{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}}{{Short description|Waterfall}} '''Muskrat Falls''' was a natural {{Convert|15|m|adj=on}} waterfall located on the Churchill River about {{Convert|25|km}} west of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador.
The hydropower potential of Muskrat Falls was recognized in the early 1900s when the Grand River Pulp and Lumber Company proposed to build a dam along with a paper mill. Neither was ever constructed. In the early 1970s an engineering and geotechnical survey was carried out to determine the hydro potential of the site. The site was developed as part of the Lower Churchill Project, despite concerns of methylmercury poisoning by researchers and local Inuit.<ref name="MyUser_Cbc.ca_November_11_2016">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/muskrat-falls-labrador-mehylmercury-1.3821827 |title=Scientists back Inuit in efforts to limit mercury poisoning risk from Muskrat Falls hydro project - Technology & Science - CBC News |newspaper=Cbc.ca |date= |author= |access-date= November 11, 2016}}</ref><ref name="MyUser_Cbc.ca_November_11_2016c">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/harvard-research-hydroelectric-projects-methylmercury-1.2879212 |title=Not just Muskrat Falls: Harvard study identifies higher health risk in 11 other hydro projects - Newfoundland & Labrador - CBC News |newspaper=Cbc.ca |date= |author= |access-date= November 11, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author1=Olsen|first=Deidre|date=2018-12-07|title=How Activists Are Resisting a Megadam That Threatens 'Cultural Genocide'|work=Vice|publisher=|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-activists-are-resisting-a-megadam-that-threatens-cultural-genocide/|access-date=2021-06-14}}</ref>
It is rumored{{according to|date=January 2020}} that in 1944 the crew of a German submarine had beached it at the falls when they decided to withdraw from World War II.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}} The rumour inspired a novel by Walter Sellars, ''Hard Aground'' published in 1992,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kelly|first=Ann|date=October 1992|title=Book Review: Hard Aground|url=http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/cmarchive/vol20no5/revhardaground.html|url-status=dead|journal=CM Archive|volume=20|issue=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124224303/http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/cmarchive/vol20no5/revhardaground.html|archive-date=2020-01-24}}</ref> but was thought to be unsupported. In 2010, coast guards searching for three men who died after being carried over Muskrat Falls found a {{Convert|30|m|4=-long|adj=mid}} object on the bottom of the Churchill River, believed by diver Brian Corbin to be the missing U-boat.<ref>{{Citation | url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/german-u-boat-may-be-at-bottom-of-labrador-river-1.1164735 | title = German U-boat may be at bottom of Labrador river | work = CBC News | publication-date = July 25, 2012 | publisher = Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | access-date = July 27, 2012 }}</ref> However, examination of historical records shows this to be unlikely, and the sonar images were quite grainy.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hopper|first=Tristan|date=2013-04-19|title=Group on mission to prove there is truth in legends that Nazi submarines went far inland from Canadian coast|url=https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/group-on-mission-to-prove-there-is-truth-in-legends-that-nazi-submarines-went-far-inland-from-canadian-coast|access-date=2021-06-15|website=National Post|language=en-CA}}</ref>
{{coord|53|14|44|N|60|46|17|W|region:CA-NL_type:waterbody_scale:10000|display=title|notes=<ref>{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | title =GeoNames Query -Muskrat Falls: Query Record Details | work =Natural Resources Canada | publisher =Government of Canada | date =2008-11-09 | url =http://geonames2.nrcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/v9/sima_unique_v9?english?AAPAA?C | format = | doi = | access-date =2008-11-09 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110608150623/http://geonames2.nrcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/v9/sima_unique_v9?english%3FAAPAA%3FC | archive-date =2011-06-08 | url-status =dead }}</ref>}}
==See also== *List of waterfalls of Canada *Lower Churchill Project
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Labrador Category:Waterfalls of Newfoundland and Labrador Category:Churchill Falls
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