Misplaced Pages

#201798

72-611: In the summer of 1673 members of the Kaskaskia , a tribe of the Illinois Confederation , led French explorers Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette , the first known Europeans to explore this part of North America, to the portage.  A strategic location, it became a key to European activity in the Midwest , ultimately leading to the foundation of Chicago . The Portage crossed waterways and wetlands between

144-581: A Jesuit mission station . In 1673, Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette and French-Canadian explorer Louis Jolliet became the first Europeans known to have descended the Mississippi River . The record of their trip is the earliest, best record of contact between Europeans and the Illinois Indians. Marquette and Jolliet, with five other men, left the mission of St. Ignace at Michilimackinac in two bark canoes on May 17. To reach

216-701: A Peoria warrior killed Pontiac , which brought the wrath of the Great Lakes tribes against the Kaskaskia and other Illinois tribes. (Some historians question this legendary retaliation; see the article on Pontiac .) The Ottawa, Sauk, Fox, Miami, Kickapoo and Potawatomi devastated the Illiniwek and occupied their old tribal range along the Illinois River. In 1766, the British arrived and established

288-574: A great extent by its long established tourism industry but also by its position as a gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America . As of 2024, Texas and Florida are the second and third most populous states in the nation, respectively. Other areas of the Gulf Coast have benefited less, though economic development fueled by tourism has greatly increased property values along the coast, and is now

360-557: A small detachment from Fort de Chartres at Kaskaskia. From 1766 through 1772, this rotating detachment was around 25 men under a junior officer, detached from Fort de Chartres. In May 1772, when the British abandoned Fort de Chartres, the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot , left a small detachment of four officers and 50 men at Kaskaskia as an effort to retain British control over the Illinois Country. Captain Hugh Lord, of

432-594: Is likely that the Chicago Portage was regularly used during this period. During all of this time early Native Americans found the Chicago Portage to be a convenient transportation route between the Great Lakes region and the Mississippi River in the interior. By 1673 the French had established a trading post at present day Mackinac Island at the top of Lake Michigan. In that year, Jean-Baptiste Talon ,

504-691: Is now called the Hopewell Interaction Sphere , and the part that encompassed Illinois, the Havana Hopewell , played a major part. Since at this time most long-distance travel for trade purposes was via water, it is likely that during this Woodland period the Chicago Portage was first regularly used. The Mississippian period (1000 – 1600) followed the Woodland. During this time native people built more permanent settlements, and continued to expand trading networks.  Cahokia

576-662: The Atlantic seaboard and the fourth largest in the U.S. overall. Two major events were turning points in the earlier history of the Gulf Coast region. The first was the American Civil War , which caused severe damage to some economic sectors in the South , including the Gulf Coast. The second event was the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 . At the end of the 19th century Galveston was, with New Orleans, one of

648-722: The Chicago River and the Des Plaines River , through a gap in the Valparaiso Moraine . In 1848, the water divide was breached by the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal cutting through the portage, this was deepened and widened in 1900 by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal which was also used to control the water's directional flow. The history of the Chicago Portage begins at the end of

720-786: The Gulf of Mexico . The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas , Louisiana , Mississippi , Alabama , and Florida , and these are known as the Gulf States . The economy of the Gulf Coast area is dominated by industries related to energy, petrochemicals, fishing, aerospace, agriculture, and tourism. The large cities of the region are (from west to east) Brownsville , Corpus Christi , Houston , Galveston , Beaumont , Lake Charles , Lafayette , Baton Rouge , New Orleans , Gulfport , Biloxi , Mobile , Pensacola , Panama City , St. Petersburg , and Tampa . All are

792-568: The Missouri side of the river. Kaskaskia became the capital of Upper Louisiana, and a larger Fort de Chartres was built in 1718, nearby North close to Prairie du Rocher . In the same year, the French imported African slaves from Saint-Domingue (Santo Domingo) to work in the lead mines. From its beginning, Kaskaskia was a French/Native American settlement, consisting of a few French men and numerous Kaskaskia and other Illinois Indians. In 1707,

SECTION 10

#1732769646202

864-935: The Missouri River country. The French wanted to trade with all the prairie tribes, and beyond with the Spanish colony in New Mexico ; the Spanish were alarmed at their commercial reach. French goals stimulated the expedition of Claude Charles Du Tisne to establish trade relations with the Plains Indians in 1719. The fate of the Kaskaskia, and the rest of the Illiniwek/Illinois, was irrevocably tied up with that of France. Until their dissolution in France, French Jesuits built missions and ministered to

