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| Grand River | |
|---|---|
 A map of the Grand River | |
 | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Somerset Township, Hillsdale County, Michigan |
| • coordinates | 42°05′12″N84°25′21″W / 42.08670°N 84.42245°W /42.08670; -84.42245[1] |
| Mouth | |
• location | Grand Haven, Michigan |
• coordinates | 43°03′30″N86°15′03″W / 43.05835°N 86.25088°W /43.05835; -86.25088 |
| Length | 252 mi (406 km) |
| Basin size | 5,572sq.mi. |
| Discharge | |
| • location | mouth |
| • average | 5,048.87 cu ft/s (142.968 m3/s) (estimate)[2] |
TheGrand River (Ottawa:owashtanong, "Far-Flowing Water")[3][4] is a 252-mile-long (406 km)river in theLower Peninsula of theU.S. state ofMichigan. The longest river in Michigan,[5] the Grand River rises inHillsdale County, and flows in a generally northwesterly direction to its mouth atLake Michigan in the city ofGrand Haven. The river flows through a number of cities, includingJackson,Lansing,Ionia, andGrand Rapids.
The river was famous for its mile-long, 300-yard-wide, and 10-to-15-foot-tall rapids, for which the city ofGrand Rapids was named. These rapids were submerged following the construction of numerous dams, starting in 1835, and flooding of areas behind the dams. The river has not had any rapids for nearly a century.
The headwaters of the Grand River begin from naturalsprings inSomerset Township inHillsdale County near the boundary withLiberty Township inJackson County.[6] From there, the river flows through Jackson, Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, Ionia, Kent, and Ottawa counties before emptying into Lake Michigan. The river runs through the cities ofJackson,Eaton Rapids, Dimondale,Lansing,Grand Ledge,Portland,Ionia,Lowell,Grand Rapids, andGrand Haven.
The Grand River is a major tributary of Lake Michigan. It falls in elevation from 1260 ft. in the highlands of its headwaters to 577 ft. at its mouth on Lake Michigan. Its waters drain northward through the lake, then south and east through the Great Lakes waterways into theSt. Lawrence River, which flows northeasterly into theGulf of St. Lawrence on theAtlantic Ocean. The Grand River discharges an estimated average 5,049 cubic feet per second (143.0 m3/s).[2]
Itswatershed is the second-largest in the state, draining an area of 5,572 square miles (14,430 km2), including 18 counties and 158 townships. Much of the basin is flat, and it contains many swamps and lakes. The basin is composed of four sub-basins: Upper Grand, Lower Grand, Thornapple, and Maple, where the four major tributaries flow: the Flat, Rogue, Thornapple, and Maple rivers.
Tributaries of the river include (beginning nearriver source and travelling downstream):Portage River,Red Cedar River,Looking Glass River,Maple River, Prairie Creek, Bellamy Creek,Flat River,Thornapple River,Rogue River,Coldbrook Creek,Plaster Creek,Bass River,Buck Creek and Crockery Creek.
There are fourteen dams on the main branch of the Grand River. Some 218 dams were built on its tributaries; these have divided the ecosystem into a set of dysfunctional local streams. 228 of these dams are registered with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
The main branch dams are:[7]
Lower
Middle
Upper
Headwaters
It is estimated that 22% of the pesticide usage in the Lake Michigan watershed occurs in the Grand River drainage, which accounts for only 13% of the lake's total watershed.[citation needed] The river is atrout andsalmon stream for much of its length.Lake Sturgeontravel up the Grand to lay their eggs, too.
As theglacial ice receded from what is the centralLower Peninsula of Michigan around 11,000 years ago, the Maple River and lower Grand River served as a drainage channel for themeltwater from a glacial stage of Lake Erie and Lake Huron. The channel ran east to west, emptying intoproglacialLake Chicago, the ancestor of Lake Michigan. During this period, the upper Grand River was a separate tributary to the Maple River-lower Grand River system.[8] As the developing Great Lakes found lower outlets and began to drain east and lower the level of these lakes, the Maple River contributed less and less of the upper Grand River's flow until the former upper Grand River became the lower river's primarysource.
