Chicago River and the site of Fort Dearborn

This is the Chicago River, which was inhabited by the Potawatomi tribe.

French voyageurs had passed though this area in the 17th Century connecting Quebec to the Mississippi and Louisiana.

The first known non indigenous inhabitant was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable who is believed to have lived on the river to the right of the photo - although the course of the river has been moved. Du Sable was of Haitian and French ancestry.

In 1803 te US Army built Fort Dearborn in the area where bridge meets the bank on the left of the picture. During the War of the 1812 the Fort was evacuated, and the Potawatomis attacked the evacuees in what became known as the Fort Dearborn Massacre. Of the 148 soldiers, women and children evacuated, 86 were killed in ambush and the remainder ransomed to the British.

After the War a second fort was built. The area became important for transport when a canal was cut through the nearby water-shed to connect Chicago to the Missouri and the Mississippi basin. The course of the river was first straightened and then the flow reversed so the filth of the City flowed away from the Lake which was the source of the City's drinking water.

Now a model of cleanliness and surrounded by iconic sky-scrapers the Chicago River presents a dramatic picture.