I recently got my hands on a copy of “The Clinton River Chronicles,” an obscure local history movie from 1995. It’s all about the Clinton River, one of the main bodies of water where I live in southeast Michigan. The town I live in shares its name, and most of the good trails and parks are along its banks.
In response to Michigan’s governor declaring 1995 as “the Year of the River,” a whole gang of local officials were enlisted to stand in front of a camera and awkwardly but charmingly outline this river’s history. It’s cheesy and goofy in all the ways you’d expect it to be (and more) but it genuinely sucked me in, at least as someone already inclined to be interested. They pack a ton of stuff into this hour, covering the river from just about every angle: early settlements, cycles of industry, fish populations, property values, pollution, the importance of bridges and the politics of water treatment plants. Some particularly interesting sections were about the boom and bust of the “mineral bath” era, the river’s “cesspool” status by the 1960s and subsequent clean-up, and the miserable annual flooding of a black neighborhood, finally fixed by the creation of a “spillway” that posed environmental issues of its own.
The movie doesn’t seem to have made the leap to the internet, so I uploaded it to YouTube and fully transcribed it for ease of access and research.
It was directed by one David M. DuBay, whose archived website shows him to have made a variety of films for local governments, a handful of “erotica” movies (writer and director of “Sexwaves,” in which a “brain transfer does job on housewife’s sex drive”), among other projects. He now appears to be a realtor.
One grim aside: District Court Judge James Scandirito appears in the film to discuss John Hacker, a master boatbuilder who set up shop along the Clinton River. In 2018, parts of Scandirito’s body were unearthed at a golf course in Florida. His son was charged with murder but ultimately convicted only of dismembering the body and burying it. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Anyway, back to the movie. Here’s the full transcript.
Secretary of State Candice Miller: Earlier this year, Governor Engler signed an executive declaration observing 1995 as the Michigan Year of the River. As Michigan Secretary of State and as a resident living on the banks of the Clinton River, I joined the governor in encouraging the citizens of the Great Lakes State to recognize the vital role that rivers play in the overall quality of our lives. The documentary that you are about to see explores the lives and times along one of the major rivers in southeastern Michigan. The Clinton River touches 56 communities. It is a critical habitat for all kinds of plants and wildlife in addition to providing recreation and natural beauty to our citizens. I hope that you will enjoy its rich and colorful history. Perhaps the appreciation of this natural treasure will instill a renewed river ethic to help preserve and protect it for future generations.
Producer Nancy Dedenbach: Hi, I’m Nancy Dedenbach. Welcome to the Clinton River Chronicle. The main branch of the Clinton River extends for 80 miles from northwest Oakland County to its mouth at Lake St. Clair. There are over a million people that live in the watershed, and there are 600 miles of stream, including its major tributaries. Its land cover has evolved from dense forest and fauna to crop lands, urbanization and industrialization, to an ever-increasing suburban sprawl. The Clinton River has been dredged and channeled and flooded and fished. It has survived cycles of pollution and debris and clean-up restoration. It lives in a constant state of change. It adapts.
Watershed Council CEO Erich Ditschman: The Clinton River ends here at Lake St. Clair, out here in Harrison Township. Now, where it begins is a little more lengthy story. Basically, 10,000 years ago, the glaciers moved out of this area, and they left two distinct land forms. One was the Lake St. Clair ancient lakebed, which basically covers all of Macomb County, and the other is a morainal area, and that’s where the glaciers, as they retreated, they deposited the pebbles and the stones that they got when they forwarded, and that’s a morainal area up in the Rochester hills, and you can really notice this distinction if you go up there to Yates Cider Mill or up in Rochester Hills, you can see how fast and furious the river flows through that area. Now, where the river begins though is more than just that. That’s probably the last major physical change we had to what we call the watershed. What’s a watershed? You know when you cry and your tears fall down the side of your cheek, your tears shed over your cheek. When it rains, the water falls onto the ground and it sheds into the nearest depression. It could be a wetland, it could be a river, it could be a creek. Now, remember, gravity makes things flow down hill. So these creeks and these rivers are flowing down hill. You have small creeks flowing into bigger creeks, flowing into rivers, flowing into the Clinton River, finally ending up here in Lake St. Clair. Now, that’s called a watershed, that land area which sheds its water to a specific body of water. So the Clinton River watershed is 760 square miles, it’s almost all of Macomb County, a big portion of Oakland County, and the main branch of the Clinton River gets its start up in Independence Township at the Independence Oaks County Park, and that’s where we call that the headwaters. That’s where wetlands, groundwater come together and form the Clinton River. Now, the Clinton River also starts in many other places. You may have heard of the Red Run Drain, the Clinton River starts at the headwaters of the Red Run Drain down there at Dequindre Road. Plumb Brook, it starts at Plumb Brook, north branch, middle branch of the Clinton River, Stony Creek, Paint Creek, these are all major creeks that flow in to eventually make what I like to call the mighty Clinton River as we see it going through Mount Clemens and Harrison Township.
