Vachon River (French: Rivière Vachon, Inuktitut: Ikkatujaaq (seemingly shallow) or Qarnatulik (unknown meaning) or Avaluko (unknown meaning)) is a river in the Arctic tundra of Nunavik, Quebec. It originates on Lac Laflamme at 61°21′49″N 73°45′36″W / 61.36361°N 73.76000°W / 61.36361; -73.76000 just north of Pingualuit crater and finishes at 60°4′43″N 71°8′59″W / 60.07861°N 71.14972°W / 60.07861; -71.14972 where it joins Arnaud/Payne River. It was named after bishop Alexander Vachon (1885–1953), rector of Laval University in 1939 and from 1940 to 1953, archbishop of the diocese of Ottawa.
Despite the access and paddling difficulties (long rapids and ledges) and extreme climatic conditions, river is occasionally paddled by canoeists:
- in 1978, 4 canoeists from Quebec, Canada, paddled Vachon upstream as access route to Puvirnituq River
- in 1985, the group of 4 canoeists (Pascal Dorémus, Jacques Lavoué, Olivier Barbier and Philippe Zanni) from Lyon, France coming from Puvirnituq, upstream Puvirnituq river
- in 2009, solo canoeist Eric Leclair from Quebec
- in 2010, the group of 4 canoeists (Lynette Chubb and Lester Kovac from Ontario and Curt Gellerman and Wesley Rusk from USA)
River is inhabited by an important arctic char population harvested for subsistence by the Inuit of Kangirsuk.
Famous quotes containing the word river:
“This ferry was as busy as a beaver dam, and all the world seemed anxious to get across the Merrimack River at this particular point, waiting to get set over,—children with their two cents done up in paper, jail-birds broke lose and constable with warrant, travelers from distant lands to distant lands, men and women to whom the Merrimack River was a bar.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)