Carrot River

Carrot River
Highway 23 bridge over the Carrot River during the 2006 flood near the town of Carrot River
Country	Canada
Source	south of Crystal Springs
- location	Saskatchewan
- coordinates	52°45′47″N 105°24′18″W / 52.76306°N 105.40500°W / 52.76306; -105.40500
Mouth	near The Pas
- location	Saskatchewan River, Manitoba
- coordinates	53°50′02″N 101°18′17″W / 53.83389°N 101.30472°W / 53.83389; -101.30472Coordinates: 53°50′02″N 101°18′17″W / 53.83389°N 101.30472°W / 53.83389; -101.30472
Location of the mouth of the Carrot River

The Carrot River is a river in north-eastern Saskatchewan, and north-western Manitoba. Its headwaters originate in the Cudworth and Tiger Hill Plains near the Town of Wakaw. The outlet of Wakaw Lake marks the beginning of the Carrot River and, from there, this river flows northeast through the Melfort and Red Earth Plains until it joins into the Saskatchewan River west of The Pas, Manitoba. The Carrot River is about 300 km in length and it parallels the course of the South Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Rivers. The Carrot River serves as the main watershed for north-eastern Saskatchewan as all smaller streams and rivers empty into the Carrot River. This causes major flood problems during the spring run off and rainy seasons around the Town of Carrot River and Red Earth Indian Reserve. The floods usually strand everyone east of the river with very few ways around the flooded area.

Another Carrot River enters Oxford Lake on the Hayes River.

The Carrot River valley was initially inhabited by Cree and Saulteaux Aboriginal people. English fur trader and explorer Henry Kelsey explored the river in the summer of 1691.Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne and Anthony Henday also explored the valley during the 1750s.

During the 1980s the Royal Saskatchewan Museum explored the banks and rock edges of the Carrot River, because a local farmer had been finding numerous fossils in that area. The tests on the found fossils showed them to be approximately 92 million years old. The sites along the Carrot River proved to be some of the wealthiest deposits of fossils and showed deposits from numerous other species including sharks and fish.

The most notable find was in 1991, when the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and the Canadian Museum of Nature unearthed the remains of an ancient crocodile. During the next couple of years, using shovels, pick-axes, and explosives, they retrieved a six-meter skeleton of Terminonaris Robustus but everyone called it "Big Bert". Big Bert turned out to be very well preserved and the only one of its kind found in Canada. They also found a complete fossil of xiphactinus and toothed birds.