246 miles – Total length of the Sangamon River from Arrowsmith, Illinois to its confluence with the Illinois River at Beardstown, Illinois.
7 feet – Distance across the Sangamon River at its confluence with Crooked Creek at our place during the drought of 2012.
12.67 feet – Height of the Sangamon River at the Fisher Gage where US 136 crosses the Sangamon River just east of Fisher during a recent ‘upriver’ float trip down the Sangamon.
4.57 feet – Mean height of the Sangamon River at the Fisher Gage during August of 2012, the peak of the drought of 2012.
0 – The height of the Sangamon River, in feet, downstream from here in the area of Allerton Park during August of 2012, the peak of the drought of 2012 (yes, strange but true).
4.95 feet – Height of the Sangamon River at the Fisher Gage last week.
4 inches – Thickness of the ice on the Sangamon River in the winter of 2009, the year we cleared the snow and set up an ice skating rink on the river.
17 feet – Length of the average aluminum two-person canoe.
17 feet – Distance (estimated) between log jams on the Sangamon River, according to the perspective of a frustrated, flabbergasted and flummoxed first-time canoeist on the Sangamon River during midsummer.
10.13 miles – Total distance of a recent canoe trip down the Sangamon River starting at Sangamon River Forest Preserve and ending at Lake of the Woods.
4 – Number of log jams requiring portages to get around during the 10.13 mile stretch of the Sangamon River between the Sangamon River Forest Preserve and Lake of the Woods.
1 – Number of times that a canoe was accidentally swamped while attempting to cross a log jam during that trip. Don’t worry, all were fine.
3 – Number of Mahomet Village Board members canoeing the Sangamon River during a recent “Intro to the Sangamon River” trip sponsored by the Upper Sangamon River Conservancy and the Mahomet Rivertrail Committee.
0 – Number of times that a canoe was accidentally swamped while attempting to cross a log jam during the trip with three village board members along. Phew! Thank goodness.
9 – Number of redheaded daughters of the proprietor of Mahomet’s Nine Gal Tavern, a local inn where travelers could overnite before or after crossing the ford of the Sangamon River at Middletown during the mid 19th century, and where Abraham Lincoln stayed during his treks on the 8th Judicial Circuit.
1831 – The year that, after the “winter of the big snows”, Abraham Lincoln and his cousins canoed from his family’s home west of Decatur on the Sangamon River down to Sangamo Town (now extinct) to build a flatboat to haul supplies from New Salem to New Orleans.
80 feet by 18 feet – Length and width of the flatboat that Abraham Lincoln and his cousins crafted from fallen trees at Sangamo town to haul supplies from New Salem to New Orleans.
2 – Number of 150 horsepower Mercury outboards powering a “replication” (presumably loosely interpreted) of Lincoln’s flatboat taken down the Mississippi River in 2008.
0 – Number of musical numbers pertaining to the Sangamon River likely to be performed at this year’s “Sangamon River Music Festival”
471 – Number of rubber ducks sold during the 2012 Sangamon River Duck Race (let’s outdo it this year!).
$500 – Amount of first prize for the 2013 Sangamon River Duck Race.
25 – Number of fabulous prizes for the 2013 Sangamon River Duck Race (Thanks sponsors!!).
25 – Number of Dairy Queen ice cream cones comprising one of the many prizes for this year’s Sangamon River Duck Race.
1100 – Approximate number of acres of land surrounding the country estate of Allerton Park that would have been lost to semi-permanent flooding from the Sangamon River had Oakley Dam been constructed on the Sangamon River 26 miles downstream from Allerton in the early 1970’s.
217 – Number of acres of land that are part of an English Arts & Crafts country estate, constructed with “biblical stone” (?) and built with a widow’s watch, which given conditions on the Sangamon at times is a particularly nice touch.
$14.9 million – Current price of those 217 acres and the country estate, as listed in a recent real estate ad.
2 – Number of Eagle Scouts who have or are currently doing service projects with the USRC along the Sangamon River.
1 – Number of eagles spotted by this author along the Sangamon River. And I can’t be too sure about that one.
7.44 – Initial calculation of the score of the health of Crooked Creek, a tributary of the Sangamon River that runs through our property, based on a survey of invertebrates and scored on a scale of 0 of 6, with 0 being excellent and 6 being very poor.
317 – Number of freshwater mussels found by Citizen Scientists along a stretch of the Sangamon River at Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve from the covered bridge downstream to the Izaak Walton Cabin.
14 –Number of unique species of freshwater mussels found by Citizen Scientists along a stretch of the Sangamon River at Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve from the covered bridge downstream to the Izaak Walton Cabin.
2 tons – Amount of discarded trash removed from the Sangamon River during a river cleanup in 2012.
27 – Number of tires removed from the Sangamon River during a river cleanup in 2012. (note: these were not included in the 2 tons above)
Sept. 21 – Date of this year’s “It’s Our River Day” Sangamon River cleanup. Please join us and help out your river!
Appeared as Notes from the River, Mahomet Citizen, August 23, 2013 by Scott Hays