What happened to the Grand Kankakee Marsh?

What happened to the Grand Kankakee Marsh?

After the Civil War, efforts to drain the Grand Kankakee Marsh began in earnest. Networks of drainage ditches were dug to carry the water out of the marsh. Massive steam-powered dredge boats dug straight channels through the marsh reducing the length of the Kankakee River by over half.

Why did people drain the Kankakee marsh?

Most of the early ditching efforts were made at the eastern end of the marsh, which stretched along both sides of the river from South Bend, Ind., to Momence. Frontier settlers saw the marsh as a dismal, unproductive wasteland; draining it to allow planting of crops was considered a benefit.

When did they drain the Kankakee marsh?

In 1882, the state’s chief engineer recommended draining the entire wetland. Dredge boats got to work, straightening over 2,000 bends in the river and digging lateral ditches to carry runoff.

How big was the Kankakee marsh?

around 500,000 acres
The size of the marsh or “wetland” was around 500,000 acres. It was a vast area of wildlife that drew hunters from all over the world.

Was Indiana a swamp?

The Limberlost Swamp in the eastern part of the present-day U.S. state of Indiana was a large, nationally known wetlands region with streams that flowed into the Wabash River. It originally covered 13,000 acres (53 km²) of present-day Adams and Jay counties.

When was the Kankakee River straightened?

The river has a total length of about 150 miles, with 59 miles in Illinois. In work beginning in the late nineteenth century and essentially completed by 1918, almost all of the main channel of the Kankakee River in Indiana was channelized, that is, straightened.

When was the Kankakee River dredged?

1917
By 1910, most of the marshlands were drained and work on rerouting the Kankakee River began. In 1917, the river was dredged to make it significantly deeper; by 1922, the process was mostly completed and the river was several miles shorter than its original course.

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How was the black swamp drained?

In the mid-1800s, the swamp was slowly drained as settlers dug drainage trenches and felled trees. The area is now largely farmland. Draining that swamp led to some unanticipated consequences.

Does the Limberlost still exist?

They are preserved today as the Limberlost Cabin, the Limberlost State Historic Site in Geneva, and the Cabin at Wildflower Woods.

Is the Kankakee River Clean?

Rock Creek in Camp Shaw-waw-nas-see — on its way through Kankakee River State Park — is one of the cleanest streams in Illinois. The Kankakee River remains the best for water quality in the state, according to the 2016 Illinois River Watch Program Report, released last week.