Wisconsin River

Wisconsin River
Wisconsin and the Wisconsin River
Location
Country	United States
State	Wisconsin
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Lac Vieux Desert
• elevation	1,683 ft (513 m)
Mouth
• location	Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
• coordinates	42°59′22″N 91°09′14″W / 42.98944°N 91.15389°W / 42.98944; -91.15389
Length	420 mi (680 km)
Basin size	12,280 sq mi (31,800 km2)
Discharge
• average	12,000 cu ft/s (340 m3/s) at mouth
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Lower Wisconsin Riverway
Designated	14 February 2020
Reference no.	2417[1]

The Wisconsin River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At approximately 430 miles (692 km) long, it is the state's longest river. The river's name was first recorded in 1673 by Jacques Marquette as "Meskousing" from his Indian guides - most likely Miami for "river running through a red place."^[2]

Before roads into Wisconsin, the river was canoed, hunted and fished by Indians.^[3] Loggers used the upper reaches of the river and its tributaries to drive logs to their sawmills and the lower reaches to float rafts of sawn boards to markets as near as Portage and as far as St. Louis.^[4] Today dams along the river generate hydroelectric power and people fish, boat, water-ski and sight-see on the river.^[5]