Southern Lake Michigan

At the southern end of Lake Michigan, sandy shores and wetlands meet rivers leading towards the Mississippi basin. The Chicago portage linked the lake's waters with the Des Plaines River across a low divide, a route used by Indigenous travellers long before French visitors arrived. In 1673 Kaskaskia guides showed Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette the way as they returned from the Mississippi. They crossed to the Chicago River and followed it to the lake, joining two great inland water systems.