River in Greater Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Etobicoke Creek
is a
river
in the
Greater Toronto Area
of
Ontario
, Canada.
[1]
It is a
tributary
of
Lake Ontario
and runs from
Caledon
to southern
Etobicoke
, part of the City of
Toronto
. The creek is within the jurisdiction of the
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
.
Etymology
[
edit
]
The name "Etobicoke" was derived from the
Mississauga
word
wah-do-be-kang
(
wadoopikaang
),
[2]
meaning "place where the
alders
grow", which was used to describe the area between Etobicoke Creek and the
Humber River
. The first provincial land surveyor,
Augustus Jones
, also spelled it as "ato-be-coake". A letter from January 22, 1775 uses "Tobacock".
[3]
Etobicoke was adopted as the official name of the township (later city, now part of the city of Toronto) in 1795 on the direction of
Lieutenant Governor
John Graves Simcoe
.
[4]
The name for the waterway used in the
Toronto Purchase
treaty was Etobicoke River.
[5]
Simcoe in a memo from April 5, 1796 refers to it as "Smith River or Etobicoke".
[6]
In a letter dated April 9, 1796 he used "Tobicoke".
[7]
(No reference appears for Smith but could be linked to
Samuel Smith
who would be granted land in Etobicoke and served with Simcoe in the
Queen's Rangers
.) Both "creek" and "river" appear in newspapers and books until about 1960.
[8]
: 97
: 99
"Creek" was officially adopted by the
Geographical Names Board of Canada
on November 18, 1962,
[1]
though it existed far earlier.
[9]
The name of the river in
Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe)
language of the
Mississaugas
, in modern Fiero orthography is
Edoopikaag-ziibi
.
[10]
Course
[
edit
]
Etobicoke Creek begins south of the
Oak Ridges Moraine
and flows through Caledon,
Brampton
, and
Mississauga
? west of the
Toronto Pearson International Airport
and the surrounding industrial area ? to its mouth at Lake Ontario in the Etobicoke portion of the city of Toronto. The length of the creek is 61 kilometres (38 mi).
[11]
Watershed
[
edit
]
The creek's southern section forms a city and county-level boundary, separating Toronto on the east from
Mississauga
, in
Peel Region
, as far north as
Eglinton Avenue
(north of where it flows entirely through Peel), on the west. The watershed encompasses 211 square kilometres (81 sq mi).
[11]
Mean summer waterflow has increased over the period 1967 to 2006 from 3.5 m
3
/s to 5.0 m
3
/s (4.5 cu. yd. to 6.5 cu. yd.) as recorded at a measuring station near the river mouth at the Queen Elizabeth Way.
[12]
The creek ends in a large recreational area,
Marie Curtis Park
. It is surrounded by cliffs and the bottom is solid stone, often covered with smaller rocks. It is full of small fish and
crayfish
, a sign of purity of water.
Geology
[
edit
]
The creek is characterized by winding paths
ravines
and
shale
banks.
[13]
Incidents
[
edit
]
Aircraft accidents
[
edit
]
A section of Etobicoke Creek runs close to Toronto's
Pearson International Airport
, leaving a ravine very close to the west ends of
runways
24L and 24R or the beginnings of Runways 6R & 6L. There have been two major aircraft incidents which have resulted in aircraft in the ravine.
- On 26 June 1978, an
Air Canada
Douglas DC-9-32
,
Flight 189
, with 107 people on board, overshot runway 24R and crashed into the ravine, destroying the aircraft and killing two of the passengers.
- On August 2, 2005, an
Air France
Airbus A340-300
,
Flight 358
, with 309 people on board, overran runway 24L into the ravine, followed by a fire on board.
[14]
All people on board escaped safely but dozens were injured. One passenger, Roel Bramar, later commented, "It was a hell of a roller coaster going into the ravine."
[15]
Although it was widely reported the Air France plane landed in a heavily wooded area, the area is in fact is fairly wide open, due to airport maintenance of both sides of the ravine. The west side of the ravine is a gentle slope, with grass and the airport's light towers for both 6R and 6L. The fact that all on board the aircraft survived led to the incident quickly being referred to as the 'Miracle of Toronto' by press outlets.
The position of the ravine so close to the airport's overrun area has raised some concerns among the general public,
[16]
despite Toronto Pearson's compliance with all safety regulations.
Spills
[
edit
]
On March 24, 2020, approximately 400 litres of red ink spilled onto Etobicoke Creek, causing it to turn red.
