Salt Creek (Little Calumet River)
Encyclopedia
Salt Creek is a 24 miles (38.6 km) 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
.
, the nineteenth century Salt Creek watershed is described: "As the years passed the land has been drained by various ditch projects and the forests have bowed before the axes of the pioneers and their descendants. These two factors have contributed to a gradual shrinking of the size of the streams and lakes. Any one doubting this has but to observe the difference between the banks of our creeks and the present streams or study old maps of the township showing the great millponds which have disappeared. Such maps published as late as 1876 show a great expanse of water in the northwest, spreading over acres of land which are now the fertile fields of August Hockelberg, Daly Brothers and Julius Turk. Anyone looking at Salt Creek, now even in time of flood, can hardly realize that there was once a project for boats to steam down Salt Creek to convey grain and lumber to Chicago by way of the Calumet river."
The Salt Creek watershed was criss-crossed historically by important Indian
trails. The "Pottawatomie
Trail" was the north end of a major path from the Wabash River
to Lake Michigan and after entering Porter County, and passing east of what is now Valparaiso
, this trail followed the crest of the moraine between Coffee Creek and Salt Creek and ended at the beach.
, Portage
and Burns Harbor, Indiana
.
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.
(Hypericum pyramidatum) and Smaller Forget-me-not
(Myosotis laxa), and more than 400 insect species, including the Indiana rare Baltimore Checkerspot
butterfly (Euphydryas phaeton) and Sedge Skipper
butterfly (Euphyes dion) and state threatened Big Broad-winged Skipper
butterfly (Poanes viator viator) and Starry Campion
moth (Hadena ectypa). A threatened species is a species that is likely to become endangered in the near future.
Wetlands, including a fen
, in the Salt Creek headwaters should also be investigated further since the uncommon bog species Tamarack (Larix laricina) has been observed there. The state threatened Small Cranberry
(Vaccinium oxycoccos) has been found at another wetland in the Salt Creek headwaters. Although they are no longer on the Indiana list of endangered species, both the American Badger
(Taxidea taxus) and Bobcat
(Lynx rufus) have been found within the Salt Creek watershed in recent years. These two species were on Indiana’s original endangered species list established in 1969, but have since improved their populations statewide and were removed from the list in July 2005. They are now protected as nongame species that cannot be hunted or trapped intentionally.
Beaver (Castor canadensis) were hunted for their fur since the era of the French trappers only to be extirpated from Indiana by 1900. 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 a beaver colony in Salt Creek in 1994 as well as beaver sign in the lower portions of the Little Calumet 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.
. In the uppermost watershed, the Save the Dunes non-profit environmental organization won a $607,000 United States Environmental Protection Agency
grant to naturalize the Thorgren detention basin, a joint project with the city of Valparaiso, that will improve local streams, provide wildlife habitat and ultimately protect Lake Michigan waters. The grass and cement lined 2-acre detention basin will be restored with wetland plants which filter sediment, pollutants, fertilizer and bacteria so that it not only catches flood waters but also improves water quality. From there the water drains into Smith Ditch, then makes its way into Sager’s Lake, Salt Creek, Little Calumet River, and then Lake Michigan.
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.
East Arm Little Calumet River
The East Arm Little Calumet River is a 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.-History:...
that begins south of Valparaiso
Valparaiso, Indiana
Valparaiso is a city in and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 31,730 at the 2010 census, making it the 2nd largest city in Porter County.-History:...
in Porter County, Indiana
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 flows north until it joins the East Arm Little Calumet River just before it exits to 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...
via 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
In the 1936 centennial history of Liberty TownshipLiberty Township, Porter County, Indiana
Liberty Township is one of twelve townships in Porter County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 6,727.-Cities and Towns:The town of Chesterton has grown south from Westchester Township and has incorporated parts of Liberty Township along State Route 49 near the Indiana Toll Road...
, the nineteenth century Salt Creek watershed is described: "As the years passed the land has been drained by various ditch projects and the forests have bowed before the axes of the pioneers and their descendants. These two factors have contributed to a gradual shrinking of the size of the streams and lakes. Any one doubting this has but to observe the difference between the banks of our creeks and the present streams or study old maps of the township showing the great millponds which have disappeared. Such maps published as late as 1876 show a great expanse of water in the northwest, spreading over acres of land which are now the fertile fields of August Hockelberg, Daly Brothers and Julius Turk. Anyone looking at Salt Creek, now even in time of flood, can hardly realize that there was once a project for boats to steam down Salt Creek to convey grain and lumber to Chicago by way of the Calumet river."
The Salt Creek watershed was criss-crossed historically by important Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
trails. The "Pottawatomie
Potawatomi
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...
Trail" was the north end of a major path from the Wabash River
Wabash River
The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...
to Lake Michigan and after entering Porter County, and passing east of what is now Valparaiso
Valparaiso, Indiana
Valparaiso is a city in and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 31,730 at the 2010 census, making it the 2nd largest city in Porter County.-History:...
