Chapter 16: Water Resources

16.53: The Assiniboine River/Shell River Junction Before the Construction of the Shellmouth Dam

The photo shows the southward-flowing Assiniboine River 1 near the junction with its left bank tributary, the Shell River 2. Thunder Creek 3 flows across the southeast corner on its way south to join the Assiniboine (off the photograph), and a small unnamed creek 4 joins the Assiniboine from the north. The Assiniboine flows on a steep-sided, flat-floored spillway just over a mile (1.6 km) wide at this location 5. In the north the Assiniboine is surprisingly straight 6, but further south and west it meanders 7 with many abandoned channels 8. The Shell also has a meandering form especially where it flows across the spillway floor 9. The Shellmouth Dam, completed in 1967, was built across the Assiniboine just below the Shell junction along the dashed line 10.

In what was in 1956 a rather remote part of the province, there is little settlement and few transport routes. The hamlet of Shellmouth 11 can be seen in the west with the CN railway line 12 passing through it. It angles down the east side of the spillway 13, runs perpendicularly across the spillway floor 14, and angles up the west side of the spillway 15, a route designed to achieve minimum gradients. PR 482 16 can be seen in the north, and a gravel road leading to Shellmouth 17 takes two jogs, one to pass between two sloughs 18 and the other to decrease the gradient down the spillway side 19.

Figure 16.53: The Assiniboine River/Shell River Junction Before the Construction of the Shellmouth Dam

Figure 16.53

Vertical air photograph: A15537-130

Flight height: 20,000 feet; lens focal length: 6 inches

Scale: 1:36,200 (approx.)

Date: October 10, 1956

Location: Townships 22 and 23; Range 29WI

Map sheets: 1:250,000 62K Riding Mountain

                    1:50,000 62K/14 Inglis