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 The Hillsborough River
flows 54 miles from its head waters in the Green Swamp to its mouth in
Hillsborough Bay, a portion of Tampa Bay, Florida's largest open-water estuary.
The Hillsborough has an estimated drainage area of 675 square miles. The
watershed extends over parts of three counties, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Polk.
From nearly pristine conditions, the river winds its way to Tampa Bay through
rural, suburban, and urban settings. For the most part the Hillsborough is what
is known as a dark or black water river. The water is stained reddish-brown by
the tannic acid (the same thing that gives iced tea that reddish-brown color).
It comes from the decaying leaves and other vegetation in the swamp.
The Green Swamp, approximately 850 square miles of swampy flatlands and sand
ridges, was designated as an Area of Critical State Concern by Florida in 1979.
Not only the Hillsborough River, but also the Withlacoochee, the Peace, and the
Ocklawaha Rivers have their origins there.
The Hillsborough actually
starts as an overflow of the Withlacoochee River. It begins as a slow-moving
sheet flow that percolates through a heavily vegetated riverine forest that has
no real channel. For most of the year, at least for paddling purposes, the
Hillsborough River begins where Crystal Springs empties 40 million gallons a
day into the river keeping it runnable even in times of severe drought.
The Hillsborough River is rich in history dating back thousands of years.
Early indigenous populations had encampments along the river and in the
surrounding area 10,000 years ago. Native Americans, Paleo-Indians, the
Timucua, the Calusa, the Seminoles, and others are known to have inhabited
sites along the river.
The first of the European expeditions to
arrive that discovered the Hillsborough River was the famous Spanish explorer,
Navarez in the 1500s. Hernando de Soto passed through here and in his wake just
about wiped out the Native American population. This area was also the site of
several Second Seminole Indian War battles.
The Timucua, who lived in
the area now known as Tampa, called their town, Mocoso, and the river, the
Mocoso River. The Spanish christened it the River of San Julian de Arriaga. The
English were the ones who named it the Hillsborough River after the Earl of
Hillsborough who was Britain's colonial secretary. The Seminoles called the
river, Lockcha-Popka-Chiska, the river one crosses to eat acorns.
 Although unfortunately now out of print
(but still available in some libraries) The River of the Golden Ibis by
Gloria Jahoda, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973, is a fascinating history of
the Hillsborough River and indeed the whole Tampa Bay area. It's a history that
reads like a novel. The first paragraph of the prologue sets the tone and draws
the reader into the world of the Hillsborough River.
"The
Hillsborough begins in the Green Swamp, nine hundred square miles of central
Florida wilderness where white ibises drift in the shadows over willow-bordered
pools. From high water oaks grey Spanish moss trails softly. The stillness is
broken by the songs of Carolina wrens in the thickets, by the insistent voices
of leopard frogs, by the calling of rain crows on slow summer afternoons. The
smells are acrid: tannin-stained sloughs and the sourness of the hydrogen
sulfide and methane gases that rise when the mud is turned by the foot of some
wild creature, by a rare canoe, by a storm. Pileated woodpeckers rap high in
the pines in the drier places, where the ground rises a foot or two and bare
sand shows under pinestraw that glistens rusty in a fitful swampland sun. The
Green Swamp is a trackless place. Its milky clusters of crinum lilies spend
their beauty unseen by men, and bobcats prowl the tangles unafraid. The world
of the white ibises is, as yet, inviolate. When the light strikes their
feathers through the canopy above, they shimmer in a blaze of gold."
Henry Plant brought the railroad to Tampa in the late 1800s and built the Tampa
Bay Hotel along the river whose minarets, now part of the University of Tampa,
are a Tampa landmark. The Hillsborough River was the site of Florida's first
hydroelectric dam in 1897. It was blown up in 1898 by local ranchers who
claimed that their best grazing lands had become part of the new reservoir. It
was rebuilt in 1899. Again in 1916 the ranchers tried to destroy the dam. A
hurricane did rupture the dam in 1933 after which it was sold to Tampa for a
water supply reservoir and rebuilt in 1946. Portions of the 1899 structure
still remain as part of today's structure. Currently 75% of Tampa's drinking
water supply comes from the Hillsborough River. Native Americans, Spanish
explorers, pirates, soldiers, logging, ranching, railroads, and fish camps are
all part of the river's rich history.
