St. Lawrence River#Colonial control

The river has historically been given a variety of different names by local First Nations. Beginning in the 16th century, French explorers visited what is now Canada and gave the river names such as the Grand fleuve de Hochelaga and the Grande rivière du Canada, where fleuve and rivière are two French words (fleuve being a river that flows into the sea).

The river's present name has been used since 1604 when it was recorded on a map by Samuel de Champlain.{{cite web |title=Fleuve Saint-Laurent |url=https://toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/ToposWeb/fiche.aspx?no_seq=121375 |website=Commission de toponymie Québec |publisher=Gouvernement du Québec |access-date=28 December 2021}} Champlain opted for the names Grande riviere de sainct Laurens and Fleuve sainct Laurens in his writings, supplanting the earlier names. In contemporary French, the name is rendered as the fleuve Saint-Laurent. The name Saint-Laurent (Saint Lawrence) was originally applied to the eponymous bay by Jacques Cartier upon his arrival into the region on the 10th of August feast day for Saint Lawrence in 1535.

Indigenous people use the following names:

• Innu-aimun, the language of Nitassinan, refer to it as Wepistukujaw Sipo/Wepìstùkwiyaht sīpu.{{cite book |last1=Lozier |first1=Jean-François |title=Flesh Reborn: The Saint Lawrence Valley Mission Settlements through the Seventeenth Century |date=2018 |publisher=McGill-Queens University Press |location=Montréal |page=306 |isbn=9780773553989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKxuDwAAQBAJ&dq=Moliantegok+meaning&pg=PA306 |access-date=28 December 2021}}
• the Abenaki call it Moliantegok/Moliantekw ("Montréal River"), Kchitegw/Ktsitekw/Gicitegw ("Great River"), or Oss8genaizibo/Ws8genaisibo/Wsogenaisibo ("River of the Algonquins").
• in Mohawk language it is Roiatatokenti, Raoteniateara, Ken’tarókwen,{{cite web |last1=Doolittle |first1=Benjamin |title=St. Lawrence (Upper river) |url=https://kanienkeha.net/places/lakes-and-rivers/ken-tarokwen/ |website=Kanienʼkéha Dictionary |date=25 August 2016 |access-date=28 December 2021}} or Kaniatarowanénhne.{{cite web |last1=Doolittle |first1=Benjamin |title=St. Lawrence, USA & CA |url=https://kanienkeha.net/places/lakes-and-rivers/kaniatarowanenhne/ |website=Kanienʼkéha Dictionary |date=25 August 2016 |access-date=28 December 2021}}
• Tuscarora people call it Kahnawáˀkye or Kaniatarowanenneh ("Big Water Current").Rudes, B. Tuscarora English Dictionary Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999
• Algonquin people call it "the Walking Path" or Magtogoek,{{cite web |last1=Toussaint |first1=Jean-Patrick |title=Il était une fois un fleuve... et nous. |url=https://www.sciencepresse.qc.ca/blogue/2014/06/17/etait-fois-fleuve-nous |website=Agence Science-Presse |language=fr |access-date=28 December 2021}} or Kitcikanii sipi, the "Large Water River".{{cite book |last1=Cuoq |first1=Jean André |title=Lexique de la langue algonquine |date=1886 |publisher=J. Chapleau |location=Montréal |url=https://archive.org/details/lexiquedelalang00cuoq |access-date=28 December 2021 |language=fr}}
• the Huron-Wendat Nation call it Lada8anna or Laooendaooena'.
• the Atikamekw of Nitaskinan refer to it as Micta sipi ("Huge River").

