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Thy Wondrous Story, Illinois IL55 |
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The fertile prairies in Illinois attracted the attention of French trader Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette as they explored the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in 1673. France claimed this region until 1763 when she surrendered it to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris. During the American Revolution George Rogers Clark and his small army scored a bloodless victory when they captured Kaskaskia for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Illinois became a county of Virginia. this area was ceded to the United States in 1784, and became in turn a part of the Northwest Territory and the Indiana and Illinois Territories. On Decmber 3, 1818, Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first state. US 6 parallels the Illinois River from its origin at the confluence of the Kankakee and Des Plaines Rivers to Peru. As early as 1673 Jolliet noted the desirability of a canal connecting Lake Michigan to the Mississippi via Illinois. By a treaty with the Potawatomi in 1816 the United States obtained a strip of land twenty miles wide along the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers extending throughout this area. In 1936, construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal was begun and was completed in 1848. The canal extended from the Chicago River along the course of the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers to LaSalle. It was an important trade link for thirty years but was eventually replaced by the railroads. Restored sections may be seen in Channahon and Gebhard Woods State Parks on US 6.
US 6, west of Indiana line Cook County Illinois.
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Illinois 