| Tinker's Creek | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Country | United States of America |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • coordinates | 41°11′46″N81°22′49″W / 41.19611°N 81.38028°W [1] near Ohio State Route 43 in Sugar Bush Knolls, Ohio |
| • elevation | 874.5 ft (266.5 m) [A] |
| Mouth | |
• coordinates | 41°21′54″N81°36′35″W / 41.36500°N 81.60972°W Coordinates: 41°21′54″N81°36′35″W / 41.36500°N 81.60972°W [1] Cuyahoga River |
• elevation | 610 ft (190 m) [1] |
| Length | 28.2 mi (45.4 km) [2] |
| Basin size | 96.4 sq mi (250 km2) [2] |
Tinker's Creek, in Cuyahoga, Summit and Portage counties, is the largest tributary of the Cuyahoga River, providing about a third of its flow into Lake Erie.
Tinker's Creek was named after Captain Joseph Tinker, the principal boatsman of Moses Cleaveland's survey crew, who died in a boating accident while returning to New England in the fall of 1797. [3]
Thousands of years ago, when the Wisconsinian Glaciation retreated, dips and valleys like Tinker's Creek Gorge 41°22′37″N081°33′30″W / 41.37694°N 81.55833°W Elevation: 896 feet (273.1 m) [4] were created due to erosion in the underlying shale. [5] [6] The awesome, severely sloped gorge sculpted by Tinker's Creek became a National Natural Landmark in 1967. [7] A raised viewpoint over the gorge is easily accessible from the Gorge Parkway in the Cleveland Metroparks' Bedford Reservation. The stream is sometimes run in whitewater kayaks and is arguably the most challenging creek in the state of Ohio (when there is enough water to make it runnable). [8]
The continuous downward flow of water erodes the underlying shale faster than the harder sandstone, causing sandstone outcropping collapses and features such as the 25-ft-high Great Falls of Tinker's Creek or Gates Mills Falls 41°23′01″N81°31′56″W / 41.38361°N 81.53222°W Elevation: 853 feet (260.0 m), in Bedford, Ohio. [9] [10]
Tinker's Creek Aqueduct 41°21′53″N81°36′32″W / 41.36472°N 81.60889°W Elevation: 610 feet (185.9 m), [11] on the National Register of Historic Places, was built to bridge the Ohio and Erie Canal over Tinker's Creek near its confluence with the Cuyahoga River. [12] The aqueduct and surrounding area are subject to flooding by the Cuyahoga River and Tinker's Creek. [13]
Tinker's Creek Viaduct 41°23′05″N81°32′03″W / 41.38472°N 81.53417°W Elevation: 920 feet (280.4 m), [14] on the National Register of Historic Places, was a railroad trestle built to span Tinker's Creek near the Great Falls. A 510-foot-long stone archway was later built to channel the creek through the gorge, which was filled with landfill for the construction of a newer two-track railway. The top of the viaduct is still visible.
Tinker's Creek is the largest tributary of the Cuyahoga River, the river which flows through Cleveland and into Lake Erie. Because of its glacial history, the course of the Cuyahoga River is unusual: it rises in Geauga County, Ohio, flows southward into the city of Akron, Ohio, and then abruptly turns northward and flows into Lake Erie. Its course is shaped like a reversed "J," and Tinker's Creek, entering from the east, drains almost all of the land nestled in the hook of the "J" that does not drain directly into the Cuyahoga.
The creek itself rises near Tinker's Creek State Park [15] in Streetsboro, Portage County. The creek then flows through Twinsburg Township and Twinsburg in Summit County, and Glenwillow, Oakwood, Bedford Heights, Bedford, and Walton Hills in Cuyahoga County before its confluence with the Cuyahoga River in Valley View village near Independence. [16] [17] [18]
The 24 municipalities within the watershed are:
Cuyahoga County
Geauga County
Portage County
Summit County
Organizations
Tinker's Creek has eight major tributaries and countless unnamed smaller tributaries. From the headwaters moving downstream, the major tributaries are:
The walls of the Tinker's Creek valley expose four geologic layers. The youngest sediments, unconsolidated glacial till deposited on top of bedrock by the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation 12,000 years ago, occur in the upper portion of the watershed. These poorly sorted and poorly drained materials largely account for the marshes, swamps, bogs and fens that characterize the headwaters of the creek.
