The Spurr River is a short stream in 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 of
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, ...
. It rises from the outflow of Beaufort Lake at and flows
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
accessed December 19, 2011 east-southeast into
Lake Michigamme at .
The river flows along the south side of
US 41
U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part i ...
/
M-28 for most of its course. To the north of the road is a high ridge. There is a lookout tower at the top with views of Beaufort Lake, George Lake, and Ruth Lake to the south of the ridge and the smaller Trout Lake, Middle Lake, and Coon Lake to the north.
The source of the river, Beaufort Lake, is the last and largest in a series of three small lakes. Ruth Lake is fed by Nestoria Creek from the west and Canal Town Creek from the south. The outflow from a series of smaller lakes to the east, Coon Lake, Middle Lake, and Trout Lake enters Ruth Lake from the northeast. George Lake lies between Ruth Lake and Beaufort Lake.
The river is entirely within
Spurr Township in
Baraga County. Both the Spurr River and Spurr Township take their name from the Spurr Mountain mining settlement of the Spurr Mountain Iron Company near
Imperial Heights.
References
Rivers of Michigan
Rivers of Baraga County, Michigan
Tributaries of Lake Michigan
{{Michigan-river-stub