The Cuyahoga River is the major river in North eastern Ohio, USA, draining 813mi² (2,100km²) of land and over 37 tributaries in four counties that contain over 16% of the state's population. The river begins in Geauga County, and takes a 100mi (160km) U-shaped course through Portage, Summit and Cuyahoga¹ Counties, emptying into Lake Erie just 30mi (48km) from its headwaters.

The Crooked River

The river itself can be divided into an Upper Section, Middle Section and a Lower Section. The Upper Section is the most pristine, featuring over 1,300 acres (5.25km²) of healthy wetlands. For this reason, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has designated 25mi (40km) of the Cuyahoga in Geauga and Portage Counties as a state scenic river. The Middle Section through the 'Falls' area of Kent, Cuyahoga Falls and Akron is more populated, and as a consequence, more polluted. However, the river is still in good shape because of the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area along 22mi (35.5km) of the river between Akron and Cleveland, an area where development is restricted, and natural cleaning mechanisms such as wetlands can do their work on contaminants. The Lower Section in Cuyahoga County is the most urbanized and problematic. The Lower Section is also home to two thirds of the watershed's population; 12% of the land area is dedicated to industry. Land is often developed right up to the riverbanks, leading to heavy runoff and more contamination during floods.

Geological Setting

The Cuyahoga River is unusual in that it is a relatively young river flowing in an ancient valley. The valley was originally part of the Upper Muskingum or Tuscarawas watershed. That changed during the most recent glaciation 20,000 years ago. When the ice sheets came south from Canada, they acted like continent-scale earthmovers, scouring out valleys and piling up ridges. When the glacier receded 7,000 years later, it had irreversibly rearranged the drainage patterns and created a new watershed divide, forcing the Cuyahoga into its present crooked course.

Other features near the Cuyahoga River can be attributed to the glaciers as well. Kettle lakes form in depressions the ice left after it retreated. Buried valleys contain glacial sediment in which gold from the Canadian Shield may be found. Many of the bogs and fens in the upper Cuyahoga owe their origins to the retreating ice as well, forming when glacial ice melted in shallow clay depressions. Kames (knolls of sand and gravel formed by glacial meltwater), eskers (ridges of sand and gravel deposited by streams flowing under glacial ice) and ridges of glacial till called moraines also dot the landscape.

Biology and Ecology

Because the Cuyahoga River flows through many different riparian environments, it provides a home to a variety of different species. The river itself contains many species of fish, amphibians, and macroinvertebrates, invertebrate creatures that can be seen with the naked eye, such as insects, arachnids, and molluscs. Most of the invertebrates that dwell in the river are insect larvae, so stonefly, mayfly, caddisfly, midge and dragonfly are common sights along the river.

The Cuyahoga has a diverse fish population. The Upper Section is famous for walleye and bass fishing, but many other species inhabit other parts of the river. These include but are not limited to shad, freshwater drum, carp, northern hog sucker, goldfish, quillback carpsucker, golden shiner, northern largemouth black bass, bluegill, three species of sunfish, grass pickerel, northern pike, yellow perch, channel catfish, black bullhead, white perch, steelhead trout and myriad species of minnow. Because amphibians are so sensitive to pollution, they have been in decline. However, in the better-managed portions of the river, salamanders, newts, and frogs abound.

The Cuyahoga River also provides habitat for non-aquatic organisms. Beaver dams and mink latrines are common in the rich Upper Section. Other wildlife that depend on the Cuyahoga include great blue heron, turtles, ducks, geese, hawks, kingfishers, songbirds, white-tailed deer, porcupine, foxes, coyote and more species too numerous to mention. Occasional sightings of bear indicate that they may be ready to move back into their old range. Sadly, some species such as elk and wolf have been extirpated and it is unlikely they will return.

Rich floodplain soils along the Cuyahoga support incredible plant diversity. Trillium, bloodroot, dogtooth violet, phlox, wild geranium, Virginia bluebells and toothworts are typical of the northern Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. The Upper Section delivers large displays of beautiful red cardinal flower, water lilies, arrowhead and turtlehead. Many species of plant protected by the Endangered Species Act thrive on the Cuyahoga's banks.

