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The Grand - a Canadian Heritage River
The Grand River and its major tributaries, the Nith, Conestogo, Speed and Eramosa Rivers, flow through the heartland of southern Ontario. Meandering by farms, towns and cities, winding through marshes and forests, it is the common thread that links a harmonious blend of natural and cultural landscapes.
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The Grand River at Kitchener (Doon) - our past and our future. Photograph courtesy of Donald Thomas of Cambridge
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Few rivers in Canada have seen as much of the flow of history as the Grand. Native cultures flourished in the watershed for more than 10,000 years, but the last three centuries brought an influx of settlers, most seeking agricultural land. Together, they looked to the river, and the mosaic of cultures reshaped the landscape in myriads of individual ways.
Much of the river's charm lies in this sense of history long its shores. Rural and urban settlements often retain their early architectural flavour, and 19th century mills, foundries and factories still stand on the banks. Remains of the old Grand River Canal show the communities' determination to access the Great Lakes ports and the world; dams, dykes and breakwaters bear witness to their adaptation to the fluctuating river flows.
As industrial inventiveness flourished, so did cultural accomplishment. Over the centuries, literary and artistic masterpieces - like poetess E. Pauline Johnson's "The Song My Paddle Sings" - have been inspired by the river's splendid natural values.
Although the river has been much altered by its people, almost a fifth of the land is still largely natural, and of outstanding recreational and educational value. The Grand River Forest, with its rare Carolinian species, lines much of the shore in the southernmost reaches. The Eramosa River, one of the Grand's major tributaries, boasts the world's largest pothole, the Devil's Well. The plentiful marshes, the riverside trials and the torrential river flow at Elora Gorge all draw their own explorers.
Many decades of careful management maintained these values even as the urban nature of the watershed grew. While use of the river has changed, the major recreational role it plays, and the well-preserved evidence of the cultures that were drawn to its shores, makes it worthy of it status as a Canadian Heritage River, achieved in 1994.
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