#night paddle

[clinardance-blog]

Chuck explaining how the Chicago River was cut straight to make it easier for barges to get from the Mainstream to the rest of the southbranch.

Nov 17

Also an excerpt from this fantastic blog Connecting the Windy City

The original orientation of the river at this point lazily rolled east at Polk Street, reaching almost to Clark Street and then, around today’s Fifteenth street, rolled back southwest until it ran reasonably straight again at Eighteenth Street.

South Branch of Chicago River before straightening (Chicago Historical Society)

Straightening this mile-long bottleneck promised to work miracles.  As Libby Hill wrote in The Chicago River:  A Natural and Unnatural History, “At the time, only Wabash Avenue and State Street connected the south side to the city’s business district. Michigan Avenue was restricted to passenger cars, and Clark Street was too narrow for trucks.  As many as nine railroads squeezed their tracks into the narrow space between Clark and the river, and some railroad properties were even bisected by the river.”

[clinardance-blog]

As we paddled north on the river we came upon a small dam structure that couldn't be the handy work of anyone or anything other than a beaver. Given our proximity to the city (we were just south of Roosevelt Blvd and very close to Union Station) I couldn't imagine any animals larger than healthy sized rats living among our urban mess...but low and behold, there was evidence of these resilient beings doing their thing and trying to make a home like the rest of us. I was caught off guard, and for a moment there the city dweller  took over the naturalist in me - you can hear the apprehension in my voice in this track. I'm not typically scared of beaver but I'm not going to lie, they are powerful and humbling creatures.

- Laura Prieto-Velasco

[clinardance-blog]

Relationships

The urban landscape can enforce an incestuous relationship between humans and humans. Surrounded daily by people and by buildings and inventions made by people one runs the risk of never looking up at the sky or considering what's below the bedrock that holds the city skyline. If we do not practice having relationships with the River, the Sky, or consider other species, we implode and suffer a disquieting longing never satiated by more things or other people.

- Wendy Clinard

[clinardance-blog]

Sitting still, we practically held our breath while the beaver made a big sweeping circle around our canoe. It was mesmerizing - we couldn't take our eyes off it until it dove under water and re-emerged at the start of the path it created with an exclamatory clap of its tail.

- Laura Prieto-Velasco

[clinardance-blog]

November 17th paddle on the Chicago River from 18th street bridge to the mainstream 7p.

The River was still, so still. It was night and the bank landscape as well as city structures were reflected onto the water with precision. Above, the waxing crescent moon, the planet Venus and winter constellation Orion shone brightest through the competitive city lights. Approaching the Roosevelt bridge traveling northbound we encountered a beaver. We stilled ourselves in the boat and the beaver made a full circle around us. Honing our senses, we watched the beaver in the dark, still water. All time compounded and as I looked up I perceived the disparate parts (stars, city, river, beaver) as one unified picture.

- Wendy Clinard