The Kishwaukee River, locally known as simply The Kish, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Illinois.. United States Board on Geographic Names, January 15, 1980. It is a tributary of the Rock River and its name derives from the Potawatomi word for "river of the sycamore".Kishwaukee Bottoms offers something for every outdoors person . Dr. Robert Hedeen, The Rock River Times, July 1, 1993. (Archived by WebCite).
Location The Kishwaukee River flows from Woodstock to Rockford, Illinois, where it is a tributary to the Rock River. The river begins near the intersection of Route 47 and Route 14 in Woodstock. It meanders across northern Illinois to the Rock River."Our Kishwaukee River: A Lovely, Vulnerable Gem". Jamie Johansen, Northwest Quarterly, 2011 This part of the river is known as the North Branch or the Main Branch. This stretch of stream has an average width of but it becomes wider and deeper near the Boone County line."Biologically Significant Illinois Streams: An Evaluation of the Streams of Illinois Based on Aquatic Biodiversity". Lawrence M. Page, Kevin S. Cummings, Christine A. Mayer, and Susan L. Post (1991) Illinois Natural History Survey, pp 18–19.
The South Branch of the Kishwaukee River originates near Shabbona on the Cropsey Moraine. The river flows north to Genoa, where it turns westward and flows north-northwest and joins the North Branch near Cherry Valley. The South Branch's average width is .
The Kishwaukee River drainage area includes McHenry, Boone, Kane, DeKalb, Ogle, and Winnebago Counties.Kishwaukee River Watershed (PDF), Listed Streams, Environmental Protection Agency. Crop lands occupy two-thirds of the watershed's surface area.
History The Kishwaukee has been used by humans for thousands of years. Native Americans first used it to transport goods for trade and travel between villages, and also drew water from it for domestic uses. The name Kishwaukee is derived from the Potawatomi word meaning the "river of the sycamore." The Potawatomi harvested larger sycamore trees in the river valley to make dugout canoes. The river demarcates the part of the northernmost natural range of the sycamore tree.
Native Americans began to arrive in the area in the closing years of the last ice age. Near the mouth of the Kishwaukee, not too far from the Rock River valley, are several earthwork mound sites that were built during the Mississippian period, around 900 CE, or the Upper Mississippian period around 1400 CE. No archaeological sites have been identified from the historic Native American period, which is generally said to begin around 1650. Several historic Native American tribes are known to have occupied this area during that time. In addition to the Potawatomi, the Mascouten were in the Kishwaukee region at the time of the first contact with Europeans, around 1655. French explorers and missionaries recorded encounters with them.
Waste spills and fish kills The life of the river and its overall ecology have been affected by industrial development and the increase in the number of large hog farms in the region. The hog farms generate extensive waste that poses a threat to the river.
On Wednesday, April 20, 1988, the employees of Lincoln Land Hog Farm, north of Sycamore, were working on a pipe on the farm's retention pond. The berm wall gave way, allowing two million gallons of hog waste to spill into the Kishwaukee River. This resulted in aquatic life downstream being utterly destroyed. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) stated that of the river were affected: an estimated 70,000 fish were killed along with aquatic plants, insects, clams and crustaceans.Fish Kills on the Kishwaukee River . Mac McIntyre, DeKalb County Online, May 29, 2014. (Archived at WebCite)
The city of DeKalb has been the location of more than half of the fish kills on the Kishwaukee River since 1954. Of the 19 documented fish kills since that year, 11 of them have occurred within DeKalb city limits.
Another well-documented fish kill along the Kishwaukee was in 1984. According to IDOC reports, the 1984 fish kill and a number of others were correlated to heavy canning activities at the Del Monte canning facility that once operated on Taylor Street in DeKalb. The 1984 fish kill affected a portion of the river from a bend north of Lucinda Avenue, near Annie's Woods, to Lincoln Highway. IDOC gathered evidence that proved a faulty pipe at Del Monte was responsible for this particular fish kill. After finding they were at fault, Del Monte paid the state an agreed upon value of lost fish and took steps to prevent a similar mishap.
Hydrologic history The United States Geological Survey maintains four monitoring stations, in cooperation with National Weather Service, along the Kishwaukee River. It has extensive data on low records and high crests and other information that is hydrologically pertinent. The four stations are in DeKalb, Fairdale, Belvidere and Perryville Road in Rockford. The DeKalb and Fairdale stations are along the South Branch Kishwaukee, while the other two are both along the main branch.
Flood stages vary slightly at each of the monitoring stations. At DeKalb flood stage is with moderate flood stage at 11 and major set at . In Belvidere major flood stage is at , while moderate is at 10 and flood stage is at nine feet. In Perryville, near the mouth of the Kishwaukee, flood stage is , moderate flood stage is 18, and major flood stage is .Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, National Weather Service.
Historical crests
As of July 2010.
