The Magpie River Valley

The Magpie River Valley. . , The famous Wawa Goose gazes out over the Trans-Canada Highway as it carries traffic through the Magpie River Valley. Some sections of this roadway follow old native trails and wagon paths leading from Lake Superior, along the Magpie River to the shores of Wawa Lake. You are looking out over the Magpie Reservoir created by the dam at Magpie High Falls on the Magpie River. , The Magpie River begins its journey at Esnagi Lake. It travels approximately 130 km over a number of scenic waterfalls (Steephill Falls, Magpie High Falls, Silver Falls) until it merges with the Michipicoten River, ½ kilometer from its mouth on Lake Superior (see in left picture). , Ancient Superior Shoreline , The Magpie River may be a remnant of an ancient glacial spillway that came to life when the massive mile thick glaciers started melting away 10,000 years ago. During this time, the ancient shoreline of Lake Superior was much higher than it is today. Wawa Lake was once part of Lake Superior. The town of Wawa sits on a sand plain which was once a barrier beach bar that closed the west end of the Wawa Lake basin off from the slowly receding waters of Superior. , While Lake Superior was receding, the landscape was also rising due to a phenomenon known as isostatic rebound. This "rebounding" is the result of the bedrock rising after the removal of the massive weight of the glaciers. This effect continues today and has been measured at a rate of approximately 10 inches per century. , As the shoreline continued to rise and Superior's waters to recede, a number of ancient beaches have been left behind. Wawa sits on a collection of these lake beaches including the one you are standing on now. If you look out across the Magpie River valley you can make out at least 2 or 3 flat shoreline terraces that sit 50 to 100 feet above the current riverbed. , Wawa’s Badlands , One of the best locations to view the local effects of glaciation and water erosion is the Magpie River Badlands (shown above - the red is wild low bush cranberries). The badlands is a treeless zone found north east of Wawa Lake and at Steephill Falls. In this visually unique geological region, one can see first hand what the landscape may have looked like after the glaciers first left the region 10 centuries ago. The Magpie River cuts through massive glacial deposits of cobbles, silt and sand pushed along the Canadian Shield from the Hudson's Bay region. Cobbles of amazing varieties, as well as some ancient fossils can be found throughout the badlands. , Magpie Hydro-electricity , The body of water you can see in the Magpie River valley is a reservoir created by the construction of a hydro generating station above Scenic High falls in 1989. The Magpie falls/Harris Generation Station produces 12.5 megawatts of electricity for Brookfield Power, Wawa Hydro Operations. This station is one of 3 on the Magpie River which compliments the additional 4 hydro generating stations on the Michipicoten River. Wawa has a long history of hydroelectricity starting with the construction of the first dam at Michipicoten High Falls in 1904.