The river has its headwaters in Houghton Lake in Roscommon County,
flowing out of the North Bay into neighboring Missaukee County.
From there it flows mostly southwest to Muskegon, Michigan, where
it empties into Muskegon Lake. Muskegon Lake is connected to Lake
Michigan via a mile-long channel. The river has several major
branches, such as the Hersey River, Cedar Creek and Little Muskegon
River.
The three dams of the Muskegon River (Rogers, Hardy and Croton)
generate about 45,500 kilowatts with about 30,000 of that from
Hardy Dam. That is enough electricity to serve a community of
nearly 23,000.
Like many of its neighboring streams, the Muskegon was one of
the favored logging rivers during the boom years of the
1880s-1890s, and a keen eye can still pick out remnants of stray
logs left over from the spring logging runs which embedded on the
river bottom. There is abundant wildlife, including otters,
waterfowl, deer and eagles and, although development has been
creeping in, the upper reaches are still fairly remote and natural
with much of the surrounding land composed of state-owned tracts.
In recent years, the river has gained a certain measure of fame as
a recreational fishery, boasting large migratory steelhead, brown
trout and planted Pacific salmon.
Special Thanks
to Repton Rompers for this cache!
