Cuyahoga River Water Trail

The U-shaped Cuyahoga is 100 miles long. It flows south from its headwaters near Burton, bends in Akron, heads north through Cuyahoga Valley National Park to Cleveland, and spills into Lake Erie. It was once part of a significant transportation route connecting the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. American Indians canoed it for centuries, portaging over the Akron summit to the Tuscarawas River and beyond. In the 1800s, engineers improved the connection. They used the Cuyahoga’s water to feed the northernmost section of the Ohio & Erie Canal. The canal system helped build the national economy. Akron and Cleveland grew from sleepy villages into booming industrial centers.