Ontonagon River
river in Michigan
The Ontonagon River ( ON-tə-NAH-gən) is a river flowing into Lake Superior at the village of Ontonagon, on the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States. The main stem of the river is 25 miles (40 km) long and is formed by a confluence of several longer branches, portions of which have been collectively designated as a National Wild and Scenic River. Several waterfalls occur on the river including Agate Falls and Bond Falls.
Course
The Ontonagon River's principal tributaries are its West, South, Middle and East branches, all of which flow in part through the Ottawa National Forest:
The West Branch Ontonagon River is entirely contained in Ontonagon County. It begins at the outlet of Lake Gogebic near the community of Bergland and flows generally east-northeastwardly for approximately 34.5 miles (55.5 km), collecting the South Branch and passing through a dam which forms the Victoria Reservoir.
The South Branch Ontonagon River is formed in southwestern Ontonagon County by the confluence of the short Tenmile Creek and the Cisco Branch Ontonagon River. The Cisco Branch starts in Cisco Lake in eastern Gogebic County and flows generally north-northeastwardly for 32.7 miles (52.7 km) to the South Branch, which then flows northwardly for 33.3 miles (53.6 km), passing the community of Ewen, to join the West Branch.
The Middle Branch Ontonagon River, 70.7 miles (113.8 km) long, issues from Crooked Lake in eastern Gogebic County and initially flows eastwardly, passing the community of Watersmeet. After collecting the Tamarack River, the Middle Branch turns northwardly into Ontonagon County, where it collects the Baltimore River and joins the East Branch.
The East Branch Ontonagon River, 59.3 miles (95.4 km) long, issues from Jingle Lake in northern Iron County and flows generally northwestwardly through Houghton County into Ontonagon County, where it joins the Middle Branch.
“Ontonagon River” enters the record as river in Michigan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ontonagon, River and river can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Ontonagon River” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ontonagon, River and river provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7095064. VIAF identifies the subject as 315527744. The Library of Congress control number is sh93003661. Authority coordinates are 46.876, -89.328. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ontonagon River” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.