In This Issue

Volunteers Wanted

Here's a great volunteer opportunity for fans of the Gaylord Building. We're looking for people to help staff the front desk. Its a great opportunity to share your love of this historic site with visitors. Hours are flexible. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Pat Chinderle, 815.588.1100, or pchinderle@canalcor.org.

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Are You a Member?

Are you a member of Canal Corridor Association?  If not, consider joining today.  Memberships begin at just $35 per year, with discounts for multi-year memberships. Your gift will both provide fun CCA member benefits AND help build an exciting future for a region that brings to life a rich and vibrant past. Membership forms are available online.

If you are a member, thank you.  Please let us know if there is anything we can do to improve the membership experience.

Send Us Your News!

If you have an event, activity or brief news item you would like to see in eNews, please email us at enews@canalcor.org.

If you wish to unsubscribe from eNews, please use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this message or send an email to enews@canalcor.org.

Canal Corridor Association is a membership organization that preserves history, protects nature and open space, and creates destinations where people can learn and have fun in the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, from Lake Michigan in Chicago to the Illinois River in LaSalle/Peru. It enhances, raises awareness of and expands the parks, trails, landscape and historic sites that make the I&M Canal region a special place. CCA manages the Gaylord Building, a National Trust Historic Site, in Lockport, Illinois. One of the oldest industrial buildings in the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, the Gaylord Building is a model of adaptive reuse, featuring the Public Landing restaurant, canal exhibits and more.

CCA President's Note

Dear Friends,

Exciting news … The CCA has been awarded a challenge grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.  The grant will match all contributions, up to $25,000, made by the close of 2005.  We have five months to raise $25,000, which will be matched to generate a total of $50,000 – at a very important time.

Why is this grant is so vital? 

For the past 20 years, a significant portion of the funds supporting CCA staff came from the National Park Service.  In August 2004, the congressional authorization for this federal funding expired, ending CCA’s staff support. While legislation is being reintroduced to reinstate funding for the Heritage Corridor, CCA is left without staff funding for this fiscal year..  This gap puts many programs in peril, not the least of which is the distribution of classroom materials to use as resources in teaching topics even broader than the canal itself – immigration and transportation history. 

This grant, and the funds raised to match it, will provide $50,000 to help retain our staff.  As you know, our 23-year old organization is committed to preserving and revitalizing the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor – spanning 96 miles from Chicago to LaSalle/Peru.  We strive to enhance heritage tourism; educate students, residents, and visitors about the Corridor; and support communities’ efforts to revitalize the natural, cultural, and historic resources of the corridor. 

This challenge grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation has created a bright spot on the horizon – an excellent opportunity.  We believe that this generous support will attract new attention to the Canal Corridor and CCA, and will encourage corporations, foundations and individuals alike to join us as members and financial supporters.

To help sustain work in the corridor and help CCA meet this challenge, please become a member or make a donation.  Click here to download donation and membership forms.  Thank you for your support.

Sincerely ,

Ana B. Koval

President & CEO

The 17th Annual I & M Rendezvous

Come experience life as it was when Illinois was a frontier; the life that Louis Jolliet and Father Marquett lived while traveling the DesPlaines River.  Encounter this stretch of river that lead then to wish for a canal to connect the Des Plaines and Chicago Rivers.  Discover the rich history and wonderful stories of our region.  Watch ancient crafts demonstrated and canoe races on the river, hear pioneer music played, taste real root beer, smell pioneer popcorn and "twists" of tobacco and feel the hides, pelts, skins and bones of the fur trade.  The past comes alive around you in an unforgettable combination of history, entertainment, learning, shopping, food and fun. 

The Rendezvous is presented by the I & M Canal Civic Center Authority on Saturday September 10th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and on Sunday September 11th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.  It is held at Columbia Woods Forest Preserve of Cook County located in Willow Springs.  Parking is at the UPS facility in Hodgkins with a free shuttle bus to the site 3/4 of a mile away.  For more information and to see a quick video go the www.imcanalrendezvous.org.

Canal Fact

At the Chicago Portage National Historic Site in Lyons, Native Americans, French fur traders, and early settlers carried their canoes to the Des Plaines River.

