Humber River (Newfoundland)

The Humber River, 153 km long, drainage basin 7680 km², is the principal river of western Newfoundland. Named for the English river, it rises in the long range mountains west of White Bay and flows southeast and then southwest to Deer Lake, where it is joined by a tributary draining the 100-km-long Grand Lake. The Humber flows southwest from Deer Lake into Humber Arm at Corner Brook and on into the Bay of Islands, having fallen nearly 660 m from its sources. The river is rich in Atlantic salmon and was, from the 1800s, a waterway for European trappers. Though its mouth had been charted by James Cook in the 1760s, there was little permanent settlement in the region until the mid-1800s. Flowing through great stands of timber, the Humber has been used by loggers since the late 1800s.