Menominee River

Menominee River watershed

Menominee River

White Rapids Hydroelectric dam

The Menominee River is a river in northwestern Michigan and northeastern Wisconsin in the United States. It is approximately 118 mi (190 km long), draining a rural forested area of northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan into Lake Michigan. Its entire course, with that of its tributary, the Brule River, forms part of the boundary between the two states.^[1][2]

It is formed along approximately 10 mi (16 km) northwest of Iron Mountain, Michigan by the confluence of the Brule and Michigamme rivers. It flows southeast, past Kingsford, Michigan and Niagara, Wisconsin, then generally south, making broad meanders collecting the Sturgeon, Pemebonwon and Pike rivers. It enters the Green Bay on Lake Michigan from the north between Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan.

Along its course the Menominee River has been converted into a series of large reservoirs. The waters contained in these reservoirs are some of the areas deepest and cleanest lakes. Many of the lands that around those waters are managed for recreational use, which ensures conservation and restricts shoreline development. The lakes are pristine, wild shores of forest lands instead of rows of cottages and docks.^[3]

The region through which the river flows was formerly a center of iron ore mining.

The name of the river comes from the name of an Algonquian language term meaning "wild rice," or "in the place of wild rice," named for the Menominee tribe who lived in the area and subsisted on the plant. The Chippewa lived in the upper portion of the river basin and referred to the river as "Me-ne-cane Sepe" or "Many Little Islands River".

Menominee River sediments are contaminated with arsenic at Marinette.^[4]

See also

• Ansul Islands
• List of Michigan rivers
• List of Wisconsin rivers

Sources

• Environmental Protection Agency
• Interactive map

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Menominee River

• Friends of the Menominee River
• Kayaking information
• The Menominee Indians