Big Rapids, Michigan

Big Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,601 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Mecosta County. The city is located within Big Rapids Township, but is politically independent. Big Rapids is home of the main campus of Ferris State University, a four-year public university, well-known for its College of Pharmacy and the Michigan College of Optometry, as well as its NCAA Division I hockey team, the Bulldogs.

History

Big Rapids was settled in 1855 by George French and his brother Zera. It became the seat of Mecosta County in 1859. The village was platted in 1859. It was incorporated as a city in 1869.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.48 square miles (11.60 km²), of which 4.36 square miles (11.29 km²) is land and 0.12 square miles (0.31 km²) is water. Like most of the central Michigan area, it lies on the ancient sea bed and has a sandy subsoil which lies above an iron ore base. The Muskegon River runs through Big Rapids, passing both Ferris State University and the local middle school on its way to Lake Michigan. Numerous small lakes are within a few miles of the city.

Rapids

Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a run (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a cascade. Rapids are characterised by the river becoming shallower with some rocks exposed above the flow surface. As flowing water splashes over and around the rocks, air bubbles become mixed in with it and portions of the surface acquire a white colour, forming what is called "whitewater". Rapids occur where the bed material is highly resistant to the erosive power of the stream in comparison with the bed downstream of the rapids. Very young streams flowing across solid rock may be rapids for much of their length.

Rapids are categorized in classes, generally running from I to VI. A Class 5 rapid may be categorized as Class 5.1-5.9. While class I rapids are easy to negotiate and require no maneuvering, class VI rapids pose threat to life with little or no chance for rescue.

Big

Big means large or of great size.

Big or BIG may also refer to:

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Our Music

Our Music is a studio album by Jamaican reggae singer Burning Spear.

It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album at the 48th Grammy Awards in 2006.

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Ferris State University

Ferris State University (FSU, Ferris) is an American public university with its main campus in Big Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1884 as the Big Rapids Industrial School by Woodbridge Nathan Ferris, an educator from Tioga County, New York, who later served as governor of the State of Michigan and finally in the US Senate where he remained until his death in 1928. The school was noteworthy at its time for accepting female students beginning with its first graduating class. It is also the only public university in Michigan to be founded by an individual.

Today Ferris is the ninth-largest university in the state with 14,560 students studying on its main campus, at one of the 19 off-campus locations across the state, or online. Two- and four-year degrees are offered through eight academic colleges and graduate degrees from six. Ferris grants professional doctorate degrees via its optometry and pharmacy colleges and a multidisciplinary doctorate of education in community college leadership through the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, and Education and Human Services. The school is known for having a faculty–student ratio of 1:16, and classes that are taught by professional instructors, not graduate assistants.