The Credit River is a river in southern Ontario, which flows from headwaters above the Niagara Escarpment near Orangeville and Caledon East to empty into Lake Ontario at Port Credit, Mississauga. It drains an area of approximately 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi). The total length of the river and its tributary streams is over 1,500 kilometres (930 mi).
The river became known as Missinnihe (Eastern Ojibwa: "trusting creek"[5]) to the Mississaugas First Nation who met annually with white traders there. To the First Nations, the river was "held in reverential estimation as the favourite resort of their ancestors"[6] and the band, which ranged from Long Point on Lake Erie to the Rouge River on Lake Ontario, became known as the Credit River Indians. Their descendants are today the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.[6]
The origins of the English name come from the time when Frenchfur traders supplied goods to the native people in advance (on credit) against furs which would be delivered the following spring. It was known as the Rivière au Crédit. The trading post was set up at the mouth of the river, in Port Credit, in the early 18th century.[citation needed]
Watershed population and land use
As of the 2006 census, 750,000 people live in the watershed. Of those, 87 percent live in the lower third of the watershed. Population growth is approximately 3 percent per year. In 1999, 21 percent of the watershed was developed. By 2020, 40 percent of the watershed will be developed (based on approved development and the official plans of the municipalities).
Plants and animals
The Credit River is home to a wide range of wildlife. Some species are permanent or seasonal residents while others are sighted occasionally. This watershed is home to 1,330 plant species, 64 fish species (including many bait fish, pike, and brook trout), 41 mammal species, 5 turtle species, 8 snake species, 17 amphibian species, and 244 bird species.[7]
