The Eagle 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 drai ...
of the
Wisconsin River
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, first recorded in 1673 by Jacques Marquette as "Meskous ...
in northeastern
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 territori ...
. Via the Wisconsin River, it is part of the
watershed 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 fl ...
, draining an area of 181.7 square miles (470.6 km²) in the state's
Northern Highland
The Northern Highland is a geographical region in the north central United States covering much of the northern territory of the state of Wisconsin.
The region stretches from the state border with Minnesota in the west to the Michigan border i ...
region. The river flows for much of its length through a series of
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
s; the network of 28 lakes in the Eagle River's watershed is locally claimed to be the "world's largest chain of inland freshwater lakes."
The Eagle River rises in extreme western
Forest County in the
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, and flows generally northwestwardly in northeastern
Oneida County and southeastern
Vilas County, passing through the Oneida County town of
Three Lakes and the Vilas County towns of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
and
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
, and the city of
Eagle River. Along its course it flows through Big, Dog, Deer, Big Stone, Laurel, Medicine, Little Fork, Island, Round, Planting Ground, and Long Lakes in Oneida County; and Cranberry, Catfish, Voyageur, Eagle, Otter, Lynx, Duck, and Yellow Birch Lakes in Vilas County. It flows into Watersmeet Lake on the Wisconsin River in the town of Lincoln, approximately two miles (3 km) west of the city of Eagle River.
See also
*
List of rivers in Wisconsin
References
{{authority control
Rivers of Wisconsin
Rivers of Forest County, Wisconsin
Rivers of Oneida County, Wisconsin
Bodies of water of Vilas County, Wisconsin