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58-618: The Illinois and Michigan Canal (I&M) opened in 1848. In 1900, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal replaced the I&;M and reversed the flow of the Chicago River so it no longer flowed into Lake Michigan . The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains a 9-foot-deep (2.7 m) navigation channel in the waterway. The waterway's complex northern section is referred to in various contexts for study and management as

116-730: A missionary in French Canada, was at a mission station on Lake Superior , when he met native traders from the Illinois Confederation . He learned about the great river that ran through their country to the south and west. In 1673–74, with a commission from the Canadian government, Marquette and Louis Jolliet explored the Mississippi River territory from Green Bay to the Arkansas River , including

174-662: A plan to construct channels and canals to reverse the flow of the rivers away from Lake Michigan and divert the contaminated water downstream where it could be diluted as it flowed into the Des Plaines River and eventually the Mississippi. In 1892, the direction of part of the Chicago River was reversed by the Army Corps of Engineers with the result that the river and much of Chicago's sewage flowed into

232-536: A significantly degraded shoreline (water levels can fluctuate as much as 5 feet). Today much of the canal is a long, thin linear park with canoeing and a 62.5-mile (100.6 km) hiking and biking trail (constructed on the alignment of the mule tow paths). It also includes museums and historical canal buildings. It was designated the first National Heritage Corridor by US Congress in 1984. Many towns in Northern Illinois owe their existence directly to

290-515: A specific proposal for a canal. With several slave states recently admitted to the Union, Nathaniel Pope and Ninian Edwards saw the opportunity to make Illinois a state. They proposed moving the border northward from the southern tip of Lake Michigan to allow the canal to be within a single state. They believed that the canal would firmly align Illinois with the free states and so Congress granted them statehood even though Illinois did not meet

348-689: A sub-class and were treated very poorly by other citizens of the city. The canal was finished in 1848 at a total cost of $ 6,170,226. Chicago Mayor James Hutchinson Woodworth presided over the opening ceremony. Pumps were used to draw water to fill the canal near Chicago, which was soon supplemented by water from the Calumet Feeder Canal . The feeder was supplied by water from the Calumet River and originated in Blue Island, Il . The DuPage River provided water farther south. In 1871

406-658: The Canadiens to cross the Mississippi to live in St. Louis or Ste. Genevieve . The British soon relaxed their policy and later extended the Province of Quebec to the region. The British took control of Fort de Chartres on October 10, 1765 and renamed it Fort Cavendish . The British softened the initial expulsion order and offered the Canadien inhabitants the same rights and privileges enjoyed under French rule. In September 1768,

464-604: The Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS). Cargoes include bulk commodities, such as coal, chemicals, and petroleum, as well as corn, soybeans and other agricultural products. During some winters, ice floes, especially around the locks and dams, occasionally prevent navigation on the Waterway. A series of eight locks , managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, controls water flow from Lake Michigan to

522-677: The Company of the Indies in 1719). Hoping to make a fortune mining precious metals in the area, the company with a military contingent sent from New Orleans built a fort to protect its interests. Construction began on the first Fort de Chartres (in present-day Illinois) in 1718 and was completed in 1720. The original fort was located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, downriver (south) from Cahokia and upriver of Kaskaskia . The nearby settlement of Prairie du Rocher, Illinois ,

580-804: The Illinois River valley. In 1675, Marquette returned to found a Jesuit mission at the Grand Village of the Illinois . Over the next decades missions, trade posts, and forts were established in the region. By 1714, the principal European, non-native inhabitants were Canadien fur traders , missionaries and soldiers, dealing with Native Americans, particularly the group known as the Kaskaskia . The main French settlements were established at Kaskaskia , Cahokia , and Sainte Genevieve . By 1752,

638-706: The Mississippi Basin to the Great Lakes Basin . The potential canal route influenced Illinois's north border. The Erie Canal and the Illinois and Michigan Canal cemented cultural and trade ties to the Northeast rather than the South . Before the canal, agriculture in the region was limited to subsistence farming . The canal made agriculture in northern Illinois profitable by opening connections to eastern markets. The first known Europeans to travel

