Herbert Hoover National Historic Site - Rivers and Streams

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site by National Parks Service

The tributary of the west branch of Wapsinonoc Creek that runs through the National Historic Site has no official name. However, locals call it "Hoover Creek." Wapsinonoc may be translated from the aboriginal language as "the white creek of insignificant size" (Belle Walton Hinkhouse, Cedar County Review, 1990), but experts disagree on the translation.

The west branch of Wapsinonoc Creek drains a watershed of approximately 3000 acres above Hoover Creek, which drains approximately 1700 acres of agricultural, rural residential, and urban land. Agricultural land in the watershed was tiled, and development has pressed close to the banks during the last century. This encourages the creek to flash flood in the park during peak flows. Real time data on Hoover Creek's rate of flow, water temperature, and precipitation in the watershed can be found at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ia/nwis/uv?05464942 .

Before settlement began along the banks of the west branch, timber bordered the creek, while linear sloughs and swamps fed its flow. The channel that is now Hoover Creek was a series of these linear sloughs. In 1874, the year that Hoover was born, the creek existed as a small channel on the surface of the land. At the age of 10, Hoover swam in a swimming hole surrounded by willow trees that measured 30 feet across in the main channel of the west branch. He also fished for sunfish and catfish. However, Hoover Creek was too small to maintain a significant fishery or swimming opportunities.