Cherry Creek (Colorado)
Encyclopedia
South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West, located in the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska...
, 48 miles (77.2 km) long, in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Location
Cherry Creek rises in the high plateauPlateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
, east of the Front Range
Front Range
The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the north-central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered moving west along the 40th parallel north across...
, in northwestern El Paso County
El Paso County, Colorado
El Paso County is the most populous of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States, now more populous than Denver County. The United States Census Bureau concluded that the county population was 622,371 in 2010. In recent years, the population had come closer to that of Denver...
. It flows north, through Castlewood Canyon State Park
Castlewood Canyon State Park
Castlewood Canyon State Park is a Colorado state park near Franktown, Colorado. The park protects a unique part of Colorado's history . Visitors can still see the remnants and damage from that dam which burst in 1933. The event sent a wave of water all the way to downtown Denver resulting in a flood...
where it is spanned by the historic Cherry Creek Bridge
Cherry Creek Bridge
The Cherry Creek Bridge is a concrete arch bridge spanning Cherry Creek near Franktown, Colorado. State Highway 83 runs atop it. It was built in 1948 by J.H.& N.M. Monaghan & Associates and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
, past Parker
Parker, Colorado
The Town of Parker is a Home Rule Municipality in Douglas County, Colorado, United States. As a self-declared "Town" under the Home Rule Statutes, Parker is the 2nd most populous town in the county, behind Castle Rock. In recent years, Parker has become a commuter town at the southeasternmost...
and through portions of Centennial
Centennial, Colorado
The city of Centennial is a Home Rule City located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States, and part of the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area. The city was to have a total population of 100,377 in 2010 census. Centennial is the tenth-most populous municipality in the state of Colorado and its...
and Aurora
Aurora, Colorado
City of Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality spanning Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties in Colorado. Aurora is an eastern suburb of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area . The city is the third most populous city in the Colorado and the 56th most populous city in the...
, and into southeast Denver. It flows northwest through Denver, becoming an urban stream
Urban stream
An urban stream is a formerly natural waterway that flows through a heavily populated area. Urban streams are often significantly polluted, due to urban runoff and combined sewer outflows....
and joining the South Platte at Confluence Park
Confluence Park
Confluence Park is an urban park encompassing the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River in Denver's Lower Downtown , a bustling neighborhood of 19th-century brick warehouses and storefronts that has been redeveloped since the late 1980s....
in central Denver just west of downtown and approximately 5 miles (8 km) east of the foothills, near the site where the city of Denver was founded in 1858.
The 140 feet (42.7 m) Cherry Creek Dam, completed in 1950, forms Cherry Creek Reservoir in Cherry Creek State Park
Cherry Creek State Park
Cherry Creek State Park is a state park located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The park is in the city of Aurora. The park consists of a natural prairie environment with an reservoir at its center which is shared by powerboats, sailboats, and paddle craft. The Cherry Creek Marina...
, providing flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
control and irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
. The dam lies immediately southeast and southwest of the Denver and Aurora city limits, respectively, approximately 8 miles (12.9 km), as the crow flies, from the creek's confluence with the South Platte.
The creek lends its name to the Cherry Creek
Cherry Creek Neighborhood
Cherry Creek is a neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, USA. It has many newer residences mix in with some of Denver's older homes.-Geography:The neighborhood is generally located in the south-central area of the City of Denver and is a mixture of dense urban development and tree lined residential...
neighborhood in south-central Denver, and also in particular to its Cherry Creek Shopping Center
Cherry Creek Shopping Center
Cherry Creek Shopping Center, also known as Cherry Creek Mall, is an upscale shopping mall about three and half miles southeast of downtown Denver, Colorado in the Cherry Creek Neighborhood. It is situated along East First Avenue on the banks of Cherry Creek.Cherry Creek Shopping Center is one of...
. In addition, the creek runs through the suburban Cherry Creek Public Schools. The Cherry Creek Bike Path follows the creek from Confluence Park in downtown Denver through Cherry Creek State Park and south, with some interruptions, towards Parker and Castlewood Canyon.
History
Cherry Creek was the focus of the early part of the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in 1858 and 1859, when gold was discovered at the "Cherry Creek diggings," in what was then western Kansas TerritoryKansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....
. The first edition of the Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
on 23 April 1859 identified itself on the masthead as being located at "Cherry Creek, K. T." Gold was discovered at Russellville (now in Douglas County
Douglas County, Colorado
Douglas County is the eighth most populous of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado, in the United States. The county is located midway between Colorado's two largest cities: Denver and Colorado Springs...