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696-759: The Wabash valley up to the mouth of the Vermilion River (near present-day Danville, Illinois ); from there, northwest to le Rocher on the Illinois River , and from there west to the mouth of the Rock River (at present-day Rock Island, Illinois ). Thus, Vincennes and Peoria were near the limit of Louisiana's reach; the outposts at Ouiatenon (on the upper Wabash near present-day Lafayette, Indiana ), Checagou , Fort Miamis (near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana ) and Prairie du Chien operated as dependencies of Canada. This boundary between Canada and

754-638: The Wabash River in Indiana . Explored in 1673 from Green Bay to the Arkansas River by the Canadien expedition of Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette , the area was claimed by France . It was settled primarily from the Pays d'en Haut in the context of the fur trade , and in the establishment of missions from Canada by French Catholic religious orders . Over time, the fur trade took some French to

812-466: The area , Father Marquette and Louis Joliet , went through the Chicago Portage on their return trip. Joliet remarked that with a canal they could remove the need to portage and the French could create an empire spanning the continent. The first quantitative survey of the portage was performed in 1816 by Stephen H. Long . It was on the basis of these measurements that he was able to make

870-520: The 140-foot (43 m) height difference between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River. From 1848 to 1852 the canal was a popular passenger route, but passenger service ended in 1853 with the opening of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad that ran parallel to the canal. The canal had its peak shipping year in 1882 and remained in use until 1933. Experiencing a remarkable recovery from

928-571: The British established a Court of Justice, the first court of common law in the Mississippi Valley (the French law system is called civil law ). After severe flooding in 1772, the British saw little value in maintaining the fort and abandoned it. They moved the military garrison to the fort at Kaskaskia and renamed it Fort Gage . Chartres' ruined but intact magazine is considered the oldest surviving European structure in Illinois and

986-737: The British, and Pontiac led a coalition of the Illini, and Kickapoo, Miami, Ojibway, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Seneca, Wea, and Wyandot against the British. Pursuant to the Treaty of Paris (1763) Captain Thomas Sterling and the 42nd Regiment of Foot took command of Fort de Chartres , from the French commandant, Captain Louis St. Ange de Bellerive in 1765. During the Revolutionary War, General George Rogers Clark took possession of

1044-550: The Great Lakes and north of the mouth of the Ohio River , including both banks of the Mississippi as well as the lower Missouri Valley . In 1723, the area around the Wabash River became a separate district. A generation later, trade conflicts between Canada and Louisiana led to a more defined boundary between the French colonies; in 1745, Louisiana governor general Vaudreuil set the northeastern bounds of his domain as

1102-475: The Illinois Country remained in effect until the Treaty of Paris in 1763, after which France surrendered its remaining territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. (Although British forces had occupied the "Canadian" posts in the Illinois and Wabash countries in 1761, they did not occupy Vincennes or the Mississippi River settlements at Cahokia and Kaskaskia until 1764, after the ratification of

1160-466: The Illinois Country were defined in a variety of ways, but the region now known as the American Bottom was nearly at the center of all descriptions. One of the earliest known geographic features designated as Ilinois was what later became known as Lake Michigan , on a map prepared in 1671 by French Jesuits . Early French missionaries and traders referred to the area southwest and southeast of

1218-459: The Illinois Country were in the first half of the 17th century, led by explorers and missionaries based in Canada. Étienne Brûlé explored the upper Illinois country in 1615 but did not document his experiences. Joseph de La Roche Daillon reached an oil spring at the northeasternmost fringe of the Mississippi River basin during his 1627 missionary journey. In 1669–70, Father Jacques Marquette ,

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1276-625: The Illinois and Michigan Canal. Lockport, Morris, Ottawa, and LaSalle were platted by the Canal Commissioners to raise funds for the canal's construction. From east to west the towns along the path of the canal include: Illinois Country The Illinois Country (French: Pays des Illinois [pɛ.i dez‿i.ji.nwa] ; lit.   ' land of the Illinois people ' ; Spanish: País de los ilinueses ), also referred to as Upper Louisiana (French: Haute-Louisiane [ot.lwi.zjan] ; Spanish: Alta Luisiana ),

