Menominee River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the river in Wisconsin and Michigan. For the Illinois river, see Menominee River (Illinois). For the river in southeastern Wisconsin, see Menomonee River.
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 forms part of the boundary between the two states.
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, then generally south, making broad meanders. It enters the Green Bay on Lake Michigan from the north between Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan.
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.