Further downstream, at the Great Falls, the creek plunges over a cliff of Berea sandstone composed of tiny quartz crystals cemented with clay. Berea sandstone is about 330 million years old (Mississippian), and was generated by rivers bearing sand from higher ground to the east and north and depositing it in fan-shaped deltas in an ocean. These deltas eventually dried and were buried under subsequent sediments where they hardened into a layer of resistant rock.
Cleveland shale (350 million years old; Devonian) underlies the sandstone. The shale is composed of extremely fine bits of quartz, clay and mica deposited at the edge of a sea. Ripple marks created by the sea's wave action are visible in the shale. The Cleveland shale is less resistant to erosion than the overlying Berea sandstone, so the creek was able to scour its impressive gorge once it had penetrated the sandstone cap—a process still occurring at the Great Falls.
Downstream of the gorge, approaching the creek's confluence with the Cuyahoga River, the creek has begun to reveal Chagrin Shale, bluish-gray and opaque, laid down 360 million years ago.
Tinker's Creek has substantial pollution due to its industrial history. [19]
Despite water pollution, whitewater kayakers consider it one of the most demanding and enjoyable streams in Ohio. [8]
Bedford is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States located to the east of Cleveland. The population was 13,074 at the 2010 census. It is an eastern first ring suburb of Cleveland.
Berea is a city in Cuyahoga County in the U.S. state of Ohio and is a western suburb of Cleveland. The population was 19,093 at the 2010 census. Berea is home to Baldwin Wallace University, as well as the training facility for the Cleveland Browns and the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds.
The Cuyahoga River is a river in the United States, located in Northeast Ohio, that runs through the city of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major center for manufacturing, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so much so that it "caught fire" at least 13 times, most famously on June 22, 1969, helping to spur the American environmental movement. Since then, the river has been extensively cleaned up through the efforts of Cleveland's city government and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA). In 2019, the American Rivers conservation association named the Cuyahoga "River of the Year" in honor of "50 years of environmental resurgence."
Cuyahoga Valley National Park is an American national park that preserves and reclaims the rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland in Northeast Ohio.
The Ohio and Erie Canal was a canal constructed during the 1820s and early 1830s in Ohio. It connected Akron with the Cuyahoga River near its outlet on Lake Erie in Cleveland, and a few years later, with the Ohio River near Portsmouth. It also had connections to other canal systems in Pennsylvania.
Cleveland Metroparks is an extensive system of nature preserves in Greater Cleveland, Ohio. Eighteen reservations, which largely encircle the city of Cleveland, following along some shores of Lake Erie and the rivers and creeks that flow through the region. Referred to unofficially as the 'Emerald Necklace', the network of parks spans over 23,000 acres (9,300 ha) and includes over 300 miles (480 km) of walking, bicycle, and horse trails as well as numerous picnic areas, nature education centers, golf courses, and countless fishing spots. In addition, the district includes the zoo in Cleveland. Four of the reservations are adjacent to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Summit Metro Parks is a Metroparks system serving the citizens of Summit County, Ohio by managing 14,100 acres (5,700 ha) in 16 developed parks, six conservation areas and more than 125 miles (201 km) of trails, with 22.4 miles (36.0 km) of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail.
The Chagrin River is located in Northeast Ohio. The river has two branches, the Aurora Branch and East Branch. Of three hypotheses as to the origin of the name, the most probable is that it is a corruption of the name of a Frenchman, Sieur de Seguin, who established a trading post on the river ca. 1742. The Chagrin River runs through suburban areas of Greater Cleveland in Cuyahoga, Geauga, and Portage counties, transects two Cleveland Metroparks reservations, and then meanders into nearby Lake County before emptying into Lake Erie.
