Cheboygan River

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Cheboygan River flowing through Cheboygan

The Cheboygan River is a short but significant river in the Lake Huron drainage of the U.S. state of Michigan.

6 miles (10 km) in length, it flows from the north end of Mullett Lake to the Straits of Mackinac. Its largest tributary is the Black River. The Cheboygan River is entirely contained within Michigan's Cheboygan County, and the county seat of Cheboygan is located at the river's mouth. The river forms the port of Cheboygan, and serves as a dock for the ferry boat to Bois Blanc and the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw.^[1]

Cheboygan was founded as a lumbering town to cut timbers harvested from the Cheboygan River's drainage and floated down to mills (now mostly vanished) at the mouth of the river. Today, one of the biggest industries of the town and river of Cheboygan is pleasure boating up and down the river. The river is a key artery of the Inland Waterway, a pleasure-boat necklace of waterways in the northern section of Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

The Cheboygan River descends 13 feet (4 m) in its six-mile length, from 594 feet (181 m) above sea level, the level of Mullett Lake, to Lake Huron at 581 feet (177 m) above sea level. The river and other sections of the Inland Waterway are made accessible by locks maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

The mouth of the Black River, 3.5 miles (5.5 km) south of Cheboygan, is a noted spot to look for bald eagles and other fish-eating raptors.