The Kettle River, also known as Kettle Creek, is a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Blueberry River

Blueberry River (Minnesota)

The Blueberry River is a tributary of the Shell River, approximately twenty miles long, in north-central Minnesota in the United States...

, 17 miles (28 km) long, in north-central Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Via the Blueberry, Shell

Shell River (Minnesota)

The Shell River is a tributary of the Crow Wing River, 45 miles long, in north-central Minnesota in the United States. Via the Crow Wing River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining a rural region....

, and Crow Wing River

Crow Wing River

The Crow Wing River is a tributary of the Mississippi River approximately in length. The river arises in a chain of 11 lakes in southern Hubbard County, Minnesota and flows generally southeast, entering the Mississippi at Crow Wing State Park, northwest of Little Falls, Minnesota. Its name is a...

s, it is part of the watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 of the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

, draining a rural area.

The Blueberry River rises approximately one mile (2 km) south of Wolf Lake

Wolf Lake, Minnesota

Wolf Lake is a city in Becker County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 57 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:...

 in Spruce Grove Township

Spruce Grove Township, Becker County, Minnesota

Spruce Grove Township is a township in Becker County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 358 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 35.7 square miles , of which 35.6 square miles is land and...

 in southeastern Becker County

Becker County, Minnesota

Becker County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 32,504. Its county seat is Detroit Lakes. A portion of the White Earth Indian Reservation extends into the county.-History:...

 and flows generally eastwardly through Runeberg Township

Runeberg Township, Minnesota

Runeberg Township is a township in Becker County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 387 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 35.7 square miles , of which 35.7 square miles is land and 0.04 square...

 into northwestern Wadena County

Wadena County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,713 people, 5,426 households, and 3,608 families residing in the county. The population density was 26 people per square mile . There were 6,334 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...

. It flows into the Blueberry River in Blueberry Township

Blueberry Township, Minnesota

Blueberry Township is a township in Wadena County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 732 at the time of the 2000 census.-Geography:...

, approximately two miles (3 km) west of Menahga

Menahga, Minnesota

Menahga is a city in Wadena County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,306 at the 2010 census.Menahga means "blueberry bush" in the Chippewa language.-Geography:...

. The Kettle River flows in the Northern Lakes and Forests ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

, which is characterized by conifer and hardwood

Hardwood

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

 forests on flat and rolling till plain

Till plain

A till plain is an extensive flat plain of glacial till that forms when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the main body of a glacier and melts in place depositing the sediments it carried. A till plain with irregular topography is referred to as a ground moraine.-See also:*Glacial till plains...

s and outwash plain

Sandur

A sandur is a glacial outwash plain formed of sediments deposited by meltwater at the terminus of a glacier.- Formation :Sandar are found in glaciated areas, such as Svalbard, Kerguelen Islands, and Iceland...

s.