Mary Campbell Cave, also known as Old Maid's Kitchen, is a small secondary rock shelter in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The cliff and cave roof are sandstone of the Sharon Formation, while the cave wall is shale of the Meadville formation. The cavity in the cliff was formed when water passing through the porous sandstone eroded the shale, leaving a ground-level cavity beneath the cliff. The cave is currently part of the Gorge Park, administered by Summit County Metroparks, and is accessible by Gorge Trail. It is located on the north wall of the gorge overlooking the Cuyahoga River. Elevation of floor is approximately 960 feet (290 m) AMSL.
The Black River is a tributary of Lake Erie, about 12 mi (19 km) long, in northern Ohio in the United States. Via Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, it is part of the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean. The Black drains an area of 470 mi² (1217 km²).
Big Wapwallopen Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 23 miles (37 km) long and flows through Bear Creek Township, Fairview Township, Rice Township, Wright Township, Dorrance Township, Hollenback Township, Nescopeck Township, and Conyngham Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of 53.2 square miles (138 km2). The creek has three named tributaries: Balliet Run, Watering Run, and Bow Creek. The creek is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery and is also Class A Wild Trout Waters for part of its length. However, a portion is considered to be impaired by organic enrichment and/or low levels of dissolved oxygen and its pH ranges from moderately acidic to slightly alkaline.
Brandywine Creek is a tributary of the Cuyahoga River that is partly contained in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.
Gildersleeve Mountain is a summit located in Kirtland, Ohio, United States.
Mehoopany Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Sullivan and Wyoming counties, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 26.8 miles (43.1 km) long. In Sullivan County the creek flows through Colley Township and in Wyoming County it flows through Forkston Township and Mehoopany Township. The stream's watershed has an area of 123 square miles (320 km2). Its major tributaries include Stony Brook and North Fork Mehoopany Creek.
Tinkers Creek Aqueduct is an aqueduct that was constructed to bridge the Ohio and Erie Canal over Tinkers Creek near its confluence with the Cuyahoga River in Valley View, Ohio. It is a relatively rare surviving example of an Ohio and Erie Canal aqueduct. It was originally constructed in 1825-1827 by, and re-built due to flood damage in 1845 and 1905. Tinkers Creek Aqueduct was included in a National Historic Landmark district established in 1966, and it was separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The original Tinkers Creek Aqueduct was a wood plank, steel truss, and Ashlar-sandstone structure constructed in 1827, south of the present aqueduct's location. Cuyahoga River and Tinkers Creek flooding caused continual damage to the original aqueduct, so successive structures were built in 1845 and 1905 in the present location. Today, Tinkers Creek Aqueduct is the only aqueduct which remains of the four original aqueducts in the Cuyahoga Valley. Of Furnace Run Aqueduct, Mill Creek Aqueduct, Peninsula Aqueduct, and Aqueduct; Mill Creek Aqueduct, of newer construction, is the only aqueduct which still carries Ohio and Erie Canal water. After 102 years of flooding, weathering, and deterioration, Tinkers Creek Aqueduct was removed in 2007. The National Park Service is currently working on Phase II of the project to reconstruct it from newer materials.
The Bedford Shale is a shale geologic formation in the states of Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia in the United States.
Abram Creek, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, is a tributary of the Rocky River, draining 10.6 square miles in parts of Berea, Brook Park (31.3%), Cleveland (13.1%), Middleburg Heights (48.8%), and a very small portion of Parma Heights(0.2%).
Thomes Creek is a major watercourse on the west side of the Sacramento Valley in Northern California. The creek originates in the Coast Ranges and flows east for about 62 miles (100 km) to join the Sacramento River, at a point about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Corning in Tehama County.
Euclid Creek is a 43-mile (69 km) long stream located in Cuyahoga and Lake counties in the state of Ohio in the United States. The 11.5-mile (18.5 km) long main branch runs from the Euclid Creek Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks to Lake Erie. The west branch is usually considered part of the main branch, and extends another 16 miles (26 km) to the creek's headwaters in Beachwood, Ohio. The east branch runs for 19 miles (31 km) and has headwaters in Willoughby Hills, Ohio.
Year designated: 1967
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