936-465: The Port of Houston are two of the ten busiest ports in the world by cargo volume. As of 2004, seven of the top ten busiest ports in the U.S. are on the Gulf Coast. The discovery of oil and gas deposits along the coast and offshore, combined with easy access to shipping, have made the Gulf Coast the heart of the U.S. petrochemical industry . The coast contains nearly 4,000 oil platforms . Besides

1008-593: The 18th Foot, was the last British commander in Illinois. The detachment of the 18th Foot was ordered to Detroit in May 1776 and never returned to Illinois. Lord's detachment was garrisoned in the former Jesuit compound at Kaskaskia. The post was called Fort Gage only after Fort de Chartres was abandoned in 1772. On July 4, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War , George Rogers Clark captured

1080-845: The Chicago Outlet River created an easy passage over the Saint Lawrence River Divide , the continental divide that separated what had become the Great Lakes waterway system from the Mississippi River waterway system and, as the illustration shows, opened up almost all of what was to become the United States from the Allegheny Mountains to the Rocky Mountains as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. Native Americans had used

1152-521: The Chicago Outlet River. This was a substantial river, comparable to today's Niagara River , and over time it carved the channel later used by the main and south branch of the Chicago River , the Des Plaines River , and the terrain that became the Chicago Portage. As the glacier continued to retreat, it opened another outlet far to the East that became the St Lawrence River.  This allowed

1224-650: The Chicago area have revealed shells from the Gulf Coast , galena from the Galena, Illinois , area, and copper from Lake Superior . The Woodland period (500 BCE – 1,000 CE) followed the Archaic. The Hopewell culture (200 BCE to 500 CE) that arose during this time saw further development of these trade networks as well as the appearance of pottery.  Hopewell tribes engaged in extensive trade. This trade network

1296-405: The French. In particular, it provided an easy connection between the French cities of Montreal and New Orleans . An indication of the importance of portages that potentially could make this connection is shown in early maps of the region.  For example, this French map of the western regions of New France, published 1755, shows the “R.(iviere) et Port de Checageu” (River and Port of Checageu),

1368-555: The Gulf Coast from Houston, Texas , eastward, extreme rainfall events are a significant threat, commonly from tropical weather systems, which can bring 4 to 10 or more inches of rain in a single day. In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the central Texas coast, then migrated to and stalled over the greater Houston area for several days, producing extreme, unprecedented rainfall totals of over 40 inches (1,000 mm) in many areas, unleashing widespread flooding. Climate scientists predict more hurricanes for Florida and

1440-477: The Gulf Coast has a summer precipitation maximum, with July or August commonly the wettest month due to the combination of frequent summer thunderstorms produced by relentless heat and humidity, and tropical weather systems, including tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes , while winter and early spring rainfall also can be heavy. This pattern is evident in southern cites as Houston , New Orleans , Mobile, Alabama , and Pensacola, Florida . However,

1512-458: The Gulf Coast was a natural magnet in the South providing access to shipping lanes and both national and international commerce. The development of sugar and cotton production (enabled by slavery ) allowed the South to prosper. By the mid-19th century the city of New Orleans , being situated as a key to commerce on the Mississippi River and in the Gulf, had become the largest U.S. city not on

SECTION 20

#1732769646202

1584-683: The Gulf Coast was struck by a catastrophic hurricane. Due to its immense size, Hurricane Ike caused devastation from the Louisiana coastline all the way to the Kenedy County, Texas , region near Corpus Christi . In addition, Ike caused flooding and significant damage along the Mississippi coastline and the Florida Panhandle Ike killed 112 people and left upwards of 300 people missing, never to be found. Hurricane Ike

1656-444: The Gulf Coast, predominantly Florida, is dotted with many bays and inlets. The Gulf Coast climate is humid subtropical, although Southwest Florida features a tropical climate. Much of the year is warm to hot along the Gulf Coast, while the three winter months bring periods of cool (or rarely, cold) weather mixed with mild temperatures. The area is highly vulnerable to hurricanes as well as floods and severe thunderstorms . Much of

1728-663: The Gulf Coast. In 2008 floods in Iowa destroyed the local Flood Museum which held materials from the Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 . Before European settlers arrived in the region, the Gulf Coast was home to several pre-Columbian kingdoms which had extensive trade networks with empires such as the Aztecs and the Mississippi Mound Builders. Shark and alligator teeth and shells from