History

Native American Settlement

'Cuyahoga' is an Iroquois word meaning 'Crooked river².' However, settlement of the Cuyahoga Valley predates the Iroquois culture. The first evidence of humans has been dated to 12,000 years ago, when Paleo-Indian likely hunted mammoth and mastodon, and other large game that inhabited the Valley. These groups grew in size as better technology became available, namely the use of cold-hammered copper tools. Archaeologists working north of Stone Road in Valley View recently uncovered the earliest evidence of permanent habitation, a four-acre settlement called South Park. This was a well-used Native American site, with evidence to support the existence of communal structures, hunting and agriculture. This particular site was abandoned and reoccupied several times between 1000 and 1600 AD, but it is only the most recent pre-European archaeological site discovered. The last evidence of Native American habitation has been dated to approximately 1620, 40 years before the first European set foot in the Valley. Beyond that, no evidence has been found of indigenous peoples. There are many theories as to who they were and why they disappeared, but there is no conclusive supporting evidence. Whoever the indigenous peoples were, they are gone, leaving a mystery that may never truly be solved.

Shortly after the disappearance of the indigenous peoples, the Ottawas³ began settling the shoreline of Lake Erie, and moving south along the floodplain. This is the people who met the first Europeans in the Cuyahoga River Valley.

European Settlement

In the late 1600s and early 1700s, the first Europeans arrived in the Cuyahoga Valley. Many of these were fur traders looking for muskrat, beaver, otter, mink and other valuable pelts. Often, they traded with the Native Americans: guns and gunpowder for furs. The first European-American settlement in the Valley dates back to John Heckewelder's Moravian mission 'Pilgerruh' in 1786. This was abandoned after just a year of use, but the Cuyahoga Valley would never be the same. The first trading posts were established soon afterwards by French traders at Portage Path and junction of Tinkers Creek and the Cuyahoga River.

Military posts came soon after. When Ohio's fame as a fur animal habitat grew, the three most powerful nations in the Americas at that time- Britain, France, and to a lesser extent, Spain- vied for control over the watershed. Native Americans became pawns for the powerful empires, especially when British-French tensions came to a head in 1753, ushering in the French-Indian War. By the end of the war in 1763, the British Empire had control over the Ohio and Cuyahoga Valleys. This did not last, for after the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783, Britain relinquished all of Ohio to the nascent United States⁴.

After the American Revolutionary War, there was some confusion as to which state the Cuyahoga River Valley belonged. New York, Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut all had claims to the land from overlapping land grants from the British crown. Eventually, all four states gave up their claims, but Connecticut reserved a strip of land stretching 120mi (193km) west from Pennsylvania bounded by the southern shore of Lake Erie and the 41st parallel. This 'Western Reserve of Connecticut' contained the entire Cuyahoga River Valley. The western reserve was sold in 1795 to the Connecticut Land Company, except for the Firelands in Erie and Huron counties, land set aside along Lake Erie to be given to those Connecticut citizens who lost property in the war. The Connecticut Land Company surveyed land east of the Cuyahoga River into townships, and its general agent, General Moses Cleaveland, founded Euclid, and of course, Cleveland⁵ at the mouth of the river in 1796.

Settlement of the Western Reserve came slowly, primarily from New England states as pioneers poled their boats up the Cuyahoga River and into the Valley, or herded their cattle over range lines and Native American trails. The result of the War of 1812⁶, after which all but one Native American group had been driven out of Ohio, and bad New England winters brought more settlers to the Valley.

Shortly after Ohio achieved statehood in 1803, the first permanent American settlements in the Cuyahoga Valley appeared. In Cuyahoga County, Independence and Brecksville were founded along the river in the valley's north end in 1808 and 1811, respectively, and the town of Valley View was platted in 1806. In what later became Summit County, Northfield, Boston and Wheatfield (later renamed Bath) townships formed.

The Canal Age

The two canals built along the Cuyahoga River were part of Ohio's famous canal system, the superhighway of the early 1800's. Everything from cotton and coal, to coffee and window glass travelled on these routes. The Ohio and Erie Canal stretches from Cleveland, through Akron and Columbus, and to the Ohio River at Portsmouth. It remained the main North-South highway for over 50 years, as the steep valleys and glacial ridges made railroad construction difficult. The Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal ran from Akron, through Ravenna, Warren and Youngstown, to New Castle, Pennsylvania.

The canals were used extensively through the heyday of the Canal Age. As many as 75 boats would travel both canals in a day. As a direct result, industry and services for the canal boatmen sprung up, the Valley's population grew and living standards improved.

While canals were directly responsible for the first period of growth in the Cuyahoga River valley, they quickly outlived their usefulness as railroads became more important. Canals for shipping were abandoned in the 1880's, but they have come under a renaissance of sorts. Akron and other cities along the Cuyahoga River showcase their canals as a tourist attraction, complete with towpaths and canal boat rides for those wishing to relive the past.

