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The Old Chicago Portage 53 W THE OLD CHICAGO PORTAGE 53 W. JACKSON 30ULlV 16]} - 1836 ~HICAGO. IlliNOIS 60(. By 427.4256 Edward T. Bilek, Jr. '. ::r"In e Z~ /fb 7 About 25,000 years ago a huge glacier crept forward from Canada into the Chicago region. As this ~'i'e sheet advanced southward;. it carried with it the rocks and soil it found in its path. Further north this glacier presented a solid block of ice across the continent. Later the glacier receeded in stages, leaving its accumulation behind. Each time it paused in·its recession great quantities of debris piled up at its edge forming big land ridges when the ... ice disilPpeared: Thus the Valparaiso Moraine, a rim of land paral!lelling the margin of Lake l1ichigan, waS formed in the northeastern corner of Illinois. ., '·Water collected in· the gorge hollowed out by the ice bettleen· the glacier and ··the moraine·until reaching a level of sixty feet above the present level of Lake Michigan, A massive glacial lake WaS now born,. Lake Chicago. Draining through a gap in the Valparaiso }loraine called the Chicago or Des Plaines outlet, the flow of water from Lake Chicago traveled down the Des Plaines Valley to the Illinois River Valley, The recession of the glacier·and the ·lowering of· the floor of the Chicago Outlet removed the b"arrier that with- held the flow of water previously ~ Lake ~h~cago nOll receeded into three separate ~tages. The Glenwood stage where the water level vas fifty feet above the lake; the Calumet st,:g~ where t1>e "·Iater was' thirty-five feet above the lake; and the Tolleston stage whi.ch was tllenty feet above the lake. All through"these stages only the one outlet down the Des Plaines Valley existed, £or the ice barrier still remained in the north. With the lowering of the £10 or of the Chicago outlet the £lot, of "ater down the outlet grew ·less.er and finally stopped. During this 10;;er103 the Chicago· Rivet.:, was formed and the Des Pleines River flotfed easterly into this river and out into Lake l1ichigan. Then a barrier or ridge WaS for~ed east of Kedzie Avenue which ,.,as part of the Continental Divide. Th" crest of this ..~. ,.. ,I , , • LIBRARY COpy' '1\'., , MIDWEST ARCHEOLOGICAL CENTER ,,- , ' , NATIONAL PARK'SEHVIeE' . 1 ,. barrier. ~hich was ten and one half feet above present Lake Michigan. ~as I ,. located "here South Sacramento Avenue formally crossed the ~]est ·.Fork South .:aranch Chicago River directly north o~,~he intersections of Thirty First Street i. - and Sacramento Avenue. The. en.tire barriet: fo:;ned, a mile and one half long strip i" ·1 of prairie extending from Albany !l:yenue and Thirty Eirst Street to where South Leavitt Street crossed the river. This barrier separated the Mississippi 'and St. Lawrence basins so that water falling .on' the west side of the barrier backed up : the waters of the Des Plaines River and turned its flow south\;esterly down ,the Des Plaines Valley leaving a slough or small lake five miles in length. This. '-.. , ' , 1 was Hud or Portage Lake. The prairie on the west side o,f the barrier containin~, Mud Lake ~as eight. feet above Lake Hichigan. Te... present day Des Plaines River exists in two parts. the upper and lower , . Des Plaines. The upper Des Plaines began its course forty miles north of the present,Illinois~Wisconsin State Line near the boundry line separating Racine I, and Kenosha Counties in 1-1isconsin. The river continues directly south as far I" •.•• as Lyons. Illinois. The lower Des Plaines is a continuation of the upper,Des Plaines at a point two miles south of Riverside in Lyons where presently.a • man made channel turns the river to flow southwest down the Des Plaines Valley. • Formerly in the upper Des Plaines there existed an easterly channel through 1 what is now Catherine Mitchell Lagoon and Portage Pond, and a large island. Prescotts Island. ' between the easterly and main l'esterly channels •. The lower '. I Des Plaines 'began directly south of this island where the easterly.and main 1 westerly channels of the Des Plaines River united with the two connecting channels from Mud ~ake forming a small creek l'hich reunited with the Des Plaines north of Lawndale Avenue and proceeded southwesterly down the Des Plaines Valley., ,. i ' Mud Lake was fro~ one and one half miles wide and from two to 's~xteen feet I betlow the adjoining prairie formed by the Continental Divide. The east end 'of,' the lake ~as located at Albany and Thirty First Street. From the east and the .' I ,1. -. -.