Cuyahoga River | |
Map: | Cuyahogarivermap.png |
Subdivision Type1: | Country |
Subdivision Name1: | United States |
Subdivision Type2: | State |
Subdivision Name2: | Ohio |
Subdivision Type3: | Counties |
Subdivision Name3: | Cuyahoga, Summit, Portage, Geauga[1] |
Subdivision Type4: | Cities |
Subdivision Name4: | Cleveland, Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, Kent |
Source1 Coordinates: | 41.4406°N -81.1519°W |
Source1 Coord Ref: | [2] Confluence of East Branch Cuyahoga River[3] and West Branch Cuyahoga River[4] near Pond Road and Rapids Road, Burton, Geauga County, Ohio |
Mouth Location: | Lake Erie at Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio |
Mouth Coordinates: | 41.5036°N -81.7122°W |
Length: | 84.9miles[5] |
Source1 Elevation: | 1093feet |
Mouth Elevation: | 571feet |
Basin Size: | 809sqmi[6] |
The Cuyahoga River[7] (or [8] [9]) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie.
As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so much so that it caught fire at least 14 times. When it did so on June 22, 1969, news coverage of the event helped to spur the American environmental movement.[10] [11] Since then, the river has been extensively cleaned up through the efforts of Cleveland's city government and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA).[12] In 2019, the American Rivers conservation association named the Cuyahoga "River of the Year" in honor of "50 years of environmental resurgence".[13] [14]
The name Cuyahoga is believed to mean "crooked river" from the Mohawk name Cayagaga, although the Mohawk were never in the region alongside European settlers, so this explanation is questionable. Some think that it comes from the Seneca word for "jawbone".[15] [16] This explanation, however, is as uncertain as the Mohawk explanation. A close match in the Seneca language is Gayó'ha'geh, meaning "on your chin". The river's crooked form does vaguely resemble an animal's jawbone. It is possible that Europeans once wished to call it that, but the name "Cuyahoga" ended up becoming more prevalent and folk etymology took over, creating an accidental link between the two names that did not actually exist.[17]
Early maps from the era of French control of the region, when the Wyandot were the only tribe there, mark the river as "Cuyahoga", although the Wyandot name for the river is Yažaʔyeh.
The Cuyahoga watershed begins its 100miles journey in Hambden, Ohio, flowing southward to the confluence of the East Branch Cuyahoga River and West Branch Cuyahoga River in Burton, where the Cuyahoga River officially begins. It continues on its 84.9miles journey flowing southward to Akron and Cuyahoga Falls, where it turns sharply north and flows through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in northern Summit County and southern Cuyahoga County. It then flows through Independence, Valley View, Cuyahoga Heights, Newburgh Heights and Cleveland to its northern terminus, emptying into Lake Erie. The Cuyahoga River and its tributaries drain 813sqmi of land in portions of six counties.
The river is a relatively recent geologic formation, formed by the advance and retreat of ice sheets during the last ice age. The final glacial retreat, which occurred 10,000–12,000 years ago, caused changes in the drainage pattern near Akron. This change in pattern caused the originally south-flowing Cuyahoga to flow to the north. As its newly reversed currents flowed toward Lake Erie, the river carved its way around glacial debris left by the receding ice sheet, resulting in the river's winding U-shape. These meanderings stretched the length of the river (which was only 30 miles (50 km) when traveled directly) into a 100-mile (160 km) trek from its headwaters to its mouth. The depth of the river (except where noted below) ranges from 3to.
The river was one of the features along which the "Greenville Treaty Line" ran beginning in 1795, per the Treaty of Greenville that ended the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country, effectively becoming the western boundary of the United States and remaining so briefly. On July 22, 1796, Moses Cleaveland, a surveyor charged with exploring the Connecticut Western Reserve, arrived at the mouth of the Cuyahoga and subsequently located a settlement there, which became the city of Cleveland.
