Tortue River
The Tortue River is a river in the Côte-Nord administrative region, in the province of Quebec, Canada. The course of this river successively crosses the RCM of:
- Sept-Rivières Regional County Municipality: in unorganized territory of Rivière-Nipissis;
- Minganie Regional County Municipality: in unorganized territory of Lac-Jérôme, then the municipality of Rivière-au-Tonnerre.
The southern part of the Tortue River watershed is served by the route 138 which runs along the north shore of the estuary of Saint Lawrence.
Location
The river originates from Turtle Lake. This lake has an island in its center-north. It is fed mainly by: the discharge of a small lake, the discharge of a group of lakes, the discharge of a lake, a stream, the discharge of a set of lakes, the discharge of some lakes. The mouth of Tortue Lake is located west of a bay in lake Manitou, east of lake Nipisso and northwest of the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.The river flows more or less in parallel to the west of the Manitou River and to the east of the Bouleau River.
The Tortue River flows on towards the south, with a drop of, according to the following segments:
Upper course of the Turtle River
- first to the south, crossing a lake, then to the southwest; finally, to the south, crossing Lake Eliniore to the south-east, to its mouth;
- towards the south-east in a deep valley and down the mountain, forming a hook towards the south at the end of the segment, to the confluence of the rivière aux Îlets ;
- first south, curving east, until a bend in the river, corresponding to a stream ;
- first to the south, then to the southeast, to a bend in the river, then to the west, to the confluence of the rivière aux Chutes ;
- towards the south-west, forming a few streamers, until the confluence of the Petite rivière Tortue ;
- towards the south-east, forming a few coils and collecting the discharge of Lake Fabien, up to the Philippe-Henley stream ;
- towards the southeast, collecting five streams on the northeast side and passing under the route 138 bridge, up to its mouth.
A painted metal bridge carries Quebec Route 138 over the river nears its mouth.
Toponymy
The origin of the name is unknown. It was made official on 5 December 1968.The names of local European settlers are reflected in Moïse Maher Lake, located between the Manitou River and the Tortue River, and in the Ruisseau Philippe Henley, a tributary of the Tortue river.
Basin
Part of the river basin is in the unorganized territories of Rivière-Nipissis and Lac-Jérôme and part in the municipality of Rivière-au-Tonnerre.The river basin covers.
It lies between the basins of the Sault Plat River to the west and the Manitou River to the east.
A map of the ecological regions of Quebec shows the river basin in sub-regions 6j-T and 6m-T of the east spruce/moss subdomain.