Creeks and Rivers

Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge, Michigan.

Ashtabula, Ohio. Taken in 1991, on a day we spent wandering from harbor to harbor on the south shore of Lake Erie. Camera: Chinon Genesis III

Conneaut, Ohio, in 1991. Another photo from the Lake Erie ports excursion I mentioned a couple days back. Camera: Chinon Genesis III

Portland, Michigan. That's the Bridge Street Bridge crossing the river; taken from the Grand River Bridge, which is a whole lot less picturesque.

Another photo from Tuesday's visit to Portland . Here's a better view of (half of the) Bridge Street bridge. And ice and snow and the frozen Grand River.

You'll perhaps recognize this photo as sort of an inversion of this photo , which I posted here a couple weeks back. The snow and ice are gone and the water's now running real high in the Grand. These buildings are the backsides of businesses on Kent Street. A few years back--before Portland built the riverwalk (they call it a boardwalk, which I can live with)-- these were unattractive, albeit surprisingly colorful, buildings . They're quite proud of the improvement, as they should be. "Bridge Street Bridge" is a playfully (or painfully ) recursive name. Interestingly, the bridge is labelled differently at opposite ends--from the west (north?) it's indeed Bridge Street Bridge, but from the east it's Veterans Memorial Bridge. This page calls it by both names. This page calls it Vets, while this page calls it BSB. I'm not exactly confused, but I'm perhaps a bit bemused.

North of Grand Ledge, during yesterday's snow. The river's high .

I'm sure there's an explanation for this, but I don't know why there used to be a bridge here, what it connected to on the far side, or why it's been abandoned. Bridge Street's little more than an alley on the edge of Bailey Park, which is itself on the fringe of Battle Creek. The street runs between the outfield walls of three baseball diamonds and an ever-dwindling set of small houses. Related photograph here .

For a while, now, Portland, Michigan's been reclaiming its formerly-industrial waterfront. Some of the reclamation's become parkland, and some's been rebuilt as riverside apartments and townhouses. And, of course, they've mostly prettied up the back side of the commercial district, as I've been showing . Portland was settled in the early 1830s at the confluence of the Looking Glass and Grand Rivers, on the old Grand River Trail (Road) that could be said to predate Michigan's white settlement. There's a sign, roughly where I took this photo, explaining that the early settlers were separated from the Native Americans by the Looking Glass--the Indian settlement was, I gather, on the left in this image. Later, though, the former Indian land became a factory district, and remained so for around a century. Then the factories failed and the buildings weren't well maintained, which is how things stood when I first visited the town. Anyway, it's pretty easy to imagine a bustling industrial district along the river, here. Just out of sight around the bend are the remains of an old dam and millrace, and this old wall--the buildings here are essentially storefronts--certainly brings to mind a mill town. Shot from a footbridge, more or less where the rivers join. The business in the foreground calls itself " Duke's Cajun Grill ." This, by the way, is why I wanted the new lens. Yesterday's experiment was just that.

Portland's really quite proud of its old bridges.

Near Eaton Rapids on the Grand River.

From the old McKeown Road Bridge. South of Hastings, Michigan, not far from Charlton Park.

In Barry County (Michigan) on the Thornapple, southeast of Hastings and about a mile downstream from Charlton Park . I was standing on this bridge when I took the barn photo I posted earlier today. This 1903 bridge was originally known as the Sponable Bridge and took the McKeown name in the 1930s. Both names commemorate the same farm--the farm whose barn I photographed. The state's description of the bridge attributes the name change to the rural electric companies standardizing road names in the 1930s, which is probably more interesting than the name itself. The bridge now lives in a little park, with its 1997 replacement crossing the Thornapple just downstream from the old bridge. There's quite a bit more information on the Historic Bridges website ; worth a look.

Since 1) I seem to be exploring Portland, and 2) I seem to be seeking out Grand River dams, I decided to seek out Portland's dam today. It fits both groups. I've been vaguely aware of this dam for years, but never felt any need to find it, as it's not a "big" dam. Evidently I've changed my mind....

Below Portland (Michigan) Municipal Dam.

On the Grand River in Eaton Rapids.

Joan and I walk the Ledges Trail from Fitzgerald Park to downtown Grand Ledge a couple times a year. It's a pleasant walk, and we typically wander around Second Island for a while before returning. The geese are a valuable part of the experience. This particular goose was a rather anti-social critter, and wanted nothing to do with us, or my camera. Got 'im!