The Rankin River is a river in the town of South Bruce Peninsula

South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario

South Bruce Peninsula is a town at the base of the Bruce Peninsula of Ontario, Canada, in the County of Bruce between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.Recently the cottage industry has become the major industry in the area...

, Bruce County

Bruce County, Ontario

Bruce County is a county in western Ontario, Canada, and includes the Bruce Peninsula. As of 2006, the population was 65,349. The area was . The county seat is Walkerton, Ontario. It is located at ....

 in southwestern

Southwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, centred on the city of London. It extends north to south from the Bruce Peninsula on Lake Huron to the Lake Erie shoreline, and east to south-west roughly from Guelph to Windsor. The region had a population...

 Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 which flows from the east side of the Bruce Peninsula

Bruce Peninsula

The Bruce Peninsula is a peninsula in Ontario, Canada that lies between Georgian Bay and the main basin of Lake Huron. The peninsula extends roughly northwestwards from the rest of Southern Ontario, pointing towards Manitoulin Island, with which it forms the widest strait joining Georgian Bay to...

 to join the Sauble River

Sauble River (Ontario)

The Sauble River is a river in Bruce County and Grey County in southwestern Ontario, Canada that flows from its headwaters in the township of Chatsworth to Lake Huron at the community of Sauble Beach.-Etymology:...

 near Sauble Falls Provincial Park

Sauble Falls Provincial Park

Sauble Falls Provincial Park is located in the community of Sauble Falls, town of South Bruce Peninsula, Bruce County in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is in the lower drainage basin of the Sauble River, which flows into Lake Huron. The campground consists of two sections divided by County Road...

 on the west side. The river is in the Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...

 drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 and was named after Charles Rankin

Charles Rankin

Charles Rankin 1797 - 1886, born in Enniskillen, Ireland, died at Owen Sound, Ontario. Charles Rankin moved to Upper Canada in his early years, in 1820 he was appointed deputy provincial surveyor and worked in the Southwestern Ontario area. He began work in Nottawasaga Bay in 1833 and settled on...

, who first surveyed the Bruce Peninsula.

Course

The Rankin River begins at Berford Lake about 1.5 kilometre (0.93205910497471 mi) southeast of the community of Mar, and flows west over Berford Dam, then under Ontario Highway 6 to Isaac Lake, where it takes in the right tributary Albemarle Brook arriving from Sky Lake. The river heads south to Boat Lake where it receives the left tributary Clavering Creek at Jordan Bay. It heads south out of the lake over Rankin Dam, then southwest to its mouth at the Sauble River, just upriver of the community of Sauble Falls.

In addition to the Rankin River drainage basin lying in the town of South Bruce Peninsula in Bruce County, portions of the tributary Clavering Creek drainage basin lie in Georgian Bluffs

Georgian Bluffs, Ontario

Georgian Bluffs is a township in southwestern Ontario, Canada, in Grey County located between Colpoy's Bay and Owen Sound on Georgian Bay.The township was incorporated on January 1, 2001 by amalgamating the former townships of Derby, Keppel, and Sarawak, and the village of Shallow...

 in Grey County

Grey County, Ontario

Grey County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. The county seat is in Owen Sound. The population was 92,411 in 2006. It is located in the subregion of Southern Ontario named Southwestern Ontario...

.

History

During the 18th century, this river was part of a portage

Portage

Portage or portaging refers to the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land to avoid river obstacles, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage; a person doing the carrying is called a porter.The English word portage is derived from the...

 from Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron, located entirely within Ontario, Canada...

 across the Bruce Peninsula used by fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

rs. In the second half of the 19th century, large numbers of Passenger Pigeon

Passenger Pigeon

The Passenger Pigeon or Wild Pigeon was a bird, now extinct, that existed in North America and lived in enormous migratory flocks until the early 20th century...

s nested along the river. The river is now popular for recreational canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

ing and kayak

Kayak

A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...

ing.

Natural History

The river hosts fish species such as bass, northern pike, pickerel and perch, as well as trout and salmon during their spawning seasons. Whereas the entire Rankin River drainage basin has excellent (greater than 35%) forest cover, the riparian zones

Riparian zone

A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the fifteen terrestrial biomes of the earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by...

 have only fair (25% to 50%) forest cover. Water chemistry was excellent but benthic

Benthic zone

The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called benthos. They generally live in close relationship with the substrate bottom; many such...

species were only fair.