The river, stretch by stretch
Lock 42 Couchiching, at Severn Bridge, is on the route boaters take between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay (Parks Canada, n.d.-c). Downstream, the river flows through Sparrow Lake to Lock 43 Swift Rapids (Parks Canada, n.d.-d, n.d.-g); the Lock 42 to Lock 43 guide and the Sparrow Lake guide cover this stretch.
Below Swift Rapids, the river runs down to Lock 44, the Big Chute Marine Railway, the only marine railway of its kind in North America (Parks Canada, n.d.-e, n.d.-g); Ontario Power Generation’s Big Chute Generating Station sits on the river near Severn Falls (Ontario Power Generation, n.d.). North of the river lies the Severn River Conservation Reserve, a Crown land reserve whose southern boundary is defined by the river, though much of that edge is bordered by private shoreline properties (Government of Ontario, 2021); see the Lock 43 to Lock 44 guide.
Parks Canada lists the “Severn River including Gloucester Pool and Little Lake” among the waterbodies under its jurisdiction (Parks Canada, 2007). Big Chute lifts boats over a ridge between the Severn River and Gloucester Pool (Township of Georgian Bay, n.d.), and the route continues to Lock 45 at Port Severn, the waterway’s northern gateway and smallest lock (Parks Canada, n.d.-f); see the Gloucester Pool guide and the Georgian Bay waterfront guide.
Washago, a Township of Severn community on Lake Couchiching (Township of Severn, n.d.-a), is covered in the Lake Couchiching guide. Which municipality a property sits in also matters day to day: it sets the zoning, issues building permits, and sets the municipal share of property tax. Each stretch guide names the municipalities along that stretch.
