Athabasca River
River
74 M
With its source in the Rocky Mountains, it flows north-east into Big Channel approximately 35 km south-east of Fort Chipewyan.
There are a number of features in the province as a whole with the name of Athabasca. They all take their name from an area in north-eastern Alberta, the muddy delta of the river where it falls into the huge lake occupying the north-eastern corner of the province. Most sources agree that the name is from the Cree, and means, "where there are reeds or grass." Philip Turnor in 1791 provided the following description: "low swampy ground on the South side with a few willows growing upon it", from which the Lake in general takes its name Athapison in the Southern Cree tongue which signifies open country such as lakes with willows and grass growing about them. Peter Fidler originally recorded the name for the river in 1790 as the Great Arabuska. By 1801 the name had gained a closer spelling to what we know now -- Athapaskow Lake. In 1820 George Simpson referred to the name of the river in the spelling we know now.
In 1898 John N. Collie, a mountaineer and adventurer recorded the name Athabasca for the mountain, glacier and pass.