Railroads

In 1873, the construction of the Valley Railroad, a railroad route that connected the iron ore of Canton and the blast furnaces of Cleveland sounded the death knell for the canals. It paralleled the Ohio and Erie Canal, with stations built at Independence, Boston, Peninsula, Everett, Ira and Botzum. Subsistence farming generally disappeared with the coming of the railroad as farmers took advantage of the rich floodplain soils and a market economy.

The Valley Railroad was incorporated into the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad system in 1890. This system competed with the canal for four years, but quickly went bankrupt. Railroads in the late 1800's were too good to pass up, however, and the system resumed operations in 1895, renamed 'Cleveland Terminal and Valley Railroad.' The railroads were in the valley to stay when the flood of 1913 irreparably damaged the canal. The railroad carried passengers from Akron to Cleveland on the Valley Railroad until private automobiles made it uneconomical in 1963; it was strictly a freight line from that point until 1985. The railroads, like the canals, have also seen rebirth as a tourist attraction; the Valley Railroad now carries passengers on a scenic railroad tour, and shuttles them from attraction to attraction along the line.

Industrialisation

The cities of Akron and Cleveland gained a reputation as trade centres thanks to the canals and the railroads. With technological advances from the Industrial Revolution, these urban areas expanded rapidly. Cleveland, already a port on Lake Erie, became a centre for steel mills because of its proximity both to the high quality iron ore from the upper Great Lakes region and Ohio's bituminous coal. Shortly afterwards, John D. Rockefeller brought the oil industry to Cleveland in the form of refineries. Akron became home to Ferdinand Schumacher's grain mill, which later became the Quaker Oats Company⁷. Akron's status as the 'Rubber Capital of the World' started in 1880, when Benjamin F. Goodrich opened his factory to manufacture carriage and bicycle tires. The Miller, Seiberling, Goodyear and Firestone companies soon followed suit, and thrived as the popularity of the automobile grew.

The steeper portions of the Cuyahoga Valley did not see industry immediately, but felt a direct impact. Trees were cut down to fuel the rapidly growing canals, and then railroads, or to clear the land for housing or farming on the fertile floodplain. So many were felled that a 1946 survey conducted by the Early Settlers Association of the Western Reserve found no more than 14 trees in the valley more than 150 years old.

A "rainbow of many different colours"

In the days before the turn of the century when industry was king, a dirty river was considered a sign of prosperity. Due in no small part to this attitude, the Cuyahoga River became a "flowing dump." The Clean Water Act was decades away, so no laws prevented all sorts of waste from being dumped in the river. This included but is not limited to gasoline, oil (including PCB oil used in electric transformers), paint, heavy metals of all kinds and raw sewage. The Lower Cuyahoga's healthy muddy colour was soon replaced by chemical glop of all hues.

Not all the change was brought on by pollution, and not all of it was detrimental. The Cuyahoga River once emptied into Lake Erie at W. 54th Street in Cleveland. This made the river difficult to navigate, so a new channel was dredged in 1827 to the present day mouth of the Cuyahoga. This alteration to the river created a centre for industrial activity, a manmade island named Whiskey Island for a distillery which once did business upon it. Further dredging projects have continued to this day.

The Burning River

Thanks to the industrial waste, the Cuyahoga River used to be one of the worst rivers in Ohio's history; it has been so polluted it has caught on fire many times in the recent past, dating back to the first recorded fire in 1868. However, three major fires have been recorded. The first occasion was in 1936, when a spark from a blowtorch ignited floating debris and oil on the river's surface. On 3 November, 1952, the second and most damaging fire occurred, causing $1.5 million in damage.

The third and final fire, what was to become known as 'The Fire' in the national consciousness started 11:56 AM, 22 June, 1969. Started by a spark from a passing train igniting an oil slick, the fire roared to heights of five stories and took three fire brigades and the fireboat⁸ Anthony J. Celebrezze to extinguish it, but not before it caused approximately $50,000 in damage. 'The Fire' only lasted 20 minutes, but caught the imagination of a newly environmentally-conscious nation. The 1 August, 1969, issue of time magazine described the Cuyahoga as follows:

Some river! Chocolate-brown, oily, bubbling with subsurface gases, it oozes rather than flows. 'Anyone who falls into the Cuyahoga does not drown,' Cleveland's citizens joke grimily. 'He decays.' The Federal Water Pollution Control Administration dryly notes: 'The lower Cuyahoga has no visible life, not even low forms such as leeches and sludge worms that usually thrive on wastes.' It is also--literally--a fire hazard. A few weeks ago, the oil-slicked river burst into flames and burned with such intensity that two railroad bridges spanning it were nearly destroyed. 'What a terrible reflection on our city,' said Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes sadly.

