The Flat River is a tributary of the Grand River in the western part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It rises as the outflow of the six lakes (Six Lakes) system in Belvidere Township, west of Edmore in Montcalm County. It flows mostly south and slightly west through Montcalm County, Ionia County, and Kent County, flowing into the Grand River in Lowell. Other cities it flows through along the way include Greenville and Belding.
Two historic covered bridges cross the river. One, the Fallasburg Bridge, in Vergennes Township, Kent County is in Fallasburg County Park a few miles north of Lowell. The other, Whites Bridge is a few miles to the northeast in adjacent northwest Keene Township, Ionia County, near Smyrna.
There are 5 dams along the river: Greenville, Belding, Whites Bridge, Burroughs and Lowell.
It is the river named in the song "Sad Ballad of Jack Haggerty", sometimes known as "Flat River Girl."
Famous quotes containing the words flat and/or river:
“They all see you when you least suspect.
Out flat in your p.j.’s glowering at T.V.
or at the oven gassing the cat
or at the Hotel 69 head to knee.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“The mountain may be approached more easily and directly on horseback and on foot from the northeast side, by the Aroostook road, and the Wassataquoik River; but in that case you see much less of the wilderness, none of the glorious river and lake scenery, and have no experience of the batteau and the boatman’s life.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)