Zumbro River

Zumbro River
Rivière des Embarras
The North Fork of the Zumbro River in Zumbrota
Zumbro River is located in Minnesota
Zumbro River
Mouth of the Zumbro River
Native nameWapka Wazi Oju (Dakota)
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMinnesota
CountiesOlmsted, Wabasha
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationZumbro Lake
 • coordinates44°09′10″N 92°28′02″W / 44.1527433°N 92.4671246°W / 44.1527433; -92.4671246
Mouth 
 • location
Alma City, Minnesota
 • coordinates
44°17′30″N 91°55′41″W / 44.2916319°N 91.9279396°W / 44.2916319; -91.9279396
Length64.6 miles (104.0 km)
Basin features
River systemUpper Mississippi River
Tributaries 
 • leftNorth Branch Middle Fork Zumbro River, North Fork Zumbro River, Spring Creek, Trout Brook[1]
 • rightFry Slough, Long Creek, Middle Creek, Middle Fork Zumbro River, Pine Slough, Silver Spring Creek, South Branch Middle Fork Zumbro River, South Fork Zumbro River, West Indian Creek[1]
WaterbodiesZumbro Lake
Nighttime view of the South Fork Zumbro River as it passes through Rochester's Downtown area from Silver Lake Park in the 2000s
Ice on the Zumbro in March

The Zumbro River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the Driftless Area of southeastern Minnesota in the United States. It is 64.6 miles (104.0 km) long[2] from the confluence of its principal tributaries and drains a watershed of 1,428 square miles (3,700 km2). The river's name in English is a change from its French name Rivière des Embarras ("Obstruction River") due to its mouth near Pine Island in the Mississippi River; the pronunciation changed from [dez‿ɑ̃.ba.ʁɑ] to /zʊmbr/. The Dakota name for this river is Wapka Wazi Oju (Pines Planted River), having reference to the grove of great white pines at Pine Island.[3][4]

  1. ^ a b "Zumbro River" (PDF). Minnesota DNR. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  2. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed October 4, 2012
  3. ^ Upham, Warren (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 559.
  4. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Zumbro River