Lake erie after a 100mile twisting and turning journey from its headwaters, is an exhaustive stream. Abused and misused by man and his machines. Without the cuyahoga, the spreading megalopolis of clevelandakron would not exist. The river was the reason for settling in the 1780s. The river called crooked by the delaware indians provided a waterway to the interior of ohio so man came and nearly 2 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 . Joining us from the cleveland area is David Stradling, a professor of history at the university of cincinnati and the coauthor of where the river burned carl stokes and the struggle to save cleveland. Let me begin, though, by asking, physically, where are you located and explain what happened 50 years ago this mo
Historical museum. We are here at the frontiers to factories exhibit. This shows us the history of detroit, from basically before the city was settled, the actual city of detroit, up through the rise of the various industries that take place in this city. About a span of 200 years. The city of detroit itself was founded by the french. In 1701. Detroit is a french name. It means the strait. That represents the strait of water, the Detroit River, that now separates the United States from canada. At that time it was all one region of land, inhabited by the various native american peoples. This is a representation of what it may have looked like around 1701, when the french settled this area. That there is a long, long history that took place before then. Human habitation began in this area almost as far as 2000 years ago, with the cultures we sometimes refer to as moundbuilders, who came out of the Mississippi River area. They came to this region and left us these large burial mounds. At
This shows the history from detroit from basically before the city was settled, the actual city of detroit, up through the rise of the various industries. About a span of 200 years. The city of detroit itself was founded by the french in 1701. Name. T is a french rait,ans that st representing the strait of water through the Detroit River. This is a representation of what it may have looked like. There is a long history that took place before this. Human habitation began in this ago withst 2000 years that we sometimes refer to as mountain builders that came out of the Mississippi River area. They came to this region and left us these large burial pounds. At one point there were six of them in the city. Now there is only one that remains. That is on the grounds of historic fort wayne at the river. Several of the tribes living here would have been the chippewa, pottawatomie, the huron as well. These people lived a prosperous life year for such a long time before european habitation. They
And 50 years ago, june 22, 1969, there was a fire on the Cuyahoga River at the end of navigation, a couple of miles south of here, end of navigation meeting boats meaning boats could not go farther upstream. This is where a couple of low Railroad Trestles blocked some debris that was coming downstream, which was not unusual, the piers from the bridge, they got soaked in oil, which was also not unusual, and then there was a spark perhaps from a passing train. We do not know exactly what set off the fire. The trestles burned for half a minute half an hour. They were doused by both a fire boat and from crews on the shore. Photographers did not get there in time to get a picture of the cuyahoga burning that time, but eventually news about the cuyahoga catching fire became international in scope. So this is what we are celebrating, the 50th anniversary of the cuyahoga no longer catching fire. Steve but there had been previous fires along the cuyahoga. This was not the first, correct . David
Industries. About a span of 200 years. The city of detroit itself was founded by the french in 1701. Detroit is a french name. It represents the straight of water being the Detroit River. It separates the United States from canada now. At that time, it was one region of land that was inhabited by the various native american people. This is a representation of what it may have looked like around 1701 when the french settled this area. Theres a long history that took place before this. Human habitation began in this area as far back as 2000 years ago with the cultures that we sometimes referred to as mound builders that came out of the Mississippi River area. They came up to this region and left us these large burial mounds. At one point, there was six of them at least in the city. Now there is only one that remains on the grounds of historic fort wayne down at the Detroit River. Several of the tribes that were living here wouldve been the chippewa, the pottawatomie, the uron. A, the h t