Crane Creek (Melbourne, Florida)

Crane Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed April 18, 2011 stream in Melbourne, Florida, United States. It is a tributary of the Indian River, with its mouth in the vicinity of Front Street.

History

Evidence for the presence of Paleo-Indians in the Melbourne area during the late Pleistocene epoch was uncovered during the 1920s. C. P. Singleton, a Harvard University zoologist, discovered the bones of a Mammoth (''Mammuthus columbi'') on his property along Crane Creek, from Melbourne, and brought in Amherst College paleontologist Frederick B. Loomis to excavate the skeleton. Loomis found a second elephant, with a "large rough flint instrument" among fragments of the elephant's ribs. Loomis found in the same stratum mammoth, mastodon, horse, ground sloth, tapir, peccary, camel and saber-tooth cat bones, all extinct in Florida since the end of the Pleistocene 10,000 years ago. At a nearby site a human rib and charcoal were found in association with ''Mylodon'', ''Megalonyx'' and '' Chlamytherium'' (ground sloths) teeth. A finely worked spearpoint found with these items may have been displaced from a later stratum. In 1925 attention shifted to the Melbourne golf course. A crushed human skull with finger, arm and leg bones was found in association with a horse tooth. A piece of ivory that appeared to have been modified by humans was found at the bottom of the stratum containing bones. Other finds included a spear point near a mastodon bone and a turtle-back scraper and a blade found with bear, camel, mastodon, horse and tapir bones. Similar human remains, Pleistocene animals and Paleo-Indian artifacts have been found in the general locale, consistent with these discoveries.

Early settlement

Crane Creek greatly influenced the development of the area. Prior to the development of Melbourne, hunters used Crane Creek to gain entrance into the interior. In 1867, the Wright brothers, Balaam Allen and Peter Wright, all ex-slaves, became the first pioneers in Melbourne. They settled in the area around Crane Creek, which became the present day Historic Downtown area on the east end of New Haven Avenue near Front Street.Stone, Elaine Murray. ''Brevard County'' (Northbridge, CA: Windsor Publications, Inc., 1988), p. 29.

The settlement was first named "Crane Creek" but was renamed after the American Civil War.

Until 1893, transportation to and in Bevard, was laborious, clumsy, and time-consuming. That year, Flagler built a railway through the county, which transcended all other means of transportation until the arrival of autos and paved roads in the 1920s.

Twentieth century canal development

As early as 1912, the area surrounding Crane Creek was being advertised as prime real estate for agricultural development, and efforts were already underway to enact drainage projects in the area.''St. Johns River Bottom Lands: Eau Gallie Record Says That a Project is on Foot to Drain''. Florida East Coast Homeseeker, Vol. 14, No. 11; November, 1912
Available via Google Books
/ref> By 1919, Chapter 298 of the Florida state statutes was enacted, allowing for the creation of drainage improvement districts.Clapp, David A. & Wikening, Harold A. 1984.
''Interbasin Diversion in the Upper St. Johns River Basin''
Technical Publication SJ 84-10. St. Johns River Water Management District, Palatka, Florida, USA. Two year later, on April 5, 1922, the Crane Creek Drainage Improvement District was officially filed by the Secretary of State of Florida,Bayless, F.E
''Drainage Districts of Florida''
Bulletin 67, New Series. State of Florida Dept. of Agriculture, Tallahassee, FL; 1931. and bids were sought in the summer of 1922 to begin canal development.''Drainage.-Board of Supervisors of Crane Creek Drainage District, Ernest H. Every, Secy., Melbourne, Fla-Bids until Sept. 18 to construct drainage district; information on application''. Manufacturer's Record: Machinery, Proposals and Supplies Wanted, Vol. 82; September, 1922
Available via Google Books
/ref> Through 1927,''Examination of Rivers and Harbors''. United States Congressional Series Set, Issue 8756; 1927. Excerpt: "To the west and south of Melbourne is now being constructed the Melbourne-Tillman drainage district, embracing approximately 60,000 acres, and adjacent to it, the Crane Creek drainage district, having approximately 6,000 acres." the initial canal construction resulted in the building of what would become the Crane Creek Canal (M-1), along with various feeder canals. The new canals drained an area previously part of the St. Johns River basin (west of the low Atlantic Coastal Ridge), redirecting the flow of water eastward into Crane Creek and ultimately the Indian River. The interbasin canal diversions are estimated to have added 5,040 acres to Crane Creek's watershed.

Presently, the Crane Creek Canal (M-1) runs from Sarno Road south along I-95 to just north of US 192 before heading east and eventually merging into Crane Creek on the campus of Florida Tech, just west of SR 507 Babcock Street. The Crane Creek Canal is fed by multiple secondary and leveling canals designated L-1 to L-16.''I-95 Interchange and Ellis Road PD&E Study, Brevard County, Florida: Alternatives Public Meeting''
(Presentation). State of Florida Dept. of Transportation; March 29, 2012. Note: See page 20, Slide: Crane Creek Canal System.

Current development

Florida Institute of Technology's construction development after its establishment in 1958 eventually expanded into Crane Creek. Crane Creek currently runs adjacent to Florida Tech's Student Union Building, Brownlie Hall, as well as Florida Tech's Botanical Gardens.Fact Card
/ref>

See also

*Florida Institute of Technology
*Indian River (Florida)
*Melbourne Bone Bed

References

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Melbourne, Florida
Rivers of Florida
Rivers of Brevard County, Florida
Tributaries of the Indian River (Florida)