North Saskatchewan River - Course

Course

North Saskatchewan river has a length of 1,287 km (800 mi), and a drainage area of 122,800 km2. At its end point at Saskatchewan River Forks it has a mean discharge of 245 m3/s. The yearly discharge at the Alberta/Saskatchewan border is more than 7 k m3.

The river begins above 1,800 metres at the toe of the Saskatchewan Glacier in the Columbia Icefield, and flows southeast through Banff National Park alongside the Icefields Parkway. At the junction of the David Thompson Highway (Highway 11), it initially turns northeast for 10 kilometres before switching to a more direct eastern flow for about 30 km. At this point, it turns north where it eventually arrives at Abraham Lake. Bighorn Dam constricts the north end of Abraham Lake, where the North Saskatchewan emerges to track eastward to Rocky Mountain House. At Rocky Mountain House, the river abruptly turns north again for 100 km where it switches east towards Edmonton, Alberta. In Edmonton, the river passes through the centre of the city in a northeasterly direction and out towards Smoky Lake at which point it quickly changes to the southeast and then more to the east as it makes it way to the Alberta–Saskatchewan boundary.

From the border, the river flows southeast between North Battleford and Battleford and on in the direction of Saskatoon. About 40 km northwest of Saskatoon, near Langham, the river veers to the northeast where it passes through the City of Prince Albert. About 30 km downstream of Prince Albert, the North Saskatchewan River joins the South Saskatchewan River at Saskatchewan River Forks to become the Saskatchewan River. From here, the river flows east to Tobin Lake and into Manitoba, eventually emptying into Lake Winnipeg.