That every day, because of what we do, the Crooked River dies. The Cuyahoga River, as most think of it, the brown stream that meets lake erie, an industrial waterway, its banks populated by steel mills and factories, its channel filled with ships and tugs. The Cuyahoga River, as it reaches lake erie, after a 100mile twisting and turning journey from its headwaters, is an exhausted stream, abused and misused by man and his machines. Without the cuyahoga, the sprawling megalopolis of clevelandakron would not exist. The river was the reason for originally settling this portion of the western reserve in the 1780s. The river, called crooked by the delaware indians, provided a waterway to the interior of ohio, and so man came and continued coming. Until today, nearly two Million People live and work in the river basin. In creating this urban complex, man has used the river as men have always used rivers. The flow has been put to work as a navigable stream, a water supply and as a sewer. Mans mark is everywhere. Is this mark an epitaph for the cuyahoga . There have been some changes since 1956 but if mans mark has not yet become an epitaph, it is still a death knell. Today, without question, the cuyahoga is still dying. But theres a possibility of resurrection. The Cuyahoga River begins above chardon in Geauga County as two separate branches rising from springs and marshes. True to its name, it finds a crooked path south to akron, then north to cleveland and lake erie, 100 miles of waterway. This epilogue, this essay on the cuyahoga, begins a few miles from the rivers source, near burton, ohio, where conservationists gather each spring for a canoe trip down the river. It is as much an inspection trip as it is recreation. This year, some 450 people followed bill gressard on the trip. It was gressard, outdoor editor of the kent, ohio record courier who complaints about the polluted cuyahoga, and his canoe trip, helped draw attention to the problem. But the trip is fun, too. And whole families take to the water. They come from miles around. Enthusiasts like 70yearold ms. Bessie simpson from lakewood, who made the 25mile trip alone. Narrator among the group is the district engineer for the Buffalo District. The Buffalo District is responsible for keeping the navigable streams open in this part of the country. And recently has been in the forefront of pollution control. [indiscernible] you know, there is a lot of trash on edge of the river. [indiscernible] throwing his trash out his backdoor, and too close to the rivers edge, their septic tanks overflow. We even found one spot of oil, by the way. Oil and substance oozing out to the banks right below the tank line. We have started an investigation already. Narrator the ohio rapids at a summer retreat is stopped by a small waterfall. The Group Carried canoes around it and despite the rain, went on except for bill who stopped momentarily, proving that one he could float his metal kayak over the falls. And two that he could catch bass and other fish from the ones polluted waters of the upper ohio river. Have cleaned up their parts of the river, hauling trash away, even cleaning the riverbed itself and they transformed the overgrown riverside field into a town park and picnic area. The general consensus was good. The cuyahoga, Lake Rockwell back to its beginnings is in better condition than it has been in years. The 25 mile trip ended just below this. Farther south the cuyahoga forms Lake Rockwell, the second Water Reservoir for the city of akron. And when the weather is good, you can find fishermen on the roadside, where highway 14 crosses the lake. It is one of the few remaining spots where fish inhabit the cuyahoga. From this point on, the river begins to show the ravages of man that will ultimately destroy it by the time it reaches lake erie. Much of the destruction comes from places like this. This Wastewater Treatment plant, just southeast of Lake Rockwell. In short, the plant is simply not large enough to treat the waste of the area it serves. And the situation is so bad that the ohio state Water Pollution board has imposed a ban on new construction until a new plant can be built and put into operation. The plant superintendent says simply that he just doesnt have the facilities to do what he is supposed to do. There are plans for a new plant, and the federal government may help, but it costs some 2 million to build it. And it will take taxes to pay for it. As a result, largely untreated sewage runs from the plant to a ditch nearby, and into a series of creeks which flow into the cuyahoga. For a time the cuyahoga becomes a sewer. At twin lakes a new Sewage Treatment plant is under construction. It is a tertiary Treatment Plant, meaning it releases highly treated water back to the environment. It is the best Sewage Treatment system, unlike many, and this plant will be adequate for future development of the area. But as it flows silently by the historic standing rock, near kent, the cuyahoga begins to smell, and the riverbed is covered with slime. The ancient tribal meeting grounds of ohios tribe have succumbed to modern man. Just below the spillway of Lake Rockwell, the cuyahoga begins to show its age. The city of akron is expanding its main water intake here to handle the millions of gallons of water required by akron. But the water is so impure, that at one time tons of sludge taken from it were dumped directly into the river. Largely through the efforts of bill gressard, two large settling ponds were built to hold the sludge. Now even they are almost full, and that part of the plan will most likely have to be expanded in the future. By legislative act, the city owns the rights to the rivers water, and the cities upstream must use municipal or private wells for water supplies. But akron is now considering a fourth Water Reservoir beyond Lake Rockwell, meaning a new dam across the cuyahoga. With the new reservoir, the city could begin selling water to the countless towns in the area. But