It appears that, in more ancient times, the river was inhabited by some branch of Mound Building culture related to the Hopewell. The only mound formally excavated was Towner's Mound outside of Kent,[18] which appears identical in construction to two other mounds excavated in North Benton, OH and Warren, PA that are related to the New York Hopewell offshoot. The Iroquois say that, when the Erie first moved into western Pennsylvania, they pushed out a mound building people, which may show a continuity of such people for a few hundred years after the Hopewell Culture collapsed. Many other suspected mounds are also known and several other suspected mounds have been destroyed by industry since the 1790s.
When the French first began exploring and mapping the Great Lakes region in the 17th century, it comes across that the entire area of northern Ohio belonged to the Erie, but archaeology has since shown that the French, who only saw abandoned villages on the lake shore and never met any of the inhabitants, were mistaken. The entire Cuyahoga River Valley and last west of it actually belonged to a presumably Algonquian people never encountered by whites which we call the Whittlesey culture. [19] They were destroyed during the Beaver Wars (1630-1701). Afterwards, the Iroquois stationed a group of captured Hurons in this areas, who later broke free after the French aided several Native groups from the Mississippi River in pushing the Iroquois all the way back to what is now Pittsburg, and established themselves as their own tribe- the Wyandot.
The Wyandot chose to set aside the entire region from the Cuyahoga River to the PA border and the Mahoning River to Lake Erie as a communal hunting ground, to be enjoyed by all tribes in the region, causing it to be regularly frequented by themselves, the Lenape, Shawnee and Seneca. The Ottawa, who lived clear at the western end of Lake Erie and who, themselves, had formed out of a similar circumstance to the Wyandot- captured Anishinaabeg stationed in the vicinity of what is now Detroit by the Iroquois- were apparently allowed to establish communities in the area, given the tribe's distance from it, with one noted in what is now Conneaut and several others noted along the Cuyahoga. But, it is historically established that not all the villages along the Cuyahoga at this time were Ottawa, with a Seneca community noted around Streetsboro under a chief named Big John and possibly some Wyandots nearby.
During the Northwest Indian War (1785-1795), all the tribes in Ohio were ordered to give up most of Ohio for settlement, leading to a mass military revolt of all tribes in the Great Lakes region under a war chief named Little Turtle, with most of the fighting occurring along the Ohio-Indiana border. At this time, some Moravian missionaries who had been looking to establish a mission amongst the Ottawa were warned away due to the conflict, so they appear to have chosen to settle amongst the Ottawa in northeast Ohio at a site called Pilgeruh, but mistakenly noted all the villages in the area were Ottawa. After the war, the military ordered the Natives to evict the region, but most of them stayed during the early decades of settlement, with the last of the local natives concentrating in the Cuyahoga River Valley before leaving between 1811-1813. While there is a chance some may have gone to southern Ohio and joined Tecumseh's brother's pan-Indian cult at his Prophetstown compound, as the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811 was interpreted as a sign in his favor by many tribes across the eastern US, it appears the last of them in 1813 were leaving to migrate west, into the Great Black Swamp region- the last of Ohio's guaranteed Indian Territory- to live amongst the bulk of the Ottawa and Wyandot who were settled there. [20] [21] [22] [23]
The Cuyahoga River, at times during the 20th century, was one of the most polluted rivers in the United States. The reach from Akron to Cleveland was devoid of fish. A 1968 Kent State University symposium described one section of the river:
At least 13 fires have been reported on the Cuyahoga River, the first occurring in 1868.[10] [24] The largest river fire, in 1952, caused over $1 million in damage[10] to boats, a bridge, and a riverfront office building.[25]
Things began to change in the late 1960s, when new mayor Carl Stokes and his utilities director rallied voters to approve a $100 million bond to rehabilitate Cleveland's rivers.[26] Then, the mayor seized the opportunity of a June 22, 1969 river fire triggered by a spark from a passing rail car igniting an oil slick to bring reporters to the river to raise attention to the issue.[26] The 1969 fire caused approximately $50,000 in damage, mostly to an adjacent railroad bridge,[24] but despite Mayor Stokes' efforts, very little attention was initially given to the incident, and it was not considered a major news story in the Cleveland media.[24]
