Experimental work on electromagnetic streamflow measurements on the tidal Fraser River in British Columbia shows that the method of using the earth's magnetic field has two advantages: it gives an instantaneous value of the water velocity integrated over the entire cross section of the river and it is independent of temperature. In the Canadian climate both factors are important. The instrumentation is relatively inexpensive and it consists of a digital to analog converter, strip chart recorder, cable and silver electrodes. The instrumentation is essential for noise filtering and signal amplification. However, the final interpretation of the measured signal is quite difficult; it requires measurements from an electronic analog of the river cross section, resistivity of the ground below, conductivity of the water and a numerical hydrodynamic model. The flow velocities obtained from the measurements of induced potentials, caused by the Fraser River flowing across the earth's magnetic field, compared favourably with velocities computed from a proven hydrodynamic numerical model.