River Raisin - History and Geography

History and Geography

The River Raisin was used by local Potawatomi and Wyandot including a portage between the upper river into the Grand and Kalamazoo Rivers flowing west toward Lake Michigan. The river is still called canoeable throughout its length; however, low gradient, access issues, frequent logjams in the upper reaches and 22 dams on the mainstream limit its recreational use. The first European settlement of the river was the "ribbon" farms of Frenchtown established in the 1780s. Now part of Monroe, Michigan, this area is still the most populous area along the river. The resort area of Irish Hills lies in the uppermost region of the watershed which includes 429 lakes and ponds. The largest of these is the 800-acre (3.2 km2) Lake Columbia.

During the winter of 1813 as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of Frenchtown occurred near the river between British and Native American troops under the command of British General Henry Procter and Native American chiefs Roundhead, Walks in Water, and Split Log, and a division of Kentucky infantry and militia under command of General James Winchester. Cut off and surrounded and facing total slaughter, Winchester surrendered with British assurances of safety of the prisoners, but the next day many were killed by the Native Americans without British intervention.

The Massacre of the River Raisin became a rallying cry ("Remember the River Raisin") particularly for Kentuckians, and American troops returned in the spring to drive the British from Michigan forever. The original battlefield was a county park in Monroe, Michigan and has several monuments to the Kentucky soldiers who died there. On October 12, 2010, the land was transferred to the federal government and is now the only National Battlefield Park devoted to a battlefield of the War of 1812 as the River Raisin National Battlefield Park.

The river has been polluted by industrial wastes and agricultural runoff. While cleanup efforts have mitigated some of the pollution, there remains a problem with difficult-to-remove PCBs. An established Area of Concern covers only 2 square miles (5.2 km2) of the watershed at the mouth of the river, much of which is indrustrial and harbor use including the Ford Motor Company plant, Detroit Edison Monroe powerplant and the Port of Monroe. Environmental authorities advise people not to eat some kinds of fish from the river, below the outlet of the Monroe Dam.

The river has many small dams to control water flow, a legacy of the paper mills constructed along it in the mid-1800s and of Henry Ford's rural industry program. While most of the dams are in Monroe, the most significant one is located in Dundee, Michigan. The Port of Monroe was constructed near the mouth of the river in the 1930s. Flooding along the river comes from three causes: heavy rains, ice dams during spring break-up, and on-shore winds pushing Lake Erie waters upstream. The worst flood was recorded on March 16, 1982 at 15,300 cu ft/s (430 m3/s), compared to an average mean flow of 741 cu ft/s (21.0 m3/s). Flooding mostly affects only the lowest portions of the river. In contrast on July 13, 1988 during a severe drought, a measuring station found 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) of water flow.

Most of the flow of the river is diverted through the Detroit Edison plant and then discharged into Plum Creek. Previously it was discharged back into the river but is now diverted to limit additional pollution of the river mouth area. In fact, the power plant's peak use of 3,000 cu ft/s (85 m3/s) of water exceeds the river's average flow of 741 cu ft/s (21.0 m3/s), so water is drawn upstream from Lake Erie into the plant on some occasions. The high level of water use is thought to kill large numbers of fish in the intake screens and to make fish migration from the river into the Great Lakes almost impossible.