Nin-da-waab-jig Director Dean Jacobs: Aboriginal people have occupied this area of the country for the past 6,000 years. Especially on the place that we’re now located, in Lake St. Clair, in the delta. We call this area Bkejwanong in our language, which means the place where the waters divide. On the mainland, both on the Michigan and the Canadian side, what is now known as Canada, Ontario and Michigan, United States, we’ve occupied those lands for nearly 10,000 years. The islands here actually emerged out of the waters about 6,000 years ago and shortly thereafter, aboriginal people started occupying this delta area. It’s a very, very special place to us. It’s a place where the waters divide, and it provided for everything that we needed in prehistoric times. The fish, the hunting for game, the fish were plentiful, the game was sufficient to provide us with a year-round sustenance, and by doing so, we really coexisted with the environment. In prehistoric times, we were very mobile type of persons, with a very mobile economy. We moved from river to heads of waters to the interior, so we didn’t occupy in the sense that we’re occupying places 12 months out of the year in today’s times. In prehistoric times, we would often use specific areas for a year or two and then move onto another place, occupying the area over many generations several times. The settlers that started arriving in this part of the country needed to open up the territory. In so doing, it was required that aboriginal people, through treaties, share our lands with the newcomers. And in this area, we participated in treaties from 1790 to 1827. A major treaty took place at Detroit in 1807 between the United States government representatives and Aboriginal nations, Ojibwe, the Potawatomi, the Ottawa, and the Wyandotte First Nations. In exchange for sharing part of what we now know as Michigan, there were a number of reserves set apart from a large tract of land, and we also reserved out of that treaty our hunting and fishing rights. This area then was opened up to occupation in 1807 at the Treaty of Detroit. Following that, a lot of our people, the Ojibwe and the Potawatomi, eventually migrated here to the Canadian side of the border around the 1830s and the 1840s. And today, we still have the three First Nations on Walpole Island, the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and the Ottawa. And together, in historic times, those three First Nations formed together a confederacy called the Confederacy of Three Fires. It’s very similar to the concept of the United Nations. It’s a way of coming together in war and in times of peace, of joining together to have strength of sharing with other political units and other governments.
Nancy Dedenbach: The Clinton River played an important part in the settlements throughout Macomb County. In addition to being a primary source of food, the river transported the people and their goods to the interior lands well beyond the lake. It was the freeway of those early times. Indian and French camps dotted the countryside along the Detroit and Clinton Rivers, as well as Lake St. Clair. The French were fur traders and traveled the waterways in flat-bottomed boats called bateaus. At that time, the Indians called all the rivers in the area the Hurons. It wasn’t until 1825 that the name was changed to the Clinton River in order to alleviate all that confusion. To tell us about these early settlements are from Mount Clemens, Mayor Quinnie Cody; Jim Sinnamon, supervisor, Clinton Township; Pam Weeks, supervisor Harrison Township; and from his office in Detroit, Mayor Dennis Archer.
Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer: Early exploration and development along the Clinton River, or as it was known in early times, the Huron River, was a direct upshot of what was happening along the banks of another river, right here in Detroit. The trading post and the fort along the Detroit River provided both commerce and security to the predominantly French settlers that migrated here in the late 1600s and early 1700s. With this market securely in place, the early adventurers and entrepreneurs were able to spread out and develop the surrounding territory. As there were no roads at that time, the rivers with access to the lakes became the main arteries for transport and subsequent settlements. With their small flat-bottomed boats, goods could easily be moved downriver and back through the lake to Detroit for sale or trade, and necessary supplies brought back to the river settlements. The original fort, the predecessor to Fort Pontchartrain, was built around a single acre of ground in just a few days in the summer of 1701, by Antoine Lamont, de la Mothe Cadillac, along with 100 men and a priest. The surrounding village had been there for some time, and the French military wanted to hold the territory from any threat posed by the British. The French held the post for 60 years until it passed peacefully into the hands of British Rangers, followed by the surrender of Canada by the French in 1760. The fort and the village of Detroit changed hands several times until it was finally given up to the American militia after the War of 1812. During those tumultuous years, Detroit provided a secure haven for all of the early colonists. When there were rumors of Indian uprisings, word was sent to the settlements inviting them to come and stay inside the walls of the fort for protection. The fort and the village offered shelter when the winters were hard or during storms and famine and outbreaks of cholera and other disease and pestilence. The trading post of Detroit never failed to be a reliable seat of commerce to all those early settlers that braved the wilderness and helped carve out homes and villages and farms and industries all along the rivers and lakes of our great state of Michigan.
