Around the Bend in Canada Trivia Quiz

Answer: Columbia River

Before flowing into the United States (in Washington and Oregon), the Columbia River originates in British Columbia. The total length of the river is 1,243 miles. The US and Canada cooperated to build a series of dams along the Columbia, to generate hydroelectric power, which is shared between the two nations.

Invermere, located along Windermere Lake, is a popular tourist destination for visitors from Alberta. The town of Golden developed in the 1880s to support British Columbia's logging industry. Castlegar has ties to both the forestry and mining industries.

Answer: Saint John River

The Saint John River originates in Maine before flowing into New Brunswick and eventually the Bay of Fundy. The river runs for 418 miles and has a drainage basin of 21,000 square miles. French explorer Samuel de Champlain gave the river its name during a visit in 1604 on the feast day of John the Baptist.

Edmundston began in the mid-nineteenth century as a logging settlement. Fredericton has been the capital of New Brunswick since it separated from Nova Scotia in 1784. Oromocto lies alongside the Saint John where it flows into the Sea of Fundy and was a shipbuilding town in the 1800s.

Answer: Nelson River

The Nelson River runs between Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay, travelling across a large portion of Manitoba. The river is 400 miles long. The Hudson's Bay Trading Company established a trading post, Fort Nelson, at the river's mouth in the 1700s.

Norway House was an important trading center for Hudson's Bay in the 1800s.
The small town of Gilliam includes among its residents many employees of Manitoba Hydro, a public utility for the province. The town of Split Lake lies on a peninsula on the northern side of a lake of the same name.

Answer: Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River runs for 1,080 miles through Canada's Northwest Territories. It flows from the Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean. The drainage basin covers 697,000 square miles, nearly 20% of the territory of Canada. A variety of industries occur along its banks from agriculture in the south to oil in the north.

Fort Simpson is located on an island where the Mackenzie and Liard Rivers converge. Norman Wells began refining oil in significant quantities in the 1930s. Inuvik was founded in the 1950s and became the northernmost settlement in Canada to which one could drive.

Answer: Fraser River

The Fraser River flows for 854 miles from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Georgia, entirely within the province of British Columbia. The river is named for Simon Fraser, a nineteenth century fur trader for the North West Company. The discharge rates of the river are significantly higher in summer than they are in winter.

Prince George is known as the "Spruce Capital" of British Columbia. Located not far from Vancouver, Surrey is one of the largest cities in the province. Surrey has a large community of South Asian descent. Vancouver is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and also often appears high on the list of liveable cities.

Answer: Peace River

The Peace River flows for 1,195 miles across British Columbia and Alberta. It is considered the source of the Mackenzie River (question 4). Two sections of the river were heavily used for river transport in the 1800s and early 1900s. A significant amount of wheat is grown along the banks of the Alberta portion of the river.

Fort St. John, founded in 1794, was the first British settlement in the interior of British Columbia. The economy of Hudson's Hope is largely based on logging and hydroelectric power. Fort Vermillion began as a trading post for the North West Company.

Answer: Ottawa River

The Ottawa River flows through 790 miles of Quebec and Ontario and helps to define the border of the two provinces. It flows into the Saint Lawrence River. Several hydroelectric dams have been built along the length of the river. The large amount of forest near the river also made logging an important industry.

Gatineau lies across the river from Ottawa, ON, the national capital of Canada. I briefly visited Gatineau once when I accidentally walked across a bridge from Ottawa and noticed all of the street signs change from bilingual to French. Orleans is another suburb of Ottawa and was founded in the 1830s. Hawkesbury is described as the "most bilingual" city in Ontario with 70% of its residents speaking both English and French.

Answer: Saint Lawrence River

The Saint Lawrence River flows from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, through New York, Ontario, and Quebec. The river is 744 miles long. Several of Canada's oldest European settlements are located along the river. The development of a series of canals known as the Saint Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s facilitated navigation along the river.

Kingston lies near the start of the Saint Lawrence and lies about halfway between Toronto, ON, and Montreal. Montreal is the largest city in Quebec and one of the largest French-speaking cities in the world. Quebec is the only walled city in North America.

Answer: Churchill River

The Churchill river is 1,000 miles long and flows through Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It runs from Lake Churchill to Hudson Bay. It is named after John Churchill, a former governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The river formed an important part of the fur trade.

Buffalo Narrows was founded in the early 1900s and located on Churchill Lake. Ile-a-la-Crosse was a site of a trading post in the Canadian fur trade beginning in the late 1700s. South Indian Lake is located on the southeastern shore of Indian Lake.

Answer: Athabasca River

The Athabasca River flows through 765 miles in Alberta. A significant portion of the river's banks are in provincial and national parks. The river had a significant amount of shipping in the mid-20th century in conjunction with the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway.

Jasper began in the early 1800s as a fur trading post and was a stop on the Canadian Northern Railway by 1912. Founded in the 20th century, Hinton had both a coal mine and a paper mill. Whitecourt is known as the "Snowmobile Capital of Alberta" and has tourism as one of its main industries.