~ .. ~::"., • ~ .. , • I , " , , main challi.el of the Lake proceeded southwesterly for four miles to Austin Avenue where it divided into two channels containing an island a miie long and a half mile "ide. The two shallow channels are kno,m as the North and South Arms of Hud Lake " , i. and both co~nected a't the l~est end of' the Island. The west end of Mud Lake ."as somewhat of a low ridge extending from the north line of Old Tolleston Beach at - .' 'i'lest Forty-Fourth Street to the south line of the beach at Summit and separated 1 Mud Lake-from the Des Plaines River,,,here Mud Lake was hounded hy Harlem Avenue. ,I The confluence of the North and South Arms of Mud Lake, the two connecting channels of the Des Plaines helow Prescotts Island, and a notch in the ridge' tha,t separated Mud Lake from the Des Plaines River formed a small creek called Portage Creek. Portage Creek entered the Des Plaines River just north of the Lmmdale Avenue Br~dga where before entering the river it proceeded northwesterly flowing close to Lawndale.' The confluence of the North and South Arms of Mud I.ake forming Portage Creek occured between 400 and 500 feet east of Harlem Avenue a~d abo'ut 300 I" feet north of the line of !vest Forty-Nineth Street produced west. Pre scotts Island was located'about 800 feet northwest of the ~outh of Portage Creek. The ,island was sbout one half of a mile in length and at its widest part less than o~ fourth of •." a mile across. The northern end of Prescotts Island is situ"ted just south of ,<here Old Tolleston Beach crosses the upper Des Plaines River. I The 'Chicago River consisted of two branches, the North,and South Branch. The North Branch had two tributaries, the I"Jest Fork and Skokie River ,. ,;hich flOl<ed I southward to the main trunk of the river into Lake Michig",i. The South Branch -entered into two forks, the Hest Fork and South Fork. While the South Fork I headed into swampy prairie, the Hest Fork either headed into Nud Lake or ended I at South Leavitt Street depending on the season and flowed northeastward. The Chicago Riv~r lay at an average depth of twelve f~et and' varying to I twenty six feet below the surface of Lake l-lichigan. The present day mouth of the Chicago River is a man made channel. Strong winds ~rom the northeast I 5 '. - .. -- ... -' .I ~.: .. ,. ;. " - 1 . ' I', ,' '. , . , . , piled up sand obstructing the mouth of the river. Formerly the river turned 1 " southward after reaching Michigan Avenue and flowed into Lake Michigan over I a large sandbar a little~outh of E~~'t Lake Street. This was the only point .- ,. l in the ~iver wher~ the water of the river r'e'ached a depth of two feet. The'Des Plaines River midw~y between the present villages of Riverside and I, Summit along with its adjoining territory was one of'the most importarit and '. !; strategic locations' in early North America. The French called the area "I:e f." I Portage de Checagou", meaning land over which it is necessary to carry boats I and Canoes when passing from one navigatable body, of water to another. '~e Portage"- was a" favorite meeting place of the Indians who were the, first to dis- . I cover and use it centuries before the discovery of America and ar~ivel of the 1 white man. A highlY,ce,ntral location for the prehistoric mound-builders from I) '~-'-.. the South to meet those of the North and trade for copper. Only then to,be, followed by the mighty Illini, Miami, Iroquois, the Sioux" and other once I strong and mighty Indian nations who recognized the value of the location,and I fought each'other to' obtain control of it leaving their burial grounds as a .. ~. l;'eminder of their ,existence. The area was later settled by three main tribes" ' ,- , I whichwefe the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi. Then the white'man Came to establish forts, missions, and trading posts. Furs were brought from this, I area to the magnificent courts of Eruope and the population and wealth of the I small village of "Checago,u"- on the shores of Lake l1ichigan and banks of the Chicago River grel~ to its present day, importance as the' terminal and connection I point of 'the countries greatest railroads and other means of travel than any , " I other place in the world~ There were also two other portages besides the one located at ~hicago, " but none became as f~ous as the Chicago Portage. There was the Green Bay I .";: .. < . Portage which began at the mouth of the Fox River and proceeded by way of ' Lake l-/innebago and a series of small lakes and rivers to the Wisconsin River I , - " ., ... ,. ~ .. , ' , ' '.' ,. " ' .. , -.. " " . I " I .. and then into the Hississippi.
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