Mount Clemens Supervisor Jim Sinnamon: The first settlers in what we now know as Clinton Township arrived in the late 18th century. A small band of missionaries intent on Christianizing the Indians settled along the Clinton River in 1782. The Moravian missionaries who fled from their Ohio home during the American Revolutionary War because they were believed to be spies traveled to the British port in Detroit. An agreement was reached with the Chippewa Indians to allow the Moravians to build another community on a high bluff above the Clinton River, which today is adjacent to the bridge on Moravian Drive. (British commander at Fort Detroit, Arent Schuyler) De Peyster furnished the missionaries and their Indian converts with a vessel and provisions, two milk cows, and other necessary things to begin their new settlement. Under the guidance of Reverend David Zeisberger, the settlement soon contained two rows of log houses, 15 on each side, and a Moravian house of worship. 53 people, both white and Indian, comprised the original settlement, and eventually about 106 individuals lived in the 40-acre community. The Indians, jealous of the Moravians, resented sharing their hunting grounds and hated them because their religion seemed so mysterious to them. Ultimately, the Moravians were pressured to leave, and they did so on April 20, 1786. Only Richard Conner remained, and the improvements of the settlement were sold to Major Ancrum and to John Askin of Detroit for $450.
Harrison Township Supervisor Pam Weeks: While the Moravian missionaries were living at the settlement in Clinton Township, the Indians were helping Harrison’s first white settler build a large double house of hewn logs near the mouth of the river. His name was William Tucker, and he had been in place along the Clinton River, living with the Indians for much of his youth. In the mid-1750s, the Chippewas kidnapped 11-year-old William and his older brother Joseph from their family farm in Virginia. They brought them to live in their semi-permanent camps, in and around what is now Harrison Township. Both boys were released from their imprisonment at the urgence of the British when they became of age. After returning to Virginia for a short time, they returned to the river and engaged in trade with the Indians and the white settlement in Detroit. The elder brother Joseph, it is believed, was lost on one of the trading expeditions. In all of William’s dealings with the Indians, he was known to act honestly and fairly. This together with the fact that he was a skilled interpreter of Indian dialect perpetuated his importance to both the British at the fort and the local native tribes. He is accredited for actually saving the fort in Detroit at the outbreak of Chief Pontiac’s conspiracy in 1763 by tipping off the soldiers of a pending attack. William was regarded as a special friend along the river to all of the Indians, and as a reward for his kindness and fairness in trade, the Chiefs of the Chippewas on the 22nd of September, 1780, executed to him a deed to a large tract of land lying along the river and the lake, which today is much of Selfridge Air National Guard Base. With the help of his Indian neighbors, Tucker built his home there, the first in Harrison Township in 1784.
Mount Clemens Mayor Quinnie Cody: In the late 1790s, Christian Clemens came on the scene with a surveying party under the leadership of Lewis Cass. Clemens had been a miller in Detroit while in his early 20s. He was born in 1768 in a family of 13 children on a farm in Pennsylvania. Clemens was attracted to the rapid flowing waters full of fresh fish and dotted along the banks with occasional log cabins. He was also very interested in a distillery owned by Jared Brooks that was built on what would become the city of Mount Clemens. In 1801, Clemens petitioned the U.S. government for 500 acres he had previously surveyed and purchased the existing distillery. Christian Clemens called his new settlement “High Banks” as his acres were located on a slight incline along the Clinton. It wasn’t until the end of the War of 1812 that he was able to plant the settlement which later would become Mount Clemens. By this time there were almost 30 permanent homes in this community on the high banks of the river. A sawmill was constructed in 1821 and a general store was built by Ellis Doty in 1822. The Clinton River transported the wares and trade goods from Doty’s store to the families settled throughout the watershed. Through discussion with his friends, General Cass, by then governor of the territory, Clemens proposed counties be created and recommended Mount Clemens as a county seat. Thus, Macomb County came into being, named after General Alexander Macomb. And Clemens offered his home as the first county government building, later donated the deed to that land and his personal residence at no cost to the county. On this land stands a present county courthouse.
Erich Ditschman: Industrialization was on the heels of our early settlers here on the Clinton River banks. It wasn’t much longer that we had concerns because of too much use of the river. The river is what brought people here, brought us here to do the mills, to develop the shipping industry. But then as we started with industrialization, we started manufacturing. Some of those manufacturing process were, while productive, we weren’t too concerned with the pollution that was an externality of that process. And in fact, in the 1960s, the Clinton River started to become a cesspool. In 1972, the federal government passed the Clean Water Act. That Clean Water Act is what provided the federal framework for cleaning up the Clinton. Now, as Congress was looking at the Clean Water Act, something was happening here locally in our backyard. That was Congress and the EPA wanted us to abandon all the wastewater treatment plants. There were 22 at the time in that 760 square mile basin. Some communities said, no, we can provide a more effective service for our constituents, and we want to keep our wastewater treatment plants, communities such as Warren, Mount Clemens, and others. They came together and said, listen, let’s form a watershed council and tell the EPA that, look, we’re monitoring water quality. We’re doing a good job. We don’t need to hook up to Detroit’s system. Now, something else was occurring at the same time. The Corps of Engineers, the Army Corps of Engineers, wanted to pave the lower part of the Clinton River to once again take care of flooding problems that we were having in Clinton Township and Mount Clemens. Well, a number of residents who lived on the river said, whoa, you’re going to pave my backyard? And so it was really those two things coming together, residents who were concerned about paving the Clinton River and what that would do to the habitat and the ecology of the river, as well as local governments concerned with delivering efficient services in a pollution-sound manner, in a pollution, environmental friendly manner, to their constituents, formed the Watershed Council in 1972. We’ve been around a long time. Just recently, though, we went from being a local government association, voluntary local government association, to embracing residents or citizens of this watershed, as well as businesses. And the reason is, is that it’s going to take more than government to make the Clinton River the beautiful river that it once was. It’s going to take more than just you and I doing the right thing, and it’s going to take more than businesses. To combine, the three are getting together with the Clinton River Watershed Council as a non-profit, non-governmental organization to not only protect the river, but what’s even more important, we like to say the river is the memory of the land through which it flows. We have to protect and make sure we use that 760 square miles of land that drains the Clinton River wisely. The Clinton River Watershed Council strives to provide accurate and timely information to the people who live, work, and play in the Clinton River watershed. An example of this is going out into the lake, bringing expert researchers from around Michigan and Ontario together with citizens, with government officials, to see and look at what’s going on with the lake and that interconnection with the Clinton River.
