefield, and flows southeast through Banff National Park alongside the Icefields Parkway. At the junction of the David Thompson Highway (Highway 11), it initially turns northeast for before switching to a more direct eastern flow for about . At this point, it turns north where it eventually arrives at Abraham Lake. Bighorn Dam constricts the north end of Abraham Lake, where the North Saskatchewan emerges to track eastward to Rocky Mountain House. At Rocky Mountain House, the river abruptly turns north again for where it switches east towards Edmonton, Alberta.
In Edmonton, the river passes through the centre of the city in a northeasterly direction and out towards Smoky Lake at which point it quickly changes to the southeast and then more to the east as it makes its way to the Alberta–Saskatchewan boundary.
From the border, the river flows southeast between North Battleford and Battleford and on in the direction of Saskatoon. About northwest of Saskatoon, near Langham, the river veers to the northeast where it passes through the City of Prince Albert. About downstream of Prince Albert, the North Saskatchewan River joins the South Saskatchewan River at Saskatchewan River Forks to become the Saskatchewan River. From there, the river flows east to Tobin Lake and into Manitoba, eventually emptying into Lake Winnipeg.
Geography The river course can be divided into five distinct sections. The first, the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, is the smallest area geographically, although the largest in terms of run-off and contributed water flow. The glaciers and perpetual snows of the mountain peaks feed the river year-round. Mountains, with little vegetation, experience fast-melting snow cover. The second section of the river comprises the foothills region. The terrain is hilly and rough, with a deeper and more defined valley. This area is well covered with forest and muskeg, and run-off into the river is much more constant and stable than in the mountains.
From Edmonton to the mouth of the Vermilion River, the North Saskatchewan flows through the plains-parkland divide, with occasional stretches of prairie. The North Saskatchewan River valley parks system is the largest expanses of urban parkland in Canada. Cutting across Edmonton and the Capital Region. The river runs in a well-defined valley with deep cuts in the landscape. The fourth section, from the Vermilion River to Prince Albert is principally prairie with a few small stretches of timber and secondary forest cover. The valley of the river is much wider, and the river itself spreads out across shallow water and flows over many shifting sand bars. Low-lying, flat areas border the river for much of this section.
The final section of the river, from Prince Albert to the Saskatchewan River Forks, has many rapids. The valley is more shallow than the previous sections of the river, and the channel is much better defined. There is little prairie and much tree cover in this section.Surveys of the North Saskatchewan River: 1910-1915. Edmonton: Government of the Province of Alberta, Department of Water Resources, 1917. Pages 50-53.
The water flows into the Saskatchewan River.
Geology
The Bridge River Ash is in the vicinity of the North Saskatchewan River, which erupted from the Mount Meager massif in southwestern British Columbia about 2,350 years ago.
History The river is shown on a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) map from 1760, labelled as the Beaver River.MacDonald, 3
Its Cree name is , meaning 'swift current'. From this name is derived the name Saskatchewan, used as well for the South Saskatchewan River and the Saskatchewan River (of which both the North and South Saskatchewan rivers are major tributaries), and the province of that name.
Its Blackfoot name is 'big river'.Geographic Board of Canada. Place Names of Alberta (1928)
The 49-kilometre section of the North Saskatchewan River that falls within the boundaries of Banff National Park was designated a Canadian Heritage River in 1989, due to its importance in the development of Western Canada. In 2022, the remaining 718 km within Alberta, flowing through 16 municipalities in the province, was nominated to the Canadian Heritage Rivers System, achieving final designation in March of 2024.
The river demarcates the prairie–parkland divide for much of its course and acted as a natural boundary between plains Blackfoot of the south and woodland Cree of the north for thousands of years. Archaeologists have found evidence and indications of nearly 800 permanent or temporary occupation and quarry sites in the Edmonton region alone, dating back hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. With the westward expansion of the fur trade spearheaded by the North West Company (NWC) and followed by the HBC, the river became an important transportation route for fur trade brigades' York boats, to which it was especially well suited as it follows an eastern trend toward Hudson Bay, the entry point for the HBC into the continent. Many fur trade posts were constructed on the river, including Fort Edmonton (1795) and Rocky Mountain House, the uppermost post reached by canoe navigation. The river's importance continued after the amalgamation of the HBC and the NWC. The river was plied by a number of steamboats up to the First World War, although for everyday freight the growing web of railway lines in the western prairies eventually replaced them. The river was used commercially for many years to carry flatboats of settlers goods and construction materials downstream from Edmonton, to float thousands of logs in the annual log drive downstream to Edmonton prior to the First World War, as a source of ice blocks for home owners' iceboxes.
