CUYAHOGA RIVER

river in northeastern Ohio, U.S., rising 15 mi (24 km) south of Lake Erie and 35 mi east of Cleveland. It flows southwestward to the city of Cuyahoga Falls (where its falls were eliminated by a series of dams) on the northern edge of Akron; there it drops into a large, deep valley and turns sharply northward. Upon reaching the lake plain about 6 mi from its mouth, it continues as a sharply meandering stream, entrenched to a depth of 60125 ft (1838 m), before emptying into Lake Erie at Cleveland, where its mouth forms part of Cleveland's harbour. Some meanders have been widened so that it is navigable for lake freighters to about 5 mi upstream; its total length is about 80 mi. During the 20th century the lower reaches of the Cuyahoga became one of the most severely polluted rivers in the U.S.; by the late 1970s, however, antipollution measures had substantially improved the condition of the river. The Cuyahoga receives the Little Cuyahoga River near Akron. Its name is Iroquoian, possibly meaning crooked water. The Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, established in 1975, covers about 32,000 acres (12,950 hectares) of river valley between the urban areas of Akron and Cleveland.