User:Kline/JunctionCreek
| Junction Creek | |
|---|---|
 Junction Creek near the Trans-Canada Highway east of Mikkola | |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| Region | Northeastern Ontario |
| Municipality | Greater Sudbury |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Garson Mine |
| • location | Garson Township, Greater Sudbury |
| • coordinates | 46°34′03″N 80°51′25″W / 46.56750°N 80.85694°W |
| • elevation | 305 m (1,001 ft) |
| Mouth | Vermilion River |
• location | Graham Township, Greater Sudbury |
• coordinates | 46°23′04″N 81°16′09″W / 46.38444°N 81.26917°W |
• elevation | 228 m (748 ft) |
| Length | 52 km (32 mi) |
| Basin size | 329 km2 (127 sq mi) |
| Width | |
| • minimum | 2 m (6.6 ft) |
| • maximum | 30 m (98 ft) |
| Depth | |
| • maximum | 2 m (6.6 ft) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • right | Nolin Creek, Copper Cliff Creek |
Junction Creek is a creek in the city of Greater Sudbury in Northeastern Ontario. It flows through a forested river valley into the Vermilion River about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) east of the community of Whitefish. The Clayton Falls Dam, a small concrete gravity dam, is located on the river. Although managed by BC Hydro, it is the only dam in British Columbia not integrated into the agency's integrated hydroelectric system. Clearcut logging devastated the watershed in 1991; the forestland in the basin is now divided into two protected areas — the Clayton Falls Conservancy and the Bella Coola Community Forest.
Geography and hydrology
[edit]Junction Creek has its headwaters at the Garson Mine in the Nickel Centre. It flows through a river valley until it reaches its highest falls and the nearby Clayton Falls Dam. Before the dam, the stream enters a small headpond around 0.1 hectares (0.25 acres) in area. As it flows through the dam, the stream is split between a 60 m (200 ft) tailrace channel and the 580 meters (1,900 ft) penstock, a wood and steel structure running through the dam's powerhouse. It enters the Vermilion River at 228 m (748 ft) above sea level at a location approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) east of Whitefish.
Past the dam, the stream rapidly descends into the North Bentinck Arm. It flows about 100 metres (330 ft) before entering an intertidal reach as it meets the sea. Although short and turbulent, this portion of the creek downstream from the falls forms a spawning area for pink and chum salmon.
The creek is mainly fed by rainfall, although it receives a large amount of snowmelt during the spring, forming a freshet, and steadily intakes glacial meltwater during the summer. Flow rates are generally lowest in the winter, although this is disrupted by the occasional outbreak of heavy rain, where the creek sees its peak flow.
Watershed
[edit]The Clayton Falls Creek watershed is around 329 km2 (127 sq mi) in area. Almost the entirety of the watershed is crown land. The northern half is mainly within the Bella Coola Community Forest, while the southern half is within the Clayton Falls Conservancy, managed by BC Parks. Small amounts of land around the dam are owned by BC Hydro. All of this territory is within the bounds of the Great Bear Rainforest and is subject to additional ecosystem management.
The property owned by BC Hydro at the mouth of the creek offers the only public access to the North Bentinck Arm in the vicinity of Bella Coola. It manages a small recreational area at this site, used by both tourists and local residents. Due to its water access, it is sometimes used as a launch point for canoes, windsurfers, and scuba divers.
History
[edit]The river is within the traditional territory of the Nuxalk people. Around the 1930s, the British Columbia Water Rights Branch named the creek after John Clayton, an early settler of the region and a factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. This name was given as "Clayton Creek" in the 1930 BC Gazetteer, but was officially adopted as Clayton Falls Creek in 1953.
Although the creek was named Junction Creek by locals dating back to the 1910s, the title Junction Creek was officially approved for use by the Ontario Geographic Names Board on April 4, 1957.[1]
In 1991, logging companies clear-cut the Clayton Falls Creek valley as part of a larger campaign of industrial logging in the Bella Coola region. BC Parks formed the southern half of the valley into the Clayton Falls Conservancy in 2008, spanning an area of 5,047 ha (12,470 acres).
Dam
[edit]In 1961, the BC Power Commission constructed Clayton Falls Dam, a concrete gravity dam. Initially a 720 kW facility, it was upgraded to a capacity of 2 MW during upgrades in 1992. These reduced its use of costly diesel fuel and redirected the tailrace channel back into the creek itself, as opposed to the North Bentinck Arm. It is the only dam in the province not operated within BC Hydro's integrated hydroelectric system. Due to its negligible headpond storage capacity, it operates as a run-of-river facility.
A 76 mm (3.0 in) diameter water supply line runs from the dam to the Government Wharf and Ice Plant in Bella Coola. This line is closed off in the late fall to prevent damage from freezing.
References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Lemieux, Emily; Gunn, John; Sheardown, Jennifer (October 2004). Fish Community Assessment of Junction Creek 2004 (PDF) (Report). Laurentian University. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- 2.8 Upper Junction Creek Subwatershed (PDF) (Report). Conservation Sudbury. September 2024. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- 2.10 Lower Junction Creek Subwatershed (PDF) (Report). Conservation Sudbury. September 2024. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- "The Creek". Junction Creek Stewardship Committee. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- Weber, Lynn P.; Dubé, Monique G.; Rickwood, Carrie J.; Driedger, Kimberlea; Portt, Cam; Brereton, Christine; Janz, David M. (September 27, 2007). "Effects of multiple effluents on resident fish from Junction Creek, Sudbury, Ontario". Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. 70 (3): 433–445. doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2007.08.001. PMID 17904220. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- Biological Survey of the Streams and Lakes of the Sudbury Area: 1965 (Report). Ontario Water Resources Commission. June 1966. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- Everson, Alana (October 17, 2024). "Committee marks 25 years of rehabbing Sudbury's Junction Creek". CTV Northern Ontario. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - "Greater Sudbury working to make improvements to Junction Creek". CBC News. July 29, 2024. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- "Junction Creek". Canadian Geographical Names Database. Natural Resources Canada. February 16, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2024.