We may still want the jobs that came with oil, plastics, paint and steel -- but not the sludge byproducts that came with it. People generally agree about what occurred on and immediately after June 22, 1969. French explorers in the 1600s called the Great Lakes les mers doucesthe sweet seasand they account for more than one-fifth of all the freshwater in the world. Centralia, Pennsylvania, which has been on fire for 50 years, shocking photos of pollution in Chinas Yangtze River. But on June 22, 1969, a spark flared from the train tracks down to the river below, igniting industrial debris floating on the surface of the water. "Because fish just go where there's clean water -- they don't remember how bad it was.". Fact-Checking Five Myths Of The 1969 Fire On The Cuyahoga River Petroleum waste was also particularly bad for shipping. "By the standards of river fires, the 1969 fire was nothing," said Adler. And this year, for the first time in decades, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says any fish you catch in the Cuyahoga River is safe to eat. A view of the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River in 1968. It also has a remarkable place in the history as the Treaty of Greenville line runs across it, which was known to end the Northwest Indian War in the state of Ohio. It was a short blaze, under control within 30 . On the morning of June 22, 1969, oil and debris that had collected on the surface of the Cuyahoga River as wound its way through Cleveland caught fire. 51 Years Later, the Cuyahoga River Burns Again - Outside Online Cleveland Press Collection/Cleveland State University LibraryThe Cuyahoga River caught fire at least a dozen times. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Cleveland Press Collection/Cleveland State University LibraryThe 1952 fire on Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. When Ohio Environmental Protection Agency biologists in the mid-1980s first began counting fish in the middle to lower section of the Cuyahoga River -- the worst polluted section of the stream as it wound through Akron to Cleveland -- they would literally come back with fewer than 10 fish. Firefighters put out the remains of a bridge fire over the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland on June 22, 1969. On June 22, 1969, an oil slick caught fire on the Cuyahoga River just southeast of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. By browsing this site, we may share your information with our social media partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy. In Cleveland, a number of Cleveland State University students celebrated the inaugural Earth Day in 1970 by marching from campus to the river to protest pollution. Carl B. Stokes and the 1969 River Fire - U.S. National Park Service Artificial Photosynthesis Produces Hydrogen Fuel, New Fukushima Images Raise Safety Concerns, Company Gets Go Ahead on Its Fusion Stellarator, This New Battery Could Change Green Energy, Scientists Finally Manipulated Quantum Light. He even took reporters on a pollution tour after the 1969 fire. Residents of Cleveland knew better than to swim in the Cuyahoga River. 1970: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency created; Kent Environmental Council created, with emphasis on Cuyahoga River. Those are the major blazes, and dont include the fires on tributaries where the citys factories, refineries, and mills set up nearby. Theres even a small, but loyal Cleveland surfing community, centered at Edgewater Beach, and apartments are being built along the Flats. A 1912 fire killed five and . For increasing the maritime activities, the river banks are being made straighter, and the basins are also still being widened outwardly. But the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 had an outsized impact. Why Did Lake Erie Catch On Fire? - CLJ YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. The river is now clean enough that the Ohio EPA has lifted fish restrictions for the river and its watershed, including the nearshore area of Lake Erie. By 1989, the Cuyahoga was not quite pristine but it was fireproof, according to the New York Times. on Some signs of life had reappeared, including insects and mollusks. The 1952 fire on Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. The picture of the Cuyahoga River on fire that ended up in Time Magazine a month later - a truly arresting image showing flames leaping up from the water, completely engulfing a ship - was actually from a much more serious fire in November 1952. When Moses Cleaveland came to survey what was then known as the Connecticut Western Reserve in 1796, he found trees almost as far as the eye could see, and a river called Cayaguga, a Mohawk word meaning crooked. The river snaked through the plains to empty into a lake that took its name from the Erie Indians, who had been long absorbed into the Iroquois by the time Cleaveland and his party landed on the shore