File:000730 15a 3545 2367 fleuve I Orleans.jpg on the St. Lawrence River in 2000]]

File:Ile St Quentin 021.jpg on October 7, 1535, Trois-Rivières]]

File:Champlain Sea 1.png

In winter, the St. Lawrence River begins producing ice in December between Montreal and Quebec City. The prevailing winds and currents push this ice towards the estuary,{{cite web |title=Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence |url=https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/planning-planification/areas-aires/estuary-gulf-st-lawrence-estuaire-golfe-saint-laurent-eng.html |website=Gouvernement of Canada |publisher=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |access-date=19 February 2024 |date=2023-01-27 |quote=The area represents one of the largest and most productive estuarine/marine ecosystems in Canada and in the world.}} and it reaches the east of Les Méchins at the end of December. Ice covers the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence in January and February.

Ice helps navigation by preventing the formation of waves, and therefore spray, and prevents the icing of ships.{{cite web |author1=Guy O'Bonsawin |title=The secrets of the Saint-Laurent, marine weather guide |url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2023/eccc/En56-87-1992-eng.pdf |publisher=Environnement Canada |access-date=15 October 2024 |pages=89, 90 of 100 |language=fr |date=3 April 2013 |quote=If you consider that both water and air masses literally hug the ground and follow all its contours and surfaces, it's easy to understand just how much variety there can be in wind and sea conditions.}}

With the draining of the Champlain Sea, due to a rebounding continent from the Last Glacial Maximum, the St. Lawrence River was formed. The Champlain Sea lasted from about 13,000 years ago to about 10,000 years ago and was continuously shrinking during that time, a process that continues today.[http://www.lcbp.org/Atlas/HTML/nat_geology.htm Lake Champlain Basin Atlas: Geology Page] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720120640/http://www.lcbp.org/Atlas/HTML/nat_geology.htm |date=20 July 2008 }}{{cite book|first=William J.|last=Miller|title=Geology: The Science of the Earth's Crust (Illustrations)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XwWYBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT37|year=2015|publisher=P. F. Collier & Son Company|page=37|id=GGKEY:Y3TD08H3RAT}} The head of the St. Lawrence River, near Lake Ontario, is home to the Thousand Islands.{{Cite web |title=St. Lawrence River Ecosystem |url=https://www.savetheriver.org/river-info/ecosystem/ |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=Save The River! Thousand Islands - Clayton NY on the St. Lawrence River |language=en}}

Today, the St. Lawrence River begins at the outflow of Lake Ontario and flows adjacent to Cape Vincent, Gananoque, Clayton, Alexandria Bay, Brockville, Morristown, Ogdensburg, Massena, Cornwall, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec City before draining into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, often given as the largest estuary in the world.{{Cite web |title=Estuary - National Geographic Society |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/estuary |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=nationalgeographic.org}} The estuary begins at the eastern tip of Île d'Orléans, just downstream from Quebec City.{{cite book|last1=Benke|first1=Arthur C.|last2=Cushing|first2=Colbert E.|title=Rivers of North America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=faOU1wkiYFIC&pg=PA989|year=2005|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-12-088253-3|pages=989–990}} The river becomes tidal around Quebec City.{{cite book|last=Dawson|first=Samuel Edward|title=The Saint Lawrence: Its Basin and Border-lands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-LZjcqnPtEC&pg=PR36|access-date=21 March 2011|date=October 2007|publisher=Heritage Books|isbn=978-0-7884-2252-2|page=36}}

The St. Lawrence River runs {{convert|3058|km|mi|sigfig=4|lk=on}} from the farthest headwater to the mouth and {{convert|1197|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} from the outflow of Lake Ontario. These numbers include the estuary; without the estuary, the length from Lake Ontario is c. 500 km (c. 300 mi). The farthest headwater is the North River in the Mesabi Range at Hibbing, Minnesota. Its drainage area, which includes the Great Lakes, the world's largest system of freshwater lakes, is {{convert|1344200|km2|sqmi|1|sigfig=5}}, of which {{convert|839200|km2|sqmi|1|abbr=on|sigfig=4}} is in Canada and {{convert|505000|km2|sqmi|1|abbr=on|sigfig=4}} is in the United States. The basin covers parts of Ontario and Quebec in Canada, parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and nearly the entirety of the state of Michigan in the United States. The average discharge below the Saguenay River is {{convert|16800|m3/s|cuft/s}}. At Quebec City, it is {{convert|12101|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}. The average discharge at the river's source, the outflow of Lake Ontario, is {{convert|7410|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}.

