With the largest watershed of any Great Lakes river (8,316 square miles), the Maumee officially begins at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary’s rivers in Fort Wayne, Indiana, draining all or part of 17 Ohio counties, two counties in Michigan, and five more in Indiana. That’s a lot of river to roam. From Maumee River Ripe for Rediscovery on American Rivers.
The Indians, perhaps for centuries, had been accustomed to look to the streams here for much of their food in the form of fish, so abundant were they from Lake Erie to this point, and for some distance up the St. Mary's and St. Joseph. During seasons of freshets, in great quantities, and some of them very large, they would find their way up the Maumee from the lake, and when the high water subsided, they were often so numerous, that it was difficult to ride a horse or drive a team across the streams here without the animals or the wheels of the vehicles running over some of the finny tribe ; and some years ago, a company from Cincinnati began, and for several years carried on, the manufacture of oil from the fish caught here. Many boys and Indians made very good wages by catching the fish for the company. The Indians had always been of the belief that the Great Spirit had thus filled these streams with fish for tlieir special benefit, and when, a few years subsequent to the period in question, a dam was built near the mouth ot the Maumee, at the Lake, and the fish prevented from getting into this stream, as their number gradually diminished, and the company compelled to cease its operations thereby, the Indians expressed great displeasure, and considered it a direct encroachment upon their rights, and the designs of the Great Spirit. from page 295 titled Great Quantities of Fish in the Maumee in the book History of Allen County, Indiana, Publication date 1880, Publisher Kingman Brothers on Archive.org.
Maumee River (City Plan Commission 1963), by City Plan Commission (Fort Wayne, Ind.), August 1963, Description: There are 17 maps one of which is a Key. Then there are two maps per each section of the river. One map describes landownership along the river, types of river debris and/or storm drains and the like, and historical sites. The other corresponding section map describes the river level at designated measuring stations.
Few have probably heard of the Bullerman Ditch, which has its origins near the corner of Lahmeyer and Stellhorn roads in northeast Fort Wayne. From there, it winds south for about 3 miles through urbanized development and a bit of agricultural land before it drains into the Maumee River at North River Road. "As tributaries go," said Matt Jones, water resource education specialist for the Allen County Partnership for Water Quality, "it may seem like it’s just a drop in the bucket, but indeed, it runs through the most intensely landscaped countryside as it makes its way to the Maumee." With a conference on an Upper Maumee Watershed environmental implementation plan scheduled for Jan. 24, Save Maumee Grassroots Organization’s founder Abigail King has initiated a campaign to highlight the importance of the Bullerman Ditch. Copied from a longer article Save Maumee campaigns for clean ditch by Jamie Duffy published March 16, 2016 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
Highlights of the Maumee River Valley Did you know… The Maumee River is the largest in the entire Great Lakes System, unique geography of the Maumee watershed is a remnant of glaciers and the slowly falling water levels of prehistoric Lake Erie, served as a link between the Mississippi River system and the Great Lakes for humans for over 10,000 years, Britain and France vied for dominance in trade with Native American communities, and it was a major theater during the era between the French and Indian War and the War of 1812, France built two forts in the valley–Fort St. Phillipe des Miamis and Fort Miamis– near what is now downtown Fort Wayne, between 1700 and 1750 - read more from Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor.
St Marys and Maumee at Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The St. Marys River and Maumee River Watershed is located in northeastern Indiana, draining approximately 376 square miles in Adams and Allen counties. Major streams included in the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report are St. Marys River, Maumee River, Habegger Ditch, Gates Ditch, Blue Creek, Yellow Creek, Martz Ditch, Borum Run, Holthouse Ditch, Kohne Ditch, Gerke Ditch, and Nickelsen Creek, Trier Ditch, Bullerman Ditch, Gar Creek, Botern Ditch, Black Creek, Ham Interceptor Ditch and other tributaries.
Did you know that most of Allen County is a part of the Maumee River Watershed? A watershed is an area of land that drains water into a particular water
Chef sculpture w/ a lil chicken-shovel friend beside him, thanks TekVenture for the makerspace that enabled me to build...
Chef sculpture w/ a lil chicken-shovel friend beside him, thanks TekVenture for the makerspace that enabled me to build and assemble this!!! All made from scrap metal pulled out of the maumee river! Donated to the Save Maumee Grassroots Organization
