1848:
The Illinois & Michigan Canal
To understand the importance of the Illinois & Michigan (I & M) Canal to the settlement of the state and therefore to the Illinois River, it is important to start with the topography of northeastern Illinois. A subcontinental drainage divide exists a few miles west of Lake Michigan (see Figure 4). To the east, the rivers drain to the east through the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. To the west, the waters flow to the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico.
Figure 4: Natural Drainage of Northeastern Illinois (Chicago Public Library)
The south branch of the Chicago River originates at Mud Lake and flows east. To the west are the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers. The area in between is called the Chicago portage (Chicago Public Library).
At high water, canoeing between the two water systems is possible. At low water levels, however, the route through the Chicago portage is a quagmire. As an example, Chicago pioneer Gurden S. Hubbard led his employees of the American Fur Company across the portage in 1818. He spent three grueling days wading through waist high muck, dragging the boats across Mud Lake and battling mosquitoes, leeches, and “other such black plagues” (Chicago Public Library). Even as late as 1835, land in this area has no value, as reported by William Ogden when he arrives to take possession of a family member’s land investment, which was under water. He wrote, “There is no value to this land, and won’t be for a generation” (Chicago Public Library).
There is interest in crossing this drainage divide linking the Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean to the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, an idea considered by earlier 17th century travelers. While exploring the Illinois River valley in 1673, Louis Jolliet makes the first observation that building a canal would facilitate travel:
It would only be necessary to make a canal by cutting through half a league of prairie to pass from the foot of the lake of the Illinois to the river Saint Louis (Cruikshank 1998).
Interest continues in constructing a canal, with William Johnston writing in 1809,
