Day Nine- Solon, OH

17 miles- 1868, 1883. 1887, 1912, 1922, 1936, 1941, 1948, 1952, and 1969 were the years that we are sure the Cuyahoga River caught fire. There are probably others, but they weren’t recorded.

I mention it because this morning I said goodbye to the Cuyahoga whose river valley I have been walking down since I left Akron. From my perspective, the Cuyahoga looked pretty normal, maybe a bit muddy, but it has been raining a lot and some dirt runoff is to be expected. But, truth is that it never burned up stream where I’ve been. The fires were always near the lake in downtown Cleveland where industrial effluent was dumped directly in the river. Oil, fuel, chemicals, sludge, plastics, waste water, they were all poured in, sometimes in massive quantities.

Cuyahoga near Lock 29

For much of our history, it was kind of a given, if you wanted prosperity you accepted a certain level of pollution. And most people wanted prosperity. Cleveland wasn’t the only city with these problems. Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Francisco, really most, if not all, the major cities had some significant level of pollution by the late 1960s.

The fire that got the nation’s attention in 1969 was not even a bad one. It was out in 20 minutes and did somewhere around $100k in damages to two old wooden RxR bridges. No one even took a picture of it. When Time and National Geographic did articles on that fire a few weeks later they used pictures from the much more devastating fire in 1952. But there was just something about a river catching on fire that was so wrong that it caught peoples attention in 1969.

Photo: The Cuyahoga River fire of Nov. 1, 1952. Cleveland State University Library.

What was a PR nightmare for Cleveland, became a symbol of the sorry state of the nation’s environmental policy and things began to change. The EPA came into being in 1970, maybe not as a direct result of the Cuyahoga fire, but it helped. The first Earth Day was also celebrated in 1970. Suddenly, people were aware and not only was it expected that companies clean up after themselves, but now there were laws and a federal agency charged with making sure they did.

As I came out of the wood this morning…a new day!

This morning I got up early and was on the “trail” at 6AM. From where I camped, the Buckeye trail follows the towpath and the Cuyahoga River for a mile or so, before veering east and leaving it for good. But this section of the towpath was closed for stabilization and I had to find my own way around. Luckily I noticed a rails to trails route that went where I wanted to go, so I crossed the highway bridge over the Cuyahoga and after a couple miles joined rails to trails. It turned out to be both a rails to trails path and a utility corridor, but it was just the thing I needed and got me off the road.

High tension towers looking like giants straddling the rails to trails path

I ended up finding a series of bike trails along with the Buckeye route to get me to my motel for tonight. Tomorrow it is looking like rain again, maybe for a couple days. It’s all part of the journey.

Until tomorrow, Happy Trails!

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steve
steve
7 months ago

I’m gonna tell you a story
I’m gonna tell you about my town
I’m gonna tell you a big fat story, baby
Aw, it’s all about my town

Yeah, down by the river
Down by the banks of the river Charles
(Aw, that’s what’s happenin’ baby)
That’s where you’ll find me
Along with lovers, muggers, and thieves
(Aw, but they’re cool people)

Well I love that dirty water
Oh, Boston, you’re my home

_____________________

Although the Standells recorded this 4 years earlier in 1965 and it’s about Boston, polluted bodies of water must have been enough of an issue to merit a top ten AM radio hit! thanks for putting it in perspective.