1334-517: The Meskwaki in 1730. French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle built Fort St. Louis on a large butte by the Illinois River in the winter of 1682. Called Le Rocher , the butte provided an advantageous position for the fort above the river. A wooden palisade was the only form of defenses that La Salle used in securing the site. Inside the fort were a few wooden houses and native shelters. The French intended St. Louis to be

1392-515: The Mississippi River system. The upper lock, T.J. O'Brien, is 7 miles from Lake Michigan on the Calumet River and the last lock is 90 miles (140 km) upstream from the Mississippi River at the LaGrange lock and dam. The amount of water released into the Illinois often is a sore point among lake and river interests. When Lake Michigan water levels are high, lake interests want to increase the flow, and when lake levels are low, they want to restrict

1450-663: The Mississippi River was ceded to the British and became part of the British Province of Quebec ; the land west of the river was ceded to Spanish Louisiana . During the American Revolutionary War , Virginian George Rogers Clark led the Illinois campaign against the British. Illinois Country east of the Mississippi River along with what was then much of Ohio Country became part of Illinois County, Virginia , claimed by right of conquest. The county

1508-519: The Potawatomi, attacked a band of Illini along the Illinois River. The tribe climbed to the butte to seek refuge from the attack. The Ottawa and Potawatomi continued the siege until the Illini tribe starved to death. After hearing the story, Europeans referred to the butte as Starved Rock . On January 1, 1718, a trade monopoly was granted to John Law and his Company of the West (which was to become

1566-495: The canal between Lockport and LaSalle-Peru, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. Portions of the canal have been filled in. Much of the former canal, near the Heritage Corridor transit line, has been preserved as part of the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor . In the 19th century, canals were an important mode of transportation. The Illinois and Michigan Canal connected

1624-586: The canal instead of into Lake Michigan . The complete reversal of the river's flow was accomplished when the Sanitary and Ship Canal was opened in 1900. It was replaced in 1933 by the Illinois Waterway , which remains in use. The actual origin site of the Illinois and Michigan Canal has been converted into a nature park that integrates history, ecology and art to communicate the Canal's importance in

1682-461: The canal was deepened to speed up the current and to improve sewage disposal. The canal was eventually 60 feet (18 m) wide and 6 feet (1.8 m) deep, with towpaths constructed along each edge to permit mules to be harnessed to tow barges along the canal. Towns were planned out along the path of the canal spaced at intervals corresponding to the length that the mules could haul the barges. It had seventeen locks and four aqueducts to cover

1740-469: The construction. Still, money had to be borrowed from Eastern United States and British investors to finish the canal. Most of the canal work was done by Irish immigrants who previously worked on the Erie Canal . The work was considered dangerous and many workers died, although no official records exist to indicate how many. The Irish immigrants who toiled to build the canal were often derided as

1798-410: The devastating Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Chicago rebuilt rapidly along the shores of the Chicago River. The river was especially important to the development of the city since all wastes from houses, farms, the stockyards, and other industries could be dumped into the river and carried out into Lake Michigan. The lake, however, was also the source of drinking water. During a tremendous storm in 1885,

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1856-558: The development of Chicago. In 2003 the Chicago Park District, in cooperation with the I & M Canal Association, hired Conservation Design Forum to develop plans to convert the brownfield site into a landscape that provided for passive recreational uses in a landscape setting with native plant species. Interpretive panels built into a wall along a bike trail were designed by local high school art students. The plans also called on landscape stabilization techniques to repair

1914-680: The end of the French and Indian War . The British Crown declared almost all the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River from Florida to Newfoundland a Native American territory called the Indian Reserve following the Royal Proclamation of 1763 . The government ordered settlers to leave or get a special license to remain. This and the desire to live in a Catholic territory caused many of

1972-522: The far reaches of the Rocky Mountains , especially along the branches of the broad Missouri River valley. The "Illinois" in the territory's name is a reference to the Illinois Confederation , a group of related Algonquian native peoples . The Illinois Country was governed from the French province of Canada until 1717 when, by order of King Louis XV , it was annexed to the French province of Louisiana , becoming known as "Upper Louisiana". By

