The Red River is hardly one of North America’s most notable rivers. It runs a mere 880 kilometres from its headwaters in North Dakota to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg, just the twenty-third longest river in the country. As the crow flies, the distance it covers is only 458 kilometres, such is its circuitous route. Its average discharge of 8,334 cubic feet per second is even less remarkable, ranking it thirty-ninth among Canada’s rivers.