Grand River (Michigan)
Encyclopedia
The Grand River is the longest river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. It runs 252 miles (405.6 km) through the cities of Jackson
Jackson, Michigan
Jackson is a city located along Interstate 94 in the south central area of the U.S. state of Michigan, about west of Ann Arbor and south of Lansing. It is the county seat of Jackson County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534...

, Eaton Rapids
Eaton Rapids, Michigan
Eaton Rapids is a city in Eaton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 5,214 at the 2010 census.The city is located in the south of Eaton Rapids Township, on the boundary with Hamlin Township, though it is politically independent of both townships...

, Lansing
Lansing, Michigan
Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...

, Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

, and Grand Haven
Grand Haven, Michigan
Grand Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Ottawa County. Grand Haven is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River, for which it is named. As of the 2010 census, Grand Haven had a population of 10,412. It is part of the...

.

Description

The Grand begins in Somerset Township
Somerset Township, Michigan
Somerset Township is a civil township of Hillsdale County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,277 at the 2000 census. The Grand River, Michigan's longest river, begins at natural springs within the township.-Communities:...

 in Hillsdale County, and in Liberty Township
Liberty Township, Jackson County, Michigan
Liberty Township is a civil township of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 2,903.-Geography:...

 in Jackson County, and flows through Jackson, Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, Ionia, Kent, and Ottawa counties before emptying into Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

.

Its watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 drains an area of 5572 square miles (14,431.4 km²), including 18 counties and 158 townships. The Grand River carries an average 3,800 ft³/s (108 m³/s). It has several dams along its length but is a trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

 and salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

 stream for much of its length.

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. Much of the basin is flat, and it contains many swamps and lakes.

Tributaries are the Flat River
Flat River (Michigan)
The Flat River is a tributary of the Grand River in the western part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It rises as the outflow of the six lakes system in Belvidere Township, west of Edmore in Montcalm County. It flows mostly south and slightly west through Montcalm County, Ionia County, and Kent...

, Looking Glass River
Looking Glass River
The Looking Glass River in the U.S. state of Michigan is a river flowing through the central region of the Lower Peninsula. It is about long, has no dams, and borders many wetlands and woodlots....

, Maple River
Maple River (Grand River)
The Maple River is a tributary of the Grand River in the central part of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It rises in Shiawassee Township, Shiawassee County south of the city of Owosso. It flows west through Clinton, Gratiot and Ionia counties, flowing into the Grand River at Muir...

, Red Cedar River
Red Cedar River (Michigan)
The Red Cedar River is a westward-flowing tributary of the Grand River in Michigan. Its source is Cedar Lake which is located in Marion Township in the southeastern corner of Livingston County, and it runs about through Okemos, East Lansing, including the campus of Michigan State University, and...

, Rogue River
Rogue River (Michigan)
The Rogue River is a river in the U.S. state of Michigan. It runs through Kent and Newaygo counties and through the Rogue River State Game Area. It is long and has a drainage basin of ....

, Coldbrook Creek
Coldbrook Creek (Michigan)
Coldbrook Creek is an urban stream in Grand Rapids in Kent County, Michigan. Its origin is the outflow of Fisk Lake on the John W. Blodgett Estate, and the stream eventually drains to the Grand River...

, Plaster Creek
Plaster Creek
Plaster Creek is a urban stream in Kent County, Michigan in the United States. It is a tributary of the Grand River. The stream is named for the large deposit of gypsum found at its mouth...

, Crockery Creek, and the Thornapple River
Thornapple River
The Thornapple River is an tributary of Michigan's longest river, the Grand River. The Thornapple is located in western Michigan. It joins the Grand in Ada, Michigan.- Description :...

.

During the ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

 era the lower Grand River was part of a glacial river that drained Saginaw Bay
Saginaw Bay
Saginaw Bay is a bay within Lake Huron located on the eastern side of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms the space between Michigan's Thumb region and the rest of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Saginaw Bay is in area...

 into Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

. The outflow then poured over the Chicago divide and flowed down the Illinois River and Mississippi River.