1800-559: The Gulf have been found as far north as Ohio, in the mounds of the Hopewell culture. The first Europeans to settle the Gulf Coast were primarily the French and the Spanish . The Louisiana Purchase (1803), Adams–Onís Treaty (1819) and the Texas Revolution (1835–1836) made the Gulf Coast a part of the United States during the first half of the 19th century. As the U.S. population continued to expand its frontiers westward,

1872-931: The Kaskaskia, along with the Wea and Piankeshaw , are enrolled in the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma , a federally recognized tribe in Oklahoma . The name and term "Kaskaskia" lives on in Illinois: Gulf Coast of the United States The Gulf Coast of the United States , also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast , is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet

1944-667: The Kaskaskia. By 1763 and the end of the Seven Years' War in North America (called the French and Indian War in the United States), the Kaskaskia and other Illinois tribes were greatly in decline. Early French explorers had estimated their original population from 6,000 to more than 20,000. By the end of the war, their numbers were a fraction of that. Contemporary historians believe the greatest fatalities during this period were due to new infectious diseases , to which

2016-909: The Michigamea village about July 17, following the Illinois River eastward to Lake Michigan rather than taking the more northern route along the Wisconsin River . Near modern Utica in LaSalle County, Illinois , across from Starved Rock, they met the Kaskaskia at the Grand Village of the Illinois (now a State Historic Site, also known as the Zimmerman site). The land controlled by the allied Illinois groups extended north from modern Arkansas, through Eastern Missouri and most of Illinois, and west into Iowa , where Des Moines

2088-483: The Mission of st. Ignace at Michilimakinac where I Then was. The Joy that we felt at being selected for This Expedition animated our Courage, and rendered the labor of paddling from morning to night agreeable to us. The explorers found the Mississippi River, explored it, and then returned to Michilimakinac by a different route on the advice of Native Americans they had encountered along the way, who told them that there

2160-408: The Mississippi River was a wetland that occupied the ancient stream bed of the Chicago Outlet River.  Early settlers called this marshy area “Mud Lake”.  The total length of the portage was about six miles. Mud Lake could be wet, dry, marshy, or frozen, depending on the season and the weather, making it at times a difficult, albeit very valuable, transportation route. In very wet weather

2232-914: The Mississippi River, they travelled across Lake Michigan into Green Bay, up the Fox River and down the Wisconsin River . Descending the Mississippi, in June, they met the Peoria and Moingwena bands of Illinois at the Haas /Hagerman Site near the mouth of the Des Moines River in Clark County , northeastern Missouri . They met another Illinois band, the Michigamea , when they reached present-day Arkansas . They began their return trip from

Chicago Portage - Misplaced Pages Continue

2304-765: The Native Americans had no immunity . The causes of decline are many and varied. The Illinois made war with their French allies against the most formidable native nations: to the east, the Iroquois ; to the northwest, the Sioux and the Fox ; to the south, the Quapaw , Chickasaw and Cherokee ; to the west, the Osage Nation . Added to combat losses were the great losses due to epidemics of European diseases. In 1769,

2376-496: The Seventeenth Century : A Paper Read Before the Chicago Historical Society, May 1, 1923 Kaskaskia The Kaskaskia were one of the indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands . They were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation , also called the Illinois Confederation . Their longstanding homeland was in the Great Lakes region. Their first contact with Europeans reportedly occurred near present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin , in 1667 at

2448-422: The South Branch of the Chicago River and pulled their boats over the St Lawrence Continental Divide into Mud Lake where the water was deep enough to float them.  Then …      Other members of the crew carried the boats’ cargo, across the seven-mile-long land trail to the Des Plaines River.  Because of his status as clerk of the expedition, by virtue of his ability to read and write, Hubbard

2520-472: The Texas coastline in particular. Earthquakes are extremely rare to the area, but a 6.0 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico on September 10, 2006, could be felt from the cities of New Orleans to Tampa. Due to the release of greenhouse gas emissions, glaciers and ice sheets are melting and expanding the oceans. The United States coastlines are projected to rise 1 foot in three decades or between 10 and 12 inches on average by 2050. The Gulf Coast will likely see

