St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan)
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The St. Joseph River (locally known as the St. Joe) is a river, approximately 210 mi (338 km) long, in southern Michigan and northern Indiana in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Michigan. It was enormously important in the days of Native Americans and the colonial settlement as a canoe route between Lake Michigan and the watershed of the Mississippi River. It is sometimes known as St. Joseph River of Lake Michigan to distinguish it from the nearby St. Joseph River in the Maumee River watershed.
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[edit] Description
It rises in southern Michigan in Hillsdale County near Baw Beese Lake, within 5 mi (8 km) of the headwaters of the St. Joseph River in the Maumee watershed. It follows a zigzag route generally westward across southern Michigan, dipping into northern Indiana. From its headwaters it flows initially northwest past Hillsdale into southeastern Calhoun County, then turns abruptly southwest to flow past Tekonsha, Union City, and Sherwood. At Three Rivers it is joined from the north by the Rocky and Portage Rivers, then 3 mi (5 km) further southwest by the Prairie River from the east.
It crosses into northern Indiana, flowing west through Elkhart and South Bend, where it turns abruptly to north to re-enter southwestern Michigan in southeastern Berrien County. In southwestern Michigan it follows a wide meandering route generally northwest through Niles and past Berrien Springs. It enters Lake Michigan between St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, receiving the Paw Paw River from the north approximately 1 mi (1.6) km from its mouth on Lake Michigan.
[edit] History
The river was one of the most significant early transportation routes both to Native Americans and to early French fur trappers in the Illinois Country. It furnished two different portages that allowed nearly continuous travel by canoe among different watersheds of the region. The first major transfer point was at its headwaters in southwestern Michigan, where it furnished a portage to the St. Joseph River of the Maumee River watershed, which drained into Lake Erie.
The second major transfer point was at South Bend, Indiana, where a short portage to the nearby Kankakee River allowed access to the Illinois River and subsequently to the Mississippi.
Another major access point along river was at Niles, Michigan, where the Old Sauk Trail, a major east-west Indian trail crossed the river. The French established Fort St. Joseph there in 1691.
In 1995 Dorla Null was the first known woman to canoe the entire length of the river.[citation needed]
[edit] Cities and towns along the St. Joseph River
[edit] Indiana
[edit] Michigan
- Benton Harbor
- Berrien Springs
- Buchanan
- Burlington
- Constantine
- Fair Plain
- Hillsdale
- Jonesville
- Litchfield
- Mendon
- Niles
- St. Joseph
- Tekonsha
- Three Rivers
- Union City
[edit] See also
[edit] External link
- Friends of the St. Joe River: History
- Saint Joseph River Watershed Website
- St. Joseph River Interstate Anadromous Fish Project
- Michigan DNR Fisheries Special Report No. 24--Executive Summary on the Saint Joseph River
- USGS Paw Paw River Flow Data at Riverside, Michigan (The Paw Paw is the last major tributary of the Saint Joseph before it flows into Lake Michigan)
- USGS St. Joseph River Flow Data at Niles, Michigan
- USGS St. Joseph River Flow Data at Mottville, Michigan
- USGS St. Joseph River Flow Data at Three Rivers, Michigan
- USGS St. Joseph River Flow Data at Burlington, Michigan
