Powered by the Clinton River

Crayfish or crawdads? Depends on where you live. For us in the Heights, crayfish could be caught in the Clinton River, over the railroad tracks, an excursion Mom frowned on and my brothers ignored.

A lovely river. It bubbled and twisted its way through Rochester and the Heights and into Pontiac, where it dove underground. Dangerous, too, in spots, but alluring and singing a bubbly song of catfish, bluegill, crayfish, trout, and in other areas, fish to boast about. For us, it was part of the Heights, along the railroad tracks past the junior high, around downtown, and off to Rochester where it powered the Yates Cider Mill.

My limited memories don’t come close to the reality of that river.

Native Americans camped beside it overnight before crossing, near Saginaw and Water Streets. In the late 17th century, French explorers called it Nottawasippee, Ojibwe for “like rattlesnakes.” British fur traders called it the Huron River. On July 17, 1824 it was named after DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York from 1817 to 1823.

It’s part of the Clinton River Watershed, an area 760 square miles and 83 miles long, covering most of Macomb County and much of Oakland County. Pretty ambitious for a meandering river with woods and parks along its banks.

It begins northwest of Pontiac in Springfield Township and ends at Lake St Clair. That’s a lot of crayfish. “You get a line and I’ll get a pole, honey…”

We never ate any of the fish and crayfish that my brothers caught since we were warned that the pretty river was polluted. In 1972, The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement focused on the Clinton River, and in 1995, the entire watershed was included in a clean-up project. Once known as the most polluted river in the U.S., by 2020 the project gave the clean-up results bragging rights.

The Clinton River watershed formed over 20,000 years ago from the glaciers, the same that gave us our marvelous rocks and boulders. Eventually, rivers were created from the melting ice.

The Clinton River made early Pontiac successful with mills that produced timber, flour, and women’s hats. Lumber and mills made Pontiac a national leader of carriages, which led to cars, trucks, and buses. No wonder Pontiac has a Mill Street and a Water Street.

Played its part in the Heights, as well, with grist mills and sawmills.

An excerpt from Pontiac Township 1827-1983 The End of an Era says:

“Auburn in 1830 was a very pretty little village. There was the village green surrounded by very attractive houses. One street, the only one of any length, passed through the middle of it. The Clinton River water power sparked Auburn’s growth to 300 residents by 1830 with 50 buildings, including two smith shops, a wheelwright enterprise, a tannery and cabinet and chairmaker’s shop.”

From a “pretty little village” in the 1830’s to the growing city that it is now, my childhood Heights is the best of both worlds, in my opinion.

I spent happy hours walking along banks of the Clinton River in the Heights and in Rochester parks, with no conception of its true length or impact on wildlife and wetlands, ponds and lakes, and cold, clear tributaries with herons, trout, mink, smallmouth bass, walleye, bluegill, perch, pike, carp, catfish…and of course, crayfish.

“You get a line and I’ll get a pole, we’ll go down to the crawdad hole, honey, baby mine.”

We could probably eat those little crustaceans now, boiled with potatoes and corn on the cob, or lots of butter.

You get a line and I’ll get a pole.