A strategic location, it became a key to European activity in the Midwest, ultimately leading to the foundation of Chicago.[1]. [1], The Chicago Portage allowed easy access, by boat, to almost all of North America, from the mouth of the St Lawrence River to the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of Mexico. "Once you pull in, there's a little circle drive and there's a large statue of Marquette and Joliet," said Bryant. Learn more about the park’s history on its Chicago … Early settlers called this marshy area “Mud Lake”. The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is located in Portage Woods Forest Preserve and Ottawa Trail Woods Forest Preserve. The history of the Chicago Portage begins at the end of the last Ice Age. Eventually, Joliet’s vision came to reality in the form of the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal which opened in 1848. Find their website here. (iviere) et Port de Checageu” (River and Port of Checageu), the “Checageu River”, and the “Portage des Chenes” (the portage of oak trees), the name the French originally attached to the Portage. guided the party up the Illinois and Des Plaines Rivers and across the Chicago Portage to the Chicago River. Accounts from soldiers stationed at Fort Dearborn, at the mouth of the Chicago River, describe a passage from west to east. The Great Lakes-St Lawrence basin is to the north-east (upper-right). But their discomfort was not yet over, as Hubbard’s account continues. Some call it the 'Birthplace of Chicago' or even 'Chicago's Plymouth Rock.' Great Lakes Basin and St. Lawrence watershed. The Chicago Portage National Historic Site—one of only two National Historic Sites in Illinois—marks the western end of the historic portage linking the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. Particularly it provided an easy connection between the French cities of Montreal and New Orleans. Chicago Portage National Historic Site In 1673, Indian guides showed French explorers Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette a short land route, or portage, that connected the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River System, revealing one of the key water routes across the continent and ultimately establishing Chicago as a major trade center. [15], The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is a National Historic Site [16] in Lyons, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Here, at what is now known as the Chicago Portage, in September of 1673, they came to a little creek (Portage Creek the outlet of Mud Lake) which took them into and across Mud Lake to its eastern edge (the continental divide). The Illinois and Michigan Canal became the focus of the nation’s first National Heritage Corridor, and the Chicago Portage is an integral part of this unique historical, recreational, and economic entity. [12][13], They had traveled down to the Portage from Mackinac Island in bateau, heavy flat-bottomed boats. In 1848, the water divide was breached by the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal cutting through 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.[14]. Portage Community Historical Society The Places Brief History of the City of Portage. A History of the Chicago Portage: The Crossroads That Made Chicago and Helped Make America: Sells, Benjamin: Amazon.com.au: Books Community Area 15, 9 miles NW of the Loop. These explorers understood the importance of the easiest crossing of the continental divide between the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean watersheds. Lake Chicago found its only outlet at its southwestern edge, where it overflowed the Valparaiso Moraine which encircles the southern half of the Lake Chicago/ Lake Michigan basin, creating the Chicago Outlet River. [12], As commerce over the portage grew, local entrepreneurs developed services to help travelers using the Portage. Portage Park is located on the northwest side of the City of Chicago, Illinois and is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas.Portage Park is bordered by the community areas of Jefferson Park and Forest Glen to the north, Dunning and the suburb of Harwood Heights to the west, Irving Park to the east and Belmont-Cragin to the south. Preserved within the park is the western end of the historic portage linking the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River, thereby linking the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The site includes a section of the Salt Creek Trail System, including an unpaved loop. The Chicago Portage was an ancient portage that connected the Great Lakes waterway system with the Mississippi River waterway system. [3], Chicago Portage National Historic Site (the United States), The Portage waterway at the Chicago Portage National Historic Site in March, The waterway at the Portage Historic Site in August, U.S. National Register of Historic Places, National Register of Historic Places in Cook Cnty IL, List of National Natural Landmarks in Illinois, History of the National Register of Historic Places, National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chicago_Portage_National_Historic_Site&oldid=1000536723, National Register of Historic Places in Cook County, Illinois, Portages on the National Register of Historic Places, National Register of Historic Places in Illinois, Articles using NRISref without a reference number, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox NRHP with governing body, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Chiwaukee Prairie Illinois Beach Lake Plain (shared with Wisconsin), This page was last edited on 15 January 2021, at 14:43. The Portage waterway at the Chicago Portage National Historic Site in March, The waterway at the Portage Historic Site in August, A key to travel and trade in North America, The birthplace of Chicago, connecting the East with the West, "Description of the Chicago District from US Geological Survey, Geologic Atlas of the US, Nbr 81;", https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/gf81, "The Trade History of Fort Michilimackinac", "Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France", "Partie occidentale de la Nouvelle France ou du Canada", "The Creek, The Portage and the Journey's End", "The Chicago Portage - Historical Synopsis", Chicago Portage Ledger: Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chicago_Portage&oldid=995703789, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 22 December 2020, at 13:05. