The Prairie River is a river in
Itasca County
Itasca County (pronounced eye-ta-ska) is located in the U.S. state, State of Minnesota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 45,014. Its county seat is Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Grand Rapids. The county is named af ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. The river is located in northern Minnesota, near the communities of
Taconite,
Bovey,
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
, and
La Prairie. It is a tributary 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 ...
.
In 1991
Enbridge
Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. ...
's
Line 3 pipeline
The Line 3 pipeline is an oil pipeline owned by the Canadian multinational Enbridge. Operating since 1968, it runs from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin, United States.
Concerns about the safety of the pipeline led Enbridge ...
ruptured near Grand Rapids, spilling 1.7 million of gallons of oil into the area, including the river, in the largest inland
oil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...
in US history.
On May 4, 1988, the world record
shorthead redhorse
The shorthead redhorse (''Moxostoma macrolepidotum'') is a wide-ranging species in North America. The shorthead redhorse is native to central and eastern North America. However, its range has expanded to include areas like the Hudson estuary and ...
(''Moxostoma macrolepidotum''), which weighed , was caught on the Prairie River by angler Greg Clusiau.
See also
*
List of rivers of Minnesota
Minnesota has 6,564 natural rivers and streams that cumulatively flow for . The Mississippi River begins its journey from its headwaters at Lake Itasca and crosses the Iowa border downstream. It is joined by the Minnesota River at Fort Snellin ...
*
List of longest streams of Minnesota
Out of the 6,564 streams that flow through the U.S. State of Minnesota, there are 114 streams that are at least 30 miles long. The second longest river in the United States, the Mississippi River, originates in Minnesota before flowing south t ...
References
Rivers of Minnesota
Tributaries of the Mississippi River
Rivers of Itasca County, Minnesota
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