The Crawfish River is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the Rock River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed May 13, 2011 in south-central

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Via the Rock River, it is part of the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. The

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

issued a decision clarifying the name and course of the Crawfish River in 1987.

Course

Crawfish River Looking East at Dodge County Wisconsin Line

The Crawfish River rises in Columbia County and initially flows eastward in a broadly

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...

ing course, collecting the North Branch Crawfish River and passing the city of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. In Dodge County the river turns southward and collects two tributaries, the Maunesha River and the

Beaver Dam River The Beaver Dam River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Crawfish River in south-central Wisconsin in the United States. Via the Crawfish a ...

, before entering Jefferson County, where it joins the Rock River at the city of

Jefferson Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...

Aztalan State Park Aztalan State Park is a Wisconsin state park in the Town of Aztalan, Jefferson County. Established in 1952, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The park covers ...

is along the river in Jefferson County at the site of a 10th - 13th Century Native American settlement. Among other tributaries, the Crawfish River collects the North Branch Crawfish River, which also rises in Columbia County and flows through the village of

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

. Shortly before merging the Rock and Crawfish rivers cross under

Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...

. Both rivers flood the nearby land on an annual basis. In 2008, some lanes on I-94 were temporarily closed due to flooding from both rivers.

References

Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry
*

DeLorme DeLorme is the producer of personal satellite tracking, messaging, and navigation technology. The company’s main product, ''inReach'', integrates GPS and satellite technologies. ''inReach'' provides the ability to send and receive text messages ...

(1992). ''Wisconsin Atlas & Gazetteer''. Freeport, Maine: DeLorme. . {{authority control Rivers of Wisconsin Rivers of Columbia County, Wisconsin Rivers of Dodge County, Wisconsin Rivers of Jefferson County, Wisconsin Tributaries of the Mississippi River

Course

See also

References