Every ten years the river is celebrated by an expedition along the entire length. The journey of discovery explores and documents the problems and opportunities of Michigan's Grand River and its watershed. Grand River Expedition 2010 (GRE2010) included a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, technicians, historians, educators, students, environmental professionals, boaters and anglers, civic and business leaders, local, state and federal government representatives, writers, visual media specialists and private individuals from the general public. GRE2010 began in Liberty Center south of Jackson on July 14, continued down the 225 navigable miles through Eaton Rapids, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and ended at Grand Haven on Lake Michigan on July 26. Traditionally, some participants make the entire trip, camping along the way, while others paddle shorter stretches of the river. The watershed analysis and teaching team conducted studies and explains resulted as it moves downstream. The expedition offered presentations, displays and demonstrations to communities along the river in an attempt to interact with the river, its tributaries, and its people throughout the watershed. One of its stops was in Portland, at the riverside Verlen Kruger
Verlen Kruger
Verlen Kruger was a canoe enthusiast who paddled over in his lifetime according to the Guinness Book of World Records, all the more remarkable because he did not start until age 41. Of particular note are the and the , the longest canoe journey ever.-Video:-External links:* *...

 Memorial pavilion. Kruger traveled over 100000 miles (160,934 km) by paddle, was the 1990 and 2000 GRE Rivermaster, and counted the Grand as his favorite river.

A 500-passenger dinner cruise ship modeled after a riverboat operates on the river in Lansing.

Grand Rapids was built on the site of a large rapids on the river, although these have disappeared after the installation of a low-head dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

, and later a fish ladder
Fish ladder
A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass or fish steps, is a structure on or around artificial barriers to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration. Most fishways enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps into the waters on...

.

History

Before roads, canals, and railroads, the Grand River was an important navigational route through the Lower Peninsula of Michigan
Lower Peninsula of Michigan
The Lower Peninsula of Michigan is the southern of the two major landmasses of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is surrounded by water on all sides except its southern border, which it shares with Ohio and Indiana. Geographically, the Lower Peninsula has a recognizable shape that many people...

, used for centuries by various Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 tribes and later by explorers, fur traders, and white settlers. The river was called O-wash-ta-nong, meaning "Far-away-water" because of its length.

It 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 the 1821 Treaty of Chicago
Treaty of Chicago
The Treaty of Chicago may refer to either of two treaties made and signed in Chicago, Illinois between the United States and the Ottawa, Ojibwe , and Potawatomi Native American peoples.-1821 Treaty of Chicago:...

, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...

 ceded to the United States all lands in Michigan Territory
Michigan Territory
The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan...

 south of the Grand River, with the exception of several small reservations.

Grand River Avenue
Grand River Avenue
US Highway 16 , also called Grand River Avenue for much of its length, is one of the principal pre-Interstate roads in the state of Michigan. Before the creation of the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926, the highway had been designated M-16...

 (or Grand River Road) was built early in the settlement of Michigan and runs from the head of navigation on the Grand to downtown Detroit. It formed an important part of an early route between Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and Detroit, along with the Grand itself, from Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

 to Grand Haven
Grand Haven, Michigan
Grand Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Ottawa County. Grand Haven is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River, for which it is named. As of the 2010 census, Grand Haven had a population of 10,412. It is part of the...

, and Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

.

Grand Valley State University

Two of Grand Valley State University
Grand Valley State University
Grand Valley State University is a public liberal arts university located in Allendale, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1960, and its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids...

's campuses reside on the banks of the Grand River. The main campus in Allendale
Allendale Charter Township, Michigan
Allendale Charter Township is a charter township of Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 20,708...

 and the Pew Grand Rapids campus in Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

 both border the river in separate locations miles from each other. The Grand is home to GVSU's rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

team, and the crew boathouse sits parallel to the river on the Allendale campus's north side.
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