Regarding confluences

The word confluence, from the Latin words for "flow together," is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as "the flowing together of two or more streams." (It's a big dictionary. I won it a couple of years ago in a spelling bee, and feel obligated to use it sometimes.)
Here's a pic I took of DH in 2007 in Wyalusing State Park, overlooking the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. It kind of looks like I Photoshopped him in, which I wish I had so I could take him out for illustrative purposes, but alas. As you can see, there is a wetland there, a common occurance at confluences. It is a grand vista. You can also see the new Wal-Mart from the campground, lit up like the sun all freaking night, which is especially sad since it mars the stargazing (pun!); seriously, though, there is an observatory there, and an active astronomy club . (But that is a different topic entirely.) Instead, I wanted to point out some history of the confluence of the Milwaukee River and Lincoln Creek, in what is at this point in time Lincoln Park. There used to be an S-curve in the River and a similar marshy situation, though on a smaller scale. Back in the 1930's, the CCC undertook the project of straightening the river's curvacious natural path, scooping and shaping the marsh into islands. I tried to get a good shot to illustrate the way the soil has been scooped out. This is the southwest part of the area, looking northwest, near Green Bay Road in Lincoln Park.
The map at right, from
MIT libraries, shows Milwaukee in 1906. The circled area indicates what is now Lincoln Park. You can see the lack of development in that area; the map indicates it is marshy.


To reiterate what I said at the public hearing on the 24th of March, if a person wants to go live on a natural river, untouched by human hands, one could do so- perhaps in a remote part of Alaska or Canada, in a tent. One could peacefully fish there, view otters, and eat berries, unfettered by technology or society. I will not try to talk you out of doing so.

Some history of the impoundment

John Gurda wrote this article in December of 2008, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps.
"There were ultimately six camps within the county's borders: in Whitnall, Estabrook, Sheridan and Kletzsch parks, with two more along what is now Honey Creek Parkway. Each accommodated roughly 200 young men who lived under the authority of regular Army officers and worked under the direction of trained foremen on highly specific tasks. The improvements they made to our parks and parkways have proven remarkably durable...They reshaped the bed of the Milwaukee River in Lincoln Park and constructed the present flood-control dam in Estabrook Park. They erected the graceful suspension bridge that crosses the Menomonee River near Hoyt Park, and they built miles of walkways and retaining walls with dolomite from a quarry in Currie Park. The waterfall on the Milwaukee River in Kletzsch Park - a popular fishing spot during the fall salmon run - is actually a concrete dam faced with local dolomite. CCC crews worked day and night to finish it before the spring floods came."

Save the Estabrook Dam!

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I am the River Otter. I live by the Milwaukee River. I love the river, I love nature; I try to conserve gas by riding my bike; I reduce and reuse. I also love to kayak (if by myself) and canoe (with my dear husband) on the Milwaukee River and Lincoln Creek. That is by far the most influential reason we moved here (and it's close to where we both work).
Let me explain: the Estabrook Dam was built as a WPA project in the 1930's, as part of the economic stimulus package during the Great Depression. Bedrock had been removed from the riverbed and the water level was low as a result. The dam, an innovative design that won an award and influenced later dams, raised the water level to essentially its original level. As part of this project, wetlands were drained and islands were formed in what is now county park land in Lincoln Park. It is beautiful...peaceful...an urban oasis.
Now, I am not a big proponent of draining wetlands, and if such a project were proposed now, I would be opposed.
However, we live in a built environment, an urban environment that has been altered. John Gurda's fantastic documentary series _The Making of Milwaukee_ illustrates how humans have altered the land, from the time people noted that the confluence of rivers and the natural port on Lake Michigan were a great place to settle, all the way to now, when we have a population of nearly two million people in the metro area. Removing the Estabrook Dam won't return the area to a pristine natural setting such as existed three hundred years ago; leaving it in place allows the park to exist as it does now, an urban paddler's paradise.
See also my posts about the recreational benefits of the impoundment, the original state of the confluence, and some more of its history.