The Chicago Portage National Historic Site marks the overland path used byvoyageursto travel between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds. The portage connected the south fork of the Chicago River with the Des Plaines River via a muddy wetland called, appropriately, Mud Lake.Travelerscarried their vessels between the waterways when the weather was dry, but could oftenpaddleacross much of the portage when it flooded. The portage was used by Native Americans and early European settlers and explorers, includingexplorersPereJacques Marquette and Louis Joliette.

Recognizing the strategic importance of the portage, the U.S. government constructed Fort Dearborn at the mouth of the Chicago River in 1803 to protect access to and oversee the area.

The Illinois and Michigan (I and M) Canal opened in 1848 and connected the two watersheds by an artificial waterway, rendering the portage obsolete. The I and M Canal fell out of use when it was replaced by the Sanitary and Ship Canal, which opened in 1900. (A portion of the Stevenson Expressway was later constructed on top of a section ofthe Iand M Canal). In addition to replacingthe Iand M, theSanitary and Ship Canal was built to reverse the direction of the Chicago and Calumet Rivers so that they carried the city’s polluted river water south instead of east into the area’s primary water supply.

The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is overseen by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. The site marks the westernmost part of the portage. FerdinandRebeccini'ssculpture, "The Waterway West," which depicts Marquette, Joliet, and a Potawatomi Indian, was installed there in 1989. 

Bilek, Jr., Edward T. "The Old Chicago Portage, 1673-1836." National Park Service Park History Program. Accessed July 2016. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/chpo/chicago_portage.pdf

Solzman, David. "Portage." Encyclopedia of Chicago Online.Accessed July 2016. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/993.html

Written by Hope Shannon, Loyola University Chicago