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by Val Werier
The Winnipeg Free Press
Thursday, June 5, 2003
WINNIPEG is a city of rivers and trees and they thrive
in a symbiotic relationship, bestowing splendour and life to the
city.
The rivers act as gardeners snatching seed from the wind and
from birds in migration to start them off in their moist and receptive
banks.
We have 240 kilometres of river and creek frontage in Winnipeg,
channels for growth and beauty.
The Red is the most prominent of four rivers (others are the
Assiniboine, Seine and La Salle) rippling in intimate little curves
in the backbone of the city. The creeks are Bunn's Sturgeon, Omand's
and Truro. The Red has a rich history and nomenclature that elicits
dramatic pictures of our province. It is an international river,
rising from the convergence of the Ottertail and Boise de Sioux
Rivers near Wahpeton, North Dakota. The straight line distance
into Lake Winnipeg is 460 kilometres. But in its meanderings,
it covers 885 kilometres. In Manitoba, the Red has fascinating
names. It was noted on a map in 1762 as Miskouessipi, according
to Geographical Names of Manitoba. It was also identified as Wiskwagama
Sipi, meaning red water river, a name used in the French form
by the explorer La Verendrye.
In his journal in 1729, La Verendrye wrote: "You come to a little
river, the water of which looks red like vermilion and is held
in great esteem by the natives." The Red had a number of names
including Red River of the North to distinguish it from several
rivers by the name in the U.S.
The most picturesque names are from the First Nations -- intriguing
nomenclature for post cards, rivaling long Welsh place names.
This was the Chippawa name for Red River: Pisquoqummeewee Sibi.
The Cree name was Mikwakumewesepe.
The rivers create a fertile environment for our urban forests
and this is where we find trees of magnificent proportions.
Readers will tell me about special places and one noted by Irene
and Francis Weisensel proved to be magnificent indeed. It is on
the east side of the Red River north of Chief Peguis Bridge in
North Kildonan. Mike Allen, an authority on forests and habitat,
was impressed when we viewed the area. It is a rare stretch of
riverbottom forest distinguished by a number of large cottonwood
trees. "These cottonwoods," observed Mr. Allen, "are 150 to 175
years old." Cottonwoods are the largest tree species on the prairies.
The largest one known hereabouts says Mr. Allen, is located by
the bank of the Assiniboine River southeast of Portage la Prairie.
It is 115 feet tall, more than seven feet in diameter.
Trees soaring into the sky are wondrous to behold as in the riverbottom
forest in North Kildonan. They present a picture of beauty and
strength and an endurance not matched by other creatures. The
forest is a community, trees and shrubs reacting to one another
and all seeking a place in the sun. Here in this forest beside
cottonwoods are elm, maple, ash, native willow. It's a healthy
forest. The understory which does not need as much sun, is prolific
with chokecherry, dogwood, American hazel.
A Manitoba maple, an adventurous tree, leans at an angle of 45
degrees to catch the sun. Or did it start life early at an angle
to avoid a fallen log? I wonder and gaze in awe at the ability
of a tree to rise erect, perfectly perpendicular. A tree is an
engineering genius. Hormones balance the growth. Protective coating
at the tip of the roots acts as a lubricant, enabling them to
pierce through the soil -- and through tiny cracks in concrete.
The force exerted by a root is phenomenal -- 1,080 pounds per
square inch. They are remarkable, too, in the weight they support.
A big elm typically would weigh about 12 tons. The elm is a hardwood,
once used to make hockey sticks, and in Red River days, used for
hubs in ox carts.
A cottonwood is a soft wood and so appealing to beaver, they
demolished several of the large specimens in Whittier Park in
St. Boniface some years ago. The female cottonwood produces a
seed enclosed in a fluff of cotton, enabling it to waft in the
air and carry it to another destination to propagate its species.
The mystery of life is here -- a tiny seed growing into a giant
tree in the city of rivers.
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