Dear Editor,
I’ve been meaning to write a letter to the editor on this topic, but you beat me to it with your editorial. Every time David refers to this watercourse as the South Branch, I tell myself to write, so here goes.
As one who has canoed the full length of this watercourse, I feel that I have some standing. My understanding is that the name is “Kemptville Creek”, for the following reasons:
- Every map I’ve seen says “Kemptville Creek”.
- It is hardly big enough to be called a river. During some dry summers there is no flow.
- Calling it the “South Branch of the Rideau River” is pejorative, like calling Kemptville a south suburb of Ottawa.
- This watercourse, “Kemptville Creek”, actually has two branches, a north branch coming from Atkins and Cranberry Lakes, and a south branch originating at Mud Lake. If the watercourse were called the “South Branch”, one would need to distinguish between the south branch of the South Branch, and the north branch of the South Branch.
Note that Kemptville Creek (both branches) originates in Elizabethtown Township and that a significant portion of the north branch flows through Wolford Township. Any survey of name preference should extend beyond North Grenville.
Stew Hamill
Merrickville