of what is now downtown Cleveland. How Many Times Does a River Have to Burn Before It Matters? But it was one of the most memorable and it helped change the way Americans think about the environment forever. He's the author of two books, and his byline has appeared in Deadspin, Jalopnik, CityLab and POLITICO, among other places. And in 1952, a huge weekend fire caused thousands of dollars worth of damage. But the 1969 fire would change everything. Rivers dont burn, because liquids dont burn. Special Collections/Cleveland State University/Michael Schwartz LibraryMen examine a cloth soaked in oil from the Cuyahoga River on September 21, 1964. Mayor Carl Stokes talks to reporters near the site of the Cuyahoga River fire in 1969. The river was a scary little thing, remembered Tim Donovan, who spent a summer working at the citys steel mills. 1997: Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District begins work on Mill Creek tunnel, a massive 5.4-mile pipe that will hold sewage and rainwater for treatment before it enters the Cuyahoga's largest tributary. Then, check out these shocking photos of pollution in Chinas Yangtze River. So if we dont take care of that, were not taking care of ourselves.. Marking 50 years since the Cuyahoga River fire, which sparked US The Cuyahoga River caught fire at least a dozen times. In 1969, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River caught fire and burned for about twenty minutes, damaging two railroad trestles. The Cuyahoga River was one of the most polluted American rivers during the twentieth century. "The fire was a bad thing, sure, but some good came out of it in the end," said Jane Goodman, a South Euclid councilwoman and spokeswoman for the river planning group. MOLLY BLOOM: There were also river fires in Buffalo, Detroit, Baltimore . The fire was knocked down within a half hour, with no loss of life and property damage around $50,000. Where Does The Brahmaputra River River Start And End? When used as part of a proper name, such as Cuyahoga County or Cuyahoga Falls, it is usually pronounced k ah H AH g ah. And the fire was extinguished in less than 30 minutes. The first European-American survey of the area now known as Cleveland, Ohio, was explored by Moses Cleaveland in the year 1796. Grabowski notes that stone houses in the city were discolored, and the titans of industry that had first lived in a millionaires row on Euclid Avenue in the citys Hough neighborhood kept moving farther and farther out of townto escape the pollution their factories made. The most well-known tributaries of the river are Tinkers Creek, Brandywine Creek, and Furnace Run, which also form notable gorges and waterfalls. Home Equipment Question: How Did The Cuyahoga River Catch Fire. Waste from US Steel is dumped into the Cuyahoga River. The blaze only lasted about 30 minutes, extinguished by. The Time article contributed to this, as did the notoriety of Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes. Smoke on the Water: 50 Years After the Cuyahoga Fire - Popular Mechanics Why Is Biodiversity Critical To Life On Earth? There was a general rule that if you fell in, God forbid, you would go immediately to the hospital.. . All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions 2023 worldatlas.com, The Most Polluted River In The World: The Citarum River. Flames spread across the river, in some. Its the crap on them.. On this day, June 22, in 1969, the Cuyahoga River burst into flames in Cleveland when sparks from a passing train set fire to oil-soaked debris floating on the waters surface. From the Ashes of '69, a River Reborn - The New York Times Question: How Did The Cuyahoga River Catch Fire - BikeHike Yum? The 1969 Cuyahoga River fire catalyzed water pollution control activities, resulting in the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (1970) and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), and passage of the Clean Water Act (1972) and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (1972). Time had a circulation of 8 million, and the story was likely seen by even more people; that weeks issue also covered Ted Kennedys Chappaquiddick car wreck and the moon landing. Introduction to the Clean Water Act | Watershed Academy Web - US EPA Within three years of the Cuyahoga River fire, Congress had passed several new environmental laws, most importantly the Clean Water Act. Ohio's Burning River In Better Health 40 Years Later : NPR The article described the Cuyahoga River as oozing instead of flowing and that an individual can decay in the river instead of drowning. You can unsubscribe at any time. Cleaveland and his team paced off what he envisioned would be a small town like those in New England. Thanks to decades of clean-up work, the Cuyahoga River is on the mend. "We put a few people out of business in the early days -- we had to," said Scott Linn of the sewer district. Smog, radioactive fallout, pesticides, and polluted rivers were