|
|
|
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.
Send eNews to a Friend Help us build our mailing list and increase the number of people who receive Canal Passages eNews. If you have a friend who would enjoy receiving Canal Passages eNews, please send them this issue.
If you received this message from a friend and like what you see, subscribe today!
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, Thank you to all of you who have contacted Senators Durbin and Obama to express support of the re-authorization of the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor. As I write this, the Senate is still in session, so we do not yet know whether the bill will pass before recess. Passage would position the heritage corridor for funding starting in October 2006 – the beginning of the next federal fiscal year. We will let you know when we hear the outcome. Thank you again for your support and for letting us know that you were able to contact our Senators. In the meantime, if you are looking for something to do over the holidays, we have just opened two new exhibits at the Gaylord Building, in Lockport. Details follow in this eNews. While at the Gaylord Building, enjoy a meal at the Public Landing Restaurant (815-838-6500 for reservations). CCA’s annual benefit luncheon is coming up quickly after the holidays – Tuesday, January 10, at the Drake Hotel, in Chicago. This year, the Boat Captain’s Award honors acclaimed landscape photographer Edward Ranney for his work in the corridor. Please join us. Call Pat Chinderle at 815-588-1100 to make your reservation. Tables of 10 are $1500, and individual tickets start at $95. You can also contribute to CCA by joining in the Driehaus Challenge before the end of the year. The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation is matching all CCA contributions through the end of the year. So send us a check, and double your money. This holiday season I am grateful for all the time, energy, and resources you dedicate to making the I&M Canal National heritage Corridor a better place to live, work, and visit. Happy Holidays, Ana B. Koval President & CEO
Canal Fact Think Illinois toll booths are bad? Going through each of the seventeen locks on the I&M Canal took at least fifteen minutes each, and up to an hour during busy periods.
The I&M Canal: A Story with National and International Significance
The I&M Canal had significant implications not only for Illinois but for the entire nation. In 1827 the Federal Government gave the State of Illinois nearly 300,000 acres of prime farmland, the sale of which would finance construction of a canal. The I&M Canal shares with the Wabash Canal in neighboring Indiana the distinction of being the first to receive federal land grants toward their financing. This precedent later served as the model for the first federal land grant to support a railroad-the Illinois Central Railroad.
From 1841 to 1845 nearly all work on the canal ceased, as the State of Illinois was virtually bankrupt and had no money to pay canal contractors. However, foresighted investors in New York, England and France came to the rescue, putting up $1.6 million dollars to finish the job of digging the canal. A New Transportation CorridorOn its opening in 1848 the I&M Canal served as the final link in a national plan designed to connect different regions of the North American continent via waterways. Linking the waters of the Illinois River (and ultimately the Mississippi River) with those of Lake Michigan, it created a water route and transportation corridor between the metropolitan capitals of the Eastern United States, the Southern port of New Orleans, and the agricultural heartland of the Northwest. Chicago, then the western frontier of the country, was soon transformed into the Gateway to the American West.
The canal opened the floodgates to an influx of new commodities, new people, new ideas. The I&M, and the railroad and highway connections that soon paralleled its connection between Chicago and LaSalle/Peru, became the great passageway to the American West. At a stroke, the opening of the I&M Canal gave Illinois the key to mastery of the American mid-continent. Abraham Lincoln supported passage of the original canal bill in the 1830s and praised the canal in Congress in 1848.
During the Civil War, the I&M Canal reached its peak in terms of profitability and, despite the competition provided by railroads, continued to be an important means of transporting grain, lumber, coal, and other bulk commodities.
The I&M Canal and the Making of ChicagoChicago's rapid development in the nineteenth century is regarded as one of the most remarkable stories in American history, yet few today make a connection between this unprecedented growth and the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The last of the great nineteenth century U.S. shipping canals, the I&M helped transform Chicago from a small frontier town to the fastest growing city on earth. The Canal Commissioners platted Chicago along with the towns of Lockport, Morris, Ottawa, and LaSalle.
Changes Wrought by the CanalWith the exception of the Erie Canal, only the I & M Canal opened up a water transportation corridor still viable today, in the form of the Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Illinois Waterway, which eventually supplanted the I&M Canal in 1933. This is still an important artery of commerce for Illinois and the nation.
