The St. Joseph River (known locally as the St. Joe) is a river, approximately 206 miles (332 km) long, in southern Michigan and northern Indiana in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Michigan. It was enormously important to Native Americans and aided in the colonial settlement as a canoe route between Lake Michigan and the watershed of the Mississippi River.Description of the watershedThe St. Joseph River watershed drains 4,685 square miles (12,130 km2) from 15 counties: Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Hillsdale, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren in Michigan and De Kalb, Elkhart, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Noble, St. Joseph and Steuben in Indiana. The watershed includes 3,742 river miles (6,022 km) and flows through and near the Kalamazoo-Portage, Elkhart-Goshen, South Bend-Mishawaka, and St. Joseph/Benton Harbor metropolitan areas. The St. Joseph River main stem is 206 miles (332 km) long, rising in southern Michigan in Hillsdale County near Baw Beese Lake, within 5 miles (8 km) of the headwaters of the other St. Joseph River of the eastward-flowing Maumee River watershed. Baw Beese Lake was historically named for the Potawatomi Chief Baw Beese.
