Red River of the North

The Red River of the North (French Rivière Rouge) is a North American river 877 km long (including its tributary the Sheyenne River).

The Red River of the North originates in the twin cities of Wahpeton, North Dakota and Breckenridge, Minnesota from the confluence of the Otter Tail River and Bois de Sioux River and is part of the Hudson Bay watershed. The river's drainage area totals 297,000 km² and below Winnipeg the average flow is 240 m³/s. The river is navigable in the middle and lower reaches.

In Canada, the river is called the Red River; the long name Red River of the North is used mainly in the United States to distinguish it from the Red River, which is a tributary of the Mississippi and forms part of the border between Texas and Oklahoma. About 628 km of the river run in the United States, with Canada accounting for about 249 km. In Canada, the river is classified as a Canadian Heritage River.

The difference in elevation between its origin and mouth is only 70 m. The river runs northward and touches the cities of Fargo (North Dakota), Moorhead (Minnesota), Grand Forks (North Dakota) and East Grand Forks (Minnesota) in the United States. It forms a large part of the border of the US states of Minnesota and North Dakota. It flows through the shallow fertile bottom of the former glacial Lake Agassiz. The river then continues north into Canada into the province of Manitoba. It then flows out into Lake Winnipeg at Netley Marsh.

The river's course was originally part of Rupert's Land and was key in the early settlement of Canada and an important centre for the fur trade in North America and the Métis. The Red River colony then developed into the present-day provincial capital of Winnipeg, where the Assiniboine River joins the Red River. The Red River gave its name to the Red River Trails, a former major trade route between the Red River Colony and the United States.

Tributaries of the Red River of the North on the left are Sheyenne River, Wild Rice River (North Dakota), Park River, Pembina River, and Assiniboine River; from the right Wild Rice River (Minnesota), Red Lake River, and Roseau River flow into the river.

Floods

The river floods every year at the time of snowmelt. Since the arrival of European settlers, there have been three main known severe floods, which occurred in 1826, 1950 and 1997. Other years when Red River riparians were plagued by severe flooding include 1826 and 2006, but there are other severe floods of similar and greater magnitude in the river's watershed that have had landform impacts. Such historic floods have been the subject of scientific study.

On May 8, 1950, the Red River reached its highest level since 1861 during the Red River Flood of 1950. Eight dikes designed to protect Winnipeg gave way and much of the city was flooded. Over 230 square kilometres of farmland turned into a sprawling lake. The Armed Forces of Canada and the Red Cross helped evacuate nearly 70,000 residents. Four of the eleven bridges in the city were destroyed and the damage was estimated at 600 to 1000 million Canadian dollars at the time.

In response to these floods, a flood control project was undertaken to prevent a similar disaster in the future. The Red River Floodway was initially the cause of some controversy as it seemed oversized. At the time, this channel to divert floodwaters was the largest earth-moving project in the world. In the 37 years from its completion in 1969 and the year 2006, some twenty times a portion of the Red River's floodwater was diverted through the Red River Floodway. It is estimated that approximately 10 billion Canadian dollars in flood damage was prevented during this period.

The severe Red River Flood of April 1997 led to extensive evacuations, by some accounts the most extensive evacuations in the United States at the time since the Atlanta fire in the Secession War, and only the damage in the city of Grand Forks exceeded two billion dollars. In Winnipeg, the Red River Floodway kept much of the flooding away from the city; however, damage there still reached the 500 million Canadian dollar mark.

In the spring of 2009, another pronounced flood event occurred: on March 27, 2009, the Red River water level reached its highest level since 1897 as a result of heavy precipitation and snowmelt in Fargo.

The Forks

The site where the Assiniboine River joins the Red River is known as The Forks and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada on May 18, 1974. The confluence and surrounding cultural landscape bear witness to six thousand years of human activity as a meeting place, trading post and settlement.