The St. Lawrence River includes Lake Saint Francis at Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Lake Saint-Louis south of Montreal and Lake Saint Pierre east of Montreal. It encompasses four archipelagoes: the Thousand Islands chain near Alexandria Bay, New York and Kingston, Ontario; the Hochelaga Archipelago, including the Island of Montreal and Île Jésus (Laval); the Lake St. Pierre Archipelago (classified a biosphere world reserve by the UNESCO in 2000)[http://www.pleinairalacarte.com/qc/monteregie/lac-saint-pierre-et-son-archipel.html Lac Saint-Pierre et son archipel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402102145/http://www.pleinairalacarte.com/qc/monteregie/lac-saint-pierre-et-son-archipel.html |date=2 April 2015 }}. Pleinairalacarte.com (2008-11-07). Retrieved 2013-07-12. and the smaller Mingan Archipelago. Other islands include Île d'Orléans near Quebec City and Anticosti Island north of the Gaspé. It is the second longest river in Canada.

Lake Champlain and the Ottawa, Richelieu, Saint-Maurice, Saint-François, Chaudière and Saguenay rivers drain into the St. Lawrence.

The St. Lawrence River is in a seismically active zone where fault reactivation is believed to occur along late Proterozoic to early Paleozoic normal faults related to the opening of the Iapetus Ocean. The faults in the area are rift-related and comprise the Saint Lawrence rift system.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the St. Lawrence Valley is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division, containing the Champlain section.{{cite web | title = Physiographic divisions of the conterminous U.S. | publisher = U.S. Geological Survey | url = http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/metadata/usgswrd/XML/physio.xml | access-date = 2007-12-06 }} However, in Canada, where most of the valley is, it is instead considered part of a distinct St. Lawrence Lowlands physiographic division, and not part of the Appalachian division.{{cite web|title=Physiographic Regions of Canada|url=http://ftp.geogratis.gc.ca/pub/nrcan_rncan/raster/atlas_6_ed/reference/eng/physiographic_eng.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021222228/http://ftp.geogratis.gc.ca/pub/nrcan_rncan/raster/atlas_6_ed/reference/eng/physiographic_eng.pdf |archive-date=2017-10-21 |url-status=live|website=Natural Resources Canada|publisher=Natural Resources Canada|access-date=18 February 2017}}

The source of the North River in the Mesabi Range in Minnesota (Seven Beaver Lake) is considered to be the source of the St. Lawrence River. Because it crosses so many lakes, the water system frequently changes its name. From source to mouth, the names are:

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

• North River{{cite encyclopedia | title = Saint Lawrence River and Seaway | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/517561/Saint-Lawrence-River | access-date = 2009-09-07 }}
• Saint Louis River{{cite web | title = Saint Lawrence | publisher = MSN Encarta | url = http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570826/st_lawrence.html | access-date = 2009-09-07 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080706103328/http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570826/St_Lawrence.html | archive-date = 6 July 2008}}
• Lake Superior
• St. Marys River
• Lake Huron
• St. Clair River
• Lake St. Clair
• Detroit River
• Lake Erie
• Niagara River
• Lake Ontario

}}

The St. Lawrence River also passes through Lake Saint-Louis and Lake Saint-Pierre in Quebec.

{{wide image|Pont de l'ile 2.JPG|1024px|Looking downstream: Quebec City (left), St. Lawrence River, Île d'Orléans (center), Lévis (right), Laurentian Mountains (background).|border=no}}

The St. Lawrence River and the largest tributaries of the Great Lakes.

The St. Lawrence River tributaries are listed upstream from the mouth. The major tributaries of the inter-lake sections are also shown, as well as the major rivers that flow into the Great Lakes. Great Lakes tributaries are listed in alphabetical order.

