Embarrass River (Minnesota)


The Embarrass River is a tributary of the Saint Louis River in northern Minnesota, United States. It rises just west of the city of Babbitt and flows southwest, turning briefly south to thread a gap between the Embarrass Mountains to the east and the Mesabi Range to the west. The river flows into the Saint Louis River southeast of Eveleth. During the fur-trading days and the era of exploration, the river was part of a historic trade route from Lower Canada via Lake Superior, across the Height of Land, and down the Rainy River to Lake Winnipeg to the pays d'en haut—the fur-bearing regions of the Canadian northwest.
The river was so named on account of the many obstacles in the rivers to canoeists.