Col. Bob Stone (ret. USAF): Many years ago, of course, the Clinton River had all kinds of fish. It was a great fishing place. But when civilization encroached and contaminated the river, the river almost died. Ray Trombley organized the Lake St. Clair Advisory Committee for a couple of purposes. One was to establish a spawning run of walleye in the Clinton River. So in 1976, he got with the commanders here at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. And we, with volunteers and Lake St. Clair Advisory Committee, built these ponds. We arranged with the DNR to provide the fry, the half-inch fry that are only a few weeks old. We put stuff in the ponds in order to accumulate plankton that they live on seaweed. And, of course, the little fish, the half-inch fry, eat that plankton. When the plankton is just about all gone, the fish turn cannibalistic. We put them in April. In July, they’re about two inches long. And the big ones try and eat the little ones. That’s when they are harvested. And we plant them in the Clinton River, up by Yates Cider Mill, for instance. We want to keep the walleye population going in Lake St. Clair. And so far, the ponds are producing, but we still have to get the Clinton River even more cleaner than it is now. It’s clean, but not clean enough for fish to spawn. So there are no fish, game fish, let’s say, in the Clinton River worth a darn.
Candice Miller: Another way that citizens can become involved and help protect the Clinton River from harmful pollutants and other environmental hazards is through the CREWS program. CREWS is an acronym for the Clinton River Early Warning System. It is a citizens-based project sponsored by the Macomb County Office of Emergency Services and the Clinton River Watershed Council. CREWS volunteers primarily live along the river and its tributaries. They act as spotters, observing the water flow on a daily basis for signs of foreign debris and potentially hazardous substances that may have been dumped into the river. When a spotter sees this material, they report the information to the appropriate government agencies. They call the downstream spotter and warn them of the impending release and to help determine the flow rate of the substance. The next call is to the upstream spotter to help track the source of the substance. This process continues like a wave rippling through the network, both up and downstream, until the source has been identified or the substance is no longer evident in the waterway. The goal of CREWS volunteers are to reduce response time to hazardous substances released into the waterways of the Clinton River Basin and, of course, to minimize the impact of these releases on our environment.
Asst. County Prosecutor Linda Davis: For many of us, a close encounter with the Clinton River is limited to just trying to get across it. The many miles of twists and turns separate the east from the west, the north from the south, and our homes from our work, school, and churches. On any day, in every way, we go up, over, and across it. We do it by foot, on bikes, and in golf carts. We drive our cars slowly across its narrow canals. We can zip across the freeway or just cruise along on a smooth, wide thoroughfare. Our little trains that think they can do, practically every day. But no matter which way you choose to cross the Clinton, where there’s a will, there’s a bridge.
County Highway Engineer Carlo Santia: As you drive along the roadways of Macomb County, and in particular the eastern portion, which is greatly influenced by the Clinton River, make sure that you notice all the bridges. Without these bridges, you would be unable to travel to other parts of Macomb County or the state of Michigan. Among the 1,500 miles of county roads operated and maintained by the Road Commission of Macomb County, there are 225 bridges that cross some river or stream. When you add the 27 bridges that are maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation, you can see just how large of an impact that waterways have on transportation in this county. The oldest bridge in the three-community area of Clinton, Harrison, and Mount Clemens is operated by the Michigan Department of Transportation, and it carries southbound Gratiot over the Clinton River and Mount Clemens. This bridge was built in 1920. The newest bridge was built in 1989, and it carries Hayes Road over the Clinton River in Clinton Township. The average age of the 21 bridges in this portion of Macomb County is approximately 37 years.
Dedenbach: The remaining portion of our program will be a river tour of the city of Mount Clemens with Quinnie Cody.
Quinnie Cody: We started out at P.J.’s River House with a boat supplied by Sheriff Hackel, Marine Division. My pilots for the day were Deputy John Glass and Merv Champine. After putting on my life jacket, I was guided into the boat, which would have been a lot easier if the dadgum dock had stopped moving. But I made it in okay and took the first available seat. To go to city limits to city limits, we had to backtrack downriver towards Harrison Township. We were heading south-southeast. Passing our first marina, I noticed some fine-looking boats, one over here in my price range. This is what I get when I retire. When we reached the city limits of the north bank of the river, I stood up to take the point. It’s along this north shore that we found our first point of interest, the last remnant of the old sugar beet factory.
