Page "Detroit River" Paragraph 2

The Detroit River flows for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie.

By definition, this classifies it as both a river and a strait — a strait being a narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water.

That is why the river was originally called the River of the Strait by early French settlers.

However, today, the Detroit River is rarely referred to as a strait, because bodies of water referred to as straits are typically much wider.

The Detroit River is only wide.

The Detroit River starts on an east to west flow but then bends and runs north to south.

The deepest portion of the Detroit River is deep in the northern portion of the river.

At its source, the river is at an elevation of above sea level.

The river drops only three feet before entering into Lake Erie at.

The river contains no dams and is easily navigable by even the smallest of vessels.

The watershed basin for the Detroit River is approximately.

Since the river is fairly short, it has few tributaries.

Its largest tributary is the River Rouge in Michigan, which is actually four times longer than the Detroit River and contains most of the basin.

The only other major American tributary to the Detroit River is the much-smaller Ecorse River.

Tributaries on the Canadian side include Little Creek and the River Canard.

The discharge for the Detroit River is relatively high for a river of its size.

The river's average discharge is approximately 188, 000 cubic feet per second ( 5, 324 m³ / s ), and the river's flow is always constant.