June 6 - Trivia Question
Jun 06, 2020
Trivia question: what is the 2nd largest waterfall east of the Mississippi River by water volume? You might think that somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains from Maine to Georgia would have to be the right answer. Or maybe the Ozarks in Arkansas or Missouri. Well guess again. This honor belongs to the upper peninsula of Michigan’s Tahquamenon Falls.
The falls are more than 200 feet across and with a drop of approximately 50 feet. During the late spring runoff, the river drains as much as 50,000 gallons of water per second, making it the 2nd most voluminous vertical waterfall east of the Mississippi River, after Niagara Falls. The water is notably brown in color from the tannins leached from the cedar swamps which the river drains. Consequently, the falls are nicknamed, "The Root Beer Falls”.
The Tahquamenon is noted as being the land of Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha, which contains the line: "by the rushing Tahquamenaw", where Hiawatha built his canoe.
If you want to see waterfalls, the UP is the place to go. It has about 200 named falls, many that make you just stop and stare for a while to soak up all the atmosphere.
Oh yeah, I picked Tahquamenon to write about today because I was just there this week. My son and his family came for their first visit to Up North. Great time was had by all.