The results of the canal in the Midwest were profound. Farmers now had a reliable way to get their crops to market, thus allowing them to open up new acreage for cultivation. The digging of limestone, coal, sand and gravel shifted into high gear, as the canal made it economically feasible to quarry and ship large quantities to fast growing Chicago. Exploiting these natural resources in turn spurred new industries, especially the manufacture of glass, bricks, hydraulic cement, and zinc.
The canal’s significance continues today. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, the nation’s first heritage area. This new kind of national park incorporates the diverse, 450-square-mile region surrounding the historic I&M Canal. Since then 26 other heritage areas have been formed, using the I&M Canal as a model. Within the 100-mile long I&M Canal Corridor, which extends from Chicago to LaSalle/Peru, are 63 historical, cultural, and natural places that serve as a laboratory for learning.
Abraham Lincoln Praises the I&M CanalIllinois’ favorite son Abraham Lincoln trumpeted the effects of the I&M Canal. While acknowledging that the I&M Canal was entirely within the confines of one state, (Illinois) he noted that its benefits extended far beyond those borders, reducing the cost of transporting goods, thus benefiting both buyers and sellers. “Nothing is so local as not to be of some general benefit,” wrote the future President. “The benefits of an improvement are by no means confined to the particular locality of the improvement itself.” It is no exaggeration to state that the construction and operation of the I&M Canal from 1836 to 1933 in northeast Illinois tells one of the most significant stories in the transportation history of the United States. Two New Exhibits at the Gaylord Building
The Waterways in Northern Illinois - an Edward Ranney
Photo Exhibit At the Gaylord Building in Lockport, see a new exhibit on waterways in northern Illinois, including the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Illinois Waterway. Featuring photographs by noted landscape photographer Edward Ranney, the exhibit explores the history and continuing importance of water highways.
People today tend to forget just how important waterways were to the development of the United States in the 19th century. Before railroads and paved roads, water was the cheapest and easiest way to move people and goods across the country’s broad expanses.
Native Americans used prairie rivers for trade and travel. Then came the I&M Canal in 1848, ushering in a new era of mobility and commerce. The I&M was succeeded in 1900 by the much larger Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which is part of the modern day Illinois Waterway system.
Water transport of goods is still a major part of our economy, and barges filled with bulk cargo are a common sight on the Illinois Waterway. Edward Ranney’s photos, many of them published in the book Prairie Passage, provide a fascinating glimpse into our region’s many water highways.
Lewis and Clark Exhibit
The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-06 has became
one of the most famous stories in our nation’s history, yet there is
still much to discover through a closer examination of this historic
event. The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commemoration began in January
2003 and will run until September of 2006. Commemoration is a carefully
chosen term, recognizing that Native Americans are not celebrating the
expedition but are instead using it as a vehicle to inject their voices
into what has previously been a story of “heroic white explorers.” |
|
Upcoming Events Here is a sampling of events happening in the corridor. For a more complete listing of events, click here to visit the Heritage Corridor Convention and Visitor Bureau's website. Don't see your event listed here? Please send it to enews@canalcor.org.
December 21 - Winter Bonfire
December 27 - 5th Annual Holiday Open House Carbon Hill School Museum, 2:00pm - 8:00pm 875 Second Street, Carbon Hill 815/634-8413 December 31 - New Years Eve Gala
December 31 - River life- New Years Eve Dinner Cruise
|
|
In a new exhibit at the Gaylord Building in Lockport, visitors can learn
more about the scientific legacy of the expedition. Developed by the
State Historical Society of Missouri, the exhibit, titled Objects Worthy
of Notice: The Wildlife Encountered by the Corps of Discovery, exhibit
presents a look at the stunning diversity of wildlife observed by
Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition
through the newly acquired and relatively uncharted Louisiana Territory.
Under instructions from President Thomas Jefferson to record “objects
worthy of notice,” the naturalist/explorers scientifically documented
122 new species and expanded knowledge about many others. Illustrations
by famous naturalists, including John James Audubon, accompany excerpts
from the explorer’s journals. The Lewis and Clark story, touching on the
natural history, cultural resources and diverse people of the U. S.,
continues to provide a fascinating glimpse into our shared past.
