Cherry Creek (Colorado)
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Cherry Creek is a tributary of the
South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. It ...
, long, in
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
in the United States.


Course

Cherry Creek rises in the high
plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
, east of the
Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered ...
, in northwestern El Paso County. It flows north, through
Castlewood Canyon State Park Castlewood Canyon State Park is a Colorado state park near Franktown, Colorado. The park retains a unique part of Colorado's history, the remains of Castlewood Canyon Dam. Visitors can still see the remnants and damage from that dam which burst i ...
where it is spanned by the historic Cherry Creek Bridge, past Parker and through portions of
Centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at ...
and
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 into southeast
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
. It flows northwest through Denver, becoming an
urban stream An urban stream is a formerly natural waterway that flows through a heavily populated area. Urban streams are often polluted by urban runoff and combined sewer outflows. Water scarcity makes flow management in the rehabilitation of urban stream ...
and joining the
South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. It ...
at
Confluence Park Confluence Park is an urban park encompassing the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River in Denver's Lower Downtown (LoDo), a bustling district of 19th-century brick warehouses and storefronts that has been redeveloped since the ...
in central Denver just west of downtown and approximately east of the foothills, near the site where the city of Denver was founded in 1858. The Cherry Creek Dam, completed in 1950, forms Cherry Creek Reservoir in Cherry Creek State Park, providing
flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
control and
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
. The dam lies immediately southeast and southwest of the Denver and Aurora city limits, respectively, approximately from the creek's confluence with the South Platte. The creek lends its name to the Cherry Creek neighborhood in south-central Denver, and also in particular to its
Cherry Creek Shopping Center Cherry Creek Shopping Center, also known as Cherry Creek Center, is a shopping mall about three and half miles southeast of downtown Denver, Colorado in the Cherry Creek Neighborhood. It is situated along East First Avenue on the banks of Che ...
. In addition, the creek runs through the suburban Cherry Creek Public Schools district. The Cherry Creek Bike Path follows the creek from Confluence Park in downtown Denver through Cherry Creek State Park and south towards Parker and Castlewood Canyon.


History

Cherry Creek was the focus of the early part of the
Pikes Peak Gold Rush The Pike's Peak Gold Rush (later known as the Colorado Gold Rush) was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 ...
in 1858 and 1859, when gold was discovered at the "Cherry Creek diggings," in what was then western Kansas Territory. The first edition of the
Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...
on 23 April 1859 identified itself on the masthead as being located at "Cherry Creek, K. T." Gold was discovered at Russellville (now in Douglas County) in the upper Cherry Creek drainage, and in the Platte River near its confluence with Cherry Creek. Speer Boulevard, running along Cherry Creek, is part of Denver's parks and parkway system, and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.


Ecology

The creek itself is locally well known for its population of crayfish. Some local inhabitants catch and eat these crustaceans. The creek is also home to a large population of small fish (Including immature
trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...
and sunfish, crappie,
yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Sam ...
and others). Large fish are largely absent, except when the Cherry Creek Dam is partially opened and floodwaters carry fish such as rainbow trout, brown trout, mature sunfish,
walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...
, and even
northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a p ...
downstream. The creek's ecosystem was damaged during a drought in the first few years of the 21st century. Plants along the banks, damaged by the drought, dropped organic debris into the water, increasing
biochemical oxygen demand Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is the amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) needed (i.e. demanded) by aerobic biological organisms to break down organic material present in a given water sample at a certain temperature over a specific time period. ...
substantially. Decreased flow also limited the ecosystem's capacity to supply needed oxygen. Decreased flow also prevented the washing away of pollutants such as
NPK Many countries have standardized the labeling of fertilizers to indicate their contents of major nutrients. The most common labeling convention, the NPK or N-P-K label, shows the amounts of the chemical elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and potas ...
fertilizers, insecticides and organic solvents. Water temperatures also rose during this period, compounding the problem. As of 2005, however, the creek is substantially healthier. The area around the creek is also known for its snake population, which includes
garter snakes Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus ''Thamnophis'' can be found from the sub ...
, western hognose snakes, bullsnakes and occasionally rattlesnakes. Amphibians native to Colorado can be found at the creek as well. These include, the plains leopard frog, woodhouse's frog, and the striped chorus frog. The
bullfrog ''Bullfrog'' is a common English language term to refer to large, aggressive frogs, regardless of species. Examples of bullfrogs include: Frog species America * Helmeted water toad (''Calyptocephalella gayi''), endemic to Chile *American bullfr ...
, a non-native species, is also located in the Cherry Creek. In recent years, bullfrogs have contributed to the decimation of native amphibian species populations at the creek. For some of its distance, notably in the region of Four Mile Historical Park, the creek is flanked on each side by approximately of woods and scrub. This corridor is deliberately left semi-wild, though there is a dirt bike track on the northern bank. This corridor is one of the few places within the Denver metro area where the creek's namesake plant, the
chokecherry ''Prunus virginiana'', commonly called bitter-berry, chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, and western chokecherry (also black chokecherry for ''P. virginiana'' var. ''demissa''), is a species of bird cherry (''Prunus'' subgenus ''Padus'') nat ...
, can still be seen in a largely wild state. Large trees such as cottonwood are common, as are
willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...
s. Edible plants such as wild
asparagus Asparagus, or garden asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name ''Asparagus officinalis'', is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus '' Asparagus''. Its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. It was once classified in ...
and prickly pear are occasionally found. Virginia creeper and imported plants such as the Russian olive,
dandelion ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...
are present. Despite the limited area this corridor offers,
raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
s, beaver, foxes,
coyotes The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...
, and even
deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...
are not uncommon sights along the creek. The beaver typically have lodges upstream (east) of Denver, but swim downstream to forage.
Petrified wood Petrified wood, also known as petrified tree (from Ancient Greek meaning 'rock' or 'stone'; literally 'wood turned into stone'), is the name given to a special type of '' fossilized wood'', the fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. ' ...
is extremely common in the creek. It is washed down, sometimes in fairly large pieces, from 'petrified forests' upstream. Fossil mammal bones have also been found. Historical records kept at what is now Four Mile Historical Park indicate that prior to the construction of the Cherry Creek Dam, the creek's water level rose and fell regularly. Since the dam's completion, however, this
flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
cycle has been interrupted. Now, the flow is regulated almost exclusively by the dam's operators. The level of the creek is kept constant except when water needs to be vented from the Cherry Creek Reservoir. When the dam's floodgates are opened for this venting, the creek's level may rise as much as two feet, sometimes in less than an hour.


See also

* List of Colorado rivers


References


External links


Cherry Creek Reservoir conditions and fishing reports
{{authority control Rivers of Denver Rivers of Colorado Geography of Aurora, Colorado Tributaries of the Platte River Rivers of El Paso County, Colorado Rivers of Douglas County, Colorado Rivers of Arapahoe County, Colorado