Flint River (Michigan)

Flint River
The Flint River Watershed
Origin	Lapeer County
Mouth	Saginaw River
Basin countries	Michigan,  United States
Length	78 miles (126 km)
Basin area	Saginaw River watershed

The Flint River is a 78.3-mile-long (126.0 km) river in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan in the United States. It flows through the city of Flint and the counties of Genesee, Lapeer and Saginaw.

Name

The river's name is a translation from the Ojibwe language Biiwaanagoonh-ziibi (Flinty River).^[1] For a time, an Indian Reservation named Pewonigowink (Biiwaanagoonying: By the Flinty [River]) existed near Genesee, Michigan.^[2]

Course

Map of the Saginaw River watershed including the Flint River

The Flint River drains 1,332 square miles (3,450 km²) of Michigan, mostly in the counties of Lapeer, Genesee, Shiawassee, and Saginaw. It also drains parts of Oakland, Tuscola, and Sanilac counties.

The river is formed in Lapeer County near Columbiaville where the river's South Branch and North Branch come together. The river is supplemented by four major creeks, the Kearsley (draining the south and central portions of the east side of Genesee County), Thread (draining the south central part of the county), Swartz (draining the Swartz Creek area), and Misteguay (draining the area near the northern section of the border of Genesee and Shiawassee counties).

The river empties into the Shiawassee River in the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge near the city of Saginaw. Within the refuge, the Cass and Tittabawassee rivers combine with the Shiawassee to form the Saginaw River. The Saginaw empties into the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron.

Features along the Flint River

The river is dammed in Richfield Township to form the Holloway Reservoir, which was formed in 1953 and fully completed 1955. The reservoir was constructed, originally, as a water supply for Flint, and to move the river through the city more quickly to dilute sewage.^[3] By 1967, though, the city got its drinking water from Lake Huron through a pipeline from Detroit, and only uses the reservoir as an emergency back-up water supply.

The C.S. Mott Dam just 5 miles (8 km) downstream and west of Genesee forms Mott Lake and was completed in 1972 for recreational use. Local attractions along the lake include Crossroads Village (home of the Huckleberry Railroad), Stepping Stone Falls, and the riverboat Genesee Belle.

The next dam is the Utah Dam. A largely steel dam, it was completed in 1928 to prevent industrial discharges from entering the drinking water supply downstream. The gates have since been locked in the open position so that it no longer impedes the flow of the river.

The Hamilton Dam exists downstream at the University of Michigan–Flint campus in downtown Flint. Constructed in 1920, it once also served as a pedestrian bridge, but is now in severe disrepair. Because of its dilapidation, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality ordered that steps be taken by 2008, and if that did not occur that the river be lowered to reduce the use of the dam.^[4] In 2008, the city of Flint spent $30,000 on a pre-engineering study to assess whether a new dam was needed or the old one be repaired.

Finally, downstream from the Hamilton Dam is an inflatable dam just west of the Grand Traverse Street Bridge. The Fabridam was completed in 1979 mostly for visual and recreational purposes as it impounds very little of the river. It was replaced in 2001 with a $604,000 Obermeyer Hydro Inc. dam.^[5]

In the city of Flint, the river flows past the sites of former General Motors factories, most notably Chevrolet's first assembly plant, which was bisected by the river, and downtown through the campus of the University of Michigan–Flint and Riverbank Park. Continuing to the west, the river runs past Kettering University and McLaren Hospital out into Flint Township and Flushing. The stretch of the Flint River from downtown Flint to Kettering University is channelized with concrete sides. In downtown Flint, the Flint Carriage Factory is on the river, which was later Dort Motors, a predecessor to General Motors. The Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office, now a historic landmark, is across the street.

A recreational trail called the Flint River Trail runs along the river from Grand Traverse Street in downtown Flint to Carpenter Road on one side and Johnson Elementary School on Pierson Road on the other. It is a paved path, except behind the Flint water plant. North of Carpenter Road, the trail connects to the Mott Lake Trailway, which goes to Bluebell Beach on Bray Road and Stepping Stone Falls on Branch Road in Genesee Township. Another portion of the Mott Lake Trailway runs alongside the lake from the corner of Center Road and Coldwater Road to the corner of Genesee Road and Stanley Road. Together, the trails run 21.5 miles (34.6 km). An organization named Friends of the Flint River Trail maintains it, in addition to the Genesee County Parks & Recreation Commission and Flint Parks & Recreation Department.^[6][7]

Northwest of Flint, a city park in Flushing lies on the river, as well as the recreational Flushing River View Trail.

Cities and villages along the river

• Montrose, Michigan
• Flushing, Michigan
• Flint, Michigan
• Genesee, Michigan
• Columbiaville, Michigan
• Lapeer, Michigan

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flint River (Michigan).

• Flint River assessment
• Maps and graphs of Michigan water resources conditions
• USGS Water Data Flint River water data near Otisville
• USGS Water Data Flint River near Flint
• Flint River Watershed Coalition
• USGS water data for the Flint River near its terminus