Churchill

The longest river in Labrador, Canada (known as the Hamilton River before 1965); length 970 km/600 mi. It rises as the Ashuanipi, flowing north from Lake Ashuanipi, near the Québec border. It flows through the Smallwood Reservoir, plunges 75 m/245 ft at Churchill Falls to power a large hydroelectric plant, enters Goose Bay and Lake Melville, and empties into the Labrador Sea.

History The river remained unused, except for a Hudson's Bay Company post at Fort Smith (now North West River, on Lake Melville), until the 1950s when iron ore on the Québec-Labrador border brought rail connections and hydroelectric development to the area.