 The
Hillsborough River is enjoyed by paddlers, birders, fisherman, photographers,
hikers, and others at the wealth of parks that are located along its banks. The
Hillsborough River has been favorably compared to the Amazon and the Florida
Everglades as one of the great places to view wildlife.
Hillsborough River State Park
Built by the Civilian Conservation
Corps and opened in 1938, the Hillsborough River State Park is one of Florida's
oldest parks. Fort Foster, a recreation of Fort Alabama (an outpost on the Fort
King Military Trail that connected Fort Brooke in Tampa to Ocala) is located
along the river within the park's boundaries.
The Hillsborough River
State Park contains the state's southernmost outcropping of Suwannee limestone.
This outcropping creates a small set of rapids that are a rarity in Florida.
Park activities include picnicking, nature trails, camping, hiking, and
paddling.
The Wilderness Park
Originally purchased by the
Southwest Florida Water Management District's Hillsborough River Basin Board
for flood control and water quality protection, the Wilderness Park has become
a wonderful asset to Hillsborough County. The Wilderness Park has four parks
along the river that provide picnic areas, restrooms, and access for paddling
as well as three additional sites for either on or off-road bicycling and
horseback riding.
Nature's Classroom
Also located within
the Wilderness Park is Nature's Classroom, an award winning outdoor educational
facility for six graders in Hillsborough County. Nearly 10,000 students and
faculty have experienced the Hillsborough River first hand by viewing animals
and plants in their natural habitats.
Lettuce Lake Park
One of Hillsborough County's regional parks, Lettuce Lake Park is very popular.
The "lake" is actually a shallow, fingerlike portion of the Hillsborough River.
It has a 3,500' boardwalk through the swamp that ends at a tall observation
tower that overlooks the river and "lake". Lettuce Lake Park is also home to
Ark in the Park, a model interpretive center for the Tampa Audubon Society and
has a great playground area for younger children.
A number of small
parks are located along the river in the suburban and urban areas.
 Hillsborough River Designations
- Florida Recreational Canoe Trail
- Outstanding Florida Water
- Florida Ecosystem Management Model
- Florida Sesquicentennial Greenway
- Florida Wildlife Viewing Area
The
Hillsborough River was chosen by Canoe & Kayak Magazine as one of
"North America's Best Close to Home Paddling Adventures" in its May 1995 issue.
The Hillsborough River has been fortunate over the years to have
inspired many people to protect its beauty and wildlife. It has been studied,
monitored, and planned for. At least 25 various plans exist that address a
variety of issues.
Canoe Escape has been very actively involved with
the Hillsborough River Greenways Task Force (HRGTF). The Task Force is a
coalition of public, private, regulatory, environmental, and corporate
organizations and bodies. It was founded in 1992 by a group of concerned
citizens (both in the public and private sectors) to seek to investigate, plan,
and implement programs for the permanent protection of the natural resources of
the upper Hillsborough River Basin.
Each May the "Task Force" holds
an annual event (A River Runs Through It) to bring attention to the issues,
build advocacy, and to celebrate the river. Some of the Task Force's
accomplishments are: The "Green Book" a discussion of some 20 imminent issues
within the watershed; the delineation of core and buffer areas of the
Hillsborough River Greenway; the extension of the Outstanding Florida Water
designation; designation of a portion of the river as a Florida Recreational
Canoe Trail; formulation of a coordinated linear infrastructure plan (CLIP) to
determine where linear corridors should cross greenways; and the development of
the Frog Listening Network.
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Canoe
Escape, Inc.
9335 E. Fowler Avenue
Thonotosassa, FL 33592
ph:
813-986-2067
e-mail: info@canoeescape.com
www.canoeescape.com
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