Eastmain River

River in west-central Québec, Canada; length 760 km/470 mi. It rises in the Monts Otish, and flows west to James Bay. In the 1980s, much of the Eastmain River's water flow was diverted north into the La Grande River, as part of the massive James Bay Project.

Nouveau-Québec lies to the north of the river. The surrounding area, and by extension the whole east side of Hudson Bay, was called the ‘Eastmain’ in fur-trade days. Eastmain, near the river's mouth, was the site of a 1685 Hudson's Bay Company trading post, and is now a Cree community; population (1991) 400.