Ecorse River

The Ecorse River is an 18.8-mile-long (30.3 km) river in southern Michigan. Because of its small size, it is often identified as Ecorse Creek. It flows through the Downriver section of Metro Detroit, and is a tributary of the Detroit River. The early French settlers named it the Rivière aux Écorces ("bark river"). They named the river after the custom they observed of the local Native American tribe, who wrapped their dead in birch or elm bark, and buried them at the mouth of the river. The river has two branches, which meet at Council Point Park in the city of Lincoln Park, where chief Pontiac held a council in 1763 before attacking Fort Detroit.