It was bypassing the hill of Ménilmontant before sending itself into the Seine River at the level of the present Bassin de l'Arsenal, upstream Paris.

This brook is mentioned for the first time in a charter given by the king of France Dagobert I, in 629, for the establishment of a fair.

It is notably the Rue de Provence with an East-West route that covers the Great Sewer and makes disappear the small pont d'Arcans (Arcans bridge).

This bridge allowed to cross the Grand Sewer at approximate level of the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin today.

It is found, however, in the name of the street Passage du Ruisseau-de-Ménilmontant which means 'passage of the Menilmontant brook', located in the 20th arrondissement of Paris.