The first bridge across the river opened in 1900, the Low Level Bridge (Edmonton). The Canadian Northern Railway Bridge (Prince Albert) (1907-09), which also at first carried foot and wheeled traffic, and the Battleford Bridge ( 1908) followed. Recent rehabilitation of the Battleford Truss Bridge restored this heritage structure in terms of safety and structural integrity, while improving access to Finlayson Island by both vehicles and pedestrians.
Recreation
Edmonton's North Saskatchewan River valley parks system is the largest system of urban parks in Canada, and covers both sides of the river valley's course through Edmonton. The River Valley Alliance, a non-profit organization composed of seven municipalities which border the North Saskatchewan River, is currently working to create a continuous trail network from the town of Devon to the city of Fort Saskatchewan – a total of .
Fish species Fish species include: walleye, sauger, yellow perch, northern pike, goldeye, mooneye, lake sturgeon, mountain whitefish, burbot, longnose sucker, white sucker and shorthead redhorse. The upper North Saskatchewan River contains cutthroat trout (although not native), and bull trout
Flooding Like all rivers, the North Saskatchewan is subject to periodic flooding, beginning with rapid snowmelt in the mountains or prolonged periods of rain in the river basin. With the establishment of permanent communities along the river's course, and the rise of an administrative/government structure, records exist recording floods in the North Saskatchewan for the past century. The Bighorn Dam, constructed in the early 1970s near Nordegg, Alberta, and the Brazeau Dam, constructed in the mid-1960s, have not reduced flooding potential on the North Saskatchewan River (Alberta Environment 1981)
List of notable flood years Research Council of Alberta, Highways Division. Hydrologic Data on Floods in the North Saskatchewan River. (Edmonton: Research Council of Alberta, 1965). Environment Canada, Water Survey of Canada, retrieved 11 January 2009.
YearEdmontonPrince AlbertPeak datemean daily flow(m/s)Peak datePeak flow(m/s) 1899 18 August 4570 August 3960 1912 10 July 2100 14 July 1980 19 August 1990 25 August 1550 1914 9 June 1750 14 June 1790 1915 29 June 4640 2 July 5300 16 July 2550 21 July 2320 1917 18 May 1860 23 May 1540 1923 25 June 2380 30 June 1640 1925 18 August 2150 23 August 1620 1932 4 June 1870 10 June 2160 1944 16 June 3450 20 June 2940 1948 25 May 1850 31 May 2090 1952 25 June 3540 29 June 2970 1954 8 June 3030 12 June 2790 27 August 2820 1 Sept 2570 1965 29 June 2590 4 July 2460 1969 7 July 1740 13 July 1570 1972 27 June 2970 2 July 2340 1974 – – 23 April 3880 1980 7 June 1740 13 June 1680 1982 6 July 1920 13 July 1580 1986 19 July 3990 24 July 3230 1990 4 July 2340 10 July 1890 2005 21 June 2270 27 June 1800 2011 19 June 1800 26 June 2100 2013 23 June 2710 29 June 2200
Flood of 1899 The river peaked at a stage of with an estimated peak instantaneous discharge of .
Flood of 1915
The 1915 flood of the North Saskatchewan River was one of the most dramatic in the history of Edmonton. On 28 June, the Edmonton Bulletin reported the river had risen "10 feet in as many hours" and ultimately hitting a height of 42 feet over the low water level. A frantic phone call from Rocky Mountain House alerted local authorities to the flood's arrival.The Edmonton Bulletin, 28 June 1915. The Canadian Northern Railway had parked a number of train cars on the city's Low Level Bridge to protect against the "tons upon tons of debris" that had been pushed up against its piers, including a house swept away by the current.The Edmonton Bulletin, 29 June 1915. Thousands of Edmonton residents watched the flood destroy lumber mills, other industries and dozens of houses along the city's river valley.
The river peaked at a stage of , a rise of above low flow, with an estimated peak instantaneous discharge of . However, based on high water marks and 1D modelling, the actual value may have been closer to .
Flood of 1986 The river peaked at a stage of with a peak instantaneous discharge of .
2013 Alberta flooding
Along with many other rivers in central and southern Alberta during late June, the North Saskatchewan saw significantly higher water levels and flow rates. The river peaked at a stage of with a peak instantaneous discharge of on June 23 in Edmonton. This is significantly higher than the Bow River's peak height at and peak discharge of on June 21, that caused widespread flooding in Calgary. However, due to the expansive North Saskatchewan River Valley and natural sanctuary/parkland that surrounds it, the City of Edmonton had only minor, isolated flooding, with virtually no major property damage as a result.
Commercial navigation The North Saskatchewan River has always been a major trade route from Hudson Bay and central Canada across the Canadian Prairies to the Canadian Rockies. During the fur trade era, birch bark canoes and York boats travelled up and down the Saskatchewan delivering trade goods and amassing furs for transportation to Europe.