Iroquois County, Illinois - Chapter 2: Drainage of the Illinois and Wabash, 1880

Chapter 2: Drainage of the Illinois and Wabash

THE reader's attention will now be directed to the drainage of the Illinois and Wabash Rivers to the Mississippi, and that of the Maumee River into Lake Erie. The Illinois River proper is formed in Grundy county, Illinois, below the city of Joliet, by the union of the Kankakee and Desplaines Rivers. The latter rises in southeastern Wisconsin ; and its course is almost south, through the counties of Cook and "Will. The Kankakee has its source in the vicinity of South Bend, Indiana. It pursues a devious way, through marshes and low grounds, a southwesterly course, forming the boundary-line between the counties of Laporte, Porter and Lake on the north, and Stark, Jasper and Newton on the south ; thence across the dividing line of the two states of Indiana and Illinois, and some fifteen miles into the county of Kankakee, at the confluence of the Iroquois River, where its direction is changed northwest to its junction with the Desplaines. The Illinois passes westerly into the county of Putnam, where it again turns and pursues a generally southwest course to its confluence with the Mississippi, twenty miles above the mouth of the Missouri. It is about five hundred miles long ; is deep and broad, and in several places expands into basins, which may be denominated lakes. Steamers ascend the river, in high water, to La Salle ; from whence to Chicago navigation is continued by means of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The principal tributaries of the Illinois, from the north and right bank, are the Au Sable, Fox River, Little Yermillion, Bureau Creek, Kickapoo Creek (which empties in just below Peoria), Spoon River, Sugar Creek, and finally Crooked Creek. From the south or left bank are successively the Iroquois (into the Kankakee), Mazon Creek, Vermillion, Crow Meadow, Mackinaw, Sangamon, and Macoupin.

The Wabash issues out of a small lake, in Mercer county, Ohio, and runs a westerly course through the counties of Adams, Wells and Huntington in the state of Indiana. It receives Little River, just below the city of Huntington, and continues a westwardly course through the counties of Wabash, Miami and Cass. Here it turns more to the south, flowing through the counties of Carroll and Tippecanoe, and marking the boundary-line between the counties of Warren and Vermillion on the west, and Fountain and Park on the east. At Covington, the county seat of Fountain county, the river runs more directly south, between the counties of Vermillion on the one side, and Fountain and Parke on the other, and through the county of Vigo, some miles below Terre Haute, from which place it forms the boundaryline between the states of Indiana and Illinois to its confluence with the Ohio.

Its principal tributaries from the north and west, or right bank of the stream, are Little River, Eel River, Tippecanoe, Pine Creek, Red Wood, Big Vermillion, Little Vermillion, Bruletis, Sugar Creek, Embarras, and Little Wabash. The streams flowing in from the south and east, or left bank of the river, are the Salamonie, Mississinewa, Pipe Creek, Deer Creek, "Wildcat, Wea and Shawnee Creeks, Coal Creek, Sugar Creek, Raccoon Creek, Otter Creek, Busseron Creek, and White River.

There are several other, and smaller, streams not necessary here to notice, although they are laid down on earlier maps, and mentioned in old " Gazetteers" and "Emigrant's Guides."

The Maumee is formed by the St. Joseph and St. Mary's Rivers, which unite their waters at Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The St. Joseph has its source in Hillsdale county, Michigan, and runs southwesterly through the northwest corner of Ohio, through the county of De Kalb, and into the county of Allen, Indiana. The St. Mary's rises in Au Glaize county, Ohio, very near the little lake at the head of the Wabash, before referred to, and runs northwestwardly parallel with the Wabash, through the counties of Mercer, Ohio, and Adams, Indiana, and into Allen county to the place of its union with the St. Joseph, at Ft. Wayne. The principal tributaries of the Maumee are the Au Glaize from the south, Bear Creek, Turkey Foot Creek, Swan Creek from the north. The length of the Maumee River, from Ft. Wayne northeast to Maumee Bay at the west end of Lake Erie, is very little over 100 miles.

A noticeable feature relative to the territory under consideration, and having an important bearing on its discovery and settlement, is the fact that many of the tributaries of the Mississippi have their branches interwoven with numerous rivers draining into the lakes. They not infrequently issue from the same lake, pond or marsh situated on the summit level of the divide from which the waters from one end of the common reservoir drain to the Atlantic Ocean and from the other to the Gulf of Mexico. By this means nature herself provided navigable communication between the northern lakes and the Mississippi Valley. It was, however, only at times of the vernal floods that the communication was complete. At other seasons of the year it was interrupted, when transfers by land were required for a short distance. The places where these transfers were made are known by the French term portage, which, like many other foreign derivatives, has become anglicized, and means a carrying place ; because in IOWT stages of water the canoes and effects of the traveler had to be carried around the dry marsh or pond from the head of one stream to the source of that beyond.

The first of these portages known to the Europeans, of which accounts have come down to us, is the portage of the Wisconsin, in the state of that name, connecting the Mississippi and Green Bay by means of its situation between the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers. The next is the portage of Chicago, uniting Chicago Creek, which empties into Lake Michigan at Chicago, and the Desplaines of the Illinois River. The third is the portage of the Kankakee, near the present city of South Bend, Indiana, which connects the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan with the upper waters of the Kankakee. And the fourth is the portage of the Wabash at Ft. Wayne. Indiana, between the Maumee and the Wabash, by way of Little River.

