‘The Slough,’ aka Cedar Lake

[Editor's note: First in a two-part series on Cedar Lake. Next week: Cedar Lake recreation versus railroads.]

The marshy lake in the middle of town once played host to American Indians, who found its shores amenable for trapping. It impressed more than one pioneer who stood on nearby hills and observed its natural beauty. Geologists thought the area was once part of a large lake that filled the Cedar Valley before it was drained by the deepening of hills south of the city.

Already in 1875, though, problems began with water quality in the lake. Heavy rains and snow melt would flush the water, but when the water was still, it became putrid and was blamed for illness and disease.

When McLeod's Run emptied into what had become known as 'the slough,' it created a current that kept the waters alive — until railroad tracks and businesses along the neck sometimes dammed the water.

To mitigate the resulting flooding, McLeod's Run was diverted to empty into the river, and the slough became stagnant.

In 1893, one of the main concerns of the Cedar Rapids City Council was the condition of Cedar Lake. An Illinois Central Railroad rail bed had cut off any outlet. The city marshal notified the railroad company to make an outlet.

Six years later, the city engineer mapped the contaminating influences on the slough and showed where outhouses and industrial discharge pipes emptied into the water. One dumping ground had been closed, but its remnants remained, and stock cars were cleaned out regularly on the lake's banks. The water remained rancid.

At the turn of the century, a growing population that lived in the area petitioned the City Council for relief. Options considered were filling in the slough, which was deemed too expensive, or again diverting McLeod's Run into the lake.

It also was suggested that any fish in the water be caught in nets and released above the dam, relieving the health department of its annual job of cleaning up dead fish.

Several years later, the City Council resolved to return McLeod's Run to the slough to help relieve unsanitary conditions that residents believed were spreading disease to the city. Opinion was growing among residents that the lake should belong to the city, and a study of the lake showed possibilities of converting it into a resort.

According to The Gazette: 'The eastern shores of the lake afford a site, natural in its outlines, for scenic beauty that is not often surpassed. The body of water itself, even without dredging, is deep enough for launches and boats of all kinds and, with fresh water running through it at all times, there are several places in the lake where a public bath house could be maintained. … There are several places on the upper lake where the bottom is a hard, clean sand, just the kind for a bathing beach.' In 1909, the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Electric Light Co. (distant forerunner of Alliant Energy) discovered, while installing intake and discharge tunnels in the lake, that it was fed by springs scattered at different places on the bottom. The power plant's new turbine engine required twice as much water as the previous reciprocating engine. Water from the intake tunnel passed through the condenser, was heated and then discharged into the lake, where it would cool before being pulled back through the intake tunnel.

Within a year, the Rock Island Railroad was planning to fill a portion of the lake to develop its yards, a project estimated at $50,000 in 1910.

Industrial development along the lake did not discourage the Woman's Club and the Playground Association from using the lake for recreation. In December 1910, they requested that the city light a skating rink and provide police protection. The council agreed to string lights from poles and light the area from 4 to 10 p.m. every day.

The recreation idea continued to roll when Fred Shaver told the City Council that he would consent to deflect the course of McLeod's Run back into Cedar Lake and deed about 20 acres abutting the lake to the city for a park.

Then, on April 29, 1911, The Gazette reported: 'The entire slough in the northern part of Cedar Rapids has been purchased by the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Electric Railway & Light Co., and in time will be made into a beautiful lake.'

The power plant was supplying an ever-growing city and could not draw enough water from the Cedar if the water was low. During February, the plant had pumped 195,162,358 gallons of water from the slough.

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