The list includes all tributaries with a drainage area of at least 1,000 square kilometres and an average flow of more than 10 cubic metres per second.

The diversity of the St. Lawrence River includes:{{cite web |title=The St. Lawrence, this great river that flows within us (David Suzuki Foundation) |url=https://fr.davidsuzuki.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/03/Carte-du-St-Laurent_6.pdf |website=Wild nature in the heart of Quebec and America |publisher=Fondation David Suzuki |access-date=1 September 2024 |language=fr |date=7 June 2023 |quote=... colossal reserve of resources natural and landscape matrix grandiose, the St. Lawrence is first and above all a source of life, a life astonishing diversity}}

• 19 species of marine mammals
• More than 230 species of birds
• Nearly 35 species of amphibians and reptiles
• 200 species of freshwater and saltwater fish (including 19 sharks and rays)
• 2200 invertebrates in the estuary and its gulf (sponges, jellyfish, corals, crustaceans, etc.)
• Nearly 2000 vascular plants{{cite web |author1=Frère Marie-Victorin |title=Flore laurentienne |url=https://florelaurentienne.com/ |publisher=florelaurentienne.com |access-date=1 September 2024 |language=fr |date=1935 |quote=inventory of natural vascular plant resources valley of the great Saint Lawrence River - Quebec}}

File:Whale watching Tadoussac 11.jpg off Tadoussac]]

Large marine mammals travel in all the seas of the earth, the research and observations of these giants concern fishermen and shipping industry, exercise a fascination and a keen interest for laymen and, subjects of endless studies for scientists from Quebec, Canada and around the world.{{cite web |title=Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park |url=https://parcmarin.qc.ca/home/ |publisher=Government Quebec - Government of Canada |access-date=19 August 2024 |date=2024 |quote=More than 2,200 species frequent these waters, including species at risk such as the beluga whale, the blue whale and the Barrow’s goldeneye.}}{{cite web |title=International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) |url=https://savedolphins.eii.org/about |publisher=Earth Island Institute |access-date=19 August 2024 |date=2024 |quote=We have achieved victories for marine mammals around the world and work to make the oceans safe for whales, dolphins and marine life.}}{{cite web |author1=Stéphane Plourde |title=Right Whales: A Look Back on the Summer of 2017 |url=https://www.qc.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/en/infocean/special-brief-1st-section-right-whales-look-back-summer-2017 |website=Gouvernement of Canada |publisher=InfoOceans - New wave |access-date=19 August 2024 |date=7 November 2017 |quote=The North Atlantic right whale is an endangered species - Over the coming months, the Government of Canada will meet with representatives of the fishing and shipping industries, Aboriginal communities, whale experts and scientists, as well as the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).}}

Thirteen species of cetaceans frequent the waters of the estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence:{{cite web |title=The Species of the St. Lawrence |url=https://baleinesendirect.org/en/discover/the-species-of-the-st-lawrence/the-13-species/ |website=Whales Online, magazine and encyclopedia |publisher=Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM) |access-date=10 August 2024 |date=July 2024 |quote=The different species of seals and whales are all mammal species. © GREMM}}