About 2,000 years ago, theHopewell Indians settled along the Grand River near present-dayGrandville. Their presence is still seen in the preserved burial mounds.
By the late 17th century, the Grand River band ofOdawa had established villages on the banks of the Grand River at the sites of what would later become several towns and cities, includingGrand Rapids,Forest Hills,Lowell,Lyons, andPortland.[9] For these peoples, as well as for later explorers, fur traders and settlers, the river served as an important navigational trade route and cultural hub.[3]
The river formed part of a major demarcation of land ceded by Native Americans enabling U.S. settlers to legally obtain title to land in the area. In the1821 Treaty of Chicago, the Odawa,Ojibwe, andPotawatomi ceded to the United States all lands inMichigan Territory south of the Grand River, with the exception of several small reservations.
The city of Grand Rapids was built starting in 1826 on the site of a mile longrapids 40 miles upstream from the river's mouth, although these disappeared after the installation of arun-of-river dam in 1866 and five low-rise dams[specify] during a river beautification project in 1927.
The Grand was important to the rapid development of West-Central Michigan during the 1850s to 1880s, as logs from Michigan's rich pine and oak forests floated down the Grand River for milling. After the Civil War, many soldiers found jobs as lumberjacks cutting logs and guiding them down the river with pike poles, peaveys, and cant hooks. The men wore bright red flannel, felt clothes, and spiked boots to hold them onto the floating logs; these boots chewed up the wooden sidewalks and flooring of the local bars, leading one hotel owner to supply carpet slippers to all river drivers who entered his hotel. The "jacks" earned $1 to $3 per day and all the "vittles" they could eat, which was usually a considerable amount.
In 1883, heavy rains during June and July brought water levels on the river to record highs. The flooding was bad enough, but the rising water overwhelmed lumbering booms—river enclosures used to sort and organize logs for transport to saw mills—in Lowell, Grand Rapids as well as Grand Haven and Robinson townships. As water rose, the logs escaped the enclosures, much like cattle fleeing stockyards. Soon, Kent and Ottawa counties had a 'stampede', as millions of logs flowed uncontrolled down the river and became trapped in bends or against bridges. The result was a logjam of incredible proportions that clogged the river for 47 miles (10 million Feet of logs trapped in Lowell, 95 million Feet of logs trapped in the "Big Bend" northeast of Grand Rapids, 80 million Feet of logs trapped in Ottawa County).[10]
Grand River Avenue (or Grand River Road) was built early in the settlement of Michigan[vague] and ran from the head of navigation on the Grand to downtown Detroit. It formed an important part of an early route betweenChicago andDetroit, along with the Grand itself, from Grand Rapids toGrand Haven onLake Michigan.
Afish ladder installed in 1974 replaced the West Side Water Power Canal headgates removed in 1960. In recent years, Grand Rapids Whitewater, a private nonprofit organization, is working toward restoring the rapids to the river in Grand Rapids. The project, which began in 2019, will remove five dams between Sixth street and Pearl street to restore an 18-foot drop in the Grand River's elevation.[11]
Two ofGrand Valley State University's campuses are located on the banks of the Grand River. The main campus inAllendale and the Pew Grand Rapids campus inGrand Rapids both border the river in separate locations miles from each other. The Grand is home to GVSU'srowing team, and the crew boathouse sits parallel to the river on the Allendale campus's north side.[12]
Coast Guard Station Grand Haven is situated near the mouth of the river in Grand Haven. The station gives Grand Haven its nicknameCoast Guard City USA.[13]
At least 80 bridges cross the river's 250-mile span, with most bridge structures clustered in metropolitan/municipal areas along the river. County road and state highway crossings can be found in less densely populated areas along the waterway:
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