2592-472: The United States approximately $ 2.6 billion in relief efforts and caused at least seven deaths. By 2051, the cost of flood damage is expected to increase by 61%, or $ 32 billion. The Gulf Coast is a major center of economic activity. The marshlands along the Louisiana and Texas coasts provide breeding grounds and nurseries for ocean life that drive the fishing and shrimping industries. The Port of South Louisiana ( Metropolitan New Orleans in Laplace ) and

2664-411: The United States in 1803. The name 'Kaskaskia' derives from the old Miami-Illinois word for a katydid , phonetically kaaskaaskia . This name later appeared in the modern Peoria and Miami dialects as kaahkaahkia . This is already seen in Gravier's early-18th century Illinois dictionary, where for the word "caskaskia", he gives "cigale. item nation Ilinoise, les Kaskaskias". The descendants of

2736-407: The above, the region features other important industries including aerospace and biomedical research , as well as older industries such as agriculture and — especially since the development of the Gulf Coast beginning in the 1920s and the increase in wealth throughout the United States — tourism . Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita have destroyed a number of museums and archives in

2808-436: The bend in the river they would either head East into Mud Lake, if there was sufficient water there to permit that option, or stop at the landing, offload their canoes or boats, and carry everything along the Portage trails to reach the South Branch of the Chicago River. The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is outlined in red and the map shows the entrance to Mud Lake and the West End Landing.    Further proof that

2880-866: The biggest change, with sea levels expected to rise between 14 and 18 inches. The Global and Regional Sea Level Rise Report predicted more frequent, major and destructive high tide flooding events along with taller storm surges by 2050 after scientists determined high tide flooding has been "increasingly common" over the past few years due to the rising sea levels. The impacts are expected to be dramatic. Low-lying coastal areas are expected to experience multiple factors, including increased levels of flooding, accelerated erosion, loss of wetlands and low-lying terrestrial ecosystems, and seawater intrusion into freshwater sources. Rising sea level and erosion will also imperil critical habitats for many commercially important fisheries that depend on inshore waters for either permanent residence or nursery area. In 2021 alone rising sea levels cost

2952-424: The centers or major cities of their respective metropolitan areas and many of which contain large ports . The Gulf Coast is made of many inlets , bays , and lagoons . The coast is intersected by numerous rivers, the largest of which is the Mississippi River . Much of the land along the Gulf Coast is, or was, marshland . Ringing the Gulf Coast is the Gulf Coastal Plain , which reaches from Southern Texas to

Chicago Portage - Misplaced Pages Continue

3024-463: The central and southern Florida peninsula and South Texas has a pronounced winter dry season, as at Tampa and Fort Myers . On the central and southern Texas coast, winter, early spring and mid-summer are markedly drier, and September is the wettest month on average at Corpus Christi and Brownsville, Texas . Tornadoes are infrequent at the coast but do occur; however, they occur more frequently in inland portions of Gulf Coast states. Over most of

3096-429: The city and its history, separating two blue stripes symbolizing the two great waters that meet at the city. The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in Lyons , Cook County , Illinois , United States . The site, designated January 3, 1952 as an "affiliated area" of the National Park Service , is owned and administered by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County Preserved within

3168-429: The emerging lakes to drain even faster, and the Chicago Outlet River dried up leaving the gap in the moraine that served the Chicago Portage. The Chicago Portage linked what became known as the Chicago River's South Branch and what became known as the Des Plaines River. The point at which the portage crossed the low continental divide that separated waters flowing east toward Lake Michigan from waters flowing west toward

3240-462: The first Intendant (administrator) of New France , having heard of reports of a great river to the West and hoping it would be the long-sought "Northwest Passage" to the Pacific Ocean, ordered a reconnaissance mission to find and explore this river. In May of that year the group, consisting of Louis Jolliet , Father Jacques Marquette , and five voyageurs set out on their voyage of discovery. Accordingly, on The 17th day of may, 1673, we started from

3312-432: The image.  The current course of the Des Plaines River flows North to South and is shown just to the left of these remnants. The second image shows the ancient course of the Des Plaines River overlayed (in blue) on the photo above it to show the river as it was during the centuries of the Portage’s use. Travelers coming from the West would approach from the Southwest, using the old river outlined in blue.  Reaching

3384-406: The last Ice Age . It was formed as the Wisconsin glaciation retreated northward about 10,000 years ago, leaving behind Lake Chicago (now called Lake Michigan), which was created from the glacier's meltwater. As the glacier melted and retreated, the water in Lake Chicago rose until it overflowed the southwestern edge of the Valparaiso Moraine , which encircles the lake's southern half, creating

