The Iroquois River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed May 13, 2011

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 Kankakee River in the Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and northeastern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

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 ...

. It was named for the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

people. Via the Kankakee and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

rivers, 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 f ...

Course

The Iroquois River rises in

Jasper County, Indiana Jasper County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 33,478. The county seat is Rensselaer. Jasper County is included in the Chicago-Naperville- Elgin, IL-IN- WI Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hist ...

, and flows generally west-southwestwardly through

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

County, Indiana, and

County, Illinois, where it turns northward and flows into Kankakee County, Illinois. It enters the Kankakee River from the south in Kankakee County, opposite the village of Aroma Park, about southwest of the city of Kankakee. Along its course the Iroquois passes the town of Rensselaer,

Brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

, and Kentland in Indiana and the towns of

, Watseka and Sugar Island in Illinois.

Variant names

According to the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

, the Iroquois River, or portions thereof, has also been known as: *Borntrager Ditch *Burns Ditch *Irokois River *Iroquois Ditch *Pickamick River *Pickamink Lateral *Pickamink River *Pinkamink River *Swain Ditch *Thompson Ditch

La rivière des Iroquois

The name, ''La rivière des Iroquois'' was given to the riverway by the French, through the Annual of René de la Salle. It has been proposed that the river got it name from ''la Fourche des Iroquois'' or the Fork of the Iroquois, now Aroma Park. The French phrase would be a reference to "the Irouquois' Fork" or a place where the French or the French allied tribes ( Illini) had an experience with the Iroquois at this location.Native American Place Names of Indiana; Michael McCafferty; University of Illinois Press, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; April 2008 The French explores had arrived in the Kankakee basin

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (; November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687), was a 17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, ...

in 1679. The

had been raiding across the Michigan Peninsula over the previous decade and began to move further west around the southern tip of Lac de Illinois or

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

. In 1682 he built Fort St. Louis atop

Starved Rock State Park Starved Rock State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Illinois, characterized by the many canyons within its . Located just southeast of the village of Utica, in Deer Park Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, along the south bank of the ...

on the Illinois River as a place of refuge from raiding Iroquois. Thus, the history of the

Beaver Wars The Beaver Wars ( moh, Tsianì kayonkwere), also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars (french: Guerres franco-iroquoises) were a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in North America throughout t ...

as the Iroquois raids became known and the French name for the junction of the modern Iroquois River and the Kankakee River implies the movement of Iroquois raiding bands through this location and probably using the Iroquois River route as their way around the Great marsh of the Kankakee. A legend among the Illinois tells of a time the Iroquois were surprised along the bank of this waterway and were driven away with great losses. (Charlevoix‘ Narrative Journal, 1721, vol. 2, p. 199.) Colonel Guerdon Hubbard hears a similar story in the middle 19th Century.History of the Iroquois County; H.W. Beckwith; H. H. Hill and Company; Chicago, Illinois; 1880

Basin

The Iroquois river is fed by the Sugar, Mud, Fountain Spring, Prairie, Langham, Pike and Beaver creeks. The Iroquois river, from the Sugar Island around Iroquois County Rd 3300 N to mouth in Aroma Park, the river is shallow and rocky. It is bordered by

silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

limestone. South of the island the river is deep and slow moving, nearly to the state line. The Iroquois begins in the low lands, north and west of

Rensselaer, Indiana Rensselaer is a city located along the Iroquois River in Marion Township, Jasper County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,859 at the 2010 census, up from 5,294 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Jasper County. Saint ...

. It circles clockwise to the north and east, entering Rensselaer from the east. Continuing southwestward for more than to

Watseka, Illinois Watseka is a city in and the county seat of Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately west of the Illinois-Indiana state line on U.S. Route 24. The population of Watseka was 5,255 according to the 2010 census, which ...

. Here the river turns towards the north, reaching its junction with the Kankakee another .

Towns and cities

Brook, Indiana Brook is a town in Iroquois Township, Newton County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 997 at the 2010 census. History Brook was laid out in 1866. A post office has been in operation at the town since 1859. The George Ade Hou ...

Kentland, Indiana Kentland is a town in Jefferson Township, Newton County, Indiana, Jefferson Township, Newton County, Indiana, Newton County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 1,641 at the 2020 census. History The town was founded in 1860 as "Kent", ...

Iroquois, Illinois Iroquois is a village in Concord Township, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States, along the Iroquois River. As of the 2010 census the population was 154, down from 207 at the 2000 census. Geography Iroquois is located in eastern Iroquois Co ...

* Sugar Island, Illinois

Sources

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 ...

(2003). ''Illinois Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. . *

(1998). ''Indiana Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. .

Gallery

{{authority control Rivers of Illinois Rivers of Indiana Rivers of Iroquois County, Illinois Rivers of Jasper County, Indiana Rivers of Kankakee County, Illinois Rivers of Newton County, Indiana Tributaries of the Illinois River