1. Northern bottlenose whale
2. Delphinapterus leucas (Beluga Whale){{cite web |author1=COSEPAC |title=Béluga - Delphinapterus leucas |url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2021/eccc/CW69-14-703-2021-fra.pdf |publisher=Wildlife species; Biodiversity; Species at risk; beluga |access-date=29 August 2024 |pages=132 |date=27 May 2021 |quote=We fear that the increase in maritime traffic, facilitated by climate change, is modifying the nature of the acoustic environment of the population. This population can correspond, or almost corresponds, to the criteria of the category “species threatened »}}{{cite web |author1=V. Lesage |author2=M. C. S. Kingsley |title=Assessment of knowledge of the beluga population (Delphinapterus leucas) from the St. Lawrence |url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/mpo-dfo/Fs97-6-2041-fra.pdf |publisher=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |access-date=29 August 2024 |pages=54 |language=en, fr |date=1995 |quote=The population of St. Lawrence belugas is relatively sedentary given that the most distant seasonal areas are not separated only by a few hundred kilometers}}
3. Sperm whale
4. Atlantic white-sided dolphin
5. White-beaked dolphin
6. Orca
7. Long-finned pilot whale
8. Phocoena phocoena (Harbour Porpoise)
9. North Atlantic right whale{{cite web |author1=Marie-Sophie Giroux |title=A black whale in sight! Please call Marine Mammal Emergencies! |url=https://baleinesendirect.org/une-baleine-noire-en-vue-merci-dappeler-urgences-mammiferes-marins/ |access-date=28 August 2024 |date=2024 |quote=Since 1998, several sightings of right whales have also been reported elsewhere in the St. Lawrence: Magdalen Islands, Baie des Chaleurs, Basse-Côte-Nord and the St. Lawrence estuary, in the Saguenay—St. Lawrence Marine Park.}}
10. Common minke whale
11. Blue whale{{cite web |title=Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) |url=https://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_blue_whale_e.pdf |website=Environment Canada - o Canadian Wildlife Service |publisher=Committee on the status of endangered wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) |access-date=29 August 2024 |date=22 August 2003 |quote=Today, the biggest threats for this species come from ship strikes, disturbance from increasing whale watch activity, entanglement in fishing gear, and pollution.}}
12. Humpback whale
13. Fin whale

File:Dauphin Map of Canada - circa 1543 - Project Gutenberg etext 20110.jpg

File:Basques Newfoundland.gif settlements and sites dating from the 16th and 17th centuries]]

File:A bend in the St. Lawrence, Quebec (I0006891).tif depicting a bend in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec]]

Flowing through and adjacent to numerous Indigenous homelands, the river was a primary thoroughfare for many peoples. Beginning in Dawnland at the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the river borders Mi'kma'ki{{cite web |title=Gespe'gewa'gi : Our District Territory |url=https://www.migmawei.ca/an/gespegewagi-district-territory/ |website=Mi’gmawei Mawiomi Secretariat |publisher=Mi’gmawei Mawio’mi |access-date=28 December 2021}} in the South (what is today known as the Canadian Maritimes), and Nitassinan in the North, the national territory of the Innu people.Nitassinan: The Innu Struggle to Reclaim Their Homeland, Douglas & McIntyre, December 1991, 240pp, by Marie Wadden, {{ISBN|978-1-55365-731-6}}, [http://www.dmpibooks.com/book/nitassinan (book link)] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130121161501/http://www.dmpibooks.com/book/nitassinan |date=2013-01-21 }} On the south shore beyond the Mi'kmaw district of Gespe'gewa'ki, the river passes Wolastokuk (the Maliseet homeland), Pαnawαhpskewahki (the Penobscot homeland), and Ndakinna (the Abenaki homeland).{{cite web |title=Territories |url=https://native-land.ca/ |website=native-land.ca |access-date=28 December 2021}} Continuing, the river passes through the former country of the St. Lawrence Iroquois and then three of the six homelands of the Haudenosaunee: the Mohawk or Kanienʼkehá꞉ka, the Oneida or Onyota'a:ka, and the Onondaga or Onöñda’gaga’.

