Tahquamenon Falls

Tahquamenon Falls

The Tahquamenon Falls are a chain of waterfalls on the Tahquamenon River, just before the river flows into Lake Superior in Michigan's northeastern Upper Peninsula. They are Michigan's largest waterfalls and one of the largest in North America's eastern half. The water is a striking brown color from the tannic acid leached from the cedar swamps that drain the river, giving rise to the nickname "Root Beer Falls". The falls are located in the Tahquamenon Falls State Park, between Newberry and Paradise, and are popular tourist attractions in every season. The falls are split into upper and lower falls. The Upper Falls is a single drop of about 15 meters, with a river diameter of more than 60 meters. In the late spring runoff, the river drains up to 190 000 liters of water per second, which makes Upper Falls the third largest waterfall east of the Mississippi, after Niagara Falls and Cohoes Falls. The Lower Falls is about 6.4 km downriver and is made up of five smaller falls that cascade around an island. The island is accessible by rowboat from the pool below the Lower Falls, or via a footbridge built in 2022. The area around the Tahquamenon River and Falls had a rich history, with Ojibwe families who lived in the area and hunted there. When European explorers, missionaries and settlers arrived, the fur trade was an important business, which was followed by logging. In 1936, the State of Michigan acquired from the U.S. Forest Service 2,200 acres of land surrounding and including the Upper and Lower Tahquamenon Falls. The Michigan State Parks Commission officially dedicated 17,000 acres in January 1947 and named it Tahquamenon Falls State Park.