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Dunes Creek is a northwards-flowing U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed March 15, 2011 stream which drains the Great Marsh of
Indiana Dunes State Park Indiana Dunes State Park is an Indiana State Park located in Porter County, Indiana, United States, east of Chicago. The park is bounded by Lake Michigan to the northwest and is surrounded by as well as within the authorized boundaries of Ind ...
and
Indiana Dunes National Park Indiana Dunes National Park is a United States national park located in northwestern Indiana managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966 as the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and was redesignated as the nation ...
in
Porter County, Indiana Porter County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 173,215, making it the 10th most populous county in Indiana. The county seat is Valparaiso. The county is part of Northwest Indiana, as well as the Chicago ...
, United States. Dunes Creek passes through the coastal sand dunes to empty into Lake Michigan.


History

Petit Fort was established at the mouth of Dunes Creek, then known as Fort Creek, from 1750 to 1790. In 1837 the town of
City West, Indiana City West was a village in Porter County, Indiana, USA, located on the shore of Lake Michigan approximately 10 miles west of Michigan City, Indiana. It was situated near the mouth of Fort Creek, now known as Dunes Creek, which empties into Lake Mic ...
, was established at the mouth of Fort Creek, ten miles west of Michigan City. The creek was dammed and a sawmill operated there making lumber from the plentiful "large pine trees which grew upon the bluffs". The town was abandoned shortly thereafter due to the financial panic of 1837.


Watershed and course

Dunes Creek sources west of Interstate 49 and south of U.S. Highway 20 and flows northward receiving first the Great Marsh tributary from the east then the West Branch tributary which drains Cowles Bog. The (2997-hectare) Dunes Creek watershed extends from the
Mittal Steel Mittal Steel Company N.V. was an Indian company and one of the world's largest steel producers by volume and turnover. After a merger in 2005, it is now part of ArcelorMittal. History Mittal Steel Company was formed as Ispat International in 19 ...
(formerly Bethlehem and ISG Steel) plant in Portage in the west to
Beverly Shores Beverly Shores is a town in Pine Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States, about east of downtown Chicago. The population was 613 at the 2010 census. History Beverly Shores began life as a planned resort community. The Chicago, Lake Shor ...
in the east. Originally, Dunes Creek included much of Michigan City. Dunes Creek is one of three perennial streams which flow from the Great Marsh system into Lake Michigan. The other two streams are man-made ditches to the east of the Dunes Creek watershed which were cut through the dunes to provide for farming, industrial use, and housing. These ditches divided the eastern Dunes Creek watershed and created the new subwatersheds of Kintzele Ditch and Derby Creek. Beginning in 1998, the national lakeshore began restoration of the Great Marsh by closing Derby Ditch and restoring . In 2012, the terminus of Dunes Creek was daylighted and restored after being buried under a parking lot for 80 years. Dunes Creek's West Branch flows east-northeast from Cowles Bog for to join the Dunes Creek mainstem. Its source used to be even further west but is now diverted to the
East Arm Little Calumet River The East Arm Little Calumet River, also known as the Little Calumet River East Branch, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 19, 2011 portion of the Little Calumet ...
.


Bacterial contamination

Dunes Creek suffers from E. coli contamination likely related to ditching and draining of wetlands rather than anthropogenic point sources. Discharge from Dunes Creek into Lake Michigan causes chronic beach closures. Sampling of its sister creek, Derby Ditch, which also drains the Great Marsh; and Painterville Creek, in
Warren Dunes State Park Warren Dunes State Park is a Michigan state park, located along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan in Berrien County. The park's large sand dunes and lakeshore beaches make it one of the most popular of Michigan’s state parks with an avera ...
,
Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
show similar broad distributions of E. coli.


See also

* History of the Indiana Dunes *
List of rivers of Indiana This is a list of rivers in Indiana (U.S. state). By tributary Lake Erie *Maumee River ** St. Marys River ** St. Joseph River *** Cedar Creek **** Little Cedar Creek **** Willow Creek *** Fish Creek Lake Michigan * St. Joseph River (Lake Michig ...


References


External links


Dunes Creek page
at
Save the Dunes Save the Dunes Conservation Fund, originally known as Save the Dunes Council, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Northwest Indiana whose mission is to preserve, protect and restore the Indiana dunes and all natural resources in Northwest India ...
website
Save the Dunes Conservation organization
{{authority control Rivers of Indiana Rivers of LaPorte County, Indiana Michigan City, Indiana