Plenty of junk dredged up in Fox River cleanup

If old shopping carts were valuable, the Elgin Fire Department dive team would have hit the jackpot Thursday.

"We've found a ton," said Lt. Mike Oine of carts settled at the bottom of the Fox River.

A 10-member dive team, along with Friends of the Fox River, the Department of Natural Resources, Grand Victoria Riverboat Casino, Elgin police and public works officials held a collaborative cleanup of a 1-mile stretch of the river from the Kimball Street dam down to the southern end of the National Street bridge.

The divers' recently purchased sonar scanning equipment worked to identify foreign objects, like the carts, a few stray bicycles and a collection of beer bottles, Oine said.

City restitution workers and volunteers helped collect debris from the river banks and sorted what objects could be recycled or used as scrap metal. Elgin Firefighters Union 439 donated gloves and trash bags.

Most police, fire and city officials at the cleanup were off duty, Oine said.

The divers, Lt. Dan Wagner said, must log a number of dives each year. Thursday's efforts served as training.

The idea for the cleanup, Oine said, came two years ago when the dive team was helping Elgin police search for evidence in the river. When about 30 bicycles were discovered in the water, "We started talking about what a good idea a cleanup might be."

Wagner said officials plan to make the effort an annual event. Future efforts will be directed at different stretches of the river.