Fish fight

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The Buckeyes and Wolverines have hated each other for a while. I just finished reading a book called "The Toledo War" that chronicles the border dispute between the states in the mid-1830s. The dispute was mostly resolved when Ohio was given Toledo--and the pivotal Maumee River port and basin--and Michigan was given the consolation prize of most of the Upper Peninsula. Michigan and Ohio also squabbled over the Lost Peninsula, which extends north from Ohio into Lake Erie. Michigan wound up with part of the peninsula, even though it's only accessible by driving through Ohio.

Now, Midwestern states are fighting again. Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio have sued Illinois, reviving the century-old dispute over the reversal of the Chicago River. The other states want the Land of Lincoln to close the locks to Lake Michigan and take steps to mitigate flooding of the Des Plaines River and the Sanitary and Ship Canal. Why? Because of the Asian carp's inexorable flow north from the Mississippi River Valley. Still, it's interesting that the Land of 10,000 Lakes is involved. The carp already resides in the state's Mississippi River waters. And some reports suggest the carp can't survive in the cold of Lake Superior, Minnie's only Great Lakes shoreline.

One fish

I often have lines from 1980s movies running through my head. My inner monologue attempts to make sense of the world through movies like "One Crazy Summer" and "Hoosiers." So when news came across that only one Asian carp turned up when the Ship and Sanitary Canal was poisoned yesterday, a movie quote popped into my head.

In "Major League," Bob Uecker plays broadcaster Harry Doyle. When Doyle looks at the box score of another Indians' loss, he exclaims, "One hit? All we got was one goddamn hit?"

So here goes: One fish? All we got was one goddamn fish?

More carping

Was linking the St. Lawrence watershed with the Mississippi River watershed more than 100 years ago a mistake? Was it worth it to reverse the flow of the Chicago River and connect it to canals that emptied into the Illinois River and ultimately the Mighty Miss? Was all that barge traffic that important, even as trains, trucks and planes have mostly made water transport obsolete? These are the questions worth asking as officials dump Rotenone into a canal near Lockport, Ill., as evidence shows the Asian carp may be way beyond the area that is now being poisoned. All that 19th century engineering could have effects from here to Buffalo, N.Y., and beyond. As one online commenter said earlier today, this is the most underreported Chicago story of 2009.

Carp time

In news of the inevitable, Asian carp are now just a mile from the electric barrier in the Ship and Sanitary Canal and north of the barrier but within the parallel Des Plaines River (not in the Lake Michigan watershed). The Army Corps acknowledges that a good rain could send the river over its banks and into the canal, spilling a few carp along the way.

Electric carp

The dreaded asian carp is closing in on the Great Lakes, reports the Detroit Free Press and Chicago Sun-Times. They're now just a few miles from leaping from the Mississippi River watershed, southwest of Chicago, and into the St. Lawrence watershed. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has turned up the power on an electric barrier in the Sanitary and Ship Canal. I fear the barrier isn't going to be able to hold these voracious eaters back forever. In the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jeff Goldblum's character in "Jurassic Park," "Life... finds a way."