all a result of the new industrial and advanced society. A fireboat battled the blaze on the . Your web browser does not support HTML5 video. Environmental Threats and Territorial Disputes The biggest threat that the Cuyahoga River is facing arises from the discharge of municipal sewage and other pollution into the area, which has caused many fish species to no longer live in the area. Fire and water. In 1988, the Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan was also put in place, the precursor to the planning organization now headed by White. In an attempt to clean the river of its unwanted pollution, Federal, state, and local governments, as well as non-governmental agencies and private environmental groups, have already millions of dollars, especially over the past 20 years. The Plain Dealer/Advance Media. All Rights Reserved. The consensus is 13, but there are estimates as high as 15, dating back to the days immediately following the Civil War. How many times did the Cuyahoga River burn? The Cuyahoga River is found to be located in northeastern Ohio in the United States, where it can be seen feeding Lake Erie, one of the North American Great Lakes. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. 2009: Year of the River declared by Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization. Although it was not the first fire on the river, it set itself apart by gaining the nation's attention and 50 years later, the Cuyahoga made a new . Since then, fact and fiction have often mixed in the popular history of the fire. The '69 fire was not even the first time that the river burned. Even though it has been misunderstood, the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire did help bring about positive change. Adler says things in Cleveland were actually getting better. And the rat corpses that would regularly float by were bloated to nearly the size of dogs. Ironically, the photos used with the story came not from the 1969 fire, which was extinguished so quickly that no pictures were taken, but from the 1952 blaze. Kusak wants to see more focus on how far the river has come since that last fire in 1969. Voters had approved a $100 million bond issue to clean up the river in 1968, a year before the famous fire. Cleveland has the Cuyahoga River, said Kusak. What everyone can agree onand what most people rememberis the last one, 50 years ago, on June 22, 1969. The Time magazine story also said this: "Some River! In 1968, Cleveland residents overwhelmingly passed a $100 million bond initiative to fund the Cuyahoga's cleanup. The Cuyahoga River is believed to have caught fire at least thirteen times since 1868. "I had a visitor here from Russia recently and the first thing he wanted to see was where the river burned.". 1988: The 45 river miles between Akron and Cleveland named one of 43 most polluted waterways on the Great Lakes. https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/63, The Cuyahoga River Fire, part 1: Don't Fall in the River, City Councilmen Inspecting River Pollution, case.edu/ech/articles/c/cuyahoga-river-fire, Center for Public History + Digital Humanities, Stradling, David, and Richard Stradling, "Perceptions of the Burning River: Deindustrialization and Cleveland's Cuyahoga River,". Tim Donovan describes the sorry state of the Cuyahoga River prior to cleanup efforts and regulatory protections. Being a convenient dumping ground for factory waste, the Cuyahoga was so polluted by 1969 that the sewage in the water had caught fire an astonishing 13 separate times. There were a handful of events the '69 fire, the Santa Barbara oil spill and so on, said Adler. 1969: Debris and oil floating on the Cuyahoga River catches fire, the last of a dozen fires over 100 years of industrial development. As for the 1969 blaze, it only racked up about $50,000 in damages. The 1969 incident was the most covered fire incident but did not result in any fatalities. As the Post points out, The reality is that the 1969 Cuyahoga fire was not a symbol of how bad conditions on the nations rivers could become, but how bad they had once been. Fire On The Cuyahoga River: 1969's Environmental Wake-Up Call We did not have a burning river, we had a fire on our river, explained Kusak. Firefighters attempt to extinguish the flames of the 1952 Cuyahoga River fire at Jefferson and W. 3rd Streets. On June 22, 1969, Clevelands filthy river ignited for the 13th and last time. 216.368.2000 In fact, there may even be a way to "set the river on fire again," Goodman said. There had been some real infernos that had burned docks, that burned facilities, that killed people.. It was the cost of doing business. (Local lore is that the first a in his name was dropped from the citys name to fit better into a newspaper headline.). 2000: An Ohio EPA report shows 62 species of fish in the river and six of eight areas between Akron and Cleveland meet some or all of the goals set by the federal Clean Water Act.