County Circuit Judge Deborah Servitto: At the turn of the century when the lumber industry was in the decline, Captain Ben Boutell formed the Macomb Sugar Company and later built a 600-ton factory on this 65-acre site near the Clinton River for the purpose of extracting sugar from processed beets. This would be the beginning of a business that would thrive for nearly 50 years in Mount Clemens. In 1905, the firm changed its name to the Mount Clemens Sugar Company. The company contracted with local farmers to grow a specific seed for sugar beets. Over 9,000 acres were harvested every October, and in the following 100 days the beets were processed around the clock. They called this time of the year “the campaign,” and the factory was at full production 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The beets were weighed and divided into 1,000-pound lots. They were sliced and the sugar was removed by the circulation of steam and hot water. The pulp was dumped and afterward sold as cattle fodder to the Ralston Purina Company. At peak production, over 1,400 residents were employed in the growing and processing of beets. The last campaign was in 1950. No longer able to show a profit, the works were dismantled and the buildings leased as warehouses, and eventually abandoned to decay. Today, only a remnant of one storehouse remains.
Quinnie Cody: Leaving the area of the sugar beet factory, we head west until the first bend in the river takes us due north. There is a large mobile home park on what now becomes the East Bank, along the North River Road. I noticed a spot across the river, near Avery, where years ago Joe Charbonneau had his wormery, raising fat, juicy night crawlers. We made room for a good-sized pleasure boat to pass. There wasn’t any girls aboard, but I waved anyway, and we took the turn to head west toward the city center. The Friendship Clinton is docked at this bend. It’s a former boblo boat that is one of two chartered craft owned and piloted by Paul Gallus. Across the river is the stormwater basin.
City Commissioner Barb Dempsey: the last 20 years, no other city in the watershed has expended more money to build and maintain its sewage and stormwater treatment facility plant than here in Mount Clemens. The city has spent over $50 million to ensure safe drinking water and to treat its sewage and storm runoff. This 30 million gallon retention basin, built on approximately 15 acres along the Clinton River in 1973, cost over $15 million to construct. The treated water that flows out of this facility constitutes one-third of the river flow. The plant treats on an average 6 million gallons per day. All of the water that runs off our streets and parking lots is combined in the raw sewage and pumped through the tunnel under the river to the treatment plant. It undergoes an extensive filtration process. First, the solids are removed. After that, they are chemically treated and run through a polishing pond to allow the chlorination process and other chemicals to filter out. The treated water is then irrigated and pumped back into the river, right here near the bend. Mount Clemens has been in the business of treating sewage and stormwater and returning a clean water system, not damaging the river since the early ’40s. From that time till now, the city remains committed to maintaining the highest quality water standards in the state.
Quinnie Cody: We got our first peek of the county courthouse as we continue on, running parallel with the North River Road. Some boys fished off an old dock. I suspect they were after Bob Stone’s walleyes. Across from them was the 70-foot hull of a famous old commuter called the Cigarette, named so by its former owner, who was the chairman for Chesterfield Cigarette. This craft was originally built by Garwood in 1923. Its 22-by-8 engine room once held five airplane engines with 2,300 horsepower each. This boat could really fly. It’s being restored by the Mount Clemens Marine Center and co-owner, George Milkovich, in the tradition of Garwood. The cigarette would move from New York, where the owner used it to commute from the Long Island home to Wall Street. The Mount Clemens Marine Center has a long history as a home for master boatbuilders, including world-renowned boatbuilder John Hacker.
41B District Court Judge James Scandirito: In 1921, John Hacker, the dean of boat designers and builders, moved his boat works from Detroit to the Clinton River here in Mount Clemens. It was here that he fulfilled his boyhood fantasy to build the finest wood pleasure boats possible. Hacker Crafts became world-renowned for their beauty and skillful design, for speed, grace, and durability. From every trimly turned line, from every hull contour and fitting, Hacker boats were the Steinway of runabouts. John Hacker’s clientele included such noteworthy gentlemen as Henry and Edsel Ford, Vincent Astor, Phil Wrigley, and the King of Siam. In 1944, the U.S. military awarded Hacker Builders the Army-Navy Production Award for designing and building radio-controlled boats that proved highly effective against the enemy in World War II. In the end, however, it would be the trend away from the quality custom boats, as well as the popularity of fiberglass and aluminum, that saw the closing of the Hacker Boat Works in 1960. The custom Hackers remained prized possessions of collectors of boats to this day.
Quinnie Cody: Directly across the river from the boat works is an empty field that gave birth to one of our city’s major legacies, the mineral baths.
