Category Archives: Adventures on the Rouge

Wayne County: turn old Ford mills into modern hydro plants

By JOEL THURTELL Instead of selling Henry Ford’s historic former hydroelectric plants to developers, Wayne County could convert the old dams into state-of-the-art, revenue-generating hydro facilities. Wayne County citizens have recently protested the proposed sale of three former Ford-owned mills on the Middle … Continue reading

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Isabella Swan — ‘The Deep Roots’

By Joel Thurtell How often would I get a chance to write about a female historian who made a case based on evidence that slaves lived and worked in her Michigan community? Score one for women’s history. Score another for … Continue reading

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Ken Patterson’s wonderful bridge

As Canadian and US governments gear up to spend billions on a replacement to Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge, another Detroit bridge project is largely unknown. Kenneth Patterson built a suspension bridge over the Rouge River with a few parts from a … Continue reading

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Fox 2 plans re-do of 2005 Free Press canoe trek

By Joel Thurtell A reporter and a photographer paddling the Rouge River over five days in the first week of June, renting their canoe from a Milford livery and refusing help from establishment environmental and river friends groups. Their aim … Continue reading

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Did beaver ever leave Detroit?

By Joel Thurtell If you believe the Detroit Free Press, beaver were trapped to extinction in the Detroit area, and “then industrial pollution in the mid-20th Century made the Detroit River too toxic for beaver and many other species to … Continue reading

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Beaver logic again

Once again, a federal agency is claiming the arrival of a lone beaver in Detroit signals less-polluted waterways. The claim was first made by a US Fish and Wildlife spokesman in 2009, when a beaver was seen at DTE’s Conner … Continue reading

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UP THE ROUGE! and REI Paddlefest

By Joel Thurtell I’ll be talking about the adventure of canoeing an urban river Saturday, May 14 at 11 a.m. in the REI store in Northville Township. The stream I’ll be discussing, of course, is the Rouge River in metro … Continue reading

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UP THE ROUGE! at West Bloomfield

Writer Joel Thurtell will talk about the book, UP THE ROUGE! PADDLING DETROIT’S HIDDEN RIVER at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 1, 2011 at the West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation center. An exhibit of Detroit Free press photographer Patricia Beck’s … Continue reading

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I’m an artist!

By Joel Thurtell For the argument to work, you must agree that I am an artist. I’ll assume that much. Otherwise, my reasoning is high and dry. Je suis artiste. There, a declaration in French is always so much more … Continue reading

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Nothing new here

More tax cuts would be gluttony in a time of starvation. That is not America. That is a nation about to be plundered, and a people laid to waste. — Charles M. Blow, The New York Times, April 16, 2011 … Continue reading

Posted in Adventures in history, Adventures on the Rouge, Bad government | 1 Comment