About the Cedar River
The Cedar Valley, home to our favorite trail, takes its name from the Cedar River which travels through Minnesota and Iowa. The river itself is named after the Eastern Red Cedars (Juniperus virginiana, and also known as Red Cedars, Eastern Junipers, Red Junipers, and Pencil Cedars) which grow on its banks. These cedars can live for up to two centuries and have a tenacity that leads them to seek out eroded or cleared land. The leaves and wood can produce rashes in some people, so be careful during your photo ops on the river’s banks.The Cedar River is a tributary of the Iowa River. The two rivers meet in Columbus Junction in Louisa County, Iowathe Cedar’s forking headwaters are located in Dodge County, Minnesota near the towns of Blooming Prairie and Hayfield. The Iowa River is a tributary of the Mississippi.At two times in known history, the Cedar River has flooded. The first time was during the Great Flood of 1993, which affected the Mississippi and Missouri rivers along with their tributaries. The Cedar crested at 19.83 feet, flooding the Cedar Rapids downtown. Overall, the area flooded by all of the rivers combined neared 30,000 square milesthe worst flood since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.The river also flooded during the Iowa Flood of 2008. 20,000 Cedar Rapids residents were evacuated, and more than 1,200 city blocks were flooded. Luckily, dikes had been installed to protect the downtown areas of Waterloo and Cedar Fallsin Charles City, however, a suspension bridge was brought down by the rushing waters.Even with these rare disasters, the Cedar River is a perfect representation of natural beauty. Fishing is a popular past-time up and down the Cedar and Iowa rivers, with bass, walleye, catfish, crappie, and northern pike being some of the most common species. The river also served as inspiration for artist John Page’s “The River Series,” a collection of twenty small engravings done during his time in Cedar Rapids.