Milwaukee River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin, about 75 miles (121 km) long.
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[edit] Description
The river begins 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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: Juneautown by Solomon Juneau, Walker's Point by George H. Walker and Kilbourntown 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.
[edit] Bridges
The Milwaukee River has numerous movable bridges spanning it, allowing for pedestrian and vehicular traffic. These bridges include several different types, including bascule and vertical lift bridges. There are also many fixed bridges, as well as several pedestrian-only and railroad tressles.
The following is a partial list of bridges that cross the river, from north to south:
- Brown Deer Road Bridge
- Range Line Road Bridge
- Good Hope Road Bridge
- Green Tree Road Bridge
- Bender Road Bridge
- Silver Spring Drive Bridge
- Hampton Avenue Bridge
- I-43 Bridge
- Port Washington Road Bridge
- Capitol Drive Bridge
- Locust Street Bridge
- North Avenue Bridge
- Humboldt Street Bridge
- Holton Street Bridge
- Pleasant Street Bridge
- Cherry Street Bridge
- McKinley Avenue Bridge
- Juneau Avenue Bridge
- Highland Avenue Pedestrian Bridge
- State Street Bridge
- Kilbourn Avenue Bridge
- Wells Street Bridge
- Wisconsin Avenue Bridge
- Michigan Street Bridge
- Clybourn Street Bridge
- I-794 Bridge
- Saint Paul Avenue Bridge
- Water Street Bridge
- Young Street Bridge
There are also several Union Pacific (former Chicago and Northwestern Railway) railroad bridges crossing the Milwaukee River, including:
- north of Bender Road
- south of Silver Spring Drive
- Railroad Swing Bridge #1556 [1]
