[milwaukee-electric] Re: A Little More About the Creeks

[Gary Schnabl]

Lincoln Creek as I knew it was not deep enough to be navigable, west of 
35th Street. East of 35th, it appeared to be a sewer creek devoid of 
life, at least at 35th. I tried fishing and crabbing there, never with 
any luck whatsoever. It seemed deep as there was no visible current as I 
remember. The creek between 37th and 47th Streets was rarely deeper than 
a foot (six inches deep, perhaps, at spots), except after a rain.
During that stretch, the creek was mostly clear, narrow, and shallow. I 
got crayfish below the dam mostly by overturning rocks in the creek bed 
while wading or from shore, mostly on the south bank. But at the north 
bank above the dam, I would have a few lines of strong cord with meat 
attached. It was real easy to slowly bring them in and pick off the 
crayfish hanging onto them.

Very little water spilled over the small concrete 47th Street dam. The 
trench at 46 1/2 Street is still there according to the maps. It 
probably was the rerouted 49th and Hampton creek you knew. Very little 
if any noticeable current in that "stream." Its former path meandered 
from around 49th to as far east as 44th a couple blocks north of 
Congress. The land north and west of 46 1/2 Street was hilly and wooded, 
so no possibility of another creek connecting Lincoln until at least 
49th. That hill along the north bank is long gone.

On 7/19/2010 7:56 PM, Ken and Tracie wrote:
> So the trench between 46th and 47th? Shows you my memory is
> failing.........I thought it was between 48th and 49th Streets. My mistake.
>
> That used to be a meandering stream between the McGovern Park lagoons and
> Lincoln Creek. They straightened it and made the trench, probably at the
> same time Lincoln Creek was straightened. The other creek (which runs
> through Dineen Park) wasn't placed into a tunnel between Melvina and Lincoln
> Creek until 1955, according to a friend whose grandfather, and two
> subsequent generations, lived on 61st and Capitol.
>    

That time frame was right, as 1955 was when Capitol Court went in and 
when I started delivering papers from 51st through 53rd Streets south of 
Capitol to north of Roosevelt. Another artifact there back until the 
early 1950s was a milk depot at the NW corner of Fond du Lac and Capitol 
Drive--a precursor of today's convenience stores, where eggs, bread, 
milk, and produce in season was sold. When Fond du Lac was widened from 
its narrow ROW, it went.


> Capitol Drive was extended past 35th Street before Lincoln Creek was moved
> to the center of Congress. Larry Allan sent me a link concerning ice jams
> and people's concerns about them blocking the channel and forcing water over
> one of the Capitol Drive crossings near A.O. Smith. It was after Lake was
> renamed Capitol, since they used the name "Capitol" in the article.
>
> Another article discussed whether or not Lincoln Creek was a "navigable
> waterway" which people may have used to float logs, etc. The concern was
> that some people along the creek's original channel would not want to lose
> access to the creek by it being relocated.
>    

Maybe people with creek access then dug the creek deeper at their 
properties in order to have deep access. I would wonder where its water 
would come from--perhaps, some former springs stopped issuing water 
afterward. The township that formed SW Detroit here by Dearborn and the 
Ford Rouge Plant was originally called Springwells until the late 1920s, 
when Dearborn was incorporated as a city from its original name of 
Springwells. The several springs and wells there were sources for 
drinking water in early Detroit, starting just west of downtown..

> Back in the days of streetcars, when using dynamite to blow up ice jams in
> urban waterways was acceptable!
>
> There was even talk of putting some of the Kinnickinnic River into box
> channel tunnels.
>
> I once read an article that Mr. Whitnall didn't want any additional
> industrial development in the Menomonee River Valley. He wanted it to be a
> huge park for the region. I suppose that would have meant no industrial
> customers along the Rapid Transit line or the Milwaukee Road between
> Downtown and 42nd Street.
>
> K.
>    
Gary

-- 

Gary Schnabl
Southwest Detroit, two miles NORTH! of Canada--Windsor, that is...