BIG RAPIDS, a city of Michigan, U.S.A., on the Muskegon river, 56m. north by east of Grand Rapids; the county seat of Mecosta county, which contains go lakes. It is served by the Pennsylvania and the Pere Marquette railways. The population in 193o was 4,671. The principal manufactures are veneer, lum ber, furniture, automatic machinery and tools. Fox-farming is a growing industry in the surrounding country. A State trout hatchery is situated at Paris, 6m. away. Big Rapids was settled in 1854, laid out in 1859, and chartered as a city in 1869. It owes its name to the falls of the Muskegon, which drop Oft. within the city limits, furnishing a source of abundant hydro-electric power.