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, major railroads, the Stevenson Expressway, and industrial corridors all currently line the portage route. Because of his status as clerk of the expedition, by virtue of his ability to read and write, Hubbard was spared this hard work. He went on to describe the hardships of crossing the Portage in its natural state. An indication of the importance of portages that potentially could make this connection is shown in early maps of the region. The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in Lyons, Cook County, Illinois, United States. This district was named for nearby routes that Native Americans and fur traders used to portage their canoes between the DesPlaines and Chicago Rivers. Having rid ourselves of the bloodsuckers, we were assailed by myriads of mosquitoes, that rendered sleep hopeless, though we sought the softest spots on the ground for our beds. The site contains the parking area, a memorial statue, interpretive signs, and trails. turning from the Des Plaines River … [1], Mud Lake could be wet, dry, marshy, or frozen, depending on the season and the weather, making it a difficult, albeit very valuable, transportation route. This allowed the emerging lakes to drain even faster, and the Chicago Outlet River dried up leaving the gap in the moraine that created the Chicago Portage. [11], If water levels in the portage were low, passage was difficult. Chicago Portage offers a park-like environment appropriate for short hikes and a picnic. 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. [5], This process created the Chicago Portage, a link between what became known as the Chicago River and what became known as the Des Plaines River. It had been used by Native Americans for thousands of years during the Pre-Columbian era for travel and trade. The history of human beings on earth is the story of people making Connections, crossing boundaries, finding new ways to see, think, know, travel. .....Chicago History from the Portage to the Metropolis . History of the Chicago Portage. Preserved within the park is the western end of the historic portage linking the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River, thereby linking the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. Portage Park proper was created in 1913 by the Old Portage Park District. It is located in Chicago Portage Forest Preserve and the Ottawa Trail Woods Forest Preserve, at the junction of Portage Creek with the Des Plaines River, on the west side of Harlem Avenue on the line of 48th Street. They found the Chicago Portage to be a convenient transportation route between the shores of Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River in the interior. It is located in Chicago Portage Forest Preserve and the Ottawa Trail Woods Forest Preserve, at the junction of Portage Creek with the Des Plaines River, on the west side of Harlem Avenue on the line of 48th Street. Mississippi Valley watershed and Chicago. Now they are all friends of the Chicago Portage, and the history of Chicago, forever. The Sun's altitude in Chicago Portage National Historic Site today. [1], Until the second half of the nineteenth century water transportation was virtually the only way to move trade goods and people around North America. How Checagou or Shikaakwa became Chicago Chicago owes its very existence as one of the world's great cities to the location of the Chicago Portage National Historic Site in Lyons, Illinois. The Chicago Portage In what is said to be the most important feature to the founding and development of Chicago, the Chicago Portage was also an important feature to all Western Explorers. 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. The site, which was 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. Starting at the west end of the portage at the Des Plaines River they paddled east through Portage Creek into the marsh that would later be known as Mud Lake. Portage Park has longstanding connections to water. A sign at the Chicago Portage National Historic Site. They then entered the South Branch of the Chicago River, and paddled north to the Fort. During wet weather, early Indian inhabitants could paddle their canoes from the Chicago River to the Des Plaines on a minor portage along present-day Irving Park Road. The Des Plaines River today is not the river as it was in 1673 when Jolliet and Marquette first encountered the Chicago Portage. PORTAGE — Most people in the Region would consider Portage one of the newer communities, popping up as steel mills expanded and the Port of Indiana was born. [1], The importance of the Chicago Portage lies in the fact that the channel cut by 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.[1]. The explorers found the Mississippi River, explored it,[8] 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 was a better way to return to Lake Michigan. INTRODUCTION To the Teacher: Discovering Connections. The portage at Chicago was discovered in September 1673 by Pere Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet as they returned from their voyage of exploration down the Mississippi River. The Chicago River is the western part of the Great Lakes basin and the Des Plains River the eastern part of the Mississippi basin. Friends of the Chicago Portage promotes the historic interpretation, ecological restoration and the appropriate development of the Chicago Portage National Historic Site through volunteer advocacy, public events and other projects that raise public awareness of its history and significance. This is the only place where you can stand on the same ground walked upon by the explorers, early settlers and creators of Chicago. How to use this 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. A trail leads from the memorial down into the portage wilderness area. 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 the Chicago Outlet River. [7] In that year, 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. Hover over it to select a different time. They were reported to have built a village on the top of an elevation west of Cicero and Irving Park Avenues. The Portage Park Theatre Building is located on Milwaukee Avenue northwest of the “Six Corners” intersection formed by Milwaukee Avenue, Cicero Avenue, and Irving Park Road in the Portage Park neighborhood. Native Americans had used the portage for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. 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. Around Chicago, the drainage basins of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system join. The Chicago Portage was formed as the Wisconsin glaciation retreated northward about 10,000 years ago, leaving behind Lake Chicago consisting of its meltwater. [9], During the 18th century, the Chicago Portage was one of the most strategic locations in the interior of the North American continent for the French.