Kishwaukee River

River in Illinois, United States

The Kishwaukee River, locally known as simply The Kish, is a 63.4 mile (102 km) river in the U. S. state of Illinois. It is a tributary of the Rock River

The Kishwaukee River flows from Woodstock to Rockford, Illinois, where it is a tributary to the Rock River. The river begins near the intersection of Route 47 and Route 14 in Woodstock. It meanders across northern Illinois to the Rock River. This part of the river is known as the North Branch or the Main Branch. This stretch of stream has an average width of 50 feet (15 m) but it becomes wider and deeper near the Boone County line. The South Branch of the Kishwaukee River originates near Shabbona on the Cropsey Moraine. The river flows north to Genoa, where it turns westward and flows north northwest and joins the North Branch near Cherry Valley. The South Branch's average width is 55 feet (17 m). Crop lands occupy two thirds of the watershed's surface area.

The Kishwaukee has been used by humans for thousands of years. Native Americans first used it to transport goods for trade and travel between villages, and also drew water from it for domestic uses. The name Kishwaukee is derived from the Potawatomi word meaning the "river of the sycamore." The Potawatomi harvested larger sycamore trees in the river valley to make dugout canoes. The river demarcates the part of the northernmost natural range of the sycamore tree. Native Americans began to arrive in the area in the closing years of the last ice age. Near the mouth of the Kishwaukee, not too far from the Rock River valley, are several earthwork mound sites that were built during the Mississippian period, around 900 CE, or the Upper Mississippian period around 1400 CE. No archaeological sites have been identified from the historic Native American period, which is generally said to begin around 1650. Several historic Native American tribes are known to have occupied this area during that time. In addition to the Potawatomi, the Mascouten were in the Kishwaukee region at the time of the first contact with Europeans, around 1655. The city of DeKalb has been the location of more than half of the fish kills on the Kishwaukee River since 1954. Of the 19 documented fish kills since that year, 11 of them have occurred within DeKalb city limits. Another well documented fish kill along the Kishwaukee was in 1984. According to IDOC reports, the 1984 fish kill and a number of others were correlated to heavy canning activities at the Del Monte canning facility that once operated on Taylor Street in DeKalb. The 1984 fish kill affected a portion of the river from a bend north of Lucinda Avenue, near Annie's Woods, to Lincoln Highway. IDOC gathered evidence that proved a faulty pipe at Del Monte was responsible for this particular fish kill. After finding they were at fault, Del Monte paid the state an agreed upon value of lost fish and took steps to prevent a similar mishap.

On August 24, 2007, the Kishwaukee River at DeKalb, Illinois crested at 15.27 feet (all time record 15.8 ft) causing major flooding. This was only the second time the river rose above 15 feet (5 m) since the level of the river has been recorded.

Much of the region around the Kishwaukee was shaped by glaciation. Early residents of DeKalb County noticed surface boulders dotting the area. Rounded and granite, these boulders ranged in size from a cannonball to giant rocks weighing more than a ton. These boulders were dubbed "hard heads" by the locals. They were used in the underpinning of barns and for the stoning of wells. The glaciation had produced and moved the boulders. Two major ice sheets advanced over the Kishwaukee basin in its past. The first, the Illinoian covered the area 300,000 to 125,000 years ago. Though the Illinoian covered the entire area, evidence of the coverage is found only in a few sediments at the surface in select sites. The second ice sheet, the Wisconsinan, advanced over the area 25,000 to 13,500 years ago and covered most of the prior glacial deposits. The end moraines mark where the glacial margin once stood. One of the more visible of these formations is the Marengo Moraine, which is a north–south moraine in western McHenry County; it extends southwest across northwestern Kane County. The ridge is named after the town of Marengo, located on the moraine. North of the Marengo Moraine and to the west of the North Branch Kishwaukee River is a deep depression, or notch, across the Marengo Moraine. The depression is a subglacial channel, easily differentiated from a valley by the lack of rivers and streams along its bottom. The channel once carried meltwater from under and in front of the glacier when it was depositing its moraine.

As a "Class A" stream fish in the Kishwaukee thrive in a sediment free environment. Class A is denoted by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), the IDNR samples fish populations and measures pollution at stream sites throughout the state. A designation of Class A describes a stream where a significant number of the species of fish are silt intolerant. The Kishwaukee River watershed is home to 28 endangered, threatened, or watch listed species.

Plant life along the Kishwaukee is abundant. Various native flora from burr oaks, and lady's slippers to lousewort, and trilliums to trout lilies. Skunk cabbage blooms in late February and at the other end of the spectrum goldenrods and gentians bloom in late October, 1,070 species of plant are found in the Kishwaukee Basin, around 34% of the state's native vascular plants. Of that number 14 are listed as endangered in Illinois and another 14 as threatened in the state as of 1997. In addition the prairie bush clover is a federally threatened species that occurs in the basin.

Under Governor George Ryan the state of Illinois acquired of land along the Kishwaukee River in DeKalb County. The land was purchased using $2.68 million in Illinois Open Land Trust funding. The area was opened to the public as the Kishwaukee River State Fish and Wildlife Area.

The Winnebago County Forest Preserve District operates and maintains Kishwaukee River Forest Preserve. This preserve was acquired by the district in 1927. Included in the preserve is canoe access, 1.5 mile (2 km) of hiking trails, fishing access and a oak woods site. The oak woods is an Illinois Natural Area Inventory site of notable natural quality, and trails provide public access. The Winnebago County Forest Preserve District also owns and operates Oak Ridge Forest Preserve, Deer Run Forest Preserve, Espenscheid Memorial Forest Preserve, McKiski Forest Preserve, Blackhawk Springs Forest Preserve, Kishwaukee Gorge North Forest Preserve, Kishwaukee Gorge South Forest Preserve, Rockford Rotary Forest Preserve, Kilbuck Bluffs Forest Preserve, and Hinchliff Forest Preserve. The Rockford Park District owns and operates the Seth B. Atwood Park, the former rifle range of Camp Grant. The Village of Cherry Valley owns and operates the Baumann Park.

The Kishwaukee River Ecosystem Partnership, founded in 1996, is an organization whose purpose is the continued preservation of the river's natural resources. Friends of the Kishwaukee River, founded in 2012, is a non profit organization whose mission is to promote and enhance good stewardship of the river and the surrounding lands by restoring and preserving its natural character, encouraging safe and responsible recreation, protecting its watershed from degradation, and increasing the area's community's appreciation of its natural beauty.