even now the city of akron uses so much water from the river that, in times of low flow, the stream almost stops running. There are those who feel another dam would kill the cuyahoga. Now the river runs somewhat clear, though it still is not pure by any means. It is clean enough to support fish, and several have been taken from this spot below the kent falls, right in the heart of town. There is even talk here in kent of making the river into a park, available to all. And we are told the plans for it have been completed. It was a different story five years ago. On the outskirts of kent, where the river heads for cuyahoga falls, is the new Wastewater Treatment plant, which was under construction five years ago. It can provide secondary treatment of some 4 million gallons of waste each day, and it is now meeting the state requirements for discharges into the cuyahoga. In 1960, kent faced the situation in which laveta finds itself today, but even the new plant at kent is finding it difficult to do its job properly because of the kinds of waste it must treat, everything from slaughterhouse remains to industrial sludge and oil are flushed into the sewers of kent. As it is in the innumerable other cities along the river. Across the river from the plant, the affluence from the Metal Industry linked into the cuyahoga, and the orange colored dissolved iron and rust puts an indelible mark on the river. The cuyahoga has just about every problem that any river in the United States has. They vary from the upper end to this end, but it has polluted sediment in the bottom, it is full of debris and others. It has a tremendously heavy load of municipal and industrial waste. Narrator at monro falls as in countless other places, the dams provide water for specialized use. Here to supply a paper manufacturing company. Such uses of river water continue until it finally reaches lake erie. Then it slowly meanders through the city of cuyahoga falls, in some spots appearing as an idyllic stream. In others, an industrial sewer. Waste, mostly industrial, trickles into the beleaguered river. But it appears to be in better condition than it was five years ago, but many polluters are still actively contributing to the death of the cuyahoga. From cuyahoga falls, the river winds through the city of akron. From the three dams upstream, the city removes some 70 million gallons of water a day and returns it to the tiny stream at the boxing plant several miles below. During low flow period, the discharge may make up 85 of the rivers water. Under normal conditions, as much as half. From here, the cuyahoga attempts to act like a river, coursing down rapids and waterfalls, descending several hundred feet in little more than a mile and a half. Narrator by the time the Cuyahoga River reaches cleveland, it is already dead. There is little life of any kind in its water. In all, 44 Sewage Treatment plants and 28 known industries discharge waste into the river on its trek. The cleveland southerly Treatment Plant adds another 75 million gallons of effluent to the river alone. Now is the river that is known throughout the world as the only one that burns. We talk about ending up cleaning up lake erie by the secret is you are not out in the lake but in the tributaries. We have got to clean up the sources, tributaries and the stuff in the lake. Narrator industries which use river water find they have to clean it first, then many dirty it more before dumping it back. There are proposals for cleaning up the river. And while the port area will never be a trout stream, it can be made not to smell. The cost for the cleanup may be staggering. I guess first it comes down to two things. First is we have got to stop using it as a toilet and putting industrial waste and others in the waterways. And if we do we have to make sure they are cleaned up. Second now we have got to clean up the mess we have made the past decades we have been doing it. With the Cleanup Program like this, it could just work about anywhere. It is big enough that we can do a big job, and small enough that the problems we can tackle in a period of a few months to a year or two. Narrator while we can report at its source, the Cuyahoga River has been reborn, we must also report that by the time it ends, it has been long dead. If there is an epilogue to the story of how the Crooked River dies, it is simply that man has multiplied too fast, and his slovenly habits have made it difficult to live. If he does not stop polluting, eventually like the cuyahoga, he will find there is nothing clean left, and his fate may indeed resemble that of the Crooked River. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] American History tv is on social media, follow us at cspan history. On cspan3story is every weekend, featuring museum tours, archival films, and programs on the president the. The civil war, and more. Heres a clip from a recent program. One thing that everyone is going to need is this right here. Is a replica of a 1756 long, itts 4. 5 feet weighs about eight to 10 pounds. This is standard issue. You will have this, own it, and love it, dont lose it or break it. It consists of 30 parts, three parts, your lock, your barrel. D your lock, stock,ase, and barrel. Its the whole thing. Its important to note that this is a smooth board barrel, meaning it is a long tube of metal. It is not grooved. When something is rifled that means there are grooves in here. When you put a ball in there, the grooves will give it a spin. Which means you can aim at, but you cannot do that with this weapon, thats not the point. Other can watch this and American History programs on our website, where all of our video was archived. Cspan. Org history. Photographer David Leventhal uses small toys to recreate Iconic Images and scenes from American History and popular culture. Next on American History tv, mr. Leventhal is joined by joanna marsh, curator of the Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibit, american myth and memory