2030-738: The first of several forts to defend against English incursions and keep their settlements confined to the East Coast . Accompanying the French to the region were allied members of several native tribes from eastern areas, who integrated with the Kaskaskia: the Miami , Shawnee , and Mahican . The tribes established a new settlement at the base of the butte known as Hotel Plaza. After La Salle's five-year monopoly ended New France governor Joseph-Antoine de La Barre wished to put Fort Saint Louis along with Fort Frontenac under his jurisdiction. By orders of

2088-599: The flow. That is why an international treaty regulates the flow, as Canada also has an interest in Lake Michigan levels, which eventually flow into Lakes Huron , Erie and Ontario . Download coordinates as: The schematic below illustrates the drop of the Illinois Waterway from 578 feet (176 m) (mean) above sea level at Lake Michigan to 419 feet (128 m) (mean) at the Mississippi River at Grafton, Illinois. The eight locks and dams (L&D) on

2146-593: The fort are found at the site today. The region was periodically occupied by a variety of native tribes who were forced westward by the expansion of European settlements. These included the Potawatomi , Ottawa , and Ojibwe . On April 20, 1769, an Illinois Confederation warrior assassinated Chief Pontiac while he was on a diplomatic mission in Cahokia . According to local legend , the Ottawa, along with their allies

2204-438: The fort in 1691. De Tonti reorganized the settlers at Fort Pimitoui in modern-day Peoria . French troops commanded by Pierre-Charles de Liette occupied Fort St. Louis from 1714 to 1718; De Liette's jurisdiction over the region ended when the territory was transferred from Canada to Louisiana . Fur trappers and traders used the fort periodically in the early 18th century until it became too dilapidated. No surface remains of

2262-445: The governor, traders and his officer were escorted to Illinois. On August 11, 1683, LaSalle's armorer, Pierre Prudhomme , obtained approximately one and three-quarters of a mile of the north portage shore. During the earliest of the French and Indian Wars , the French used the fort as a refuge against attacks by Iroquois, who were allied with the British. The Iroquois forced the settlers, then commanded by Henri de Tonti , to abandon

2320-493: The king. The garrison at the fort was removed to Kaskaskia, Illinois in 1747, about 18 miles to the south. A new stone fort was planned near the old fort and was described as "nearly complete" in 1754, although construction continued until 1760. The new stone fort was headquarters for the French Illinois Country for less than 20 years, as it was turned over to the British in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris at

2378-598: The lake, including much of the upper Mississippi Valley, by this name. Illinois was also the name given to an area inhabited by the Illiniwek . A map of 1685 labels a large area southwest of the lake les Ilinois ; in 1688, the Italian cartographer Vincenzo Coronelli labeled the region (in Italian) as Illinois country. In 1721, the seventh military district of Louisiana was named Illinois . It included more than half of

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2436-512: The land claimed by France east of the Mississippi and Spain acquired Louisiana west of the Mississippi. Many French settlers moved west across the river to escape British control. On the west bank, the Spanish also continued to refer to the western region governed from St. Louis as the District of Illinois and referred to St. Louis as the city of Illinois . The first French explorations of

2494-417: The mid-18th century, major settlements included Cahokia , Kaskaskia , Chartres , Saint Philippe , and Prairie du Rocher , all on the east side of the Mississippi in present-day Illinois; and Ste. Genevieve across the river in what is now Missouri, as well as Fort Vincennes in what is now Indiana. As a consequence of the French defeat in the French and Indian War in 1764, the Illinois Country east of

2552-500: The mid-eighteenth century, slaves accounted for as much as a third of the population. Following the British occupation of the east bank of the Mississippi in 1765, some Canadien settlers remained in the area, while others crossed the river, forming new settlements such as St. Louis . The British faced an uprising of Native Americans known as Pontiac's War . Longtime allies of the French, the Kaskaskia and Peoria tribes had resisted

2610-576: The part of the Illinois Country east of the Mississippi for Virginia . In November 1778, the Virginia legislature created the county of Illinois , comprising all of the lands lying west of the Ohio River to which Virginia had any claim, with Kaskaskia as the county seat. Captain John Todd was named as governor. However, this government was limited to the former Canadien settlements and was rather ineffective. For their assistance to General Clark in

