The Wing River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed December 26, 2012

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 Leaf River in west-central

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 ...

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 Leaf and Crow Wing rivers, it is part 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 ...

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 ...

. Wing River Township is named for the river.

Course

The Wing River rises in Wing River Lake in Elmo Township of southeastern

Otter Tail County Otter Tail County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, its population was 60,081. Its county seat is Fergus Falls. Otter Tail County comprises the Fergus Falls micropolitan statistical area. With 1,048 lakes in it ...

and flows generally northeastwardly through northwestern

Todd Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...

and southern Wadena counties, past the town of Hewitt. It joins the Leaf River from the south in Wing River Township of Wadena County.

Cultural information

Leaf River was the principal river route serving west-central

. The Dakota and

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

used its course and the Otter-tail Portage — connecting West Leaf Lake with Otter Tail Lake — to access the waterways associated with the Red River of the North. In 1847, lands south of the Leaf River were ceded by the Ojibwe to allow the United States to establish a homeland for the

Menomini The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

. However, due to on-going and relentless skirmishes between the Ojibwe and the Dakota, the Menomini peoples declined the offers made by the United States and remained in

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 ...

References

Rivers of Otter Tail County, Minnesota Rivers of Minnesota Rivers of Todd County, Minnesota Rivers of Wadena County, Minnesota Tributaries of the Mississippi River {{Minnesota-river-stub

Course

Cultural information

See also

References