#maumee river

[clove-pinks]

I'm back from the Fitzgerald Experience at the National Museum of the Great Lakes! It was an interesting experience for sure, with so many connections to local history within living memory. I had no idea that the Fitz was called the "Toledo Express," among other nicknames. The Canadian-born Captain Ernest M. McSorley was living in the Toledo area, as were many of his crew.

Museum ship Colonel James M. Schoonmaker is 600-something feet long, with a 65-foot beam, vs. the Edmund Fitzgerald's length of 729 feet with a 75-foot beam. They are fairly similar Lake freighters in terms of construction and size. The tour highlighted parts of the ship implicated in the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and oral history collected from Great Lakes mariners.

There was also a copy of the lyrics of Gordon Lightfoot's song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" in the galley, with words highlighted in red that don't match the known history e.g. saying that the Fitz was headed for Cleveland, when she was destined for Zug Island. Lightfoot was close to the families of the crew, and he actually changed lyrics on request and would perform the song differently in concert, although this isn't reflected in popular recordings.

A salty (sea-going freighter) was traveling down the Maumee River during the tour, to great excitement all around.

The museum guide mentioned that all the salties look like this: rusted and decrepit after 10+ years of sea-going service, when a laker wouldn't look like that after 50 years. Built in 1911, Colonel James M. Schoonmaker was actively in use until an economic downturn in 1980.

[unlikelyinternetnightmare]

Today's walk🖤

[covrettcreative]

Industry and Art

Seen in Toledo, Ohio.

[todaysbird]

Today's bird is this inconvenienced and angry osprey being rehabbed at a local facility! If you're going fishing in Lake Erie or the Maumee River anytime in the next few weeks you should pop by and share some fresh catches!

ohhhhh little dude!

[anarchywoofwoof]

sigh. i'm going to regret looking into this, aren't i?

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Five companies have agreed to pay the federal government more than $7.2 million overall to resolve claims stemming from longstanding pollution in two adjacent creeks in the Maumee River watershed in northwestern Ohio. The settlement with Ohio Refining Co., Chevron USA, Energy Transfer LLC, Pilkington North America and Chemtrade Logistics was announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice. Officials said a federal judge must approve the deal before it takes effect. According to a complaint, the companies are liable for historic industrial discharges of oil or hazardous substances at the Duck & Otter Creeks site near Toledo. The site is just east of the Maumee River and encompasses the creeks, adjoining wetlands, floodplain areas and uplands. The two creeks flow into Maumee Bay in Lake Erie and provide key habitats for migratory birds and fish, and also support hunting and fishing activities for local residents, according to federal wildlife officials.

so before i do anything else, let me establish: when the AP says "near Toledo" they mean basically right in the middle of Toledo, Ohio (pop. 268,000~)

anyway, the AP article doesn't really elaborate on this, but we're talking pollution involving oil and discharge of cancer-causing polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAHs), arsenic and lead. cancer rates in this part of Ohio are relatively high, especially in neighboring Ottawa County. as a whole, cancer rates in Ohio have been on a steady incline over the last 2 decades.

back to the price being paid by these five companies highlighted above in red. that's really what i wanted to focus on here, because as we know, fines aren't actual enforcement of the law or justice. it is a cost of doing business for most companies.

so what is the true cost and how much are these energy companies gonna feel the impact to their bottom line?

Ohio Refining Co took some digging to find. according to this EPA documentation, it turns out that the parent company for Ohio Refining Co is - surprise! - BP-Husky Refining LLC. yes, that BP! in case you needed the reminder, they made $80.431 billion over the last 12 months.

we all know about Chevron. i mean fuck, they have an entire "Criticism of Chevron" wikipedia page dedicated to their bullshit. so i'll just throw out the numbers for this soul sucking corporation: $36.5 billion in profit for 2022.

next up we have Energy Transfer LLC. wait a second.... where do i know that name? oh yeah.

and they take home about $78.555 billion in revenue annually.

as it turns out, Pilkington North America is actually a subsidiary of a Japanese company - Nippon Sheet Glass. if my math is right, their annual revenue is around $5 billion USD.

lastly we have Chemtrade Logistics - a relative small fry - who boasts an annual revenue of $1.88 billion.

in case you weren't keeping up at home, these five companies have a combined annual revenue of $202 billion. their fine is $7.2 million.

with an annual revenue of $202 billion, that would mean that these five companies are making an average of $553 million every single day. this isn't even a drop in the bucket. this is barely 1% of one day's earnings for these companies. and at what cost to human health and safety?

