National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Of over 85,000 places listed on the countrys National Register of Historic Places, a National Historic Landmark District may include contributing properties that are buildings, sites or objects, and it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not be separately listed, prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of the United States Congress. The first National Historic Site designation was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17,1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the data gathered under this legislation. Because listings often triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9,1960,92 properties were announced as designated NHLs by Secretary of the Interior Fred A.
Seaton, more than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States, there are NHLs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Three states account for nearly 25 percent of the nations NHLs, three cities within these states all separately have more NHLs than 40 of the 50 states. In fact, New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states, California, Massachusetts, there are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia. Some NHLs are in U. S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states. There are 15 in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other U. S. commonwealths and territories,5 in U. S. -associated states such as Micronesia, over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. About half of the National Historic Landmarks are privately owned, the National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which assists in maintaining the landmarks. A friends group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve, protect, if not already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an NHL is automatically added to the Register upon designation.
About three percent of Register listings are NHLs, american Water Landmark List of U. S
Towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat. This mode of transport was common where sailing was impractical due to tunnels and bridges, unfavourable winds, after the Industrial Revolution, towing became obsolete when engines were fitted on boats and when railway transportation superseded the slow towing method. Since then, many of these towpaths have been converted to multi-use trails and they are still named towpaths — although they are now only occasionally used for the purpose of towing boats. As river banks were privately owned, such teams worked their way along the river banks as best they could. On British rivers such as the River Severn, the situation was improved by the creation of towing path companies in the late 1700s. The companies built towing paths along the banks of the river and they were not universally popular, however, as tolls were charged for their use, to recoup the capital cost, and this was resented on rivers where barge traffic had previously been free.
With the advent of canals, most of them were constructed with towpaths suitable for horses. Many rivers were improved by artificial cuts, and this gave an opportunity to construct a towing path at the same time. Even so, the River Don Navigation was improved from Tinsley to Rotherham in 1751, on the River Avon between Stratford-upon-Avon and Tewkesbury, a towpath was never provided, and bow-hauling continued until the 1860s, when steam tugs were introduced. While towing paths were most convenient when they stayed on one side of a canal, there were occasions where it had to change sides and this had the benefit that the rope did not have to be detached while the transfer took place. The rope passed through a gap at the centre of the bridge between its two halves. One problem with the horse towing path where it passed under a bridge was abrasion of the rope on the bridge arch. This resulted in deep grooves being cut in the fabric of the bridge, and in many cases and these too soon developed deep grooves, but could be more easily replaced than the stonework of the bridge.
In more recent times, this has provided difficulties for walkers, where an attractive river-side walk cannot be followed because the towpath changes sides, not all haulage was by horses, and an experiment was carried out on the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal in 1888. The locomotive ran on 18 in gauge tracks, and was similar to Pet and it pulled trains of two and four boats at 7 mph, and experiments were tried with eight boats. The mules which assist ships through the locks of the Panama Canal are an example of the concept. Towpaths are popular with cyclists and walkers, and some are suitable for equestrians, in snowy winters they are popular in the USA with cross-country skiers and snowmobile users
Southern United States
The Southern United States, commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South, is a region of the United States of America. The South does not fully match the geographic south of the United States and New Mexico, which are geographically in the southern part of the country, are rarely considered part, while West Virginia, which separated from Virginia in 1863, commonly is. Some scholars have proposed definitions of the South that do not coincide neatly with state boundaries, while the states of Delaware and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia permitted slavery prior to the start of the Civil War, they remained with the Union. However, the United States Census Bureau puts them in the South, the South is defined as including the southeastern and south-central United States. The region is known for its culture and history, having developed its own customs, musical styles, and cuisines, the Southern ethnic heritage is diverse and includes strong European and some Native American components.