However, the incident did soon garner the attention of Time magazine, which used a dramatic photo of the even larger 1952 blaze[26] in an article on the pollution of America's waterways. The article described the Cuyahoga as the river that "oozes rather than flows" and in which a person "does not drown but decays"[27] and listed other badly-polluted rivers across the nation.[26] (No pictures of the 1969 fire are known to exist, as local media did not arrive on the scene until after the fire was under control.[24]) The article launched Time
The 1969 Cuyahoga River fire helped spur an avalanche of water pollution control activities, resulting in amendments extending the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA). Mayor Stokes gave Congressional testimony on his and other major big cities' struggles with polluting industries to restore the environmental health of their communities.[26] As a result, large point sources of pollution on the Cuyahoga have received significant attention from the OEPA in subsequent decades. These events are referred to in Randy Newman's 1972 song "Burn On", R.E.M.'s 1986 song "Cuyahoga", and Adam Again's 1992 song "River on Fire". Great Lakes Brewing Company of Cleveland named its Burning River Pale Ale after the event.
In December 1970 a federal grand jury investigation led by U.S. Attorney Robert Jones began, of water pollution allegedly being caused by about 12 companies in northeastern Ohio; it was the first grand jury investigation of water pollution in the area.[28] The Attorney General of the United States, John N. Mitchell, gave a Press Conference December 18, 1970 referencing new pollution control litigation, with particular reference to work with the new Environmental Protection Agency, and announcing the filing of a law suit that morning against the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation for discharging substantial quantities of cyanide into the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland.[29] Jones filed the misdemeanor charges in District Court, alleging violations of the 1899 Rivers and Harbors Act.[30] There were multiple other suits filed by Jones.[31] [32] [33]
Water quality has improved and, partially in recognition of this improvement, the Cuyahoga was designated one of 14 American Heritage Rivers in 1998.[34] Despite these efforts, pollution continues to exist in the Cuyahoga River due to other sources of pollution, including urban runoff, nonpoint source problems, combined sewer overflows,[35] and stagnation due to water impounded by dams. For this reason, the Environmental Protection Agency classified portions of the Cuyahoga River watershed as one of 43 Great Lakes Areas of Concern. The most polluted portions of the river now generally meet established aquatic life water quality standards except near dam impoundments. The reasons for not meeting standards near the dam pools are habitat and fish passage issues rather than water quality. River reaches that were once devoid of fish now support 44 species. The most recent survey in 2008 revealed the two most common species in the river were hogsuckers and spotfin shiners, both moderately sensitive to water quality. Habitat issues within the 5.6miles navigation channel still preclude a robust fishery in that reach. Recreation water quality standards (using bacteria as indicators) are generally met during dry weather conditions, but are often exceeded during significant rains due to nonpoint sources and combined sewer overflows. In March 2019 the OEPA declared fish caught in the river safe to eat.[36] Consequently, in 2024 the first ever steelhead trout stocking in the river occurred.[37]
The lower Cuyahoga River, just west of present-day downtown Cleveland, has been subjected to numerous changes. Originally, the Cuyahoga river met Lake Erie approximately 4000feet west of its current mouth, forming a shallow marsh. The current mouth is human-made, created in 1827,[15] and allows shipping traffic to flow freely between the river and the lake. Additionally, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers periodically dredges the navigation channel of the otherwise shallow river to a depth of 27feet, along the river's lower 5miles, from its mouth up to the Mittal Steel Cleveland Works steel mills, to accommodate Great Lakes freighter traffic which serves the bulk (asphalt, gravel, petroleum, salt, steel, and other) industries located along the lower Cuyahoga River banks in Cleveland's Flats district. The Corps of Engineers has also straightened river banks and widened turning basins in the federal navigation channel on the lower Cuyahoga River to facilitate maritime operations.