City Commissioner Harry Diehl: Without a doubt, the most exciting and incredible era that came and went in the southern Macomb watershed was the mineral bath era. It was a time and a phase in our history that would change the face of both the Clinton River and the city of Mount Clemens. Fueled by the oil fever of the 1860s, the discovery of mineral water would make Mount Clemens famous for nearly a century. It was very close to this spot that the first oil well was drilled in 1862 by Charles Steffens. The well was quickly abandoned after finding nothing but a thick, salty black brine. Others came along and attempted to manufacture salt from the rich mineral mix, but that too became impractical and was abandoned. The well stood untouched for several years before a miller named Dorr Kellogg had a hunch that the heavy salts in the water may prove to give relief for his severe case of eczema. After just a few soakings in a makeshift tub, his hopes were realized and the phenomena of the smelly black salt water kicked off a boom that put Mount Clemens on the map worldwide. Bath houses and hotels sprung up in clusters all along the river from what is now Macomb Street clear down to where PJ’s River House is presently located on both sides of the road. People were flocking into Mount Clemens with every kind of ailment to soak in the curative powers of newly discovered water salts. From all over the world they came to spend their time and money in a community struggling to keep up with the flow. Merchants of all kinds were flourishing. New restaurants and road houses all up and down the river clear out to Harsens Island were getting in on the action. There were steamers and launches such as the Major Wilcox, the Mineral City, the Lily, and many others to carry the visitors down to the mouth of the river for a wild duck or pickerel dinner at the Den Marsh, or perhaps linger at one of the many watering holes and gambling joints set up for their amusement. Everybody had a job and the economy was flourishing all on account of that salty black brine. The first bath house was built in 1873 and was appropriately called the original bath house. Built on the site of the first well, it burned to the ground in 1883 only to be rebuilt seven years later. The second bath house built was the Medea in 1882. It was named in honor of a mythical goddess who purported to have powers of restoring youth and vitality. The largest and best known bath house was the fabulous Park, located across the road from the original bath house. The Park was a hotel and bath house that boasted a long lazy porch that looked out over a spectacular floral garden that ran down to the river bank, where they had their own boathouse and landing. The Park was very elegant and quickly became the social center of the town with lavish balls and concerts. The remnant of the garden was later donated to the city and renamed MacArthur Park. The last of the big bath houses to be built in Mount Clemens was the Arethusa. It was constructed in 1911. It was a three-story red brick colonial style building that sported large white columns. Along with many other notable bath houses, such as the Fountain, the Clementine, the Colonial, St. Joseph’s Sanitarium, and the Olympia, the bath houses of Mount Clemens offered first-class service and accommodations. Baths were available with or without male and female attendants and went for anywhere from as low as 50 cents a soak on up. A related business to the mineral baths was the natural springs that developed on the opposite side of the river. Fresh mineral well water was sipped by visitors in some very fancy watering establishments. There was the Pagoda Springs on Dickinson and the river. It was built to resemble a Chinese pagoda. Nearby was the Panacea Springs, the Maple Leaf Springs, and the Peerless Springs. All these well water drinking establishments had their heyday and may have lasted even longer had they not tried to carbonate the water to a taste more like that of a Perrier or other bubbly waters from the wells in Vichy, France. There were many factors that led to the decline of the mineral bath era. Baths that cost four bits in 1873 cost about $2 in 1964. There was the Depression and after that improvements in transportation opened up new vacation spots and attractions. But perhaps the most devastating factor was the improvements in medicine and miracle drugs that changed the way people thought about soaking in a tub of smelly black mineral water. A shot in the arm of the doctors became a shot in the head to the bathhouse era.
Quinnie Cody: The old Riverside Hotel was part of that era. Interior remodeling of the Clinton Gables Bowling Alley has uncovered portions of the hotel architecture, hidden behind panels of modern day drywall. Large sections of an ornate tin ceiling can still be seen, while smooth wood columns are exposed behind the bricks and cinder blocks that enclose the riverview porch of the former landmark hotel. Closing in on the city center, we passed the pedestrian bridgewalk built away from the shores on pilings. The walk runs down to the Dickinson Bridge behind the YMCA. The banks are noticeably high as we make the final bend to the city waterfront park. The waterfront park is located on both sides of the river in downtown Mount Clemens. On the west bank is a public bathhouse with showers and restrooms and boat wells nearby. Across from the boathouse on the southeast bank is the headquarters station for the city fire department. Next to the fire department, but closer to the water, is a beautiful gazebo built in memory of Frank and Dora Priehs. There is a prayer(?) tree with an inscribed marker as a memorial for the little children who died of sudden death syndrome. Colorful notes and ribbons hangs in the tree in their memory. Many other trees in the park were donated as memorials. Back over on the west bank is the commanding presence of the county courthouse and the tallest building in Mount Clemens, the county municipal building. Direct below is the stair case to the park.
County Circuit Judge George Steeh III: Long before our city waterfront park was dedicated in 1986, this little bend in the river was the main hub of city government, business, and industry.
Retired Judge George Steeh: Years following the Civil War were prosperous ones for the village of Mount Clemens. We had a building boom and property values just went sky high. This was especially true on the west bank where we had the flourishing of the old historic Front Street business district.
