James Bay
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James Bay in summer 2000 |
James Bay (
French,
Baie James) is a large body of water on the southern end of
Hudson Bay in
Canada. It borders the provinces of
Quebec and
Ontario; islands within the bay (the largest of which is
Akimiski Island) are part of
Nunavut. The James Bay watershed is the site of several major
hydroelectric projects, and is also a destination for river-based recreation. Several communities are located near or alongside James Bay, including a number of
Aboriginal communities such as the
Kashechewan First Nation.
The bay first came to the attention of Europeans in
1610, when
Henry Hudson entered it during his exploration of the larger bay that bears his name. James Bay itself received its name in honor of
Thomas James, an English captain who explored the area more thoroughly in
1631.
James Bay is important in the history of Canada as one of the most hospitable parts of the Hudson's Bay region, and as a result its corresponding importance to the
Hudson's Bay Company and British expansion into Canada. The fur-trapping duo of explorers
Pierre-Esprit Radisson and
Médard Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers founded the first fur trading port on James Bay,
Rupert House, and their success was such that the Company was chartered by
Charles II on their return. This charter granted a complete trading monopoly of the whole
Hudson Bay watershed (including James Bay) to the Company.
Significant fur trapping continued in the region as late as the 1940s, but in general James Bay dropped continuously in significance almost from the founding of the Company. It was, nevertheless, the gateway to British settlements in what would become
Manitoba (
Winnipeg, for example) and as far west as the
Rocky Mountains.
The eastern shores of the bay form the western edge of the
Canadian Shield in Quebec. As such, the terrain here is rocky and hilly with
boreal forest. The western shore is characterized by broad
tundra lowlands that are an extension of the Hudson Bay Lowland. Its vegetation is mostly
muskeg. A large portion of this area is part of the
Polar Bear Provincial Park.
Hundreds of rivers flow into James Bay. The geography of the area gives many of them similar characterisics. They tend to be wide and shallow near the Bay (in the James Bay Lowlands), whereas they are steeper and narrower further upstream (as they pour off the Canadian Shield).
Hannah Bay
Hannah Bay is the southern most bay of James Bay. Here the
Kesagami and
Harricana Rivers flow into James Bay. About 238 km² is protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act of Canada as the Hannah Bay Bird Sanctuary. This sanctuary has also been designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the
Ramsar Convention since May 1987.
The shores in this area are a mixture of
intertidal mud, sand, and salt flats, estuarine waters, intertidal
marshes, freshwater ponds,
swamps, and forested
peatlands.
[Southern James Bay Migratory Bird Sanctuary fact sheet]Coastal communities
The shores of James Bay are extremely sparsely populated. There are 9 coastal communities which are mostly inhabited by
Cree, the
indigenous people of the region.
Economic development
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James Bay in January 2001 |
James Bay has returned to prominence in recent decades due to the
James Bay hydroelectric project. Since
1971, the government of Quebec has developed rivers in the James Bay watershed, notably
La Grande and
Eastmain rivers. The
La Grande Complexe now produces about 83 terawatthours (TWh) of electricity each year, about half of Quebec's consumption. Built between 1974 and 1996, the several power plants have a combined generating capacity of 16,021 megawatts (MW).
Another major development project, the
Great Recycling and Northern Development (GRAND) Canal centered on separating the Southern James Bay from Hudson Bay by a large dike, thus turning the bay into a freshwater lake due to the numerous rivers that empty into it. This water could then be pumped south for human use. It seems very unlikely that the GRAND Canal will actually ever be built.
Canoeing
Many of the rivers flowing into James Bay are popular destinations for wilderness canoe trippers. Among the more popular rivers are:
*
Albany River (Ontario)
*
Moose River (Ontario)**
Missinaibi River - recognized as a
Canadian Heritage River*
Broadback River (Quebec)
*
Rupert River (Quebec) - to be diverted in 2007 for hydro-electric development
Two less-travelled rivers are the
Groundhog River and the
Hurricanaw. The Groundhog is less travelled in modern times due to a series of seven dams that are about a day up-river from the Moose. Canoeists can contact the dam company and arrange to be towed aroung the dams on company trucks, but they must make arrangements specific to the hour, and they cannot be late. The Groundhog flows into the Mattagami after a set of
rapids known as Seven-Mile. The Mattagami then flows into the Moose; it is at the meeting of the Missinaibi and Mattagami rivers that the Moose river begins, marked by an island known as Portage Island. This point is about two days travel by canoe to Moosonee. Though the Missinaibi and the Groundhog are both fairly high in the summertime, the Moose is often quite low. Depnding on the tides, groups have had to walk long streches of the river. Rapids on the Groundhog tend to be bigger and more technical than those on the Missinaibi, but the campsites are few and poor, because the volume of travel is so much less.
The Hurricanaw flows into James Bay several miles east of Moosonee, so anyone wishing to take this route must allow about 2 days to cross the bay, an extremely dangerous proposition if the tides and the weather are against you. Rapids on the Hurrican
The most common access point for paddlers to this area is
Moosonee, at the southern end of James Bay. A campsite known as "Tidewater" provides large campgrounds with firepits and outhouses on an island across the river from the town. Water taxis will ferry people back and forth for about $1 each. Many of these rivers finish near Moosonee, and paddlers can take the
Polar Bear Express train south to
Cochrane at the end of a trip.
Waskaganish, Quebec, is a town further to the north and east on James Bay. It is accessible via the
James Bay Road, and is the most common end point for trips on the Broadback, Pontax, and
Rupert Rivers (the town itself is situated at the mouth of the Rupert).
* "
Dammed river" special feature on James Bay from
Canadian Geographic.
*
CBC Digital Archives - James Bay Project and the Cree