[hydrohobbyist]

I still can't get over the colors you see in various sunfish species. This guy was caught in the Maumee River and sports some stunning blue markings throughout the face and gills, rich olive tones on the dorsal side bleeding into golden orange toned cremes on the ventral side. Over the whole fish is a violet iridescent shimmer that catches the light with unspeakable beauty. I am still just as in love with these fish as when I was five.

[whencyclopedia]

Siege of Detroit

The Siege of Detroit (15-16 August 1812) was one of the first major actions of the War of 1812. After a botched invasion of Canada, a US army retreated to Fort Detroit, where it was besieged by British and Native American forces under Major General Isaac Brock and Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh. The Americans quickly capitulated, leaving Detroit in British hands.

Tecumseh and Brock at Fort Detroit

A.M. Wickson (Public Domain)

Background: March to Detroit

By April 1812, war between the United States and the United Kingdom seemed just over the horizon. On the high seas, British warships had been boarding American merchantmen and impressing American sailors with impunity, while on the northwestern frontier, British agents were believed to be aiding two Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and the Prophet, in their attempt to form a Native American confederacy and resist US encroachment onto their hunting grounds. In Congress, a clique of belligerent, newly-elected representatives – called 'War Hawks' – clamored for war, despite the reluctance of the general population and the underpreparedness of the military. To prepare for a conflict that seemed increasingly likely, the administration of President James Madison looked to shore up defenses in the northwest, where the US shared a border with British-controlled Canada.

As part of this plan, the Madison administration ordered a new army to be raised in the Michigan Territory and then marched to the outpost of Fort Detroit. William Hull, the 59-year-old governor of the Michigan Territory, was commissioned as a brigadier general and offered the command. Hull, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, was reluctant to accept – he had, after all, recently suffered a stroke – but his fear of an increase in Native American attacks against Michigan settlers led him to take the command. On 25 May, Hull arrived in Dayton, Ohio, where his makeshift army was being assembled, and was dismayed at what he found. The volunteers were noisy and undisciplined, lacking adequate arms or powder. Organized into three militia regiments, the volunteers insisted on electing their own officers. As such, the men they selected as colonels – Duncan McArthur, James Findlay, and Lewis Cass – were all either politicians or aspiring politicians, men with no military experience.

After a botched army inspection in which Hull was nearly flung from his horse, the army of Ohio volunteers set out on 1 June. Proceeding at a slow pace, they reached the frontier community of Urbana ten days later, where they were joined by Lt. Colonel James Miller and a regiment of regulars, the 4th US Infantry. At Urbana, some of Hull's volunteers refused to go any further, claiming that they had not received the full pay that had been promised to them. Though they were eventually prodded along by Miller's regulars, it was not a promising start. A few days later another incident took place when one militiaman, drunk on moonshine, was startled by a noise in the dark and shot one of his fellow sentries. The man was promptly court-martialed and given the "grotesque sentence" of having his ears cropped and each cheek branded (Berton, 94). The army then marched into the Great Black Swamp, northwest of Ohio, where incessant rainfalls had overflown streams and turned the ground to mud. Meanwhile, they were, unbeknownst to them, being closely watched by Tecumseh's scouts, hiding amongst the trees.