) in the upper Cherry Creek drainage, and in the Platte River near its confluence with Cherry Creek.
Biota
The creek itself is locally well known for its population of crayfishCrayfish
Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...
. Some local inhabitants catch and eat these crustaceans. The creek is also home to a large population of small fish (Including immature trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
and sunfish
Centrarchidae
The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...
, crappie
Crappie
Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...
, yellow perch
Yellow perch
The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...
and others). Large fish are largely absent, except when the Cherry Creek Dam is partially opened and floodwaters carry fish such as rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
, brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
, mature sunfish, walleye
Walleye
Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...
, and even northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
downstream. The creek's ecosystem was damaged during a drought in the first few years of the 21st century. Plants along the banks, damaged by the drought, dropped organic debris into the water, increasing biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand or B.O.D. is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period. The term also refers to a chemical procedure for...
substantially. Decreased flow also limited the ecosystem's capacity to supply needed oxygen. Decreased flow also prevented the washing away of pollutants such as NPK fertilizers, insecticides and organic solvents. Water temperatures also rose during this period, compounding the problem. As of 2005, however, the creek is substantially healthier.
The area around the creek is also known for its snake population, which includes garter snakes, western hognose snakes, bullsnake
Bullsnake
The bullsnake ' is a large non-venomous colubrid snake, widespread in the central part of the United States, northern Mexico, and southwestern Saskatchewan and Alberta Canada. It is currently considered a subspecies of the gopher snake '...
s and occasionally rattlesnakes. Amphibians native to Colorado can be found at the creek as well. These include, the plains leopard frog
Leopard frog
Leopard frogs, also called meadow frogs, are the archetypal "grass frogs" of North America, a collection of about 14 species within the true frog genus Rana. They are generally very similar, green with prominent black spotting...
, woodhouse's frog, and the striped chorus frog
Western Chorus Frog
The Western Chorus Frog, Striped Chorus Frog, or Midland Chorus Frog is a species of tree frog found in Canada and the United States.- Description and Identification :...
. The bullfrog
Bullfrog
The American bullfrog , often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is an aquatic frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or “true frogs”, native to much of North America. This is a frog of larger, permanent water bodies, swamps, ponds, and lakes, where it is usually found...
, a non-native species, is also located in the Cherry Creek. In recent years, bullfrogs have contributed to the decimation of native amphibian species populations at the creek.
For some of its distance, notably in the region of Four Mile Historical Park, the creek is flanked on each side by approximately 15 metres (49.2 ft) of woods and scrub. This corridor is deliberately left semi-wild, though there is a dirt bike track on the northern bank. This corridor is one of the few places within the Denver metro area where the creek's namesake plant, the chokecherry
Chokecherry
Prunus virginiana, commonly called chokecherry, bitter-berry, or Virginia bird cherry, is a species of bird cherry native to North America, where it is found almost throughout the continent except for the Deep South and the far north.-Growth:It is a suckering shrub or small tree growing to 5 m tall...
, can still be seen in a largely wild state. Large trees such as cottonwoods are common, as are willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
s. Edible plants such as wild asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
and prickly pear
Opuntia
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...
are occasionally found. Imported plants such as the Russian olive, dandelion, and Virginia creeper are also notably present. Despite the limited area this corridor offers, raccoons, beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
, fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
es, coyotes, and even deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
are not uncommon sights along the creek.[4] The beaver typically have lodges upstream (east) of Denver, but swim downstream to forage.
Petrified wood
Petrified wood
Petrified wood is the name given to a special type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. It is the result of a tree having turned completely into stone by the process of permineralization...
is extremely common in the creek. It is washed down, sometimes in fairly large pieces, from 'petrified forests' upstream. Fossil mammal bones have also been found.
Historical records kept at what is now Four Mile Historical Park
Glendale, Colorado
The city of Glendale is a Home Rule Municipality located in an exclave of Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The population was 4,547 at the 2000 census. The entire city is surrounded on all sides by the City and County of Denver. Therefore, as a municipal entity, it is also an enclave...
indicate that prior to the construction of the Cherry Creek Dam, the creek's water level rose and fell regularly. Since the dam's completion, however, this flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
cycle has been interrupted. Now, the flow is regulated almost exclusively by the dam's operators. The level of the creek is kept constant except when water needs to be vented from the Cherry Creek Reservoir. When the dam's floodgates are opened for this venting, the creek's level may rise as much as two feet, sometimes in less than an hour.