Bark River is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

located in Delta County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. It is located in Bark River Township near the Bark River, from which it is named. It is situated on U.S. Highway 2 and U.S. Highway 41 about 13 miles west of

Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city and the county seat of Delta County, Michigan, Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula. The popu ...

and just east of the Hannahville Indian Reservation. Bark River is at

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

45° 42' north and

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...

87° 18' west. The ZIP code is and the FIPS place code is 05400. The elevation is 744 feet above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. Nearby Bark River International Raceway has hosted national

off-road racing Off-road racing is a form of motorsports consisting of specially-modified vehicles including cars, SUVs, trucks, motorbikes, quadbikes and buggies racing in off-road environments (e.g. snow, dirt, mud, etc.). North America Desert racing D ...

events, most recently the TORC Series.

History

It was first settled in 1871 by civil war hero Captain Charles Pease, who served as an escort and guide for land speculator Lars Kovala at the time. Was given a post office and named Barkville on Nov 30 1877. Its first postmaster was Luke D. McKenna. It was renamed Bark River in 1882. Its first post office was renamed on July 11, 1899.*

Images

File:BarkRiverMichiganSignUS2US41.jpg, Welcome sign File:BarkRiverHarrisSchoolUS2US41.jpg, Bark River-Harris High School File:IslandResortCasinoUS2US41.jpg, Island Resort & Casino

References

Unincorporated communities in Delta County, Michigan Populated places established in 1871 1871 establishments in Michigan Unincorporated communities in Michigan {{DeltaCountyMI-geo-stub