Brule River (Minnesota)

There is also a Brule River and Brule Lake which form part of the boundary between Wisconsin and Upper Peninsula Michigan.

The Brule River is a river of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Brule River originates at Vista Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and flows 40.4 miles (65.0 km)^[1] east and southeast, terminating at Lake Superior approximately 14 mi (23 km) northeast of Grand Marais, Minnesota, within the boundaries of Judge C. R. Magney State Park.^[2][3] A major tributary is the South Brule River, which rises at the east end of Brule Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness^[4][5]

Brule River (Minnesota)
The Devil's Kettle
Mouth of the Brule River
Etymology	burnt (French)
Native name	Wiisaakode-ziibi (Ojibwe)
Location
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
County	Cook County
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Vista Lake
• coordinates	48.0068342°N 90.4723229°W / 48.0068342; -90.4723229
Mouth
• location	Marr Island, Lake Superior
• coordinates	47.8165587°N 90.0500980°W / 47.8165587; -90.0500980
• elevation	607 ft (185 m)
Length	40.4 miles (65.0 km)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Mons Creek
• right	Gauthier Creek

The river's original name of Wiisaakode-ziibi (Ojibwe) (Burnt Wood River) may have referenced a forest fire.^[6][7] Brule River is a name derived from the French brulé meaning "burnt"; the English name has lost the diacritic and has an anglicized, monosyllabic pronunciation (/ˈbrul/ BROOL).^[8][9]

Half of the river disappears into a pothole known as "the Devil's Kettle" in Judge C. R. Magney State Park. Studies in 2017 showed that the water comes up at the bottom of the river near the kettle.^[10]

See also

• List of rivers of Minnesota
• List of longest streams of Minnesota

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed May 2, 2012
2. "JUDGE C.R. MAGNEY STATE PARK" (PDF). Retrieved 30 May 2016.
3. "North Shore Minnesota Waterfalls - Highest in the State". Retrieved 30 May 2016.
4. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Brule River
5. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: South Brule River
6. "Rivers of the North Shore". ojibwe.net.
7. Fritzen, John (1974). Historic Sites and Place Names of Minnesota's North Shore. Duluth, MN: St. Louis County Historical Society. p. 23.
8. Warren Upham (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 144.
9. Upham, Warren (2001). Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia (3rd, rev. and enl. ed.). St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. pp. 145–146. ISBN 0-87351-396-7.
10. "Hydrologists solve Minnesota Devils Kettle Falls mystery". MPR News. February 28, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2021.

Further reading

• Minnesota Watersheds
• USGS Hydrologic Unit Map - State of Minnesota (1974)