Cedar Creek (Wisconsin)

Cedar Creek is a 53-kilometre-long (33 mi)[1] stream in southeastern Wisconsin in the United States. The Cedar Creek watershed is a 330 km² (127mi²) sub-basin of the larger Milwaukee River watershed.[2][3] It originates from Big Cedar Lake in the town of West Bend, then flows east into Little Cedar Lake. Cedar Creek then flows eastward through Jackson Wisconsin toward Lake Michigan before turning south. Flowing southward the creek crosses State Highway 60 where there is USGS gage that has been recording data since 1930[4] and briefly flows through Grafton Wisconsin before entering Cedarburg Wisconsin on its north side. Cedar Creek flows through downtown Cedarburg, and empties into the Milwaukee River southeast of Cedarburg in the Town of Grafton. The section through Cedarburg is notable for its the steep slope, and early settlers made use of this by building several dams and mills along the creek including (from upstream to downstream) Hilgen and Wittenberg Woolen Mill, Cedarburg Mill, Columbia Mill, Excelsior Mill (later Cedarburg Wire and Nail), and Concordia Mill.

The lower portion of the creek through downtown Cedarburg until its confluence with the Milwaukee River is adversely impacted by the milldams, and PCB pollution produced by Mercury Marine and Amcast automotive.[5] Numerous cleanups have occurred, the most recent cleanup from the ruck pond to the wire and nail dam was completed in 2018, with cleanup from the wire and nail dam to the Milwaukee River set to take place in the 2020s.[5] Several species of fish are found in the creek, including northern pike, rock bass, smallmouth bass, bluegills, sunfish, carp, suckers and bullheads.