George Steeh III: In addition to the standing mills and shipyards, new businesses began to spring up all along the waterfront.
George Steeh: George, you don’t have to tell me about the businesses on Front Street. Why, I was born on Front Street and grew up on this river. In fact, we lived right there, up over your grandpa’s store on the river at that time. So I know all about these businesses. Well, heck, Mayor Cody might have still been the mayor back then, for all I know. But anyway, I had a paper route and used to deliver papers up around the city of Mount Clemens and went up and down Front Street. I can remember at that time, New Street came right down to Front Street. There were steps leading down to Front Street. There were steps leading down to the river. Boats docked here on the river. And there were a number of businesses. The old City News on the corner of Macomb and Front Street was where I got my papers. The old Monitor Leader, at that time, the Detroit Times and the News and the Free Press. And I delivered papers up and down the street. We had a number of businesses at that time. The mill was down the street. There were grocery stores across the street, a number of bars. Wilson had his place. And on the corner of Macomb and Front Street was Hoffman’s Grocery Store. And right next to Hoffman’s Grocery Store was the sheriff’s department. Down in the basement, the city police, and of course all the businesses were not on the up and up in those days. I can recall at the end of Terry Street was Whitey’s House of Prostitution. And on a Saturday night, George, the line would extend from Whitey’s front door all the way down to almost Hoffman’s Grocery Store. As the city police pulled up to go down to police headquarters, they’d have to part their way through the customers and say, Pardon us, boys, as they went on down the stairs.
George Steeh III: Naturally, there were many other businesses and family-run shops that have been here through all the years that Mount Clemens has been in existence. And before the roads, this river was a major part in their development. In 1873, the Clinton River Brewery was established by August Biewer, just south of what is now the Crocker Bridge. The brewery became famous for its pearl foam beer. The beer was placed in wooden kegs and kept cold in tunnels dug deep into the low bank of the river where the flowing waters could circulate around them. In the area around the old courthouse, Paul Ulrich established a bank. John and Ed Priehs set up a mercantile, and the Hoffman family had a bazaar. Many families with familiar names were in business in this area. John Kuhn sold dry goods. Chambers and Stewart sold jewelry. And Al Schunke and his son also sold jewelry. John Hank snapped a lot of pictures in these days, while Smith and Preussel were working hard in the hardware store. Closer to the river, John Tucker hauled coal to and from Detroit. But not everything on the river revolved around business. In 1913, Mr. Ingersoll’s giant roller coaster was thrilling all of Mount Clemens with an exhilarating ride. Built on the site of the present-day city municipal building, Leap the Dips, as it was called, was billed as the world’s largest roller coaster, was impressive in sight and sound. But the riverfront is pretty quiet now. With urban renewal in the 1960s, even the brick remnants of those buildings that used to line Front Street are now all but a memory. Northbound Gratiot traffic now passes by with nary a thought of the early entrepreneurs who made this city such a wonderful place to live.
Quinnie Cody: It truly is a wonderful city and a beautiful riverfront park. I’m glad my office in the Municipal Building is right here in the middle of it all. We continue now due south under the Crocker Bridge and out towards the bend at the spillway. Here the west bank is high and narrow. The east bank is home for the Am Vet, post 29, and across their parking lot is the Rec Bowl where Freddy Fox grills a mean burger. As the river leaves the city center, the banks are much lower and the foliage and trees meet the water’s edge. Houses off Riverside Drive are built back for high water. Making a turn on the west bank is a flood plain area that holds a particular history for early African American citizens.
County Commissioner Bob Hill: The history of black citizens in the city of Mount Clemens can be traced back to prior to the turn of the century. The first recorded black citizen in the city of Mount Clemens was a Mr. Edward Freeman. Mr. Freeman was an employee at the Park Hotel as a violinist and he lived on Union Street until the late 1870s. It was more than 40 years after Mr. Freeman’s time that there was a significant migration of blacks to the city of Mount Clemens. Most blacks came here during World War I in search for better opportunities for themselves and their families. The war-related industries and business provide sufficient jobs for those citizens. Most of the newcomers built tar paper homes in the Anthony Baines subdivision, later called Kibbee Flats. This area, which had been flattened by a tornado in 1897, usually flooded each spring when melting snow and ice caused the Clinton River to overflow its banks. The residents often had to be moved from their homes in boats. The Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and other agencies came in to clean up after floods. Each spring, the floods continued in Kibbee Flats until the building of the spillway in 1960 relieved the situation. Kibbee Flats is now officially known as River Acres subdivision. Today, although still considered to be a floodplain, the area boasts some beautiful homes along the riverfront with predominant black ownership.
Quinnie Cody: Continuing south toward Shadyside Park, the river cover is surprisingly dense. It appears we are in some remote area up north. But suddenly, the west bank opens up and we see some beautiful landscaped property that can only be appreciated from the river view. It was peculiar to be so close to northbound Gratiot traffic and yet feel as though we were cruising through some untamed wilderness. It’s in this 12-acre site where our new Sleepy Hollow Park will be developed and maintained in its natural state. When we reached the northern edge of Shadyside Park, the debris in the water forced us to hug the east bank. It’s treacherous for boating here. Large clusters of twisted roots and brush poses danger for entanglement with our propeller. We moved on with caution until we made the clearing at the spillway where the river is at its maximum width within the city limits.
