Catfish Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the upper

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Dubuque County Dubuque County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 99,266, making it the eighth-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Dubuque. The county is named for Julien Dubuque, the first Eur ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. The governments within the watershed have a say in the managing body of the creek, the Catfish Creek Watershed Management Authority. The authority's goal is to promote education on managing the system and fixing issues like the environment.

Geography

It rises southwest of

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

, just southeast of Peosta. The Middle Fork rises west of Dubuque and flows under and then parallel to

U.S. Route 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...

; the former

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

, now the

Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad The Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad (Chicago Central & Pacific Railroad) is part of the Illinois Central Railroad (IC), which is owned by the Canadian National Railway (CN) through the Grand Trunk Corporation. Operationally, the Chicago Cent ...

has its mainline in it. Swiss Valley Park, maintained by

, is along the main fork of the creek, which is a designated trout stream through the park. The Catfish Creek's

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

covers about 9,300 acres of land. Within it are parts of

Centralia Centralia may refer to: Places Australia *Central Australia, sometimes called "Centralia" Canada * Centralia, Ontario ** RCAF Station Centralia, a former Royal Canadian Air Force training base ** Centralia (Essery Field) Aerodrome United States ...

, Peosta, and Asbury.

History

The last American Indians to live in the area were the

Meskwaki The Meskwaki (sometimes spelled Mesquaki), also known by the European exonyms Fox Indians or the Fox, are a Native American people. They have been closely linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, the ...

. In the 1700s, they settled to the mouth and traded fur with the French. After Julien Dubuque's death, the Meskwaki briefly retook the land but later had to give it up due to the Black Hawk Treaty. Extreme timbering and other exploitations of the lands ensued shortly afterwards. Erosion and

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

are issues for the South Fork. Trails have also been proposed for the Catfish Creek.

References

Tributaries of the Mississippi River Rivers of Iowa Dubuque, Iowa Rivers of Dubuque County, Iowa {{Iowa-river-stub

Geography

History

See also

References