Montreal River, Wisconsin | Wisconsin Historical Society

Historical Essay

Montreal River

Origin of the Montreal River

Montreal River, Wisconsin | Wisconsin Historical Society
Dictionary of Wisconsin History.

Between Wisconsin and Michigan, and emptying into Lake Superior. The Chippewa word for the river is "Ga-wassidjiwang," meaning "where there is a strong, foamy current in a river."

From Increase Lapham's 1844 Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin:

"The MONTREAL RIVER does not appear, from the recent surveys, to be so large and important a stream as has been supposed. It heads some considerable distance west of the Lac Vieux Desert (Lake Katakittekon) is full of rapids and falls, especially towards its mouth, and is scarcely navigable for canoes. About eighty yards from the mouth, or entrance into the Montreal bay, there is a rapid with a descent of some eighty or ninety feet."

Learn More

See more images, essays, newspapers and records about the Montreal River.

Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.

[Source: Card file at the WHS Library reference desk]