The Escanaba River ( ) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed December 19, 2011

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

on the

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan—also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. or Yoop—is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula b ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. The name of this large river system and the community of

Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city and the county seat of Delta County, Michigan, Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula. The popu ...

were derived from an

Ojibwa The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thro ...

(Chippewa) Indian word meaning “flat rock". It is a wide river that cuts into

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

beds. The water has a brown to orange color due to the presence of iron deposits in the surrounding area. The upper river is rocky and scenic and supports brook,

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

and some

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

throughout along with warmwater species in the impoundments. The main Escanaba River is known for its pools and rapids. From the Delta County line, the river runs south to its mouth on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

at , near the city of

. The Escanaba River watershed is one of the largest watersheds in Michigan's Upper Peninsula totaling 924 square miles and has 508 miles of streams that flow year-round. This watershed starts in west central Marquette County, north of Lake Michigan, and flows southeast to Lake Michigan at

Little Bay de Noc Little Bay de Noc is a bay in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The bay opens into Lake Michigan's Green Bay. The bay, consisting of approximately 30,000 acres (120 km2), is enclosed by Delta County. The cities of Esca ...

Branches

The Escanaba River has three major branches: the East branch, West branch, and Middle branch. The East branch is located in Marquette County and has a length of 13 miles, flowing through Michigamme State Forest and Escanaba River State Forest. The riverbed here is sandy rather than rocky. Warner Creek, Schweitzer Creek, and an outlet of Goose Lake contribute to the East branch's flow. The 29-mile-long West branch flows through Dickinson County and Marquette County and joins the main portion of the Escanaba River between Boney Falls and Gwinn, Michigan. Its tributaries include Flatrock Creek, Whiskey Creek, Wildwest Creek, and McGregor Creek, all of which join Schwartz creek before connecting to the West branch itself. The smaller North branch joins the West branch to form the Big West branch, whose main tributaries are Chandler Brook and Gleason Creek. The West branch has a sandy bed interspersed with gravel. The Middle branch is fed by waters from various lakes, most notably Brocky Lake, Wolf Lake, Log Lake, and Clear Lake. It also has a number of tributaries such as Bell Creek, West Branch Creek, and Black River. The East Branch and the Middle Branch of the Escanaba converge in the town of Gwinn to form the

main stem In hydrology, a main stem or mainstem (also known as a trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". The mainstem extends all the way from one specific headwater to the outlet of the river, although t ...

Recreation

The Escanaba River is a popular location for recreational fishing. It is home to such fish as brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, Northern pike, bass, yellow perch, panfish, smelt, and walleye. Wide stretches of the East and Big West Branches are especially good for

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling technique that uses an ultra-lightweight lure called an artificial fly, which typically mimics small invertebrates such as flying and aquatic insects to attract and catch fish. Because the mass of the fly lure is in ...

, though bait fishing is also popular here and on the main river. Canoeing and boating are popular on the main river as well as portions of the larger branches. The Big West Branch, from the convergence of the North and West branches to the Delta County line, is mostly wide and smooth, ideal for a canoe trip. Dams on the river's branches require caution, however. The river flows through Escanaba State Forest, which is a scenic location for camping and sightseeing.

Dams

There are five dams on the Escanaba River which generate electricity. Four belong to the Escanaba River Hydroelectric Project, with the first dam being built in 1907 and the second in 1910. The fourth dam, the Boney Falls Impoundment, was built in 1920 by the Mead Corporation to power the company's

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

. The fifth dam is the Cataract Hydroelectric Project, located on the Middle branch Escanaba River in Marquette County, near the community of Gwinn. The Cataract dam was constructed in 1929 and purchased by UP Hydro, LLC in 2011.

In Literature

In his poem ''

The Song of Hiawatha ''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his lo ...

'',

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

describes how

Hiawatha Hiawatha ( , also : ), also known as Ayenwatha or Aiionwatha, was a precolonial Native American leader and cofounder of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was a leader of the Onondaga people, the Mohawk people, or both. According to some accounts, he ...

"crossed the rushing Esconaba". John D. Voelker, writing as Robert Traver, authored fishing stories set on the Escanaba in ''Trout Madness''.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Michigan Rivers of Delta County, Michigan Tributaries of Lake Michigan