, this trail followed the crest of the moraine between Coffee Creek and Salt Creek and ended at the beach.
Watershed and course
The Salt Creek watershed covers 19% of Porter County and 49573 acres (20,061.5 ha), including the communities of Valparaiso, South HavenSouth Haven, Indiana
South Haven is a census-designated place in Portage Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,619 at the 2000 census.-Geography:South Haven is located at ....
, Portage
Portage, Indiana
Portage is a city in Portage Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 36,828 as of the 2010 census. It is the largest city in Porter County, and third largest in Northwest Indiana.-Geography:...
and 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...
.
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.
Ecology
Many rare species in the Salt Creek watershed are found in Samuelson Fen and related habitats at Imagination Glen Park in Portage. Surveys of the 33 acre (13 hectare) fen have found 201 species of plants, the vast majority being native species, including state threatened Great Saint John’s-WortHypericum calycinum
Hypericum calycinum is a prostrate or low-growing shrub species of the genus Hypericum . Widely cultivated for its large yellow flowers, its names as a garden plant include Rose of Sharon in Britain and Australia, and Aaron's beard, Great St-John's wort, and Jerusalem star.Grown in Mediterranean...
(Hypericum pyramidatum) and Smaller Forget-me-not
Forget-me-not
Myosotis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae that are commonly called Forget-me-nots. Its common name was calqued from the French, "ne m'oubliez pas" and first used in English in c. 1532. Similar names and variations are found in many languages.-Description:There are...
(Myosotis laxa), and more than 400 insect species, including the Indiana rare Baltimore Checkerspot
Baltimore Checkerspot
The Baltimore Checkerspot is a North American butterfly of the family, Nymphalidae.It is the official state insect of the U.S. State of Maryland since 1973....
butterfly (Euphydryas phaeton) and Sedge Skipper
Euphyes dion
The Dion Skipper or Alabama Skipper, Euphyes dion, is a species of butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. It is found in scattered populations along the Atlantic coast of North America, from western Massachusetts and south-eastern New York south to north-eastern Florida, west to north-eastern Texas,...
butterfly (Euphyes dion) and state threatened Big Broad-winged Skipper
Poanes viator
The Broad-winged Skipper is a skipper butterfly found in North America.-Distribution:It ranges from Texas to Florida and along the east coast to Massachusetts and west to southern Quebec and Ontario to the Dakotas....
butterfly (Poanes viator viator) and Starry Campion
Hadena
Hadena is a genus of moths of the Noctuidae family.-Species:* Hadena aberrans * Hadena adriana * Hadena afghana * Hadena alba * Hadena albertii Hacker, 1996...
moth (Hadena ectypa). A threatened species is a species that is likely to become endangered in the near future.
Wetlands, including a fen
Fen
A fen is a type of wetland fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. Fens are characterised by their water chemistry, which is neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients...
, in the Salt Creek headwaters should also be investigated further since the uncommon bog species Tamarack (Larix laricina) has been observed there. The state threatened Small Cranberry
Cranberry
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...
(Vaccinium oxycoccos) has been found at another wetland in the Salt Creek headwaters. Although they are no longer on the Indiana list of endangered species, both the American Badger
American Badger
The American badger is a North American badger, somewhat similar in appearance to the European badger. It is found in the western and central United States, northern Mexico and central Canada, as well as in certain areas of southwestern British Columbia.Their habitat is typified by open...
(Taxidea taxus) and Bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
(Lynx rufus) have been found within the Salt Creek watershed in recent years. These two species were on Indiana’s original endangered species list established in 1969, but have since improved their populations statewide and were removed from the list in July 2005. They are now protected as nongame species that cannot be hunted or trapped intentionally.
Beaver (Castor canadensis) were hunted for their fur since the era of the French trappers only to be extirpated from Indiana by 1900. 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 a beaver colony in Salt Creek in 1994 as well as beaver sign in the lower portions of the Little Calumet 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.
Pollution and conservation
Portions of lower Salt Creek 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...
. In the uppermost watershed, the Save the Dunes non-profit environmental organization won a $607,000 United States Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
grant to naturalize the Thorgren detention basin, a joint project with the city of Valparaiso, that will improve local streams, provide wildlife habitat and ultimately protect Lake Michigan waters. The grass and cement lined 2-acre detention basin will be restored with wetland plants which filter sediment, pollutants, fertilizer and bacteria so that it not only catches flood waters but also improves water quality. From there the water drains into Smith Ditch, then makes its way into Sager’s Lake, Salt Creek, Little Calumet River, and then Lake Michigan.
Recreation
Salt Creek, along with the Little Calumet RiverEast Arm Little Calumet River
The East Arm Little Calumet River is a 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.-History:...
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...
- 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...