1230 Water St., Peterborough, Ontario
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Which historical figure used the Otonabee to get to Lake Ontario?
Louis Riel Jaques Cartier Wilfred Laurier Samuel de Champlain
Guestbook/
Explore150 Team/
Nov 7, 2013
The Otonabee River has a prominent place in Ontario’s natural history. The name Ontonabee, meaning “flashing waters running swiftly” was used by First Nations peoples who used the river to describe the violence with which the river once flowed. The river was used at that time for transportation and Samuel Champlain himself used it with an aboriginal escort on his journey from the upper Great Lakes to Lake Ontario. Generations of European settlers have tried to harness the river as a natural resource. In fact the Otonabee became a major generator for hydroelectric power in the 1800s. It can be persuasively argued that without this mightier river, the city of Peterborough as it stands might never have been built.
To those residing in Peterborough, the Otonabee is great source of natural beauty and plays an important environmental role for the wildlife in the area. The beauty of the Otonabee is actually one of the major reasons I chose to attend Trent University in Champlain College because the quad is seated right on the river bank and its reflection of the Drumlin hill is gorgeous in the Fall.