The Chagrin River is located in Northeast Ohio. The

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

has two branches, the Aurora Branch and East Branch. Of three hypotheses as to the origin of the name, the most probable is that it is a corruption of the name of a Frenchman, Sieur de Seguin, who established a trading post on the river ca. 1742. The Chagrin River runs through suburban areas of

Greater Cleveland The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census results, the five-county ...

in Cuyahoga,

Geauga Geauga County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,397. The county seat is Chardon. The county is named for an Onondaga or Seneca language word meaning 'raccoon', originally the name of the ...

, and Portage counties, transects two

Cleveland Metroparks Cleveland Metroparks is an extensive system of nature preserves in Greater Cleveland, Ohio. Eighteen reservations, which largely encircle the city of Cleveland, follow along the shore of Lake Erie and the rivers and creeks that flow through the ...

reservations, and then meanders into nearby Lake County before emptying into

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

. The East Branch begins in Geauga County, flows north then west through Lake County, largely in Kirtland, and

Kirtland Hills Kirtland Hills is a village in Lake County, Ohio, United States and a rural suburb of Cleveland. The population was 692 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which is l ...

, In these communities the East Branch transects the

Holden Arboretum The Holden Arboretum, in Kirtland, Ohio, is one of the largest arboreta and botanical gardens in the United States, with more than , including devoted to collections and gardens. Diverse natural areas and ecologically sensitive habitats make up t ...

, before intersecting the main in Willoughby. The Aurora Branch begins in northwest Portage County, flowing northwest through

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

and portions of Geauga and Cuyahoga Counties, intersecting the main branch west of

Chagrin Falls Chagrin Falls is a village in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States and is a suburb of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio's Cleveland-Akron-Canton metropolitan area, the 19th-largest Combined Statistical Area nationwide. The village was established and h ...

. The Chagrin River was designated as a state scenic river in 1979.

Natural history

Along its banks and tributaries Berea sandstone, Bedford shale,

Cleveland Shale The Cleveland Shale, also referred to as the Cleveland Member, is a shale geologic formation in the eastern United States. Identification and name The Cleveland Shale was identified in 1870 and named for the city of Cleveland, Ohio. John Str ...

, and Chagrin Shale bedrock, are exposed in layers. The river itself was cut through the

Allegheny Plateau The Allegheny Plateau , in the United States, is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York (state), New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Oh ...

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s receded in the area at the end of the

Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cord ...

. The lowest visible bedrock is Chagrin shale. Named for the river and easily found in the river valley. Chagrin shale, is blue gray in color, an offshore alluvial, silt shale of the Devonian period. This layer is found below about msl. The next layer is Cleveland shale. This is a black shale that is an important source of local

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s. Cleveland Shale is found in the Chagrin River valley between 800 and msl. Bedford Shale is found above the Cleveland Shale layer. This material marks the uncertain transition between the Devonian and Pennsylvanian periods in the region and is also an important source of local fossils. This layer is found in the ravines that carry tributaries of the Chagrin River. Bedford shale is a sand shale and is characterized by its roughly 90° cleavage pattern. Pieces of Bedford shale can look as if they were cut by human hands and are found up to about msl. Berea sandstone is found from around msl to roughly msl. Berea sandstone, is an important local building material. In the nineteenth century it was quarried from the base of Gildersleeve Mountain (in the East Branch watershed). This material was used to build

Kirtland Temple The Kirtland Temple is a National Historic Landmark in Kirtland, Ohio, United States, on the eastern edge of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Owned and operated by the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of La ...

and other local structures. Berea sandstone is still used as a local building material According to the

Ohio Department of Natural Resources The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is the Ohio state government agency charged with ensuring "a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all." ODNR regulates the oil and gas industry, the m ...

, more than 49 species of fish and 90 bird species live in the Chagrin River watershed, including the American brook lamprey, which is relatively rare in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Sports and recreation

Hiking is popular along many areas along the Chagrin River. Some area are also popular for fishing, and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

Outdoors recommends the Chagrin River for fishing, especially for finding

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...

. The Daniels Park Dam, a small lowhead dam, was their favorite spot. On December 31, 2004, the Daniels Park Dam failed due to excess pressure from ice and water. The Aurora branch of the Chagrin River is a class III-IV of

whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

, according to the American Whitewater Association. On the other hand, the Daniels Park section is rated a class I.

Channelization

In 2007, in violation of both state law and Federal Regulations, the of the East Branch of the river was channelized and diked to prevent flooding on agricultural land owned by the Village of

. This activity was conducted by local developer Jerome Osborne who leases the land from the village. Both the village and Osborne have been cited for this illegal activity. This activity both threatened the riparian

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

in the area of disruption, and increases the likelihood and severity of flooding in downstream the communities of Willoughby and Eastlake. As of September 2007, a plan was being developed to restore the East Branch to its original condition, and further action against the cited parties is being considered.

Gallery

File:Chagrin_River_as_viewed_from_Hach-Otis_Sanctuary_(Willoughby_Hills,_Ohio).jpg, Viewed from Hach-Otis Sanctuary (

Willoughby Hills, Ohio Willoughby Hills is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 9,485 at the 2010 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area. Geography Willoughby Hills is located at (41.588151, - ...

) File:Chagrin_River_as_viewed_from_Cleveland_Metropolitan_Park.jpg, Viewed from Cleveland Metropolitan Park (

) File:Chagrin_River_viewed_in_fall_under_some_leaves.jpg, Viewed in fall, from Cleveland Metropolitan Park (

) File:Chagrin River viewed through leaves.jpg, Viewed in fall, from

File:A minor tributary feeding into the Chagrin River.jpg, A minor tributary flowing into the Chagrin River, viewed from Cleveland Metropolitan Park

References

External links