Though abandoned and their former uses forgotten in the advance of permanent settlement and the progress of more efficient means of commercial intercourse, these portages were the gateways of the French between their possessions in Canada and along the Mississippi.

Formerly the Northwest was a wilderness of forest and prairie, with only the paths of wild animals or the trails of roving Indians leading, through tangled undergrowth and tall grasses. In its undeveloped form it was without roads, incapable of land carriage and could not be traveled by civilized man, even on foot, without the aid of a savage guide arid a permit from its native occupants which afforded little or no security to life or property. For these reasons the lakes and rivers, with their connecting portages, were the only highways, and they invited exploration. They afforded ready means of opening up the interior. The French, who were the first explorers, at an early day, as we shall hereafter see, established posts at Detroit, at the mouth of the Xiagara River, at Mackinaw, Green Bay, on the Illinois River, the St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan, on the Maumee, the Wabash, and at other places on the route of inter-lake and river communication. By means of having seized these strategical points, and their influence over the Indian tribes, the French monopolized the fur trade, and although feebly assisted by the home government, held the whole Mississippi Yalley and regions of the lakes, for near three quarters of a century, against all efforts of the English colonies, eastward of the Alleghany ridge, who, assisted by England, sought to wrest it from their grasp.

Chicago Portage

Recurring to the old portage at Chicago, it is evident that at a comparatively recent period, since the glacial epoch, a large part of Cook county was under water. The waters of Lake Michigan, at that time, found an outlet through the Desplaines and Illinois Rivers into the Mississippi.* This assertion is confirmed from the appearance of the whole channel of the Illinois River, which formerly contained a stream of much greater magnitude than now. The old beaches of Lake

Michigan are plainly indicated in the ridges, trending westward several miles away from the present water line. The old state road, from Yincennes to Chicago, followed one of these ancient lake beaches from Blue Island into the city.

The subsidence of the lake must have been gradual, requiring many ages to accomplish the change of direction in the flow of its waters from the Mississippi to the St. Lawrence.

The character of the portage has also undergone changes within the memory of men still living. The excavation of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and the drainage of the adjacent land by artificial ditches, has left little remaining from which its former appearance can 71 ow be recognized. Major Stephen H. Long, of the U. S. Topographical Engineers, made an examination of this locality in the year 1823, before it had been changed by the hand of man, and says, concerning it, as follows : " The south fork of Chicago River takes its rise about six miles from the fort, in a swamp, which communicates also with the Desplaines, one of the head branches of the Illinois. Having been informed that this route was frequently used by traders, and that it had b,een traversed by one of the officers of the garrison, - who returned with provisions from St. Louis a few days before our arrival at the fort, - we determined to ascend the Chicago River in order to observe this interesting division of waters. We accordingly left the fort on the 7th day of June, in a boat which, after having ascended the river four miles, we exchanged for a narrow pirogue that drew less water, - the stream we were ascending was very narrow, rapid and crooked, presenting a great fall. It so continued for about three miles, when we reached a sort of a swamp, designated by the Canadian voyagers under the name of '"Le Petit LacS f Our course through this swamp, which extended three miles, was very much impeded by the high grass, weeds, etc., through which our pirogue passed with difficulty. Observing that our progress through the fen was slow, and the day being considerably advanced, we landed on the north bank, and continued our course along the edge of the swamp for about three miles, until we reached the place where the old portage road meets the current, which was here very distinct toward the south. We were delighted at beholding, for the first time, a feature so interesting in itself, but which we had afterward an opportunity of observing frequently on the route, viz, the division of waters starting from the same source, and running in two different directions, so as to become feeders of streams that discharge themselves into the ocean at immense distances apart. Lieut. Hobson, who accompanied us to the Desplaines, told us that he had traveled it with ease, in a boat loaded with lead and flour. The distance from the fort to the intersection of the portage road is about twelve or thirteen miles, and the portage road is about eleven miles long ; the usual distance traveled by land seldom exceeds from four to nine miles ; however, in very dry seasons it is said to amount to thirty miles, as the portage then extends to Mount Juliet, near the confluence of the Kankakee. Although at the time we visited it there was scarcely water enough to permit our pirogue to pass, we could not doubt that in the spring of the year the route must be a very eligible one. It is equally apparent that an expenditure, trifling when compared to the importance of the object, would again render Lake Michigan a tributary of the Gulf of Mexico." *

* Long's Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter's River, vol. 1, pp. 165, 166, 167. The State of Illinois begun work on the construction of a canal on this old portage on the 4th day of July, 1836. with great ceremony. Col. Guerdon S. Hubbard, still living, cast the first shovelful of earth out of it on this occasion. The work was completed in 1848. The canal was fed with water elevated by a pumping apparatus at Bridgeport. Recently the city of Chicago, at enormous expense sunk the bed of the canal to a depth that secures a flow of water directly from the lake, by means of which, the navigation is improved, and sewerage is obtained into the Illinois River.