East Arm Little Calumet River
Encyclopedia
The East Arm Little Calumet River is a 22.1 miles (35.6 km) portion of the Little Calumet River that begins just east of Holmesville, Indiana
in New Durham Township
in LaPorte County
and flows west to Porter County
and the Port of Indiana-Burns Waterway
.
word gekelemuk, which means "a low body of deep still water".
In 1822 Joseph Bailly
(born Honore Gratien Joseph Bailly de Messein) established a homestead and fur trading business at the now historic Bailly Homestead
, a part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
, on the east bank of the Little Calumet River in Porter, Indiana
. The Potawatomis brought the beaver pelts by canoe to Bailly in the spring of the year and then he shipped them to Mackinac
, from whence they were traded to Montreal and then Europe. By 1830, the beavers were depleted and Bailly opened a tavern on the Fort Dearborn
to Detroit Road (present day U.S. Hwy. 12
). The fur trading era in northwestern Indiana had come to an end.
Until 1926 the river continued west to Illinois
as the Little Calumet River proper, but excavation of the Burns Waterway caused the flow from the eastern arm of the Little Calumet River to be diverted directly into Lake Michigan
at Burns Harbor, Indiana
.
and into Round Lake at Holmesville, then is joined by Carver Ditch on the right, and eventually on the left by Sand Creek, Coffee Creek, Salt Creek
and by the Little Calumet River (west arm), then exits via the Burns Waterway into Lake Michigan
.
The watershed begins in the physiographic unit known as the Valparaiso Morainal Area. The Valparaiso Moraine
, located south of the Lacustrine Plain
, is an arc-shaped moraine complex that parallels the southern shore of Lake Michigan. The moraine divides LaPorte and Porter County into northern and southern drainage areas. The area north drains into Lake Michigan; south of the moraine water drains to the Kankakee River
. Numerous kettle lakes sit on the moraine.
(Ardea herodias) rookery
was protected and made part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
in 1980. The herons, numbering 98 nesting pairs as of 2001, have made their home on the eastern portion of the wet woods along the Little Calumet River for more than 60 years. They return to the region after wintering in the southeast and south central States.
Beaver (Castor canadensis) were hunted for their fur since the era of the French trappers only to be extirpated from Indiana in the nineteenth century. In 1935 re-introductions of Wisconsin
and Michigan
beaver into Indiana were successful and the aquatic herbivorous mammal was spotted in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore beginning in 1968. Whitaker reported in 1994 that beaver were trapped in the river north of Chesterton
and that he had found signs of beaver in the lower portions of the river. Beaver create wetlands which remove sediment and pathogens and increase trout and salmon abundance as their ponds make ideal fish-rearing habitat. Research in the western United States, found that extensive loss of beaver ponds resulted in an 89% reduction in coho salmon
(Oncorhynchus kisutch) smolt summer production and an almost equally detrimental 86% reduction in critical winter habitat carrying capacity
. Contrary to popular myth, most beaver dams do not pose barriers to trout and salmon migration, although they may be restricted seasonally during periods of low stream flows.
The nonvenomous Northern water snake
(Nerodia sipedon) inhabits the river, where it often winters in the rubble around bridges, and is often seen near Bailly's Homestead.
. The East Arm Little Calumet River watershed is listed as impaired for "Mercury Fish Consumption Advisory, PCB Fish Consumption Advisory, and Pathogens".
and Trail Creek
, is stocked by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources
with Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and Coho salmon
(Oncorhynchus kisutch). These fish are non-native potamodromous salmonids from the West Coast which run up from Lake Michigan to the creeks where they were stocked in an attempt to spawn, although Indiana's creeks are too warm for significant salmonid reproduction, requiring regular re-stocking.
Holmesville, Indiana
Holmesville is an unincorporated community in New Durham Township, LaPorte County, Indiana....
in New Durham Township
New Durham Township, LaPorte County, Indiana
New Durham Township is one of twenty-one townships in LaPorte County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,095.-External links:* *...
in LaPorte County
LaPorte County, Indiana
LaPorte County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 111,467. The county seat is the city of La Porte. This county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, Northwest Indiana and Michiana. The largest city is Michigan City...
and flows west to Porter County
Porter County, Indiana
Porter County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 164,343. Much of the population growth has to do with the expansion of the Chicago Metropolitan Area eastward into Indiana. The county seat is Valparaiso...
and the Port of Indiana-Burns Waterway
Port of Indiana
The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor is an industrial area, founded in 1965 and located on the Lake Michigan shore of Indiana at the intersection of U.S. Highway 12 and Indiana 249. The primary work done in the area is the manufacturing of steel, and the port area is dominated by steel mills...
