Menominee River (Illinois) Menominee River (Illinois) The Menominee River is an tributary of the Mississippi River, which it joins in Jo Daviess County, Illinois. The name "Menominee" refers to the Menominee, a Native American people. The name means "good seed" or "wild rice". The Menominee rises in Grant County, Wisconsin at the confluence of Louisburg and Kieler creeks one mile south of Kieler just east of U.S. Route 151 and flows south past Sandy Hook and enters Illinois just south of Wisconsin Highway 11. It continues south through the northwestern corner of Illinois for about four miles before reaching its confluence with the
Fox River (Illinois River tributary) area. From the chain, the river flows generally southward for , until it joins the Illinois River at Ottawa. Illinois towns and communities that are on the Fox River include (from north to south): Fox Lake, Johnsburg, McHenry, Holiday Hills, Island Lake, Burtons Bridge, Port Barrington, Cary, Fox River Grove, Algonquin, Carpentersville, West Dundee, East Dundee, Elgin, South Elgin, St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia, North Aurora, Aurora, Montgomery, Oswego, Yorkville, Plano, Millington, Sheridan and Ottawa. Collectively, the area surrounding the Fox River is known as the Fox Valley. Around 1 million people live in this area. Native American tribes that lived