Natural History

Im burning to know what native americans did with the island. It would have been in or next to the river, high ground from which to watch game. I imagine it as a spot where weastern civiliczation never settled, that there is some connection between the way humans have always used it and the way they use it now. But before I know cultural history, I should learn the natural history, starting with when the island was formed. Ariel photos could answer this question but the internet does not have them, so I traveled in my physical body to the Austin History Center and found this photo from 1952.

1952

The river was a hot mess, meandering all over the place, mined for gravel and brick clay, which, by the looks of it involved scraping the bejesus out of the river bed in the upper left corner of the picture. Look at that peninsula, that’s a gravel operation downtown. The strange lines crossing the river diagonally are exactly where I35 will go in. This river was being thoroughly used as an industrial resource. There were no trees on the north shore and it eroded severely during floods, requiring a huge margin between it and the rest of the town. Here’s a zoom in of the island area with some landmarks…

1952, no island

No Island. The cool Karankawa kids did not hang out here to get away from their parents. Shoot, I was going to try not to demystify anything. Maybe I will try to obscure some things later that are well understood.

The Island is modern Austin but when, exactly, was it born? Here’s a picture of 1964. The planned Holly Power Plant would need a cooling reservoir so the river was made a lake. Longhorn dam went in in 1960 and the river took the form it has today. Earth has been moved around in the gravel pits to form a widening in the lake. An existing pit on the north side was expanded and connected with the lake to form what would become Fiesta Gardens. If you paddle in there today, you are faced by bizarre decaying grandstands lining the North side like an aquatic Thunderdome.

1964, there is it.

The little dark triangle off the peninsula seems almost exactly the same shape as what is there today. It does not look intentionally created but deposited by water. The power plant came and went but a lot of infrastructure now relies on the river being exactly where it is, so Longhorn isn’t going anywhere in case you got excited about “re-wilding”. The hike and bike trail is left intentionally riparian and the margin between the trail and the water is unkempt, a subtle but brilliant choice on the part of the city. It makes the whole thing look wild and clean and lush. The luxury of viewing the river as an aesthetic feature was pioneered by notorious human-bird hybrid, Ladybird Johnson. “Beautification” became a priority and Aquafest was the first in Ladybird’s clutch of eggs to hatch. This festival was the proof of concept for the destination-festivals that bring seasonal floods of tourism today. It was horrible and wonderful and deserving of its own Netflix series. I may circle back to Aquafest.