The intention of this project was to make a specific installation next to a large, constructed culvert for Mill Creek, where the creek went from an open flowing channel to disappearing under the town of Cambridge (the re-named town of Galt). The installation was to reflect this abrupt burial of the creek and its subsequent outlet at the Grand River, making possible a visual connection between both daylit ends of the creek. As research for the installation unfolded, so did the questions. Like treasure hunters on an expedition, we saw hints, were led on false leads, were privy to rumour and hearsay until we pieced together the real and altered trajectory of the form that was buried.
Investigation
Defining Mill Creek
Maps are visual representations that provide information on the complex nature of site . They are generated to document research, to make a historic record or to relay specific types of information. We turned to current maps, historic maps and aerial photos of Mill Creek and the town of Galt. In this initial research we found conflicting information between recent aerial photos from GoogleMaps, the Grand River Conservation Authority and GIS maps generated online. On each, the creek’s route, its form through Galt and its outlet into the Grand River were shown differently. This was the first indication of how ‘lost’ Mill Creek was in the community, as we could not confirm even this basic information. We knew Mill Creek was channelled underground at the culvert, disappeared under the town, but not its route through town or where it met the Grand River. James Corner writes in Taking Measures Across the American Landscape ‘in contrast to the motion of traveller, the static nature of the photograph [and in our case, maps] is unable to convey the temporal experience of passage, the emerging and withdrawing of phenomena, and the strange ways events unfold’. 1 We set out with research in hand to walk around Cambridge looking for clues of where we could find Mill Creek. The Grand River creek outlet confirmed the location shown in the aerial photo. From here, there was a clear visual path along a small road with views of ascending elevation change – a good sign. As we rounded the local bowling alley, a large piece of bridge infrastructure and old foundation walls retained a significant elevation change between the bowling alley and a newer street above. The buildings we had seen along this route thus far were more recently built, but these foundations appeared to be much older. There were no signs of the creek but this old fragment of infrastructure was promising – from the top, the roadway was aligned directly with the culvert that took Mill Creek underground. We went back to the Grand River to look at the other outlet location shown on the GIS maps. This led us to a former knitting mill with a blocked outlet in its foundation wall which also serves as an embankment wall on the Grand River. This was most definitely the historic outlet for the creek. From this location, we encountered a series of mill buildings aligned along what we guessed were once the banks of Mill Creek. Parking lots now fill the spaces between the buildings, but the positioning of the buildings matched the route shown on the GIS maps. We continued ‘upstream’ until a large bus transit plaza stopped us – this extensive concrete island had wiped out any traces of Mill Creek. Our only sign of water here were storm drains. As we crossed the bus plaza, our original culvert location came into view so we knew this route was also possible.
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1 Corner, James. Taking Measures Across the American Landscape. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
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