.
History
Although its origins are unclear, the Calumet name seems to reflect the nature of the river. It may have come from the Old French word chalemel, which has to do with reeds, or it might be a corruption of the PotawatomiPotawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
word gekelemuk, which means "a low body of deep still water".
In 1822 Joseph Bailly
Joseph Bailly
Joseph Bailly was a fur trader and a member of an important French Canadian family that included his uncle, Charles-François Bailly de Messein....
(born Honore Gratien Joseph Bailly de Messein) established a homestead and fur trading business at the now historic Bailly Homestead
Joseph Bailly Homestead
The Joseph Bailly Homestead, also known as Joseph Bailly Homestead and Cemetery, in Porter, Indiana, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark....
, a part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore located in northwest Indiana and managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan...
, on the east bank of the Little Calumet River in Porter, Indiana
Porter, Indiana
Porter is a town in Westchester Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 4,972 at the 2000 census.Porter is noted for its proximity to the Indiana Dunes State Park and for its railroad heritage...
. The Potawatomis brought the beaver pelts by canoe to Bailly in the spring of the year and then he shipped them to Mackinac
Straits of Mackinac
The Straits of Mackinac is the strip of water that connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and separates the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a shipping lane providing passage for raw materials and finished goods, connecting, for...
, from whence they were traded to Montreal and then Europe. By 1830, the beavers were depleted and Bailly opened a tavern on the Fort Dearborn
Fort Dearborn
Fort Dearborn was a United States fort built in 1803 beside the Chicago River in what is now Chicago, Illinois. It was constructed by troops under Captain John Whistler and named in honor of Henry Dearborn, then United States Secretary of War. The original fort was destroyed following the Battle of...
to Detroit Road (present day U.S. Hwy. 12
U.S. Route 12
U.S. Route 12 or US 12 is an east–west United States highway, running from Grays Harbor on the Pacific Ocean, in the state of Washington, to downtown Detroit, for almost . As a thoroughfare, it has mostly been supplanted by I-90 and I-94, but remains an important road for local travel.The...
). The fur trading era in northwestern Indiana had come to an end.
Until 1926 the river continued west to Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
as the Little Calumet River proper, but excavation of the Burns Waterway caused the flow from the eastern arm of the Little Calumet River to be diverted directly into Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
at Burns Harbor, Indiana
Burns Harbor, Indiana
Burns Harbor is a town in Westchester Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States on the shores of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
.
Watershed and course
The East Arm of the Little Calumet River flows west under the Indiana Toll RoadIndiana Toll Road
The Indiana Toll Road, officially the Indiana East–West Toll Road, is a toll road that runs for east–west across northern Indiana from the Illinois state line to the Ohio state line...
and into Round Lake at Holmesville, then is joined by Carver Ditch on the right, and eventually on the left by Sand Creek, Coffee Creek, Salt Creek
Salt Creek (Little Calumet River)
Salt Creek is a tributary of the East Arm Little Calumet River that begins south of Valparaiso in Porter County, Indiana and flows north until it joins the East Arm Little Calumet River just before it exits to Lake Michigan via the Port of Indiana-Burns Waterway.-History:In the 1936 centennial...
and by the Little Calumet River (west arm), then exits via the Burns Waterway into Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
.
The watershed begins in the physiographic unit known as the Valparaiso Morainal Area. The Valparaiso Moraine
Valparaiso Moraine
The Valparaiso Moraine is a terminal moraine around the Lake Michigan basin in North America. It is a band of high, hilly terrain made up of glacial till and sand that reaches an elevation of near 300 feet above the level of Lake Michigan at its maximum height in Indiana and 17 miles wide at its...
, located south of the Lacustrine Plain
Lacustrine plain
Some lakes get filled up by the sediments brought down by the rivers and turn into plains in the course of time. Such plains are called lacustrine plains...
, is an arc-shaped moraine complex that parallels the southern shore of Lake Michigan. The moraine divides LaPorte and Porter County into northern and southern drainage areas. The area north drains into Lake Michigan; south of the moraine water drains to the Kankakee River
Kankakee River
The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time the river drained one of the largest wetlands in North America and furnished a significant portage between the Great Lakes and the...
. Numerous kettle lakes sit on the moraine.
Habitat and wildlife
A Great Blue HeronGreat Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...
