The river winds along the entire length of the western limit of the Rouge-Matawin Wildlife Reserve that it separates from the Zec de la Maison-de-Pierre.

The landscape also changes from a rocky plateau to a sandy plain and crosses its first village, L'Ascension, then Labelle and La Conception.

Under the leadership of the priest François-Xavier-Antoine Labelle, the river served as a path of colonization which saw the birth of most of the communities along its course and its tributaries.

[3] The Rouge River valley served as a penetration route for the pioneers responding to calls for colonization in the north of Montreal made by the priest Antoine Labelle.

[1] Another explanation would come from a red chalk deposit located at Grand lac Nominingue that the Algonquins and Iroquois used to paint themselves.

[5] The toponym Rivière Rouge was formalized on December 5, 1968, by the Commission de toponymie du Québec.