William Hull

James Sharples Sr. (Public Domain)

On 26 June, Hull received a letter from the US Secretary of War dated 18 June, warning him that war was imminent and ordering him to get to Detroit "with all possible speed". On 1 July, Hull reached the mouth of the Maumee River where he hired the schooner Cuyahoga and loaded it with anything that was slowing the army down, including his personal dispatches, officers' baggage, extra uniforms, medical supplies, and around 30 sick men. The Cuyahoga then sailed into Lake Erie to transport the supplies to Detroit. The next day, Hull received a second letter from Washington, also dated 18 June, informing him that war had been declared, but it was too late to recall the schooner. As it attempted to enter the Detroit River, the Cuyahoga, carrying Hull's dispatches, was captured by a Canadian vessel. On 5 July, Hull finally reached Detroit, where he was joined by several companies of Michigan militia, bringing his total number to about 2,500 men. Hull, whose army was running dangerously low on supplies, had hoped to find food in Detroit but was disappointed.

Continue reading...

[middleland]

Maumee River and Providence Dam (2) by Jeff Hormann

[hometoursandotherstuff]

She-was-my-first submitted this beautiful 1912 Craftsman bungalow in Maumee, Ohio. 5bd. 4ba., $388K.

The wood columns, built-ins, etc. are all in the craftsman style, but even though the fireplace is gorgeous, it’s clearly not original to the more sleek Craftsman style. I’m sure that the owners added the ornate marble mantle. The plain white mantle behind it is more than likely the original that they covered over with a white façade. 

Here’s an additional sitting room that I suspect is the original dining room, but functions better this way for the current owners. 

This room is perfect for an office, and they’ve set up a small desk to demonstrate that. 

The dinette had a nice corner cabinet and counter. This would be the everyday dining space.

I have a thing for knotty pine cabinets. Look at the size of that drainboard sink. Amazing. Love the original tiled floor. Isn’t that cute how they have vintage step stools for seating.

Isn’t this an adorable little mudroom area? 

I don’t know what this area is, it looks like some sort of a central hall, but it’s a very large space with lots of possibilities. Beautiful wainscoting and built-ins, too. 

This is very nice, an enclosed porch.

This room opens to a lovely sunroom.

Notice the stone pillars painted white.

Here’s a stunning vintage en-suite with original tile and a gorgeous stained glass window.

The other 3 bds. are quite large with room for desks and comfortable seating.

The 5th bd. is on the upper floor.

Plus there’s another bath up here.

Look at the cute sink down here. Some people like to shave in the basement.

And, here we have a little rec room with a stone fireplace.

What cool wine cellar. 

This lovely home is situated on .57 acre.

https://www.movoto.com/maumee-oh/1503-river-rd-maumee-oh-43537/pid_0lgf4gqtkh/

[clove-pinks]

A heron in the Maumee River today!

[unlikelyinternetnightmare]

[covrettcreative]

The Skyway and the Craig

Seen in Toledo, Ohio.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Lake Erie Blooms

Algal blooms have become a common occurrence on Lake Erie, as much a part of summer at the lake as island-hopping, scenic cruises, and roller coasters. In 2024, a bloom of blue-green algae began forming in the lake’s western basin on June 24—the earliest that a bloom has been identified by NOAA since the agency began tracking them in 2002. It was still present in early September. Bloom season can last into October, with its duration depending on the frequency of wind events that mix lake waters in the fall.

When the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9 acquired this image on August 13, the bloom covered approximately 320 square miles (830 square kilometers). Since that date, which was the last time Landsat satellites got a clear look at this part of the lake, the bloom would more than double in area to the season’s likely largest extent of 660 square miles (1,700 square kilometers) on August 22.

Phytoplankton blooms carry implications for the lake ecosystem, human health, the local economy, and even municipal water supplies. The dominant organism in this bloom, a Microcystis cyanobacteria, produces the toxin microcystin, which can cause liver damage, numbness, dizziness, and vomiting. NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory measured toxins at concentrations above the recreational limit the week of August 12. The agency noted that toxins can be concentrated in scums, advising that people and their pets stay out of the water near scums.

