The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin, about 75 miles (121 km) long.

Description

The river beings in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin and flows south past Grafton to downtown Milwaukee, where it empties into Lake Michigan. Cedar Creek, the Menomonee River and the Kinnickinnic River are the three main tributaries.

Watershed

The Milwaukee River watershed drains over 900 square miles in southeastern Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee River watershed is part of the Lake Michigan subbasin; this subbasin is itself a part of the St. Lawrence River Watershed, which is fed by the Great Lakes.

The Milwaukee River watershed covers 830 square miles, including parts of Dodge, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha counties.

History

The Milwaukee River area was populated by Native Americans in the time before European settlement. Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet navigated from Lake Michigan through the Milwaukee River on their way to the Fox River and the Mississippi.

In the early 1800s, three towns were formed across the banks of the Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic rivers: Juneau Town by Solomon Juneau, Walker's Point by George Walker and Kilbourn by Byron Kilbourn . The quarrel over the formation of a bridge across the Milwaukee River was a key point in the merging of the three towns into the city of Milwaukee in 1846.

See also List of Wisconsin rivers

External Links

• Milwaukee River Basin Partnership
• Milwaukee Green Map: Watersheds