As tragic as "The Fire" was, it was instrumental in bringing the deplorable state of the Lower Cuyahoga River to an end. Federal officials were embarrassed into providing funding to improve water quality in October. During the first Earth Day in 1970, the Cuyahoga Fires were part of the impetus to 'clean up our act.' Finally, the fire was to be the instrumental rallying point in the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972.

Recovery

After the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act, waste that went into the river was greatly reduced, and the Cuyahoga River slowly began to heal itself. In 1998, such a great degree of improvement had occurred since the fires that the Cuyahoga was designated as one of 14 American Heritage Rivers by the Environmental Protection Agency. The water chemistry of the Lower Cuyahoga River has finally become suitable for aquatic life, and the fires are a thing of the past.

Even though the state of the Cuyahoga River has made great strides, it is far from being back to full health. The Environmental Protection Agency has identified environmental problems caused by toxic substances (PCBs, heavy metals) from hazardous waste disposal sites, bacterial contamination from combined sewer overflows⁹, habitat modification, nutrient pollution from fertilizer and livestock and sediment runoff from commercial and residential development. The Environmental Protection Agency has classified portions of the Cuyahoga River Watershed as one of 43 Great Lakes Areas of Concern. Remediation of the Cuyahoga River continues, with work as labour-intensive as fish studies to determine the health of the ecosystem to community service projects as simple as stencilling storm drains to discourage illegal dumping.

The Middle Cuyahoga River saw its fair share of problems as well. In the early 1960s, heavy development threatened to take over the Middle Cuyahoga River Valley. This spurred citizens and lawmakers to act to save the forests, floodplains, and historical features located there. Fortunately, due to the increased awareness brought about by the entire decade, the National Park Service was establishing urban recreation areas for both recreation and conservation. These efforts led to the creation of the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area as an urban park in the National Park System, preserving the area for the enjoyment of future generations.

Recreation on the Crooked River

Because of the pollution levels in parts of the Cuyahoga River, one must take care with water related activities, including swimming, fishing, canoeing and kayaking. Normally such activities are safe, provided one uses common sense and follows all rules, laws, and recommendations put forth by the state. Aquatic activities are not recommended in highly polluted areas and after floods, when pollution levels are the highest. No aquatic activities are permitted in canals, as these often contain some very frightening contaminants, such as PCBs and heavy metals. However, for those determined to cool off during the summer months, there are several parks set up for this purpose, including the Akron Water Works in Munroe Falls, and the Dover Lake Water Park.

There are many parks along the Cuyahoga River which offer excellent hiking opportunities, including but not limited to the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, MetroParks serving Summit County and Cleveland MetroParks. There is also the Towpath trail running the length of the canal, and the Bike and Hike trail. Several hiking clubs have sprung up around these trails, offering their own events. One of the major hiking events is the Fall Hiking Spree, where MetroParks serving Summit County offers a hiking stick and a plaque to those dedicated hikers who walk eight of the 13 designated trails during six weeks in the fall.

Many golf courses have sprung up along the floodplain as well. During the winter, Brandywine and Boston Mills ski resorts are open to the public, as well as miles of cross country ski trails, snowshoeing areas and sledding hills in the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area

Cultural Activities

The Cuyahoga River boasts many cultural experiences in addition to the interpretive programs offered by the parks that line the Cuyahoga River. The Blossom Music Center, the home of the Cleveland Orchestra and venue for classical, popular rock, jazz and country music is adjacent to the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. Smaller venues played mainly by local artists include The Boston Store, Happy Days Visitors Center and the Peninsula Depot. Because of the photogenic nature of the Upper and Middle Cuyahoga, photography is another art form that is often enjoyed along the river. The Cuyahoga Valley Photographic Society awards prizes to the best picture taken in the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area.

The Cuyahoga River has been immortalised in many different art media besides photography, both visual and non-visual forms. The River itself was the subject of REM's 'Cuyahoga,' off their 1980 album 'Life's Rich Pageant. More recently, the surrounding area was the setting of The Pretenders' 2004 lament of urban sprawl 'My City Was Gone,' from the 'Learning to Crawl' album.

The Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center offers more cultural and educational opportunities for children. River Run, a music camp, is an example of the programs offered by this organization, allowing children to increase musical skills while developing a sense of environmental responsibility. Hale Farm and Village offers a summer camp for children to participate in farming activities and domestic crafts.

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad is available for everyone in order to fully enjoy nature and history of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The train travels through the entire 33,000 acre (134km²) land of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Cleveland and Akron offer museums, bars, restaurants, and night life. The town of Peninsula is also a favorite destination.

For more information about the Cuyahoga River and the surrounding environments, visit these websites:
The Friends of the Crooked River
Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area