Forming one of the boundaries of northwest Middlesex County, the Ausable River begins its 150 mile journey to lake Huron from the Village of Staffa to its outlet at Port Franks, even though it is only 40 miles from Staffa to Port Franks! The river used to flow to Grand Bend, where an early resident built a mill. But flooding caused many problems for the area resident so they burned the mill down, thinking that their problems would end. They didn’t, so in 1875, the Canada Company constructed a “cut” in the river’s path from the south end of the Thedford Marsh to the Village of Port Franks. This “cut” drained the Thedford Marsh and enabled the land to be used for vegetable farming.   

The Ausable River used to have 4 major tributaries: Black Creek, Little Ausable River, Nairn Creek and Parkhill Creek. Since 1969, Parkhill Creek drains into Lake Huron directly, after a dam and reservoir were constructed just outside of the town of Parkhill. This dam and reservoir act as a storage area and flood control structure in order to regulate the flow of Parkhill Creek and control the serious flooding and soil erosion problems.

For more information on the Ausable River visit this weblink: http://www.oldausablechannel.ca/history.html