So it was quite appropriate to think about the origins of my own native place within the USA, the metropolis of Chicago at this time of year. I did this by visiting two places that played a significant role in the making of today's Chicago metropolis.
Back on June 14, I met up with a friend of mine from the Plains of Valparaiso (i.e., ValpU campus) who is spending the summer in Chicago as part of a scholarship program. The first thing we did that evening was head to the near Southwest Side of Chicago to see Canal Origins Park, just a short walk north of the Ashland Avenue Orange Line station.
This site is not heavily mentioned as a significant tourist site in Chicago, but it is nevertheless an important place. At this point, just north of the end of the South Branch of the Chicago River, was the Illinois and Michigan Canal's eastern terminus, heading southwest for about 100 miles to LaSalle County, IL. This canal provided the vital link between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds. It helped form the network of waterways that provided a path from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Because this canal provided the vital link, it helped turn Chicago into a shipping center and fueled its growth as the large city it has become today.
At the park, one gazes out at a huge area of water where the South Branch of the Chicago River makes a bend, and the present-day Sanitary and Ship Canal (successor to the Illinois and Michigan Canal) heads off southwestward. Some industrial buildings line the banks of the Chicago River's South Branch as it heads northeast. Off in the near distance, one can see the skyscapers, including the Sears Tower, rising from the downtown area. The scene is structured so profoundly. The waters at this place led to the industry, which led to Chicago becoming the major city that it is today.
Indeed, this site is a significant spot because of the role it played in making Chicago what it is today. That's why I like taking my friends who are from out of the area to this spot, to give them perspective on how Chicago became what it is today.
As significant as Canal Origins Park is, there's another spot that's even more chock-full of significance, a few miles downstream of Canal Origins Park along the canal corridor: the Chicago Portage National Historic Site. It is located on the west side of Harlem Avenue, just south of 47th/46th Street, at the northern edge of a bridge that carries Harlem Avenue traffic over the Sanitary and Ship Canal and I-55. The site is a largely wooded area.
After grabbing some breakfast on the morning of Saturday, July 6, I hopped on my bike and headed south to get to the Chicago Portage site for the start of a 10 AM tour. On the first Saturday of each month, May through November, tours are held telling the story of the site's significance. They are held by guides from the Friends of the Chicago Portage, a not-for-profit organization that seeks to promote awareness of the Portage site.
We started the tour at the monument that consists of a large sculpture depicting the French explorers Louis Joliet and Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette, along with an aboriginal American guide, in a canoe. Then, we spent about a couple of hours going walking about 1/2 mile total distance through the woods in the area, which are part of the Cook County Forest Preserve District.
This site is located at what was a continental divide in the historic/ancient sense. As glaciers retreated, they left behind a large pool of water. Eventually, the water found an outlet by cutting through what eventually became a ridge of higher ground as the water receded. This ridge separated the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watershed, which was joined when the canal was built.
It was to this place, shaped thousands of years ago by geological forces, that the two French explorers came in the 1670s while on an expedition to seek out a waterway to the Pacific Ocean that took them up and down the Mississippi River. On their way back to Sault Saint Marie, their home base, following directions from local aboriginals, they rode up the Illinois River into the DesPlaines River until they reached the spot where this site is today. Then, they went on a portage a few miles around Mud Lake and started out in water again at what is today the South Branch of the Chicago River.
Back in that day, Mud Lake was this giant swampy, muddy area, essentially impassable by boat. There were times, though, during the year when Mud Lake would flood with water and could be passable by boat, so that one could go from the DesPlaines River and the Mississippi River watershed to the Chicago River and the Great Lakes watershed without having to portage. The explorers noted that a short canal would be sufficient to link the two watersheds.
These explorers had the vision for this canal in today's Chicago metropolis nearly 150 years before it was built as they passed through this very spot on their epic expedition. And the realization of this vision of a canal led to Chicago being the great city that it is.
All of this makes the land at the Chicago Portage National Historic Site a very significant spot in Chicagoland. Furthermore, as the tour guide and interpretative signs make clear, this is pretty much the last remainig remnant of the portage that the Marquette-Joliet expedition. Mud Lake has been mostly drained, and the city and neighboring suburban areas have been built around and over it. So here at this spot, we can have an authentic sense of the geographical and natural features, forged by ancient forces, that provided the incentive for a canal that led to Chicago. It is here we can learn the story of the circumstances that birthed Chicago.
That's why I made it my business this Saturday morning to come out for this tour, for the third time. I first learned about this tour from a flyer at the Chicago Cultural Center when I was on a field trip for History of Chicago class, an amazing experience, back in May 2009, when I was a senior in high school. I went to the site for the tour in June 2009. I returned again in September 2012, and then I gained a strong sense of how important the place is. It is where I can hear the story of how Chicago became the great city it is, the city in which I was born, and in whose shadow I've lived my whole life. As I've said before, there's something so rich about returning to one's roots, and that's exactly what I get to experience on this tour.
So I come to these quiet woods to hear the story, and then look beyond it, and listen beyond it, to see what has become of the vision that was crafted at this spot. Both the Chicago Portage National Historic Site and the Canal Origins Park are embedded in the midst of a major transportation corridor that was first established by the presence of the canal, following the geographical features of Mud Lake and the DesPlaines River. Running parallel to the canal is Interstate 55, which has its northern terminus near McCormick Place, running southwest to Joliet, then to St. Louis, and eventually to New Orleans. There is also the Canadian National Railroad tracks that run southwest to Joliet, and carry Amtrak trains beyond to St. Louis and even Texas. Within view of Canal Origins Park is also the Orange Line, which takes passengers to the most recently developed form of transportation of airplanes at Midway Airport. And the presence of Midway was undeniable while walking around the Portage site, as departing and arriving planes made their noise overhead frequently.
Indeed, both of these sites are off the beaten tourist path, but they are so rich because they hold the key to the circumstances of the growth of Chicago into the city and metropolis it is this day. It was in this place that I was born and have lived my whole life. And standing in these two sites, I gain a sense of who I am, as I renew myself in understanding the circumstances in which Chicago grew up and became the place I call home.
If you want to learn more about the Chicago Portage Site, go to the website of the Friends of the Chicago Portage: www.chicagoportage.org
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