The Amnicon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data The National Map /ref> river in
Douglas County, Wisconsin
Douglas County is a county located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,295 Its county seat is Superior. Douglas County is included in the Duluth, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistica ...
. The river's source is east of Dowling Lake and Amnicon Lake in central Douglas County, and its mouth is at
Lake Superior
Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
east of
Superior
Superior may refer to:
*Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind
Places
*Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state
*Lake ...
.
Amnicon Falls State Park
Amnicon Falls State Park is a state park of Wisconsin, United States. The park is located in South Range, Wisconsin, southeast of the city of Superior. It features a series of waterfalls on the Amnicon River as it flows around a small island a ...
includes two major waterfalls along the river. The two waterfalls highlight the Douglas Fault, which separates
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
and
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
formations in the area. The Upper Falls flow over basalt, while the Lower Falls flow over sandstone.
In the nineteenth century, loggers used the river to transport logs to Lake Superior. These logging operations provided building materials for Superior and