(Ardea herodias) rookery
Heron Rookery
The Heron Rookery was set aside to protect the nesting grounds of the Great Blue Heron . In 1980, the Indiana State Department of Correction transferred to the National Park Service in exchange for of land at Hoosier Prairie...
was protected and made part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore located in northwest Indiana and managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan...
in 1980. The herons, numbering 98 nesting pairs as of 2001, have made their home on the eastern portion of the wet woods along the Little Calumet River for more than 60 years. They return to the region after wintering in the southeast and south central States.
Beaver (Castor canadensis) were hunted for their fur since the era of the French trappers only to be extirpated from Indiana in the nineteenth century. In 1935 re-introductions of Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
beaver into Indiana were successful and the aquatic herbivorous mammal was spotted in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore beginning in 1968. Whitaker reported in 1994 that beaver were trapped in the river north of Chesterton
Chesterton, Indiana
Chesterton is a town in Westchester, Jackson and Liberty townships, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 13,068 at the 2010 census. The three towns of Chesterton, Burns Harbor, and Porter are known as the tri-towns or the Duneland area....
and that he had found signs of beaver in the lower portions of the river. Beaver create wetlands which remove sediment and pathogens and increase trout and salmon abundance as their ponds make ideal fish-rearing habitat. Research in the western United States, found that extensive loss of beaver ponds resulted in an 89% reduction in coho salmon
Coho salmon
The Coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". It is the state animal of Chiba, Japan.-Description:...
(Oncorhynchus kisutch) smolt summer production and an almost equally detrimental 86% reduction in critical winter habitat carrying capacity
Carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment...
. Contrary to popular myth, most beaver dams do not pose barriers to trout and salmon migration, although they may be restricted seasonally during periods of low stream flows.
The nonvenomous Northern water snake
Northern Water Snake
The Northern water snake is a large, nonvenomous, well-known snake in the Colubridae family that is native to North America.-Behavior:...
(Nerodia sipedon) inhabits the river, where it often winters in the rubble around bridges, and is often seen near Bailly's Homestead.
Pollution and conservation
Portions of the lower river and its Salt Creek tributary are now protected by the Indiana Dunes National LakeshoreIndiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore located in northwest Indiana and managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan...
. The East Arm Little Calumet River watershed is listed as impaired for "Mercury Fish Consumption Advisory, PCB Fish Consumption Advisory, and Pathogens".
Recreation
The lower part of the Little Calumet River, along with Salt CreekSalt Creek (Little Calumet River)
Salt Creek is a tributary of the East Arm Little Calumet River that begins south of Valparaiso in Porter County, Indiana and flows north until it joins the East Arm Little Calumet River just before it exits to Lake Michigan via the Port of Indiana-Burns Waterway.-History:In the 1936 centennial...
and Trail Creek
Trail Creek (Lake Michigan)
Trail Creek is a north- by northwest-flowing stream whose main stem begins at the confluence of the West Branch Trail Creek and the East Branch Trail Creek in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States...
, is stocked by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Indiana Department of Natural Resources
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the U.S. state of Indiana charged with maintaining natural areas such as state parks, state forests, recreation areas, etc...
with Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Chinook salmon
Chinook salmon
The Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, is the largest species in the pacific salmon family. Other commonly used names for the species include King salmon, Quinnat salmon, Spring salmon and Tyee salmon...
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and Coho salmon
Coho salmon
The Coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". It is the state animal of Chiba, Japan.-Description:...
(Oncorhynchus kisutch). These fish are non-native potamodromous salmonids from the West Coast which run up from Lake Michigan to the creeks where they were stocked in an attempt to spawn, although Indiana's creeks are too warm for significant salmonid reproduction, requiring regular re-stocking.
See also
- Calumet RiverCalumet RiverThe Calumet River refers to a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the neighborhood of South Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana.-Background:...
- Indiana Dunes National LakeshoreIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreIndiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore located in northwest Indiana and managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan...
- Heron RookeryHeron RookeryThe Heron Rookery was set aside to protect the nesting grounds of the Great Blue Heron . In 1980, the Indiana State Department of Correction transferred to the National Park Service in exchange for of land at Hoosier Prairie...
- History of the Indiana DunesHistory of the Indiana DunesHuman presences in the Indiana Dunes have existed since the retreat of the glaciers some 14,000 years ago. The southern lakes area was a rich hunting ground and there is little evidence of permanent communities forming during the earlier years. Archeological evidence is consistent with seasonal...
- Joseph Bailly HomesteadJoseph Bailly HomesteadThe Joseph Bailly Homestead, also known as Joseph Bailly Homestead and Cemetery, in Porter, Indiana, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark....