The Grand 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 ...

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

, 102.7 miles (165.3 km) long,Ohio Department of Natural Resources
''A Guide to Ohio Streams.''Chapter 10: Major Ohio Watersheds (pdf)
in northeastern

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

.Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry
Via Lake Erie, the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York in the United States (on the east). There are diffe ...

and

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

, 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 St. Lawrence River, which flows to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. It drains an area of 712 mi² (1844 km²). The Grand River begins in southeastern

Geauga County Geauga County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,397. The county seat is Chardon. The county is named for an Onondaga or Seneca language word meaning 'raccoon', originally the name of the ...

and initially flows eastward into

Trumbull County Trumbull County is a county in the far northeast portion of U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 201,977. Its county seat is Warren, which developed industry along the Mahoning River. Trumbull County is part of the ...

. Downstream of West Farmington it turns northward into

Ashtabula County Ashtabula County ( ) is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,574. The county seat is Jefferson. The county was created in 1808 and later organized in 1811. The name Ashtabula der ...

County, where it flows through the village of Rock Creek and then turns westward into Lake County, where it flows through the communities of

Painesville Painesville is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Ohio, Lake County, Ohio, United States, located along the Grand River (Ohio), Grand River northeast of Cleveland. Its population was 19,563 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 cens ...

and Grand River before flowing into Lake Erie in

Fairport Harbor Fairport Harbor is a village in Lake County, Ohio, United States, along Lake Erie at the mouth of the Grand River. The population was 3,109 at the 2010 census. Fairport Harbor is home to two lighthouses: the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Li ...

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 message ...

(1991). ''Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme.

Watershed description

On January 17, 1974, the Grand River became Ohio's second

wild and scenic river The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

. Designated sections include: from Harpersfield covered bridge downstream to the Norfolk and Western Railway trestle south of Painesville (wild, and from the US 322 in Ashtabula County downstream to Harpersfield covered bridge (scenic, ). The Grand Wild and Scenic River represents one of the finest examples of a natural stream to be found anywhere in Ohio. Due to its rugged topography, the Grand River has not until recently felt the influences of urbanization. During the Pleistocene or Ice Age, the Wisconsinan glacier spread over Ohio in lobes, one of which is known as the Grand River lobe. This lobe ground and scraped its way south across northeastern Ohio, but was halted by the steep, erosion-resistant sandstone hills found to the south. The upper portion of the Grand River in Ashtabula County is designated scenic. The river is bordered in many areas by extensive swamp forests of elm, ash, maple, pine, pin oak and swamp white oak. The slow flow of this section of the river along with the adjoining wetlands provides excellent habitat for a number of wildlife species, especially river otters, which have made a strong comeback after their reintroduction by the Division of Wildlife in 1986 and 1988. The lower section of the Grand River in Lake County is designated wild. Here, the river is characterized by steeply-incised valley walls of

Chagrin Shale The Chagrin Shale is a shale geologic formation in the eastern United States that is approximately 365 million years old. The Chagrin Shale is a gray shale that begins thin and deep underground in north-central Ohio. As it proceeds east, the for ...

. A view of the river in this area following spring and summer showers has many waterfalls cascading over the steep shale bluffs. Insuring the natural heritage of the Grand River is not limited to protecting the immediate streamside environment. Land use activities within the watershed; such as urban and residential development may have a direct and adverse effect on the long-term protection and preservation of this important Ohio water resource. The Grand River has the most aquatic diversity of any Ohio Lake Erie tributary. The Grand River has an active partnership group working with the state scenic rivers program and other agencies to assist with the rivers preservation.

2006 flood

On July 28, 2006, the Grand River overflowed its banks and caused a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

in Lake County and Ashtabula County due to

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing. The river reached 11 feet above flood level, a 500-year flood, due to a 1,000-year 48-hour rain. The flooding was so powerful that it caused a tributary (Paine Creek) to change course in at least one location. The area was subsequently declared a Federal Disaster area.

History

The first settlers of the

Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms o ...

landed at Fairport Harbor before they began the overland portion of their journey South to settlements such as Burton.

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 Grand River has also been known historically as: * Grande Riviere * Chereage River * Chocago River * Chogage River * Geauga River * Geaugah River * Riviere Charage * Sheauga River

Tributaries

The principal tributaries by length are Mill Creek , Rock Creek , and Big Creek .

East Shore

* Red Creek * Coffee Creek (Austinburg) * Mill Creek (Austinburg) * Three Brothers Creek * Rock Creek * Baughman Creek * Deacon Creek * Center Creek * Mud Run * Dead Branch

West Shore

* Big Creek * Kellogg Creek * Paine Creek * Talcott Creek * Griswold Creek * Mill Creek (Madison) * Bronson Creek * Trumbull Creek * Mud Creek * Hoskins Creek * Phelps Creek * Mill Creek (Mesopotamia) * Swine Creek * Coffee Creek (Mesopotamia)

References

External links

{{authority control Rivers of Ohio Rivers of Ashtabula County, Ohio Rivers of Geauga County, Ohio Rivers of Lake County, Ohio Rivers of Trumbull County, Ohio Tributaries of Lake Erie