For my last Better Know a River interview, I traveled to central Illinois to a river at the heart of our state, the Illinois. Let’s see what this important waterway is up to.
Photo by C. Eliana Brown
Where are you located?
I start in the northeastern part of the state at the junction of the Kankakee and Des Plaines rivers in Grundy County. I zig and zag south, west, and southwest for 273 miles until I meet the Mississippi River 14 miles north of Alton. Morris, Ottawa, La Salle, Peru, Peoria, Pekin, Havana, and Beardstown are a few cities situated along my course.
Which came first, your name or the state name?
The state was named after me. In 1679, French explorer Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle named me after the Illinois and Peoria tribes he found living in the river valley. The Native American word “iliniwok” means men or warriors, and the French translated this to Illinois. Because I am the largest river flowing solely inside the state, it’s fitting that the state would later be named after me.
What other historical roles have you played?
I have long been an important transportation source. In fact, the first European settlement in the state, the Jesuit mission, was founded by Father Jacques Marquette on my banks across from what is known today as Starved Rock. Before the railroad reached central Illinois, goods that were not made in the area, like window glass, cedar shingles, cast-iron stoves, cookware, fine tableware, and furniture, were made available to communities across the state because of my navigable waters. River travel was easier, safer, and faster than traveling through the thick, untamed, and often muddy terrain of the Illinois wilderness.
My direct connection to the Mississippi River opened the possibilities for shipment of goods, and personal travel to cities like St. Louis and New Orleans—especially after the Chicago River was reversed in 1900. And thanks to the Mississippi’s connection to the Ohio River at the tip of southern Illinois, goods and people could travel from my waters to Louisville and Cincinnati. In the early 1900s, large steamboats travelled to Pekin from New Orleans and the Ohio River each spring to collect up to 36,000 hogs for shipment to the south.
But my role hasn’t been limited to shipping. Residents during the 19th and early 20th centuries harvested fish, hunted waterfowl, collected mussels for button factories, and carved out ice for refrigeration in central Illinois. Tourism boomed in “river towns,” and recreational activities such as duck hunting brought many to my banks. The river was not only a source of income but a way of life.
What is your economic role today?
I’m proud to say I still play a vital role in barge transportation for commodities such as grain, coal, and petroleum headed to domestic and international markets. Unfortunately, my locks and dams have not been properly maintained or updated since their construction in the 1900s. This, along with silt buildup, causes delays and higher costs. Silt from my headwaters builds up along my shores, forming barriers after flooding. This happens because I sit at a gradual slope, so the water never moves very fast. This siltation, along with overfishing and water pollution, is also a big contributor to habitat loss in my waters.
Do you have lots of fish and wildlife in your valley?
At one time, I was one of the most harvested rivers for freshwater fish in the United States. Today, very little commercial fishing happens here, although recreational fishing still takes place. Healthy populations of channel catfish, sauger, and bass are found throughout my waters. Some less common birds can also be spotted in my valley, including bald eagles, American bitterns, black-crowned night herons, and sora rails. Other wildlife that call me home include bog lemmings, western ribbon snakes, plains leopard frogs, and northern cricket frogs.
The four state parks along my route are a great place to look for wildlife while hiking, fishing camping or boating. Starved Rock, Buffalo Rock, and Illini state parks are all near Ottawa, while Pere Marquette is near the confluence of the Mississippi.
You are certainly a very special body of water! Any last thoughts you want to share with our readers?
Well, people might be interested to hear that I drain almost 30,000 square miles of land including a very small portion of Wisconsin and Indiana. This, as well as the fact that I am the principal tributary to the Mississippi River and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico, make me an important part of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy. The strategy addresses phosphorus and nitrogen losses in key watersheds throughout the state. Overall, my river has been extensively studied by scientists for over 100 years, and some say I am one of the most studied rivers in the world.
For over 2000 years the wooden Chinese river boats, commonly referred to by Occidentals as "junks," have filled an important role in China's riverine commerce. Coastwise transport has been handled by Chinese junks of great seaworthiness for a somewhat shorter period of history. Whereas the introduction of steam and motor shipping into Chinese coastal and river traffic has led to a greatly diminished role for Chinese junks, the significance of junk- horse traffic is still considerable.
The regime of the East Asiatic monsoon winds had important effects and limitations upon this junk traffic. During earlier centuries, the influence of this climatic situation established the custom that brought the sailing fleets northward in spring, so as to take ad- vantage of the northwest monsoon winds on the return trip. The trip, according to Bidder, required 20 clays each way. (This seems rather high in comparison with Donnelly's figure of six or seven days for the trip between Shanghai and An-tung by the An-lung Trader, which he describes as, "at best a slow moving and clumsy craft."L The 20 days, however, may include loading and unloading and a rest period at each end, i.e., the actual commercial trip time, rather than the sailing time.) Bidder states further, however, that the trading ships annually could make three to four trips. The ship owners were greatly concerned about proper scheduling, loading, and unloading, so that they would not miss favorable minds and thus be able to make "only two trips north with cargo in one year. "
The ideal schedule for the merchants provided that the grain in the south should be loaded on the ships so that they could sail by the first month (February in the Western calendar) for Tientsin, reaching there as soon a:, the ice was broken up. By April 20, all junks should be sailing with empty holds for the Iiaotung Peninsula tor a load of bean cake (fertilizer), returning south by the 21st of Alar to load rice again. By June 21, the) should again be on their way north, unloading at Tientsin by the 7th of August. Another month was involved apparently in waiting for the rice to get to T'ung-chou near Peking by canal. (The rice appears to have been transshipped on smaller vessels from Tientsin; so the reason for the wait by the large junks is not clear.) By September, the empty vessels again would have reached Manchuria for another load of south-bound cargo, which should reach the southern ports within a month. This schedule would give them time to make another trip north as far as the Shantung vicinity, so that they could return south near the end of the year to load rice for the following spring trip northward. Ships with rice arriving late off Tientsin in the fall were forced to lie up for the winter in Taku because of the ice on the Hai Ho (river) and could go only upstream to unload after the ice broke up in the spring.
Wuens, Harold. “Riverine and Coastal Junks in China's Commerce.” Economic Geography. Vol. 31, No. 3 (Jul., 1955). 248-264. Print.
