Geography
Winnipeg lies at the bottom of the Red River Valley, a low-lying flood plain with an extremely flat topography. This valley was formed by the ancient glacial Lake Agassiz which has rich deposits of black soil. Winnipeg is on the eastern edge of the Canadian Prairies in Western Canada; it is known as the 'Gateway to the West'. Winnipeg is bordered by tallgrass prairie to the west and south and the aspen parkland to the northeast; although, most the native prairie grasses have been removed for agriculture and urbanization. It is relatively close to many large Canadian Shield lakes and parks, as well as Lake Winnipeg (the Earth's 11th largest freshwater lake).
Winnipeg is fairly isolated in that the closest city with equal or greater population is Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota (metro population of 3,317,308), which is 735 km (457 miles) southeast from the city. According to the Census geographic units of Canada, the city has a total area of 464.01 km2 (179.16 sq mi) and an elevation of 240 m (786 ft). Winnipeg has four major rivers: the Red River, the Assiniboine River, the La Salle River, and the Seine River. The Red River is a Canadian heritage river.
Because of Winnipeg's extremely flat topography and substantial snowfall, Winnipeg is subject to severe flooding. The Red River reached its greatest flood height in 1826. Another large flood occurred in 1950, which caused millions of dollars in damages and thousands of evacuations. This flood prompted Duff Roblin's government to build the Red River Floodway to protect the city from flooding. In the 1997 flood, flood control dikes were reinforced and raised using sandbags; Winnipeg suffered very limited damage compared to cities without flood control structures, such as Grand Forks, North Dakota. Recent major floods include the 2009 Red River Flood and the 2011 Red River Flood. The generally flat terrain and the poor drainage of the Red River Valley's clay-based soil also results in a seasonal explosion of insects, especially mosquitoes.
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—Derek Wall (b. 1965)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)