2668-454: The peace treaty. ) As part of a general report on conditions in the newly conquered lands, Gen. Thomas Gage , then commandant at Montreal , explained in 1762 that, although the boundary between Louisiana and Canada was not exact, it was understood that the upper Mississippi above the mouth of the Illinois was in Canadian trading territory. Distinctions became somewhat clearer after the Treaty of Paris in 1763, when Britain acquired Canada and

2726-514: The population had risen to 2,573. From the 1710s to the 1730s, the Fox Wars between the French, French allied tribes and the Meskwaki (Fox) Native American tribe occurred in what is now northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and Michigan, in particular, over the fur trade. During the conflict, in what is now McLean County, Illinois , French and allied forces won a consequential battle against

2784-548: The population requirements. In 1824, Samuel D. Lockwood , one of the first commissioners of the canal, was given the authorization to hire contractors to survey a route for the canal to follow. Construction on the canal began in 1836, although it was stopped for several years due to an Illinois state financial crisis related to the Panic of 1837 . The Canal Commission had a grant of 284,000 acres (115,000 ha) of federal land which it sold at $ 1.25 per acre ($ 310/km ) to finance

2842-417: The present state, as well as the land between the Arkansas River and the line of 43 degrees north latitude, between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. A royal ordinance of 1722—following the transfer of the Illinois Country's governance from Canada to Louisiana—may have featured the broadest definition of the region, making it coterminous with Upper Louisiana: all land claimed by France south of

2900-487: The rainfall washed refuse from the river, especially from the highly polluted Bubbly Creek , far out into the lake (the city water intakes are located 2 miles (3.2 km) offshore). Although no epidemics occurred , the Chicago Sanitary District (now The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District ) was created by the Illinois legislature in 1889 in response to this close call. This new agency devised

2958-466: The river (ribbon plots). The Illinois Country French, although they marked long-ribbon plots, did not reside on them. Instead, settlers resided together in farming villages, more like the farming villages of northern France, and practiced communal agriculture. After the port of New Orleans , along the Mississippi River to the south, was founded in 1718, more African slaves were imported to the Illinois Country for use as agricultural and mining laborers. By

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3016-469: The transportation hub of the United States, before the railroad era. It was opened in 1848. Its function was partially replaced by the wider and deeper Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900, and it ceased transportation operations with the completion of the Illinois Waterway in 1933. Illinois and Michigan Canal Locks and Towpath , a collection of eight engineering structures and segments of

3074-504: The war, settled Canadien and Indian residents of Illinois Country were given full citizenship. Under the Northwest Ordinance and many subsequent treaties and acts of Congress, the Canadien and Indian residents of Vincennes and Kaskaskia were granted specific exemptions, as they had declared themselves citizens of Virginia. The term Illinois Country was sometimes used in legislation to refer to these settlements. Much of

3132-434: The waterway provide the lift for traffic along the waterway. Illinois and Michigan Canal The Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico . In Illinois , it ran 96 miles (154 km) from the Chicago River in Bridgeport , Chicago to the Illinois River at LaSalle - Peru . The canal crossed the Chicago Portage , and helped establish Chicago as

3190-424: Was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s that later fell under Spanish and British control before becoming what is now part of the Midwestern United States . While the area claimed included the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed , French colonial settlement was concentrated along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in what is now the U.S. states of Illinois and Missouri , with outposts on

3248-452: Was abolished in 1782. In 1784, Virginia ceded its claims to the U.S. government and the area was incorporated as part of the Northwest Territory . The name lived on as Illinois Territory between 1809 and 1818, and as the State of Illinois after its admission to the union in 1818. The Spanish-controlled portion of Illinois Country west of the Mississippi was acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The boundaries of

3306-459: Was founded by French-Canadian colonists in 1722, a few miles inland from the fort. The fort was to be the seat of government for the Illinois Country and help to control the aggressive Fox Indians . The fort was named after Louis, duc de Chartres , son of the regent of France. Because of frequent flooding, another fort was built further inland in 1725. By 1731, the Company of the Indies had gone defunct and turned Louisiana and its government back to

3364-404: Was reconstructed in the 20th century, with much of the rest of the Fort. According to historian Carl J. Ekberg, the French settlement pattern in Illinois Country was generally unique in 17th- and 18th-century French North America. These were unlike other such French settlements, which primarily had been organized in separated homesteads along a river with long rectangular plots stretching back from

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