Since the late 1960s, black people have many offices in Southern states, especially in the coastal states of Virginia. Historically, the South relied heavily on agriculture, and was rural until after 1945. It has since become more industrialized and urban and has attracted national and international migrants, the American South is now among the fastest-growing areas in the United States. Houston is the largest city in the Southern United States, sociological research indicates that Southern collective identity stems from political and cultural distinctiveness from the rest of the United States. The region contains almost all of the Bible Belt, an area of high Protestant church attendance and predominantly conservative, studies have shown that Southerners are more conservative than non-Southerners in several areas, including religion, international relations and race relations. Apart from its climate, the experience in the South increasingly resembles the rest of the nation. The arrival of millions of Northerners and millions of Hispanics meant the introduction of cultural values, the process has worked both ways, with aspects of Southern culture spreading throughout a greater portion of the rest of the United States in a process termed Southernization.
The question of how to define the subregions in the South has been the focus of research for nearly a century, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, the Southern region of the United States includes sixteen states. As of 2010, an estimated 114,555,744 people, or thirty-seven percent of all U. S. residents, lived in the South, the nations most populous region. Other terms related to the South include, The Old South, the New South, usually including the South Atlantic States. The Solid South, region largely controlled by the Democratic Party from 1877 to 1964, before that, blacks were elected to national office and many to local office through the 1880s, Populist-Republican coalitions gained victories for Fusionist candidates for governors in the 1890s. Includes at least all the 11 former Confederate States, Southeastern United States, usually including the Carolinas, the Virginias, Kentucky, Alabama and Florida. The Deep South, various definitions, usually including Louisiana, Mississippi, occasionally, parts of adjoining states are included
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country — sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana — was a vast region of New France in what is now the Midwestern United States. Explored in 1673 from Green Bay to the Arkansas River by the Canadien expedition of Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette and it was settled primarily from the Pays den Haut in the context of the fur trade. Overtime, the fur trade took some French to the far reaches of the Rocky Mountains, the French name, Pays des Illinois, means Land of the Illinois and is a reference to the Illinois Confederation, a group of related Algonquian native peoples. The territory thus became known as Upper Louisiana, by the mid-18th century, the major settlements included Cahokia, Chartres, Saint Philippe, and Prairie du Rocher, all on the east side of the Mississippi in present-day Illinois, and Ste. Genevieve across the river in Missouri, as well as Fort Vincennes in what is now Indiana. As a consequence of the French defeat in the Seven Years War, the Illinois Country east of the Mississippi River was ceded to the British, and the land west of the river to the Spanish.
Following the British occupation of the bank of the Mississippi in 1764, some Canadien settlers remained in the area, while others crossed the river. Eventually, the part of the Illinois Country became part of the British Province of Quebec. Louis to the confluence with the Ohio River, the boundaries of the Illinois Country were defined in a variety of ways, but the region now known as the American Bottom was nearly at the center of all descriptions. One of the earliest known geographic features designated as Ilinois was what became known as Lake Michigan. Early French missionaries and traders referred to the area southwest and southeast of the lake, including much of the upper Mississippi Valley, Illinois was the name given to an area inhabited by the Illiniwek. A map of 1685 labels a large area southwest of the lake les Ilinois, in 1688, in 1721, the seventh civil and military district of Louisiana was named Illinois. Thus and Peoria were the limit of Louisianaa reach, as part of a general report on conditions in the newly conquered lands, Gen.
Many French settlers moved west across the river to escape British control, on the west bank, the Spanish continued to refer to the western region governed from St. Louis as the District of Illinois and referred to St. Louis as the city of Illinois. The first French explorations of the Illinois Country were in the first half of the 17th century, led by explorers, Étienne Brûlé explored the upper Illinois country in 1615 but did not document his experiences. Joseph de La Roche Daillon reached an oil spring at the northeasternmost fringe of the Mississippi River basin during his 1627 missionary journey. In 1669–70, Father Jacques Marquette, a missionary in French Canada, was at a station on Lake Superior. He learned about the river that ran through their country to the south
Illinois River
The Illinois River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 273 miles long, in the U. S. state of Illinois. The river drains a section of central Illinois, with a drainage basin of 28,756.6 square miles. The drainage basin extends into Wisconsin and Indiana and this river was important among Native Americans and early French traders as the principal water route connecting the Great Lakes with the Mississippi. The French colonial settlements along the formed the heart of the area known as the Illinois Country. It now forms the basis for the Illinois Waterway, the Illinois River is formed by the confluence of the Kankakee River and the Des Plaines River in eastern Grundy County, approximately 10 miles southwest of Joliet. This river flows west across northern Illinois, passing Morris and Ottawa, at LaSalle, the Illinois River is joined by the Vermilion River, and it flows west past Peru, and Spring Valley. In southeastern Bureau County it turns south at a known as the Great Bend, flowing southwest across western Illinois, past Lacon and downtown Peoria.