The United States Coast Guard sometimes conducts fall and spring ice-breaking operations along Lake Erie and the lower Cuyahoga River to prolong the Great Lakes shipping season, depending on shipping schedules and weather conditions.
Some attempts (including dams and dredging) have been made to control flooding along the Cuyahoga River basin. As a result of speculative land development, buildings have been erected on many flat areas that are only a few feet above normal river levels. Sudden strong rain or snow storms can create severe flooding in these low-lying areas.
The upper Cuyahoga River, starting at 1093feet over 84miles from its mouth, drops in elevation fairly steeply, creating falls and rapids in some places; the lower Cuyahoga River only drops several feet along the last several miles of the lower river to 571feet at the mouth on Lake Erie, resulting in relatively slow-moving waters that can take a while to drain compared to the upper Cuyahoga.
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Some tributary elevations above are higher than the Cuyahoga River elevation, because of small waterfalls at or near their confluences; and distances are measured in "river miles" along the river's length from its mouth on Lake Erie.
On August 25, 2020, a Holland Oil and Gas fuel tanker crashed on Route 8 near Akron and Cuyahoga Falls, killing one individual and causing a fire that leaked fuel into the southern section of the river.[38] The fire was extinguished by the Akron Fire Department and the river section and surrounding area were promptly cleaned up.[38] The fatal road crash marked the first and only river fire incident on the Cuyahoga since June 1969.[39] However, as scholar Anne Jefferson notes:
The Brecksville Dam at river mile 20 was the first dam upstream of Lake Erie. It affected fish populations by restricting their passage.[40] The dam was removed in 2020.[41]
The largest dam is the Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam, also known as the FirstEnergy Dam, on the border between Cuyahoga Falls and Akron. This 57feet dam has for over 90 years submerged the falls for which the City of Cuyahoga Falls was named; more to the point of water quality, it has created a large stagnant pool with low dissolved oxygen.[42]
On April 9, 2019, officials from the U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA announced a plan to remove the Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam by 2023 at a cost of $65 to $70 million. Funding for the project was authorized through the Great Lakes Legacy Act with funds coming from the City of Akron and members of the Gorge Dam Stakeholder Committee, including Summit Metro Parks, FirstEnergy, and the City of Cuyahoga Falls.[43] the planned date of removal is 2026.[44] [45]
The FirstEnergy Dam was built by the Northern Ohio Traction and Light Co. in 1912 to serve the dual functions of generating hydropower for its local streetcar system and providing cooling-water storage for a coal-burning power plant; however, the hydropower operation was discontinued in 1958, and the coal-burning plant was decommissioned in 1991.[46] Some environmental groups and recreational groups want the dam removed.[47] Others contend that such an effort would be expensive and complicated, for at least two reasons: first, the formerly hollow dam was filled in with concrete in the early 1990s, and second, because of the industrial history of Cuyahoga Falls, the sediment upstream of the dam is expected to contain hazardous chemicals, possibly including heavy metals and PCBs. The Ohio EPA estimated removal of the dam would cost $5–10 million, and removal of the contaminated sediments, a further $60 million.[48] The dam is licensed through 2041. In 2023 however, after funding was secured, the decision was made to remove the dam
In late 2012, two dams in Cuyahoga Falls, the Sheraton and LeFever Dams, were scheduled for demolition,[49] as the result of an agreement between the City of Cuyahoga Falls, which owns the dams, and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, which will provide $1 million of funding to remove the dams. On December 12, 2012, the ACOE issued a permit, allowing the demolition to proceed.[50] As part of the project, a water trail was developed.[51] In early June 2013, dam removal began, and ended in August 20, 2013.[52] This brought about a mile of the river back to its natural state, removed 35feet of structures, and exposed an equivalent quantity of whitewater for recreation. In 2019, attempts by the city to address increased erosion as a result of the removal of these and other area dams were publicized.[53]
Two other dams, in Kent and in Munroe Falls, though smaller, have had an even greater impact on water quality due to the lower gradient in their respective reaches. For this reason, the Ohio EPA required the communities to mitigate the effects of the dams.