3456-516: The major discoveries of oil in Texas and spurred on by further discoveries in the Gulf waters, has been a vehicle for development in the central and western Gulf which has spawned development on a variety of fronts in these regions. Texas in particular has benefited tremendously from this industry over the course of the 20th century and economic diversification has made the state a magnet for population and home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other U.S. state. Florida has grown as well, driven to

3528-483: The most developed cities in the region. The city had the third busiest port in the U.S. and its financial district was known as the "Wall Street of the South". Since then the Gulf Coast has been hit with numerous other hurricanes. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane. It was the most damaging storm in the history of the United States, causing upwards of $ 80 billion in damages, and leaving over 1,800 dead. Again in 2008

3600-409: The mouth of the St Lawrence River to the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of Mexico. Until the second half of the 19th century water transportation was virtually the only way to move goods and people around North America. Hence, connections between strategic waterways, usually involving portages, held special importance. The importance of the Chicago Portage lies in the fact that the channel cut by

3672-418: The next six years. The Chicago Portage, established thousands of years before as the link between the two great waterway systems of America, would give birth to Chicago which would go on to become the transportation hub of the US and continue its role as the link between the East and the West. The official flag of the City of Chicago is a stylized map of the Chicago Portage, with four red stars symbolizing

SECTION 50

#1732769646202

3744-413: The original course of the Des Plaines River is as shown comes from the third map, one of many from the Knight and Zeuch study of the Chicago Portage.  This one shows the old course of the Des Plaines River and the bend in the river that marked the western end of the portage. A History of the Chicago Portage (2021) , Benjamin Sells, Northwestern U. Press The Location of the Chicago Portage Route of

3816-401: The park is the western end of the historic Chicago Portage. The site is the only part of the Portage that remains in a natural and protected state more or less as it existed when in use by Native Americans and the Europeans who came after them. The Des Plaines River today is not the river as it was in, for example, 1673 when Jolliet and Marquette first passed through the Chicago Portage. During

3888-409: The period 1892-1900 the original channel of the river was straightened, cutting off the part that the Jolliet and Marquette party used to reach the west end of the portage. This aerial photo shows the Des Plaines River and the area around the Portage Historic Site as they exist today (2024).   The remnants of the old course of the river can be seen as faint collections of water in the middle of

3960-793: The population of the community was estimated at 2,200, the majority of them Illinois Indians who lived somewhat apart. A visitor, writing of Kaskaskia about 1715, said that the village consisted of 400 Illinois men, "very good people," two Jesuit missionaries, and "about twenty French voyageurs who have settled there and married Indian women." Of 21 children whose birth and baptism was recorded in Kaskaskia before 1714, 18 mothers were Indian and 20 fathers were French. The offspring of these mixed marriages could become either French or Indian. Because Indian communities were larger and more complete, they tended to be reared with their mothers and their people and culture. One devout Roman Catholic full-blooded Indian woman disowned her half-breed son for living "among

4032-556: The portage for almost two thousand years before the arrival of Europeans. The Portage was probably created around 500 BCE at the end of what is commonly referred to as the Archaic period .  Early people had been migrating into the region around the Portage since the Paleo-Indian period , and by the time of the formation of the Portage, these people had begun to create semi-permanent settlements. Archaeological evidence shows that long-distance trade routes had been established.  Late Archaic sites that have been uncovered around

4104-406: The portage were low, passage was difficult, in part due to the soft or waterlogged ground. In 1818 Gurdon Hubbard , then 16 years old and traveling with a “brigade” of voyageurs as an indentured clerk, crossed the Portage from East to West and left an account in his memoirs. They had traveled down to the Portage from Mackinac Island in bateaux , heavy flat-bottomed boats.  They traveled down

4176-410: The region led to the Portage and the several fords near it. The map also shows the Old Portage Long trail that was used when there was insufficient water in Mud Lake to allow traverse by canoe.  This trail extended to the southwest to the early settlement of Ottaw a on the Illinois River.  Since there was usually sufficient water in the larger Illinois River for canoeing, this “Ottawa Trail”

4248-437: The savage nations." The settlement of Kaskaskia thus had a large population of mixed French and Indigenous ancestry, many of whom worked for fur companies based out of St. Louis, Missouri (a city created later, in 1764, by French traders and settlers who came from New Orleans ). Male descendants of the French, Indians, and mixed bloods at Kaskaskia became the voyageurs and coureurs des bois who would explore and exploit