South of Peoria, the Illinois River goes by East Peoria and Creve Coeur and it is joined by the Mackinaw River and passes through the Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge. The La Moine River flows into it approximately five miles southwest of Beardstown, near the confluence of the Illinois with the La Moine River, it turns south, flowing roughly parallel to the Mississippi across southwestern Illinois. Macoupin Creek joins the Illinois on the border between Greene and Jersey counties, approximately 15 miles upstream from the confluence with the Mississippi. For the last 20 miles of its course, the Illinois is separated from the Mississippi River by only five miles. The Illinois joins the Mississippi near Grafton, approximately 25 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis and about 20 miles upstream from the confluence of the Missouri River, south of Hennepin, the Illinois River is following the ancient channel of the Mississippi River. The Illinoian Stage, about 300,000 to 132,000 years ago, blocked the Mississippi near Rock Island, after the glacier melted, the Illinois River flowed into the ancient channel.
The Hennepin Canal roughly follows the ancient channel of the Mississippi upstream of Rock Island, the modern channel of the Illinois River was shaped in a matter of days by the Kankakee Torrent. During the melting of the Wisconsin Glacier about 10,000 years ago, the lake formed behind the terminal moraine of a substage of that glacier. Melting ice to the north eventually raised the level of the lake so that it overflowed the moraine, the dam burst, and the entire volume of the lake was released in a very short time, perhaps a few days. Because of the manner of its formation, the Illinois River runs through a canyon with many rock formations. It has a channel, one far larger than would be needed to contain any conceivable flow in modern times
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, at the end of 1970 it operated 7183 miles of road on 10669 miles of track, that year it reported 20557 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 118 million passenger-miles. The song Rock Island Line, a spiritual from the late 1920s first recorded in 1934, was inspired by the railway, construction began October 1,1851, in Chicago, and the first train was operated on October 10,1852, between Chicago and Joliet. Construction continued on through La Salle, and Rock Island was reached on February 22,1854, the Mississippi river bridge between Rock Island and Davenport was completed on April 22,1856. In 1857, Abraham Lincoln represented the Rock Island in an important lawsuit regarding bridges over navigable rivers, the suit had been brought by the owner of a steamboat which was destroyed by fire after running into the Mississippi river bridge. Lincoln argued that not only was the steamboat at fault in striking the bridge, the M&M was acquired by the C&RI on July 9,1866, to form the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company.
The railroad expanded through construction and acquisitions in the following decades, the Rock Island stretched across Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, South Dakota and Texas. The easternmost reach of the system was Chicago, and the system reached Memphis, west, it reached Denver and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Southernmost reaches were to Galveston and Eunice, Louisiana while in a direction the Rock Island got as far as Minneapolis. The heaviest traffic was on the Chicago-to-Rock Island and Rock Island-to-Muscatine lines, in common with most American railroad companies, the Rock Island once operated an extensive passenger service. The primary routes served were, Chicago-Los Angeles, Chicago-Denver, Memphis-Tucumcari, the Rock Island ran both Limited and Local service on those routes as well as locals on many other lines on its system. In 1937, the Rock Island introduced Diesel power to its passenger service, in competition with the Santa Fe Chiefs, the Rock Island jointly operated the Golden State Limited with the Southern Pacific Railroad from 1902–1968.
