Gourt Home::Gourt :: Clinton River
The Clinton River is a stream in the southeast of the U.S. state of Michigan.
The main branch of the river rises in a series of small lakes west of Pontiac. The north branch and the middle branch rise in northern Macomb County and join the main branch in Clinton Charter Township, which was named after the river. The main branch flows 80 miles (128 km) from its headwaters to Lake St. Clair near Mount Clemens.
The Clinton River watershed drains 760 square miles (1,968 sq km) including most of Macomb County, a large portion of Oakland County and small portions of Lapeer County and St. Clair County. More than 1.4 million people in over 60 municipalities live in the watershed.
Under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972, along with 42 other areas, the lower segment of the river was designated as an Area of Concern, based on the heavy presence of pollutant contamination. In 1995, the designation was expanded to include the entire watershed of the river and the lower nearshore of Lake St. Clair.
The Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal was a failed attempt to built a waterway connecting Lake St. Clair with Lake Michigan.
The river was renamed in honor of DeWitt Clinton, the governor of New York from 1817 to 1823. Previously, the river had been known as the "Nottawasippee" by the French and Native Americans. The English referred to it as the Huron River of St. Clair.
The Huron-Clinton Metroparks system preserves land in the watershed as public parks.
External links
"Clinton River"