NOAA and its research partners had forecasted a moderate to above-moderate harmful algal bloom (HAB) in western Lake Erie this summer. Blooms are classified based on their biomass, and a moderate-severity bloom will produce noticeable areas of scum. However, the agency noted, a bloom’s size does not necessarily correlate with its toxicity.

“Nutrient input from the Maumee River is the dominant driver of HAB variability from year to year,” said Brice Grunert, a professor in the department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences at Cleveland State University. Other factors such as temperature, mixing of the water column, and water movement also influence the extent and duration of blooms, he said. Precipitation can increase the load of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous in runoff to the lake, and warmer, more stratified water can amplify blooms. In 2024, the bloom followed a period of record April rainfall and an intense heatwave, according to news reports.

Satellite imagery plays an important role in helping scientists understand the nuances of phytoplankton blooms, which in turn can aid those charged with monitoring and forecasting the events. Grunert has been working in Lake Erie’s western basin for the past three years to better understand phosphorous cycles within the lake. His team is investigating how satellite imagery, combined with data from sediment sampling and chemical tracers, relates to the amount of algae-producing phosphorous in the water column.

He and other scientists studying aquatic ecosystems will soon have a new tool at their disposal in the form of the OCI (Ocean Color Instrument) aboard NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite. This instrument measures waterbodies in hundreds of wavelengths across a spectrum of ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. When fully calibrated, the data will enable scientists to track the distribution of phytoplankton and—for the first time from space—identify which communities of these organisms are present on daily, global scales.

Despite the presence of the word “ocean” in the mission title, PACE also opens new lines of inquiry in the freshwater realm. “There are a lot of interesting questions that can be addressed using PACE imagery in the Great Lakes,” Grunert said. For example, hyperspectral data will be able to reveal phytoplankton pigments that could previously only be estimated with the limited number of spectral bands, he said. And a more detailed perspective of blooms over space and time is expected to help scientists decipher how HABs in Lake Erie develop and why cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Superior are starting to occur. “This unlocks a whole new level of information that can be used to describe the unique and changing ecosystems and biogeochemistry within the Great Lakes,” he said.

Grunert is currently working on a PACE Validation Science Team project, taking field measurements in parallel to observations being collected by PACE’s OCI. These include water-surface color and the optical properties of phytoplankton, sediment, and other substances in the water column.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

[megan-the-artoonist]

I entered the recent contest to design the new flag of Toledo, Ohio. I didn’t make it to the final top ten, but I’m still proud of my design and the reasoning behind my creative choices.

There is a lot of debate over whether the city even needs a new flag at all. Whatever your opinion is on that, nobody can deny that it was a neat opportunity for local artists. Here is the description that I submitted with my design:

This flag represents the geographic location of Toledo in relation to the river and lake that connects it to the broader region. The land is conveyed by black to signify the Great Black Swamp. The blue diagonal stripe and field in the upper right represent the Maumee River and Lake Erie, respectively. The ringed red circle, adapted from Ohio’s state flag, is placed where the downtown area would be. The blue shape resembles an arrow looking up toward the future, and from the opposite side it points back to the rich history of the city. It also resembles a diagonal letter T. The use of red, white, and blue unite the design with the flags of our state and of our nation.

[ojirojika]

a 6-month-old lake sturgeon is ready to be released in the maumee river in northwest ohio.

[ohio-thestate]

The fire reached Cleveland?! Good thing I hired other people to help me I didn't even realize it got that far east.... Tho I have some good news! It may have almost reached Illinois but we managed to stop it before it before it burned all the way through Indiana!! Tho Indiana still took a big hit.... And Detroit definitely got a taste of smoke but it wasn't touched so big win there!!

Rivers helped out quite a lot I will admit but Uhm... You know the Maumee river and the tiffin tributary? The land above that might heal! Give it a bit, tho the little bit of land above the St. Joseph tributary is uhh... Yeah that's not healing....

god dammit Columbus.....