Friends of the Chicago Portage & The Forest Preserve of Cook County
The 2023 Canal Boat Captain's Award Honorees - Part 2
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Canal Stories, a series brought to you by the Canal Corridor Association to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Illinois & Michigan Canal and the communities that were shaped by its legacy. For the next few days, we will be continuing our special week-long series highlighting the seven 2023 Honorees who were recognized at our Boat Captain’s Luncheon in April of this year. These outstanding individuals and organizations are celebrated for contributing to the success of the I&M Canal National Heritage Area, and for furthering the principles on which CCA was founded. Today, we’re putting a spotlight on the Friends of the Chicago Portage & the Forest Preserve of Cook County.
History forgotten is history lost, according to Gary Mechanic, head of the Friends of the Chicago Portage. About twenty-five years ago, while working for the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor Civic Center Authority, he was amazed to learn that the I&M Canal was created because of a comment made by Frenchman Louie Jolliet, following an expedition.
In 1673, Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette were commissioned to travel from Wisconsin down the Mississippi River by canoe, to see where it went. On their return, they took a recommendation from Native Americans, leaving the Mississippi near St. Louis, and took a short-cut to the northeast, traveling up the Illinois River to Lake Michigan. About twelve miles from the lake, they had to portage, carry their canoes and supplies, from the west end Mud Lake to the Chicago River.
The idea was remembered for more than 150 years before the I&M Canal was created. In 1929, the Sanitary District of Chicago granted the Chicago Portage site to the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and its national significance was honored when it was declared a National Historic Site by the National Park Service in 1952. When Mechanic first visited the site, it had a parking lot and a statue, but the site was badly overgrown.
“I’m a third generation Chicagoan,” Mechanic said. “Through twelve years of public school, I learned nothing of this! And Illinois mandates that local history studies are supposed to be part of the school curriculum. There’s so much multicultural history here because of the Chicago Portage. People should know about it.”
Through his determination, Mechanic was able to obtain two grants. He used one to fund teacher-created fourth grade curriculums, and with the other, he funded a new group, the Friends of the Chicago Portage. They became a partner to the Forest Preserve of Cook County, and for the next two years they gave free weekly public tours of the Chicago Portage Site. He and the other members continued to work at the site, even once the funds ran out. Starting in 2002, on the 50th anniversary of its designation as a National Historic Site, the Friends started doing ecological restoration.
There have been several plans for the site over the years, but none were fully implemented. In 2010, the Forest Preserve’s governing body created a communications department and updated their master plan for the site with several stakeholders, including the Friends of the Chicago Portage and the Canal Corridor Association. Since then, the site has more interpretation and better trails, and the Forest Preserve continues to plan for additional infrastructure and interpretation. The volunteers still dedicated one day a month to cleaning, clearing, planting, and restoring natural habitat at the site. They also provide free tours on the first Saturday of the month, May through November, with other programs and lectures during the winter months.
That concludes today’s Canal Story. Thank you so much for joining us as we continue our journey through the history of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, pass it along to your family and friends, and be sure to tune in tomorrow for the third installment of this spotlight series, featuring the Village of Lemont. We’ll see you again very soon.