Cedar Creek (Wisconsin)

Cedar Creek is a 53-kilometre-long (33 mi)[1] stream in southeastern Wisconsin in the United States. The Cedar Creek watershed is a 330 km2 (127mi2) sub-basin of the larger Milwaukee River watershed.[2][3] It originates from Big Cedar Lake in the town of West Bend, then flows east into Little Cedar Lake. Cedar Creek then flows eastward through Jackson Wisconsin toward Lake Michigan before turning south. Flowing southward the creek crosses State Highway 60 where there is USGS gage that has been recording data since 1930[4] and briefly flows through Grafton Wisconsin before entering Cedarburg Wisconsin on its north side. Cedar Creek flows through downtown Cedarburg, and empties into the Milwaukee River southeast of Cedarburg in the Town of Grafton. The section through Cedarburg is notable for its the steep slope, and early settlers made use of this by building several dams and mills along the creek including (from upstream to downstream) Hilgen and Wittenberg Woolen Mill, Cedarburg Mill, Columbia Mill, Excelsior Mill (later Cedarburg Wire and Nail), and Concordia Mill.

The lower portion of the creek through downtown Cedarburg until its confluence with the Milwaukee River is adversely impacted by the milldams, and PCB pollution produced by Mercury Marine and Amcast automotive.[5] Numerous cleanups have occurred, the most recent cleanup from the ruck pond to the wire and nail dam was completed in 2018, with cleanup from the wire and nail dam to the Milwaukee River set to take place in the 2020s.[5] Several species of fish are found in the creek, including northern pike, rock bass, smallmouth bass, bluegills, sunfish, carp, suckers and bullheads.

Parks
Public Parks along Cedar Creek
Name Municipality
Adlai Horn Park, Cedar Creek Park, Boy Scout Park Cedarburg
Grafton Lions Park Grafton
Covered Bridge Park, Town of Cedarburg Canoe Launch Town of Cedarburg
Jackson Marsh State natural Area Jackson

Bridges
Road and Railroad Bridges and Crossings on Cedar Creek
Name Times Crossed Notes
Green Bay Rd 1
Lakefield Rd 1 Washed out in the great spring flood of 1881, later rebuilt[6]
Canadian National Railroad[7] 1
Private 1
Highland Drive 1 Designed by Charles Whitney and built in 1939 as a PWA project
Columbia Rd 1
Bridge Rd 1 Original stone arch bridge re-decked, but original arches still visible
State Highway 60 5
Cedar Creek Rd 3
County Highway I 1
Covered Bridge Rd 1 Site of the last covered bridge[6]
Kaehlers Mill Rd 1
County Highway NN 2
County Highway Y 1
County Highway M 1
County Highway G 1
Hickory Ln 1
Sherman Rd 2
Canadian National Railroad[7] 3
Western Ave 1
County Highway P 1
Interstate 45 1
South Mayfield Rd 1
Lily Rd 2
Scenic d 2
County Highway C 1
Pleasant Valley Rd 1
Hillside Rd 1

Notes
  1. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-04-05 at WebCite, accessed May 19, 2011
  2. "Milwaukee River Basin". Milwaukee Riverkeeper. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  3. Graham, Jackson (2015). "Climate Impact on Groundwater Flow Processes in the Cedar Creek Watershed and Cedarburg Bog". UWM Digital Commons.
  4. "USGS Current Conditions for USGS 04086500 CEDAR CREEK NEAR CEDARBURG, WI". waterdata.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  5. "CEDAR CREEK Site Profile". cumulis.epa.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  6. "Early history of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin". 1965. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. "Wisconsin Railroad Map" (PDF).


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