Spanish River (Ontario)

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The Spanish River and Domtar mill in Espanola

The Spanish River in Northern Ontario, Canada flows 240 km in a southerly direction from its headwaters in Lake Biscotasi (west branch) and Duke Lake (east branch). Several other tributaries empty into the river, which passes through Agnew Lake before emptying into Georgian Bay just outside of Spanish.

Tributaries include Pogamasing Creek, Mogo Creek, Agnes River, the Aux Sables River, the Vermilion River and the Wakonassin River.

This river has been used as a transportation corridor for thousands of years, first by First Nations and later in the 19^th century by fur trader. During the late 19^th and mid 20^th, it was used to transport timber from logging camps in the upper Sudbury District to Georgian Bay, where they were towed by tugs to sawmills on the Great Lakes. Now the river is mainly used for recreational canoeing and has been protected as a waterway provincial park. There are also two hydroelectric dams on the river: one, known as Big Eddy, at High Falls on Lake Agnew, and the other at the Domtar mill in Espanola.

The river's name and the name of the nearby town of Espanola are said to be due to French explorers and Jesuit priests encountering Ojibwe peoples speaking Spanish in the area, apparently as a result of a Spanish woman having been taking captive during an expedition far to the south.

The Lower Spanish River Forest houses the world's oldest red pine and white pine forests, and much of that is under provincial protection, in form of provincial parks and reclamation acts.