Looking North From Baran Park
The
Kinnickinnic River is one of three primary
rivers that flow into the harbor of Milwaukee
, Wisconsin
. It is locally called
the KK
River.
Kinnickinnic is an
Ojibwa word which
literally means "what is mixed," referring to the mixing of
indigenous plants and tobaccos. Often called Milwaukee's forgotten
river, it is the smallest within the
Milwaukee River Basin, yet is the most
urbanized and densely populated as it winds through the
Lincoln
Village neighborhood and the heavily industrialized Inner
Harbor.
History
Milwaukee
was founded to utilize a natural harbor
formed by the confluence of rivers
immediately before flowing into Lake Michigan
, similar to Manistee, Michigan
and Benton Harbor, Michigan
. The Kinnickinnic River is the southernmost
of the three rivers, flowing in a generally northeastern direction
towards the harbor. The
Menomonee
River enters from the west and the
Milwaukee River enters from the north.
Originally, the Kinnickinnic River flowed almost directly into Lake
Michigan, with water from the Milwaukee and Menomonee Rivers
flowing south from the center of the city before exiting to the
Lake.
The
landform that protected the harbor was a long marshy spit, called Jones
Island
, that extended southwards from the center of the
city. To shorten the distance from the harbor entrance to
the city, a "straight cut" was made across the base of the spit, at
the northern end.
[183224] The original harbor entrance was
filled in, so that Jones Island was now a peninsula extending
northwards, with its base to the south. This effectively lengthened
the river, and this new stretch now formed a large portion of the
harbor.
Shipping traffic in Milwaukee eventually outgrew the "inner" harbor
formed by the three rivers. An "outer" harbor was constructed in
the lake, with the lake-facing edge of Jones Island serving as the
docking area. The inhabitants of Jones Island were forced to leave,
and those that were small commercial fishermen moved operations
farther up the Kinnickinnic. The commercial fishing fleet now
resides in the stretch of river near the 1st Street Bridge, along
with small pleasure craft.
KK River fishing fleet, looking
west
Watershed
The Kinnickinnic (KK) River watershed covers approximately of
perennial streams, which along with the main river, have been
extensively modified through concrete channeling. High levels of
industrial pollutants, diminished access for public use, and lack
of a vegetative buffer has caused much of the community to perceive
the waterways as nothing more than a network of municipal sewage
drainage creeks.
Its
estuary empties into Lake Michigan at the Milwaukee harbor, along with the Milwaukee River and Menomonee River.
Pollution Problems
Parts of the Kinnickinnic (KK) River watershed are considered one
of the
Great Lakes Areas of
Concern, along with the Milwaukee River Estuary. For the
Kinnickinnic, this is due to high levels of
PCB and
PAH found in the river. For
this reason, the Kinnicknic was listed as the 7th most endangered
river in the U.S. in 2007, by
American
Rivers.
External links
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