In the early 17th century, the Huron-Wendat Nation migrated from their original country of Huronia to what is now known as Nionwentsïo centred around Wendake.{{cite web |title=Carte du Nionwentsïo |url=https://wendake.ca/cnhw/bureau-du-nionwentsio/a-propos/carte-du-nionwentsio/ |website=Nation Huron-Wendat |publisher=Nation Huronne-Wendat |access-date=28 December 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Jaenen |first1=Cornelius J. |title=Murray Treaty of Longueuil (1760) |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/murray-treaty-of-longueuil-1760 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |access-date=28 December 2021}} Nionwentsïo occupies both the north and south shores of the river, overlapping with Nitassinan and the more western Wabanaki or Dawnland countries. Adjacent on the north shore is the Atikamekw territorial homeland of Nitaskinan{{cite web |title=Les Attikameks s'attaquent à l'indifférence de Québec |website=Le Devoir |date=9 September 2014 |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/417966/les-attikameks-s-attaquent-a-l-indifference-de-quebec |access-date=20 April 2017 |language=fr}}{{cite web |title=Les Atikamekw déclarent leur souveraineté |website=Radio-Canada.ca |date=8 September 2014 |url=http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/683598/nation-atikamekw-declaration-souverainete-territoire |access-date=20 April 2017 |language=fr}} and, upstream, the further reaches of Anishinaabewaki, specifically the homelands of the Algonquin and Mississauga Nations.

The Norse explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the 11th century and were followed by fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century European mariners, such as John Cabot, and the brothers Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real. The first European explorer known to have sailed up the St. Lawrence River itself was Jacques Cartier. At that time, the land along the river described as "about two leagues, a mountain as tall as a heap of wheat" was inhabited by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians. During Cartier's second voyage in 1535, because Cartier arrived in the estuary on Saint Lawrence's feast day 10 August, he named it the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

{{cite book | last= Johnson | first= William Henry | url= http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21543/ | title= French Pathfinders in North America | via= Project Gutenberg | date= 2007-05-20

| access-date=2011-02-27 }}

{{Cite book|last=Bideaux|first=Michel|date=1986|title=Jacques Cartier: Relations|url=https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2367364|access-date=20 November 2021|publisher=Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal|language=fr|via=Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec|pages=130–131}}

The St. Lawrence River is today partly within the U.S. and as such is that country's sixth oldest surviving European place-name.The Spanish names Florida, Dry Tortugas, Cape Canaveral, Appalachian, and California appeared earlier.....From Spanish historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas's accounts, published in 1601 -- {{cite book |title=Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States |last= Stewart|first=George |author-link=George R. Stewart|year=1945 |publisher= Random House|location=New York |pages= 11–17, 29}}

The earliest regular Europeans in the area were the Basques, who came to the St Lawrence Gulf and River in pursuit of whales from the early 16th century. The Basque whalers and fishermen traded with indigenous Americans and set up settlements, leaving vestiges all over the coast of eastern Canada and deep into the St. Lawrence River. Basque commercial and fishing activity reached its peak before the Armada Invencible's disaster (1588), when the Basque whaling fleet was confiscated by King Philip II of Spain. Initially, the whaling galleons from Labourd were not affected by the Spanish defeat.

Until the early 17th century, the French used the name Rivière du Canada to designate the St. Lawrence upstream to Montreal and the Ottawa River after Montreal. The St. Lawrence River served as the main route for European exploration of the North American interior, first pioneered by French explorer Samuel de Champlain.

Control of the river was crucial to British strategy to capture New France in the Seven Years' War. Having captured Louisbourg in 1758, the British sailed up to Quebec the following year thanks to charts drawn up by James Cook. British troops were ferried via the St. Lawrence to attack the city from the west, which they successfully did at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The river was used again by the British to defeat the French siege of Quebec under the Chevalier de Lévis in 1760.

In 1809, the first steamboat to ply its trade on the St. Lawrence was built and operated by John Molson and associates, a scant two years after Fulton's steam-powered navigation of the Hudson River. The Accommodation with ten passengers made her maiden voyage from Montreal to Quebec City in 66 hours, for 30 of which she was at anchor. She had a keel of 75 feet, and a length overall of 85 feet. The cost of a ticket was eight dollars upstream, and nine dollars down. She had berths that year for twenty passengers.{{cite web |author1=Kevin C Griffin |title=St Lawrence Saga: The Clarke Steamship Story - Before Clarke Steamship |url=https://clarkesteamship.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/chapter-2.pdf |access-date=2 September 2024 |pages=2 of 132 |date=2013 |quote=The first steamship to operate on the St Lawrence River was John Molson's wooden paddle steamer Accommodation, built in Montreal in 1809.}}

Within a decade, daily service was available in the hotly-contested Montreal-Quebec route.{{harvnb|Denison|1955|p=91}}

Because of the virtually impassable Lachine Rapids, the St. Lawrence was once continuously navigable only as far as Montreal. Opened in 1825, the Lachine Canal was the first to allow ships to pass the rapids. An extensive system of canals and locks, known as the St. Lawrence Seaway, was officially opened on 26 June 1959 by Elizabeth II (representing Canada) and President Dwight D. Eisenhower (representing the United States). The Seaway (including the Welland Canal) now permits ocean-going vessels to pass all the way to Lake Superior.{{cite web |title=The St. Lawrence Seaway, a Vital Waterway |url=https://greatlakes-seaway.com/en/the-seaway/ |website=Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development |publisher=The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Seaway System |access-date=30 August 2024 |date=2024 |quote=According to a special report compiled by BMO Capital Markets, the eight states and two provinces that border the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway System generate an immense economic impact within North America.}}

Alcoa, Reynolds Metals Company, and General Motors (GM) Central Foundry operated along the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries for decades. The Alcoa plant opened in 1903, and Reynolds and GM began operations in the late 1950s. These facilities released toxic substances into the St. Lawrence River and the surrounding area, including PCBs, PAHs, cyanide, fluoride, and dioxins.

During the Second World War, the Battle of the St. Lawrence involved submarine and anti-submarine actions throughout the lower St. Lawrence River and the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence, Strait of Belle Isle and Cabot Strait from May to October 1942, September 1943, and again in October and November 1944. During this time, German U-boats sank several merchant marine ships and three Canadian warships.

In the late 1970s, the river was the subject of a successful ecological campaign (called "Save the River"), originally responding to planned development by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The campaign was organized, among others, by Abbie Hoffman.{{cite web|url=http://www.savetheriver.org/Default.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101212124/http://www.savetheriver.org/Default.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-11-01 |title=Save the River! |date=2008-11-01 |access-date=2019-05-27}}

File:Grand canoe reception given to the Prince of Wales on the St. Lawrence - ILN 1860.jpg on the St. Lawrence, 1860]]

• Gatien Lapointe, Ode au Saint-Laurent, Éditions du Jour, Montréal, 1963, Paradis, A. (1963), report, 3 pages.{{cite web |author1=Andrée Paradis |title=Ode to the St, Lawrence, poetry |url=https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/liberte/1963-v5-n3-liberte1027667/30235ac.pdf |publisher=Editions du Jour, Montréal |access-date=12 September 2024 |language=fr |date=1963 |quote=..the River never took shape with so much truth in one of our poets.. Gatien Lapointe certainly wrote a very beautiful poem there you will have to listen to the song slowly.}}
• The river was the setting for the Canadian television drama series Seaway.
• It is the namesake of Saint-Laurent Herald.
• In 1980, Jacques Cousteau filmed Cries from the Deep and St. Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea.{{cite web|url=http://blog.nfb.ca/2009/10/23/jacques-cousteau-in-canada/|title=When Cousteau Came to Canada|last=Ohayon|first=Albert|year=2009|work=NFB.ca|publisher=National Film Board of Canada|access-date=2009-10-25}}
• The 1993 Canadian animated short film The Mighty River was about the river.
• The novel and film Black Robe are set primarily on the St. Lawrence River during the 17th century.
• The 1941 children's book Paddle-to-the-Sea, and the film Paddle to the Sea, involve passage through the St. Lawrence River.
• The St. Lawrence River is mentioned in the 1967 single Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot.

{{Portal|Rivers|Geography|Canada}}

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• List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
• List of longest rivers of Canada
• List of Quebec rivers
• List of Ontario rivers
• List of New York rivers
• List of crossings of the St. Lawrence River

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• {{citation |last =Creighton |first =Donald Grant |year =2002 |type=reprint |orig-year= 1937 |title =The empire of the St. Lawrence: a study in commerce and politics |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=UODgxLx3edgC&q=Saint%20Lawrence%20River&pg=PP1 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0-8020-8418-4 }}
• {{citation |last =Dawson |first =Samuel Edward |year =2003 |title = The Saint Lawrence: Its Basin and Border-lands

|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=r-LZjcqnPtEC&q=Saint%20Lawrence%20River&pg=PP1 |publisher= Heritage Books|isbn= 0-7884-2252-9 }}

• {{cite book |last1=Denison |first1=Merrill |title=The Barley and the Stream: The Molson Story |date=1955 |publisher=McClelland & Stewart Limited}}
• {{cite magazine|title=Canada's Highway to the Sea|first=William S.|last=Ellis|magazine=National Geographic|pages=586–623|date=May 1980|volume=157|issue=5|issn=0027-9358|oclc=643483454}}
• {{citation |last =McNeese |first =Tim |year =2005 |title = The St. Lawrence River|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=yA0GNpSyKc4C&q=Saint%20Lawrence%20River&pg=PP1 |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |isbn= 0791082458 }}
• {{citation |last =Parham |first =Claire Puccia |year =2009 |title =The St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project : an oral history of the greatest construction show on earth |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=pxgOX-bUXVwC&q=Saint%20Lawrence%20River&pg=PP1 |publisher=Syracuse University|isbn=978-0-8156-0913-1 }}
• {{citation |last = Stagg |first =Ronald |year =2010 |title =The Golden Dream: A History of the St. Lawrence Seaway

|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=rvEV1-MhUt8C&q=Saint%20Lawrence%20River&pg=PP1 |publisher=Dundurn Press |isbn= 978-1-55002-887-4}}

{{Refend}}

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{{Commons category|Saint Lawrence River}}

• [http://parkscanadahistory.com/publications/fur-trade-canoe-routes.pdf Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada/Then and Now], 1969, Eric W. Morse, M.A.;F.R.G.S, 121 p.
• [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/The_Saint_Lawrence%2C_its_basin_%26_border-lands%3B_the_story_of_their_discovery%2C_exploration_and_occupation_%28IA_saintlawrenceits00daws%29.pdf The Saint Lawrence Its Basin & Border-Lands], 1905, Dr. S. E. Dawson, 584 p.
• [https://www.parks.on.ca/ St. Lawrence Parks Commission (Ontario)]
• [http://www.greatlakes-seaway.com/ Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System]
• [https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2024/mpo-dfo/Fs151-18-2024-eng.pdf Radio Aids to Marine Navigation 2024], Radio Aids to Marine Navigation 2024, (Atlantic, St. Lawrence, Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Arctic and Pacific) Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 298 pages
• [http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/VQ_P1_5_EN.html Safe Passage: Aids to Navigation on the St. Lawrence] – Historical essay, illustrated with drawings and photographs
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050831065022/http://www.readingstlawrencecounty.com/ Annotated Bibliography on St. Lawrence County and Northern New York region.]
• [https://ijc.org/en/loslrb International St. Lawrence River Board of Control]
• [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/st-lawrence-river Saint Lawrence River, The Canadian Encyclopedia]
• [http://www.nfb.ca/film/St_Lawrence_Stairway_to_the_Sea/ Watch the Jacques Cousteau documentary, St. Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea]
• [http://www.erudit.org/revue/gpq/2001/v55/n2/008298ar.pdf Timing and position of late Wisconsinan ice-margins on the upper slope seaward of Laurentian Channel] David J. W. Piper et Adam Macdonald, 2001, 11 page

{{Greatlakes}}

{{Vermont rivers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lawrence River}}

Category:Physiographic provinces

Category:International rivers of North America

Category:Rivers of New York (state)

Category:Rivers of Ontario

Category:Canada–United States border

Category:Rivers of Montérégie

Category:Rivers of Capitale-Nationale

Category:Rivers of St. Lawrence County, New York

Category:Regions of New York (state)