On this route, the Rock Islands train was marketed as a low altitude crossing of the Continental Divide, the Rock Island did not concede to the Santa Fes dominance in the Chicago-Los Angeles travel market and re-equipped the train with new streamlined equipment in 1948. At the same time, the Limited was dropped from the trains name, the local run on this line was known as the Imperial. The 1948 modernization of the Golden State occurred with some controversy, in 1947, both the Rock Island and Southern Pacific jointly advertised the coming of a new entry in the Chicago-Los Angeles travel market. The Golden Rocket was scheduled to match the Santa Fes transit time end-to-end and was to have its own dedicated trainsets, one purchased by the Rock Island. As the Rock Islands set of streamlined cars was being finished. The Rock Islands cars were delivered and would find their way into the Golden States fleet soon after delivery, the Golden State was the last first-class train on the Rock Island, retaining its dining cars and sleeping cars until its last run on February 21,1968
Irish people
The Irish people are a nation and ethnic group native to the island of Ireland, who share a common Irish ancestry and culture. Ireland has been inhabited for about 9,000 years according to archaeological studies, for most of Irelands recorded history, the Irish have been primarily a Gaelic people. Today, Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland, the people of Northern Ireland hold various national identities, including Irish, Northern Irish, British, or some combination thereof. The Irish have their own customs, music, sports, although Irish was their main language in the past, today the huge majority of Irish people speak English as their first language. Historically, the Irish nation was made up of kin groups or clans, there have been many notable Irish people throughout history. After Irelands conversion to Christianity, Irish missionaries and scholars exerted great influence on Western Europe, the 6th-century Irish monk and missionary Columbanus is regarded as one of the fathers of Europe, followed by saints Cillian and Fergal.
The scientist Robert Boyle is considered the father of chemistry, famous Irish writers include Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker and James Joyce, notable Irish explorers include Brendan the Navigator, Robert McClure, Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean. By some accounts, the first European child born in North America had Irish descent on both sides, many presidents of the United States have had some Irish ancestry. The population of Ireland is about 6.3 million, but it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish forebears, emigration from Ireland has been the result of conflict and economic issues. People of Irish descent are mainly in English-speaking countries, especially the United Kingdom. There are significant numbers in Argentina and New Zealand, the United States has the most people of Irish descent, while in Australia those of Irish descent are a higher percentage of the population than in any other country. Many Icelanders have Irish and Scottish Gaelic forebears, in its summary of their article Who were the Celts.
The National Museum Wales notes It is possible that genetic studies of ancient. However, early studies have, so far, tended to produce implausible conclusions from very small numbers of people and using outdated assumptions about linguistics, nineteenth century anthropology studied the physical characteristics of Irish people in minute detail. During the past 10,000 years of inhabitation, Ireland has witnessed some different peoples arrive on its shores, the ancient peoples of Ireland—such as the creators of the Céide Fields and Newgrange—are almost unknown. Neither their languages nor terms they used to describe themselves have survived, as late as the middle centuries of the 1st millennium the inhabitants of Ireland did not appear to have a collective name for themselves. Ireland itself was known by a number of different names, including Banba, Fódla, Ériu by the islanders and Hiverne to the Greeks, other Latin names for people from Ireland in Classic and Mediaeval sources include Attacotti and Gael
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers, sometimes shortened to CoE is a U. S. Although generally associated with dams and flood protection in the United States, the Corps of Engineers provides outdoor recreation opportunities to the public, and provides 24% of U. S. hydropower capacity. The corps mission is to Deliver vital public and military engineering services, partnering in peace and war to strengthen our Nations security, energize the economy and their most visible missions include, designing and operating locks and dams. Other civil engineering projects include flood control, beach nourishment and construction of flood protection systems through various federal mandates. Design and construction management of military facilities for the Army, Air Force, Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve and other Defense and Federal agencies. The history of United States Army Corps of Engineers can be traced back to 16 June 1775, colonel Richard Gridley became General George Washingtons first chief engineer, however, it was not until 1779 that Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers.
One of its first tasks was to build fortifications near Boston at Bunker Hill, the first Corps of Engineers was mostly composed of French subjects who had been hired by General Washington from the service of Louis XVI. that the said Corps. Shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York, until 1866, the superintendent of the United States Military Academy was always an officer of engineer. During the first half of the 19th century, West Point was the major and, for a while, the General Survey Act of 1824 authorized the use of Army engineers to survey road and canal routes. Separately authorized on 4 July 1838, the U. S and it was merged with the Corps of Engineers on 31 March 1863, at which point the Corps of Engineers assumed the Lakes Survey District mission for the Great Lakes. In 1841, Congress created the Lake Survey, the survey, based in Detroit, Mich. was charged with conducting a hydrographical survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes and preparing and publishing nautical charts and other navigation aids.