County Road Commissioner Tom Welsh: The spillway was built in 1952 in order to re-alleviate the flooding from upstream and downstream in the Clinton River. At that point, it cost $1,136,000. Today, it would probably cost 20 times that. The local cost share was $230,000 for the cost of the right-of-way. It’s a two-mile stretch that runs across over to Lake St. Clair. It was state-of-the-art in 1952. However, it does not by any stretch of the imagination take into consideration the damages that it’s done in the lower reaches of the Clinton River. With a fixed elevation, there are times when the river actually flows backwards. And this weir today, the lack of having an adjustable weir, causes serious downstream problems. And the communities have petitioned in order to have that corrected. It’s my judgment that that would not be a great cost and could be done rather quickly and probably without the help of the federal government and do it locally. However, that hasn’t taken place.
Quinnie Cody: From the river’s bend at the spillway, we travel westward toward the city limits in Clinton Township. Shadyside Park rounds the bend where boats can safely launch on the public landing. The city has built the observation deck above a high metal seawall. The park property extends all the way out to the northbound Gratiot bridge. The south bank of the river is Clinton Township and continues to be so until we pass on to the southbound Gratiot bridge. This bridge is the oldest in the county and its architecture shows it. The area west of the bridge was commonly known as Seminole Hills. Homes on both sides of the river are both spacious and beautiful. This entire area sports some prime riverfront real estate.
Realtor Jolene D’Luge: Perhaps you want to find that beautiful dream home or the perfect spot to enjoy your retirement years or maybe even an investment in real estate and the Clinton Riverfront is where you want to be, then there are two very important factors that you need to consider. They are location and zoning. Above anything else, location is the primary factor that will determine a property’s value. The location affects desirability, which is its main influence of its marketability and therefore its value. Once the Clinton River finds its way to Mount Clemens, the riverfront development takes a noticeable change from downriver. Most of the residential property here meets the river naturally rather than with steel seawalls. Since it takes about one hour to reach Lake St. Clair by boat from here, riverfront property can be found at a surprisingly reasonable rate. The size of a parcel here can be twice that found closer to the lake at perhaps half the price. Since development of the Clinton River dates well back over 100 years and the zoning laws are less than 60 years old, it’s not unusual to find grandfathered, non-residential property use in a residentially zoned area. Of course, zoning changes can be applied for, but time and money spent doesn’t guarantee approval of your request. Property zoning not only dictates how a piece of property can be used, but can also have building restrictions such as building height, square footage, and sometimes even exterior appearance. But no matter what kind of property you’re looking for, home, retirement, or investment, the Clinton River has everything to offer.
Quinnie Cody: Approaching the end of our cruise, I can’t help but wonder if Jolene’s remarks about retiring on the river was some sort of cheap shot or not. But with only a short distance to go, I decided to just soak up the last remaining sights. When we reached Mount Clemens General Hospital, I noticed how their seawall blended in so naturally with the terrain. Mount Clemens General Hospital serves the community with a modern, fully equipped trauma center. A complete staff of doctors, nurses, and skilled technicians are on hand around the clock. Their equipment is state of the art. Major surgeries are part of the daily routine in Mount Clemens General, and the Mat Gaberty Heart Center is one of the finest in the state.
General Hospital VP & COO Robert Millewski: Mount Clemens General Hospital has been located on this site since the early ’50s, and we have approximately 1,200 feet of frontage here on the river, and so it’s a very important aspect of our overall campus, and we think it’s important to maintain that, the beauty of the river and the rest. The neighborhood here adjacent to the hospital is some of the most beautiful neighborhood in Mount Clemens, and we feel fortunate to have this site, but we also feel an obligation in maintaining the beauty of this site and the aesthetics of the river. And so the wall we’ve added is a contoured wall, follows the banks of the river, a very natural-looking wall. We’re attempting to blend our wall and parking lot into the river as best and natural as we can, including a green belt where we have shrubs and trees as grasses in order to maintain a green belt adjacent to the wall, and maintain a natural appearance close to the river so that it’s aesthetically and environmentally appropriate. The hospital’s been involved with the Clinton River Cleanup Project since its inception, and again, we feel it’s important to maintain this beautiful natural asset. We believe that over time it’s going to just continue to improve in cleanliness and in value to the community. We like to get the river back to its original state and do our part in whatever we can to assist with that project.
Quinnie Cody: The city limits ends just beyond the train trestle, east of Groesbeck Highway. Passing under the trestle, I sat down tired and hungry. So we headed back to town for pizza and beer at last at Luigi’s.
Nancy Dedenbach: I hope you enjoyed the Clinton River Chronicles, and I’d like to thank all of those who participated in our project. Cassettes are available through the Clinton River Watershed Council.