The Munroe Falls Dam was modified in 2005.[54] Work on this project uncovered a natural waterfall.[55] Given this new knowledge about the riverbed, some interested parties, including Summit County, campaigned for complete removal of the dam. The revised plan, initially denied on September 20, 2005, was approved by the Munroe Falls City Council on a week later. The 11.5feet sandstone dam has since been removed, and in its place now is a natural ledge with a 4.5feet drop at its greatest point.[56] [57]
The Kent Dam was bypassed in 2004 and was the first dam modification project in the state of Ohio that was made solely for water quality issues. The modification resulted in the river fully attaining the designated Ohio water quality standards.[58] [59]
According to the United States Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, the Cuyahoga River has also been known as:
The name "White River" has also been applied.[60]
-- collapsed --> | + Dams on the Cuyahoga River | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RM [61] | Coordinates | Elevation | Locality | County | Description | |
20.71 [62] | [63] | Ohio and Erie Canal diversion dam, built 1825–1827 upstream from SR 82 Chippewa Road-West Aurora Road bridge, downstream from Station Road-Bridle Trail bridge | ||||
45.8 | [64] | 840feet | Summit | Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam, built in 1912, upstream from SR 8 North Main Street-State Road bridge, downstream from SR 59 Front Street bridge | ||
49.9 [65] | [66] | 1007feet | Cuyahoga Falls | Summit | Cuyahoga Falls Low Head Dam, upstream from Portage Trail bridge, downstream from SR 8/SR 59 bridge | |
54.8 | [67] | Kent | Portage | Kent dam, upstream from SR 59/SR 43 Haymaker Parkway bridge, immediately downstream from West Main Street bridge | ||
57.97 | [68] | 1063feet | Franklin Township | Portage | Lake Rockwell Dam, upstream from Ravenna Road bridge, downstream from SR 14 Cleveland-East Liverpool Road bridge |
Generally, rivers are larger than creeks, which are larger than brooks, which are larger than runs.Runs may be dry except during or after a rain, at which point they can flash flood and be torrential.
Default is standard order from mouth to upstream:
-- collapsed --> | + Tributaries on the Cuyahoga River | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RM | Coordinates | Elevation | Tributary | Municipality | County | Description | |
[69] | 577feet | Old River (Cuyahoga River) | near Division Avenue/River Road | ||||
4.46 | 41.4811°N -81.6767°W[70] | 581feet | Kingsbury Run (Cuyahoga River) | near Independence Road and Rockefeller Avenue | |||
5.05 | 41.4694°N -81.6694°W[71] | 581feet | Morgan Run (Cuyahoga River) | near Independence Road and Pershing Avenue | |||
5.29–5.4 | 41.4639°N -81.6792°W[72] | 577feet | Burk Branch (Cuyahoga River) | near CW steel mill | |||
7.2 | 41.4458°N -81.6858°W[73] | 577feet | Big Creek (Cuyahoga River) | near Jennings Road, Harvard Avenue and Valley Road | |||
10.84–11.4 | 41.4167°N -81.6464°W[74] | 591feet | West Creek (Cuyahoga River) | near SR-17 Granger Road, Valley Belt Road, and I-77 | |||