4320-399: The strategic importance of the Chicago Portage, in 1803 the new country of the United States built Fort Dearborn at the mouth of the Chicago River to guard it. In 1848 the opening of the I&M canal allowed water transportation from the mouth of St Lawrence River through Chicago to the Mississippi River and the vast ranch and farm lands drained by it. The population of the City tripled in

4392-403: The town and Fort Gage. End April 1824, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette , French hero of the American Revolutionary War , visited Kaskaskia during his grand tour of the United States, just after having visited Saint Louis (Missouri) ( Visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States ), as a salute to two towns which were part of the former French Louisiana which was acquired by

SECTION 60

#1732769646202

4464-419: The water level in both the Des Plaines River and the Chicago River would rise to the point that Mud Lake was flooded, and travelers could traverse the entire six miles by canoe.  Usually, however, particularly in late summer, it was necessary to pull out canoes at some point and carry them and all supplies around Mud Lake. The Chicago Portage allowed easy access, by boat, to almost all of North America, from

4536-429: The west end of the portage at the Des Plaines River they paddled east through Portage Creek and through the marsh that would later be known as Mud Lake.  At the east end of the marsh they portaged their boats, equipment, and supplies over a low rise of land that was the St Lawrence River continental divide.  They then entered the South Branch of the Chicago River, and paddled north to the Fort. If water levels in

4608-430: The western Florida Panhandle , while the western portions of the Gulf Coast are made up of many barrier islands and peninsulas , including the 130-mile (210 km) Padre Island along the Texas coast. These landforms protect numerous bays and inlets providing as a barrier to oncoming waves. The central part of the Gulf Coast, from eastern Texas through Louisiana, consists primarily of marshland. The eastern part of

4680-421: The “Checageu River”, and the “Portage des Chenes” (the portage of oak trees), the name the French originally attached to the Portage. If water level in the portage was high enough to allow passage by canoe for most of the way, passage across the portage was relatively easy. Accounts from soldiers stationed at Fort Dearborn , at the mouth of the Chicago River, describe a passage from west to east.  Starting at

4752-430: Was a better way to return to Lake Michigan. Travelling by stages up the Illinois River to the Des Plaines River , in September 1673 members of the Caskaskia, a tribe of the Illinois Confederation, led Jolliet and Marquette to the western end of what became known as the Chicago Portage. During the 18th century, the Chicago Portage was one of the most strategic locations in the interior of the North American continent for

4824-403: Was named after the Moingwena. In 1703, the French established a permanent mission, settlement and fort ( Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site ) at Kaskaskia, Illinois , a part of their New France colonization of North America., which was part of the French Illinois Country , later made part of French Louisiana (New France) . French settlers moved in to farm and to exploit the lead mines on

4896-459: Was paved and became part of US Route 66 . The earliest Europeans to cross the Portage saw the potential for a canal dug along the route of the Portage. Louis Jolliet, after his first passage, opined that a canal across “… only a few leagues of prairie…” could link the Great Lakes with the Mississippi Valley. Eventually, Joliet’s vision came to reality in the form of the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal which opened in 1848. Recognizing

4968-412: Was spared this hard work.  He went on to describe the hardships of crossing the Portage in its natural state. After a hard day of work crossing the portage, the men camped near the river at the west end of the portage.  But their discomfort was not yet over, as Hubbard’s account continues. This map of the Portage, superimposed on the map of early Chicago, shows that the most important trails in

5040-439: Was the third most damaging storm in the history of the United States, causing more than $ 25 billion in damage along the coast, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless, and sparking the largest search-and-rescue operation in U.S. history. Other than the hurricanes, the Gulf Coast has redeveloped dramatically over the course of the 20th century. The gulf coast is highly populated. The petrochemical industry, launched with

5112-466: Was the largest of these settlements and the best example of how native society was evolving.  It was located at the confluence of the Mississippi River , the Missouri River , and the Illinois River and was therefore a key to the trade network that had developed. Given that copper from the northern shores of Lake Superior have been found at archeological digs at Cahokia, and that Mississippian pottery has been found at sites at northern Lake Huron , it

5184-584: Was used in very dry conditions when there was insufficient water in the Des Plaines River. As commerce over the portage grew, local entrepreneurs developed services to help travelers using the Portage.  One such were the wagon roads that made commerce over the Portage much easier during dry periods.  An example is the Ottawa trail that started as a pathway, became a wagon road, and ultimately

#201798