Ecorse River

The Ecorse River is an 18.8-mile-long (30.3 km)river in southern Michigan. Because of its small size, it is often identified as Ecorse Creek. It flows through the Downriver section of Metro Detroit, and is a tributary of the Detroit River. The early French settlers named it the Rivière aux Écorces ("bark river"). The river was given this name because of a custom, of the local Native American tribe, of wrapping its dead in birch or elm bark, and burying them at the mouth of the river. The river has two branches, which meet at Council Point Park in the city of Lincoln Park, where Pontiac once held a council in 1763 before attacking Fort Detroit.

The river system consists of a 4.5-mile-long (7.2 km) South Branch (10.7 miles (17.2 km) when including the Sexton-Kilfoil Drain) and a 18.2-mile-long (29.3 km) North Branch, which combine and run another 0.6 miles (0.97 km) to the Detroit River. Elevations run from 670 feet (200 m) above sea level in the northwest corner of the watershed to 575 feet (175 m) at the Detroit River. Over a year, it has a mean flow of 3.2 cubic feet (0.091 m³) per second. The Ecorse River has a watershed of 43.4 square miles (112 km²). The north branch drains 18.75 square miles (48.6 km²) and has tributaries designated the Trouton Drain, Freeman Drain, Black Creek, and the Douglas and Kelly Drain. The south branch has a drainage area of 12 square miles (31 km²), and tributaries include the Grams Drain in Southgate and the Brighton, Bondie, and the Sloss and Ganong Drains in Taylor. The rest of the watershed is drained by enclosed underground drains, the largest of which is the La Blanc Drain which enters the north branch about 500 feet (150 m) north of the junction of the north and south branches. The La Blanc Drain drains 12 square miles (31 km²).

The north branch flows through Romulus, Dearborn Heights, Allen Park, along a small portion of the southern border of Melvindale, Lincoln Park and then along the border of Lincoln Park and Ecorse. The south branch flows through Romulus, Taylor, Allen Park and Lincoln Park. It is joined by the Sexton and Kilfoil Drain in Taylor. After the two branches join in Lincoln Park, the river flows along the boundary between Ecorse and Wyandotte to its mouth on the Detroit River. A marina occupies both banks of the river at its mouth.

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