11.4 | 41.4158°N -81.6394°W[75] | 587feet | Mill Creek (Cuyahoga River) | near Canal Road and Warner Road | |||
16.36 | 41.365°N -81.6097°W[76] | 610feet | near Canal Road and Tinkers Creek Road | ||||
18.08 | 0feet | from Willow Lake | |||||
20.88 | 41.3186°N -81.5869°W[77] | 627feet | Chippewa Creek (Cuyahoga River) | near Chippewa Creek Drive and Riverview Road | |||
24.16 | 41.2861°N -81.5639°W[78] | 636feet | near Highland Road | ||||
25.72 | 41.2736°N -81.5642°W[79] | 646feet | Stanford Run | near Stanford Road | |||
41.2617°N -81.5581°W[80] | 650feet | Grannys Run (Cuyahoga River) | near Boston Mills Road and Riverview Road | ||||
28.79 | 41.2431°N -81.5536°W[81] | 689feet | Slipper Run | near SR-303 Main Street/West Streetsboro Road and Riverview Road | |||
28.98 | 41.2428°N -81.5497°W[82] | 676feet | Boston Run (Cuyahoga River) | near East Mill Street and West Mill Street | |||
29.24 | Peninsula Creek | ||||||
29.82 | 41.2328°N -81.5492°W[83] | 689feet | Haskell Run | near Akron-Peninsula Road | |||
30.26 | 41.2283°N -81.5497°W[84] | 692feet | Salt Run (Cuyahoga River) | near Akron-Peninsula Road and Truxell Road | |||
30.66 | 41.2261°N -81.5517°W[85] | 699feet | Dickerson Run (Cuyahoga River) | near | |||
31.47 | 41.2175°N -81.5597°W[86] | 699feet | Langes Run | ||||
32.3 | 41.2083°N -81.5628°W[87] | 709feet | Robinson Run (Cuyahoga River) | ||||
33.08 [88] | 41.2028°N -81.5697°W[89] | 709feet | Furnace Run (Cuyahoga River) | ||||
37.16 | 41.1631°N -81.5736°W[90] | 728feet | Yellow Creek (Cuyahoga River) | ||||
37.26 | 41.1617°N -81.5736°W[91] | 728feet | Woodward Creek (Cuyahoga River) | ||||
39.12 | 41.14°N -81.5603°W[92] | 738feet | |||||
39.78 | 41.1381°N -81.5514°W[93] | 738feet | Mud Brook (Cuyahoga River) | ||||
42.27 | 41.1192°N -81.5292°W[94] | 758feet | |||||
52.1 | 41.1406°N -81.3989°W[95] | 1004feet | Fish Creek (Cuyahoga River) | near North River Road between Marsh Road and Verner Road | |||
53.7 | 41.1422°N -81.3733°W[96] | 1010feet | Plum Creek (Cuyahoga River) | near Cherry Street and Mogadore Road | |||
56.8 | 41.1703°N -81.3381°W[97] | 1027feet | Breakneck Creek (Cuyahoga River) | Kent/Franklin Township border | near River Bend Boulevard and Beechwold Drive | ||
57.6-57.97 | Twin Lakes Outlet | ||||||
59.95 | 41.1886°N -81.2778°W[98] | 1070feet | Eckert Ditch (Cuyahoga River) | ||||
63.45 | 41.2358°N -81.3128°W[99] | 1109feet | Yoder Ditch | ||||
65.19 | Bollingbrook, Portage | ||||||
66.33 | 41.2419°N -81.26°W[100] | 1096feet | Harper Ditch (Cuyahoga River) | ||||
76.64 | 41.2819°N -81.1419°W[101] | 1010feet | Black Creek (Cuyahoga River) | near SR-700 Welshfield Limaville Road between SR-254 Pioneer Trail and CR-224 Hankee Road | |||
79.15 | 41.3764°N -81.1511°W[102] | 1093feet | Sawyer Brook (Cuyahoga River) | near Main Market Road US-422 and Claridon Troy Road | |||
83.29 | 41.375°N -81.2036°W[103] | 1122feet | Bridge Creek (Cuyahoga River) | ||||
84.9 | 41.4403°N -81.1517°W | 1093feet | West Branch Cuyahoga River | ||||
84.9 | 41.4403°N -81.1514°W | 1093feet | East Branch Cuyahoga River |