The Lake Survey published its first charts in 1852, in the mid-19th century, Corps of Engineers officers ran Lighthouse Districts in tandem with U. S. Naval officers. The Army Corps of Engineers played a significant role in the American Civil War, many of the men who would serve in the top leadership in this institution were West Point graduates who rose to military fame and power during the Civil War. Some of these men were Union Generals George McClellan, Henry Halleck, George Meade, and Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, the versatility of officers in the Army Corps of Engineers contributed to the success of numerous missions throughout the Civil War. They were responsible for building pontoon and railroad bridges and batteries, the destruction of supply lines. The Army Corps of Engineers served as a function in making the war effort logistically feasible. This method of building trenches was known as the zigzag pattern, from the beginning, many politicians wanted the Corps of Engineers to contribute to both military construction and works of a civil nature.
During World War II the mission grew to more than 27,000 military, included were aircraft, tank assembly, and ammunition plants, camps for 5.3 million soldiers, depots and hospitals, as well as the Manhattan Project, and the Pentagon
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10,1871. The fire killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of Chicago and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. The fire started at about 9,00 p. m. on October 8, the shed next to the barn was the first building to be consumed by the fire, but city officials never determined the exact cause of the blaze. There has, been much speculation over the years, the most popular tale blames Mrs. OLearys cow, who allegedly knocked over a lantern, others state that a group of men were gambling inside the barn and knocked over a lantern. Still other speculation suggests that the blaze was related to fires in the Midwest that day. The fires spread was aided by the use of wood as the predominant building material in a style called balloon frame. More than two thirds of the structures in Chicago at the time of the fire were made entirely of wood, with most of the houses, all of the citys sidewalks and many roads were made of wood.
In 1871, the Chicago Fire Department had 185 firefighters with just 17 horse-drawn steam engines to protect the entire city. The initial response by the department was quick, but due to an error by the watchman, Matthias Schaffer. These factors combined to turn a small barn fire into a conflagration, when firefighters finally arrived at DeKoven Street, the fire had grown and spread to neighboring buildings and was progressing towards the central business district. Firefighters had hoped that the South Branch of the Chicago River, all along the river, were lumber yards and coal yards, and barges and numerous bridges across the river. As the fire grew, the southwest wind intensified and became superheated, causing structures to catch fire from the heat, around 11,30 p. m. flaming debris blew across the river and landed on roofs and the South Side Gas Works. With the fire across the river and moving rapidly towards the heart of the city, about this time, Mayor Roswell B. Mason sent messages to nearby towns asking for help.
When the courthouse caught fire, he ordered the building to be evacuated, at 2,30 a. m. on the 9th, the cupola of the courthouse collapsed, sending the great bell crashing down. Some witnesses reported hearing the sound from a mile away, as more buildings succumbed to the flames, a major contributing factor to the fire’s spread was a meteorological phenomenon known as a fire whirl. As overheated air rises, it comes into contact with cooler air and these fire whirls are likely what drove flaming debris so high and so far. Such debris was blown across the branch of the Chicago River to a railroad car carrying kerosene. The fire had jumped the river a second time and was now raging across the north side
Navigable aqueduct
Navigable aqueducts are bridge structures that carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, railways or roads. They are primarily distinguished by their size, carrying a larger cross-section of water than most water-supply aqueducts, the 662-metre long steel Briare aqueduct carrying the Canal latéral à la Loire over the River Loire was built in 1896. It was ranked as the longest navigable aqueduct in the world for more than a century, early aqueducts such as the three on the Canal du Midi had stone or brick arches, the longest span being 18.3 metres on the Cesse Aqueduct, built in 1690. But, the weight of the construction to support the trough with the clay or other lining to make it waterproof made these structures clumsy, in 1796 the first large cast iron aqueduct was built by Thomas Telford at Longdon-on-Tern on the Shrewsbury Canal. It has a length of 57 metres across three intermediate piers. Within ten years Telford had completed the far more ambitious Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in Wales on the Llangollen Canal over the River Dee valley, with a total length 307 metres.
