Chaudière River

The Chaudière River is a 185km river with its source near the Town of Lac-Mégantic, in southeast Quebec, Canada. From its source Lake Mégantic in the Estrie region, it runs northwards to flow into the St. Lawrence River opposite Quebec City.GeographyThe river's drainage area is 6682km2, initially in the Appalachian Mountains, then in the low-lands of the St. Lawrence, and include 236 lakes covering 62km2 and approximately 180,000 inhabitants. Its annual medium flow at the station of Saint-Lambert-de-Lauzon is 114m3/s, varying from 11m3/s (low water) to 470m3/s (spring high water), with historical maximum of 1760m3/s.Its principal tributaries are: Rivière du Loup (not to be confused with Rivière du Loup in the Bas-Saint-Laurent), also known as the Rivière LinièreFamine RiverBeaurivage RiverSaint-Victor River The river's basin has nearly 50 percent of the faunal richness of Quebec, namely 330 out of 653 vertebrate species known in the province can be found here.The river, and the 40m Chaudière Falls which it passes over en route, are popular outdoor recreation areas.HistoryThe Abenaki indigenous people resided close to the Chaudière Falls and named it “Kikonteku”, meaning “River of the Fields”. On the charts of Samuel de Champlain, it was given the name “Etchemin River” (a name now used for another river whose drainage area borders with that of the Chaudière River). It was called "Rivière du Sault de la Chaudière" for a period of time before it became simply "Rivière Chaudière" towards the end of the 18th century. This name refers to the waterfall close to its mouth.