Someone You Should Know

Shabbona (1775?-1859) is one of the best known Native Americans from Illinois. A tall, muscular, bear of a man, Shabbona (He Has Pawed-Through) was born in Canada as a member of the Ottawa tribe. Around 1800 he married the daughter of a Potawatomi chief and became closely associated with that tribe, eventually becoming a chief. About 1800 he settled among the Potawatomi near Shabbona’s Grove in DeKalb County, where he married Bear Woman, also known as Mkonokwe. The marriage enabled him to become a village leader, although he had no special influence among neighboring Potawatomi. An imposing presence, Shabbona was described by fur trader Gurdon S. Hubbard as “the finest looking man I had even seen. He was fully six feet in height, finely proportioned, and with a countenance expressive of intelligence, firmness, and kindness.”

During the War of 1812 Shabbona fought with Tecumseh and the British against the Americans, but he later became friends with the triumphant Americans. In 1832, the 57 year old Shabbona opposed Black Hawk’s War and warned white settlers in advance of attacks. The following year he signed the Treaty of Chicago, receiving a special annuity and over 1,200 acres of land near DeKalb. Shabbona regularly visited his fellow Potawatomi in Iowa and Kansas. One account states that during one of these visits an ally of Black Hawk, angry that Shabbona had not fought with him, attacked and killed one of Shabbona’s sons. During one of his long absences Shabbona’s land was declared abandoned and illegally sold at public land auction. On his return he asserted his rights and was subsequently cursed, whipped and driven from his land. He was eventually given some money but the loss of his lands was a bitter pill to swallow for a proud man.

Imagine Shabbona’s astonishment during a trip to Chicago in the summer of 1852. Visiting with his old friend John H. Kinzie, the collector of I&M Canal tolls at Bridgeport, Shabbona stood in “wonder and admiration” at the remarkable changes that had taken place in sixteen years. (He also saw the desecrated graves of his ancestors.) One newspaper headline read, “The Red Children on the Old Stamping Ground,” and contained a closing reference to Native Americans reading their destiny “in the setting sun.” Yet another article noted “A large number of INDIANS were in town yesterday, stealing stealthily about with moccasined feet, gliding in, here and there, like the shadows they are.” The end of the Native American era in Chicago, less than two decades after the vast majority of Indians had been forced to move west of the Mississippi River, was marked by condescension and romantic notions of the “Noble Indian.”

For some time Shabbona was apparently dependent on friends for lodging, and his sad plight caught the attention of Perry A. Armstrong of Morris, one of the many sons of Elsie Armstrong. In 1857 Armstrong and others raised money and bought their old friend land on the Illinois River between Morris and Seneca. Shabbona lived two more years, dying in 1859 at the age of 84. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Morris, and a memorial boulder was placed on the site in 1903. A town in DeKalb County and a state park (Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area, a man-made lake) are named in his honor, as are towns, schools, and a Chicago park.

Much that has been written about Shabbona has been derided as “frontier fiction” by historians, and many of the accounts we have of his life are contradictory. James Patrick Dowd has written that Shabbona’s life “was a paradox in many ways. He tried to live in two worlds, transcending Indian and White cultures, but in the end, he died, a man, broken in spirit.” Shunned as a traitor by many of his fellow Indians and duped by the whites he helped save, the life of Shabbona is one of the more poignant and tragic stories in Illinois history.

Upcoming Events

Here is a sampling of events happening in the corridor.  For a more complete listing of summer events, visit the eNews Calendar.  Don't see your event listed here?  Please send it to enews@canalcor.org.

Saturday, August 6--Concert on the Canal, Lemont

Enjoy live music from the band 215 West on the banks of the I&M Canal in downtown Lemont.  7 to 10 pm.  For further information call 630.243.2700.

Friday & Saturday, August 11-12--Sidewalk Sale, Lemont

Enjoy a weekend of sales at a variety of shops and boutiques in downtown Lemont.  10 am to 5 pm both days.  For further information call 630.243.2700.

Saturday & Sunday Sept 10-11, I & M Canal Rendezvous, Willow Springs

Discover the rich history and wonderful stories of our region.  Watch ancient crafts demonstrated and canoe races on the river, hear pioneer music played, taste real root beer, smell pioneer popcorn and "twists" of tobacco and feel the hides, pelts, skins and bones of the fur trade.  The past comes alive around you in an unforgettable combination of history, entertainment, learning, shopping, food and fun.  See www.imcanalrendezvous.org for more information.