Other cast-iron aqueducts followed, such as the single-span Stanley Ferry Aqueduct on the Calder and Hebble Navigation in 1839, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct carries the Llangollen Canal over the River Dee valley in north Wales, it was designed by Thomas Telford and opened in 1805. The same canal, which includes a section, crosses a second valley on the Chirk Aqueduct. This navigable canal supplies water to the borough of Crewe. The Avon is the second-longest aqueduct in the United Kingdom, the Agen aqueduct in France is 539 metres long and carries the canal de Garonne across the Garonne River. The Briare aqueduct near Châtillon-sur-Loire, carries the Canal latéral à la Loire in a channel over the Loire River. At 662 metres, it was the longest canal aqueduct in the world for a century, in recent years the building of the Lichfield Canal Aqueduct ran into construction difficulties. The UK parliament passed legislation preventing a road being built in the path of a canal being renovated without providing a tunnel or aqueduct for canal traffic to pass, barton Swing Aqueduct is a swing bridge that carries the Bridgewater Canal across the lower Manchester Ship Canal.
A234 ft section of the aqueduct rotates through 90 degrees to allow vessels to pass along the Ship Canal, an aqueduct near Roelofarendsveen, Netherlands carries the Ringvaart canal over the A4 highway and the HSL-Zuid, which are situated on land below the level of the canal. Gouwe aqueduct, near Gouda in the Netherlands, carries the Gouwe river over the A12 highway, the Krabbersgat naviduct, Houtribdijk near Enkhuizen, The Netherlands, is the only aqueduct in the world that operates as a lock. The Magdeburg Water Bridge in Germany connects the important Mittellandkanal over the river Elbe to the Elbe-Havel canal, nearly 1 km long, it is the longest navigable aqueduct in the world. Aqueduct Canal List of canal aqueducts in Great Britain Viaduct
Chicago River
The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of 156 miles that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center. The River is noteworthy for its natural and man-made history, in 1999, this system was named a Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The river is memorialized, in part, by two blue stripes on the Municipal Flag of Chicago. The source of the North Branch is in the suburbs of Chicago where its three principal tributaries converge. The Skokie River—or East Fork—rises from an area, historically a wetland, near Park City. It flows southward, paralleling the edge of Lake Michigan, through wetlands, the Greenbelt Forest Preserve, South of Highland Park the river passes the Chicago Botanic Gardens and through an area of former marshlands known as the Skokie Lagoons. The Middle Fork arises near Rondout and flows southwards through Lake Forest and these two tributaries merge at Watersmeet Woods west of Wilmette.
From there the North Branch flows south towards Morton Grove, the West Fork rises near Mettawa and flows south through Bannockburn and Northbrook, meeting the North Branch at Morton Grove. South of Belmont the North Branch is lined with a mixture of residential developments, retail parks, the North Branch Canal—or Ogdens Canal—was completed in 1857, and was originally 50 feet wide and 10 feet deep allowing craft navigating the river to avoid the bend. The 1902 Cherry Avenue Bridge, just south of North Avenue, was constructed to carry the Chicago, Milwaukee and it is a rare example of an asymmetric bob-tail swing bridge and was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2007. From Goose Island the North Branch continues to south east to Wolf Point where it joins the Main Stem. The source of the Main Stem of the Chicago River is Lake Michigan, acoustic velocity meters at the Columbus Drive Bridge and the T. J. On the south bank of the river is the site of Fort Dearborn, notable buildings surrounding this area include the NBC Tower, the Tribune Tower, and the Wrigley Building.
The river turns slightly to the south west between Michigan Avenue and State Street, passing the Trump International Hotel and Tower,35 East Wacker, turning west again the river passes Marina City, the Reid, Murdoch & Co. Building, and Merchandise Mart, and 333 Wacker Drive, since the early 2000s, the south shore of the Main Stem has been developed as the Chicago Riverwalk. It provides a linear, lushly landscaped park intended to offer an escape from the busy Loop. Different sections are named Market, Civic and Confluence, the sections between State Street and Lake Street are currently under construction and scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016. The plans reflect ideas first proposed by the Burnham Plan as early as 1909, the source of the South Branch of the Chicago River is the confluence of the North Branch and Main stem at Wolf Point
Chicago
Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, film, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language.
The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S.
The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
_tow_downbound.jpg)
.JPG)