[17]
Neighbourhoods
[
edit
]
- Markland Wood
is bounded by Etobicoke Creek to the west and Elmcrest (tributary) Creek to the east.
- Alderwood
is bounded by Etobicoke Creek to the west.
- Long Branch
is bounded on the west by Etobicoke Creek.
Tributaries
[
edit
]
- Spring Creek
- begins from Etobicoke Creek northwest of the airport northwards between Torbram and Kennedy Roads, to about Bovaird Drive.
- Little Etobicoke Creek
- Elmcrest Creek
- small tributary that begins from two ponds inside
Etobicoke Centennial Park
and flows into Etobicoke Creek in the south at the Markland Wood Golf Club.
Another tributary called
Silver Creek
was buried during the construction of
Malton Airport
, which has since become Toronto Pearson International Airport.
[18]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
The Etobicoke Creek looking north from the waterfall
-
The Etobicoke Creek as it travels south
-
The Etobicoke Creek as it travels through Marie Curtis Park
-
The waterfall in the Etobicoke Creek near the south end of the creek. It is located beside the Toronto Golf Course.
-
Four
mute swans
along the bank of the Etobicoke Creek.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Etobicoke Creek"
.
Geographical Names Data Base
.
Natural Resources Canada
. Retrieved
2012-03-15
.
- ^
Nichols, John D; Nyholm, Earl (1995).
A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe
. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press
.
ISBN
978-0-8166-2427-0
.
OCLC
31242698
.
- ^
E. A. Cruikshank, ed. (1923). "From E. B. Littlehales to D. W. Smith".
The Correspondence of Lieut. Governor John Graves Simcoe, 1789-1796
. Vol. 3. Ontario Historical Society. p. 263.
- ^
Willoughby, Paul.
"A Brief History of Etobicoke"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-03-24
. Retrieved
2012-03-15
.
- ^
B Chamberlin (1891).
Indians of North America
. Vol. 1. UBC Press. p. 34.
ISBN
9780774841818
.
- ^
E. A. Cruikshank, ed. (1923). "Lieut. Governor Simcoe's Minutes for the Attention of the Executive Council".
The Correspondence of Lieut. Governor John Graves Simcoe, 1789-1796
. Vol. 4. Ontario Historical Society. p. 233.
- ^
E. A. Cruikshank, ed. (1923). "From J. G. Simcoe to Lord Dorchester".
The Correspondence of Lieut. Governor John Graves Simcoe, 1789-1796
. Vol. 4. Ontario Historical Society. p. 239.
- ^
Graeme Mercer; et al. (1885). "Township of Etobicoke".
History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario: Containing an Outline of the History of the Dominion of Canada; a History of the City of Toronto and the County of York, with the Townships, Towns, General and Local Statistics; Biographical Sketches, Volume 1
. C.B. Robinson.
History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario.
- ^
For example, in an atlas of York County of 1880, per
"Map of York County"
.
1880 Map of Ontario Counties
. The Canadian County Digital Atlas Project at
McGill University
. 2001
. Retrieved
2012-03-15
.
- ^
Translate Ojibwe, Ojibwe - English Dictionary, "Etobicoke"
Link
- ^
a
b
Executive summary
(PDF)
.
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
. 2010.
ISBN
978-0-9811107-6-9
. Retrieved
2012-03-15
.
- ^
Section 4.0 - Baseflow and water use
(PDF)
. Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. 2010.
ISBN
978-0-9811107-6-9
. Retrieved
2012-03-15
.
- ^
McRae, Margaret (2011-10-09).
"Etobicoke Creek"
.
Parks and Gardens in Toronto West
. Retrieved
2012-03-15
.
- ^
"
'A miracle' no deaths as Air France flight skids off runway, burns in Toronto"
.
CBC News
. 2005-08-02
. Retrieved
2012-03-15
.
- ^
"Air France crash 'a hell of a roller coaster'
"
.
ABC News
. 2005-08-03
. Retrieved
2012-03-15
.
- ^
"CBC News - Viewpoint: Your Space"
.
www.cbc.ca
. Archived from
the original
on August 5, 2005.
- ^
"Etobicoke creek runs red after ink spill | CBC News"
.
- ^
Hicks, Kathleen A. (2006). Malton: Farms to Flying (PDF). Mississauga, Ontario: Friends of the Mississauga Library System. ISBN 0-9697873-9-1.
External links
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]
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