The Mississippi River is a tributary of the Ottawa River, approximately 160 km (100 mi) long, in southern Ontario in Canada. It rises east of the Kawartha Lakes and flows northeast through Dalhousie Lake and Mississippi Lake , past Carleton Place, through Mississippi Mills (formerly Almonte), then north to join the Ottawa River just east of Arnprior.

Tributaries include the:

• Clyde River
• Indian River
• Fall River

The river originally powered textile mills. Today, it provides hydroelectric power.

The Purdon Conservation Area, a wetland in this river's watershed, contains Canada's largest native colony of showy lady slipper orchids, some 16,000 plants.

The origin of the river's name is something of a mystery; though is current name is certainly derived from that of its much larger American cousin, this is most certainly a corruption of a different native name, as the translation 'great water' would not apply to a relatively minor tributary of the Ottawa, definitely the largest river in the area. Instead, the origin may be "Mazinawzeebi", Algonquian for 'painted image river', though this is by no means proven.

See also

• List of Ontario rivers

External links

• http://www.mvc.on.ca/ Mississippi Valley Conservation