BelvidereKishwaukee River at Belvidere, National Weather Service. February 20, 1994: June 14, 1999: March 16, 1943: January 6, 1946: July 3, 1978:
DeKalbSouth Branch Kishwaukee River at DeKalb, National Weather Service July 2, 1983: August 24, 2007: July 18, 1996: February 21, 1997: June 12, 1929:
PerryvilleKishwaukee River at Perryville, National Weather Service July 18, 1996: February 21, 1994: March 21, 1979: February 22, 1997: April 22, 1973:
2007 flood
On August 24, 2007, the Kishwaukee River at DeKalb, Illinois crested at 15.27 feet (all-time record 15.8 ft) causing major flooding. This was only the second time the river rose above since the level of the river has been recorded.South Branch Kishwaukee River at DeKalb, Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, National Weather Service. Retrieved 25 August 2007.
Geologic Much of the region around the Kishwaukee was shaped by glaciation. Early residents of DeKalb County noticed surface boulders dotting the area. Rounded and granite, these boulders ranged in size from a cannonball to giant rocks weighing more than a ton. These boulders were dubbed "hard heads" by the locals. They were used in the underpinning of barns and for the stoning of wells. The glaciation had produced and moved the boulders. Two major ice sheets advanced over the Kishwaukee basin in its past. The first, the Illinoian covered the area 300,000 to 125,000 years ago. Though the Illinoian covered the entire area, evidence of the coverage is found only in a few sediments at the surface in select sites. The second ice sheet, the Wisconsinan, advanced over the area 25,000 to 13,500 years ago and covered most of the prior glacial deposits.The Kishwaukee River Basin, 1997 Inventory of the Region's Resources.
The end moraines mark where the glacial margin once stood. One of the more visible of these formations is the Marengo Moraine, which is a north–south moraine in western McHenry County; it extends southwest across northwestern Kane County. The ridge is named after the town of Marengo, located on the moraine. North of the Marengo Moraine and to the west of the North Branch Kishwaukee River is a deep depression, or notch, across the Marengo Moraine. The depression is a subglacial channel, easily differentiated from a valley by the lack of rivers and streams along its bottom. The channel once carried meltwater from under and in front of the glacier when it was depositing its moraine.
Tributaries Major tributaries of the Kishwaukee River include Piscasaw Creek, Rush Creek, Beaver Creek, Killbuck Creek, the North Branch Kishwaukee River and two separate tributaries called South Branch Kishwaukee River. Other tributaries include Mokeler Creek, Bessie Creek, Lawrence Creek, Owens Creek and Coon Creek.Kishwaukee River , Watersheds of Illinois – 1996 Fact Sheet, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, 1996, accessed January 22, 2011.L. Inci Günerlap and Bruce L. Rhoads (2009). Planform change and stream power in the Kishwaukee River watershed, Illinois: Geomorphic assessment for environmental management. Management and Restoration of Fluvial Systems with Broad Historical Changes and Human Impacts. Allan James, Sara L. Rathburn, George Richard Whitecap, editors. Geological Society of America.
Wildlife As a "Class A" stream fish in the Kishwaukee thrive in a sediment free environment. Class A is denoted by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), the IDNR samples fish populations and measures pollution at stream sites throughout the state. A designation of Class A describes a stream where a significant number of the species of fish are silt intolerant.Kishwaukee River Watershed, Friends of the Kishwaukee. The Kishwaukee River watershed is home to 28 endangered, threatened, or watch-listed species.Kishwaukee River Watershed , Friends of the Kishwaukee.
Plants Plant life along the Kishwaukee is abundant. Various native flora from burr oaks, and lady's slippers to lousewort, and trilliums to trout lilies. Skunk cabbage blooms in late February and at the other end of the spectrum goldenrods and gentians bloom in late October, 1,070 species of plant are found in the Kishwaukee Basin, around 34% of the state's native vascular plants. Of that number 14 are listed as endangered in Illinois and another 14 as threatened in the state as of 1997. In addition the prairie bush clover is a federally threatened species that occurs in the basin.
Invasive species continue to be a problem in the Kishwaukee River Basin. 21% of the area's plants are foreign species. Canada thistle has persisted in the region since as early as 1922 when McHenry County started showing concern. "The county has its regular thistle commissioners and they in turn have been authorized to engage scores of assistants to aid in doing away with these pests ... If the land owner refuses to cut them down at the lawful time, the commissioner simply hires a man [at $3 to $4 a day] to do the work and reports the transaction and makes a bill which is placed against the land at the coming tax paying season", McHenry County officials were recorded as saying at the time.
The vegetation that dots the Kishwaukee Basin today is but a fraction of what it once was. In 1820, before European colonization, around 74% of the riparian area was forested, and the remainder was prairie. The forests were varied. Savanna, blacksoil and gravel prairies were included in the 74%, as well as various wetlands. Toward the southwest the land became flatter and dominated by prairie thanks to few natural barriers for wildfires. By 1997 those numbers had dwindled. McHenry County still had the highest percentage of wetlands, at 6.2% and DeKalb County still had the least at 1.0%
Mammals